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The plot thickens this morning,
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with US officials
telling ABC News
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that Russian President Putin
was directly involved
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in the hacking of the Democratic
National Committee.
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We have said repeatedly
over the last two months
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that our source
is not the Russian government.
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Vladimir Putin himself directed
the covert cyberattacks.
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- Do you respect Putin?
- I do respect him.
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Do you? Why? Putin's a killer.
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There are a lot of killers. What, you
think our country's so innocent?
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- Hello.
- How are you?
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Mr. President.
Nice to see you again.
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I thought maybe
you could sit over there?
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- Okay.
- And I'll sit here, and we'll see.
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Play it by ear a little bit.
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And we'll improvise.
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No rules about this one.
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Yes!
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For over 40 years,
the United States led the West
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in the struggle
against Communism
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and the threat it posed
to our most precious values.
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This struggle shaped the lives
of all Americans.
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It forced all nations to live
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under the specter
of nuclear destruction.
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That confrontation is now over.
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I think a lot of Western people
don't know much about you.
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We'd like to know
about your background,
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and where you came from.
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I know that you were born
in October 1952,
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after the war,
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that your mother
was a factory worker,
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and your father
had been in the war.
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And I know that you lived
in a collective apartment
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with other families
as you grew up.
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Doing what exactly?
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He was wounded
in the war, though?
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I heard he had a bit of
juvenile delinquency problems.
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He was a bit of a wild child
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until he studied judo
at the age of 12.
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You, uh, graduated
from, uh, high school
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and I believe you went
directly to law school.
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That's the Russian system?
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And met your first wife there?
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You last wife.
I mean, your only wife.
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And then you joined the KGB
right away in '75?
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1975. Yeah, you joined,
in Leningrad.
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Oh, you were s...
You had no choice?
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And you had romanticized
of course this...
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There's the Soviet films
about the KGB and intelligence.
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You went to Dresden
in 1985 through 1990.
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But the first 10 years, uh,
you were mostly in Leningrad.
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East Germany in 1985 to
'90 was pretty dismal.
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It was a strange time.
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Did you go back to Moscow?
Did you experience perestroika?
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But these are Gorbachev's ideas,
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so you were influenced
by Gorbachev.
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The Soviet Union collapsed
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and the Russian Federation
was formed with Yeltsin.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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You moved to Moscow in 1996.
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And you became the head of the Federal
Security Bureau for 13 months.
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So, in that role, you must have
seen what a mess this was.
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I gather, there was
a nightmare of chaos.
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In October 1993, Russia was
on the brink of civil war...
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With parliament deputies
on one side
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and Boris Yeltsin
and his supporters on the other.
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Yeltsin, who controlled
tank divisions,
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would give the order to fire
directly at the parliament building
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with shells pounding the offices
of the Supreme Soviet chairman
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and the vice president
who sided with the deputies.
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Two days of street fighting
left hundreds dead and injured.
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The United States continues to stand
firm in its support of President Yeltsin
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because he is Russia's
democratically elected leader.
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And in 1999, you worked your way
up to acting prime minister.
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And Yeltsin resigned in 2000.
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Just looking at, uh, press
conferences and film of Mr. Yeltsin,
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it was clearly, uh,
alcohol, uh, disease.
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His brain seemed to be...
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The way he spoke, and the way he...
he stared at the camera,
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the way he moved,
he looked like he was catatonic.
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So, here you are,
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many prime ministers
come and go,
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and all of a sudden,
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wow, you're
the acting prime minister.
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Now what?
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You refused? Why is that?
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Change his life, in what way?
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I mean, he's already been
a bureaucrat
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in the government
for a long time.
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Oh, really?
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What would you do?
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Yeah, but did you see his...
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Did he see his children during
this period and his wife?
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And, uh, did you wake up at four in the morning?
Did you ever sleep?
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Really?
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No nightmares?
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This is a discipline from the from
military, from your KGB experience?
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Your theory of life, they say is
summed up in the philosophy of judo?
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Not too complicated.
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You have a lot
of discipline, sir.
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Okay. Well, then,
we're in 2000 now.
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You've become president.
The vote was 53 percent.
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You're not expected to last.
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You're president of a country
which is in a dark time.
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Chechenya War is going on,
it looks very bad.
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One side says that it is
fighting against terrorism,
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the other side says it is
fighting for independence.
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And all the while, bodies line the
street amid the rubble of war.
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This is not the Middle East.
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This is the break-way
Russian Republic of Chechnya,
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little mentioned,
but no less horrifying.
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You're credited with, uh, doing many
fine things in your first term.
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You built up industries,
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electronics, engineering,
petrochemical, agriculture.
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You raised the GDP,
you raised the income.
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You reformed the army.
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The privatization was stopped.
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A real son of Russia.
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The oligarchs took...
Underestimated him.
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And when he became president,
they didn't think he would last.
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He cut the poverty rate
by two-thirds.
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Respect for the old people,
pensions.
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In 2000, 700 rubles
was the average income,
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in 2012, 29,000 rubles.
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Immensely popular in 2004,
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he's reelected
with 70 percent of the vote.
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And 2008, because, uh,
two terms are only allowed,
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you become the prime minister.
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Well, you worked hard when
you were prime minister too.
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And in 2012,
you run for president,
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and you win by 63 percent?
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Yeah, you're right.
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Three times president. Five
assassination attempts, I'm told.
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Not as much as Castro,
who I've interviewed.
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I think he must've had 50,
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but, uh, there's a legitimate
five I've heard about.
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In other words,
you trust your security,
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and they've done a great job.
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Because, always,
the first mode of assassination,
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you try to get inside the security of the...
of the president.
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What is your fate, sir?
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Have you... Do you know?
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To die in bed, maybe.
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You've had a tough day.
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It's been a while.
Nice to see you.
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I think, uh, last June
was the, uh...
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was the last time I saw you.
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You miss me?
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I'm sure you cried
about other things.
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Uh, excuse me,
I just feel asleep upstairs.
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Uh, I caught up on my jet lag.
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How was your day?
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Holy cow! Well, you didn't have
a cabinet meeting then, did you?
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There was... I'm told there was
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a national security council
kind of meeting?
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I see. A crisis or anything?
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Well, I'm just asking,
'cause I'm curious,
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'cause we're normally scheduled
at 3:00 p. m.,
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and it's six hours
and forty minutes later.
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No, but I'm saying
there's always...
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There are crises that come up?
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There are things
that aren't scheduled?
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Uh, that goes
to my bigger question,
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'cause my producer
who's here, Fernando,
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we were talking
about you earlier,
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and he said,
you are an excellent CEO,
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uh, Chief Executive Officer
of a company...
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Russia is your company.
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You kick the tires,
you deal with these problems,
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and you try to solve them
on the spot.
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Let's say the problem is this,
and you go into the detail here,
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and the detail sometimes gets
smaller, and you do a micro-detail,
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and the micro-detail has another
micro-detail, and before you know it,
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you've lost the forest
for the trees, as they say.
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That can be very irritating. You
could probably go to bed at night,
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not having solved some of these things,
and it really drives you nuts.
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He says he needs
to complete something?
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Which bring us to the...
A large problem,
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which is he's been doing this
as a president, prime minister,
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and now president again,
for 15 years.
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I'm sure he knows
the story of Ronald Reagan,
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one of the most admired presidents...
by conservatives... in my country.
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He was famous
for sticking to his schedule,
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which required him,
on most nights, to come home,
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in the White House
by six o'clock,
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and have an early supper
and watch TV with his wife.
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That is my point,
is that he was a smiley man.
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He was a great greeter
and meeter.
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He was very happy
eating jelly beans
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and telling a good joke.
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Though Reagan was a big believer
in delegating authority,
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to everyone around him.
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I'm just trying to make
that example because...
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it's another way of living.
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Well, it seems to me,
you're doing it the hard way.
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Well, Reagan would disagree.
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He would say
the country America was broke,
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and that it needed to be fixed,
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00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:10,650
and it was morning
in America again,
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00:27:10,650 --> 00:27:13,980
and it was his job to bring
in positive energy to America.
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And he did a pretty good job
of making that feeling.
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It's a feeling.
It's an illusion.
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Well, uh, actually,
some people would argue
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that Reagan made America
more broke
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00:27:31,540 --> 00:27:32,830
because the debt
grew enormously.
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I forgot.
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Russia's one, right?
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Eighteen trillion, US?
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And about one trillion, Russia.
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00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:29,430
The food prices went up
20 percent in 2015,
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00:28:29,430 --> 00:28:32,890
and, uh, inflation
was running at 13 percent.
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00:28:35,610 --> 00:28:39,190
12.9 percent to be more precise.
Okay. Okay.
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What is the Russian
Central Bank about?
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00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:42,450
What is that doing?
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00:28:56,380 --> 00:28:57,710
I thought you had
nothing outstanding.
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00:28:57,710 --> 00:28:59,710
You had no debts
to the IMF, I'm told.
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00:29:44,090 --> 00:29:48,140
Aah, you know, you still talk as if
the IMF is a partner of Russia's.
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You act as if Wall Street
wants Russia to succeed,
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00:29:50,470 --> 00:29:52,390
and I question that.
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00:29:52,390 --> 00:29:54,850
And I would ask you,
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00:29:54,850 --> 00:29:59,270
is Wall Street actively working
to destroy the Russian economy,
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in the interest
of the United States?
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That is the throne of the tzar
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and the throne for the tzarina...
Yeah.
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And also for the dowager empress.
Yeah.
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00:30:42,230 --> 00:30:44,480
You know, they say
that you want to be tzar.
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This is, uh, you know,
that you're the new tzar.
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They put magazine covers
out there...
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00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,120
You laugh, right?
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00:30:55,330 --> 00:30:56,330
Yeah.
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00:31:01,210 --> 00:31:04,920
But you allowed, uh,
Charlie Rose to make a point
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00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:07,760
when he said,
you have all the power,
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00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:09,680
you can do what you want.
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00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:11,510
He made that very clear,
and then...
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Because that's the way
many Americans think,
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00:31:13,510 --> 00:31:16,020
that there's no system here.
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00:31:16,020 --> 00:31:18,060
And, uh, you didn't correct him.
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00:31:18,060 --> 00:31:19,390
You, you...
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00:31:19,390 --> 00:31:20,390
Excuse, excuse me.
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00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,200
Well, then you should
shoot the interpreter too...
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That's why we say that.
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00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:34,700
Was it you? Yeah...
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00:31:34,700 --> 00:31:37,870
I don't think he understood the
question that Rose was leading him to.
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I mean, in other words, in English,
it sounded like he wants the tzar,
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00:31:41,870 --> 00:31:43,960
and he took it for granted
that he was tzar.
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00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:47,460
Some have called you a tzar.
248
00:31:49,510 --> 00:31:52,890
So what? You know,
people call me different names.
249
00:31:52,890 --> 00:31:55,510
Well, does the name fit?
250
00:32:01,730 --> 00:32:05,230
Do you ever lose it?
251
00:32:05,230 --> 00:32:08,230
He says, you're so irrational
252
00:32:08,230 --> 00:32:09,280
every time you're
asked a question,
253
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:13,700
do you ever like have a day,
like a bad day? And...
254
00:32:20,710 --> 00:32:22,000
Is that right?
255
00:32:28,090 --> 00:32:28,880
There you go.
Now you're going to insult
256
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:32,220
50 percent
of the American public.
257
00:32:32,220 --> 00:32:34,050
The way they're gonna take it.
258
00:32:39,100 --> 00:32:40,140
I know.
259
00:32:41,770 --> 00:32:45,060
So a woman to you is a...
Tends to be more emotional?
260
00:32:45,060 --> 00:32:49,150
You don't want to have your emotions
ever cut in and control your reasoning?
261
00:33:15,220 --> 00:33:17,800
- Question to, uh,
- President Bush.
262
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:19,640
Is this a man
that Americans can trust?
263
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:20,850
Uh, I'll answer the question.
264
00:33:20,850 --> 00:33:22,350
I looked the man in the eye.
265
00:33:22,350 --> 00:33:26,100
I found him to be very
straightforward and trustworthy.
266
00:33:27,690 --> 00:33:30,020
Now, we had
a very good dialogue.
267
00:33:30,020 --> 00:33:33,280
I was able to, uh...
get a sense of his soul.
268
00:33:35,660 --> 00:33:37,620
What did you sense
when he was saying that?
269
00:33:46,710 --> 00:33:49,040
And on 9/11,
you were one of the...
270
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:50,000
You were one
of the first to call him
271
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,170
and offer him condolences
and cooperation.
272
00:34:13,650 --> 00:34:16,740
When President Bush,
invaded Afghanistan, uh,
273
00:34:16,740 --> 00:34:20,070
President Putin cooperated
with the, uh, invasion
274
00:34:20,070 --> 00:34:23,700
and set up bases
in the Caucasus and Eurasia,
275
00:34:23,700 --> 00:34:27,330
in order for the Americans
to supply line Afghanistan.
276
00:34:52,820 --> 00:34:55,150
And continued to do so
until recently.
277
00:35:13,340 --> 00:35:16,710
Russia has
a long history in Afghanistan.
278
00:35:16,710 --> 00:35:20,380
So how come you guys did not
figure out where Bin Laden was,
279
00:35:20,380 --> 00:35:23,850
and what was really happening
with Bin Laden?
280
00:35:23,850 --> 00:35:26,140
Not just where he was, but...
281
00:35:26,140 --> 00:35:30,390
how weak the Al Qaeda base was
at this point in Afghanistan.
282
00:36:14,150 --> 00:36:17,650
Bill Casey, director of the CIA
under Ronald Reagan,
283
00:36:17,650 --> 00:36:19,610
made it a special effort
284
00:36:19,610 --> 00:36:22,150
to excite the Muslims
285
00:36:22,150 --> 00:36:25,700
in the Caucasus in Central Asia
against the Soviet Union.
286
00:36:25,700 --> 00:36:29,910
His plan was bigger than just to defeat
the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
287
00:36:29,910 --> 00:36:34,290
His plan was basically regime
change in the Soviet Union.
288
00:38:01,170 --> 00:38:04,090
In his mind, what was the most
dangerous moment in the Chechen Wars?
289
00:38:04,090 --> 00:38:06,180
The first one,
the second one? What years?
290
00:38:41,380 --> 00:38:44,050
The US support was covert.
291
00:38:44,050 --> 00:38:46,970
You say you have evidence that
they were supporting the Chechens.
292
00:38:56,140 --> 00:39:00,810
I think the administration has
adopted a hands-off attitude,
293
00:39:00,810 --> 00:39:03,480
repeating like a mantra that this
is an internal Russian affair,
294
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:07,990
which in effect legitimated
the Russian action.
295
00:39:07,990 --> 00:39:11,570
And then on top of it,
senior administration spokesmen
296
00:39:11,570 --> 00:39:13,620
have engaged in a vilification
of the Chechens.
297
00:40:26,820 --> 00:40:31,070
And, uh, all this while they're fighting
the war against terror in Afghanistan?
298
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:36,910
It seems like contradictory
behavior, and strange behavior.
299
00:40:42,540 --> 00:40:45,540
I guess the letter is top secret,
so, it's not available for viewing?
300
00:40:57,600 --> 00:40:58,560
Today we welcome
301
00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:02,520
Hungary, Poland,
the Czech Republic,
302
00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:04,940
finally erasing
the boundary line the Cold War
303
00:41:04,940 --> 00:41:08,440
artificially imposed
on the continent of Europe,
304
00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:11,990
strengthening an alliance
that now clearly
305
00:41:11,990 --> 00:41:14,450
is better preserved
to keep the peace
306
00:41:14,450 --> 00:41:17,950
and preserve our security
into the 21st century.
307
00:41:17,950 --> 00:41:21,450
Our goal is to help
to build a Europe
308
00:41:21,450 --> 00:41:24,830
that is undivided, free,
309
00:41:24,830 --> 00:41:29,000
democratic, at peace,
and secure.
310
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,960
Today we proudly welcome
311
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:34,090
Bulgaria...
312
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:37,220
Estonia...
313
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:39,890
Latvia...
314
00:41:40,430 --> 00:41:42,140
Lithuania...
315
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:46,150
Romania...
316
00:41:46,150 --> 00:41:48,020
Slovakia...
317
00:41:48,020 --> 00:41:49,020
and Slovenia.
318
00:41:51,820 --> 00:41:52,860
We welcome them into the ranks
319
00:41:52,860 --> 00:41:55,950
of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization.
320
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:02,540
This is a special moment
321
00:42:02,540 --> 00:42:06,750
in the hopeful story
of human liberty,
322
00:42:06,750 --> 00:42:10,290
as America formally declares
its support for Albania
323
00:42:10,290 --> 00:42:11,840
and Croatia's entry into NATO.
324
00:42:14,380 --> 00:42:16,010
What I've heard
from Mr. Gorbachev
325
00:42:16,010 --> 00:42:19,470
as well as American officials,
including James Baker,
326
00:42:19,470 --> 00:42:22,510
there was a, a deal
with the Soviet Union
327
00:42:22,510 --> 00:42:23,720
not to expand NATO eastward.
328
00:42:56,380 --> 00:42:58,340
So this was a clear violation.
329
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:34,590
And right now the Warsaw Treaty
has faded into oblivion.
330
00:43:34,590 --> 00:43:36,630
There is no Soviet Union.
331
00:46:51,450 --> 00:46:53,700
Under the rules of NATO,
I believe you'd have to share
332
00:46:53,700 --> 00:46:56,000
all your nuclear information
with the United States.
333
00:47:14,970 --> 00:47:16,100
Yeah. Right.
334
00:47:29,240 --> 00:47:31,200
Right.
335
00:47:49,220 --> 00:47:52,340
The old Soviets were always very
realistic about American policy.
336
00:47:52,340 --> 00:47:54,550
They always tried to understand
the intentions of the Americans.
337
00:47:54,550 --> 00:47:59,560
I don't know if those think tanks still
exist here. I would imagine they do,
338
00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:02,690
that Mr. Putin gets very
accurate assessments about
339
00:48:02,690 --> 00:48:04,150
what United States'
intentions are.
340
00:48:48,820 --> 00:48:51,400
Has this ever stopped?
341
00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:54,780
Has this attitude
of the US ever stopped,
342
00:48:54,780 --> 00:48:56,240
that they had
an enemy in Russia?
343
00:48:56,240 --> 00:49:00,910
Whether it was Communism
or whether it was Putinism
344
00:49:00,910 --> 00:49:03,410
or whether it was any form, it was
just the concept of an enemy.
345
00:50:18,490 --> 00:50:20,030
It raises the question of,
346
00:50:20,030 --> 00:50:23,040
you know, the broader question,
of what is the US policy?
347
00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:23,750
What is its strategy
in the world?
348
00:50:23,750 --> 00:50:25,830
In the whole world?
349
00:50:37,340 --> 00:50:42,140
Well, uh, I can state it for
you, and you can argue with me.
350
00:50:42,140 --> 00:50:44,430
That's one thing,
I could say I think
351
00:50:44,430 --> 00:50:46,890
or many learned people think
that US strategy
352
00:50:46,890 --> 00:50:50,730
right now is to destroy
the Russian economy,
353
00:50:50,730 --> 00:50:53,530
bring it back to 1990s' levels.
354
00:50:53,530 --> 00:50:56,700
And change the leadership
of Russia.
355
00:50:56,700 --> 00:51:00,120
Make a new ally out of Russia
for the United States,
356
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:04,540
and basically, dominate
Russia, as they once did.
357
00:51:04,540 --> 00:51:07,500
And perhaps did not... they feel
they did not go far enough
358
00:51:07,500 --> 00:51:10,330
and take your nuclear arsenal
away from Russia.
359
00:51:51,250 --> 00:51:55,550
I understand that Russia
will not give up.
360
00:51:55,550 --> 00:51:57,920
They will go to the end on this economy.
Under Stalin,
361
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:00,470
they gave their jewelry.
362
00:52:00,470 --> 00:52:02,930
They gave their personal possessions
down to their last dollar
363
00:52:02,930 --> 00:52:05,390
to support the government
against the Nazis.
364
00:53:28,850 --> 00:53:31,390
We have the US elections
in this year,
365
00:53:31,390 --> 00:53:33,600
and none of these issues,
366
00:53:33,600 --> 00:53:36,730
uh, the environment,
fixing our alliances
367
00:53:36,730 --> 00:53:38,610
has even been discussed
one time.
368
00:53:38,610 --> 00:53:42,190
Everything in
the election rhetoric has been
369
00:53:42,190 --> 00:53:45,740
get tough, be tougher,
build up our military again,
370
00:53:45,740 --> 00:53:48,410
and in addition to that...
371
00:53:48,410 --> 00:53:51,410
And that goes for both sides,
that includes Hillary Clinton,
372
00:53:51,410 --> 00:53:56,830
who's most definitely become
a neoconservative, a hawk,
373
00:53:56,830 --> 00:53:58,500
strong policies against Russia.
374
00:53:58,500 --> 00:54:01,460
She was certainly for the Syrian
intervention, and so forth.
375
00:54:01,460 --> 00:54:05,510
And we have to send
a very clear message to Putin
376
00:54:05,510 --> 00:54:07,890
that this kind of belligerence,
377
00:54:07,890 --> 00:54:10,180
this kind of testing
of boundaries
378
00:54:10,180 --> 00:54:12,390
will have to be responded to.
379
00:54:12,390 --> 00:54:16,100
In addition to that, the
Pentagon has announced recently,
380
00:54:16,100 --> 00:54:20,900
this new general has announced that Russia is
the number one threat to the United States.
381
00:54:20,900 --> 00:54:24,400
He's been very forceful
in those statements.
382
00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:28,280
If you want to talk about
a nation that could pose
383
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:29,160
an existential threat
to the United States,
384
00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:30,660
I'd have to point to Russia.
385
00:54:30,660 --> 00:54:33,750
If you look at their behavior,
it's nothing short of alarming.
386
00:57:14,410 --> 00:57:14,820
Do you ever see him?
387
00:57:14,820 --> 00:57:16,910
Yeah.
388
00:57:32,590 --> 00:57:34,590
He has an opinion of his own
and some things...