Should U.S. negotiate with terrorists?

This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who has been held by insurgents in Pakistan since 2009. Extremely sensitive discussions are under way with intermediaries overseas to see if there is any ability to gain his release, a U.S. official told CNN on February 19.

A North Korean court sentenced Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen, to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the state. Those alleged acts were not detailed by the country's state-run news agency when it announced the sentence in May. Bae, here in a photo from a Facebook page titled Remember Ken Bae, was arrested in November 2012. "This was somebody who was a tour operator, who has been there in the past and has a visa to go to the North," a senior U.S. official told CNN.

Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing since 2007. His family says he was working as a private investigator in Iran when he disappeared, and multiple reports suggest Levinson may have been working for the CIA. His family told CNN in January that they have long known that Levinson worked for the CIA, and they said it's time for the government to lay out the facts about Levinson's case. U.S. officials have consistently denied publicly that Levinson was working for the government, but they have repeatedly insisted that finding him and bringing him home is a "top" priority.

Warren Weinstein, a contractor held by al Qaeda militants, is a U.S. citizen who has been held hostage in Pakistan since August 2011.

U.S. tourist and Korean War veteran Merrill Newman arrives at the Beijing airport Saturday, December 7, after being released by North Korea. Newman was detained October 26 by North Korean authorities just minutes before he was to depart the country after visiting through an organized tour. His son Jeff Newman says the Palo Alto, California, man had all the proper paperwork and set up his trip through a North Korean-approved travel agency.

An Iranian court threw out a death penalty conviction in 2012 for Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine charged with spying. But he still remains in solitary confinement at Iran's notorious Evin Prison. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 during a visit to see his grandmother; his family and the Obama administration deny accusations that he was spying for the CIA.

Mexican authorities arrested Yanira Maldonado, a U.S. citizen, right, on May 22, for alleged drug possession. She and her husband, Gary, were traveling from Mexico back to the United States when their bus was stopped and searched. She was released on Friday, May 31, and is back in the United States.

Saeed Abedini, a 33-year-old U.S. citizen of Iranian birth, was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013, accused of attempting to undermine the Iranian government and endangering national security by establishing home churches.

North Korea has arrested Americans before, only to release them after a visit by a prominent dignitary. Journalists Laura Ling, center, and Euna Lee, to her right, spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry to conduct a smear campaign. They were freed in 2009 after a trip by former President Bill Clinton.

Former President Jimmy Carter negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was detained in 2010 after crossing into North Korea illegally from China. Analysts say high-level visits give Pyongyang a propaganda boost and a way to save face when it releases a prisoner.

Eddie Yong Su Jun was released by North Korea a month after he was detained in April 2011. His alleged crime was not provided to the media. The American delegation that secured his freedom included Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues.

Robert Park was released by North Korea in 2010 without any apparent U.S. intervention. The Christian missionary crossed into North Korea from China, carrying a letter asking Kim Jong Il to free political prisoners and resign. North Korea's state-run news agency said Park was released after an "admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings." Here, Park holds a photo of Kim and a malnourished child during a protest in Seoul.

Josh Fattal, center, Sarah Shourd, left, and Shane Bauer were detained by Iran while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009. Iran charged them with illegal entry and espionage. Shourd was released on bail for medical reasons in September 2010; she never returned to face her charges. Bauer and Fattal were convicted in August 2011, but the next month they were released on bail and had their sentences commuted.

Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, was also detained at Evin Prison, spending months in solitary confinement before Iran released her on bail in August 2007. Esfandiari was visiting her ailing mother in Tehran when she was arrested and charged with harming Iran's national security.

Alan Gross, at right with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, has been in Cuban custody since December 2009, when he was jailed while working as a subcontractor. Cuban authorities say Gross tried to set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was just trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Former President Jimmy Carter and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have both traveled to Cuba on Gross' behalf, but they were unable to secure his release.

Sixteen Americans were among the dozens arrested in December 2011 when Egypt raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations that it said received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a public license. Many of the employees posted bail and left the country after a travel ban was lifted a few months later. Robert Becker, right, chose to stay and stand trial.

Freelance reporter James Foley went missing in November 2012 after his car was stopped by gunmen in Syria. He is likely being held by the Syrian government, according to the GlobalPost, an online international news outlet to which he contributed, and Foley's brother.

Filmmaker Timothy Tracy was arrested in Venezuela in April on allegations of funding opponents of newly elected President Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late Hugo Chavez. Tracy went to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country. He was released in June.

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• Peter Bergen: The U.S. won't negotiate with terrorists, but will it make an exception?


• Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is believed to be held by the Haqqani group, a terror wing of Afghan Taliban


• Bergen: Talks would be held with Afghan Taliban, which is not directly a terrorist group


• Bergen: U.S. combat troops leaving Afghanistan, it's time to swap POWs, including Bergdahl

Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a director at the New America Foundation and the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad." Bailey Cahall is a policy analyst at the New America Foundation.

(CNN) -- The U.S. government's long-stated position is that it won't negotiate with terrorists. But are there exceptions?

U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, an American prisoner of war, is believed to be held in Pakistan by the Haqqani group.

The Haqqani group is part of the larger Taliban network and has engaged in a range of attacks on civilian targets in Afghanistan, such as the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department named three of the Haqqani group's leaders as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists," and noted that the organization "poses a grave threat to U.S. civilians, military personnel, and our broader interests in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region."

Two years ago, the U.S. State Department also formally listed the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization.

Yet on Monday, The Washington Post quoted U.S. officials who said the government was going to resume talks with the Afghan Taliban and offer to trade five Taliban prisoners held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl, who has been held since 2009.

Does that mean the United States is negotiating with a terrorist group?

In fact, the Haqqanis are part of the larger Afghan Taliban network, but the Afghan Taliban itself is not listed by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terrorist organization, which enables the United States to have direct talks with the Afghan Taliban, which it has been doing for years secretly, according to multiple U.S. officials familiar with the talks.

U.S. to swap terror suspects for P.O.W.?

U.S. to swap terror suspects for P.O.W.?

New video of missing U.S. soldier

This means that discussions about the release of Bergdahl with the Afghan Taliban are not directly with a terrorist organization per se, but instead with an insurgent group that has a terrorist wing.

For some this may seem to be a distinction without a difference, but as a matter of U.S. policy this is a very important distinction. Consider the case of another American who is held hostage in Pakistan, Warren Weinstein, a contractor for the U.S. Agency of International Development who was kidnapped by al Qaeda in Lahore, Pakistan, more than two years ago.

In December, a proof-of-life video was released to international media outlets, in which Weinstein called on President Obama to negotiate for his release. As with Bergdahl, the release of Guantanamo detainees was among his captors' conditions.

U.S. officials have called for Weinstein's release. But the United States has never negotiated with al Qaeda and would not want to encourage the group to kidnap other Americans living in Pakistan, so it seems out of the question that U.S. officials would negotiate with al Qaeda for Weinstein's release.

That said, U.S. officials will certainly be working behind the scenes to put pressure on the Pakistan government to try to secure Weinstein's release.

The fact that Bergdahl is being held by the Haqqanis does raise another issue, however, which is: Even if you get a deal with the Afghan Taliban for Bergdahl's release, would the Haqqani network, which operates quite independently from the Afghan Taliban, go along with it?

The consensus among Taliban experts is, likely, yes. Anand Gopal, a fellow at the New America Foundation who has interviewed multiple members of the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network, says the Haqqanis would honor such a deal because "they take great pains to present themselves as part of the mainstream Taliban movement -- even if in practice they are independent -- and not going along would be an affront to the Taliban, possibly damaging relations."

According to the Washington Post report, the U.S. government has not yet made a formal offer for Bergdahl, who has spent almost five years in captivity. But the political situation around Bergdahl's release may be shifting slightly in favor of a resolution. In 2103, the Obama administration quietly released 11 prisoners from Guantanamo and it didn't generate much criticism from opponents of the administration.

Two months ago, Congress also eased up on some of the restrictions that had previously prevented prisoners being released from Guantanamo.

Also, U.S. combat troops in Afghanistan are pulling out at the end of December, which is, of course, a key Taliban demand. This means, as both a practical and legal matter, that the United States will then no longer be at war in Afghanistan, although there will likely be some residual force of U.S. soldiers in an advisory role post-2014.

When wars are over, the warring parties traditionally exchange their prisoners of war. With all U.S. combat soldiers returning home from Afghanistan during the course of this year, it is high time for Bergdahl to be one of them.

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Lawyer: 'Wolf of Wall Street' defamed me

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jordan Belfort in "The Wolf of Wall Street."

• Andrew Greene's lawsuit seeks more than $25 million damages from filmmakers


• Movies portrays Greene as "a criminal, drug user, degenerate," lawsuit says


• Suit criticizes the film for mocking Green's toupee in an "egregiously offensive manner"


• Complaint says it's "readily apparent" Nicky "Rugrat" Koskoff is based on Greene

(CNN) -- A lawyer who says he was defamed by his portrayal in "The Wolf of Wall Street" is demanding the Oscar-nominated film be removed from theaters.

Andrew Greene's lawsuit is also asking for "in excess of" $25 million in damages from the filmmakers, who he said made him look like "a criminal, drug user, degenerate, depraved, and/or devoid of any morality or ethics."

The movie, which is up for five Academy Awards, was based on the 2007 memoir by Jordon Belfort, the founder of the over-the-counter securities brokerage. Greene, a lifelong friend of Belfort, served as the firm's head of corporate finance in the 1990s.

The federal lawsuit said it was "readily apparent" that the character Nicky "Rugrat" Koskoff, played by actor P.J. Byrne, was based on Greene.

"In one scene, Mr. Greene's character is depicted shaving a woman's head after Jordan Belfort's character states the woman was offered $10,000," the complaint said.

Another scene suggested that Greene's character was arrested with a Swiss banker and that he arranged a meeting with the banker to help Belfort launder money, the suit said.

"Mr. Greene's character is shown doing cocaine on company premises during business hours in another scene," the suit said. "The motion picture included other scenes depicting Mr. Greene's character in a reckless and depraved manner, including more than one scene wherein his character is depicted having sexual relations with a prostitute."

Greene's real-life nickname is "Wigwam," because he often wears a hairpiece, the complaint said. It criticizes the film for mocking his toupee in an "egregiously offensive manner."

The movie has "permanently damaged" Greene's professional and personal reputation by portraying him as "a criminal and drug user with misogynistic tendencies."

"Mr. Greene will be permanently linked to the crimes and loathsome behavior portrayed by his likeness in the motion picture, despite never having been interviewed, questioned, charged, imprisoned, or even arrested for the illicit and despicable behavior shown in the motion picture," the complaint said.

Paramount Pictures did not immediately respond to CNN request for comment.

CNN's Carolyn Sung contributed to this report.

Ghitis: Russia is the bully in Ukraine

Protesters in Kiev, Ukraine, clash with police in Independence Square on Wednesday, February 19. Thousands of anti-government demonstrators have packed the square since November, when President Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision on a trade deal with the European Union and instead turned toward Russia.

Protesters clash with police in Kiev on February 19. The unrest in Ukraine intensified after an anti-protest law went into effect in January. Demonstrators took to the streets to protest the law, which was later repealed.

Protesters prepare a barricade in Independence Square on February 19.

Police form a line as the Trade Unions Building burns in Independence Square on February 19.

Police form a barrier in Independence Square on February 19.

Protesters in Kiev throw rocks at riot police in Independence Square on February 19.

Independence Square smolders during protests on February 19.

Protesters walk in the rubble of Independence Square on February 19.

Protesters gather in Kiev on February 19.

A protester throws a cobblestone at riot police during clashes in Independence Square on February 19.

Riot police officers rest against a column in Independence Square on February 19.

Protesters stand in Independence Square on February 19.

An injured protester is moved out during clashes with riot police in Kiev on February 19.

A protester uses a slingshot to throw a rock at riot police February 19 in Kiev.

Riot police line up in Kiev on February 19.

Protesters put on gas masks near the perimeter of Independence Square on February 19.

Protesters brace themselves for more violence in Kiev on February 19.

A protester throws a stone in Kiev on February 19.

Protesters protect themselves with shields as they clash with police in Kiev on February 19.

An injured protester waits to be treated in a Kiev monastery, converted into a makeshift hospital, on February 19.

Protesters sleep on the floor inside a Kiev monastery on February 19.

Protesters clash with police in Independence Square on February 19.

A protester rushes through a broken door in the regional prosecutor's office in Lviv, Ukraine, on February 19. Police said the unrest has spread to western Ukraine, with protesters attacking police and local government offices in a number of regions.

Protesters in Lviv burn papers from a government building on February 19.

A protester aims a weapon in Kiev on Tuesday, February 18.

Riot police storm Independence Square on February 18.

A protester runs during clashes with police in Kiev on February 18.

Protesters clash with police in Independence Square on February 18.

Protesters watch clashes in Kiev on February 18.

Violence between police and protesters escalates February 18 in Kiev.

Riot police stand firm in Kiev on February 18.

Protesters burn a car in central Kiev on February 18.

A protester stands atop a barricade in Kiev on February 18.

Protesters clash with riot police outside Ukraine's parliament in Kiev on February 18.

A rainbow forms over a protester ducking for cover in Kiev on February 18.

Riot police protect themselves during clashes in Kiev on February 18.

A protester is engulfed in flames while running from the clashes in Kiev on February 18.

Riot police detain a protester in Kiev on February 18.

Protesters invade the main office of the ruling Party of Regions in Kiev on February 18.

Riot police shield themselves during clashes with protesters on February 18.

Protesters throw stones toward riot police in Kiev on February 18.

A protester holds a Ukrainian flag in Independence Square on Tuesday, February 4.

A protester smokes a cigarette while standing guard in Kiev on February 4.

Protesters keep an eye on police February 4 as they man a barricade in Kiev.

A protester is reflected in a broken mirror during protests in Kiev on Monday, February 3.

Opposition supporters warm themselves in Kiev on Saturday, February 1.

A protester stands on top of barricades in Kiev on Tuesday, January 28.

Protesters sit behind a barricade in Kiev on January 28.

Protesters march in Kiev on Monday, January 27. Activists say they want wide-ranging constitutional reform and a shake-up of the Ukrainian political system.

Police block a street in Kiev on January 27.

A couple try to keep warm near a fire at a barricade in Kiev on January 27.

Riot police block a Kiev street from protesters on January 27.

Protesters stand guard inside the Ukraine Justice Ministry in Kiev on January 27. Demonstrators later left the building because they didn't want to create any difficulties in negotiations between the government and opposition, a protest leader said. Protesters repositioned themselves outside and blocked access to the building, the leader said.

Orthodox priests lead the funeral service for slain protester Mikhail Zhiznevsky in Kiev on Sunday, January 26.

Riot police officers stand in line during anti-government protests in Kiev on Saturday, January 25.

An Orthodox priest prays during protests on January 25.

Some 10,000 Ukrainians take part in the funeral ceremony of dead protester Yuri Verbytsky in the western city of Lviv on Friday, January 24.

A line of Ukrainian riot police block a road on January 24.

A protester puts on a gas mask near Dynamo Stadium in Kiev on January 24.

Ukrainian Oksana Tikhomirova cries as she urges riot police to stop the violence outside a government district in central Kiev on January 24.

Molotov cocktails sit in a basket ready to be used by protesters in Kiev on January 24.

Riot police stand guard near Dynamo Stadium on January 24.

A protester passes past graffiti that reads "Government for People" in the Ministry of Agricultural Policy building in Kiev on January 24.

A man walks past the wreckage of a car on January 24.

Ukrainian protesters use a huge catapult to throw stones at riot police as tires burn in Kiev on Thursday, January 23.

Riot police officers gather in Kiev on January 23.

Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, center, addresses protesters near the burning barricades between police and protesters in central Kiev on January 23.

Riot police stand guard near a burnt-out bus covered in icicles in Kiev on January 23.

A protester walks past burning tires in Kiev on January 23.

A protester shoots fireworks at police during clashes in Kiev on January 23.

A protester carries tires toward a fire on January 23.

Riot police officers line up in Kiev during clashes on Wednesday, January 22.

A protester throws a Molotov cocktail on January 22.

Protesters shoot from behind a shield among burning automobile tires in Kiev on January 22.

Riot police officers gather as they clash with protesters in the center of Kiev on January 22.

A protester throws a Molotov cocktail during clashes with police in central Kiev.

Ukrainian protesters are seem during a mass action of opposition on Grushevsky Street.

A protester throws a stone in front of a plume of fire and smoke during clashes with police in central Kiev.

Flames leap off a protester during clashes with police on January 22.

A police officer aims his shotgun during clashes with protesters.

Paramedics put a wounded man on a stretcher and into a medical vehicle.

Ukrainian police storm protesters' barricades in Kiev amid violent clashes on January 22.

A European integration supporter is seen in Independence Square.

Protesters are seen in front of burning tires on Grushevsky Street.

A medic treats an injured protester's leg during violent clashes between demonstrators and police.

A Ukrainian man stands in front of riot police on January 22.

Protesters clash with police in Kiev as snow falls on January 22.

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• Frida Ghitis: New Russia on display in Sochi, but the old one is showing its face in Ukraine


• Ghitis: Putin has called Ukraine "Little Russia" and wants it to turn away from the West


• Ghitis: Protesters enraged by seeing their leaders' knuckle under Russia's bullying


• As demonstrators refuse to stop, she says, Putin should be worried they might prevail

Editor's note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television." Follow her on Twitter @FridaGhitis.

(CNN) -- As the Olympic flame burned above Sochi on Tuesday evening, a scene of mayhem and death exploded a few hundred miles away in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where blazes roared and violent clashes erupted along protesters' barricades.

At least 25 people were killed and hundreds more hospitalized in confrontations pitting government forces against demonstrators opposed to a regime that has strong support from President Vladimir Putin's Russia. It was the deadliest day in the three months since the showdown started.

Between the two spectacles, you can bet Putin's attention focused more sharply on the crisis in Ukraine, which is officially an independent country since 1991 but in reality remains a state over which Moscow exercises enormous influence, infuriating much of Ukraine's population.

At the heart of the battle lies a fundamental question: Is Ukraine a free nation or is it a piece of Moscow -- a piece on Putin's chessboard? The more immediate question is how far the Moscow-backed regime will go to put down opposition protests.

As it happens, both Sochi and Ukraine play a large role in Putin's strategy. To Putin, staging a successful Olympics is a way to consolidate power, to build up his image for domestic and international audiences, and to show a resurgent, self-assured and powerful Russia under his rule.

What happens in Ukraine is part of the same larger objective, but it is far more important.

Ukraine has experienced much bloodshed throughout its history, with foreign powers inflicting unspeakable devastation. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has struggled to get back on its feet, with little success.

A decade ago, pro-Western demonstrators managed to depose a Moscow-allied president, Viktor Yanukovich, and replace him with a new leader who wanted closer ties to the West. That uprising, known as the Orange Revolution, was part of a wave of "color revolutions" along Russia's borders, and it inspired protests in Russia, which Putin swiftly put down.

Death toll rising in Kiev protests

Ukraine sees deadliest day in standoff

The most recent crisis burst on the scene in November when Yanukovich (once again in power after his 1995 defeat) decided not to sign a trade deal with the European Union, an agreement that would have increased links with the West and was fiercely opposed by Moscow. Russia wants the former Soviet republics to join a Moscow-centered customs union.

The decision to turn away from Europe enraged the opposition, bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of Kiev and other Ukrainian cities.

Protesters were incensed by what they saw, quite correctly, as acquiescence to Russian bullying. In August, when Ukrainian officials were negotiating the EU's Eastern Partnership agreement, Moscow made it clear it would not tolerate a turn to the West.

Russia, Ukraine's principal trading partner, suddenly imposed crippling sanctions against Ukrainian imports. Putin's top economic adviser explained it as "preventive measures" in case Ukraine decided to "take the suicidal step" of signing an agreement with the EU.

Moscow has used similar bullying tactics with other former USSR members. Armenia had spent years working on a deal to join the EU Eastern Partnership. Then abruptly in September, while pressure was coming down on Ukraine, the Armenian president met with Putin in Moscow and announced the end of the talks with Europe, triggering protests in the Armenian capital.

For Ukrainians, the EU deal symbolized a new future, the chance of economic and political modernization and rule of law. Europe required reforms as part of the deal. The Russian customs union cements the status quo.

Putin offered Yanukovich $15 billion in loans to help the country through its economic crisis. He also persuaded him to take a much harder line against protesters. The Ukrainian president had repeatedly pledged not to use force against protesters. According to The New York Times, he changed his mind after meeting with Putin in Sochi.

Ukrainians have long been divided between easterners, who favor close ties with Russia, and westerners, who feel more European. But persistent economic stagnation and the ability to travel abroad and compare conditions have brought new impetus to calls for reform.

The Ukrainian economy is mired in deep corruption, with Russia-style oligarchs making enormous fortunes in shady deals -- such as those allegedly made ahead of the Sochi Olympics -- while the economy fails to offer better prospects. Transparency International ranks Ukraine as one of the world's most corrupt countries.

Next door in Poland, for example, which is now part of the EU, per capita income has grown steadily, now topping $18,000, up about 50% in the last decade. Ukraine, meanwhile, has per capita gross domestic product of $6,300, even lower than it was five years ago.

Perhaps nothing rankles Ukrainians more than Putin's attitude toward their country. In 2008, when then-President Viktor Yushchenko tried to join NATO, Putin warned the West to keep its hands off Ukraine, calling it "Little Russia," a term dating back to the days when Imperial Russia's czars ruled parts of Ukraine. A Russian newspaper reported that Putin told then-U.S. President George W. Bush that "Ukraine is not even a state."

What started as protests over a trade deal has moved far beyond. Demonstrators demand constitutional reform. Demonstrations aim at ending the authoritarianism of the Yanukovich regime, empowering parliament and laying the groundwork for political and economic progress.

Unfortunately, the protests have attracted a segment of thuggish extreme right-wing groups. Estimates vary on their size and strength within the opposition. But their presence has given the regime and its Russian backers an excuse to label the protesters as fascists and neo-Nazis.

In predictable fashion, Russia has also blamed the United States for the turmoil, accusing Washington of trying to impose the "Western vector" of development and of telling "a sovereign state what they should do next."

The United States is, in fact, expressing support for the protesters, but it is proposing a power-sharing government until the next elections. If anything, Washington and the EU have failed to offer as much backing as they should. Their disagreements have been aired publicly in embarrassing leaked recordings -- although they are not verified.

Their reluctance to challenge Putin's geopolitical claim to controlling Ukraine is a source of profound frustration for Ukrainians who say they are being sacrificed to appease Putin.

Opposition leaders have met with Western officials to request more support.

What is most striking about the protests has been their perseverance through the brutal Ukrainian winter. Three months into the crisis, with the intensity of the violence and the bloodshed increasing, Putin has reason to worry about how this will end.

Just as he wants the Sochi Olympics to show what his Russia is capable of accomplishing, he knows the Russian people are keeping an eye on what exactly Ukrainian protesters can achieve. The raging flames of Kiev now matter more than the carefully tended fire in Sochi.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Frida Ghitis.