turkey russia. and the u.s. i think europe which as they become more like a less relevant actor and of fight despite being bearing. brunt of the fighting in syria with the refugees and attacks in iraq could play a significant role here by mediating between these forces because of actually their economy power political you know. leverage on russia turkey and others and turkey and the kurds are two potential allies of europe in the syrian conflict john symond ogun going to yield is richard weiss thank you very much indeed for your contributions of program and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website dot com for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. insights sorry you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is. from me has a lot of the whole team here by phone now. facing realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place a so-called secret city getting to the heart of the mat

russia. they have stitched together iran, syria, hezbollah. can turkey really get along with russia?e a historian as well as a strategist and a military guy. russia and turkey, you don't think of them as allies, do you? >> no. you're rattling old ghosts in their cages, hugh. on one side, the empire centered on turkey and the other the russian czars who pushed to control that near broader around russia. ultimately russia and turkey are not going to be the best of friends. that is a leverage point we should be exploiting as we work with our turkish colleagues. this is going to require delicate diplomacy. i think we can get this done because in the end turkey's broadest geo-political strength will be working with the west, not defaulting to that new, as you call it, that new axis emerging in the middle east. >> so let me finish by asking you if you had two minutes or five minutes with president trump and asked him to address russia, turkey, and this iran, what would you advise him to put into the state of the union this week? >> i would underline the threat of iran. and i think we will

this is alienating turkey it's been driving turkey into the arms of russia as we've seen over the last few years turkey was hoping that that relationship u.s. kurdish relationship would begin to reverse once isis was destroyed that is not the case the united states is building an argument for remaining in northern syria. saudi arabia would like the united states remain there israel would like the united states to remain there to cut down assad's government and to deny the syrian government oil water and agricultural land that's what chopping syria up into two and developing a long term relationship with the kurds in the north helping them get to develop greater independence will ultimately do it'll keep syria very weak this is a way to night iran the fruits of it's a victory in syria and also to bring russia down a notch so i think the united states is seeing this as a way to hurt its enemies russia anyone and to help its allies. both israel and saudi arabia the trouble is is that turkey is collateral damage here the united states' relationship with turkey is going from bad to worse an

kurdish military capabilities so what we're hearing i think from lavrov and turkey seems to suggest that both those two countries russia and turkey are siding increasingly whiny with each other when it comes to the syrian conflict and the united states at the moment is finding itself a bit more isolated so where does this leave the various dialogue the various platforms the various peace initiative sochi geneva a start where does it say that russia stands on those these are these are these are more areas where we are seeing key and russia working quite closely with each other and of course it will come as no surprise to hear that lavrov was beginning up a century with the parts of the process that russia has had key involvements in so he was saying that a star has really pushed forward the kind of de confliction zones in syria. taken the prospects of peace further forward. what russia is also trying to do is organize this kind of national dialogue conference and so she has been trying to get this up and running for many months now supposed to be happening sometime towards the end of the month now he said that this dial

the war in syria will never end until russia versus america decide who won or quit fighting russia is and turkey are now a line because they are fighting for. the turks now are with russia because they want to stop that's for them drums every interest this is their national interest and america on the other hand would like to divide syria where as russia wants it to stay or one country so in that sense we like the russian agenda but the turks and the russians want to stop right now the turks but the kurds whereas america is pushing the kurds because they want the kurds to be used against turkey and limiting its power and dividing syria because that ensures that their way of bases and this they will stay forever and taking the oil in syria and it is good for israel's security to divide and destroy the country so until one or the other settles they either say forget it we're not going to be able to go in to use the kurds and they give up the americans or the turks lose and will i would have loved to see the free syrian army supported by somebody nobody has been supporting yet because it is some so

alice if you enjoy macof says relations between turkey and russia are very strong russia and turkey are on very good terms now they've restored their relationship after turkey shut down russian airplane and. relation to tear it is now the relations are back they are so good actually is that when turkey was advancing in a frame all the russians were with the group from area also when recently. there was a drone attack on the russian airbase put impersonality spoke and said turkey is beyond any suspicion. so they wrote put in announced that there was. international power involved in the attack on russian airbase so putin always highlights that turkey and russia though they have different goals in the region but they are allies. the anniversary of president trumps integration has been marked by a government shutdown after the senate failed to agree on a spending bill that will try again early on monday to vote for a deal with immigration the main sticking point republicans and democrats are blaming each other for the deadlock mike hanna reports house democratic minority leader nancy pe

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 iraq met i'm going to turn what do you think the u.s. is up to here how are you gauging take us response on the military response. and i mean just literally three hours ago president are done he made an a very very strong speech and this has been the most inflammatory speech that he made is so far so i. think that to y.p. g. forces take a affiliated forces is an imminent threat for the security of turkey and is very firm on this issue with this rhetorical present and has been trying to emphasize underline this fact and there ma'am i have to say that. when taking into account the military situation on the ground it is very hard it's getting getting increasingly hard at the moment and wait no one taking into ankara's firm stance against by p.g. . that i suggest that armed confrontation in the north of syria between turkish military or turkish m

you have other powers and of course, turkey and russia. it is very messy. nately, turkey and russia. it is very messy. unfortunately, as you said, it is all taking place on the back of the syrian people, those that have remained in the country. moving on about a story about robots who might handle calls to nhs iii. about a story about robots who might handle calls to nhs 111. it is not an immediate emergency, if people call 999. by 2020, 16 million calls could be dealt with by algorithms and robots rather than humans answering the phone. it comes on the back of the nhs, of course, facing further constraints with regards to budget and being under a lot of pressure because there are a lot of people using the service and we have seen over the past couple of weeks the nhs has been of course under the strain during this flu that arrived here in the uk. it is notjust happening at the nhs but other areas using algorithms and robots. it is something which i see in my work covering companies that within their operations, many people are looking to optimise to make s

when president add on started stating this like about a year ago but now we see that turkey has also backed from russia and also the syrian regime agrees the same reviews over the security forces stationing in syria iraq and turkey iraq war do from turkish perspective i can say that despite united states claims that they are trying to provide security and stop the illegal infiltration of the radical insurgencies to the area turkey takes it as perceives it as a threat because turkey believes that the white p.g. is an offshoot of p.k. k. could to some workers party as we have watched in our news package and it sees it as a national security risk and a threat to its territorial integrity but here some other questions come up. to us which are turkey and united states have been nato allies and they have had strategic partnership in the region for such a long time but now the question is whether turkey is drifting apart from its partner united states and aligning with russia iran axis or is this problem going to be sold but right away i'm assuming last minute not of cations from turkish local media that pris

twisted and tweeted ad nauseum with america first tonight defiance to the third degree russia turkey and the palestinians rejecting u.s. power wielded by a president named trump i'm burnt off a brylin this is the day. with. a look that should i make it clear. that we do not accept america as mediator between us and israel. this is really new. should be unfortunately our american colleagues and their allies still want to do business based exclusively on ultimatums and dictatorship. and now the us has acknowledged that this hasn't stopped least an army of terror along that country's border. to drown this army of terror before a call. also coming up policing content on social media we'll meet a woman who quit her job as a facebook cyber cop to save or sanity her story in about seven minutes we begin the day with the slap of the century now that is how palestinian president mahmoud abbas has described u.s. president trump's decision last month to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital abbas has rejected any future role of the u.s. as a mediator in peace talks with israel saying should b

to form a thirty thousand strong border security force in northern syria is being rejected by turkey russia and syria itself turkey's president says washington is trying to create a terror army and he's pledged to quote drown it before it comes into being the u.s. says the force will secure areas along syria's border to the north with turkey and to the east with iraq it will be mostly made up of fighters from the syrian democratic forces but the s.d.f. is led by kurdish fighters that turkey views as allies to the p.k. k. a banned kurdish group active inside turkey. syria says the plan is an attack on its sovereignty and russia is describing it as a plot to partition the country from moscow or a challenge reports it's the youth but russia's foreign minister had a stark rebuke for the us on monday speaking as a media conference in moscow surrogate lavrov said the creation of his own controlled by u.s. backed rebels risks syria's territorial integrity turkey's president also opposes the plan he's attacking reports of the u.s. backed kurdish border force russia type says turkey will launch its

turkey syria and russia have criticised the u.s. plan to form a thirty thousand strong border security force in northern syria the turkish president accuse washington of trying to create a terror army and pledged to drown it before it comes into being and the syrian government has vowed to drive the u.s. presence from its territory the u.s. says the force will secure areas along syria's border to the north with turkey and to the east with iraq it will be mostly made up of fighters from the syrian democratic forces the s.c.f. a large part of that armed group is made up of kurdish fighters whom turkey considers terrorists the s.c.f. is a u.s. backed alliance of kurdish and arab fighters which currently controls almost twenty five percent of syrian territory in the north and east russia says it's us plot to partition syria rory chalons reports. but russia's foreign minister had a stark rebuke for the u.s. on monday speaking as a media conference in moscow a lover of said the creation of his own controlled by u.s. backed rebels risks sy

turkey's foreign minister is demanding both iran and russia fulfill their responsibilities as go on tours of cease fires in series comments full of the latest attacks by syrian government forces and their allies on a province which is controlled by opposition fighters has been its most reports. northern syria is supposed to be one of four so-called deescalation zones set up to reduce fighting if anything battles between government and opposition forces are intensifying russia turkey and iran agreed last year to be guarantors of cease fires in those mainly opposition held areas now the turkish government says the syrian regime is claiming to attack what it calls terrorists targeting the so-called moderate opposition. ninety five percent of the violations are carried out by the regime or the groups who backed the regime why is the aim to exploit this process to completely wipe out the moderate opposition in the civilians iran and russia should meet their obligations as guarantors and stop with the regime this is not about simple airstrikes near the border the regime is advancing toward the

fighters on the move has angered russia which still has troops in syria as well as nato member turkeywhich considers it a terrorist group chalons has more. sleep but russia's foreign minister had a stark rebuke for the us on monday speaking at a media conference in moscow surrogate lavrov said the creation of a zone controlled by u.s. backed rebels risks syria's territorial integrity turkey's president also opposes the plan he's attacking reports of the u.s. backed kurdish border force russia type says turkey will launch its own military operation against the kurds in the northern syrian city of africa. now the united states has confessed that they are forming a terror army along our border what we have to do is to strangle this terror army on our borders before it is born. turkey has fought kurdish factions inside its borders for decades and doesn't want to see them gaining more power in neighboring syria bucks in northern syria the americans have long been supporting some kurdish forces this is a predictable turkish escalation against us steps to concretize our military part of the

has some forces inside initially turkey wasn't happy about that will tell you why did russia allow turkey to carry out this offensive on because it wants to continue clearing of what it calls terrorists it is so complicated but certainly it does show you that it's the international actors that really do call the shots in this conflict stephanie decker live on the turkey syria border stephanie thank you. that was behind an attack on a military academy in afghanistan's capital kabul two soldiers died and ten others were wounded in the gun battle near the. national defense university for attackers were killed one has been arrested for the same site was the target of a suicide bombing in october in which fifteen officers were killed and this comes two days after a suicide bombing also in kabul killed at least one hundred three people afghans are blaming the government for failing to improve security bill for hammie as a lecturer in international trade university the recent wave of attacks by the taliban show it's trying to prove its strength. we have been accustomed to. that in t

i mean it's the attacks russia has pulled back its ground troops from the region to avoid accidental clashes experts say turkey is looking to russia for further support. this is inevitably going to mean more close cooperation with russia for turkey and. this is probably russians through to pull turkey. three thing is it. the u.s. position meanwhile remains ambiguous having backed the kurdish militia during the war against so-called islamic state washington is now refraining from direct criticism while urging turkey to quote exercise restraint in its military actions the u.s. is also said it takes turkey's legitimate security concerns seriously the call on turkey to show restraint was echoed by the u.n. security council on monday but operation all of branch continues to intensify creating yet another front in the seven year syrian civil war. correspondent dorian jones who is covering this story from. dorian so day for this offensive what's going on on the ground. well the fighting appears to be continuing to intensify not only in the rugged mountainous terrain but now increasingly in the villages the numerous v

despite being on opposing sides russia and turkey have recently supported each other in a bid to bring peace to syria it's unclear how turkey's threats against a free might affect that cooperation in the future. are strong language there for more now we go to our correspondent dorian jones who is on the story for us tonight in a state of oregon evening to you dorian i mean we've got ed a one here threatening to use military force against a u.s. backed border force in syria i mean how much of this is bullied to bully bellicose talk versus a real threat of armed conflict between two nato allies. well i think certainly that is what washington will be asking and neither is true the president has made this threat many times before but this threat by far seems to be the most serious and that's because turkey has been building up its forces on the border over the weekend there was a very heavy artillery bombardment in the african region this kurdish enclave of course in syria which president won and said that they will attack and we've also got unconfirmed reports already turkish commandos ha

fires the arms to turkey this is the turkish discourse but of course one major concern was whether russia would ever say to go for turkey because russia has a strong word over a friend but it seems after today today's statements by love row that russia also will support turkey in a decision to launch this operation and even the syrian regime sees the united states as a traitor because of this corporation with the y. p.g. . and russia says it's a us. foreign minister told the border force. to do it with pneumonia we're going to go to american say i so was not completely destroyed in syria but we can now see that the us are not interested in the territorial integrity of syria it announced a new initiative yesterday and they would like to support the democratic forces of syria and his own of border security which would mean cutting off large territories around turkey's border so this is a difficult area where there is tension between kurds and arabs these territories would be controlled by armed oppositions and u.s. forces it would be very difficult to split syria such an approach is taking

over our friend if russia says goal to turkey for after an operation what is russia going to ask back from turkey these are two question marks that are waiting for answers and as long as analysts say the questions should be clear and this will specify how turkey will launch a military operation in africa whether it's going to be sued as turkish president says as this week or is it going to take a longer time russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov says we'll continue to work towards a peace process in syria with all major players. oh for this one. we plan to facilitate the syrian process and unify all players so that the parties with an interest in syria should be able to put them forward so i have reasons to believe that russian turkish and iranian initiatives that allowed the start of the istana process to create an area of the escalation the process is still there and useful and the istana process stimulates the work of the un so i hope that the syrian national dialogue an initiative to lead the un to step up their work as well as we would like to facilitate the negotiation

backed rebels risks syria's territorial integrity turkey's president also opposes the plan he's attacking reports of the u.s. backed kurdish border force russia type says turkey will launch its military operation against the kurds in the northern syrian city of a free shot at then this is circling now the united states has confessed that they are forming a terror army along our border what we have to do is to strangle this terror army on our borders before it is born. turkey has fought kurdish factions inside its borders for decades and doesn't want to see them gaining more power in neighboring syria bots in northern syria the americans have long been supporting some kurdish forces the kurds are the most effective fighting force against the assad government and against the islamic state in syria and they've been very successful at that that's the american purpose but the turks regard the kurds and the why b.g. as a dire threat they label them terrorists although u.s. president donald trump promised he would stop supporting kurdish fighters the pentagon never made that's official the reported thirty thousand strong u.s. backed border force wou

in a way is so there was no coup from russia for turkey until now so what people what analysts wonder is that whether tricky and russia have a deal over africa or not it's going to be the game changer for three sides both the americans russian and turkey but under these conditions especially thinking about the geography and logistics of offering how turkey is going to launch a military operation is a big question mark because you know turkey had a military coup in july two thousand and sixteen and already is conducting has conducted a military operation in the euphrates field area and turkey lost a lot of special forces people over there more than eighty people so it is a big risk for the turkish military as well when we consider that y.p. t. has lots of forms of weapons that is provided by the united states and analysts say that the white pretty inside africa has a huge amount of weapons most of the sophisticated ones so another question comes up if turkey is going to launch a military operation in africa is it going to be with the milita

stake here as well moscow wants to drive a wedge between turkey and nato between turkey and its western allies because for russia the greatest prize could be if turkey breaks with the west and is special with united states yes speaking of the united states what are we to make of washington's luke warm reaction to all of this. let me ask you i mean why why has america's response so far been so muted. well because washington is walking a very fine line on this issue i mean the u.s. clearly doesn't want to anger turkey a key nato ally but of course it has also no interest in an all out extensive a war against the kurds because of course the kurds played a key role in defeating isis the islamic state in syria so the u.s. so the u.s. in a way is in a very difficult position here and we heard from europe that one of russia's aims here really is to destabilize already strained relations between turkey and the u.s. so michelle i mean how is the u.s. reacting to that if we if one of the goals of russia is to see to nato allies basically fall out with each other well it seems to be that for now at least the u.s. is siding

it fires the arms to turkey this is the turkish discourse but of course one major concern was whether russia would ever say que go for turkey because russia has a strong word over a friend but it seems after today in today's statements by love row that russia also will support turkey in its this isn't to launch this operation and even the syrian regime sees the united states as a traitor because of this cooperation with the why p.g. . let's get more on this now from the u.s. where our correspondent kimberly hellcats is in washington d.c. i'm kimberly i'm guessing the architects of this must have known they would be strong reaction to it in the region what are you hearing where you are about why they're doing it. we reached out to the department of defense and it has supplied a bit of an explanation about this border security force certainly there is the understanding that there are these sensitivities in the region particularly with respect to the concerns of the ally turkey but again the united states has been very clear it says all along in terms of its goal and that is to preserve the fra

he says turkey wants to show it's a big player in syria as big as russia and the u.s. . it's not going to be a big erm if occasion i don't think turkey can can really go in and the change the dynamic without any sort of desert approval or discussion with the with russia i think turkey is a big a psychological war no trying to basically show everyone that they are ready to serious in this in this. approach and hopefully they are a big maybe a compromise would happen in the last minute now there's this question between the russians or the americans but but i mean it's just to see how u.s. policy is much weaker if you remember just last year trump addition deployed u.s. troops and then a bit as the answer to turkish threat no. one is reading the word to members after so at the end what he wants is to control the area west of the affronts he doesn't want to see good scroope beyond that point so he want to go back to this relay that he felt that the u.s. are not supporting him russia maybe is not. support the forces he was trying to create but these options are limited so he's

amidst the attacks russia has pulled back its ground troops from the region to avoid accidental clashes experts say turkey is looking to russia for further support. this is inevitably going to mean more close cooperation with russia for turkey and. this is probably russians trying to pull turkey more. is it clink the u.s. position meanwhile remains ambiguous having backed the kurdish militia during the war against so-called islamic state washington is now refraining from direct criticism while urging turkey to quote exercise restraint and its military actions the u.s. has also said it takes turkey's legitimate security concerns seriously. the call on turkey to show restraint was echoed by the u.n. security council on monday but operation all of branch continues to intensify creating yet another front in the seven year syrian civil war. reports also coming in the journalists being detained for the social media relating to the offensive. and during jones in istanbul. what we understand is in the last twenty four hours also five journalists have been detained. by the police in. the main kurdish city in turke

military personnel that had enough range shortly after the campaign started and russia controls this airspace meaning turkey could not be flying their planes without russia's consent turkey says it is only targeting what it calls terrorists but there are already reports coming out of africa in that civilians have been affected it seems syria seven year war is entering yet another phase stephanie decker al-jazeera on the turkey syria border so things are more coffee is a senior research associate at the george washington university's is a specialist in russian affairs is joining us now from washington d.c. thank you very much indeed for your time the way that russia has responded to this attack by turkey seems to highlight the delicate balance that it has between its allies with turkey and with the syrian government of pro assad government as well but also the power sharing the power balance it's got in syria with the u.s. yes. russia and turkey are on very good terms now they've restored their relationship after turkey shut down russian airplane and. relation to tyria to the relations back there so good act

military personnel that had enough money in shortly after the campaign started and russia controls this airspace meaning turkey could not be flying their planes without russia's consent turkey says it is only targeting what it calls terrorists but there are already reports coming out of africa in that civilians have been affected it seems syria's seven year war is entering yet another phase another phase stephanie and no shortage of international actors involved. absolutely and we've known this throughout this conflict that really has increased you had negotiations ongoing between turkey and russia russia of course controls the air space. there is again it's a race that's happening the border just about kilometer from here but yes russia has given the green light so to speak because it is the airspace that it controls to that seat anyway that turkey can be flying their jets they pulled out around three hundred military personnel that the russians had and they pulled them out yesterday from russia saying that they're concerned about this and that they're monitoring it but many people will tell you that's ironic

friend of turkey is actually i think it's the biggest enemy of turkey today turkey is trying to create more options approaching to russia or thaw it feels like turkey is trying to make a deal with it so he wants to be more you should speak up the future of the syria. northern syria is all about the relationship between them of course and they position to wipe they did they will work together they prefer to. rallies against the military operation have been held in turkey as well as a number of european countries and broke up a gathering and aimed at least a dozen.

by russia on the syrian war have been delayed in sochi the meeting is due to began earlier on tuesday but it's been postponed to move reports of differences between turkey and russia their foreign ministers have spoken twice already in an effort to bring all parties together on the table about sixteen hundred syrian businessmen politicians rebels and member members of civil society work and bided to the black sea resort town of sochi but the. main opposition groups are getting ready for that meeting so a small section of the opposition groups here are in sochi are refusing to leave the airport they say they're offended by the presence of official syrian flags in the terminal building so let's go to chalons who is live in sochi covering this so it's not unusual rory that there's all types of maneuvering to get something like this going i would assume usually it happens and for the event supposed to kick off or whatever the case there's a lot of maneuvering going on to kind of dick this process so what do we know about what's going on behind the scenes in various talks to at least get this going. but i think one of the features of these kinds of syrian pe