i think the strategy. for the saudis and for the americans i think is sort of building up his game gradually hoping that he could get something in return politically from the americans here so we were going to see what it's going to result but my problem with his strategy is that the longer he waits. the saudis and the americans are determined to give something back to the turks now present himself is hardly. a human rights there are numerous reports of his own security services being implicated in the kidnapping of turkish nationals have brought there are numerous reports of people dying in turkish jail waiting for. some time. on the end do you think there is any person. it's possible. that could be the case. of human rights maybe that's one of the one of the elements of his trying to

whitewash image a little bit with the west and is clearly working because a lot of the media outlets a lot of politicians in the west are taking his claims at face value so that is clearly working towards the benefit of the moment whatever was planned i'm still. carried out because turkey and saudi arabia had a pretty rocky adversarial relationship even before that even if we take the saudis had to believe that these fifteen man squad. purely for interrogation wasn't that still exceedingly risky for the saudis something like. question. the political thinking of. what exactly he strategy.

because the way it was done. of evidence that resurfaced later on it seems that at some point that was intentional while it was intentional. present there that one is definitely back because he is squarely putting. the crown prince on the spot speaking of whom the saudi crown prince has many enemies within his own extended family who have. good reasons for either wanting to prevent him from succeeding to the throne or wanting to you take revenge for his past deeds what do you personally find more plausible that the crown prince is behind it or that there is somebody in saudi arabia with enough leverage enough influence to frame him in such a fashion from what i understand the people who. perpetrated this murder those were the people very close. and if somebody else managed to get these people very close to. what they did that raises

a lot of questions. politically and saudi arabia at the moment if that was the case i'm afraid mama is a lot of trouble but i think more likely. people around him were plotting this now you wrote recently that present air though on by going very public with this allegations may be hoping to rehabilitate the turkish relationship which. has been damaged by disagreements over syria by the detention of an american pastor but from my point of view he doesn't make it any easier for. you because. you know. to me it looks more like an effort to put trump in a very difficult position rather than the time that any reference surely it's a challenging situation but at the same time he has an option give back something to turkey and ask turkey to be quiet about this. and get the saudis and the turks

to talk to each other and deal with this quietly. for the time being but that was still really resolved out quietly was that really an option once came for a. public allegation you cannot. go on is building up pressure on the saudis it feels like he is expecting some kind of reciprocal actions from the americans in my opinion now president. already hinted at some sort of response on the part of the united states what's the possible range here. expelling a couple of saudi diplomats to what exactly one of the responses i think this is something that americans are discussing at the moment. those fifteen thousand people who came to a. murder that of course is not. significantly however there's a lot of. traction in the united states to try and make a sort of an international parea and to come to

a we're not going to deal with we need to deal somebody with somebody else you need to replace them. so if the. movement in that direction i could see how. that kind of commentary because i came across something completely opposite but before we can discuss that let me ask you one more question about the possible represents as far as the united states is concerned because for the time being. much of the discussion has been. arms deals and possible economic it is clear that saudi arabia. the american policies in the region do you think there could be a. reexamination. of this major scandal american policy making is not coherent i'm sure you've seen that has been coming up with a lot of statements saying that states of the gulf should take care of the middle east or other we're still committed to the middle east so there's

a lot of incoherence there but i think. the important to the united states and i think trump understands that. this is exactly what was driving his kind of. on the . killing so. i think that's going to change the status quo of america's policy i mean if we consider both possible. it is the crown prince who is behind the murder or second it is somebody who is strong enough and powerful enough in saudi arabia to you challenge him in such a way that makes saudi arabia inherently dangerous. to put any bets on you think this is something we've seen the yemen policy we've seen the. kidnapping of. has been by geo political or geo strategic interest this is something very different in a way that it is extremely brazen i mean whoever thought of this crime definitely

could have solved this problem and other political shenanigans of. really feeding a. political thinking and i really feeling into his personal vendettas and he thinks that if geopolitically he's allowed to do so much has given so much space domestically ordinary saudis he can do the same but it's not exactly a domestic situation first and foremost because it took place in that country and it also involved not a citizen of the united states but from what i understand a permanent resident you definitely should have considered those implications if. the crown prince is behind that's a big if at this point it is not a. domestic issue i think. or whoever purpose of very strong signal domestically can do this abroad we can surely do this at home and nobody will react now saudi arabia and the crown prince in particular have or

used to have a very strong lobby in the united states particularly in the think tank community in some media circles who are traditionally very hostile towards trying but i think in this particular case it's going to be a pretty challenging for them to pin this entire saudi gate scandal on the current american administration as for example they attempted to do with. at the russia gate this is a bi partisan challenge from what i understand for the american political isn't it . i think the. a lot of american institutions think tanks as you mentioned will have to accept that they have to kind of bash the saudis for this because this is this is the case where. you know all those nice it is about. they can afford to leave it at bashing because obviously we all agree that it's a horrible crime is that enough to save your indorsing saudi arabia as the main

lynchpin of the american policy in the region. think tanks declaring that they will not continue to accept saudi money and i think the first days after the mission of guilt i think was the most the most terrible thing that's going to happen i think from now on we're not going to see more media outlets or think tanks saying that we're not dealing with the saudis anymore and i think the investment conference that took place in saudi arabia. pulling out it's already. people from from their companies going to to replace them in the conference nobody nobody wants to be. part of the. i think the scandal also touches on the values narrative that. americans and just the other day i heard a veteran american diplomat martin indyk suggesting that the crown prince needs to come up with something take the focus away from this crime for example as he.

flowed possibility of pulling out a few young men or female political prisoners but you know those things are. something well i think it's a very very cynical approach you're with probably agree with me on that do you think that americans going forward seriously here the same values. sort of the basis. their foreign policy. question i think i think the money is definitely going to take such steps the ones that you discard because they would be very indicative of him given into pressure that's not how the saudis do their foreign policy. i think that the saudis were hoping that the investment conference would somehow offset a lot of the criticism but didn't happen. speaking about the kind of value it's never been about values the best. part of their foreign policy i mean they they they do have that with regard to saudi arabia it's always been about national

interests not values and i think it will continue to be the same there is still the perceived around threat and they steal based on their national interests both countries will have to control to confront that well you're going to have to take a very short break now but we'll be back in just a few moments. to put i actually myself to.

her. but he had the good. fortune to show you that he could with. yes i did me she. had to finish. the. job. the bomb was really was very european and his approach she would be very well

suited is. brussels for example doesn't represent america is america for better or worse and i think what we're trying to do here is to let the world see what we're all here. welcome back to bottom in the middle east and north africa expert at the russian international affairs council just before the break with touched upon the saudi outreach efforts but then the american think tank and media circles and just yesterday i had a chance to really read that famous column by thomas friedman of the new york times and in which he's got about how. mohamed bin some months after his eye going to reshape the entire islamic world beach is indeed part of the saudi ambition how much of an obstacle is the case to the broader saudi agenda i would say that the

saudis will be even more ambitious after this they will i think if he stays in power and i think it's likely that he's going to stay in power i think he'll have an ambition to show that he was not going to undermine but he will i think you'll be more kind of geopolitical geopolitical adventures and the conference that the your reference earlier on. does it i think was designed in part to facilitate. the future. of that country you mentioned that a number of companies had to pull out under the pressure from the public which kind of shifted the spotlight onto the very relatively small russian delegation there do you think it was wise on the part of the russians. rather than pull out. i think it was a lot of chinese came a lot of a lot of. americans to. i think. for

a businessman to pull out of an event where a lot of money is at stake. at the moment is going to break between business. doing business and social stuff human rights all of the. values and that's ok that's business as business now you wrote before that the russian relations are highly compartmentalize of each is another word for saying that they're extremely extremely complicated and president putin made it clear that he's not going to throw what has been so painstakingly achieved under the bus but there is one thing of trying to preserve what you have and then there's another thing when you try to capitalize on the scandal or on the. former or current allies do you thing rush to do the latter. trying to get on this i think russians are trying to stay under the radar even though they sent

a delegation to saudi arabia and gave a lot of space and coverage to the russian delegation and. of course but i don't think. they already have a strong relationship with. russia at the moment is to try and guard that that's the only goal you wrote in an. russia saudia reference more freeze and. months became possible because president putin and the crown prince speak the same language both as your road prefer to use hard power to resolve issues domestically and internationally both see the world in a black and why do you think if they're so similar do you think president putin would authorize a similar interrogation let's say of some former chechen militant in their russian consulate in istanbul. or couldn't. i don't know it's all speculations to be honest i think the russian government is

so. that the domestically and abroad it might not necessarily be vladimir putin to order that somebody in the intelligence apparatus same as in saudi arabia so that is i think it's still not clear as to whether the reason i'm asking this is because i do see this line of argument developing in both western and arab media all trying to establish this comparative similarity between the russian and the saudi regimes and to me that bunkers because say what you want about the authoritative nature of the russian government it's nowhere near in terms of the concentration of power in one hand as it is. and i would also add let me know if you disagree that i think the kremlin is far more diligent and sophisticated in calculating the risks and possible. to.

think when we speak about the similarities between put think it's about it's about the kind of the vision of the world not necessarily the instruments that you and i think what what really kind of draw closer to. is the fact that putting does go ahead with his domestic policy foreign policy disregarding the international backlash i think. that's really the. because obviously russia has many adversaries but putin never goes on record saying you know. i mean whenever it comes to ukraine the united states great britain it's always couched in the much more. risk averse terms keeping the door if not open them you know at least not fully log terms of walking back. to do with cultural differences between russia and saudi arabia. kind of. sort of more of

a populist. resonates at home this is the reason why the leadership. type of rhetoric. some other middle eastern states is just. making works out for the time being the kremlin position is that we don't really know what happened which is at odds with ankara's seemingly absolute conviction of what really happened there and you wrote recently that the kremlin should be. turkish sensitive it is on the case but i wonder if there isn't really a way of doing that without fully buying the narrative which is totally self-serving. i think it's russia's fight to pick the fight between turks and saudi arabia which is why i'm saying russia is trying to stay under the radar i think. expressing sympathy. exactly happened. a little bit of a reach to the saudis but at the same time. that's.

what exactly. would satisfy mr brother than saying that. he is version of events at face value well at least russians could have knowledge the. evidence because. nobody has heard those tapes even though we keep hearing. about it and also the media actually reported earlier today that. those audiotapes were shared with the russians with the americans and with the europeans so it looks like turks are trying to reach out to the russians and get them on their side but i don't see much movement in that direction in russia now whenever there is anything contentious involving the russians get very anxious about the solidity of the. agreement you also voiced some concerns and. betrays the general russian.

president there and in particular but i'm wondering if you think self could afford to abandon or cheat on the agreements that he reached with putin regarding the i think you're making a very good point. to to throw russia under the bus easily in favor of some kind of an alliance with the united states because turkey personally is in a very difficult position of the moment there's a lot of pressure on him at home over the syria policy there's a lot of people at home saying why are you not returning all those syrian refugees back to syria and of course that agreement over is probably the last you know straw that. syria policy which has been disastrous to be honest while we're still on the subject of syria publicized details of the journalist murder are extremely disturbing but not in the context of syria because. there are things much worse that have been done in that country by the rebels that are supported either by

saudi arabia or i'm afraid. but speaking about saudi arabia do you think. is going to in any way limit its bargaining position when it comes to conflict. conflict. as you mentioned the russians have been i wouldn't describe them as sympathetic but at least i ask critical as everybody else surely they would want to preserve that kind of goodwill. i think the impact of this murder on the. power on the team to be honest that is a. separate issue in russia turkey relations and i think there is a different set of factors that is driving that relationship what about the saudi position. at the moment. to be honest i think the saudis have decided to abandon syria in favor of being more proactive in yemen and that is now working. on the ground. difficult to say

yes they do the moment yes and also. the saudis may have offered the americans to invest more in the kurdish areas in syria. will have a lot of leverage in syria that's true now the discussion. for regional players would be incomplete without israel the same as with the trumpet ministration saudi arabia is very sensual israeli strategic picture of the region can do damage to the reputation. there. so what is. enough pressure on iran and i don't i don't see how the murder of could impact saudi poll see of putting pressure confronting around in the region so i think. this convergence on confronting around between

iran and. saudi arabia the united states and a bunch of other countries just the other day the new york times ran an editorial. suggesting that there are some nervousness both in israel as. among the israeli community in the united states with regard to where. it could leave the israeli policy that's why i'm asking but one one more implication i think of this whole affair is that we all know that there has been some. saudi arabia but the reason it has been kept on official from what i understand it because of. the arab world do you think there would be a similar saudi sentiment within. israeli public reach the. decision making that the country i think there's a difference. in the arab world is very personal i think and very historic the.

sentiment in israel this is something that i can't even imagine because for israel dealing with saudi arabian partnering with saudi arabia is. calculation of how israel should go ahead in the world because they see that saudi arabia at the moment is the most potent ally that can put a lot of. premised on the believe that saudi arabia is rational actor and control is not only its own decision making but also its proxies but all of that has been called into question by the recent events i think i think the saudi paul see for example. focused a lot on the intelligence intelligence which is very pragmatic which is closer to. there's a very strong link between intelligence operatives on the saudi intelligence

operatives and i would say. overall here. we have to leave it there but i really appreciate your coming into this. and carries our viewers to keep this conversation going in our social media pages and i hope to see you again same place same time here on worlds apart. this is says harlan kentucky. moved the

voices people were very funny using. a co money city with almost no coal mines left. the jobs are gone all the coal miners of said. that it was a lot of these people the survivors of disappearing before their eyes. i remember thinking when i was younger that if anything ever happened to the coal mines here that it would become a ghost town but i never thought in a million years i would see that and it's happened it's happened. prosecution will need to become almost. where you push. the threshold finds somebody to moan plus you do i mean yeah i mean i mean political pressure on the. closer to nuclear security genest another sort of

bundled up business models used by american corporations. to use. the solution. lies up in association with the potato. i noted when he saw small dogs it is just simply his ability to maintain an investigative documentary. ghost war on agin. and this us. war union said. it's rational.

desire for love need the feel. that the new. zealand. is a small. fortune for the outnumbered a lot of. more than a financial it. was .

because. it. was. the people's policy the f.t. is now represented in the region after the great success it has. exit polls in the german region of has to suggest the decline in popularity for the ruling coalition together with the rise of the right wing which now has seats in every single regional parliament. but still people come to this that we have more money than anybody else by far and we'll build it up. to the. president threatens a new arms race.