access to your office. hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle giving peace a chance this may or may not be the case when it comes to the fate of syria after almost a year a russian peace plan to end a civil war is being reconsidered the idea is simple no preconditions and all parties have a seat at the negotiating table are the u.s. and its gulf allies serious or is this a ploy to merely intensify the complex. to cross talk russia syria and israel i'm joined by my guests in washington ariel

cohen he's a senior fellow in russian and eurasian studies and international energy security at the heritage foundation and he is a political analyst and a professor at the george washington university right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want ariel how well what accounts for the flip flop the american flip flop now they're going for the russian plan or something like that what do you think about that. well winston churchill said that americans can be counted upon to come to the best option after the tried everything else but i think the united states missed an opportunity to. reinforce and support moderates in thai forces the center collapsed we ended up with extremists from the muslim brotherhood all the way to al qaeda affiliated. job.

front. these are no good options today in syria and because ball is getting into the fray so the united states is trying to give it a shot it is not a ploy to derail the process unfortunately i want our viewers to understand the united states is not calling the shots on this there are other players as russia there's iran there. are a lot of people cars so yes. this is not something like president obama just pushing the button and everything falls into into its place this is a mess and it's a bloody mess and i hope and i pray for the sake of people in syria that a good solution will be found i'm pessimistic as usual peter you know me but it's the middle east ok neville what do you think about ariel's analysis there are you just as pessimistic. no the opposite i'm very optimistic

and i think if washington and moscow are serious about peace in syria they would have the primacy will play a prominent role bigger than any other nation i think my point of the park chart is the crisis and in october november one thousand nine hundred fifty six egypt nationalized the su is can l. the british and the french as owners of it for for some time objectivity attacked egypt for thirty first one hundred fifty six i was in howard who's up for reelection. to the british and the french and nikolai will gun in the prime minister issued an ultimatum against england and france and the two countries were kids sincerely and close enough to end the su is

crisis many people who object to say that assad is look like an asset in one thousand fifty six but actually despite this similarities there are many points that could be exploited and utilize the folly for a bit outcome for the sake of peace in syria if washington and moscow are on the same wavelength i think we can start a long transition period and the little emphasis on the word along the transition period because elections will not happen soon in syria you have to have a longer transition period otherwise you would end up in a political stalemate so let's be spent better a political stalemate in a horrific area let me go to you is this is a proxy war now who's controlling the proxy it's out of control now. yes yes it is a proxy war to a great extent bought. what builds

a neat model doesn't address is their religious factor and the multiple players yes in nine hundred fifty six we had nation states moscow could talk to nasr and washington to talk to paris and london today you have to talk to militia commanders you have to talk to qataris and iranians it is it is a more chaotic system with many more fanatical players nation states usually are guided by their national interests and in this case i think u.s. and russia are rational players however when you look at these militias be it. or jump to. these are not necessarily rational players in many cases these are ideological fanatics.

this complicate the situation very much now but what do you think about that i mean because we have this news report of a military commander a militant eating the heart of a soldier on the ground i mean who's controlling these guys who's controlling these guys off now bill go ahead. this is cannibalism it's video ugly i mean basically they are controlled by. emotions but this should not intimidate to big powers with nuclear arsenals and heavy conventional armaments from stopping and even fully wiping out militias because even the illusion is that what is going to send us no ties or proxy or nobody is going to use a new just let me know what is going to use nukes and nobody. soldiers on the ground that's a very that's a very large enough boy and i mean they have the have a lot of intelligence agents they have their own clients the have that if you move assad they have israel the can talk to the proxy agents or the states that are

employing these militias then militias could be wiped out with this so it's crisis actually was a conflict rife with militia playing fighting in sinai and across these two ways banks so i think if there is a syria as the vacation between most quo in washington that should the start of that terrible political process who are by many factions can be the militarized can be departed and peace see this peace talk can is typed in syria ok and i mean this is such a bloody conflict now who's going to put their guns down who's it's going to put them down say let's sit around the table have sat t.v. but come on i have i have another i have another and more tragic model to my sorrow because i lived in israel when when that thing was happening and that is a fifteen year long lebanon war there were proxies but there were militias and

there were community cater it's between the christians and the muslims between the rows and others between the sunni and the shia and then syria and israel got involved and then united states got involved so. i am afraid that until the thing burns from within until these people get exhausted nobody is going to threaten a nuclear weapon of shall use are the saudis going to cool down on the us are they going to cool down on this. they want to sit down at the patient could tell you would be rationally to tell you peter peter you asked a question i answered go ahead i wish i wish i could tell you that the united states could just pick up the phone to the king of saudi arabia and stop saudi support of salafi jihadi. wahhabi factions in that war unfortunately saudis are flush with cash they have so much money just like the

qataris they support their own militia and the qataris support the other militias so you have a confrontation in a proxy war not just between the sunni's and the shias not just between the saudis and the arabians or the qataris and the iranians but between qatar and saudi arabia and a lot of people don't understand that that confrontation has nothing to do with the united states it is a local air raby and peninsula interests. conflict between brothers it's essentially and that is another factor that that particular conflict is going on and plays out as a proxy war in syria just like there is a proxy war between iran and the saudis on the other hand you know bill do you want to jump in there i think he spelled get organized. yes i'm going to also that he pointed out to the live in the civil war because this

is video relevant look everyone knows that the conflict is a mess. everyone needs in the middle east oil is not an oil producing country but it's important because it is at the heart of so many crosscurrents in the middle east china a lot resolve the crisis only concerning forth by the russian federation and the united states of america also israel is a player and let me just try to elucidate on these in a new poll. said that she's look part to the conflict but the syria in fact actually is it is not for the first time the unique part to a conflict that is unraveling and enabling the nation and i have two examples to provide to the viewers in one thousand seventy came to hoskin of jordan faced an uprising by the palestinians and israel did not intervene but it was hoping that the hashemite barnard can extend his sovereignty over the palestinians and jordan

can be or could be the palestinian state and the conflict could end so here in israel had basically a sigh in the one party to the conflict whom do you were hoping for his victory in one thousand nine hundred eighty tool in the middle of the complex the nomination and security and with overlay shen's in lebanon syria deployed missiles in the become a valley and law. lebannon menachem begin bombed the missile sites so he it is there that was hoping that i did use the cd and all i could distill to help if i may click on function button c.d.'s what do you have a sixty and conflict at asian of conflict and i have added but i verily a turkish i don't drive early and different forms of content for guys are. any

sayyid. sure any is it cannot find any inside home they can secure their loyalty so all right gentlemen i have to jump in here we're going to go to the short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on syria state with our. hunger strike despair pushed to the limit. full moon hundred days clearly one hundred one tunnel detainees are screaming for justice. where is the end for good no.

they're ready to come here to work and not get paid for it. people from all over the world are eager to help the want to take to become a volunteer at russia's premium museum why do the son of louvers director come here . from one of the camps do. behind the scenes of the hermitage on oxy. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you. are welcome is a big. news

today. these are the images the world seeing from the streets of canada. today. welcome back to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle we're discussing the war in syria. ok i'd like to go back to you and talk about israel and all this i mean ok we had

a cold war what for forty years the israelis and syria and you know it's it's been there and they've been able to manage it but now we have the case where syria could disappear is that good or bad for israel. i think it's very bad for israel first of all the golan front. enjoyed a cease fire since nine hundred seventy four the people were not killing each other there was a war in lebanon it was a bloody war israel lost about nine hundred people there which for a small country is a lot of our family lost friends bought at the same time there was a semblance of balance and there was an address when v. syrians from israel's perspective got out of line israeli planes could go in and buzz the presidential palace or destroy a nuclear reactor that president assad was building back in two thousand and six

today if it does if it syria disintegrates and there is a strong pro component yeah then israel may be surrounded by al-qaeda affiliates what's inside the night. and come us in gaza and hizbullah as long as it lasts and lebanon although i would argue that if syria goes sunni sooner or later it will disappear well as he knows what it's all about weaker is it all about iran and hezbollah ariel not about the side he is about it is about the syrian people and their suffering but at the same time iran stuck its fingers there and iran is funder and the creator of his ball of the let the head of his mr. has a title of a representative of the iranian supreme leader in lebanon he did survive we can

make radically elected i don't want to go down this path you know bill go ahead. i think you are oversimplifying d.c.d. and conflict because you see the i would never of this integrate for so many reasons and see as such a big historical entity and. basically its geography could be defined but it would never disappear because you would have a seed an entity one way or the other or you could have a very or you could have a very weak in syria a very weak can syria also that's possibility. this is but this is possible but it is my reply there is no room for to bring command ship like nineteen eighty two of them and so the crisis the cd and conflict now is as zero sum game and all i would conflict and low side is willing to risk its the patient or its defense to this old the c.d.i. this is a major problem and mistake by obama he wanted turkey to play

a big role but or do god does not want to need that it is the military and turkey so how come that you are talking about and in logic conflict toured by some major players are reluctant to be active this is the eighties and the turkeys and gradually the egyptians are vallely very much willing to stop and contain the conflict as a matter of fact and a new development that is preparing a gradual solution ok and the shift is good planning ahead gets a little bill and that bill clinton resolved do respect to egypt with all due respect to egypt egypt needs first to put its house in order it's an economic mess it's a political mess and if a solution comes i agree with you it will come from the us and russia talking to iran saudi arabia and qatar as you pointed out correctly israel does not want another war now and what is in israel's. israel's prime concern is

for his bollocks not to get there's a long range powerful missiles it was getting when israel decided to strike and these were pinpointed strikes this was not against the syrian population and for that matter it wasn't against the regime or maybe it didn't have the military it is just making a point that it's there and it's very powerful now bill go ahead well israel was making a point that hizbullah get game changing missiles that's a point. where you're going to react to that not bill you want to react to that. yes let me just to continue the discussion in egypt carry this in a cli is different than hillary because hillary supported the military option and the kitty also is different than obama because obama is indifferent toward the seat in crisis so you have an activist what i gradually activist american political champion by the secretary of state but i have to jack i suppose acedia to egypt.

the united states government would not change. in egypt because because ok i want to go back i really would i want to take care of sarina bill i want to stay with syria here ariel you said you were pessimistic i mean but then that there that's an interesting ploy you can say well we tried peace we try didn't we try to have a conference. that's what i meant by ploy in the big program well i first of all i think the conferences are great especially in a place like geneva the scenery is great it's a great photo op for the respective ministers of foreign affairs the question is is the syrian opposition going to be there did anybody can solve the syrian opposition before they decided to have that peace conference and i also notice the jordanians are. inviting the friends of syria the so-called friends of syria group to amman

and it's not clear whether the syrian government is going to play so i think this is a good moment to try and find a solution i'm very nervous about it makes three missed sunni. you know. by this are you surprised by any of this giving these people arms some support and money i mean come on i mean you have realized exactly about this for a year and now it's finally happened wow big surprise well for first of all first of all i think giving arms to people who are of the same pursue ation the forces that killed american ambassador in libya is the forces that the west supported in libya and without having to deal with i think we are you know really. there's interventions don't work there for bitter what i said in the beginning it's

a tragic situation because from my point of view there are no good people there are no good forces to support and if there were good people and good forces that moderate forces in syria women is that trained the obama administration did not go in forcefully and supported the anti-acid forces which you did in that area with arms with boots what how. the first of all you have to understand the field you had to understand who is who and they did not have a clear idea and i think bill is right president obama is very nervous to commit to yet another big middle eastern intervention and the europeans are weak the europeans have been weak for a long time and the russians don't want to send their troops there so who is going to police it who is going to police it is there going to be an arab force that the

syrians will accept as a policing force well maybe if they stop getting money and arms they would stop fighting that would that's a start well but but then the question is well it's not that they're fighting it's also the issue of the assad regime shooting at its own people and killing its own people let's not put it under the rug right now kate is not and that's it we should let me go we're almost out of town and it was it is it a good done good idea for the united states to say a leader should go when he can't back it up. no it's not a mistake because i mean america and russia are mighty nations and the can lead to force to change but as i said earlier and i was interrupted america is looking to the situation this way syria is very unstable and egypt is video on this table so if that is an active american gold in syria it would be gradual and methodical because you cannot afford having to on a stable situation they are americans welcome so there is nothing more americans

welcome there in syria you know the answer. if the have a focus goal in collaboration with the international community they can play a positive role i mean protocol would last three to fulfill all that you it is but again you have to make strategic choices see the as unstable so as egypt and you are looking into ducting that is another perspective so go slow down when making changes in these two countries including the future of mr assad. was. trying to be has a good point arial what about assad. well first of all i notice that bill did not say that assad should stay i mean the question is the question is can we come to a solution that will stop the fighting and that will be some kind of a coalition government or technocratic government and i hate to say it but maybe

something approaching the government and the system in iraq. people who are in the spectrum like it well yes but because once you once you get that dictator out and let's face it folks bashar al assad is a dictator his father is a dictator one of the reasons that there is so much fighting there is that the majority sunni population does not accept the allawi baath party dictatorship without any legitimacy come of they have wasted their let's you're going to syria lives and western imperialism and in play again now bill you got the last word go ahead what what what is stated that they say where is everything from on the mind you know bill go ahead i think russia is trying to do you have any teeth syria and the best way to do it is jointly with america and by preserving added to the tone and integrity of russia russia is not the saudi arabia is not the former yugoslavia

word that the solution of the entities can. peace russia and medicare can play an opposite troll that followed the end of the cold war the ultimate cure the a having matured diplomacy the can war i just going to put it there are some really fascinating to see if you have run out of time i wish we had a lot more many thanks today to my guests in washington and thanks to our viewers for watching us here are to see you next time and remember cross talk with us. is.

live live. live live. live . real damage and

complexity of this oil spill was not something you can grasp just by looking at dirty birds we have between four to five million people in this directly affected area of the coast and it's pretty clear why it's not being reported because b.p. can't afford to have a reported all along the gulf coast are clean they are safe and they're open for business if b.p. is the single largest oil contributor to the pentagon the us war machine is heavily reliant upon b.p. and their oil this is a huge step backwards for democracy it's a step forward for the oligarchy carex it is toxic is a look a lot like spraying in vietnam it was it was not a picture that either the government or b.p. really wanted to have out there i don't want dispersants to be the agent on. this list.

dangerous experiments on prisoners they want to make money and they have healthy guinea pigs in the regular society they're not able to use prisoners i mean more they wish they could. drug tests on human guinea pigs. paid to deadly pills to get in the subway he was killed. he didn't pass a law let him get. his pharmacy really about helping people. to save. a.

place.

well coming up honored see obama second term seems to be plagued with scandal after scandal from the guantanamo bay hunger strike to the justice department's tracking those a.p. phone records things just aren't looking good and we'll look deeper into the scandals concerns over the safety and nutrition of the nation's food contend used to grow now appear a food movement takes its first steps while a child investigates his own school's bad food choices a look at the power to the people's food coming up. rumors of a koch brothers buying the tribune company has been met with protests by unions and legislative leaders alike a potential buyout would include the chicago tribune and the las angeles times fueling fears of the buyout drastically changing the news coverage and fail.