on. so, i think the financial sanctions, defensive and financial sanctions, as harsh as they can be, will possibly bring putin to his knees. and i tell you, the eu cranium people that i have had a chance to speak to, they are frightened, they are resolved and going to fight, but they see themselves in a very difficult circumstance. because of the even of the military, though it s not the best, it s because of the equipment and size that they have. so, i do believe that we must find a way that will cause putin to think. and i think also the oligarchs are in essence closing their bank accounts. put them out of the country. keep them from the fancy schools that their children are in the united states, the comfort that they have here. they may be calling up. because this is not a communist government. this is a government of billionaires and oligarchs. and so i basically believe that the financial aspect of what we
important. the reason why, we can talk about sanctions, but one of the potential ways that people in russia could turn against president putin is if this goes very badly wrong for him. i don t say that with any pleasure, because the potential is, if the russian people turn against them, there aren t many people who still support president putin. that s the kind of thing that i think really frightens people about this whole picture. another point too, just before i finish, joy, we talked about president putin inside the walls of the kremlin with a small team around him. we saw him earlier in the week humiliate his intelligence chief at the security council. when you treat people like that for 40 years, who are also in the kgb with you, are they giving you the right information and telling the truth to you?
president of this down tritried to bribe and blackmail president zelenskyy saying we will withhold military assistance from you. wrap all of that around for me and tell me where you think this stands, given zelenskyy s challenge and putin s seeming seeminger seeming irrationality. malcolm? oh, that is for you? i would have been fascinated to hear kier s view on that. well, certainly, let s go back to the fundamentals of donald trump s first impeachment. he was impeached because there were 1,000 javelin missiles in defense funds, which were going to be released to the government of ukraine, and donald trump extorted president zelenskyy, essentially said i will not give you these funds and resources to defend your nation for this day,
without a cause. putin s actions betray a sinister vision for a future of our world, one where nations take what they want by force. but it is a vision that the united states and freedom loving nations everywhere will oppose with every tool in our considerable power. the new u.s. sanction also prohibit financial transactions with more russian banks, restrict technology exports to russia, and target wealthy russian oligarchs. this comes as other western countries level their own. additionally, the united states expelled russia s second highest ranking diplomat. vladamir putin announced the attack just before dawn in a prerecorded speech which he tried to rewrite history to suit his deranged ambitions, thumbing his nose at the international community. he declared war at the moment the u.n. security council was holding an emergency meeting intended to ward off further
with nostalgia for the old soviet union. as analysts have been explaining, it is clear that putin is determined to reverse the progress made by ukrainian citizens since an uprising ousted a russian-backed president eight years ago. he s aiming to end ukraine s status as an independent sovereign state and turn it back into a russian puppet state. joining me now is keer simmons, reporting from moscow. and malcolm nance, security analyst and former intelligence officer. that term regime change, that reminds many people of a very unpopular war waged in this country. again, it was a war of choice. and it doesn t appear that vladamir putin can manufacture the consent that i guess he presumed he could in his own country.