i was supposed to be a great pianist. i started playing at the age of i came here as a 17-year-old three. rising junior at the university of denver to go to the aspen music festival school. i met here, 12 year olds who laid from site what it took me all your to learn. i thought, find another profession. i went back to denver. fortunately, i wandered into a course of international politics taught by a soviet expert and a great diplomat. it was joseph korbel that stimulated my interest in things international and things russian and interest and a diplomatic history. and he convinced me that it was ok for a black girl from birmingham, alabama who wanted to be a soviet specialist. that was the start of my career. he also said and i have a daughter that i would like you to meet some time and she is studying at columbia. her name is madeleine and now you can take that story. what happened was my father was a czechoslovakian diplomat who did not want to work for the communists and
it is going to hurt. i have said that putin s victory in crimea is a. pyrrich, is a victory, for the same reasons of their economic situation. i do think the ukrainians need more assistance. i think the question is, and i cannot answer this. i was in ukraine for the elections and i was there as an observer. i met with not-yet president poroshenko and he said that his real agenda was to do security and the economy. the question is, if all they do is fight in the east whether they forget the fact their country is basically are basket case and provide, they have to get their act together economically. we needed to give more assistance to the ukraine. we have to figure out a way. i certainly agree on the intelligence. i would probably give them some lethal weapons and i would definitely strengthen nato. nato has turned out to be the best and most political military alliance. the other countries that do have russian speakers latvia, the baltics, they are under nato. they have
tuesday through friday at 8:00. the tv features a wide range of topics. let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. or you can e-mail us. join the c-span conversation. here is the latest news out of iraq. the new president is nominating the country deputy parliament speaker as the new prime minister and giving him the responsibility of forming a new government in the next 30 days. the president s choice is a public stomach of nouri al-maliki, who in an angry midnight beach, all but demanded that he be renominated. the u.s. is providing arms to iraqi kurds. the ap reporting this. they are starting to make gains against militants in northern iraq. they are being rearmed. of statecretaries madeleine albright and condoleezza rice, along with robert gates shared their insights on iraq and ukraine, as well as the role of the u.s. on the international stage. this is one hour 20 minutes. it is hosted by aspen institute in aspen, colorado. as bob said, we are extr
this country was given by the most important general probably no one has ever heard of. a two-star named fox connor whose protéges were george marshall and dwight eisenhower. fox connor had three axioms in talking about war. never go to war if you do not have to, never fight alone, and never fight for long. the way we have overcome this in the past, americans generally are not interested in what goes on in the rest of the world, foreign aid has always been about as unpopular as something terrible. and so it is always fallen to our leadership to persuade and educate the american people why these things are necessary. why these tools are necessary, why our engagement is necessary. people forget in the summer of 1941, selective service was continued by one vote. so what is missing, it seems to me, is the kind of persuasive leadership, not just from the president, but from the leaders of both parties and in particular in congress. that in this kind of our leadership is still n