today on the program, we'll get the latest live on the israel-hamas war. plus, the world watching as two major wars are fought, one minute middle east, and the other in europe. in each war one side is heavily funded by uncle sam. and it is ukraine's fight against russia that is about to run out of american funding. what does the gop have to do with it? i will talk to aie's kori schake and ann applebaum of the atlantic. and also bernard henri levy on anti-semitism rearing its very ugly head again. and former harvard president drew faust on racism in america. but first here is my take. when one thinks of america's great efts strengths, the kind of strengths with admiration and envy, american's elite universities would have long been at top of the list. but the american public has been losing faith in these universities for good reason. three university presidents came under fire this week for their vague and indecisive answers when calling for the genocide of jews would violate their code of con duck. but we have to understand the broad shift that has taken place at elite universities which have gone from being centers of excellence to institutions pushing political agendas. people sense the transformation. as paul taffer points out, the adults that said a college degree was very important fell from 74% in 2013 to just 41% in 2 2019. in 2018, 61% of the polls said higher education was headed in the wrong direction and only 38% felt it was on the right track. 70% of high school students heading for college and now that is number is 62%. that makes america an outlier among all advanced nations. american universities have been neglecting excellence in order to pursue agendas many of them clustered around diferity and inclusion. colonels wanted to make sure that young people of all backgrounds have access to higher education and felt comfortable on campus. but those good intentions have morphed into a dogmatic ideology and turns universities into the places where the pervasive goals of social engineering and not academic merit. as the recent supreme court case on affirmative action, universities have downplayed merit placed criteria for admissions in favor of racial quotas. some universities response to this ruling seems to be they will go further down this path eliminating the requirement for any standardized test like the s.a.t. that move would allow them to then take students with little reference to objective criteria. of course, those who would suffer most are bright students from poor backgrounds who normally use tests like the s.a.t. to demonstrate their qualifications. in the humanities hiring for new academic positions centers on the race and gender of the applicant and the subject matter when needs to be about margininalized groups. a white man studying the american presidency does not have a prayer of getting tenure at a major history department in america today. great inflation in the humanities is rampant. at yale, the median grade is now an a. new subjects crop up that are really political agendas not academic fields and you could now major in diversity, and equity and inclusion at some colleges. the bureaucracy devoted to equity and inclusion naturally recommends that more time and energy be spent on these issues. the most obvious lack of diversity at universities, political diversity, which clearly effects their ability to analyze many issues is never addresses. showing that these goals are not centrally related to achieving or sustaining or building excellence. out of this culture of diversities had a the collection that we've heard of, safe spaces, trigger warnings. and as authors have discussed, many of these colleges have instituted speech codes that make it a violation of university rules to say things that some groups might find offensive. universities advise students not to speak, act, or even dress in ways that might cause offense to some minority groups. with this culture of virtue signaling growing, the george floyd protests rerupted and many universities latched on and issues statements alining their institutions with these protests. by my memory, few took such steps even after 9/11 or during the iraq war. in this context, it is understandable that the jewish groups would wonder why do safe spaces, micro aggressions and hate speech not apply to us. if universities could make some groups feel safe, why not us. having coddled so many student groups, university administrators found themselves squirming, ununable to explain why certain groups, jews and asians doan seem to count in these conversations. having gone so far down the ideology path, these universities an these presidents could not make the case clearly that at the center of a university is the free expression of ideas. and that while harassment and intimidation could not be tolerated, offensive speech would and should be protected. as cnn's van jones has said, the point of college is to keep you physically safe but intellectually unsafe, to force you to confront ideas that you vehemently disagree with. what we saw in the house hearing this week was the inevitable result of decades of the politicization of universities. america's top docolleges are no seen as partisan outfits which means they will keep getting buffeted by the political storms as they emerge. they should abandon this long misadventure into politics, retrain their gaze on the core strengths and rebuild their reputations as centers of research and learning. go to cnn.com/fareed for a link to my column this week. and let's get started. ♪ the war in the middle east continues to grab headlines while it seem that's the war in ukraine is being sent to the back pages. but my next guest is adamant that the u.s. must not forget its allies in either europe or the middle east. bernard henri levy, a french philosopher was in ukraine over the summer producing his third documentary from the front lines of the current war. this one is called "glory to the heroes", it premiered this weekend in new york and d.c. and l.a. it will follow in other major american cities. bernard, pleasure to have you on. there is so much to talk about, i don't know if we'll get to all it. but first tell me, the movie is fantastic. but since then, what are you hearing from the front lines now? because you know what people are saying is that it is a stalemate, the ukraines have ta talled an the russians have the momentum. >> on the ground, i don't think so. ukrainians are still resisting and still holding the line with an incredible bravery. we are tired in america and in europe, not in ukraine. they are not tired. they continue with huge sacrifice, spilling their blood. we pay money, they pay with blood. and they do it. they do it because they defend their country, but also they do it with a feeling that they defend europe, america, the wesh world, and freedom. they feel, really, this is the sentence that i heard most on the battlefield in the trenches. we are the sentinels of the free world. i heard this sentence, dozens of times. >> do they worry about the losing, that the west is losing patience, it is getting tired? >> they're worried about the -- of putin since day one. they know that putin is counting on the victory of trump, they know that putin is hoping europe to be dismantled. they know that putin is playing the game of the extreme right and the extreme left in some europe countries, including mine. so they're worried about all of that. they are worried about our naivety. in front of the -- of putin and terrible trap which putin is putting under our feet. >> i want to know from you firsthand, because you are witnessing it and living it, describe for me what is happening in europe as a consequence of the israel-hamas war? do you see a significant rise of anti-semitism? >> i see it in europe. i see it also in america. fareed, let's be honest. we all thought that america was vaccinated against anti-semitism, that it was another shelter for jews. i would not like to be a student or a teacher in some of your high schools or universities. there is a terrible wind and wave of anti-semitism going on in america. and the worst among the youth which is really heartbreaking with such a -- for a man like me who defied all of his life against racism and anti-semitism, it is a sorry. >> but tell me about in europe. do you think the anti-semitism is all related to this israel-hamas war, do you think it is the ghosts of the '30s rising again. >> it is the ghost of the '30s, with another incantation. with an assault of actors and they are on the left. it is the same speech, it is the same way of thinking, which has migrated for a large part, but all from the extreme right to the extreme left. but it is the same way of reflecting as their grandfather of the extreme right into the '30s, what do you hope to do with this movie? >> yesterday night there was a premiere in the u.n. and it was a real issue. a lot of ambassadors or officials of the global south were there, in the audience, in the big room of the united nations. they saw this firsthand testimony, which i brought to them and i think that some of them, i hope at least understood that the imperialism of today is not america, but it is russia. >> bernard henri levy, thank you. nine weeks into the war, air strikes continue and what is the strategy behind all of this violence. i'll talk to the correspondent amir tibon next . on friday, the united states vetoed a u.n. security counsel resolution calling for i acease fair in gaza. israeli air strikes continued throughout the weekend and israel's national security adviser said it could no longer accept hezbollah on its northern border. does israel plan to expand the war. i want to bring in amir tibon, correspondent for the israeli newspaper. and also the resident of a kibbutz that was attacked on october 7th. amir, i welcome. i want to ask you those looking at this from afar, it does appear that the air strikes continue at an extraordinary pace. the financial times has calculated that more of gaza has been destroyed than dresden during world war ii. you're human rights monitor said that in the first month israel has dropped 25,000 tons of fire power which is the equivalent of two nuclear bombs. that is just in the first month. the civilian death count is now 17,000 in gaza. is there a strategy behind this or is there going to be -- is this going to continue until the last hamas militant is killed? >> fareed, i think this is a response to nun plus dented terror attack. and it is hard to think of an equivalent attack in our lifetime. i could look at september 11th as the only comparison i could think of. and obviously, what is happening now in gaza, is an attempt by israeli to defeat hamas and make sure that something like october 7th could never happen again. now, that strategy actually successful or not? i think we need more time to see what happens with hamas in gaza. we are seeing that in the northern part of gaza, where israel put most of the effort so far, hamas is losing many of its capabilities and we're seeing the great advance of the idf over there and we're even pictured in the last 48 hours for fighters who are putting down their arms from hamas. we still have a strong presence in the southern part of gaza and that is more difficulty. but when hamas launched this attack on october 7th and decided to go into communities and into civilian kibbutz and towns and cities and murder and kidnap civilians, this was the response that i believe they anticipated would come from israel. i mean, what they did on that day, sinwar signed the death certificate of just a disaster for the people of gaza. and for me, personally, it is very, very sad and it is a terrible tragedy. but i don't think any country in the world would have accepted what happened to israel on october 7th and not responded in such a forceful way. >> is it possible, though, that the strategy will backfire? i mean, it does feel like it is difficult to see how the 2 million people of gaza who are still going to be living right next door to israel will look upon this and say, you know, we have to come to peace with our neighbors. >> honestly, fareed, i think in the long run, i personally still think that we have to find a formula. for us, and for israelis an the palestinians to live in peace and share this land. but i think right now we're looking at a very, very difficult situation on both sides, definitely. >> let me ask you -- >> we have a level of the hostility that is even in this long and bloody conflict. and the -- >> let me ask you about the north before i lose you because i do want to ask you, what do you make of that statement by the national security adviser. does that mean israel feels that it has to go into north as well? >> fareed, let's separate a statement by a netanyahu appointee who said two years ago that hamas will not attack israel for 15 years, okay. this is what this guy, our national security adviser said two years ago. that hamas has been deterred by netanyahu and will not attack for 15 years. but on the issue itself, it is important to understand, there are now tens of thousands of israelis who will vest their homes in northern israel on the border with lebanon and they will not go back home as long as hezbollah is an owe the border. that is a fact of life. and if hezbollah does not withdraw from the border area, either by the course of some diplomatic action or military action, then these people will not go back home. and no country could accept the reality in which teps of thousands of people are uprooted from their homes and could not going about a. i hope there could be a diplomatic solution and i think there is a great responsibility for the biden administration and for other countries that have relationships with lebanon, france is involved in trying to help to solve this diplomatically. but if it is not solved diplomatic means, i'm afraid israel may not have a choice because these people could not go back to sleep in their homes knowing hezbollah is on other side. that is not acceptable. >> amir, thank you. next, will congress continue to back ukraine? will europe? when we come back. the power goes out, and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book. who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up. plus, now through december 31st, eligible xfinity rewards members can get 25% off a storm ready wifi device. on monday, the white house issued a dire warning on ukraine. in a letter to congress, the omb director said money is swiftly running out and so is time. and on wednesday, senate republicans blocked a bill that included more aid for ukraine as they and their counterparts in the house demand significant changes on immigration policy in return. what will this mean for ukraine's fight against russia? an what does it say about the republican party? joining me are kori schake and is now a senior fellow at american enterprise. she has a new article in foreign affairs, the case for conservative internationalism. and ann applebaum is from the atlantic and has a new prediction that trump will abandon nato if re-elected. ann, first, i want you to ask you, on ground, how -- what do things look like for ukraine? how bad is it. >> it is a stalemate but it makes it sound like fog is happening. the ukraines did not have the equipment or the force to break through all of the russian lines over the summer. they are now defending their territory, they're still trying to make breakthroughs in a few other places. the situation is incredibly dynamic. there is a lot of fighting every day and a huge amount of ammunition used. the russians are still trying to break through in the north. they have reached a important where at the moment neither side could advance quickly or rapidly. but it could still tip very easily either way. >> but, ann, what i've heard, is that the ukrainian counteroffensive failed for a number of reasons, some of it was equipment and some of it was their feeling that the strategy may have been wrong, they were trying to do too many things in too many places and that the russians are doing quite well, partly because they have concentrated mass, they're producing lots of drones and artillery, the russia troops have been reinforced and they're defending secure lines, a lot mine fields and bunkers. so, it is a stalemate but not in the way, in the dynamic sense you mean, but if the russians, if anyone has an advantage, it is the russians. that consistent with your reporting? >> so the russians have an if advantage in this sense. so the russians have devoted 40% of their budget to the milt. they have switched their economy to a war fighting, war strategy economy. the ukrainians are dependent for their military supplies on a large and powerful range of countries around the world who are nevertheless not coordinated and are not helping them in a strategic and consistent way. so, if that sense, you do have something that the russians feel confident, that is partly psychological. they are fine, they're defending their lines and trying to move forward an the ukrainians have a coalition behind them, whether it is in the u.s. or in europe, that appears to be faltering. so this war is as much about psychologically who is going to last, would is going to stick it out and put in the resources to eventually win on the ground, or in some other way an who will not. and right now the russians feel more confident, yes. >> kori, what would it mean if russia were able to not just hold the territory it has, but even chip away at more ukraine territory. what does it mean if russia were to be seen as in some sense far from being punished or losing because of this gression, actually to have this aggression ratified? the >> the world is getting more unstable and dangerous and if russia is permitted to succeed in ukraine, first and foremost, it means more war crimes against ukrainians, more terrorizing of ukraine. it will make america's allies in europe very, worried that the united states, despite the president saying we will do everything that we can for as long as with takes, that is not what we're doing and that is visible to america's allies and adversaries. it will encourage challengers to the existing order in europe, and in asia and that will make it costlier for the united states to keep ourselves secure and prosperous and to keep our friends secure and prosperous. >> and you have argued that the biden administration's mistake and strategic flaw here is not as some republicans say, aiding ukraine, but not giving it more lethal weaponry and more speed illy, right? >> absolutely. the slow pace at which we delivered weapons to ukraine gave the russians six months to dig in and make these defenses that ukraine is slowly, methodically working its way through, fighting its way through. and it is disgraceful for us to be behind our hands complaining about ukrainian strategy when for 4% of the last year's defense spending and 0 american deaths, ukraine is fighting a war we fear nato would have to fight. we just need to pour more support in as the president has promised. because not only would it be terrible for ukraine and corrosive to the international order, it is going to be really bad for president biden to have made so big of a commitment and then not see it through. >> stay with us, both of you. when we come back, i want to talk about something that is at the center of both of the articles you have written, which is what happens if donald trump wins, what happens to ukraine, and what happens to this whole pivotal conflict when we come back. and we are back with kori schake and ann applebaum. ann, you have an article on why trump will almost certainly abandon ukraine. and if he were lekked. there are people who feel other wise, he said things like this when he was campaigning the first time around. and he -- it doesn't mean anything. what gives you the sense that trump really does feel strongly enough here that he would pull the plug on ukraine and cut a deal with russia? >> so trump has told us that. when asked specifically about ukraine, he said i'll end the war in one day. that could only mean one thing. woe end the war by seeking to concede. not that that -- not that that would prevent the ukrainians from fighting. also he's made a number of comments over the years, over the decades about his lack of interest in european allies, about his discorn -- his scorn and disgust for nato. he once said i don't give a shift about nato to john bolton, his national security adviser. during his first term there were enough people around including bolton and mike pence and others who persuaded him nevertheless to stay in. in the second term, those people will not be there. and what i think most people don't know about nato is that although it is a treaty, in which the united states and its allies agreed to help one another in case one or the other is attacked. it doesn't have any clear obligation and and the psychology is more important than the law. so as soon as trump said i'm not going to defend anybody or help ukraine or participate in this nato support for ukraine, then immediately the whole idea of collective defense disappears. and it would clearly be one of the first things he does as president. >> and it is happening at a time when i wouldn't exaggerate it but there is some softening for support in europe, either a kind of war weariness or what is going on on that end of the atlantic? >> what is happening in europe is similar to what is happening in the united states is that there are small groups of people or particular countries who are blocking aid for ukraine. it is hungary and in the european union, it is some truckers an people in poland and slovakia and hungary who are complaining about situation on the border. there are small groups creating difficulties much in the way there is a small group of republicans essentially pro-russian or isolationist republicans who are also blocking aid and they are capable of stopping what is still majority support for ukraine. majority in europe, there is a majority in the united states, most people still want ukraine to win. but we haven't yet identified this as an important enough international cause, we haven't gone on -- we haven't gone on to a war footing. and we aren't pushing through the bills and the monies that we need. >> kori, your article, which i think is very important, makes the republican case, the conservative case for aiding ukraine and for mostly abandoning a policy of isolationism that many republicans seem to be flirting with. do you think it is a small minority. i worry it may be small now but it does feel like it has a lot of energy and it is growing. >> yes, i think that is right. americans are reluctant internationalists but we are internationalists. and there are a small coterie of republicans who are opposed to ukraine and congress and the vast majority of republicans in congress support aid to ukraine. we're seeing a congressional tussle over knowing that the president needs to pass aid for ukraine, and republicans want to get some other things that they are likewise concerned about. border security, reduction in the national debt, expressing concern about where ukraine fits in the president's priorities. concern that russia has a winning strategy, stalling for time. and president biden does not. and so they want to see those things addressed and when they are, you will easily have the votes for aid to ukraine. >> do you worry, though, about the things ann was talking about, there is an anti-nato, anti-ally tenure to some of the conversations. if you look at the primaries, like vivek ramaswamy, these are new arguments being made particularly on the republican side, to have the party of ronald reagan be talking about abandoning its democratic allies is very odd. >> yes, it is very odd and it risks squandering republicans' reputation for being serious about national security policy. but it is not surprising given that donald trump while president and since has been arguing against america's allies as the strongest and most cost effective way of securing our country and their country. these are winnable argues and these are winnable voters. reagan institute, even the majority of trump voters describe themselves at internationalist, not isolationist. these with winnable arguments, we have engage in a positive way about things americans are concerned about. >> very important discussion. thank you. next on gps, i'll talk to a former president of harvard about anti-semitism and race in america and about her new book. my next guest has a very impressive resume indeed. she was the first female president of harvard and is one of the country's leading historians of the civil war. now drew gilpin faust is looking back at her early life and the forces that shaped her. that is in her new book "necessary trouble, growing up at mid century." we'll get to the book in a minute. but i have to start with the testimony this week of university presidents including harvard at that house hearing. >> so, drew, when you watched those hearings, claudine gayer, your successor as president of harvard, while there was one between, and what do you think watching that and i should make clear, you're just a professor and not speaking for harvard and i know you don't want to you can that about this. you want to talk about your book. but given that it happened this week, i have to ask what was your reaction. >> i didn't watch. i read and seen snippets but i haven't seen every bit of it. but i have to think about i am six years away almost from having any policy decision making or implementation. and during that time, i've been in the classroom with undergraduates teaching seminars in which they argue, disagree, get new ideas, get excited, discover things. some of them are going on to be on marines and journalists and just the magic and the importance of universities is such a central value for me. we don't want to destroy these institutions. and they're not perfect. but i think they try hard. and there is a lot that is going on at universities right at this minute that is wondrous. and i got to see it every day in the classroom. >> it also feels like everyone wants the university to in a sense take their side. which is something that used to not happen. when do you think that shifted? >> well, the idea that the university taking our side when we were students in 1960 and we were activists, we didn't care whether the university took our side or not. it was the adults that didn't matter. we were going to transcend whatever short comings they had. so it is a very different world. and when i was president, it arose maybe midway through my presidency, which is 2007 to 2008. around the 2011, 2012, there was a constant demand for speaking out and universities speaking out. and it comes in part, i think, from the very strong moral sense that a lot of students have today and we want to encourage that. we don't want to entirely deny that a university is, especially for the 18 to 21 years old, is a place for moral and character development. so we've urged students to think deeply about what matters in the world and they are. and then they're asking us to ratify what they believe. which, as you say, presents a whole set of problems that i think we haven't yet worked out the implications of. >> this is a really terrific book and i urge people to read it because it is so personal and beautifully written and i describe growing up, and i was surprised through your civil war scholarship, you grew up kind of a privileged southern belle. >> right. i never got the belle part right. but that -- in a privileged family in virginia, in rural virginia. with expectations that i would be a belle. my grandmother was certainly a belle. i was not good. i had to find a different line of work from them. >> you were surprised by the degree to which there was a kind of quiet institutional racism that pervaded the entire landscape. it was part of the book is the story of your realization of that. >> and i realize that as a pretty small child. but there was a phrase that was coined by a journalist in richmond who was will a civil war scholar who wrote a biography of lee and the phrase talked about the virginia way and this was in the 1950s. and the virginia way was to have a racially segregated society without the confrontational violence that characterized the deep south, without the visible signs saying black and white. and the notion he had of it was that black people in virginia would consent to this more peaceful hierarchy. and, of course, african americans were not readily concepting. but there did emerge a calm there virginia that began to be shattered by the brown v board decision in 1954. and it was that, that led me as a small child, the turmoil that followed that and the voicing of things that have left things unspoken that led me to realize that i was living in an unjustice social system and at age 9 began to perceive these injustices. so it is not fair became a refrain for me throughout my dhield childhood and then i think it did fuel my sense that fairness was a important goal throughout my life. >> and the fairness in your historical work, you try to understand, you empathize for example, death on both sides of the civil war and was that conscious? >> well my first book, my first published work that came out of my dissertation was about people who defended slavery in the south before the civil war and i wanted to understand how people get up in the morning and live their lives amongst circumstances that we now see as just unimaginable and terrible. and how do human beings tell themselves that what they're doing is just fine. and that is always fascinating me and i think it pervades so much of my scholarship. >> and how did they do -- >> well they use religion. they talks about racial hierarchy. there was a whole array of tools. >> they had to convince them sfz. >> yes. it does give you pause. and that is what i waned to write about it. what are we doing that our grandchildren will say how you could possibly have lived with that and tolerated that. >> drew faust, always a pleasure to hear you and to read you. >> thank you for being part of my program this week. i will see you next week.