and all my colleagues at the middle east institute. i would also like to thank our cohost, ambassador ross wilson, and the director of institute of turkish studies for their invaluable spoth. and special thanks to my interns for arranging today's event. and i would now like to introduce ambassador ross wilson. on the region that extends from east central europe, across the black and beyond to central asia. in december of 2008, he completed nearly three decades in the u.s. foreign service. including six years as american ambassador to turkey. in washington, ambassador wilson served in various posts, including the chief of staff for deputy secretary of state, robert zolig. and principle deputy at large and specialed a virz to the secretary of state for the new independent states. and deputy executive secretary of the state department. and he also serves on the board of governors for the institute of turkish studies. ambassador wilson? [ applause ] >> good morning to all of you. and welcome to this how turkey relates fay to the middle eas

policy is done well, we will become the new middle east for energy production. that's how serious this discussion is. if we as a nation are serious about producing our own energy, so i think there's two dimensions to this answer. the first one is, we need to think long term. we have to look at things like the law to see and say how do we secure our energy future, not only the next 10 to 20 years, but the next 50 to 100 years. oil and natural gas will continue to be the foundation energy building block for many decades yet to come, even as we strive to move to alternative renewable forms and other lessee mitting forms of energy. the secretary dimension we shouldn't overlook, it goes back to senator corker's point earlier, we've got to get our act together as a country in our own permitting processes, in our own political will and ability to produce our own energy. we can secure the border. we can secure the long-term future through the law of the sea, but we've got to have processes within the united states where we say energy's a priority. senator casey pointed

we had never been able to move on the middle east before. and i think it's true, and i'm sure we will get into this later. we made mistakes in the bush administration. i think every administration makes mistakes. but it can't be a co-incidence, that things finally started to move in the middle east. and i think that's really, really important. >> let me address quickly then the political will created by 9/11, both in two different directions. now it's about us in a different way, when we're attacked on 9/11. and what that does to human rights, perhaps overseas, and also the new legislation here at home, that some saw as an invasion of privacy, but all geared to accelerate the ability to track down terrorists at home. since these people had been inside the united states. can i ask either of you who have come from the capitol hill to talk about how 9/11 affects the will of congress in this moment in terms of the issue lorne was just discussing? in this context, in the human rights context, and in the context of drl. >> i have to go first. that

with the 1 million or half a million soldiers in north africa and the middle east compared to 20 years ago, which has more influence? >> that's a good question. i'm trying to make my answer short, but the fact is that nearly two years ago now there was a man in tunisia who was a college graduate and who was selling veng tanl vegetables and he burned himself to death and that lit a fire that will not go out. it will not be confined to the middle east and so the arab spring in my view is misnamed because vladimir putin is a lot more uneasy today than he was before. the chinese leadership and there's unease there and it's worldwide and for us to have wanted to keep the status quo in the middle east or the world would be a terrible mistake because change is taking place. so the job the united states of america should have, in my view, is to help channel this and assist these people who are seeking the things that we have always held as our responsibilities and our duty that all of us are endowed with certain inalienable rights. so when i travel -- i will be traveling at taxpayers' ex

but amir putin on the final leg of his middle east tour in jordan after urging restraint between israel and the palestinians as he met separately with their leaders elites and the debt domino rolls across the euro zone with cyprus becoming the fifth state to admit it needs bailing out while spain awaits its own hundred billion euro lifeline. seven pm in moscow. good to have you with us here on r t our top story nato condemns the downing of a turkish fighter jet by syria but fell short of calling it an attack against the alliance that's something that a member of the bloc had wanted to push for an emergency meeting in brussels saying damascus committed an act of aggression are reports. well it was a very short statement at the end of this closed door meeting essentially nato said that to syria's downing of the turkish jets is unacceptable and the need to condemn said in the strongest possible terms and also that it stands by turkey in a show of solidarity when asked to elaborate on what specific actions could follow after this most and simply did not want to give any details and he says

to cross-talk the wave of violence across lebanon i'm joined by robert fisk in beirut he is the middle east correspondent for the independent in pittsburgh we have typhoon goal he is a member of the answer coalition and in washington we cross to ward off he is a professor of middle east studies at the national defense university all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime on robert if i go to you first in beirut there seems to be two countervailing narratives going on right now is that the the syrian free army is in lebanon causing trouble looking for allies to topple assad or if you like the other one you have assad and his people influencing domestic politics again in lebanon which one do you like or an either or a combination. i don't think it was by chance that our side made his speech in the syrian parliament at almost exactly the same time that the violence restarted in tripoli with fifteen dead and fifty wounded that's almost too much of a coincidence but i don't believe the law the the line that's been taken by many people here particularly in th

we continue to have turmoil in the middle east. we see the rising powers in asia that represent a challenge in terms of stability in that region as well, and there are growing concerns about cyber-intrusions and cyber-attacks. we have to meet all of these challenges and at the same time, meet our responsibility to some of the most serious problems that face us, we have to rebalance our global posture and presence to emphasize the asia pacific region and the middle east. those are the two areas where we confront the most serious challenges. third, we have to build for the rest of the world that we deal with, we have to build innovative partnerships and strengthen key alliances and partnerships elsewhere in the world. so that we maintain a presence in latin america, in africa, in europe, and elsewhere. fourth, we have to ensure that we have a force that can confront and defeat aggression from any adversary any time, anywhere. lastly, this can't just be about cutting the budget. it also has to be about investments. investments in new

that's been chopped up by other powers well in russia not actions but you know the middle east is a russia russia is seems to me you're not seeing a city really going to be i don't hear anybody running russia is now on the chopping us. anything else and they're trying to support international law typhoon go ahead i didn't expect this to happen typhoon go ahead if anybody's trying to chop up middle east it is the governments in nato that is trying to reshape. the existing independent states taken the opportunity of the arab spring as a jumping point and with this syria case when we talk about the end and peace plane in play and it's being not settled the clear that is just this stepping stone for validating setting the pretext for military intervention by the nato powers when how is it they just play and when one side this so-called opposition is funded and provided arms and beyond most of the while and. and and the syrian government has to defend itself and the it's becoming obviously clear that this peace plan is nothing but a r two p. the responsibility to protect style nato

s historically strongest allies in the middle east.r space, coalition operations with egyptian troops, everything that you can possibly think of. that's why the u.s. maintains a military relationship with egypt. but if the egyptian military leaders do not give up power under this current latest crisis situation, this will become very problematic. the military aid will be rethought, officials tell us. and they will have to re-think that military relationship. so it becomes an issue of how u.s. taxpayer funds are being spent. and it becomes a very key strategic foreign policy issue in the middle east, wolf. >> i know leon panetta, the defense secretary, in recent days has had conversations, one specific one with the top general in the egyptian military general and i assume he was urging the general -- i don't know if you heard about this, to act with restraint in terms of taking military action to curtail the democratic process in egypt. >> in just the last couple days, wolf, panetta has spoken to general martin dempsey, chairman of join

if you look at that time fate of the middle east, is the fate of the middle east more worn i did the decisions of the people that live in the middle east, do they control their destiny? or is it more dictated by those outside of the middle east, russia, china, united states, and others and how would you weight the influence over the fate of the middle east proportion alto the occupants the citizens of that part of the world and those that exert themselves -- >> thinking about syria or -- >> pick them. >> well, i you that -- to quote tony, paraphrase tony, syriawe can tat to about what bad guy -- >> mubarak. >> al assad is. he is a really bad guy and -- >> butcher. the butcher. >> we will make sure he doesn't continue to be a really bad guy but the instant russia says look, i will tell what you we will do. we will send sailors there, ships there, put people on the ground and anti-aircraft missiles there. how do you like that, united states of america? i mean -- >> i don't like that. >> no, no. neither does the president. neither does anybody in the -- all right. our rage of influence

we continue to have turmoil in the middle east. we see the rising powers in asia that represent a challenge in terms of stability in that region as well, and there are growing concerns about cyber-intrusions and cyber-attacks. we have to meet all of these challenges and at the same time, meet our responsibility to fiscal discipline. i don't think we have to choose between our national security and our fiscal security, but at the same time, this is not an easy task. to build the force we need for the future, we develop strategic guidance that consists of five key elements, that were the elements that guided us in terms of the budget recommendations we make. first of all, we know that the military's going to be smaller and it's going to be leaner in the future, but it has to be agile, it has to be flexible, it has to be quickly deployable and it also has to be technologically advanced. second, because of the world we live in and where we confront some of the most serious problems that face us, we have to rebalance our global posture

walid phares is a fox news middle east analyst and joins us on the phone. could you have predicted this? >> caller: well, i put it in my book the coming revolution, eventually the muslim brotherhood having the most advanced political machine, having organized their efforts tor years under hosni mubarak were trained to be the opposition and when hosni mubarak collapsed as we saw in 2011, there was no competitor for the muslim brotherhood. the youth, young men and women who started the revolt and facebook and google people, women, minorities, the christian group did not have any organization and were not funded and it was natural the muslim brotherhood would be the front liners and they won. the legislative elections in the fall, they are confronted with the military. but, when they won this presidency it was off the military said, will they allow them to enjoy the presidency or not, the question last week and the week before and as we see now it seems the military have agreed to announce that the winner would become the president. >> jamie: how soon do you t

president putin towards the middle east and having already tackle issues on syria and iran is now pushing for dialogue between israelis and palestinians. in a crisis claims its fifth victim cyprus asked for a multi billion euro bailout to rescue its people banking said to finance its debts . around the world and around the clock this is our carriage allston. nato is set to decide what action to take against syria after turkey called for an urgent meeting of the alliance and chris says its allies should view friday's downing of its military jet but damascus as not to progression. has latest. nato officials will be gathering for an emergency meeting in brussels later on tuesday and that's off to turkey's request the country has invoked article four all the alliances chalta that allows in your words members to call for consultations if it feels that its territorial integrity will national security have been threats and the last time i want to call for it was invoked in two thousand and three shortly before the iraq invasion and back then again that was took his initiative this time took it h

whether it's in the middle east or anywhere else in the world. similarly, you can say in the palestinian/israeli case that not only do incidents of human rights abuse complicate the negotiating environment and undermine trust between the parties on the ground, but it's also very difficult to envision a lasting negotiated peace that is not accompanied by respect for human rights on both sides. and so if you're smart about it, you're going to build that into the negotiating work that you're doing every day. >> let me quickly ask mike, at that point, lauren's committee on human rights was four, five years old at that point. when was it founded? >> 1978. >> i'm sorry. 1978. much older than that. >> yeah. >> where were you and where did you see this in terms of a human rights shift, since human rights has been your cause in life? >> you're talking about the -- >> 9/11. >> well, i was actually in new york on 9/11 and saw one of the towers fall. so it was a transformational moment, i think, for the human rights ngo community. we had been in durbin, so w

moscow pushes for middle east peace following the president putin's talks in israel focusing on iran's nuclear ambitions an ongoing conflict in syria. crisis claims its fifth victim cyprus asked for multi billion euro bailout to rescue its people banking sector and violence its debts. pro-car sing live from the heart of the russian capital this is the nato is set to decide what action to take against syria after turkey called for an urgent meeting of the alliance ankara says its allies should view friday's downing of its military jet by the mask this as an act of aggression artie's rif an ocean that has the latest. they to officials will be gathering for an emergency mission in brussels late on tuesday and that's off to turkey's request the country has invoked article four all the alliances chalta that allows any of its members to call for consultations a fits feels that its territorial integrity will national security have been threatened the last time i want to call for it was invoked in two thousand and three shortly before the iraq invasion and back then again that was took this in

terror on should prove its ambitions are peaceful the president speaking on the last leg of his middle east tour. a arab spring countries could be turning into militant training grounds the u.k.'s top spy warns of a new terror threat. nine pm in moscow i met très a good to have you with us here on r t our top story nato has condemned the downing of a turkish fighter jet by syria but it fell short of calling it an attack on the alliance that something on her a member of the bloc had wanted to push for at an emergency meeting in brussels saying damascus committed an act of aggression or these tests are silly reports. well it was a very short statement at the end of this closed door meeting essentially nato said that to syria's downing of the turkish jets is unacceptable and made to condemn said in the strongest possible terms and also that it stands by turkey in a show of solidarity when asked to elaborate on what specific actions could follow after this most and simply did not want to give any details and he says that he thinks that it just will not happen again this emergency meeting that w

to form as kind of a pro western staunch supporter of a more stable middle east. and i think and that's why i think israel should point out the kind of replacement so to speak thinking is also changing its tone in the recent years. and is there will find the middle east this kind of i would say space or an area. where you can think of kind of a regional or comprehensive peace as was the case before but to just strive for having what i would call interim or partial agreements i think that we are getting back to one thousand nine hundred eighty nine or nine hundred fifty s. when nobody talked about peace but we do talk about agreements professor thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. thank you. comfort is the least you how. money is the last you need to if you travel this way. language is common. you see. the. emotions are intense. and experience. if you're followed up on my sil better than. back and. it goes back to a time when people would like out of their forces in the wild and pick up future dates important for the prosecution. like the female. when th

countries in the middle east, countries in asia. were you have not had a tradition of dissent and civil society and you haven't had the same notions of free press. where women have been held down for decades and centuries. we are now in the process in the early stage of trying to figure out how things change. change is a messy business and not a linear process. we cannot force it to happen, but we can help empower people change. that is the message of this day. it is the message. we can't do it alone. we are not always going to be the most popular people. but it is getting better. and there's a lot of allies around, including bill burns and the secretary who made it clear that these are priorities to them. these are issues that all of us have to keep working. we won't succeed if they don't keep pushing us to do the right thing. >> lorne come you have something you wanted to say. >> just as mike said, brinkley, many years ago you would not have heard about these issues for the standards have gone up. it is also important that it is o

restraint between israelis and palestinians russia's president currently on the last leg of his middle east mediation tour. arab spring countries could be turning into militant training ground as the u.k.'s top spy warns of a new terror threat. eleven pm in moscow i met très a good to have you with us here on r t our top story the un's observer mission in syria won't resume the u.n. peacekeeping chief says it's too dangerous for monitors to restart their operations the mission was halted ten days ago because of rising violence let's get the latest from artie's marine important to us live new york so marina where does this leave kofi annan peace plan. well at this point the u.n. peacekeeping chief of a lot sue did brief the security council behind closed doors saying that the mission in syria could restart at any point. in this circumstance hour by hour the situation in syria is just too dangerous to have the observers resume activities in this of course is coming as the u.n. peacekeeping chief as i mentioned and other officials from the u.n. have been working on the mission in syria for mor

moving over the middle east the deep concern in the united states and the other traditional imperial powers britain france particularly concern is that now they may the middle east may get out of control and that syria's a much more serious than south america and i agree that's why they invaded libya and i have no doubt about it was to reduce crude but i agree but i think it's all over so for example if you take a look at what's happened in the arab spring the countries that are crucial to western imperial power the oil producers they have been under a very tough and in saudi arabia kuwait the emirates the major oil producing regions it never got off the ground the intimidation of the security forces backed by the west was so enormous that people were literally afraid to go into the streets and the west mainly france and united states and britain and egypt are following a very traditional pattern there's a playbook that you pursue that you gives you a kind of a game plan when some favored dictators the lose the capacity to rule. the show was airing in just over an hour here on our te

on nuclear weapons-free middle east. at the review conference 2010, it was agreed that this conference would cover the whole scope of weapons of mass destruction and the conference would take place in 2012. we have the situation where this conference is going to take place. the countries that sponsor this issue, uk, russia, and the u.s., actually proposed that this conference will take place in finland, and there is a facilitate they're is now traveling the world around, actually trying to discuss the question of mass destruction, weapons-free middle east. the question is difficult, i know, and no practical steps will probably be taken for a long time. but it's important that all these parties will meet at the same table, and that we'll be able to at least start the process. so i think these negotiations in baghdad and next time in moscow should also be seen in the context of this region namnal security and this u.n. conference this is coming up. they should not be isolated and at least there is a timeline. probably this

in the middle east -- i think in syria, unprecedented things. first of all, the bravery of the syrian people which is my eyes is unbelievable. people are facing fire every day. a dictator that kills children. most shocking photo is to see a small infant. i and stand it. our people are reluctant to say -- my answer, an alternative. if there is no alternative -- this is the first time i express my admiration to fight for their own freedom. the second point which is unpreceden unprecedented, arab league take responsibility against an arab country. as hillary mentioned already, between the united nations and arab league. i would say, gentlemen, now you know the situation. what is your proposal? you don't want anybody else to intervene because this will be foreign intervention. okay. do it yourself. and the united nations will support you. particularly, syria is a very complex case. you have the shiites. it's either a dictator for them to be together or make them agr agree. they are ready. let them take responsibility. intervening. let us support the

uprisings in the middle east have created. new terrorist training camps an auspicious conditions for potential attacks that's according to the head of the u.k.'s m i five security service he says al-qaeda militants are using the countries which toppled their leaders in the arab spring as bases to train the radical western use of the two hundred u.k. stream mr thought to have joined forces with heavily armed terrorist groups in yemen somalia libya syria and afghanistan. such a rise of radical islam islam leaving many western countries worried in germany of areas have launched nationwide raids on ultra conservative religious groups the salafi just perspective having links to extremists and posing a threat to democracy but for years the movement has enjoyed conditions that have made it thrive as exxon of boycotts reports. to the casual passers by these are just ordinary young muslims who want to be understood by the neighbors but only if you can distribute the bible to be able to distribute the qur'an these young men are countrym

coordinator of the answer coalition in norman we have joshua landis he is director of the center of middle east studies and associate professor of middle eastern studies at the university of oklahoma and in istanbul we cross that. he is general manager of the sichuan news agency or across time grows in effect gentlemen i mean you can jump in anytime you want brian back in washington it's called the civil war now now this war will end with winners and losers who will they be well let's start peter by making clear that the united states government the western powers england france the former colonizers of the middle east have actually promoted civil war they promoted civil war because their go in the case of syria as it was in libya as it was in iraq is the over. thro the existing independent government now syria unlike libya unlike iraq has a different set of political and social contours clearly the syrian government has a mass popular base and the opposition also has a base of mass proportions in the case of syria they are being assisted internationally by russia and by china in the case of th

he's a friend of the middle east institute, and of the united states.he has been turkey's on voyan the guided states since 2010 but he's no stranger to the u.s.. this is actually his third diplomatic assignment. he has risen quickly in the turkish foreign ministry since his first step in washington and that is a reflection of his outstanding diplomatic talent and intellect. when he left washington last time in 2001 he served as the head of the department of the americas. he was named the head of the information department, then he went on to serve as the spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs. he served as ambassador to israel, and before coming back here as ambassador to the night it states to use the the under secretary for political affairs and public diplomacy at the turkish ministry of foreign affairs. one factor that is contributed to the ambassador's effectiveness is his own personal multi-cultural background. his ancestors are from turkey, greece, bulgaria, syria and in that sense he shares many qualities of america multi-cultural and fie

it is to come back to the middle east. and its presence at the level comparable to the soviet time during which it had a very visible and strong presence in the middle east and especially in syria. and naval base is only one portion of it. so by giving the concession to maintain the naval base, it may not be with sufficient. thank you. >> thank you. i think the second question was directed to both ambassadors wilson and pearson. >> okay. i'll go first, thank you very much. i would say that the more important question is not influence. influence goes up and down. but whether the interest of the u.s. are the same today as they were 20 years ago. i would say that they are, and there are three. one is to avoid a general war in the middle east. the second is to encourage the economic development of the region. and the third one is to make it possible for i'll say democratic or pluralistic governments to gradually assume power through the region. so those three interests were, have been there for 50 years, and i predict they'll

and is there will find the middle east this kind of i would say space or an area. where you can think of kind of a regional or comprehensive peace as was the case before but to just strive for having what i would call interesting or partial agreements i think that we are getting back pulling hundred forty million or nine hundred fifty s. when nobody talked about peace but we do talk about agreements professor thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. thank you. comfort is the least you have. money is the last you need if you travel this way. language is common. you see. the. emotions are intense. i'd experienced crisis. if you're followed up on my belt feel better than they. are sort of a throwback and can't part of our long. and it goes back to a time when people would write down their forces in the wild and pick up the speech it's important to the sheriff for prosecution no longer like company may. go out there. and you have to hope that nothing bad can. slip. but we're chasing killers and you gotta keep that in my. how does the two million dollar deal. nev

moscow flexes its diplomatic muscles as the russian president tours the middle east pushing for more dialogue between the israelis and the palestinians . euro zone crisis claims its fifth victim aside from a multi billion euro bailout. people banking sector and finance its debts. and apparently those european banking problems are affecting these in asia but over in russia they are quite upbeat in the first hour of trading join me in twenty minutes for all the. world news twenty four hours a day live from moscow this is r.t. . nato is set to decide what action to take against syria after turkey called for an urgent meeting of the alliance says its allies should view friday's downing of its military jet by the mask this is not to aggression. as the latest now. nato officials will be gathering for an emergency meeting in brussels later on tuesday and that's off to turkey's request the country has invoked article for all the alliances chalta that allows in your words members to call for consultations if it feels that its territorial integrity will national security have been threatened t

soldiers in middle east, compared to 20 years ago. which is more influence there? that's the question. >> that's a good the question. i'll try to make my answer short. but nearly two years ago there was a young man who was a college graduate who couldn't get a job, who was selling vegetables, who was mistreated badly in front of his family and friends by the police, and he burned himself to death. that lit a fire that will not go out. it will not be confined to the middle east. so the arab spring, in my view, is misnamed. because vladimir putin is more uneasy today than he was before. the chinese leadership is -- there's unease there. it's worldwide. and for us to have wanted to keep the status quo in the middle east of the world, it would be a terrible mistake because change is taking place. so the job the united states of america should have, in my view, is to help channel this and assist these people who are seeking the things that we have always held as our responsibilities and our duty that all of us are endowed with certain righ

with europe with europe does you know does seem to be coming down strongly in the middle east. as the. russians and the chinese you know have their interest which are not necessarily congruent with those or the u.s. they would probably want to protect those interests important talks in difficult times and dozens of multi-billion dollar business agreements signed three day visit all but confirmed that the countries have kickstarted a new era in their relations and the fact that putin chose beijing as one of his early priorities since returning to power indicated that's in the far east where moscow has one of its most important partners more than half a century ago the chinese describe the u.s.s.r. as the elder brother by the time the soviet union collapsed these sentiments were gone for decades state visit to beijing suggested that the two countries may not feel like a family just yet but have definitely moved much closer to each other. reporting from beijing in china tens of thousands of people are gathered in georgia second largest city of could see in support of one of the co

president bush tonight tours the middle east pushing for dialogue between israelis and palestinians having already focused on the syrian conflict and the nuclear iran during his visit live pictures of newton and the palestinian president mahmoud abbas addressing the press there. the eurozone claims of a crisis i should say claims a fifth victim has cyprus asked for a multi-billion dollar about loud rescue its people banking sector and finance its debt. oh live from our studios in central moscow you're watching with me and he said now it's good to have you with us two pm here in the russian capital twelve noon in brussels and nato is set to decide what action to take against syria after turkey called for an urgent meeting of the alliance ankara says its allies should view friday's downing of its military jet by damascus as an act of aggression war correspondent tests are silly it is in brussels and will be joining us shortly live from there with an update. the turkey claims meanwhile that the downed jet was on armed and it was simply tasking the country's radar system but the head of an ind