Bullets a Prime Minister a president who im bringing off in berlin this is the day. We not only united and how great. But united in our absolute determination to Work Together to hold the vicious cycle of extremism breeding through the extremists and terrorists come by the same message about hatred but also about the stream right wing of use this is about violence is about tires of its about crimes. Also coming up a message of hope help to people are helping in the fight to save one of the worlds biggest reefs one day at a time. Well i feel like when i look at it its like. When they call me and say all right were going to will do this laughing back here at the corals here whatever it is im like all right this do this lets lets rock this let this rap that is. On to our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we begin the day with the manifestos of mass murderer observes ideologies that are harder to killed in those who kill believing in them in the United States last week in a white supremacist shot dead 22 people because of their brown skin on Easter Sunday earlier this year congregations in sri lanka were blown up because of the god they worship and one month earlier in new zealand men and women praying inside a mosque were gunned down their gone too had made the target of a madman 3 tragedies equal in their inhumanity but it was the words and deeds of political leaders afterwards that differ dramatically new zealands Prime Minister earned praise around the world for her quick and resolute stance to reform gun laws and not to give xenophobia and in now its the u. S. President who is being watched and listened to carefully will his commitment to human rights and humanity be as firm well not if you believe his political surrogates last night on fox news host Tucker Carlson told his viewers that one supremacy in america is make believe a hoax a conspiracy take a listen. But the whole thing is a lie if you were to assemble a list hierarchy of concerns or problems this country faces one White Supremacy be honest right up there with russia probably its actually not a real problem in america the can by membership of every White Supremacist Organization in this country with able to fit inside a College Football stadium. Seriously this is a country where the average person is getting poorer when the suicide rate is spiking White Supremacy thats the problem this is a hoax just like the russia hoax its a Conspiracy Theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power thats exactly whats going on you know hopes this what he says to help us understand more about the assault on the pluralistic world as we know what im joined here at the big table by rick you know why he is the Foreign Affairs reporter for the Washington Post he also focuses on terrorism and security hes based right here in berlin its good to have you back on the show lets talk about that clip there from fox news is Tucker Carlson claiming everything is a hoax is he giving voice to what the u. S. President really thinks well thats certainly what Donald Trumps critics are claiming that trump has been downplaying the role of white supremacist ideology of far right ideologies indeed United States and around the world yes how do you explain the dramatic difference following an act of domestic terrorism in the words and actions of the u. S. President compared with what we saw with new zealands Prime Minister for example or earlier this year i mean dramatic differences there right and thats a really interesting point i think there are 2 points 1st the countrys political landscapes so i spent some time so im going to earlier this year and its not remotely as runs a country politically as United States right now and of course the Prime Minister and president. Very different politicians one trying to actively unite the country and sort of. Make dad her p. R. Strategy in a way and then donald trump having a very different take on what do you think this is i mean its not as polarized in new zealand do you think its because they dont have a fox news and a Tucker Carlson screaming at them and telling them that everything that theyre hearing is not true well think there are many reasons the media landscape certainly is 11 element but there are historical reasons stir you know its a much bigger country as well. There are many reasons why this polarization came about and you wrote an article in yesterdays Washington Post about Christ Church and help it connects and unite terrorists talk to me a little bit about that i mean its almost like i guess the beginning of the web of terrorism if you will well after christchurch i spoke to several terrorism analysts and what they kept saying was that this is essentially going to be copied by other attackers worldwide because it is designed conceived in a way that really with the aim to be imitated by others it was live streamed it was a manifesto and now looking at what we think is the manifesto of the past so shooter you know and in the 1st sentence he makes very clear he is referring to christchurch and also referring to this broader Conspiracy Theory that repeatedly is mentioned in there the socalled a great replacement theory which essentially says that the liberal elites are deliberately replaced saying that the white majority is in the west end and that is a powerful Conspiracy Theory you now hear echoed by mainstream politicians almost in europe but also in the United States and by those shooters where do we hear it here in europe well for instance in austria. Or a former far right chancellor of austria after the christchurch attack he in fact gave an interview saying that he stands by that theory knowing of course that this was what the shooter claimed as well so so you do hear that in stream circles and what is the defense if someone were to ask politicians or anyone who is claiming to defend this theory that the global elite if you are not you know the brown skinned Central Americans invading the United States as donald trump says so youve got the liberal elites who are trying to replace whites themselves with these immigrants i mean that doesnt make sense it doesnt it certainly doesnt hold up to the fact it is a Conspiracy Theory its been around for for decades since really the 1970 s. In novels and and its sort of making not a comeback but it really is gaining strength and power and is it gaining this new popularity through the rhetoric i mean theres seems to be a template or a rhetorical template that were seeing that weve seen it with donald trump weve seen it here in your 2. What about here in germany are we seeing. Patterns of double trump in the way the far right politicians here in germany speak to the public was interesting because a lot of the rhetoric and to the point it was because people make an especially the sort of identity every movement here which does exist in austria and here they make very much exactly the same point speaking of an invasion also saying that they dont really condone violence or they dont want violence but sort of still steering those tensions by by by using those theories and the a of d. You have a lot of politicians there too. You know. Using capitalism im seeing a shift in what about the disgruntled angry voter that we hear about in the u. S. And also here in europe are they in your experience are they reported on it differently here compared to the United States i mean theyre obviously theyre different populations but are they treated differently in the way we ort well i think in the u. S. Certainly theres been a lot of questioning after 2016 election what happened there and i think there has been an extreme focus sort of on on those groups in europe and in germany you havent had it to that extent i would say in the same way here i think one of the questions that has come up repeatedly has been why is east germanys were different and west germany france the questions are certainly somewhat different but the core the core question what what are those people believing in and why and in whos sort of fueling the sort of more conspiracy theories underlying all this there are certainly some where you before we run out of time you know we can describe what is happening thats true but but what about the prescription i mean what should you know in your experience in your opinion what should americans with this u. S. President what should they do and what should they be thinking right now. I mean talking to 2 terrorism analysts and people whove thought about how to sort of bring this divided nation together. One practical solution would certainly be banning assault rifles i mean thats thats one 1st step it doesnt sort of address the ideology or the divisions itself but it does take away or it could take of a way of violent element there but certainly. Almost as important perhaps more important as addressing sort of the hatred and the division and thats a thats a lot more difficult because that you know its a lot of work rick you know i can with the Washington Post was rick we appreciate you coming in and sharing your insights thank you so much. Turkey says it has struck a deal with the United States to set up a joint Operations Center in Northern Syria turkey has been pushing the u. S. For months to establish what it calls a safe zone along its southern border turkey wants a u. S. Backed Kurdish Militia to vacate a 30 kilometer zone along the border on korea says the militia of the y. P. G well it considers him to be terrorist but with u. S. Help theyve alstad socalled Islamic State and taking control of almost all syrian territory east of the Euphrates River the details of the claim the u. S. Turkish agreements remain unclear neither side have said if they have overcome the 2 main points of division but how far the zone should extend and would command forces patrolling it were to get some analysis of what this Development Means but 1st this look at the difficult alliances which have emerged during 8 years of civil war in syria syrias many sided conflict has thrown up some bedfellows in the battle to oust the Islamic State from the form a kind of fit in syria u. S. Led western forces found themselves heavily reliant on the Syrian Kurdish fighters of the y. P. G at that and lyons was to become a thorn in the side of washingtons nato ally turkey. Ankara sees the kurdish y p g militia as a terrorist organization and says it could ultimately both an ongoing insurgency inside turkey. Think 20162018 ankara launched cross border incursions into kurdish controlled areas or at ousting Islamic State extremists but also the y. P. G before establishing turkish controlled zones in a bit to assuage tech east is a National Security washington launched talks on the creation of a safe zone east of the euphrates in syria it would be cleared of qatif fighters and become a place where ankara could potentially return some of the 3600000 Syrian Refugees its currently hosting but in recent days taking has been piling on the pressure threatening military action if diplomacy failed. Or it was an threat this now with the help of steven cook hes a senior fellow for middle Eastern African studies at the council for Foreign Relations and he joins us tonight from washington so it was good to have you on the program so lets talk about the turkey its pretty sure that it got a deal from the u. S. On Northern Syria turkey has been playing hardball over the issue has the u. S. Given in to that pressure. I dont think so i do think that the turks were making these threats which amounted to an elaborate plus the turks i dont think have the capacity to undertake the military operations that they threaten but the United States was quite obviously concerned about this possibility but the agreement that the United States and turkey struck really doesnt move the ball as we say all that much 1st its quite vague and it really echoes an agreement that the United States and turkey struck over the contested town of man bids also. In Northern Syria where there were large numbers of y p g fighters so in a the agreement says that the United States and turkey will undertake actions those on those actions are not spelled out it says that as soon as possible some sort of Coordination Center will be set up it says that this will be a peace card or these are all very vague kinds of things that no one could oppose i do think that it is an effort to paper over significant differences between the United States and turkey and gives turkey a way out of having not to invade like it had promised it would do to very good points you make there and we also know that the United States says that a 30 kilometer safety zone makes little sense so what kind of turkish involvement in Northern Syria would be acceptable to washington. Well this is the crux of the problem has been. The source of ongoing negotiations for many months and i think that washington and ongar have 2 very different conceptions of what a safe zone means for the United States a safe zone means a safe zone for the inhabitants of the area and for 1 y. P. G. Forces that are in the area that will value not to undertake any kind of operations against against turkey and turkish personnel for turkey a safe zone in Northern Syria means making the area safe for turkey which means opens the possibility of Turkish Military operations against the white p. G. And thats the crux of the problem and its clear from this agreement that the United States and turkey still do not are still not on the same page despite protestations from turkish government officials who say the United States has embraced the turkish position. We remember a couple or few months ago President Trump announced that the u. S. Was pulling its forces out of Northern Syria i mean there was a huge headline at the time why are those forces still there. Well we live in Interesting TimesUnited States in American Foreign policy and the president often responds to events as he likes to say from the gut and what happened after his announcement that the United States was going to leave was that the permanent Foreign Policy bureaucracy here in the United States the state department in the Defense Department the Central IntelligenceAgency Others caught up with the president and modified his his his pronouncement that the United States was leaving and has left a residual force in it in northeastern syria to continue to keep pressure on the Islamic State and quite frankly to develop whatever leverage the United States can and even with a small force over the russians and the Syrian Government in one of their own oh this chest beating that weve been seeing a Syrian Kurdish leader told reuters today that any attack by Turkish Forces in Northern Syria would spark what he called a big war i mean does the wind does it have the capability to stand up to the Turkish Military. Well theres obviously a lot of chest beating hunt all sides and the Turkish Armed forces is a to say lords well equipped well a trained nato force so obviously toto the y. P. Ji is really no match for the traditional forces but lets keep in mind that turkey makes no distinction between the y. P. G. And the p. K. K. And its the p. K. K. That has been