Merkel and Putin

The White House and Germany are at odds, and that may be just the way Vladimir Putin likes it. German chancellor Angela Merkel is in Washington today, where she met with President Obama to discuss the crisis in Ukraine. The White House has floated the idea of arming the Ukrainian soldiers fighting separatists there, but Germany is opposed. It’s not the first time Germany has been caught between the U.S. and Russia. We look at Merkel’s background as an East German native who speaks Russian, and why she’s uniquely qualified to negotiate with Putin.