prime minister says it was right to act with the u.s. and france after the suspected chemical attack in duma but the russians maintain it was staged as inspectors wait for access how to make sense amid the fog of contradiction i'm sorry kelly in berlin this is the day. just last week russia blocked a u.n. resolution that would have established an independent investigation able to determine responsibility for this latest attack on each occasion when we have seen every sign of chemical weapons being used russia has blocked any attempts to hold the perpetrators to account at the u.n. security council so regrettably we have no choice but to conclude the diplomatic action on its own is not going to work. and also coming up the former head of the f.b.i. is taking on the u.s.

president who talks about and treats women like they're pieces of meat who lives. only about matters big and small and since the american people believe the person is about to be president of united states on moral grounds. more later in the program but first we begin with syria where the red line of chemical weapons use has allegedly been crossed by the assad regime and countered with western airstrikes and yet has anything really changed the war for syria's future continues with assad's advantage in tact at the diplomatic war of words between the world's powers it rages on with the rhetoric a sea of contradiction on monday u.k. prime minister to resign may have defended the air strikes in syria conducted with her allies france and the united states saying that she had seen evidence assad was behind it russia says it's all a bunch of lies who's to be believed and is there any way to get diplomacy back on

track expert analysis is just ahead but first this report. statements of the prime minister. to of after the strikes the questions and there are many fast british prime minister teresa may was forced to explain why the u.k. joins the u.s. and france in attacking syria without getting parliament's prior approval we have acted because it is in our national interest. it is in our national interest to prevent the further use of chemical weapons in syria and to uphold and defend the global consensus that these weapons should not be used will should that justification fail to satisfy her opponents i believe mr speaker the action was legally questionable i found on saturday i. just members to calm down but this intense debate underlining the dilemma faced by

western governments. saturday strikes on three syrian sites led by the us are intended to signal that the use of chemical weapons won't be tolerated. it's the o.p.c. w.'s job based in the hague to answer another question what exactly happened in duma earlier this month. dozens of people reportedly died here on april the seventh for to victims many of them children suffering and struggling for breath after the suspected chemical attack the o.p.c. w. inspectors are set to access the alleged attack sites on wednesday but since saturday had been blocked from doing so frustration surfacing at the watchdogs emergency meeting. this was also opportunity for allies to set out on a case in the organization that is designed what. to make very very the russians

who watched diplomats who travels for us russian foreign minister sergey lavrov denied. if there had been any obstruction in syria there was no chemical attack. meanwhile of the monday syria strategy was back on the table but with diplomacy appearing to stall more sanctions on moscow a possibility that you used foreign policy chief federica more greenery conceded an end to the conflict and never felt so distant. and for more we're joined now by kristen helberg a syria analyst and author of two books on the conflict she is currently working on her third thank you so much for joining us this evening we're in a bit of a contradictory situation here on the one hand you have the o.p.c. w attempting to investigate the alleged chemical weapons attack on g m a but on the other hand you have western allies which have already reacted they've already retaliated against the assad regime you know with this presumption of guilt here so is the investigation irrelevant no it's very relevant actually and everybody is

waiting for the experts to enter duma actually to. save what is still there as evidence but i think the u.s. and friends especially they're very confident about the evidence that they already saw because we had some open source investigations and some facts seem to be very clear by now that you know that this was at least attack you have different canisters the cylinders that landed on a building inside duma where most of the death people were brought out to russian military police was entering the same building already last week we know the coordinates of this building there were two helicopters in the air and this is what we know from the over from the air space controlling so now everybody is waiting for the fact was there a nerve agent inside these cylinders as well because the symptoms of the victims and the number of bodies the number of victims what would basically lead to the

fact that there has to be a nerve agent so this is this is what we have to know by. samples and what if that fact. it does indeed come out what if the o.p.c. w. does indeed say that a nerve agent was used can we expect further consequences for the assad regime its russian allies i don't think so because it has been proven before especially last year after the attacks of whom with more than eighty victims at that time it took the o.p.c. w and the un investigation commission harvey year to come out with the facts that the assad regime was responsible for that and by that time nobody cared about it everybody was waiting for evidence and six months later nobody cared about it so actually the message to president assad house he looks at it is that he has a green light it's in keep on fighting people with conventional weapons unless he does not use chemical weapons he's free to use whatever he wants to keep on fighting the rebels and to reconquer the country as he wishes to do so at the end

of the day on the ground it probably does not indeed make a difference if anything it might in fact just empower assad or embolden have yes actually he feels very much reassured by what happened because he can you know. he makes himself look like a victim of western aggression and that makes him very popular inside in the meantime i want to talk about the rhetoric the managing of the message because every time you have a claim here and you mentioned that you know all the facts seem to point in the direction of indeed a nerve agent being used also of the counter claims that are coming from the russian side that are coming from the assad regime. you know russia has claimed that this could have been an attack indeed from the rebels in the country what are we to make of that they don't see a possible i mean the rebels don't have the technical capacities to to stage such even with chlorine gas or no. they cannot i mean there they were encircled for five years they have never used in the past few years they have never

used nerve agent and all the nerve agents usually. sorry in syria and the serene has this chemical fingerprint that leads to the regime because it comes out of the. of the regime. blago any whatever they use so it's very unlikely that the rebels would do this at that time and i mean to ask for reasoning it's if you always presume that this regime acts like that of a really reasonable or like strategic actor it just doesn't do that you know bashar assad got what he wanted the rebels. they left one day after the chemical attack and this is all what he wanted and it worked out and all these claims about you know having a staged attack it's ridiculous really if you look at the facts that we know until now meantime there have been efforts on the diplomatic front and i want to turn to one of them because we saw the german foreign minister hike on bass in fact

speaking at an e.u. summit today which was held on this particular subject let's just have a listen and i'd like to get your reaction after. this conflict can't be solved without russia we have to find a way to achieve what we all want first to be a cease fire access for humanitarian aid a transitional government in syria constitutional reform and in time elections. when a just solution that everyone in syria can accept. as the practice of the asaad regime the russians also need to understand that. and a solution that everyone can accept that is indeed a tall order isn't it especially given the gridlock that we have seen at the united nations there is absolutely no consensus there on how to proceed so what do you make of what the europeans are proposing here is there anything new in it is there anything that's realistic this is wishful thinking to make it very clear whatever

he mentioned no mr mass or even the europeans are being discussing it's all in the un resolution twenty two. fifty four from december two thousand fifteenth it's all there no more attacks against civilian targets humanitarian access political transition it's all there is there's a timetable for a new constitution elections as although it has never been implemented the basic problem is not to have a new u.n. resolution but how to implement the ones that we already have here and this is not going to happen because the u.n. security council would not act russia will you know prevent anything from being implemented and that's the basic problem and there seems to be this recognition increasingly so especially among the western powers there that the syria conflict cannot be solved without russia on board but if we flip that equation and we look at it the other way around. just russia leave the west right no it doesn't and i mean it's really dominating the conflict and assad will probably win it militarily

but on the middle perspective on the long term russia does need the west and mr putin knows that he wants to diplomatically seal what he invested militarily with some kind of a political solution because he needs the west to pay for reconstruction reconstruction of syria is going to be very very expensive between two hundred and three hundred billion dollars and russia and iran are not able to finance this even with the help of china they are not going to be able to do this so they want he wants the west to pay for this kind of reconstruction but this is actually the only card that the west has in its hands and they should very much take care about how to handle it because they should put forward some conditions that have to be implemented before paying for anything inside syria especially under the assad regime control because they use reconstruction you know to. to punish their enemies to foster a demographic changes there and this is not going to lead to peace and this is not

going to lead to any way of stability so with the control of money might come a newfound power indeed for the west i just want to turn briefly now to to another topic before we have to go there was an article that was written in the new york times an op ed this weekend which said the real battle might be coming and that might be the battle between israel and iran in fact we know you know proxy is there within syria do you agree i agree completely i think if this conflict escalates on an international level it's going to be between between iran and israel because iran really went to syria to stay there it has established a presence not only militarily not only politically but even socially even economically that for israel it really presents a major threat you have the iranian revolutionary guards inside the country. you have thousands of earring in the shadows and it's well consider this to be a real danger to its own stability security and we already see this israel is very

regularly hitting targets inside syria and this is going to continue and this has really the potential off into the right of a direct war between the two direct war or maybe even proxy wars you know with the interference of lebanon you have hizbollah in the bone and so this could escalate between these three countries syria iran and israel and this is a major regional implications here christian hauberk syria analyst as we mentioned the author of multiple books on the subject one coming out later this summer we very much appreciate your analysis thank you. well nato secretary general yen stoltenberg has defended the past weekend's airstrikes against alleged chemical weapons facilities in syria he said that they were needed to uphold an international bound on chemical warfare stoltenberg spoke after meeting the turkish foreign minister in ankara he said that the u.s. france and britain had no other alternative than to strike in syria and accused

russia of blocking an international probe into the alleged chemical attack. on the turkish foreign minister had not driven or waged between nato a nato ally turkey and russia. and relations between turkey and russia have been tested previously by differences over the war in syria but russian president vladimir putin and his turkish counterpart to type on have forged an increasingly close alliance in recent months support for turkey's president remains on high as his home turf in istanbul shows that is where some backers cheer his willingness to stand up to the west. look that was two thousand and two. i always had some photos of him here in the shop this was taken just after he became prime minister. yeah sure i one could talk about the president for hours when they were kids their families were friends later i hung

became a barber and dredge a tire barrier on one of the world's most well known politicians but they never forgot each other even today the president sometimes comes in for a hack it. when he visits we see huge crowds traffic jams even get so busy he comes here every three to four years in this area practically everyone my age and up knows him personally when it was time for him to be serious he was serious when it's time to joke he would joke he's still the same he hasn't changed at all. he's nice with. iran's barbershop isn't cousin pasha a conservative neighborhood of the stumble this is where ad one grew up and where he dreamt of becoming a professional soccer player but then decided to join politics. today the local stadium is named after him and most of the people here are lowell supporters of the soccer club and the president. under such

a case very much about the people we're very satisfied he's decent and charitable we love him. this series of six times in the piece the only politician in the history of our public who stands up to the west. is lucky to be in a good long grueling laundry going to him when a politician uses academic language the message does not come through. but he knows how to speak to the masses and that's why people vote for him. busiek enormous urges so. many turkish people are proud that ad one has turned their country into an important player in the region politically as well as economically mega projects like the new istanbul underground railway or the gigantic bus burst bridge have earned him the reputation of a visionary a man of action. after all deny one supported arrogance policies as

well as. for several years he was a minister in one of his cabinets but in twenty thirteen they parted after a dispute the president has. changed a lot since human only here. turkey was taking big steps towards conforming to e.u. standards and having a pluralist democracy. but after the third election we started to see more of his ego. he didn't listen to others anymore and this is the air to want the world knows now. everyone on the show on the in front of their van though. the world might soon also get to know this building the president's new favorite project in make a mosque intended to outshine all the others in turkey. many people say the president is building a monument to himself. the mosque is so huge one can spot it

from many places in istanbul. journalist most of the harsh says the project shows just how much ad one focuses on symbols of power now the president has become less and less tolerant of criticism horses and he knows what he's talking about his book about alderaan has earned him several lawsuits. we put out a lot better one has a single plan he does not want to lose the election no matter what he wants to remain in power this is only goal. he likes to see himself as a big boss who runs the country like a patriarch. but heir to one will never become a big boss who controls all of turkey he's only the big boss of his followers and supporters. turn to this in america both of those. in cousin pressure the president's old neighborhood to most of the people do not share such criticism if it were up to yes sure i hung the barber. one would govern for another fifteen

years but he could stop by more often for hat. former f.b.i. director james comey it says that donald trump is morally unfit to be president of the united states he was speaking in it and if in an interview on american t.v. as part of a publicity campaign for his new book which is being released on tuesday now ahead of that t.v. interview trump blasted call me on twitter calling him quote a slime ball. it's all out war between the u.s. president and james komi. in a publicist he blitz for a searing tell all memoir the former f.b.i. boss launched an intensely personal attack on trump what was your impression he had impressively hair that looks to be all his i confess i stared at it pretty closely and my reaction was let's take

a look at what time in the morning star was too long as it always is he looked slightly orange up close with small white. half moons under his eyes but message was serious trump poses a danger to the us system of government he calls the president a liar obsessed with spins going on i don't think he's medically unfit to be president i think is morally unfit to be president of the bits a feud between the two men started last year when comey confirmed that the f.b.i. was investigating russian links to the trump campaign weeks later komi was fired by trump the stakes between this clash of the titans are now sky high if trump isn't dices for trying to cover up a possible campaign collusion with the russians mr komi is likely to be a star witness and he says he cannot rule out that the russians have compromising material on trump the more words i never thought i'd order about a president i'd states but it's possible and i wish i wasn't saying it but it's

just it's the truth trumps response to k. means attack has been a vitriolic series of tweets branding komi a slimeball he describes him as always ending up badly and out of whack he's not smart and he will go down as the worst f.b.i. director in history by far at last may trump fired komi triggering the rush for investigation nearly a year later the probe is getting ever closer to donald trump and now claim his words have further wounded an increasingly beleaguered president who is morally unfit to be president and correspondent claire richardson as following the latest developments from washington so clear what is really going on here in this spot between coming in trouble. hi sara well this was a highly anticipated and your view and a lot of it goes down to the key question of james comey his credibility and he's being treated and the case is being treated and how you see him as a character obviously he's someone who was fired by trump this time last year from

his role as f.b.i. director he's also someone who has a book coming out tomorrow in which he will be trying to sell more copies so you can see from that angle that this is all something that he's saying to try and get more views but it should be said that komi is someone who is widely seen by both democrats and republicans as a respectable character he's in fact a career long republican himself and he's often seen as this sort of square jawed face of the law who's above partisan politics whatever you do say it's a remarkably a damning assessment from someone who held a very high level of public office about the president's capabilities of holding that office and from some really saw this as a betrayal one of the moments that spoke about in the interview was how the president asked for his loyalty how he felt that that was inappropriate thing to ask of the f.b.i. director and how he felt that trump's insistence on having his inner circle remained loyal to him reminded him of his days working with mob bosses. and we know

also that this book that it is actually not out yet it comes out later this week we've heard from some white house reporters they say that trump is angry ahead of the release but he's in florida this week isn't me. that's right he's furious but he is at his club mar a lago in florida all week where he's going to have a lot of time to really over this and why doesn't officials have said before that when the president is in florida this is a time that we can see him be more volatile he said of unshielded by his white house staff he's got a lot more time spend with old friends reminding him of his former lifestyle and he's got a lot more time to watch t.v. and really get upset about what he's seeing a former f.b.i. director saying about his character claire ultimately though this is the man who hillary clinton said cost her the election why would trump be taking him on. that's right it's interesting to note that komi is hardly some kind of democratic

sympathizer because he was the one who in two thousand and sixteen announced that he was reopening the investigation into hillary clinton's alleged use of a private e-mail server and remember this was a just days before the election and she says it's walk cost her the presidency and he was really grilled about this in the interview he defended his choice to tell congress that he was reopened at the f.b.i. was reopening an investigation into clinton by saying that you really have to see it through the lens of the time she was widely believed to be the incoming next president of the u.s. and he felt that he really had to be seen as not playing favorites and to cover himself by reopening this investigation but of course she and her campaign see it quite differently and claire just very briefly before we go one of chum's lawyers has been in court today also the porn star that he allegedly had an affair with what has been going on on that front. that's right trump's longtime personal lawyer michael cohen has been in court trying it to get

the court to let him and his legal team look at these documents that were seized during a very high profile raid of his offices last week they say that they want to see whether they are protected under attorney client privilege between the lawyer and john will trump and the federal prosecution has been saying that that would be special treatment would not be appropriate for richardson in washington thank you. for now the day is nearly done but as ever the conversation continues online you can find us on twitter either at e w news my handle is that tara kelley t v and don't forget the hash tag is the day to see who can say.

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