All right, Alexander, let's talk about Erdogan and Syria and possibly some negotiations between Syria and Turkey.

Every three to six months, we kind of revisit this topic of Syria and specifically Turkey in talks with Syria.

And we might just finally be getting to that point where Turkey and Syria do sit down and resolve what has been a very difficult 10, 15 years between the two countries.

And the resolution between Erdogan and Assad between Turkey and Syria could mean that the U.S.

presence in Syria would be forced to coming to an end.

What are your thoughts about this news?

Absolutely.

Now, what I think has changed is this, and I think the reason why we might be close to a breakthrough is this.

Erdogan has been trying to get a summit meeting with Assad for a very

long time. And it's, it's important to say that it's Erdogan who's been not wanting it. It's Assad who has

been resisting this. And the reason Assad has been resisting it is because he wants the Turks

to commit to withdrawing

completely from Syria. And Erdogan has sort of come round to accepting that that is what must

happen, that, you know, Turkish troops must withdraw from Italy, region, those sort of places. But at the same time,

he doesn't want to seem like he's been pushed into doing it by Assad. Now, Erdogan understands,

and it's Erdogan, as I said, who wants this summit meeting, who wants to resolve

these issues. Erdogan now understands that something has to give. Instead of trying to extend

proposals to Syria bilaterally, he's now asked the Russians for help. And of course, the Russians do have great influence in Syria. And I think the Russians will tell Assad, look, the time has come. You've got Erdogan, basically where you want him. You can see that, by the way, by the way, from the way in which Erdogan is now talking

about Assad. He's talking about how once upon a time he and Assad used to meet the friendly relations

between their families and their countries and the importance of getting back to that position.

I mean, that's a pretty extreme rowback from Erdogan,

if you remember the kind of things that he used to say about Assad

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