took a lot of juggling to keep it all together. what s possible when you have high-speed internet at home? the library never closes. it makes it so much better to do homework when you re at home. internet essentials from comcast. helping to bridge the digital divide. russia is building up a troop presence in syria says secretary of state john kerry. warning his moscow counterpart that russian troops could escalate violence there. russia says those troops are
they are not suspects. and here we are with very little information, chris, and a lot of questions in the killing of this lieutenant. but you got an entire force and really a big part of the city there looking for answersful we ll stay on this story. rosa, thank you very much. also important for you to know this morning, the u.s. and nato expressing renewed and intensified concerns over a russian military build-up in syria. let s get right to pentagon correspondent barbara starr with the latest. reporter: good morning, chris. the confrontation essentially brewing between moscow and washington. secretary of state john kerry now making a second telephone call in a week to his russian counterpart foreign minister sergey lavrov asking what the syrians are up to in syria. there s a lot of concern over the russian military build-up. listen to what the state department has to say about this. it is the true, and if brought out those reports could lead to greater violence and
virtues if you can use that word. but then i think he s continuing to play on the russian scene a game to promote his own popularity, his own strong position in russia and to push that to the extend he can. playing a card in syria that looks like crimea light if we can call it that could be a play on exultation of russian role in the region that now has extended beyond the former soviet union in a more strong way in syria. and an effort, obviously, to protect what assets he believes he has there. and i think those are all important questions. i wish i could tell you i knew for certain what mr. putin was thinking and how far he goes, but that s one of the questions that he tries to exploit in his own tactical game in playing in these areas. obviously, it matters on so many fronts, but many believe
particularly if the situation in syria begins to shift. and i suspect that secretary kerry has that very much in mind. the u.s. position has been that assad has to go. and anything that helps against isis seemingly at least is at the center of u.s. concerns and may be a greater revelation of the reason why russia s interest in buffering its own position to play a role should the situation shift in one way or another, or to keep it from shifting so far against their guy, assad, that they end up at the conference table with no cards to play. what is your best bet on where putin s head is on doing this? we saw something similar in ukraine. obviously there was a much more naked play there with a power flex, but what is going on here? my best bet is that mr. putin is difficult to predict and that s one of his tactical
there only to fight isis. is there any proof of that? if not, what is the true motive and can anything be done? thomas pickering is the man to ask, former ambassador to jordan and israel. joining us, mr. ambassador, thank you very much. cnn reporting that two russian ships are at a port in syria. their satellites seen over 100 naval infantry troops to coordinate action. they say it s about fighting isis. is it as likely they are there to help assad? what is your take? i think they are there to help assad. fighting isis may be a good reason. assad is fighting isis but we have a very complicated multi-cornered conflict going on in syria. and it doesn t look like mr. assad has been doing well lately and the russians may want to keep their hand in for a combination of political and strategic reasons.