and the russian president that lasted 90 minutes. the call talks about the french insistence on de-escalation. the kremlin's readout is much more about putin insisting once again on the need to denazi-fy ukraine. it is important to keep talking but at the very least, what these phone calls provide is something of an insight into the mind of a man who has been remarkably difficult to read and whose mind the world right now would really like to understand a lot better. >> all right. melissa bell in paris with that report. thank you. let's discuss this with "washington post" columnist josh roggin. ambassador taylor, let me start with you. the former director of national intelligence under obama, james clapper, said something that reflected a conversation that is really going on as you know intensely among intelligence circles in the west right now. take a listen. >> i personally think he's