The day or thinks. Week to ask. Hello and welcome to cross talk or all Things Considered im Peter Lavelle showdown in syria as the damascus government continues its drive to liberate the country turkeys illegal military presence has created a Major International crisis and no one is between a rock and a very hard place. Across talking some real news im joined by my guest here in moscow glenn these and he is a professor at the Higher School beacon nomics as well as all the decay of western civilization and resurgence of russia we also have Dimitri Bobbitt shes a political analyst and editor at me internet media project and in athens we cross to. He is the director and writer for the duran dot com. In effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate glenn let me go to you 1st here. Weve spoken many times about the situation in syria in particular and it would give this real quickly there are 2 opposing media narratives one coming out of the on the ground and what youll see in western media whats the difference well its a good question i guess from the west the main thing you get is that this is all about human rights so its about assads government attacking. Attacking its on its own country you know with some foreign troops present for some reason. And i guess from the other side. The more story you get from russia recognizing that this is largely a regime change war and i guess this is this is quite important because by recognizing that this is largely been a war to topple the Assad Government recognizes that the west also have certain culpability i mean for for many many years now this drive towards toppling assad has meant that the west has to a large extend well not to vent to these militant groups theyre well which is supports if if anything for a long time anyone who is willing to pick up a weapon to fight the government in many there is not at all recognized as. A moderate opposition and i guess awkward situation were in now is i was just b. B. C. Website this morning in even they have now their maps on the web site recognizing it is labeled jihadi on the jihadi control so it begs the question now where we are are we because for because we are very upset that syria and russia is moving into liberate italy but if we are recognizing its controlled by jihad this under turkish protection how could you do it very unclear what the what the solution will be and indeed that initial agreement between turkey and russia was russia and syria would would halt going into response the turks would separate you know what they call the moderates from the geologist and thereby. Yes clean up the region and then you would have some form out for for the fullness in solving this and no one who didnt do it didnt want to make good things here glenn brings up such a good point 1st of moment and its never mentioned in mr western media that turkey has invaded the sovereign country of syria and its military there is its presence is illegal and even. Mainstream websites like like the b. B. C. Designate the Elements Holding it live in the province that its in our jihad its but you dont get any kind of pushback you know i mean its so bizarre but here they are in turkey a nato ally is protecting and giving aid to what are deemed as jihad disco ahead alex explain to me. I wish i could but i mean i think that theyre doing on it and turkey have run out of road at this point and i think you said it best peter that he is definitely in a very tough spot a tough spot of his own making and i really think that when you look at a site like the b. B. C. Theyre also starting to finally finally represent the situation after years of falsely representing what was going on starting to come around and you also had tosi gabbert the other day who came out with this statement as well stop calling them moderate rebels they are not moderate rebels theyre isis fighters that the u. S. Has been funding i mean youre starting to see that narrative change and theyre starting to come around after many many years and i think that has a lot to do with the fact that while they say they may support turkey and they may say that you know turkey is a nato ally and we stand by you the support was very lukewarm for the United States and for the e. U. And i think theres just no appetite anymore to deal with their dogs should natica and there really is not and i think youre going to see that reflected even in even in the fake news Mainstream Media thats going to start getting reflect you know its interesting to me is the you know the russians and the turks have been. Dealing with this issue for quite a bit and and almost every single step of the way everyones deviates from what hes promised ok and in the western media interpretation is that somehow this is all russias fault i mean for Goodness Sake russia has been trying to help everyone save face for well over a year on this particular issue. If youre not on the over there year since their failed coup against him in 2016 russia has been trying to find him or the to but. You know the west is it when the wars than that because theyre not concede quench i mean just last year when the. Knowledge that he would move his troops into the north and areas of syria controlled by the kurds there was an old gray in the west he is breaching the border and somebody they finally realized they were kurds there thats. The keyboard here is a western ally they kept saying that kurds are western allies so you cannot dodge them you cannot enter the a. V. S. Even the. Even the Syrian Government should not enter it even though legally its all syrian territory right it would not be on the border with turkey but look at that map its pretty deep inside syria its 5 percent of the syrian territory and its controlled by jihadi groups even the b. B. C. Acknowledges that its you know so the question is how can you clean up this area you know the Syrian Government the Russian Aviation how can they do it without using media means you know the west is he put create people there they keep saying that the minister is a terrorist organization now its called. Sham and the 3rd if soldiers who were killed during the recent operations of the syrian army there they were killed or berated next door at the. So so how can the Syrian Government be blamed for using media true force against terrorism only talking to everybody since the it is acknowledged that this is going to have to be resolved and its not going to be resolved its going to be resolved by the military nevertheless theyre there just. As soon as there are maps that you need to go with what that statement might pale who instead of condemning operating on another country you know as the western media. Said could you share with us he said that the United States is prepared to take the strongest diplomatic and economic actions against that oxford regime and a new state individual that supports censorship so the United States decides for the whole world who the whole world should support even in the case but this is a country and a member of the United Nations which is i dont know theres some theory which is pretty thin is pointed out here lets go going to talk about the nato angle here i mean nato doesnt seem to have much of an appetite for these. Escapades. On the part of the turks i mean a nato ally here but they already invoke article 4 for consultations which is only one step away from invoking article 5 of self defense for the entire alliance is anybody in nato going to listen to them outside of rhetorical i know that the white house came out for absolute support but that doesnt mean Material Support no i think its both a yes and no are there because former for nato and especially in the states a little bit of conflict here has not been a negative thing that is because the u. S. Has been very aware about this about turkey and russia getting along too well in this they dont like that russia gets along too well with serbia with china with germany like the you usually its a problem across the board but with turkey. I guess some conflict has been good to the extent there. Driven a wedge between the turks and the russians however youre correct i dont have an appetite for going to war against russia in order to protect a jihadi protecting me in an illegal invasion to 3rd country but i want point but i think i just. Said i think its quite important to know that there is you would think theres some room for for compromise here because it seems everyone knows more or less recognizing that the us is controlled by jihadists and if this is the case surely there must be some room for cooperation because i think from now on in the west would be somewhat comfortable by keeping it there as a jihad as protector given that its a thorn in the side of syria and the russians however now that russia and syria is pushing. Them back i mean obviously the problem is going to have. Yes course of refugees heading north going to talk about that if you g. s here in a 2nd here alex let me go back to you and in athens i mean everyone is basically put in a position where he has to decide if he wants to go to war against russia in syria i mean what a dilemma to find yourself in particularly since the 2 countries russia and turkey have been talking about it. For well over a year now making agreements and its not that the russians have lost patience it just that everyone doesnt come through i mean he has not kept his word in resolving this issue its its all comes back to him go ahead he hasnt only not kept his word hes overextended to the point where hes in big trouble now peter i mean he tried to get nato involved that failed the u. S. Made some statements of token statements thats about it the e. U. Cant put up with this stuff thats obvious the e. U. Has no appetite for more bike routes coming into europe. Hes antagonizing russia he got involved in libya he has overextended himself to the point where air is in serious serious trouble he cannot take on a war in syria i dont think he can even take on the syrian army at this point lets not forget that after the coup in turkey that failed coup erda want perched his entire military and the Turkish Military has not been doing very well with their operations in syria their economies in shambles the turkish economy is a big mess what happens if russia decides to put more sanctions now that were coming into the tourist season in the summer what happens if they decide to say turkey again and look at look at their do want to get us in collapsium but he cant and kenny afford even to alienate the russians at all with the tourism i energy. I think civilian Nuclear Power i mean theres a lot of involvement there ok real quick before we go to break you know but i think thats a problem as well though. Because turkey has invested so much time in them from having a Good Relationship theres a sense of reassurance that they wont go to war but i think theres also the problem because this reassurance is put into the calculation that is to turks things that the russians wont respond because the turks and the russians have a big interest in maintaining good relations in here but i mean. Hes good in the bizarre but he blocks way too often we go to a short break and after that short break well continue our discussion on some real news stay with r. T. Thousands of american men and women choose to serve in the countrys military a decision that has shattered lives bring. A complete. And be instructive here you know to shut out what they kill me and i see how it does. Any screamed at me and he made me come in and he grabbed my arm and he write me this berthing area if you take into account that women dont report because of the extreme retaliation and its probably somewhere near about half a 1000000 women have now been sexually assaulted in the us military rape is a very very traumatizing tat happen but ive never seen trauma like ive seen from women who are veterans who have suffered military sexual trauma reporting rape is more likely to get the victim punished than the offender and almost 10 year career which i was very invested in and i gave that up to report a sex offender who was not even put to justice or put on the registry this is simply an issue of our in violence male sexual predators for the large part of target whoever is there to prey upon whether thats a man or woman. Seemed wrong. But i. Just dont hold. Any new world yet to shape out just they become educated and in detroit equals the trail. When something find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. Welcome back across all Things Considered im peter were discussing some real news. Right let me go back to alex in athens you touched about in the 1st part of the program it ever so slightly lets talk about closing the border how greece is reacting to this and how europe is going to be perceiving a possibility of the floodgates opening and we all have one person to blame for all this and me its name is go ahead alex. All right peter 1st of all its important to note that greece on the islands right now mainly lesbos which is an island which is close to turkey right now you have close to 2025000 migrants living in an open air camp as it is is a camp that was meant to house 3000 migrants and theyve been there since 20152016 when 1000000 migrants paster Greece Greece is a 1st port of entry for these migrants and these refugees from turkey now the greek Prime Minister a new Prime Minister who recently won the elections with a very strong mandate mr meeks attack us and i quote said no illegal entries into greece will be tolerated this follows an announcement by the greek government that theyre going to tighten the border due to the corona virus because weve also had our 1st cases here in greece and they want to tighten the border as specially with the microbes passing through as is also a health risk so the greek government at this point in time is basically saying no microbes be allowed in god has already started pushing migrants hes busing them in to the border with greece and on boats to land on the greek islands and the greek government is deploy military and National Guard and theyre stopping the migrants the greek government needs to stand firm if it folds like it did in 20152016 allows the migrants to come through youre looking at a disaster not only for greece but for europe ok aleksey of big what is it then is the view that the greeks have the of the backing of the European Union on this are they still being open ended on the issue because a greek in greece has taken a stand what about the e. U. Itself go ahead. I think the e. U. So far has has been very lukewarm they havent signal which way theyre going to go one way or another they dont have an appetite for more migrants either though im confident that the majority of e. U. Countries does not want to see the microbes passing through greece and moving upward up to the north thats for sure the question becomes what will Angela Merkel end market on do i dont think that this time around theyre going to go toward the wind and give him a payoff like they did last time a bribe yeah because i know you were at the because it doesnt work it didnt work it didnt work if they do do that then youre looking at a complete collapse what i care about though at this point in time peter is that greece the greek government needs to stand firm it doesnt matter what the e. U. Wants at this point in time and its because its about protecting greeces borders especially now during the Health Crisis with coronaviruses well you cannot have the migrants pass through whatever money is going to be given to. Should not be given to you want to be given to syria the e. U. Should be given money to syria the u. S. Should be giving money to syria so they could rebuild and the migrants from syria that are in turkey from syria its important to know that the syrian migrants and refugees can return home to wreak build the country you know and even real quick and in to follow up with what alex had to say here not only do you have these refugees slash migrants you also have jihad is probably built into this as well so not only is it a health issue it is a security issue go ahead let me just remind you look at lets take just the western press when they talk about isis fighters from from germany french and german nationals who went to fight in syria how did they get that its all what they what they went to turkey and from the turkish territory they perceive it but unfortunately i cannot quite agree with what that accept because i am reading that they show statements that nato and the e. U. Turkey is a precious ally i am quoting you have spoken about. Where to look when its the punch backing it up i mean i some of the. Same thing to you its certainly easy if you take it seriously i take it serious i know several times i have seen that you were union destroying itself in the name of regime change i mean how much did they lose because of the regime change in your great hundreds of billions how much did they lose because of their regime change in syria all of the sort of money and thousands of lives european lives you know victims of terrorism. And that they keep the only in that sense i do agree with you but what im saying is that you dont really have any strong words coming from nato in getting involved in this because that its not their dog fight by ok what do they want world war 3 because everyone cant figure out what he wants to do with turkey in syria really this is the most amazing thing this is why and regular say that not on the air of god but the west is to blame for what happens of course im looking at their statements from the french government for example total support french turkish cooperation in syria they use in these phrases when the russian journalist wanted to ask questions to young stoltenberg you know 2 days ago when the nato summit took place there were bar promotion questions stoltenberg all of the took questions from europeans and turks so you cannot even question there when you. Think they do have something common like for some of france and turkey that is a shared interest in maintaining it live the way it is because. Before when they if they cant resolve the problem l