appealing to the arab street has backfired that epstein's in the wake of they have this so-called arab spring. turkey felt it's going to have inroads in the arab street as a matter of fact i believe that sacrifice is relation with israel as a result of that hoping to be able to assume the leadership of the region and that too has failed so when you look around you see that with the best of his intention what happened is that domestically he backslid it foreign policy back now in the effort in the wake of what happened in syria he's also failing miserably ok michael if i go back to you in istanbul a lot of people would say that the islamic politics is would put so many people off in turkey can you speak to that. yes actually enough of this assuming. basically. continue and so you know how much is profit but you don't need to say that either way if you just cited law. there is one god we are all the children of god there is no need for separate religions like catholics and protestants and what a lot of people on the ground where do they and i fortunately. have founder ok go ahead in london jump

time and that's why i wouldn't call it similar to an arab spring because unlike the arab spring which were launched and wait but that people. take the ships which were egypt. tunisia all. so young men and it's going gone against the dictatorship and also against the. dictatorship as well isn't democracy but i do believe that a gun has shot him in the foot he is fighting with one hand tied behind his back because he has encouraged people in iraq which is again another more christian maliki was elected through the ballot box he encouraged people and sidelined with the protesters and took them to avoid and sweep under the carpet all democratic mechanisms that is going through the parliament and also going against maliki in another general election elections opposing him encourage them to defy him to increase and why didn't that demonstrations and he also have to kill fusing. brutal ruthless crackdown i think a lot of people who are going through a lot of people michael them going there michael how do you see things going on in turkey go ahead first go ahead michael. in what way i mean. t

operations in iraq and afghanistan there are even some who say they acted as a catalyst for the arab spring uprisings a burning griffen a former british say yes soldier who told me why he things manning chose to leave the information and show it is only experiences in iraq. some of the media saying that manning is a traitor who risk the lives of u.s. citizens if you're buying that no not so manning had access to a huge amount of information as did and do thousands of other employees of the united states government he saw that information within that information actions and activity that were illegal and immoral and he thought he should do something about that he was the only one to take action on that he thought that if other people could see what was really going on in iraq in afghanistan and in the relationships between the u.s. government and other governments around the world that something would happen and something did happen you know the arab spring was informed by information that manning released now you served in the say yes and you refused to return to iraq you left the british a

seeing in turkey of these days is very different fundamentally different from what we saw in the arab spring countries and in the west of it they occupy movement would you agree with that yes i would definitely agree with not making a comparison with the arab spring. has been made at the start of what you're into now i think turkey of today is in a totally different position than egypt or tunisia or libya in two thousand and eleven. the prime minister with all the criticism that i think he deserves has been elected three times democratic elections all going to have the comparison with the occupy movement to a certain extent. correct i mean they're occupying a small piece of land that's happened in other parts of you know in the states with the occupy movement there they're reflecting or they're voicing concerns about the present government shared by many people outside of the park but i think you're actually hearing a very important point that's where i think the the protests are so different is because during the occupy protests and actually and some of the arab spring protests as well the

it has echoes of the arab spring, in spite of the fact that as richard was just saying, this is a veryferent country, much more modern, not nearly as islamist. in fact, that's one of the issues here, is the islamist nature of the government. but there's no question. istanbul is one of the premier tourist spots in the world. the square features a maile-lon promenade with shops and really modern stores, kabob stands, ice cream stands. you see an incredible variety of people there normally. it's very peaceful. so this is a very shocking sight at the heart of this city. >> yeah, michael, and we know according to the reports thus far, this is different, as you said, in many ways from the arab spring. different in the type of country it's occurring in, different in the fact there is an elected government. yet, some of the tactics at a smaller scale do obviously seem reminiscent -- our viewers seeing some of these scenes in the square of istanbul may be reminded visually. given that cosmopolitan makeup of turkey, is there any way to know whether these protesters or political leaders are influ

the protests are so different is because during the occupy protests and actually in some of the arab spring protests as well the main grievances for economic of course there were some political slogans but people were primarily concerned about that economy inflation unemployment but turks cannot really complain on base from because that economy exceeded all their expectations so. this is really the first round of protests that are purely political and i wonder how deep seated do you think these political grievances really are it is indeed political it's about democracy it's about the style of government one can see the grievances focus more and more i would say on the on the person the personality process of the.

century particularly over the last decade what accounts for this arab nationalism the advent of the arab spring or the logical outcome of western meddling and outside interventions. across the christians in the arab world i'm joined by michael maloof in washington he's a senior reporter for the world net daily and.

we have arab spring since 1951, there are free and fair elections in turkey and erdogan is elected. not support him got tired of his policy and rhetoric. this is not a spring in the sense that turkey has no democracy but it is the crisis of a not fully matured, not liberal enough democracy. i would say one more thing, the political culture in the country, generally values confrontation rather than consensus which loves defined strong leaders who never take a step back. that's a part of the culture and he presents that culture. some people love him because he never takes a step back as he said in one of his recent speeches. >> you don't see this as fundamentally about -- islamization versus secularism, but a leader who may have overreached his mandate and acting in a authoritarian manner. is that accurate? >> i would say so. i often say my writings, erdogan is not too islamic but maybe too turkish. he represents tradition in this country. some and this led to other people on the left or on the more secular side to go for the military, to save them in their own logic. of course the mi

arab spring i don't recall that the arab spring i've called it the arab awakening or the arab uprisings and the here and here is why it's not a value judgement what is the you have to ask yourself what is the most. important feature of the recent wave of uprising unprecedented in the history of the modern arab world and i would say it is about public empowerment on a scale we had never witnessed before as a function of the information revolution which focused attention of the power of the individual to do something directly both in terms of choice of information and in terms of ability to communicate with someone else without the government preventing it from happening as happened in the in the lead up to the to the revolt and so that this public of our much you know we talk about historically when you look back at what happened in europe people talk about the industrial revolution what did that do there was a complete change in the political economy were gaining wages gave power to the individual moved toward more individual power in democracy and that really is the genesis of what hap

the demonstrations during the so-called arab spring and the protests since have made things worse. so now egyptians are turning to the same technology to help them pressure for political change more than two years ago. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: cairo is home to 18 million people. many of them often stuck in traffic. it's time for commuters to head home. all of them are in a hurry, but the cars are barely moving. traffic has come to a halt. the same thing has happened at another location. riding over the center divider or turn around and drive the wrong way. political demonstrators are not the only cause of traffic problems. authorities have built a stone wall around this government building. such walls have been put up around town to keep crowds of demonstrators away from the police. but now they are contributing to traffic congestion. >> translator: traffic is interfering with my work. i'm already tired by the time i get to the office. i want to go directly home and sleep. >> reporter: online communication helped bring down spring.rs during the arab software developer

>> i would not say that this is something that is similar to the arab spring because the arab spring basically a sear irys of uprising against dictatorships. these railroad countries which never had free and fair elections. but in turkey what we have is an elected government. we have free and fair elections. and he's been elected repeatedly. but the problem is that the people who did not elect him, the people who do not support him got growing lly frustrated with his policies and rhetoric. so i would say it is the crisis of a not fully matured, not liberal enough democracy. i would also say one more thing. the political culture in this country, generally values confrontation rather than consensus, loves strong leaders who never take a step back, that is a are the behalf the culture. and he represents that culture. some people love him because he never takes a step back as he said in one of his recent speeches. >> you don't see this then as fundamentally about kind of islamization versus secularization, you see it more the case of an elected lead who are may have overreached his manda

against them trying to make their power and he succeeded to without extent but it's doing that the arab spring a rebellion in libya they powered the strings and became a leading power they have a charisma thick leadership they have the militaristic utils they have a lot of weapons they are. absolutely determined to achieve their goal which means to reach power or at least to reach first position to. loudly affect the country's agenda and state order but still libya is in a state also searching its way. so the question is not right now what will be next and that's exactly my next question what will be next in terms of the region and the influence of the jihadists inside libya and then penetrating the rest of north africa this is really the most crucial point because we see the interactions the into affects. the corporations the military the political the ideal logical the religious between the jihadists and the the radical islamist form a jury or. a good smiley. what's happening in mali today could have happened without the overthrow of gadhafi and the situation in libya at the moment if france

having committed to the arab spring, the correct policy would have been to ensure the kind of peoplewe like in the region-- i.e. not the islamists-- would prevail. instead of that we sat in the backseat in libya, we've not even got into the vehicle in syria until the very last minute. and the result is, charlie, that the islamists are the winners of the arab spring and this is a massive hit to national security. >> rose: so take one example of this. what is it that you would have liked to see an american administration do with respect to what happened in egypt? they had an election. >> right. >> rose: and the muslim brotherhood won. >> exactly. >> rose: and their own became president. >> right. >> rose: now what would you have had the united states do? >> if we could not preserve the old regime, let's call it the kissinger regime that dated back to the '70s, if that could not be sustained we had to have some influence over the shaping of the new order but we haven't had any. right now qatar has more influence over the brotherhood than we do. why? because the cut tarrys write much big

century particularly over the last decade what accounts for this arab nationalism the advent of the arab spring or the logical outcome of western meddling and outside interventions. across the christians in the arab world. i'm joined by michael model from washington he's a senior reporter for the world net daily and a former analyst for the defense department also in washington we have matthew feeney he's an assistant editor at reason twenty four seven and in london we crossed the top he is the president of arab lawyers association in the u.k. our gentlemen cross-talk rosen if i think you can jump in anytime you want michael can you just give us a broad stroke history of what's happened to the questions and in the middle east over the last century will focus the last ten years later go ahead well i think the christians generally have been in decline at one time they were particularly in lebanon for example they were the majority today they are not only a minority they are also very fractured and i think that we see that christians generally are we've seen it also in iraq where they they've had

sports minister her defense minister staff amongst others because of corruption just as we saw arab spring quote unquote which is the wave of the global power elites have of engineering social strife and even civil war as they did in libya and in syria over the past two or three years they have learned all they are now i think bringing in latin american spring which will have more localized tropical ised characteristics which would seeks to to achieve the same goal to weaken powerful states especially powerful slaves like brazil that might go their own way against the world government of projections of the global power elite. fancy joining us here on r t today president obama made a diplomatic surprise wrapping up the g eight summit this week saying that he is preparing to work out a peace deal with the taliban this comes after a decade long war against them which chance left afghanistan in pieces. reports on obama's change of heart. president barack obama has described the prospect of talks with the taliban as an important first step towards reconciliation now that is in contrast to this

university he says a lot of the ones actions resemble those of leaders that were ousted by the arab spring. massive police action of course it has backfired and this is a very dramatic moment for the prime minister mr erdogan has had for the first time to step back he was extremely aggressive in his initial statements that he wouldn't tolerate protests and now the man who was the first world leader to call for president mubarak to resign is now talking rather eerily like mubarak did shortly before his own fall he's now saying he's going to investigate the police he's got the people he wants to carry on the project so he's managing to in a sense muddy the water but i do think we need to calm the situation because if he insists on carrying on with this project which is very unpopular still going to the protest going we suppose relations disaster with huge economic implications. now we are following the developments in turkey on air and on line if you can even watch our lives stream from istanbul get all the latest updates from our column and for the meantime you can also head there to let us

governments around the world that something would happen and something did happen you know the arab spring was informed by information that manning released now you served in the so yes and you refused to return to iraq you left the british army why is that. you know i grew up thinking that britain was a great country and there are armed forces you know the good guys us who are brought up believing and my experience in iraq you know so pace that bubble i realized you know things are a lot more complex than that what we're involved in in iraq the actions were involved in where in effect illegal and i decided as a matter of conscience i can continue to do that and you know manning is in the same vein as myself and committed army here and american kind of smears in my lines you know this is a guy who's joined the military to do the right thing and then realize that actually the actions that military are immoral irrational and illegal and he's decided to do something about it. so manning says he leaves the material because he felt that people had the right to know what the u.s. military had li

seeing in turkey of these days is very different fundamentally different from what we saw in the arab spring countries and in their west of it they occupy movement would you agree with that yes i would definitely agree with not making a comparison with the arab spring. comparison that has been made at the start of what you're into now i think turkey of today is in a totally different position than egypt or tunisia or libya in two thousand and eleven. the prime minister with all the criticism that i think he deserves has been elected three times the democratic elections on the other hand the comparison with the occupy movement to a certain extent is correct i mean they're occupying a small piece of land as happened in other parts of you know in the states with the occupy.

agree with not making a comparison with the arab spring. has been made at the start of what you're into now i think turkey of today is in the totally different position egypt or tunisia or libya in two thousand and eleven. the prime minister with all the criticism that i think he deserves.

police reaction to them many people already comparing what's happening in turkey to that of the arab spring not far away regionally the prime minister saying that's absolute nonsense do you agree. absolute nonsense is perhaps an exaggeration but it is made perhaps a misleading comparison people have also compared it to develop a drug pollution and drugs say we resemble ourselves and there's something certainly intrinsic to turkey about what's happened i mean why it's different from the arab spring is that mr out on is a prime minister who was elected he was elected to three consecutive elections each time he got a little bit more of a vote if there were elections tomorrow many people of being big he would still be elected he said the other day that you know you have one hundred thousand people on the street i could get a million well this may be a little bit of a threat but it's also possibly not an exaggeration only i do say that there are many already who are calling on are the one to quit i mean is it perhaps time some some worldwide analysts saying well western leaders now join the chor

would you agree with that yes i would have to be greedy we're not making a comparison with the arab spring. comparison that has been made at the start of what you're into now i think turkey of today is in a totally different position than egypt or tunisia.

chosen to what some already calling the turkish bringing a sort of a sister or continuation of the arab spring revolutions to topple shaken the middle east this is in a city truck the government's television channel and this is what people. i've been doing to majority of the t.v. tracks around here they're they spray painting it with the city saying that this is a sold government they're bashing in the glass basically they're destroying the government property because to them it basically represents everything that the government media is about it's just that they're saying it's just to pay out our way for the government to make it sound like nothing is really happening in the country we have to understand that we are in turkey and turkey even though it's vying for a spot in the european union actually has the highest number of journalists in prison in the entire world and it's interesting to note that this is another canister come here and actually said it actually says that it is illegal in the united states non-lethal technology it's good to know homer city pennsylvania made in the usa loca

comparisons are being drawn to the arab spring. if that movement taught us anything, it's be careful what you wish for. the money lead. planning on taking the family to disney world for summer vacation? you might want to apply for a loan. prices are going up at the magic kingdo kingdom. >>> and the pop lead. it was just unreal, hbo's "game of thrones" pulled one of the biggest twists in tv history last night. we'll hear from top series creators in the business on how they decide who gets the ax or the crossbow on your favorite shows. welcome back to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. the world lead. the protests in turkey have turned deadly. one was killed after a car drove into the crowd and over 3,000 have been injured in just the last two days. >> reporter: it's a pretty festive scene here in central istanb istanbul. until about a week ago, very few people really knew what this place was, even if you were a turkish citizen. but it has become the center of a national debate and a movement that's really been challenging the government o

in tunisia for example where the arabs spring kicked off, there were riots, and riots in tunisia were not that uncommon before this and not only in tunisia but egypt also. the difference now is people were starting to reference it and people in other countries that referencing it in twitter and have these hash tag with the dates like jan 25 or whatever. very quickly there was this regionwide conversation where people were connecting directly to each other, was not really possible before. the e mediacy created this sense the yemenis were following bahrain, different connections were happening and it was a sense of one movement. ultimately the importance of twitter and the use of it, the important use is a reporting tool. at its use in iran, people reporting what is happening as it happens which is important internally but also important for getting of the word out. in the middle east they often tweet in english because they are tweeting to the world and then kind of larger media is watching twitter and reporting on it. an example that i watched where twitter played a role in a situatio

by the way, the arab spring hash been a complete disaster.upy wall street didn't last long enough to be a completelo disaster. >> that's a whole differenth. story. >> ahead, is charm dead? some writer thinks so. we're going to discuss it next on "the five". [ female announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+. ♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle. when i first felt the diabetic nerve pain, of course i had no idea what it was. i felt like my feet were going to sleep. it progressed from there to burning like i was walking on hot coals... to like 1,000 bees that were just stinging my feet. i have a great relationship with my doctor... he found lyrica for me. [ female announcer ] it's known that diabetes

what happened to the arab spring dream does egypt's first freely elected president bring any change fear poverty economic failure and violence remain to egypt attempts to escape chaos leave us wallowing even deeper. egypt a year in chaos. please. please please. please please. leave the street feed filipe. the to. sleep. to slum of sleep good. at least the to feel. that a little. relief keep. her . the week's top stories here on our side of the fugitive whistleblower edward snowden while america's. cia tests its diplomatic relations with all countries involved in these global movements. his revelations point to a massive u.s. snooping operation targeting even institutions in brussels and washington and the united nations in new. all right. egypt's president faces a tough challenge to his leadership with angry crowds said to flood the streets on the first anniversary of his inauguration after a week of deadly rioting by rival political factions and the first part of a much anticipated addition to russia's navy set sail for france in a joint project expected to revitalize thai.

our these protests if you had to describe them to put him in a box more like the arab spring over got more in common with say europe santy a stereotype demonstrations well we're not supposed to call it a turkish bring are we because the arab spring only supposed to happen in countries where the u.s. wants the government to fall and therefore that you know we've had reports of b.b.c. saying why it's not a turkish free course it's a turkish bring and it's not meant to happen here because turkey is a long nato ally we've got enormous discontent and it's very inconvenient to the west but this is happening and i think that these protests will continue and they really show up the hypocrisy of the western powers because as i said it is supposed it's happening in iran for example now we are because of the government to resign there's no cause for the government to resign or even for them to negotiate with the opposition so i think it is a turkish bring in line coming in. a party everyone's making. speech of the moment he's blaming the media and social media networks for going on rest in turke