Transcripts For WCAU Meet The Press 20150208 : vimarsana.com

Christ. Im chuck todd. Joining me to provide insight and analysis are david brooks of the new york times. Andrea mitchell and Steven Henderson of the detroit free press. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. From nbc news in washington this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good morning. Its been a weekend of tense diplomacy. We will bring you my exclusive interview with secretary of state john kerry in a minute. The fate of Kayla Mueller remains unknown. Isis still has offered no proof and state Department Says it has been unable to verify the claims. Meanwhile, peace talks have been taking place at the Munich Security Conference in an effort to end the intensifying fighting between russia and ukraine. France and germanys leaders are warning that the conflict could develop into a total war that could spill into Eastern Europe unless a peace deal is reached. On friday president obama revealed his updated National Security strategy a document criticized by republicans for outlining too cautious of an approach. Here is susan rice outlining the new strategy. While the dangers we face may be more numerous and varied they are not of the existential nature we experienced during world war ii. We cannot be buffetted by alarmism. I started by asking whether the u. S. Is winning in our goal of diminishing and eventually destroying isis. I believe we are on the road to, i absolutely do. I think the evidence is not in my saying it but in the facts of what is happening. First of all, the coalition is strong and more committed than ever particularly in the after math of the burning of the jordanian pilot. The resounding affirmations of commitment is strong. Here is what has happened. 22 of the Populated Areas that they held had been taken back already. That is without launching what we call a major offensive. It is with the efforts of the iraqi army as it is being retrained to reclaim some territory as they begin to probe. We have taken out a significant proportion of the top leadership of isis. Their command and control facilities have been attacked interrupting command and control. They no longer can communicate the way they were. They no longer travel in convoys or where they do they are at great risk. There is a lot more to do. We have said since the beginning this is a long term operation, not a short term one. We believe everything including the governing process in iraq itself is moving in the right direction. Not everybody agrees that the u. S. Is doing enough. My colleague Richard Engel had an interview. President obama said there is a strategy in place to degrade and defeat isis. Do you believe him . He is the president of the United States. Do you believe there is a strategy in place that would do that . I hop there is but we need that strategy translated into action. So you are not seeing it . Not yet. You are not seeing the strategy . Not yet. So far we have not seen any serious action that can quickly defeat isis. Or slowly . Can it work over the long term . It can but once again we are sacrificing more lives and putting many innocent lives at risk by allowing isis to survive for a longer period. That was chancellor barzani saying they need more support, they need swifter action from the United States. What do you say in response . You heard the key word there which was not quickly, but he said over time it could work. We have said consistently that this is going to take a certain amount of time. Why . Is that because we want it to take time . No. The fact is that the iraqi army itself needs to be retrained and stood up. There has to be Ground Troops involved in order to win this victory. Its clear they are not going to be american british, french or european. They are going to be iraqi. That is the way the iraqis want it. They are not ready to move yet. It would be a great mistake strategically for them to move before they are ready. I understand his inpatience. I fully understand it. We have supplied them with enormous amount of ammunition weapons, other things and others are supplying them our allies. So i think as we have said from the beginning people need to be recognizing the importance of putting in place a strategy that can win. Now, you are pleading for patience and it was something that a former colleague of yours in the u. S. Senate Lindsey Graham was sort of mocking and had to do more with a speech that susan rice gave on friday. He tweeted this. He said i doubt isil iranian mullahs or Vladimir Putin will be the other thing is that patience waiting too long is what allowed an isis to gain a foothold that we didnt react soon enough and now we are paying the price for it. Isis gained the foothold that it gained in iraq because the army had been personalized and fundamentally become secretarykmcome sect arian entity. There are a lot of reasons for how we got to where we are today. What we need to understand is we have moved from instant one to build a coalition. Peach were astonished we were able to get five sunni nations to join us in taking on the challenge of syria. I think we have put together a strong coalition. I dont buy into that. I know that Vice President biden gave a speech essentially on ukraine saying that the United States would be there to provide assistance to ukraine. He didnt quite outline but obviously was an indictment on what russia has been doing in the weapons they have been providing. How soon will the United States be providing more Security Assistance heavy artillery to the ukraine . Im not going to go into what items are going to be provided but i have no doubt that additional assistance of economic kinds and others will be going to ukraine. We do so understanding that there is no military solution. The solution is a political diplomatic one but president putins got to make the decision to take an off ramp. We have to make it clear to him that we are absolutely committed to the sovereignty and integrity of ukraine no matter what. Do you believe president putin is a rational actor here . You outlined the economic sanctions and drop in oil have had a huge impact. Yet it has not changed. I am not going to get into characterizations except people can draw their own conclusions. He is leaving the Global Community with no choice but to continue to either put more sanctions in place or provide additional assistance to ukraine and hopefully he will come to a point where he realizes the damage he is doing is not just to the global order and the process. But he is doing enormous damage to russia itself. I am convinced and most people are convinced that each month that goes by that will catch up to him ultimately in russia itself. The nationalistic card is playing for the moment. Ultimately people want their lives to be better. Last question. The iran nuclear talks. I know that is also front and center. You have a very busy agenda these days. Is it just a deal or no deal or is there a chance that you extend the current sort of temporary deal thats in place now . The only chance i can see of an extension at this point in time is that you have the outlines of the agreement. If we are not able to make the fundamental decisions that have to be made over the course of the next weeks literally i think it would be impossible to extend. I dont think we would want to extend at that point. Either you make the decisions to prove your program is a peaceful one or if you are unable to do that it may tell a story that none of us want to hear. Is there a scenario that you would run for president in 2016 . I have no scenario whatsoever in my mind havent thought about it. As you can tell im pretty busy. Is it a never say never . Nobody says never but im not i have no concept of it thank you, chuck. Secretary kerry, safe travels. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. This morning in what is being seen as a last ditch effort to salvage a peace deal will attend a summit on wednesday. Im joined by a former u. S. Ambassador to russia and the panelists here. David, andrea and steven. Let me start with you. We talked you heard me ask secretary kerry about is Vladimir Putin a rational actor here. How do you answer that question . Hes a rational actor who is also very emotional, like most people by the way. He is playing a long term game here with multiple objectives over a long period of time. I think the kind of fundamental tension that you see is that the west we want to solve the problem. Putin is happy not to have a peace plan to let this linger let it fester and help them achieve other goals. There was a report that there is some secret from a war College Examination that Vladimir Putin might have as asburgers syndrome. And he said to claim based solely on Movement Analysis is unlikely to stand up to valid scientific scrutiny. The Intelligence Community tries to assess leaders emotionally or psych logically. What is the psychological profile of Vladimir Putin that you have read . Let me give you my base analysis. He is a person who feels aggrieved, feels like the west helped to destroy the soviet union. He sees the world in zero sum terms and he assigns a lot of power to our covert capabilities. He is obsessed with the cia. With respect to ukraine he thinks that we led the coup in ukraine. Therefore what you see him doing today first in crimea and now with proxys in Eastern Ukraine that is him striking back against what he thinks is americanled imperialism. The second important thing, he has become much more conservative over the last several years in my view. By that i mean small c conservative. He sees the west as a liberal west. Therefore this is not just contests about interests. This is also a contest about values for him. I will bring in the panel. Andrea mitchell we are three or four days away. Angela merkel will be here in the United States. I think she is on her way now. She is the one doing everything to stop the u. S. From arming ukraine here. It really is sort of a clash here. She is trying to be the peace keeper of europe. This is not one where there is a republican and democratic divide. There is that divide somewhat. Not big. This is merkel and hollande who went on friday saw putin, came back. She gave a strong speech in munich saying do not arm. She is coming here to tell president obama that and is meeting with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee first tomorrow morning. The fact is that decision has problems. They have a lot of support in congress. The bipartisan delegation all were in favor of arming. They are talking about radar, drones. They are talking about antitank missiles. The fact on the ground is that they are going back in moscow to negotiate with putin. Putin and socalled separatists have taken 500 square miles since the cease fire was negotiated. They are taking the ground and the big definition is how much of a Demilitarized Zone will they get. This divide between the United States and europe on ukraine is i guess much wider than it was before. It is wider. You have the British Foreign secretary being quoted that he opposes the idea of arming the ukrainian government. The fear in europe is that you put arms into a volatile situation ukrainians cannot win this and all you are doing is upping the stakes. You hear about making canon fire and sending on a mission with american arms which increases americas role in this. What is the end game . You are not thinking two or three steps ahead. The realization that president putin it matters much more to him to keep ukraine than it does to western ukraine. This is sort of what happened. Do you sort of appease putin . You hate to throw the a word around. Is europe appeasing putin . America is from mars and europe is from venus. Im for arming them. I think we should arm them. Putin has driven from realist versions to being strongly pushed by security apparatus. We are not going to defeat them but we can raise the cost. There is no way he will seriously which to the table. You have to raise. You have an editorial page what do you write . I think arming the ukrainians makes some sense. You dont want to do it unilaterally. You want to get the european allies. You have a problem with the europe ynan allies dont support . That is the kind of action that we have seen come back to bite us in recent years. So i will have you take the last word. Where are we headed here . Are we going to arm them in. My guess is yes. I do support that. I think ukrainians should have a vote in their security. We are going to be talking about this for months and years to come. I dont see this resolving anytime soon. I appreciate it. Well be back. We have a lot more. When we come back two likely president ial candidates question the value of vaccinating children sort of. It did spark a national debate. Its all coming up next. Meet the press is brought to you by boeing where the drive to build Something Better inspires us every day. [ male announcer ] we know theyre out there. You cant always see them. But its our job to find them. The answers. The solutions. The innovations. All waiting to help us build Something Better. Something more amazing. A safer, cleaner brighter future. At boeing, thats what building Something Better is all about. Welcome back. The british philosopher john stewart mill and Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes gave the example of shouting fire in a crowded theater as a moment when personal freedom should be restricted for the greater good. And that fundamental argument about what role the government should play in our lives was resurrected this week. When two president ial candidates, rand paul and Chris Christie raised questions over the wisdom of government mandating vaccines for children. Ail this coming against the backdrop of an outbreak of measles right here in the United States. Buckle up for safety from the debate over seat belt laws. For years its been proven how safety belts save lives but nobody is listening. To the effort to ban smoking in public places. The whole thing about secondary smoke. How is that going to smokes going right up in the air. The question of how far government can limit personal freedom to protect Public Health is a familiar tugofwar. If you want to eat a lot and get fat you have a right to do it. But our job as government is to inform the public. The limits of what critics call the nanny state were tested when former new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg tried and failed, to ban oversized sodas. Now with confidence in Public Institutions near historic lows the debate over the appropriate role of government has touched a Public Health issue where scientists are in near universal agreement. Vaccines. You have one of the most highly effective vaccines against any virus and you have a highly contagious disease, measles, that can have serious complications. So to me its really a slam dunk. But a small, yet significant, percentage of parents arent listening. In 17 states preschool vaccination rates are below 90 . The baseline goal set by federal Health Officials. Last year 644 measles cases were reported in 27 states. A 20year high. And this years off to a bad start. In some ways i think you can say that vaccines have been a victim of their own success. If you have a child today, youre not likely to have lived during a time when thousands of americans were infected every year. And hospitalized every year. The Antivaccine Movement gained steam in 1998. When a thank you discredited study linked the measles shot to autism. That medical journal later retracted it calling it utterly false. I believe many parents do not trust the cdc or the government or think that theyre putting our best intentions first. Megan is a mother of two toddlers, and an antivaccine advocate. She and her husband have chosen not to vaccinate their children even though she performs vaccinations at the clinic where he works as a family doctor. Mandating vaccinations opens up the door for them to mandate all sorts of other things. What my child eats. Where my child goes to school. How often my child sees a doctor. The vast majority of parents, republican and democrat, vaccinate their children. But the fact that the science is clear hasnt stopped politicians from pandering to this small minority. We vaccinate ours. But i also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things, as well. Ive heard of many tragic cases of walking talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines. Im not arguing vaccines are a bad idea. I think theyre a good thing. But i think the parent should have some input. After criticism both christie and paul jumped to clarify their comments. Paul posted this picture of himself getting a booster shot. Christies office put out a statement saying quote, there is no question kids should be vaccinated. Of course during the 07 and 08 campaign both candidates barack obama and Hillary Clinton were cautious on vaccinations. Citing the concerns of the autism link at the time. Katty, first of all, is this vaccination debate does this, is this, does this happen in europe as much as it happens here . Well it did happen in britain of course because the original study came out of britain, which is now being called the most dangerous medical hoax in the last 100 years. That that study, which has been