Robert Gates: “I think, like -- like most people on the front lines in a battle, they would always like to have more forces.”

Putin feels that he has a destiny to recreate the Russian Empire.

I think the president is — based on what I read — is getting the sense that, as he put it, that Putin is 'tapping' him along.

He would be candid and honest, willing to tell the President straight from the shoulder what he needs to hear.

I think the only thing I would've said is that a lot of this could've been done sooner.