Getting and welcome your chin the weekly here on out. The syrian army has begun moving to the north of the country where turkeys carrying out an offensive against the kurds damascus media added that the army will quote confront turkish aggression on syrian territory of the report suggests the syrian army has already entered the town of man bitch damascus is also reportedly planning to retake the town of kabbani within the next 48 hours just learned this professor at the university of oklahoma scholars of International Studies and director of the u. S. Center for middle east studies told us the regions rich resources are crucial for damascus. Well i think were going to were seeing a scramble for the northeast of syria in the same way that there was a scramble during the collapse of isis and. The resort. This is the area are going to be the 1st to be taken as we saw with the oil fields around areas or and i think what were going to see is the Syrian Government is going to try to go across get the oil fields the gas fields that are so crucial for a serious economic well being also this is prime Agricultural Land the Euphrates River flows down here the dam that damage which is so important to the flow of the euphrates which america and the kurds have held the Syrian Governments going to want to take that back as well so what were going to see is a scramble for resources in the area and and turkey is going to be come under intense pressure well see what air to one and assad can negotiate in a way to deescalate so that there isnt war between turkey and syria. The offensive spark rallies around the world people in the us france germany and other countries join to probe kurdish protest operations also being condemned by the International Community germany france and others have gone so far as to halt arms exports the doesnt everyone know is certain to send refugees currently in turkey to the e. U. If we continue to condemn anchors anxious. But really we have 3600000 Syrian Refugees in our country waiting to go back home Hey European Union come to your senses ill say it again at the moment of our operation you cannot define it as an invasion our job is easy we can open the doors and 3600000 refugees we will send them back to you. The offensive follows Donald Trumps decision to withdraw u. S. Troops from Northern Syria that was announced last sunday defense secretary mark spitz now confirmed washington will evacuate around a 1000 u. S. Troops in a deliberate withdrawal citing the risk of american troops being caught between 2 opposing armies syrian and turkish. Terms with all announcements condemned both abroad and in the u. S. With republicans democrats saying the president s betraying the kurds and hes accused of looks back at us relations with kurds of the decades. It seemed impossible sounded like crazy talk and yet it happened a moment of unity between republicans and democrats as they both condemned americas disloyalty to its kurdish allies the person who United States is in danger of losing the mandate of heaven this is that crazy. Which allies in syria or elsewhere in the middle east will fully trust the word of President Trump in the future the thing all of these politicians pundits and channels seem to forget though is that the kurds i used to waking up to a groundhog day of american betrayal the only difference is that its been going on for more than half a century and hasnt been funny at all. In the fiftys and early sixtys the cia pushed the kurds to revolt against baghdad as part of their efforts to overthrow their leader a bill karim kassim eventually he was toppled by but the new ruler wasnt a big fan of ideal of kurdish independence so he bombed them into submission bombed with napalm kindly provided by the United States. The kurds seem to either have a short memory or a forgiving heart because in the 70s the u. S. Was back on their good side iraq and iran were involved in a border dispute and washington was correctly supplying the minority with weapons once again pitching them against baghdad but then iraq and iran kissed and made up and all of a sudden the kurds were on their own being blown to pieces as they are supposed transatlantic Guardian Angel was watching idly even the americans at the time admitted that keeping their involvement under wraps. This was simply no excuse this policy was not imparted to our clients who were encouraged to continue fighting even in the context of covert action ours was a cynical enterprise hoovered action should not be confused with missionary work. Fast forward to the eightys and for the us it was the golden decade of big hair metallic umma dawn and m. T. V. For the kurds it was well just another decade of more u. S. Betrayal in the late eightys Saddam Hussein unleashed his chemical arsenal against them an atrocity looking bound to draw the wrath of the worlds policeman but it was still a long time before saddam was to turn from friend to full so american wrath didnt go further than statements like these we want to maintain good political and economic relations with iraq but the issue of chemical weapons gets in the way of that. In 2003 it looked like the u. S. Was finally ready to make amends for its decades of forsaking the kurds helping them was among the pretexts for the invasion of iraq but then even in washington many took such goals with a pinch of salt the kurds have every reason to believe or think that they will be betrayed again by the United States or so often in the past contract the spectacle of our inviting turks in to this war earlier trying to bribe them into it could not have been reassuring to the kurds even under the turks before trial against betraying the kurds that is your point yeah surely your point is that because we betrayed them in the past we should betray the list type not that we should trust we will we will not will not yes they did in 2007 the us let turkey have its way with the kurdish rebels in iraq as ankara launched a lethal bombing raid against them this is of course nowhere near. Here you fall list by 2019 america had left the kurds for dead a few more times both in iraq and syria. American traditions go beyond partisan lines america loves having turkey on thanksgiving going to the Pumpkin Patch for halloween and launching fireworks on the 4th of july screwing the kurds over is nothing but a decades long political tradition for america and they will abide by it be the democrat or republican. Could it was in the grip of anti austerity protest spite president lenin rainers military backed curfew that was imposed on saturday earlier that day people attacked government buildings and a t. V. Channels office more than a week has passed since people 1st flooded the streets to oppose government cuts on fuel subsidies r. T. Spanish correspondent Nicholas Adama the reports from peter. This is what theyre doing look these are real goods real bullets against people the im helpless to protect themselves who carved wooden sticks who dropped explosives on out Indigenous People who sleep in concho they were asleep thats what a car dance. Brings. Turns out right now and in the chaos there is thousands and thousands of protesters lets try and get closer to the front line just the just a few things and why its the president ial palace its heavily guarded by military and Police Forces these protests to plan to get there. In minutes ago while i was there in the launch when our spanish version we dont hit by. Right right right and thats what we think seeing old guy the protesters there using the current sales stones bricks just like greece. And Police Firing back with tear gas with minimal sound bombs its a situation of extreme tension in the streets. Just to give you an idea. Chris suspended any activity in the city center they say its not safe for adults and for ambulances instead weve got crews all volunteers that just take in the dozens and dozens of good people to. Stop them treating them there its its actually pretty shocking and to flutey measures that were implemented by the government included scrapping the subsidies for diesel. Gasoline. And that has triggered these protests the monday we had the students then on tuesday we had been bijan as communities today theyre all moved together theyve joined together in this massive tens of thousands of people are going to take him out to the streets and plead to president many more i know what hes going to see and what hes going to say it is a message. Absolutely repulsed so its government those ministers and Safety Measures that deal with the i. M. F. 4300000000. 00 it would all struggling with. Not the people who say that the government is going to say but that its big business instead of the people and thats why all these people are here protesting this is a National Strike that it is having with smoke its practically bearable a tragic day in ecuadors history. Head of a state visit to saudi arabia to let him and putin gave an interview to several Arab Networks including our sister channel r. T. Arabic here is an interview in full. View of welcome to this unique interview with russian president Vladimir Putin which were recording in sochi. With me today are mr mohan and. Sky news arabia soffit a reporter. Thank you very much for this unique opportunity and considering your upcoming visit to saudi arabia. A lot of. But you know so i mean. It is my pleasure i think its a good tradition to meet with the countrys media before visiting it as for the visit to saudi arabia we attach great importance to it it is in a sense a return visit after the visit by king of saudi arabia custodian of the 2 holy mosques to russia it was the 1st historic visit we consider it historic and it really is if there is one more thing that i believe is important to note in soviet times relations between saudi arabia and the soviet union were rather low level in recent years the quality of our relations has changed dramatically we consider saudi arabia a friendly nation i have very good relations with both the king and the crown prince we have been making good headway practically in all failed but i will start with the economy there is still a lot to be done but we have set a good pace last year it was up 15 percent in the 1st 6 months of 29000 growth was as high as 38 percent were considering some good joint projects on direct Investment Fund and the public Investment Fund of saudi arabia have jointly established a 10000000000. 00 platform with 2000000000. 00 have already been invested work is underway on other projects and some promising and interesting projects have already been implemented let me also consider it possible to operate on the territory of saudi arabia one of our Companies Exploring the possibility of building a petro chemical facility with investments of more than 1000000000. 00 it is Cebu Holdings russias Largest Company in this sector we have for string a partnership in the trust based sensitive area of military and defense cooperation we have been negotiating for a long time equally important are our joint efforts to resolve the regional crises in this regard i would like to emphasize the positive role saudi arabia has played and resolving the Syrian Crisis we are working especially closely with turkey and iran as you well know but i believe that without saudi arabias contribution towards the syrian. Settlement it would have been impossible to achieve a positive trend therefore i would like to express our gratitude to both the king and the crown prince for this constructive approach im confident that my visit will help to build up the momentum both in developing bilateral relations and in hunston cooperation in international organization. So that. Mr president thank you very much once again for giving us the opportunity to record this interview your visit to the middle east will possibly have an impact on the United Arab Emirates as well or do you think about strategic cooperation between russia and the use and how would this corporation evolve can this corporation play a certain role in strengthening collective security considering the Russian Initiative to establish a collective Security Architecture in the gulf region especially in the area of the strait of hormuz. Because earlier you just mentioned the strategic nature of our cooperation indeed we signed a Strategic Partnership memorandum last year and we see the United Arab Emirates as one of our very close some promising partners the signing of this document was not a coincidence it demonstrated the quality and nature of relations between the United Arab Emirates and the Russian Federation and i have to say that as is the case with saudi arabia our partnership is vigorously developing in all areas of all the gulf countries we have the highest level of trade 1700000000. 00 but of course this is not enough we are well aware of that so currently we are working with the u. A. E. Sovereign fund the joint platform is worth approximately 7000000000 dollars 2000000000 dollars have already been invested work is underway on other projects and of course it is safe to say that the United Arab Emirates greatly contribute to resolving regional crises and play is stabilizing role in the region it is no great secret that we maintain regular contacts with the leadership of the United Arab Emirates there is even an established tradition and practice to compare notes regarding different topics in my opinion we are doing it for the benefit of both parties and the region as a whole will lead to. Mr president and the more than 10 years of your presidency some harsh dramatic developments have taken play. In the middle east and the statehood of several countries has been undermined namely iraq and libya we see that this could be the fate of other states as well where we see what happened in the Syrian Arab Republic what catastrophic events took place there now many members of the arab public think that russia can really bolster its role in the region you surely know there are never a guarantee arabic covers russias Foreign Policy as well many our viewers have been asking straightforwardly why is russia taken such a harsh stance in the case of syria but the position regarding libyan rug was perhaps not as hard to replace what it is that we can look at. First of all during the crises in iraq and libya i was not in office but this is not the main reason the thing is that as is commonly known in the case of iraq the United States circumvented the United NationsSecurity Council the u. S. Has no mandate to use force against iraq actually i was present at that moment anyway russia did not support the invasion russia france and germany did not support u. S. Plans regarding iraq what is more we warned about the potential adverse implications and thats exactly what happened the initial euphoria of military victory soon gave way to despondency and pessimism about the consequences of the victory because all Iraqi Government institutions were destroyed but no new institutions were established at least in the beginning when you put on the country the radical forces got a boost and terrorist groups became stronger many former offices of Saddam Husseins army and Security Service agents resurface and join the ranks of what later evolved into why is this so those who lead has supported this campaign had not considered the ramifications we do expect that there will be some positive developments in iraq and despite some internal problems the country will continue to move forward although there are still a lot of problems to deal with were perfectly aware of that as for libya the chaos wrought by the military operation still prevails but in this case our western partners played a trick on us russia voted for the corresponding Security Council resolution after all what does this resolution say. If you read it carefully the resolution prohibited good afi to use aviation against the rebels but there was nothing about allowing any as strikes on libyan territory so that was actually what happened so basically what happened there was done circumventing the un Security Council and we are all aware of what happened next there still chaos and confusion of flow of migrants went through libya to europe get off it always warned about that he said that he stopped african migrants from going to europe as soon as this wall was gone they started pouring into europe and now they have what they warned about but that is probably not even the main issue most importantly it is destabilizing the entire middle east region as for syria we came to syria to support the legitimate government and i would like to emphasize the word legitimate it does not mean that they do not have internal problems im ready to talk about it in detail later that it does not mean that the current leadership is not responsible for what is going on then they are but it does not mean that we were to allow terrorist organizations to capture syria and to establish a terrorist suit a state there that we