Page 21 - Dan Fried News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

And i'm not now verifying, but something i heard from a number of people, i was concerned. now, you're right, if it were policy, if that were the set policy of the administration, that's one thing. but if it's simply an idea, well, people have in my position, i think, have an obligation to push back and explain why we think it's a bad idea. >> right. ambassador dan fried -- >> and giving away something for nothing to the russians strikes me as bad policy. >> ambassador dan fried, we appreciate you coming on this morning, helping clear this up. an interesting report to say the least. thank you,...

The obama administration, and so the officials who got this directive felt very uneasy, and they began looking around for allies. dan fried, who had been the u.s. coordinator for sanctions policy, was still there, and they reached out to him. tom mol now ski who had step the down as assistant secretary for human rights, they reached out to him as well. and they began an effort to block the administration from going too quickly in this arena. >> so what's interesting here is that when you look at the actual policy, right, so they essentially successfully defeated this initiative to the extent i...

The officials who got this directive felt very uneasy, and they began looking around for allies. dan fried, who had been the u.s. coordinator for sanctions policy, was still there, and they reached out to him. tom mol now ski who had step the down as assistant secretary for human rights, they reached out to him as well. and they began an effort to block the administration from going too quickly in this arena. >> so what's interesting here is that when you look at the actual policy, right, so they essentially successfully defeated this initiative to the extent it was something they had their ey...

Press." vivian salaama and rick stengel back with us here in the studio. former unseth for public diplomacy and public affairs at the state department in the obama years. also the former managing editor of "time" magazine. rick i'll begin with you. is this story tonight the first clear evidence that they always and really wanted to lift sanctions as that gentleman called it, cave on russia? >> well it's just very, very strange, brian. and i mean it all does seem to fall into line. i mean, the sanctions policy against russia, because of the annexation of crimea, the quasi invasion of ukraine wa...

Second of the 20th century's great evils, communism, could be vanquished without war, but it happened and the west's great institutions, nato and the eu, grew to embrace 100 million liberated europeans. it was my honor to have done what i could do to help. i learned to never underestimate the possibility of change, that values have power and that time and patience can pay off, especially if you're serious about your objectives. nothing can be taken for granted and this great achievement is now under assault by russia. but what we did in my time is no less honorable. it is for the present gener...