confines a compromise on how to deal with the mosque after russia and china vetoed the un resolution on syria russia's foreign minister went to damascus to talk to the syrian leader shortly after having arshad agreed to negotiate now they say the russian mediation may be the last chance to settle the diplomatic so is it really possible to bring back peace and stability to syria and void a large scale military conflict. middle east report contributing to. the un security council has debated two rival resolutions on syria the one by russia and china was proposed by the arab league the western powers. the syrian president to step down and proposes something canonic sanctions including an arms embargo the russian version of visions ending the violence through negotiations only over the west has. succeeded. both.

opposition agreed to get around the table. mr rabbani walked into the show thank you very much for coming for being with us and my first question is about the mehdi. army many anywhere in the talks between the syrian opposition namely the syrian national council and the president do you think this can be considered good as a step towards a peaceful solution of the conflict were. like the military solution well i certainly hope it will succeed because as you indicated yourself this may well be one of the very final opportunities to prevent an even bigger catastrophe and in syria i think there are. basically two questions one is the question of

transition and the other one is what happens after that transition the basic problem in syria is that you have a. regime that is on prepared to negotiate about substantive issues. but which retain sufficient popular support and firepower to hang on for a very long time conceivably or at least to make. any transition very bloody and try to straw fick and you have an opposition that has basically put its eggs in the foreign basket and sought to get foreign powers to effect regime change on its behalf i think the russian and chinese veto in the united nations averted a scenario in which regime change in syria would be produced by external forces and . after coming back from damascus the russian foreign minister a lot of announced that bash our last hour has agreed on a referendum on

a new constitution well doesn't mean anything doesn't mean that that syria is that is now headed in that. i mean we need times for more democratic no no i think you know a referendum on a constitution or missed reference. a promised one at that at this stage i think is much too little much too late i think what is needed is genuine and serious dialogue about a negotiated transition i think the opposition has to accept to negotiate with the government but at the same time i think the syrian regime has to be compelled to negotiate about substantive issues and i very much hope that one outcome of the russian mission to damascus was to persuade the shuttle. that it is now time for real negotiations about about real issues well. this is

another thing that allegedly said to the russian media is that he is ready for dialogue but what is syrian opposition one of those people with whom he should he should start a dialogue i mean i mean if we talk about if you talk about the s.n.c. their leadership is abroad then there are a couple of opposition groups inside the country so sell some multi multi faced sort of the opposite number so so so is there anybody. to talk to because for me i would next put in their will but it looks too diverse and lead to to do numerous i mean it is it is a divided and diverse and even fragmented opposition but nevertheless i think if. there are clear signals that damascus is prepared to negotiate not just negotiate for the sake of negotiations but negotiate in the context of a of

a genuine and fundamental transformation of the syrian political system i think first of all you already have some forces in the syrian opposition that from the very beginning have rejected the prospect of foreign intervention and have stated that they would be prepared to negotiate with the regime if the regime demonstrated that it is serious and at the same time i think once you were to get this context you will find that the syrian opposition will have to unify around the city and in order to hear do you think it's impossible of for somebody as far as for the arabs as the version of the chinese to many in such a situation where when when such diverse opposition is facing israel i think it is i mean the problem with the syrian situation is that there are very few potentially credible mediators left you have the western powers have. basically abandoned the prospect of

a negotiated transition because they have chosen i think quite clearly for regime change by armed force if necessary the armed force of the syrians who they i'm sorry for interrupting but they have abandoned because the west considers the dialogue as being impossible you think the dialogue is still possible not only do i think it is still possible i think it is i mean it may it may well fill the problem is that if we don't try it's going to become a much more catastrophic situation than it already is and let's recognize the current situation is a ready genuinely catastrophic the problem again is that you have. an opposition that appears broadly based enough and resilient enough to continue the soft rising for a very long time to come while you also have a regime that has sufficient popular support and firepower to remain in power for

a very long time in other words unless there is a negotiated solution this conflict could go on for a very long time and i think the method of the transition will also play an important role in determining what comes after the transition in other words. will the eventual overthrow of regime produce an even more violent domestic and potentially regional conflict or will it lead to constitutional changes of a more peaceful character while the purse here in moscow carman to russia in the marsh you need a new security council as as a diplomatic victory as as as a as a wise move but the u.s. secretary of state called the veto on the resolution in syria a travesty why do you think what i think she said well i have to say it's exceptionally ironic to hear no less than the american top diplomat announcing a veto at the security. as you know the u.s.

has developed some something of a specialisation with you can blocking security council resolutions that seek to to promote human rights in the middle east specifically palestinian human rights so i mean i take this with a very enormous grain of salt and i think the basically american position is that you know vetoes in the security council were only intended to support israel and not for any other purpose ok well one of the republican presidential hopefuls in america senator newt gingrich uses the am term and said read through in this public speeches he says the u.s. could secretly ship weapons to the syrian opposition or build a coalition to get rid of unless it what do you take of that i think it's quite likely that that in fact is a policy that is a ready being formulated and perhaps this isn't a republican policy you know it's already been beamed and not only by their states

there's also been reports that qatar with the support or at least the blessing of saudi arabia is already seeking to arm. arm syrian opposition in turkey i think with a defeat at the security council and also you know a sort of loss of appetite in the united states and the west more generally for another large scale or mode we've talked about the the the fractured in the multi faced opposition in syria to whom are they going to ship shoot their weapon to do everyone well you know as gingrich put it it would consist of two parts one is covertly arming the opposition and another one of trying to get this armed opposition more unified so i mean they can already find people to arm now with if they can succeed in unifying these forces in making them a more coherent fighting force. i think it's quite likely they will go for it

particularly because there doesn't seem to be much appetite in the west for the kind of large scale military intervention we've seen for example in iraq or more recently in libya well what will you spend lots of time in in europe do you have a feeling that that the west is getting ready to rerun the libyan scenario no i don't mind my saying the indications i've seen as is that there's very little appetite for this and you know if you compare a syria to libya. gadhafi was isolated he had enemies everywhere and very few friends and certainly no alliances and in the past few years he was more or less becoming once again an ally of the west the syrian situation is quite different the syrian regime has a mutual defense pact for example with iran and and with possible. russia for example seems invested at least for the time being and the survival of the syrian

regime so there are all kinds of regional and international complications in syria that simply did not exist in libya plus that libya turned out to be a lot more difficult than it was anticipated at the outset says a movie or a rabbi in the middle east to port contributing at spotlight will be that should lead to bread so stay with them go. players. play. but i define it as a struggle for survival australia they will tell you out there selling you know to a bank you see them there among strangers if you want to have sex go and have sex.

from los angeles to chicago to birmingham twenty trauma centers have closed since two thousand severe problem is not enough inpatient beds not enough urgency department beds and not enough nurses commandos that's to take care of all the people who are here the only real health care system that we have in the city of los angeles is the los angeles fire department in fact when i started my venture is a fire fighter i didn't want to be a mask i started out going to just do fire fighting it's about eighty two percent of what we do the florida problem is medical i've had a rescue couple weeks ago waited four hours for bit i've waited sometimes three hours but i was it's a same francis in lynnwood for four hours and fifty minutes staring at the wall of

patients and we have a federal law that mandates that if you can't turn no one away who seeks care in an emergency room. we have the most expensive health care system in the world and it's probably valued the least. welcome back to spotlight i'm all good loving just a reminder that today we're talking to moon that have by any middle east group we're contributing editor which is where the situation in syria and around syria well if i said finally quits. which is a possibility of course who do you think will pick up the pound the s.n.c. is most likely to become the the the the ruling party the country which is well

first i don't think he will voluntarily quit second of all it depends very much on how he eventually relinquished his power and you know some people have spoken of the prospect for example of a military coup perhaps coming from. with then let's say the alawite security elite who will feel that if they can move him aside it will be much easier to negotiate a transition that preserves their core interests there is a possibility of at some point you know a sudden popular uprising in key cities such as damascus and aleppo which we haven't really seen yet there is a possibility of prolonged conflict and civil war and ultimately what i think would be most beneficial to syria although looking increasingly unlikely is a negotiated transition away from this you know dictatorial one party rule and i

think you know we have to admit this this this is not only in a dictatorial regime but has behaved with exceptional ruthlessness pitiless in fact against it against its own people and least in my view has lost any claim to legitimacy that it made previously of the good people in the west the politicians or the political class do you think they really prefer the rise of islamist. that's caused by the arab spring well neither this is not just to a person regimes like us this regime well the the answer has generally been no if you look at the at the choices that they've made they prefer a stable autocratic you know security oriented regime such as we've seen in the buttocks egypt when i least in egypt and so on i think what's going wrong well what went wrong is rice is what went wrong from the west point of view with the people in the arab world basically said enough is enough and they rose up and overthrew

their leaders and i think these things happened without any planning by the west against the will of the west you know politics sometimes work that way that many people stake their destiny into their own hands against the wishes and interests of . foreign powers that have been propping up vile dictators the special mission. control in syria how would you evaluate their work results. well it's interesting the report hasn't been published it has been leaked and it seems to be much more balanced than. the reports about the report we've been seeing in the process i would say that i think the arab league has increasingly become an instrument of several key arab states particularly the g.c.c. states and cannot unfortunately be seen to be a neutral party in the syrian crisis so so so. when the arab league monitors in

syria voice there were only ten as you put it they report saudi arabia and qatar withdrew their representatives it isn't for the reason you just mentioned law i think if you look at arab states like saudi arabia and qatar i think from their point of view the arab league initiative and the sending of monitors and so on was never really about resolving the crisis i think it was about laying the groundwork for international intervention or at least the internationalization of the syrian crisis that came to an end with the russian and chinese veto in the united nations security council is for this reason that as we were talking earlier i think it's increasingly likely that they will now start to look at ways of for example sending arms to the syrian army. impression in general is like a period like twenty three days this is the nerve to evaluate the situation twenty three days since the army i mean well again i think unfortunately the arab league

mission was never or at least for some key players it was never about the objectives that were stated what about this so-called the un moroccan really syrian let me say it leads way to. way to normandy mission do very well i mean i think when you have a u.n. security council resolution that basically calls on the head of state to relinquish power and it's clear that number one the head of state is not only not going to relinquish power but retains sufficient. armed force and support to stay in power for a very long time and at the same time that the opposition doesn't at least have the wherewithal to eject him from power it's certainly the groundwork for heightened conflict and in that context it could eventually lead to covert or perhaps even more overt forms of armed intervention i have to say i think it's

a very good thing first and foremost for syria that the scenario has been prevented well you know for the second time in this program you say you sound like an optimist to say that the military is being prevented at least for now but we can remember that some thirteen years ago there was the chinese russian veto yugoslavia but the western countries disregarded it and still bombed us wrongly so work on this happening you know well again it could happen again it could eventually happen again i think in the short term the more likely scenario will be covert support to the. two armed opposition elements i also have to say that i very much hope that one of the well let me take a step back and say that the problem here is that there are very few potentially credible mediators left certainly not the arab gulf states certainly increasingly less turkey given its growing hostility with syria russia is one power i think that

can bring sufficient weight to bear on damascus to persuade if not the syrian president then at least the syrian politically about the urgent need for a genuine political transformation that could prevent some of the. this catastrophic scenarios that you've been suggesting believe me being here now in moscow you probably have heard the opinions of russian russian experts and politicians that an intervention in syria would totally miss balance the whole region that this is some actually think that that an intervention in syria would be the first step to further attack iraq is that true and why what makes people think well first of all i would say that foreign intervention in syria or indeed anywhere on the us there are truly exceptional circumstances bordering on the unique is something that should be rejected and the pose is

a matter of principle i think of the certain specific situation in syria there are all kinds of additional reasons to reject and oppose any attempt at foreign military intervention in syria regarding your question about iran. i think those who have iran in their in their sights certainly would see. regime change or you know the destruction of the syrian state or whatever as as a good preamble to an attack on iran but i'm but i think it may be exaggerating a bit to suggest that iran is motivating current western policy towards toward syria you know it's taking place more on its own terms with the potential fallout so so so you don't see is the direct connection well i think i mean i think there is a connection in the sense that you know the same region i mean well iran has has has very few allies in the arab world in syria one of them in syria in a way for all intents and purposes the only one with the partial exception of iraq

and lebanon and clearly removing syria from this equation would be seen as a important and substantial benefit by by many western powers but to suggest that that is what's motivating. western policy on syria i think will be probably going a bit too far and leon panetta the head of the pentagon said recently that he is expecting israel to attack iran sometime between april and june and how should the statement be taken is won't that again all week or as a threat again it's very difficult. to to read the coffee grinds of the tea leaves if you will my sense of it and again this is speculation on my part is is that the u.s. at this point has no intention of attacking iran and it is genuinely concerned about an israeli attack on iran precisely because. the americans seem to have come

to the conclusion that the purpose of an israeli attack on iran will not be to attempt to destroy the iranian nuclear program but rather to provoke an iranian american conflict armed conflict in other words if israel attacks iran it will be impossible for america not to become involved in this the seems to be a growing concern in washington particularly during an election year and perhaps one element of such statements is to try to forestall such a scenario well why is america concentrating on its naval power after the year a new coast to to try to the peacekeeper what prevent a conflict well i'm not suggesting that the americans. don't have their own conflict with iran but i think. in terms of your specific question about an armed attack taking place in the spring there i don't think the american who very well you know you may be right because because the rainy and they don't seem to be more

worried about about this this naval activity of this year are they i mean. they're reacting rather calmly to that well i think what you've seen in iran recently is that they're getting increasingly concerned about the expansion of sanctions you recently had american sanctions on the iranian central bank you have the europeans adopting a resolution to stop the imports of iranian oil and so on and so you are now in a situation where in fact you do have all these heightened tensions and a growing possibility of perhaps and inadvertent move by one side or the other leading to the armed conflict the recent the recent attack on the russian embassy in damascus how do you think it is connected with with the whole situation you with the world russia is trying to play well again i think there are clearly. why there are forces in syria that see the russian veto in the u.

. one and perhaps russian policy more general us generally is somehow a betrayal of your syrian people but i think there are also others who view the russian role as having prevented the type of internationalization of the syrian crisis and foreign military intervention that they would dearly like to see thank you thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest today was not by the middle east report contributing editor and that's it for now from paula spotlight will be back with more first on comment on one thing going on in and outside russia until then stay on our team and take a. look .

top stories and i'll see you on an arab league plan to draw in forces to end the bloodshed in syria as critics claim disinformation on the number of deaths is being used to cloud a proper understanding of the situation and this comes as the opposition accuses the government of a massacre in homes while damascus maintains its conducting and to tear open racial . euro zone ministers postpone a decision on a second financial bailout package from greece basis by the coalition and athens closing a last minute deal with things and to still receive measures union leaders have announced a general strike for friday and saturday in protest over the cost that creditors are demanding before they approve the one hundred etc billion dollar. jobs and president hamid karzai lashes out after a children are killed in

a major and strike they said if you are good friends turn to eleven as the deadliest year for civilians since the start of the meanwhile the dress announced it could call multiple breakdowns in afghanistan earlier than expected. next week and about loss his guests about the stock market flotation of the world's biggest social media site facebook stock is up next. if you can. follow in welcome to crossfire can you talk about the fate of and the battle for syria the international community is as divided as the syrians themselves when it comes to resolving a situation that looks like a civil war with every passing day should there be an international intervention to stop the violence or would doing so make the situation even worse.