bring as of right today now let's bring in a guess joshua landis is the director at the center of middle east studies at the university of oklahoma nice to have you on just. what ramifications do you think this turkish offensive against the kurds could topple well let's remember is an extremely unstable region well it's really a indication to the united states that they're going to have a tough sledding here is going to be difficult for them to arm the kurds and to develop northern syria as an autonomous region in the face of turkish opposition and turkey is doing this in no small part because it's infuriated the united states it doesn't believe the united states that's been sensitive to turkish. really concerns and they're sticking a their problem the united states saying you can't get away with ignoring us. what do you think about the u.s. actions in terms of the syrian kurds who they once proclaimed as the partners and allies now it seems in the face of this offensive the victim really being left to their own devices. well our freedom is a small enclave that is separated by so quite a bit of arab

you can bring is right now let's bring in a guess just with on this is the director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma nice of you old joshua what ramifications do you think the confines of the kids could have let's remember the extreme really unstable region. well it's really a indication to the united states that they're going to have a tough sledding ahead it's going to be difficult for them to arm the kurds and to develop northern syria as an autonomous region in the face of turkish opposition and turkey is doing this in no small part because just infuriated at the united states it doesn't believe the united states has been censored enough to turkish.

of civilians including women and children have been killed there shimmy is director of the center for middle east studies at the university of denver thanks russian efforts for peace are undermined by its actions on the ground. there is ongoing bombing of civilian targets in providence some of those bombing raids against civilian targets are done by russian aircraft and so at the same time that russia is you know bombing syrian civilians in syria it's trying to preside over a peace process and you know the entire process is objectionable simply on those grounds one of the biggest backers of the assad regime is now trying to i think fundamentally consolidate its military gains on the ground by going through this exercise hoping to give democratic and constitutional legitimacy to its war gains on the ground so i think there's strong grounds for riposte being syrian. opposition participation in a peace process that clearly isn't geared toward establishing a lasting peace saudi officials say all detainees held as part of an anti-corruption investigation had been released dozens of princes senior officials an

three more readings before it becomes law faisel listed are valid the director of the center for the study of the middle east at indiana university he says the law amendment should be seen in a wider context let's not forget that prime minister netanyahu central committee of prime minister netanyahu party has just. passed a resolution to annex the settlements in the west bank which are universally recognized as occupied territory the settlements are illegal under international law. on the other hand the united states' ministrations seems to be winking and nodding in the direction of a fairly hard line israeli government that it will not interfere with hard line policies on the part of the israeli government and there is a political climate in the arab world in which some rather significant arab countries are in a de facto alliance with the state of israel to confront iran and indeed the butler any former minister tweeted before the new year that the palestinian or the jerusalem issue is a secondary matter so there seems to be a sort of a coalescence of political factors that i think makes the prime minister

let's speak now to another hashmi via skype from denver he's the director of the center for middle east studies at the university of denver good to have you with us is the syrian opposition right to boycott these talks in such. well of course they are you know the early part of your report. noted that there is ongoing bombing of civilian targets in england province some of those bombing raids against civilian targets are done by russian aircraft and so at the same time that russia is you know bombing syrian civilians in syria it's trying to preside over a peace process and you know the entire process is objectionable simply on those grounds one of the biggest backers of the assad regime is now trying to i think fundamentally consolidate its military gains on the ground by going through this exercise hoping to give democratic and constitutional legitimacy to its war gains on the ground so i think there's strong grounds for proposing syrian. opposition participation in a peace process that clearly isn't geared toward but stablish in lasting peace but the what are we to make that of the fact that

turkey syria border let's explore this further now with joshua landis who is director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma he joins us via skype from ad so in italy thank you very much for being with us joshua just going back to what's happening in sochi right now the high negotiations committee the main syrian opposition group says this conference by the russians is an attempt to undercut the u.n. effort to broker a peace deal for syria but at the same time you've got the u.n. staff envoy to syria who's in sochi stefan de mistura so given the opposition is right in boycotting this process. well the sochi talks were announced months ago in the meantime if we look at what's happened just the last few months it's thrown the entire serious situation into the air first and foremost secretary of state's tillerson who is key to this whole process came out and announced two weeks ago that the united states stood firmly on the side of regime change in syria and was going to keep its troops for the forseeable future there in order to oversee a un mandated elections that would get rid

mass destruction let's talk about this and speak to joshua landis is the director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma but he is joining us via skype from a so that's an elite thanks for speaking to us so if you just listen to what the u.s. secretary of state had said recently on this issue of the thirty thousand strong border force he said that it had been mis portrayed what does that exactly mean and do you understand what the u.s. is it is doing with this border force. we don't know what it really means and he has an articulate what he means is that a police force not an order horses east so we don't know whether this is just a rebranding are whether this is something substantially climb down by the united states to give less arms to the kurds up northern syria. the united states in this announcement is saying that it's going to stay there and it's going to support kurdish nationalism united states says we're not supporting kurdish nationalism but what else can it be they're giving arms to kurds to establish an army for an independent unclaimed in northern syria is tha

rest of his life in jail he will be executed or face a list about he is director of the center for study of the middle east at indiana university and he says the amendment should be seen in a wider context. let's not forget that prime minister netanyahu has central committee of prime minister netanyahu his party has just. passed a resolution to annex the settlements in the west bank which are universally recognized as occupied territory the settlements are illegal under international law. on the other hand the united states' ministration seems to be winking and nodding in the direction of a fairly hardline israeli government that it will not interfere with hardline policies on the part of the israeli government and there is a political climate in the arab world in which some rather significant arab countries are in a de facto alliance with the state of israel to confront iran and indeed the butler any former minister tweeted before the new year that the palestinian or the jerusalem issue is a secondary matter so there seems to be a sort of a coalescence of political factors that i think makes the prime min

of america a.t.p.'s a kurdish opposition group in turkey in istanbul mitten good jan a security analyst and former turkey military officer and from reza italy by skype is joshua landis directs the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma very warm welcome to all three of you let me start off with you joshua landis what do you make of this outright support now for the kurds in syria and the u.s. backing this thirty thousand strong force well it's clearly a new departure for the united states the u.s. went into syria saying that it was a very narrow policy to defeat isis today isis is largely defeated yes there needs to be more policing but the united states has developed a policy which goes far beyond defeating isis today it is trying to roll back iran weaken our side help its allies israel and saudi arabia and did not i our side capability to rebuilt keep it weak and divided and this means supporting the kurds in the north and a larger on clay. this is infuriating turkey an error to want it is driving turkey towards russia and i believe it's a dangerous policy for the united states because it'll be very difficult and it will isolate the united states from iran turkey and eventually even i