this is gps , the global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i m fareed zakaria coming to you live. we ll begin today s program with the stunning developments in russia over the last few days. i ll be joined by top analysts who will help us understand what is happened so far and what might happen next and what is all means for the war in ukraine. also, french president emmanuel macron. i talk to him at a global summit he hosted in paris this week about how the west could help end extreme poverty and curb climate change. and about the striking rise of china and the potential of a thaw in its relations with the u.s. it is been an extraordinary 48 hours in russia as the world watched what president putin called an armed rebellion. the rebel leader prigozhin was the top caterer before he threw away his kitchen apron and now wears military fatigues as the head of wagner group which has provided mercenaries in africa and the midd
taliban continues to crack down on the rights of female journalists. and we do begin in japan this hour where u.s. president joe biden is pivoting to economic alliances as he tackles is second leg of a high stakes diplomatic nour asia. earlier he called on the japanese emperor at the japanese palace. he later arooied for talks where mr. biden reaffirmed america s support for japan. u.s./japanese alliance has long been the corner stone of peace and prosperity in the indo-pacific, and the united states remains fully committed to japan s defense, and we will face the challenges today and the future together. now, while much of the focus? south korea was on the threats from north korea, in japan, all eyes are on the footprint. mr. biden is set to reveal his administration s new framework for the region. the goal to boost ties between the indo-pacific and native allies. he will bring a similar message to the meaning of the so-called quad alliance where he ll speak with leade
u.s. president, joe biden, is on his way to south korea on his first asia trip as president. he will also be visiting japan and meet with leaders of india and australia as well. the asia trip comes later in biden s presidency than he may have liked. he wants to affirm the importance of our indo-pacific alliances. kevin, we ll begin with you. joe biden has been focusing much on the war in ukraine. this an attempt that they can walk and talk and chew gum at the same time. it s meant to reaffirm the u.s. commitment to the key alliance in east asia with south korea and japan and demonstrate that president biden still has this focus on asia despite all of the time and attention he s been spending on the war in ukraine. you saw that play out in the near term when the president in the morning he met with the leaders in finland and sweden. they are trying to join nato and he pivoted and turned to asia. te took flight and still on it now on his way to asia an it s really sort of dem
conspiracy theories about them. the first day of deliberations wrapping up a short while ago after giuliani opted not to take the stand. vladimir putin is vowing there will be no peace in ukraine until russia s military goals are received. krrn was inside the russian president s marathon end-of-the-year news conference, his first since the start of the war. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. we begin tonight with the war in gaza, president biden stressing just a short while ago that he wants israel to, quote, be focused on how to save civilian lives. we ll have more on the mounding u.s. pressure on israel to be more targeted in its battle against hamas. cnn s alex marquardt is standing by live in tel aviv. first i want to go first to clarissa ward who made a truly extraordinary excursion into gaza. cnn is the first western media outlet to gain independent access to southern gaza without an id
treat and how many had died unnecessarilych this is undermining the narrative of the war and the entire narrative of the invasion of ukraine going back to 2014. i think it put him in tune with the russian army in a way that maybe the russian military leadership is not. in that he wasn t talking about imperialism or peter the great or some kind of idea about russia s special role or christianity, he was talking about you haven t giving us enough weapons or letting us fight. and i think this is the reason why so many soldiers seemed at least initially prepared to support him. to me, the extraordinary moment yesterday was after that comment was when he was sitting in rostov and chatting away and they were happy that he was there and nobody was trying to arrest him or take him away.