James Clapper: “The Pakistani Government is in the throes of reexamining a reset, if I can use that term, of just what the relationship…”

Ties with Tehran offer some regional governments a means of staking an independent position on Iran, thereby mitigating its isolation while also attempting to extract Iranian financial aid and investment for economic and social projects.

I think it has more to do with the psychology of Putin, and Russia. And he needs to assure his own people, Parliamentarians, he was talking to, and for that matter, himself, that Russia is still a great power.

I think the Russians, Putin, I say Russians, Putin is committed to conquering, if he can, which I think will be impossible, all of Ukraine.

I think, though, that what has been in the past considered an annoyance or an irritation, has now risen to the level of a genuine national security threat.