some kind of ceasefire going on among the stakeholders in the region around syria including in syria what are your feelings as a negotiated end to this conflict still possible because it looks like a lot of people are digging their heels in and a lot of people the rebels do not want to talk so where do you think we stand right now about a peaceful negotiation well we're not in a good place but i think that in the go shaded political settlement remains the only way out of the mess. obviously bastardry he mean his role as the u.n. arab league envoy is trying to get traction with the process use a cease fire to jumpstart that. iran for its part has supported the plan the syrian government has expressed its willingness to to cooperate and something of a shift in previous policy turkey is now saying it would support this initiative

it really remains to be seen whether other players not just players in the syrian opposition but whether other regional players whether the gulf arab states this would be prepared to support this and use their influence with opposition groups will the united states support this this would require a significant change in direction for the united states for the gulf arab states to support this kind of initiative but it is really the only way out in beirut what do you think about that i mean we've heard about you know negotiations before and they've always fallen apart so how realistic is it this time. first of all war in syria is a primarily western nato war on syria it is not the primarily a civil war it is a part of clear and tangentially a civil war which was used and exploited by what sort of power by nato ally turkey

to. syria into western policy and to bring down is our side regime so what on syria is drive by's on west to control us through syria and our board using turkey's a new islamist regime in turkey the new islamist regime in egypt in libya as well as in tunisia along with already established broyard regime is in the gulf and in monaco or in jordan this new alliance aims at bringing down the last hour. out of nationalist the arab world after saddam hussein was brought down and got tough he was brought down so really it is a war over who controls the middle east if the nato and its allies when the countries of the middle east will fall under western nato control for a big a disk to come and if syria is able to resist this lot there's a blood drive on it that will be a setback for him

a thaw and that oblivion is allying with nato in new york i had you jump in we have very different points of view. i have to partially disagree with flint and i mean. there are undoubtedly foreign forces at play here what he sees the continuation of the cold war in the middle east between iran and saudi arabia between sunni and shiite forces absolutely but i disagree with the point of view that this is just the foreign power struggle no it's not assad regime for many years as oppresses own people has been distinct irruption in that country where many people around in the countryside have been marginalized they have been massive abuses of human rights. over the years and the syrian people have basically been ruled by the barrel by the gun in that country and what we see is a backlash of many years of oppressive policies by the assad regime so yes there are foreign players in this conflict but let's not forget the syrian people their life was not paradise an integration a little form. a conflagration up

a very good point what about the people because it looks like the proxies are not thinking about the people they're thinking about the other proxies helping the other proxies. yeah you know i think that i think i'm probably somewhere between between myer and i am on this i think that there is a genuine popular base for the opposition in syria there are indigenous factors that contribute to this conflict certainly but i also think that the syrian government the government retains the support of probably a narrow majority of the syrian population you know at least half of the syrian population i think still supports the government that's why i say i don't think there's really a military solution to this not that confident that the

government can really win militarily particularly as long as the opposition is supported by outside players but i also don't think there's a way for the opposition to win and that's why i come back to my basic point that the only way out of this is a negotiated political process the problem so far has been that there are players the united states the gulf arabs the turks that have insisted up to this point that any political process not just have preconditions but what you might call pre results that departure had to be stipulated at the get go and for the united states there is further concern that they have never wanted to have iran involved in a regional process or a contact group on syria that's just not a serious diplomatic position if you really want a political settlement that's why i come back to the point that if we're going to

have a little goes a little late it is going to requires some significant shifts in turkish and u.s. and gulf arab policies if you're in new york. jumping pleased to. see. peter peter flint is being a little bit too kind on the iranian government here in regards to their impact on the conflict that we see that's going on the iranian regime had recently in in september had you told some talks with members of the opposition but they always insist that the opposition has to accept that the bashar assad stays in power this is what these lamas said after they met with the legations from the reigning government when they travel to tehran. there have been talks but again the iranian government is also one of the causes of this come conflict we see that they are supporting the assad regime financially we see that the iranian regime itself members of the quds force the deputy head was saying that they are assisting the assad regime and the iranian regime has always insisted that assad stays no i think

this is something that has to be agreed between the syrian parties but one thing's for sure flynt assad cannot stay after the massive abuses of human rights in his own country after you know there's a recent human rights report that says twenty eight hour years in syria have disappeared what can what chance is there for us are to stay we all want to negotiate a settlement after this and i think this is for the syrian people to decide ok general we told really running. from you i think in beirut here which type of thing or let's say assad did leave what difference would it make there are still people there that are stuck in the middle of a sectarian war. first of four we will be do you doing our self and fooling i was out of. order if we say a war on syria is a war on human rights and on democracy which countries in the middle east which are always things i wars on syria or support things i was on syria as a gun of oil companies the royalists companies that had to do thirty system is also

countries as a ploy to get your my rights as i thought of supporting human rights and c.b.s. no this is not the questions i question is a struggle for power struggle over the resources of the e.u. and i'm just not going to control that he's run through the last bastion which is that as this things us at that without going on which is the syrian regime the syrian regime is not probably the idea is that she him that is implementing a human rights on syria we are not claiming that but says syria there g.m. is on human rights and civil liberties and that i had some of my in order these has about that of fart about that and i call it the most of the energy moves of a board that all your listeners dreams of which are to claim in full support of democracy in syria this is one hundred seventy years i want to join you go ahead in new york jump in please do so sorry now that i agree with your point that i don't i don't think for a moment that the saudi royal family or the qataris are out of frame hold of human

rights you know they are not they're not the leaders absolutely but i think it's inaccurate to say that all countries will support them on our undemocratic look at turkey turkey is a very democratic country look at egypt egypt has recently had a revolution and it's been my friend and we're says let democracy in turkey let's take the democracy internally does my thing if it does is a democracy like good adam a practical action erdogan won fair and square on us and i like the songs on my not it isn't going to keep i've been like that i've built into what what is that what the where i was i'd. does and thirteen is a human rights of the court is a political right as a southerner so there are good it is fifty fifty it is legally and before we go to the break i want to go to flint jensen before we go to the break democracy's kind of dropped off the agenda here when we look at syria hasn't it really

i don't know never really been on the agenda ok i agree good. keep going i don't think it's ever really seriously been on the agenda i think that you know i think that now you made a very very good point at the outset by saying particularly for the united states. the united states jumped on this situation much as it jumped on the situation in libya because after the loss of mubarak in egypt the overall ministrations. telling the american angels where is it just going to knock your comparison when finished on exactly what are you going to say you're doing great rationale it's the same basic it's the same basic rationale the united states the obama administration was looking for places where it could appear to be on quote unquote the right side of history and take the arab awakening when they tried in here gentlemen i'm sorry we have to go to a break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on syria stay with

us. and. it was the strangest attempt to the true take. the u.s. president trying to overthrow the foreign country's gulf but his strategic game. and america recognized its district. wants to be secure but managed to cope with the expectorant on all don't talk at all for he will get on ok i leave you do you go but the rajah but then the. missile crisis gave brianna.

i mean so to know your city in europe i'm the host of the twenty fourth she went through the pick a. song she. sang. a . song. thank you some way a. dog days are. the pride days or. weeks of calm. seas it's so true.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture. more news today violence is once again fled up the film these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. operations or the day. wealthy british style stock.

market. has come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports. and. welcome back to cross talk on capitol hill to remind you we're talking about the syrian civil war. and. my own we go back to you in new york here there was a bit of a blow out there about what's the nature of democracy in this conflict here and you

disagreed find so go ahead you can finish up your point. i think i think this this conflict is also about democracy i think the syrian people are fighting for their right to do both in their own country and not to live under a one party system i also disagree with flint in that he's the things that he says that this is the same as what america did in libya you can compare american involvement in libya which involved using fighter bomber jets and nato to what is happening in syria and i think america's actually taking the right choice by backing what is happening in syria and in terms of iran well the arab spring has been a disaster from the beginning for iran we saw what happened of the tehran on the line moving mom the one in there and basically backed the syrian people against the iranian regime's point of view and this is just going to could this current trend of the arab spring being against iranian interests is going to continue and i don't blame and i don't blame the reigns for seeing it as something negative. to be. what you think i've. had flame go ahead and we're going to

be a group. yeah i think the rain ians definitely see this differently and i think they actually are right on this point analytically they think the arab spring is working very very strongly in their favor in that any government in this region which becomes at all more representative of its people's attitudes beliefs preferences and so forth is automatically going to become less interested in strategic cooperation with the united states much less with israel supporting that it's going to become more open to an iranian message of resistance because i think that assad in contrast to mubarak. actually has a popular base as i said i think he's got half of syrian society on his side you know why should i have thought a little before i was interested in. this little going to

a fair time let's go to beirut iran isn't. colonel reforms time why not have one time on what i can for the gentlemen let's just. go ahead. let me pick up where a friend has mentioned. a few months ago a qatari funded institute and took a public opinion survey in syria and this sort of showed that fifty four percent of the syrian people supported the assad regime that was in their early summers and i think now if there is an increasing and massive destruction of which is a striking syria and everywhere the popularity of that regime as we can see has risen from the fifty four percent the probably to sixty percent of people are afraid in syria for the future after this whole bombardment and then i smell which

is that i think all of us as a country this has the sentence as the assad regime did and did not weakens assad regime so it is if you are to speak on a from the perspective of democracy and of popular support that assad regime doesn't have a popular support and this is a fact based on data and this that this sticks another point that i am evil what i want i want for our friends my art is not mentioned in new york if the issue is democracy. in the middle east is one of the closest system in the world left to our better fight it has cracked down on a on a movement in does which was elected democracy democratically and it was supported by the united states to destroy hamas and destroy it as a how can we talk about democracy we cannot have our cake and eat it too we cannot use double standard when we talk about democracy we have to work to speak with the house a steady hand as far as logic is concerned this is

a shoe my good friend is not about democracy it is about a strategic control over the resources of the middle east this is a fundamental fact that leadings a measure of power. in the world to get involvement in this mission from the united states to britain to france and most recently to russia russia i think has and has taken a very good position in standing up against this western new imperial attempt to control the middle east and specifically east syria and so on involved and i think the future is that assad will get out on from this conflict on top side will win the game irish and there's you know a lot said there's a lot to deny or go ahead in new york. well just just to first of to start with flint point regards to iran i think they run in regimes not interested in democracy in syria the reason being is that between all the people in the middle east they

run and people know syria best because since the revolution hundreds of thousands of iranians of travel to syria they go and visit the shiite shrines the as it is in been in damascus many of the government subsidizes their holiday trips are for civil servants are there and people know syria very well and the iranian regime is scared because if the syrian regime falls that could set an example for the iranian people who could say look we also lived in a in a dictatorship and we also want to have freedom just like the syrian people i'm not saying that what is happening in syria both sides are playing fair i think there are positions there also concern about the opposition forces some of them are jihadi some of them we know are al qaeda related but the concept here remains that the people in syria are participating in this conflict i don't agree with now i am saying that the regime is popular name how can the regime be popular when he uses cluster bombs against its own people which popular regime with twenty five.

neighborhoods and country and where you got israel can just make one more point with regards to israel i disagreed with the israeli policy of not allowing hamas a window when hamas won there was siding with p.l.o. and piro did not allow hamas to take over the government as they were supposed to after the elections i agreed this was a mistake in policy for israel to back p.l.o. however after that i also blame hamas hamas is also responsible for not allowing democracy to flourish because they don't agree to new elections israel is not an apartheid state it doesn't make mistakes let's also not forget the palestinians i think in that conflict both sides have got their own share of blame reply go ahead . unfortunately has been the state to which has. made an infraction and violation of international law in some most number of cases since world war two was and it is i guess a palestinian in gaza out as i west bank or. was it would have been to create the

jewels of the matter is what is sold out of lebanon or in other parts of that aboard so this is not the issue really well ok here it is you can waltz rules all right i want to i want to stay here year old i want to stay with syria flint if i go back to you it looks more and more like a secure area and more do we should we start saying sic kerry and more instead of civil war because when we add all the proxies in it's kerry and all the way down the line. i think that the sectarian card has basically been used by the opposition element and by some of its. sternal supporters as a way of mobilizing support against this so supposedly infidel regime in damascus i think that i mean certainly the government

draws a lot of its support from religious minorities in syria but that's not the only base of support that it has and i think that to the extent this conflict is becoming sectarian eyes that's being done by elements on on the opposition side and it's not a very positive positive trend i think in terms of the comparison of the way the u.s. is dealing with libya the way the u.s. is dealing with with syria obviously the united states has not intervened directly militarily yet in syria but i think that the fact that in contrast to libya that russia and china have been willing to veto three security council resolutions which would have legitimate sort of intervention by the united states is a really important factor here it's certainly not

a guarantee that the united states won't at some point basically act even without a security council resolution the united states unfortunately has done that has done that before but i think that has been an important constraint on the united states in this in this situation and it's a slightly whoever wins. in here is going to have a strategic choice to make ok let's go to beirut go ahead if it is making a valid point. it is a position in syria which has. made this conflict sectarian damascus five point five million people who live in damascus and around damascus the absolute majority of them are sunni and many of those certainly supported that in jeem. more as a city a city by city million people alipore as a province five point five million people many in aleppo also support of the regime

and they are sunni sectarian character of this conflict has been made by the opposition by hijacking of people on their idea. back to ground. back around or sectarian back around and killing them for more as a result than being a christian or being underweight in the in very very ugly and barbados but on the journey here almost out of time and i want to give my you the last time the last word on the program could we see syria partitioned as one of the outcome. my i think though i think the fact that the syrian government is arming the kurdish rebels in northern syria on the border with turkey is creating a de facto state kurdish state in that part of the part of the country and if asada falls a thing we're going to see the kurdish people probably declare independence so i have some kind of a kurdish regional government like there is in northern iraq i think that's a very positive development to the world powers who drew up the maps of the six

pick a degree meant basically forgot the kurdish people and i think this is going to be a very positive development to see them at least off the many years of suffering and is communication having their own state ok gentlemen i wonder what the the neighborhood would say to that many thanks my guest today in new york washington and in beirut and thanks to our viewers for watching us here are to see you next time and remember a problem. well for the future of science technology innovation all the least of elements from around russia we've got the future covered.

the gold fever. turnstiles and into slaves. my father but also among brotherly involved in the monsoon and since i started working in amman i stated. food multinationals. make it a cash cow to be milked dry and if i think that in this country gold medal logie as an environmental cost which is unacceptable to local business was labeled illegal and controlled by criminals you know in order to protect our lives our families and to work in peace. most dog most but we are forced to pay protection to illegal groups what price is colombia going to pay for. the modest effect on our t.v. . sigrid laboratory

was able to build a most sophisticated robot. tunes mission to teach me. to care about humans and. this is why you should care only. wealthy british. markets why not. happening to the global economy in the kinds of reports.

the.