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Tonight, sir. >> thank you. while washington scrambles to counter president putin, a number of experienced russia watchers are wondering why anyone is surprised by these events. many feel they have been laid out quite clearly for many years. simon marks is a former bureau chief. simon welcome. you just heard the back and forth i had with congressman engle, and john mccain and president obama. they're talking about international law. who -- does putin care about any of that? >> i think that's the real question, martha. if anything good comes out of all this. it may be a fundamental misconcept...

Sides. simon welcome, good to see you here this afternoon. he cheerily fancies himself a macho man. we have seen that in so many ways throughout his career. he is feeling especially macho these days it would appear. >> you are right to say that we have seen it throughout his career. and it was in the early part of putin's first term in the kremlin and brushed away his translations in russian. you came away from the experience sensing that this was a man who new where he wanted to take his country. and where he wants to take it today as then is to a powerful

But it's not a good number. you have the gdp. gross domestic product that growth 1.8%. that is a big drop compared to last quarter. you can see it was going off the 17 up to the 3.2. not the trend you want to see in gdp percentage gains there. we are happy to be joined today by simon rosenberg who is the president of a think tank. simon welcome. good to have you here today. >> thank you for your great coverage of the tornadoes in the south, it's a tough day. martha: it's awful, isn't it. we are here in london to cover this big happy event and you have this happening at home. your hearts go out...

Tonight, sir. >> thank you. while washington scrambles to counter president putin, a number of experienced russia watchers are wondering why anyone is surprised by these events. many feel they have been laid out quite clearly for many years. simon marks is a former bureau chief. simon welcome. you just heard the back and forth i had with congressman engle, and john mccain and president obama. they're talking about international law. who -- does putin care about any of that? >> i think that's the real question, martha. if anything good comes out of all this. it may be a fundamental misconcept...