joshua landis, let me start with you. whahas the united states made progress in stopping the fighting in syria. >> well, it hasn't made a lot of progress. the worry on the talk, assad is quite powerful on the ground. he has made a lot of advances. this leads to the concern that you would get rebel to the north and regime syria to the south. they don't want that. they want to overturn assad. their real beef is to hold the american's feet to the fire and make them deliver on this promise that they made at geneva one that assad would step down. they don't have the power to do that themselves. that's what's going on right now. admit to the position that assad has to go. obama said that early in his fight. he perhaps regrets it today, but america has been stepping back from at a position and stopped supplying arms, stopped supplying aid of any kind to the rebels. that is in part the game that's being played here on a lead up to this geneva two meeting. >> now that assad must go has been the position of the united states from t

also now joining the conversation, joshua landis, and the director of the center for middle east studiest the university of denver. joshua, let me start with you, what is the united states up to and has it made any progress in its efforts to stop the fighting in syria? >> well, it hasn't made a lot of progress. there's complete chaos on the ground on the rebel side who have been fighting each other tooth and nail as you mentioned in your start up, and the -- the worry on the part of the opposition is if they begin to talk to assad, he is quite powerful on the grown now, and this could lead to the partition of syria. a rebel controlled area in the south, and a regime controlled area in the rest of the country. so what their real beef is to try to hold the american's feet to the fire and make them actually deliver on this promise they made at geneva one that assad would step down, because they don't have the power to do that themselves. so that's -- the trackations that are going on right now in an effort to commit america to the position that assad has to go. obama said that early in this

joshua landis, let me start with you. what do you take there first round of talks? >> well, i think many people were expecting-- were expecting that the united states would be willing to take half a loaf, that it would be willing to compromise to the point of not asking for regime change in syria in order to get, perhap, some access to stafbing people, to victims inside syria, and perhaps the beginnings of a cease-fire nor to alleviate the suffering of the syrians and the big outflow of refugees that risks to bring down and trouble neighboring states but the u.s. stuck to its guns and said that there has to be regime change in syria. as soon as the assad regime sensed this and heard the opening speech, it began to take away offers of cease-fire access to humanitarian agencies and the conversation became one of accusation, counteraccusation, very heated. and we haven't seen any progress. and we've seen stalling on chemical weapons. i think that the regime want to geneva, i believe the syrian regime, believing that it could-- that the united states was beginning to ge

joshua landis, let me start with you. whahas the united states made progress in stopping the fighting in syria. >> well, it hasn't made a lot of progress, . the worry on the talk, assad is quite powerful on the ground. he has made a lot of advances. this leads to the concern that you would get rebel to the north and regime syria to the south. they don't want that. they want to overturn assad. their real beef is to hold the american's feet to the fire and make them deliver on this promise that they made at geneva one that assad would step down. they don't have the power to do that themselves >> a lot of types, technology is available, and you would have to inform back and do software changes. but to determine, this is the issue in terms of saving lives, and to be able to access 9-1-1 became so apparent in this tragic situation. >> of course. i want to talk beyond the office building or hotel building type of situation. we understand from your association that there were actually dead zones, where 9-1-1 is going to do nothi

i'm joined by joshua landis, director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma. and andrew tabler, a senior fellow in the program on arab politics at the washington institute. andrew tabler, you heard margaret talk about the anger, the bitterness and vitriol, what do you think assad wants out of had? >> it's very clear. he wants to frame the war in syria, the uprising in syria as a war against terrorism and one that as margaret said the rest of the world can bandwagon behind him. but actually what assad wants to do is force a solution in syria. he does not want this kind of negotiated solution as we've seen here in month roe. -- montreux. he wants to held for his re-election for a third seven area term as president. he talked about that in a recent interview leading up to today's talks which actually with the precursor to moualem's comments today. >> ifill: what do you think about that joshua, landis, what is he is up to here. >> i think assad, you know, the americans want him to step aside. the syrian opposition want him to step aside. he's quite strong on the

to cross not the life and times of ariel sharon i'm joined by my guest joshua landis in norman he isthe director of the center of middle east studies at the university . he of oklahoma in washington we have use of moon year he is the executive director of the palestine center and in tel aviv we cross to amir oren he is the defense and government writer for harat daily all right gentlemen cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i want fair time for all three of my guests here joshua if i go to you first in norman vice president joe biden said at the funeral about sharon that he was a complex man who in gendered strong opinions. i suppose i could say that about you i could say that about myself.

to cross out the life and times of ariel sharon i'm joined by my guest joshua landis in norman he is the director of the center of middle east studies at the university of oklahoma in washington we have use of moon year he is the executive director of the palestine center and in tel aviv we cross to amir oren he is the defense and government writer for rats daily all right gentlemen cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i want fair time for all three of my guests here joshua if i go to you first in norman vice president joe biden said at the funeral about sharon that he was a complex man who engendered strong opinions. i suppose i could say that about you i could say that about myself how does that apply to mr sharon considering his history and his life. well we have two very different narratives about sharon for israelis he was the lion of israel he was a defender of the bulldozer people loved his ferocity his ability to kill arabs and to conquer the land of israel he believed that that israeli should settle it all from you know a u.s. perspectiv

to cross not the life and times of ariel sharon i'm joined by my guests joshua landis and norman he is the director of the center of middle east studies at the university.