Troops, entering into ukraine. Forces, money, support, supplies, weapons are flowing back and forth across this border completely at will. That is not a good situation. Not a good situation. And a situation that is deteriorating quickly. The general also said Russian Forces already deployed in crimea are being reinforced, that russia is sending what he called nuclearcapable troops into the disputed territory with heavy weaponry. The general made it clear as well that nato has not yet assessed nor confirmed that russia is sending Nuclear Weapons for positioning in crimea. Also tonight, Russian Defense minister announced that russia will be returning to the cold war era of more than two decades ago as its set to reinstitute Long Range Bomber patrols that will be approaching u. S. Territory interests and our military presence throughout the western hemisphere. Those patrols will likely be stretching from the arctic region into the gulf of mexico, a threatening and confrontational extension of military power by russia that hasnt been seen since the fall of the soviet union. The pentagon today, however, responded to all of that with constraint, almost passivity at this latest round of provocative actions by president putin. Steve warren said quote, the russians have patrolled in the gulf of mexico in the past and we have seen the russian navy operate in the gulf of mexico. These are international waters. Its important that the russians conduct their operations safely and in accordance with international standards. Returning to the apec summit in china, russian president Vladimir Putin and president obama awkwardly crossing paths on three different occasions, one of which you see here. A spokeswoman for the National Security council would only say their conversations covered iran, syria and ukraine. It is the first time the two leaders have talked in person since june and the conversations were told lasted only about 15 to 20 minutes. Joining us now, the former u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, bill richardson, also former Energy Department secretary, former governor of new mexico. He is also successfully won the release of hostages on numerous occasions, American Service men, prisoners in north korea, iraq, cuba, sudan, and he also is instrumental in the release of Sergeant Andrew timorisi. Good to have you with us. I would like to begin by updating our audience on what we know and that is that general breedlaw, the nato Top Commander, has just said at least eight russian tank brigades are being moved into the border with ukraine, that heavy fighting continues in donetsk and some of the forces as the general put it are nuclear capable, all of this taking place against a backdrop of summitry in beijing. Your thoughts tonight . Well, im very concerned. This is a very respected general. There is obviously a russian escalation in the ukraine. Im unhappy about this deal they just struck with iran on nuclear reactors. It means that possibly russia is not going to be helpful if we try to reach a ukraiy uranium enrichment deal with iran. On the other hand, the ruble in russia is in bad shape. You are an economist. The oil prices have really hurt the russian budget. Im not sure putin is going to follow through with actually putting Nuclear Weapons there, but his hostility continues towards nato, towards the United States, and now hes trying to make a move with the chinese. This is we will continue with the information as we get it on what is happening right now in ukraine but these are deeply troubling reports that we are getting here just within the past few moments. This emerging Alliance Among Iran and russia and china, is it possible in your judgment that the United States policy on sanctions against russia, the heavyhanded way we have acted and im talking preinvasion of ukraine, is it possible that we simply have been driving the creation of such an alliance . No, lou, this alliance has been moving for quite some time. Both russia and china are very wary of our intentions globally, obviously, way before the ukraine situation. And what has emerged as a possible alliance, although for instance, the chinese dont like what the russians have done in ukraine. They dont like these separatist movements, witness hong kong. There is big cultural differences between russia and china, so im not sure a very Solid Alliance is going to emerge. Its an alliance of convenience right now. But at the same time, an Energy Alliance is something that is going to give china the ability not to be concerned about American Military presence or geopolitical problems by having i guess a second natural gas deal that would basically provide china with unending ability to get natural gas, and thats from russia, it gets Russia Foreign exchange but what is troubling is iran. Thats what worries me. I have been supportive of this administrations foreign policy, but i hope we dont go into a deal with iran that is difficult to verify and the russians are pushing them, and so im a little concerned about this nuclear deal that they just struck with iran as a harbinger of an alliance that is going to be very difficult to separate between russia and iran. Is there any sense on your part, with all of your experience and your talent in assessing these leaders and the interests they represent, is there any sense on your part that this was a carefully constructed moment, that is the announcement of the deals, the russian Construction Nuclear Power plant construction, the announcement of the second pipeline, the western route between china and russia, and the action on the part of russia, it appears, to move on the border of the eastern part of ukraine . Well, yeah, i mean obviously they are trying to squeeze us, lou, russia, china, iran. Theres no question. Were still the big guy. What concerns me right now is this potential deal with iran. Thats what concerns me. I think russia and china, i think we can deal with that. I think one of the things i do like about what the president has done, hes trying to build a personal relationship with the leader of china, spending a lot of time with him, private time. Thats what you need to do. And this is something that putin and obama have not been able to do, not even a personal relationship. In fact, they dont like each other. That, you know, when its big power politics, you want to be able to pick up the phone and be candid and get along with each other, and i wish this were the case more between putin and the president , but putin has made it very difficult for that to happen. Lets hope that he has not made it impossible as we continue to watch developments in ukraine and we will be bringing you the very latest as soon as these details become clear. But again, the Top Commander at nato announcing that eight tank brigades, russian tank brigades have moved into position on the eastern border of ukraine as heavy fighting continues in donetsk and, and nuclearcapable forces are moving into crimea in support of the forces there in disputed territory in crimea. Governor, ambassador, it is always good to see you. Thank you. Bill richardson. Thank you. Appreciate it. What we have all been waiting for. The lame duck session of congress. Now in session. Now in session. A laundry list of receptionist gunderman group. Gunderman group is growing. Getting in a groove. Growth is gratifying. Goal is to grow. Gotta get greater growth. I just talked to ups. They got expert advise, special discounts, new technologies. Like smart pick ups. Theyll only show up when you print a label and its automatic. We save time and money. Time . Money . Time and money. Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome awesome all awesome i love logistics. World Health Officials today announcing the death toll from the west african Ebola Outbreak has passed 5,000 people. Beginning in liberia, making headway in their battle against the outbreak but ebola still spreading rapidly in sierra leone. Because of progress in liberia, u. S. Military troops are being sent there, will top out at 3,000 troops, not the 4,000 that had been expected and initially approved. Here at home, the family of ebola patient zero, thomas eric duncan, announced it has settled with the dallas hospital that initially sent him home despite having a high fever. Terms of the settlement not disclosed. Texas does cap malpractice awards against hospitals at 250,000. Obama Administration Officials today facing some considerable skepticism about a 6. 2 billion emergency funding request to fight ebola. At an Appropriations Committee hearing today, the ranking republican, senator richard shelby, criticized the confusing white house response to the crisis. Instead of an effective response, what weve witnessed, i believe, these past few months from various agencies, has been confusing and at times contradictory plans. For example, the cdcs guidance to hospitals has been a moving target. This uncertainty may have exposed Health Care Professionals to unnecessary risk. Our next guest attended todays hearing and has traveled to west africa on several occasions. Joining us is senator john boozman, member of the Appropriations Committee, also serves on the veterans affairs, agriculture and environment and public works committees. Senator, good to have you with us. The critics of this bill, this request, 6. 2 billion, the money coming from the United Nations, World Health Organization, they put the price tag at 1 billion. This is six times that. Does that seem excessive to you . Well, thats what this hearing was all about is trying to ascertain their plans. What they are asking for really is two or three different things. They want enough money to put the fire out in africa and then also help the africans with training and equipping and things like that so that it wont reignite. The other thing is to do a much better job of making us more prepared as a nation so in case we have another event like this, and that would carry over into some sort of a bacterial warfare thing or whatever. Its a much broader scope. But the europeans are involved, the eu, and then france is in guinea, britain is in sierra leone so its a combined effort. Its a combined effort, senator, as you put it, but its again, if you will, another parallel adventure, it seems to me at least, with taxpayer money. Well, you im sorry . I dont disagree. So often we are in a situation where in order to do good, we throw money at things. So that was the idea behind the meeting today. We will take the president s request, the administrations, and sift through it. We will be supplying funding, you know, for this but not i dont think at that level. It occurs to me, too, we listen to the World Health Organization, the United Nations prattle on about various crises. The World Health Organization telling us what was happening in sierra leone, in guinea, in liberia, and some of our own doctors, including tom freeden at the cdc were warning us what was coming. We were waiting on basically the World Health Organization, the u. N. Instead, we are the ones doing the work now, cleaning it up and fixing it. Why in the world is the United States so hesitant on its own to take care if we are going to spend this money and take this risk and put our men and women, our citizens at risk, why do we want to give the credit to the United Nations and to the World Health Organization when we could be doing ourselves a lot of good so people know where the help truly does originate . Well, lou, we should have stepped in much earlier when this thing was smoldering before it really erupted into fire. But its interesting, it doesnt matter what you represent. Im an optometrist by training and a senator. If i go overseas and represent either one of those professions, it doesnt matter, the whole world looks to us for leadership regardless. So we really can be very very proud of the work thats being done in liberia. We have got that where its on the run now and its reducing the numbers dramatically. But its taken a lot of work but we can be very very proud of that. I agree we should have stepped in earlier and certainly, we deserve a lot of credit again because of our efforts, if we hadnt stepped in the rest of the world wouldnt have, either. And to be very explicit, we have a president who denies the exceptionalism of this country and i see it on display every day and for the life of me, i cant understand why that is so difficult for any american to accept. Im also curious at your view of whats happening right now in ukraine. The nato commander, Top Commander, is saying explicitly this is an invasion by Russian Troops, its a reinforcement of nuclearcapable troops. We dont know yet whether or not they have moved Nuclear Weaponry into crimea, into that disputed territory, but there is not a word emanating from either the pentagon or this white house. Your thoughts . Well, weve got the russians pressuring us on this front, we have the chinese emboldened with their dispute over the islands. Youve got the talks that are going on regarding the nuclearization of iran, and all of these people are just pushing us as hard as they can because they feel like that we have a weak president right now. So its good that were in session. I think that the senate will weigh in strongly really on both sides with disappointment and hopefully we can, you know, get some of these things sorted out. Senator, we thank you for being here to give us some of ight into what is going on. Senator john boozman, thanks so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Up next, the optics. The president is having a rough time in china. The reality, it appears, could be even worse. Thats next. Go ahead and put your bag right here. Have a nice flight traveling can feel like one big mystery. Youre never quite sure what is coming your way. But when youve got an entire company who knows that the most ontime flights are nothing if we cant get your things there too. Its no wonder more People Choose delta than any other airline. Many americans who have prescriptions fail to stay on them. Thats why we created programs which encourage people to take their medications regularly. So join us as we raise a glass to everyone who remembered today. Bottoms up, america. See you tomorrow. Same time. Another innovation from cvs health. Because health is everything. How can in china,sumption impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u. S. . At t. Rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. Its just one reason over 70 of r mutual funds beat their 10year lipper average. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. When diet and exercise arent enough, adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol up to 55 . Yeah crestor is not for people with Liver Disease or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. Tell your doctor all medicines you take. Call your doctor if you have muscle pain or weakness, feel unusually tired, have loss of appetite, upper belly pain, dark urine, or yellowing of skin or eyes. These could be signs of serious side effects. Are you down with crestor . Ask your doctor about crestor. I dont have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps. Com you can print real u. S. Postage for all your letters and packages. I have exactly the amount of postage i need, the instant i need it. Can you print only stamps . No. First class. Priority mail. Certified. International. And the mail man picks it up. I dont leave the shop anymore. [ male announcer ] get a 4 week trial plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. Go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. You are gonna need a wingman. And my cash back keeps the party going. But my Airline Miles take it worldwide. [ male announcer ] it shouldnt be this hard. With creditcards. Com, its easy to search hundreds of cards and apply online. Creditcards. Com. Now a few comments if i may on the president s diplomatic struggles in beijing. Diplomacy is often described as a delicate dance and in diplomatic parlance, a pas dedeux for which mr. Obama apparently has no gift at all, as he calls for a level Playing Field with china. The next day, telling their leader that he wants to take their relationship to a new level. They must be wondering about the president s obsession with the word level. He was trying to court the chinese president while they walked in a sprawling garden compound next to the forbidden city but in the end, he was left sulking in the corner, his dreams of being crowned king of the summit crushed by an axis, if you will, of russia, china and iran. Mr. Cool unable to find a clique to run with, it seems. The president seemed open to working with mr. Obama. He offered up a chinese proverb that a large body of water quote, begins with many drops of water. That is profound and very confuciouslike but the president s faux pas are overwhelming his small ball of achievements in beijing such as coming up with longer expiration dates for some visas and chinas reduction of some tariffs on high tech exports, bu