direction. and we ve had a little bit setbacks with turkey over the past decade. that s a big setback, yeah. yeah. when people used to ask me, what would a democratic middle east look like, i would say it s going to look like turkey. they had made a lot of progress. i don t think the story is yet done in turkey. when you look at that referendum that erdogan carried out it wasn t an overwhelming victory for him. may not have been a victory at all. it probably wasn t. one reason he was seeking votes in netherlands and other places was he wasn t quite sure. turkey s not quite done. same thing, seems general nicholson will get 3,000 troops in afghanistan, in the same vain in iraq, the way we lunge into these countries. could you give a grade to pakistan as an ally? what would you give it? what s in the middle? c. yeah. why don t we do pass/fail?
story to be told. they do have a prime minister who is accountable. they do have a legislature that s trying to work it out. they do have a military that s fighting alongside us or we re advising in the fight for isis. i would rather be iraqi than syrian. at least they don t have a government that s throwing barrel bombs and chemical weapons at its people. a lot of people are saying right now that the rise of autocrats across the globe seems to be the trend. i don t think democracy is in decline. i think the reason we feel that way is it looked for a while like it was a straight line. straight line progress. everything seemed to be moving in the right direction, especially after the collapse of the soviet union, all those new democracies that used to be communist countries. and then you had, in 2005, in the arab world, you had reforms, purple finger revolution in iraq. it looked like things were moving in the right direction. turkey was moving in the right
this is a very bad deal. and israel utterly rejects it. and what i m saying is shared by many, many, they express it publicly. it s always good to see you, sir. thanks for joining us. where do you stand on the the possibility of sanctions with iran? i strongly support the administration. this is the pwebest best chance engage with iran. netanyahu always wants everything his way. i say that as a jewish american who strongly supports israel. i think he s being counterproductive here. these kinds of situations require step-by-step progress.
who strongly supports israel. these kinds of situations require step by step progress. this is a huge step forward. nbc s kristen welker is at the white house for us. a got saturday to you. how likely is it secretary kerry is going to walk away from these talks with a firm deal? it s not looking it very promising at this hour according to diplomats in geneva and a part of these talks. one of the key sticking points coming from france. this they say this deal doesn t do enough to curb iran s nuclear enrichment program calling this a sucker s deal. another sticking point has been sanctions. the united states apparently offering to limit some sanctions on a very small scale. israelis have been highly skeptical of these talks, as well. prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying iran is essentially poised to get the deal of the century. president obama called prime
growth, political development, order over political reform, they don t think the country is ready for it yet, they re going to make step by step progress, they never say it, instead they get defensive, paranoid, black out the few statements they make. in that sense you do get a feeling this is still a regime very much feeling its way to maturity. these are not the actions of a regime comfortably in control and willing to depend itself to the world. thanks. pleasure. when we come back, one-on-one with gabby giffords lead trauma doctor. a remarkable update on her remarkable recovery. a group of heavy hitters from the first bush administration gathering tonight to discuss the 20th anniversary of the first persian gulf war. we ll keep an eye on this event.