building behind me. the venue for this edition of global questions. it is blackheads house. latvians had hoped they had put their turbulent history of occupations behind them. when theyjoined the european union along with fellow baltic states, lithuania and estonia. but russia's annexation of crimea has reawa kened concerns about moscow's ambitions and whether nato could protect them if russia were to interfere in their affairs. in the last few months, there has been a build—up of nato troops in the region, with british units leading the effort in estonia, close to the russian border. if moscow and washington were to reset relations, would that leave the baltic states feeling more exposed ? putin and trump, a new era? welcome to global questions with me, zeinab badawi, from riga, the capital of latvia. we're at the blackheads house in the heart of the old town. i am joined by an esteemed panel and a wonderful audience, some of them are from here in latvia but others have travelled to be with us from the other baltic states of lithuania and estonia and, of course, welcome to you, watching and listening around the world on tv, radio and online. we will be taking questions from the floor as well as hearing comments that have been sent through on social media. let me introduce our fantastic panel to you. general mark kimmitt was the us assistant secretary of state for political military affairs under president george w bush. he was a senior nato commander and served in bosnia, iraq and afghanistan. edward lozansky is president of the american university in moscow and founder of the us russia forum. he left the soviet union and lived in the us but now divides his time between washington and moscow. from sweden, we have anna wieslander, secretary general of the swedish defence association. she is also northern europe director at the atlantic council think—tank. artis pabriks is a seasoned latvian politician and has been a member of the european parliament since 2014, before that he was latvia's foreign and defence minister. and james rubin was us assistant secretary of state for public affairs under president clinton and has also advised on national security issues. he is now an international journalist and commentator. that is our panel. welcome to you all. applause. let's go to the first question. yannis from latvia ? to what extent is the us going to isolate itself from the international community? how can they change the behaviour of president putin and what will be the consequences for us in the baltic states? right. is the united states going to isolate itself? perhaps we will go to you first, mark kimmitt? i don't think the united states is going to isolate itself at all. the united states is a world trader and a world power. we cannot save ourselves, we cannot be more secure by hiding behind our borders. it's just not going to happen, it cannot happen. i hope mark is right but i fear he is wrong. and that is that our president has made a decision, he has made a decision to put america first and that is a phrase that has meaning in our politics. it means that the united states is going to pay less attention to the rest of the world, it is not going to play the leadership role it has played since world war ii ended and that enlightened self interest that we played for 50 years is what helped europe stay peaceful, it is what helped the soviet union collapse and it is what helped the baltic states be safe next to russia. if the united states does what president trump has promised, i am worried, worried that putin might get the wrong idea. when president trump says that nato does not matter, i am worried about what will happen to the baltics. edward, do you agree? or not? maybe i am the only one in this room, i do not know about mark, but i voted for trump. and the reason i did that is because his foreign policy, he says he wants to improve relations with russia and i think that if this happens, and i am not sure if it will, then everyone will benefit. united states, russia, europe, all of the baltic states, because those baltic countries control 95% of all nuclear weapons, if they are friends, everyone will benefit. anyone who is against this policy of the united states and russia is doing damage to your own country. the question was, is united states going to isolate itself? thank you. i do not think you can say it will be more isolationist but protectionist, i would expect. there is protectionism of borders, trade, people and jobs. at least that is the agenda that president trump will address. i believe that we will see more activism towards fighting terrorism, we have already seen that in the past days. stepping up on fighting terrorism in somalia, for instance. but there will be a shift and i agree, i think there will be more space for other actors as well in the world because there will be a focus on america first but america will not lead the global scene but there will be a difference. i did not vote for donald trump and i hope i will never have to vote for putin or any other russian president. we have certain worries on the european continent that americans are turning more protectionist and also more isolationist and it is not the first time in us history that they did this. from our perspective, we should try to do our best to convince americans that this is not the best way in the current circumstances. if, in fact, the united states is going to be about america first and isolationist, the american soldiers standing here in latvia have not got that word yet. can ijust ask you... applause. i want to go back to that question, can i ask you what is behind your question? do you believe the united states is becoming more isolationist under donald trump? that is what we see, america first. is there any protection in case... can we rely on this partner? do you feel reassured from what you have heard from panel members who say it is not becoming more isolationist? i see very diverse opinions. let me give you another example. in this part of the world, europe, the idea that one country can invade another country to take a piece of it, incorporate it into its own, that is what russia did in ukraine. and my president cannot criticise that. we're going to get to that question. it is bad enough that you want to limit sanctions, but he cannot even criticise that. that is a fundamental constitution of american and european foreign relations. he cannot criticise that. then we cannot do anything. that happened under obama and not under trump. and it isjust as bad, this is not partisan, you don't need to make partisan points. it is terrible, whether it happened underobama ortrump. i agree. let's go to the next questions, please. from lithuania ? and a canadian? i want to ask, will trump strengthen nato? thank you. in the event that nato troops, the us trrop participation in the region is downsized, can other eu countries and nato members fill the void that would be created by downsizing from the us? do you want to comment? it is not true. if you are looking from the outside, the united states also after the election of trump have been sending supporters to the baltic countries and i personally take for granted and i trust people like the vice president, but of course, since trump is a young, new president, we have to see how much he can work together with all of the other us institutions and i would say that security in our region depends on 50% cooperation between washington and our countries and a trust from americans but the other 50% is transatlantic ties between the united states and europe, including the eu, and here i see a certain cloud at this moment. as it is, what is important for president trump is to be clear on the importance of nato. we will all expect this when he visits the nato summit in may, the european allies will listen carefully on what trump will say about nato and russia and strengthening the defence. he also wants to strengthen nato on fighting terrorism, and i think everyone is basically positive towards that but what would be the role of nato? that is more of the question. i think we're missing the point. the reason we ended up in that situation, the baltic states and other countries are afraid of a russian invasion and all this stuff, all of this is a process, a result of nato expansion in the first place. booing. yes, yes... i only repeated what a famous american diplomat and the architect of soviet containment, george cannon... sometimes he was right and sometimes he was wrong. it was a tragic mistake, in 98 russia liberated eastern europe and the baltic states... booing. you were under soviet occupation and russia liberated you. i don't think we're going to resolve the question of who exactly liberated the baltics. in terms of the question... 19 us senators voted against that and they are all putin puppets. in answer to the question is, under donald trump, what do is going to happen to nato? donald trump has to take care of the interests of the united states first, nato countries, if you want the united states to protect them, they have to pay. there cannot be a free ride. he has said that but the nato chief has welcomed the fact that there is so much focus being put on trump's comments saying that all nato member states must pay their 2% of gdp... he says that will strengthen nato. it is not only money. if the us and russia become friends, there will be no need for nato at all. well... ladies and gentlemen, what you're hearing is actually alternative facts on bbc news! applause. and what i wanted to say, i think that alternative facts regarding the nato expansion, at this moment it seems to me that the people in the kremlin are actually angry and upset because i want to be free. nato did not expand in the baltics, we decided that we wanted to be part of this international organisation. applause. and another thing is about the liberation. of course latvia or baltic countries or many other countries, have been for a moment liberated from nazis by soviet army, but i already remember when i was a kid, on the streets of riga that i could not understand why these liberators did not go home after they liberated us. the soviet union and russia, they're two different countries. do they know it? they know, they know. and from the beginning russia wanted to be a part of it, russia wanted to join nato. i think we've lost the question. the question is about the security of this part of the world under donald trump — here's what worries me... that one of his closest advisers, newt gingrich, talked about their baltics as if they were a suburb of st petersburg. that's what he said of estonia. this part of the world, that's what i suggested. and that is a mentality that is existing in our white house, and when the time comes, this is all nice we've increased our forces, that defence spending is going to grow, and i'm all for that but this is about what happens in a crisis. this is about the fact that people are worried. vladimir putin has already intervened in estonia, by kidnapping people and removing them. he's invaded ukraine and the reason people are worried is what will the united states do in a crisis? if your president doesn't believe that nato is important, no matter what the vice president says, and the secretary of defence says, the president may not behave in a way that brings security to this part of the world. that's why people are worried. jamie rubin, thank you. can we go to our next question please? a gentleman from latvia but who is an ethnic russian. your question, please. my question is, what is the driving force behind donald trump's policy towards russia? thank you. general mark kimmitt. well, i think the driving force is every president for the last 35 years has started the presidency off by saying, "we're going to reset our relationship with russia". everyone. and everyone has been disappointed, not because the united states backed away from that commitment, but the russians have walked away from that commitment. so i think that same thing may happen, so i would not particularise it for donald trump. i think you have to make that comment about every president in the last half—century. mark, but don't you think only russia is to blame for what's going on? that's my point. to make any mistakes at all? that's my point. always right. what about invading iraq? destroying libya? ukraine? the crimea would be part of ukraine if not by the coup orchestrated by eu and washington. edward lozansky, the question was, what was the driving force behind donald trump's policy towards russia? you live in both countries, what do you think is driving what he thinks about russia? he made a lot of very complimentary remarks about vladimir putin. he kept saying, russia can be reliable and an important partner in the war of terror. and this is exactly true, no one can deny it. if russia and the united states fight the islamic radicals, then they will defeat them and they can build on this and make sure that there is peace in europe for ever. but certain special interest groups don't like it, because they have an interest that russia is more important for them as an enemy than a friend. russia wants to be a friend of all of you, all of you, yes, yes. i repeat, in '91 russia liberated baltic states from communism. this is true, this is true. 0k, all right. anna, what do you think is driving trump's policy towards russia? well, president trump is benevolent towards russia, it seems, and also towards president putin in his stance. i think that's the driving force. they view the world, to some extent, in the same way. they don't necessarily see the united states as the unipolar leader of this world. there is room for more powers, and that would enable also trump to put america first and make some other options than past presidents have done. so i don't really agree that this is just an ordinary presidential reset. i think he has, he wants more of a detente with russia. but as it looks now, his hands are tied, actually, with congressional hearings on what's going on with russian ties with elections, so we don't... the allegations about russian interference in the last presidential election? exactly. jamie rubin? i wish it were true that republicans were doing so much good. there's really only one or two republicans who are speaking up for the truth when it comes to russia. the rest of the party has capitulated, because there is something unusual, let's face it, there is something unusual about an american president who is talking so favourably about vladimir putin. there is an unusual quality in the united states' president, people in hungary, the leaders there, authoritarian dictators all over the world who for some reason, and it's sad but it's true, think that mr putin's authoritarian style, his effectiveness as a nationalist is something to be praised. there was a time in the united states when other republican presidents talked about freedom, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of democratic rule. presidents like ronald reagan, george w bush, george bush. all of them couldn't stand the idea that an american republican is talking about mr putin so favourably. that's what's unusual... admiration drives his policy, admiration for putin? fortunately for us, government works slowly, and right now the government is implementing policy started by president obama, to send troops into this part of the world, to follow through on decisions nato has made, to strengthen nato vis—a—vis the russians. we don't know what a president trump policy on russia will be, because there hasn't been any yet. i think that anna's right, that because of the investigations that are going on, it will be very, very difficult for donald trump to do something dramatically in the vein that he wanted to do during the campaign. you are refering fair to the fact last summer nato announced it was going to be stationing hundreds of troops in the baltic states and poland and about 1000 canadian led troops are coming to latvia. very quickly, ijust want to ask mark kimmitt, who does donald trump listen to? well, he has, obviously he has a very core group of people that he listens to, his daughter, his son—in—law... laughter. but i also think it's true that he does listen to his defence secretary. he does listen to his state secretary. obviously both general mattis and secretary tillerson have come out and have firmly said, we are standing behind russia. and if the suggestion it is that the president will be made in the vacuum of the defence secretary and the secretary of state, then i would suspect inside that facility that we call the national security council, they will walk out, because they have put their reputations and their beliefs on the line to support nato. we've seen general mike flynn, the national security adviser, being replaced by general hr mcmaster, who is seen as not being as favourable towards russia as mike flynn was. i think that's accurate. general hr mcmaster spend a significant part of his career in europe, looking down and staring down the east germans and the russians, and he hasn't forgotten that. artis pabriks, you want to come in quickly here? it is a good thing to have a good relationship with russia. but we here in the baltics we re russia. but we here in the baltics were probably there will be the first to benefit if there would be a good relationship with russia. but i don't think that at this moment we can really succeed with this, because by nature current regime in the kremlin is an advantageous regime that wants to disrupt the current order. occupation of crimea shows this. from that perspective, the only write permission the west and trump can take is resilient and deterrence at the current moment, while keeping the door open when possible to negotiate with russia. applause let's go to our next question from the audience. an estonian. thank you. we estonian ‘s have sent our troops to the hottest points in both iraq and afghanistan. also we are among those very few countries of nato who are paying 2% of their gdp on defence. applause still... still we are, i would say, a bit married, and you can guess why. and the question comes, would you recommend us why. and the question comes, would you recommend us any additional commitment we can do? —— a bit worried. edward lozansky. my dear estonian friend, that 2% you are spending isa estonian friend, that 2% you are spending is a total waste. show me at least one success of nato after the collapse of communism. not a single success. only success in raising money. american taxpayers, including myself, have to do that. so one thing for nato to do something successful is transform, even changed name, because bulgaria... it's not north atlantic, you have to change it to international anti—terrorist organisation, and then russia will join, china willjoin, all european countries willjoin join, china willjoin, all european countries will join and join, china willjoin, all european countries willjoin and will have a common cause to succeed. countries willjoin and will have a common cause to succeed. now it's a waste of money. thank you. anna wieslander, what kind of additional commitment would you suggest of the estonians? i think the estonians are doing a lot of commitments, i think it's good you spend 2% on defence. i don't agree with edward, i think we need that. if russia wants to regain trust, they could return crimea to ukraine and stop the war. applause you know for global questions we asked people to tell us their comments online and so on. i will give you a taste of the kind of thing we have been getting on social media. one says, do you think the appeasement of putin by trump would lead to invasion of the baltic states ? and another asks, does anyone really believe that russia wants to attack the baltic states, and why should it? you know what, actually, panel, take a pause. iwill ask you know what, actually, panel, take a pause. i will ask the audience what they think about that question. give mea what they think about that question. give me a show of hands, who believes russia really wants to attack the baltics? put your hand up if you think they do. that is quite incredible. i would say literally just a handful of people believe russia really wants to attack the baltic states. let's go to the audience again for some questions. let's take a couple together. kate, who is latvian, your question. i would like to ask the panel about future relations about the cyber attacks. how could it escalate in the face of repeated attacks and what would you think the future tax and responses? and another member of the audience from the united states. if any or all of the united states. if any or all of the baltic states invoke article five for any legitimate reason, be ita five for any legitimate reason, be it a massive military attack or a cyber attack, and certain nato countries do not respond, what would be the repercussions to those nations? james rubin. us - russia relations relating to cyber attacks? well, u nfortu nately relations relating to cyber attacks? well, unfortunately there has already been a cyber attack on my country. it happened during the election last year. there was an active cyber sabotage by the russians. they did something that is almost impossible to believe happened. it's not proven. i think anyone who doesn't spend their day watching alternative fact news organisations... applause knows perfectly well that russian organisations were involved in the hacking of the democratic party's effo rts hacking of the democratic party's efforts and that russia's covert operation was designed... no cia, no fbi, no agency said this is true. are you finished with your alphabet? edward loza nsky are you finished with your alphabet? edward lozansky denying rusher in —— russian involvement. everyone in american eyes and i think the audience knows rusher interfered and committed an attack of cyber sabotage on our country. it will happen in europe. this is a reality, and if people want to deny it they can, but the reality is russia has invoked and spent a lot of money and effort and resources on this and we are going to have to do a better job. listen carefully. every us security... 17 intelligence agencies. nunn said it is confirmed. it is rumours, probably, maybe, and there's a it is rumours, probably, maybe, and there'sa group it is rumours, probably, maybe, and there's a group of us former cia and nsa officials who can tell the truth. they said it was leaked, not hacked. edward lozansky, we have general mike flynn saying to the congressional hearing he will say what he knows about us— russia ties that kind of thing if he gets immunity from prosecution. so the story is still unfolding. that's right. why say confirmed? mark kimmit, regarding cyber attacks, the impact on us — russian relations. again, as we said earlier, we have do get a grip with the issue of cyber attacks. there is nobody on this panel who disagrees with that. it isa this panel who disagrees with that. it is a threat and a threat that needs to be addressed. i think the more important question is the question that was asked here. if a country invokes article five and the re st of country invokes article five and the rest of the alliance walks away, i simply hope that is a hypothetical andi simply hope that is a hypothetical and i do not believe that nato can stand as an organisation or even look at itself in the eye if it didn't, if it seeks to be an organisation, if we ever walk away from our article five commitments. applause anna. there are mechanisms for that that i know of, but i would assume... it is false to think if nato does an act, no one will act. countries will act. they are not prohibited to act because nato is not able to take a decision to act. i think that is important. the us can act on its own, other countries can act on their own, sweden... i don't think we would have a situation where no one helps. perhaps they would be disappointments and capabilities are not made available that should have been made available. but i cannot foresee a situation where the west would not act, in case there would be... what action would that be, not military action necessarily for r? military action necessarily for cyber? cyber warfare retaliation i guess would come... what kind of retaliation? i am not an expert on that. i would simply say that they are not the only people that have a cyber capability. putin is playing a very weak hand, but he's playing it well. silicon valley far surpasses anything that the russians have, in terms of cyber capability. as we said earlier, we need to get better at it but rest assured we have an offensive capability and that is what nato is coming to grips with as well. thank you. applause 0k, well. thank you. applause ok, let's go to our next question. from the baltic state of lithuania, your question? the world will fall into a second cold war if the two great nations failed to negotiate? could our world fall into a second cold war if the two nations failed to negotiate any differences they may have or whatever, anna wieslander, i don't see that we are moving into a new cold war. wieslander, i don't see that we are moving into a new cold warlj wieslander, i don't see that we are moving into a new cold war. i think we're moving into perhaps a bit of a different world order, with some changes that we will have to adapt to. but i think there are great possibilities in that world as well, actually. i would not foresee, i think it leads the thought wrong to say a new cold war. i think we're actually in a new cold war. whether negotiations will solve that will not... our two countries have interests that are completely different. some interest such as counterterrorism which may be capable of achieving... but what we are seeing in places like crimea, certainly what we're seeing in places such as syria, there are areas where we have significant differences. my personal hope is that the points being made by president trump within two weeks of the iranians testing him, he stood up the iranians testing him, he stood up and said, we are putting the iranians on notice. when the russians said we are going to expand our nuclear forces, he said we will outspend you. the real question comes down to if the russians want a new cold war, the americans will stand up to that and we will stand by our allies and will continue to deter them for whatever they may seek. can ijust say a comment on social media, why are we over lee and unashamedly racist towards russia and russians? he says it is 0k to russia and russians? he says it is ok to assume all russians are bad and contact with russians is like communing with the devil. we need to focus on this in a mega sense. all these questions boiled down to what our world has become when it is an issue of nationalism. the reason why you hear me getting so worked up about vladimir putin is because he has become the leader of a worldwide movement which has praised intolerance. i worry that my president, the leaders of hungary, leaders in europe, leaders in the middle east, all of these people together don't understand that what has made the progress possible we've had is when we've eliminated our hatred of the other. when we realised we can disagree with somebody without hating them. when we realised that fighting over nationality is what the thread titled this together is. as long as mr putin will be the leader of a worldwide alliance of neo— nationalists, we will have a big problem. especially if mr trump joins the alliance. applause thank you, james rubin. our next question from the audience... another question from latvia. good evening, why is there no close coordination between the united states and russia fighting against isis? president trump defended the idea give the united states and russia should cooperate in his campaign. what do you think are the main obstacles to achieve this cooperation? mark kimmit fuss. we certainly aren't fully cooperating with the russians in the fight against terror and isis. we conduct simultaneous operations but we don't feel good at this point it would be worthwhile to share our intelligence with the russians. but we have some concerns about how the russians are fighting isis inside of syria, because they label anybody who opposes bashar al—assad as a terrorist. so we have come a little bit closer to working with the russians on the fight against terrorism, specifically in syria, but we do have a long way to go. anna wieslander? i agree there could be some steps, but i would not count that much on russia as a stable partner in fighting isis. i think there is a big difference between there is a big difference between the us and russia when it comes to fighting isis. it's a next distin threat to the us, on top of the threat to the us, on top of the threat level for the us. it's not that important for russia.|j disagree. if you take a look at the russian history, the recent history, they have been consumed by radical islamic terrorism on their southern flanks. you take a look at those places... it's decreasing and i think the main interest of russia for working together with the us in the middle east is to position russia as a global power and to execute, and to be a regional actor in the middle east. that's why you also see them now in libya, we see them in afghanistan. i think what they want to solve in syria is the civil war, and to first—hand maintain assad in power and civil war, and to first—hand maintain assad in powerand maintain syria as one state. mark kimmit? the comment i was referring to was the notion of isis being a threat to the united states... we are worried about home—grown terrorism, but they're people killed in chicago la st they're people killed in chicago last week than killed by isis. on the other hand, the soviet union, first and the russians now, i think they think that radical islamic terrorism is far more affect their country than the united states does or should. our next question please. an ethnic russian from latvia. dear experts, considering serious media and peer pressure on the us administration in the us to discipline russia. under which scenarios would us and russia normalise their relations at all? edward loza nsky test normalise their relations at all? edward lozansky test rex tillerson. a very capable man, who knows russia very well. he worked with russia, knows putin and sergey lavrov and the russian crowd. he is coming to moscow and he will bring some proposals. we think he will bring some proposal that he calls a grand bargain. you give something and russians give something. this is how you do business. trump is not a regular politician. he's not ideological, is a businessman. i think the first step will be on april 12. then you have to wait for a meeting between putin and trump. after that, i think process will start. i'm very optimistic. i really like this crowd, when you said russia didn't... like this crowd, when you said russia didn't. .. you like this crowd, when you said russia didn't... you made my day. what is the quick pruitt pro grow? it is still in the process. i think it is very simple. two issues, syria and ukraine are something that are on the table right now. in syria already military to military there is some contact, mark, you should know that. it is not full—scale corporation but they are talking, it's good. under clinton, sorry obama administration, it did not happen. ukraine, very simple. what ukrainians want, they want to speak their own language, russian language. a few million people and the ukrainian government, first decree when they orchestrated the coup was forbid russian language. if ukrainians allowed to have russian language... booing so there is some room for negotiations? they have what you call federalisation. i live next to canada. canada has federal states and two languages. why? why ukrainians and canada have better life than... two languages, peace for ever. artis pabriks, i am very sceptical about any possibility for a grand bargain because there is no source a grand bargain because there is no source for that. neither in american traditional real politics. the difference between cold war and todayis difference between cold war and today is during the cold war, for instance, both sides wanted to keep the status quo. at this moment, kremlin's government wants to change the status quo. if we speak about ukraine, it cannot be chance for americans to give up something, because here it challenges the basic fundamental relations rules. will never recognise occupation of crimea. we must understand... applause and we must understand that it's not about language, russian language in ukraine, it's about russia's dominance over its neighbours like ukraine. it's nothing to do with language. forget about this. now let's go to our final question from the audience, from latvia. is french between this leader is possible? everything russia would like to achieve in this region would come at the expense of american influence. how cana the expense of american influence. how can a leader who puts his name in giant letters on buildings work with oman who has a mac image, riding bareback on horses? panel, i think you can all answer this question starting with you, anna wieslander? i don't foresee a long—term friendship between president trump and president putin. i would be surprised, due to various reasons, for that. mark kimmit? they may have a friendship, that may be irrelevant. this is an improperly named panel. it should not be putin and trott, it should be putin and america. what we've already seen is that the institutions in america have put this president in check. we have put this president in check. we have a system of checks and balances. if you want to talk about russia, you must talk about putin. if you want to talk about america, you need to talk about america with its checks and balances. applause artis pabriks? looking at their characters, i would say if there was friendship it will be short lived with lots of sparks. this might be what we are afraid of. i willjoin the previous speaker and say there are different political systems. america is still a big, are different political systems. america is stilla big, democratic country, and this is not about love and friendship, this is about fundamental rights and principles. this is what i think putin at this moment, he understands, because even if he might be interested in disrupting elections in us, i think he might be a little bit afraid of what he is wishing for. because this relationship between two leaders might be not in his favour. edward loza ns ky, i might be not in his favour. edward lozansky, i think it is possible two men like each other. they publicly stated they respect each other. i think it is going to happen. of course, putin'sjob is much easier. because trump is facing huge, huge, almost brick wall of the establishment of the special groups who would rather see russia as an enemy rather than a friend. but in the end, there is no other way. if we don't make peace between the united states and russia, it's a road to nuclear war. so let's pray these two men will make peace. it will be good for all of you, all of us. james rubin? i don't think there's going to be a long friendship between putin and trump, u nless friendship between putin and trump, unless mr putin has a complete change of heart. remember, for about seven or eight years now his entire foreign policy has been about weakening the united states, he has been troubled by the strength of the united states and the weakness of russia and everything he's done ever since is designed to weaken the united states. but in the end, whether it's nato enlargement or something else, i would just say to the people sitting in this room, given the danger that mr putin has posed, aren't you glad you are in nato? applause 0k, nato? applause ok, cani nato? applause ok, can ijust ask... what is your a nswer to ok, can ijust ask... what is your answer to your own question? i believe infringer between men but probably this isn't going to be a match made in heaven. let's see what the audience think? is french between these two egocentric leaders possible. show your hands if you think it is possible. -- is think it is possible. —— is friendship. i would say a very, very small minority. who thinks friendship between vladimir putin and donald trump is not possible? a very, very clear majority are very sceptical about the friendship between these two leaders. i think that point can end this edition of global questions. my thanks to our panel, and thank you to all of our audience here and to you, where ever you have been following this edition of global questions. from the capital of latvia, thank you very much and goodbye. thank you for tuning into our look at the weather for the week ahead. in the short term we have had some grey weather —— great weather and more great weather for the second half of the weekend. in south—eastern parts of england, temperatures could nudge up to 25 celsius. pretty unusual for this time of year. by the time it to monday, a big drop in the temperature and the high value anywhere in the uk will probably be around 15 degrees and for many of us cooler than that. what's happening on sunday? we still have warm air coming in from the south across a large chunk of eastern britain. this is where the warmest of the weather will be. we're starting to see a change in the north—west of the country. the winds are swinging in from the north—west. a cool front approaching with cloud and rain. temperatures of only 12—14 for glasgow and belfast. without southerly air wafting up from the south, in the 20s in parts of england. through the course of sunday night into monday, that weather front will be crossing the uk. behind it that north—westerly wind, much fresher atlantic air reaching southern areas as well. it will be quite chilly early on monday. these are the city temperatures. in rural spots it will be colder than that. here is mandates. the fresh atlantic air has reached southern areas by now as well. the temperatures won't be anywhere near as high as sunday across the south—east. let's take a look at the values. 15 for london, many of us only around 10—11 and we will have some showers as well. not a bad state, that certainly a much, much fresher day, feeling nowhere near as warm. monday night into tuesday, high pressure starts to nudge back in again. a bit of a nose, pressure starts to nudge back in again. a bit ofa nose, a hint of high pressure. the southern half of the uk will have the best of the weather. still on the cool side but some sunshine. to the north, some weather fronts coming in. some sunshine. to the north, some weatherfronts coming in. places like north—west scotland and the northern isles will be getting some rain. for many of us, a dry day. not a lot of change for when states. quite a brisk north—westerly wind coming in. temperatures 10—13 and just a little bit warmer in the capital, around 16 degrees. by the time we get to thursday on a similar sort of day. tuesday, wednesday and thursday we've not got an awful lot happening with the weather. it's fairly fresh for most of us. a little bit of rain or some showers across northern areas and temperatures 11—15. let's have a look at the easter period. good friday, here's thejet strea m period. good friday, here's thejet stream coming from the north—west. that is where our air and weather is coming from. a fresh good friday on the way, with some showers in northern areas. looking at it through the easter weekend, we will see mostly cool air coming in from the north, perhaps south—western areas hanging onto something a little less, a little milder and may be sunny. through the easter weekend, some rain but it won't be a write off by any means. we will have some rain from time to time. beyond easter, high pressure building from the south and around the high pressure we will see slightly milder airof pressure we will see slightly milder air of returning to the uk. at those temperatures rising a little bit. let's concentrate on easter. in the short term that is most important for now. it will be a rather cool easter. not an awful lot of rain around, just some scattered showers. the best of the weather summer in the south, probably the south—west. thanks for watching. this is bbc news. i'm nicholas owen. the headlines at 10pm. the foreign secretary borisjohnson has called off a visit to moscow, saying the chemical weapons attack in syria changed the situation ‘fundamentally‘. two people have died and 33 others were rescued after a fire at a care home in hertfordshire. and broadcasters penny smith and charlie wolf will be here to help me review the morning papers. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the sunday telegraph says that russia will be told to pull troops out of syria under a uk— us plan. hello, good evening. the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has pulled out

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