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welcome to Sputnik orbiting the world
with me George Galloway and me Gaffney
practically no one will watch this
program today although you will all have
recorded it because you'll all be
watching the Royal Wedding also at least
a visitor from Venus would conclude if
they scan the British media as a matter
of fact I wholly uninterested in Royal
matters I'm interested in this Royal
Wedding bringing as it does a touch of
colour into a rather grey royal family
it is becoming though like one of those
soap operas or maybe the British
telenovela completely paparazzi and book
deals sisters falling out dreadlocks at
the House of Windsor it might be called
turns out Princess Megan has a family
tree even more tangled than Prince Harry
it's a bonanza for royal aficionados and
commentators that Douai n of which joins
us now he's James Brooks royal
correspondent and director of
broadcasting and communication for royal
central the world's leading news site on
everything British royalty James welcome
to the sputnik how does a young man like
you end up in a place like this well
it's been five years and Counting so far
it's been a quick five years in a very
busy five years but yeah I started out I
saw a job at the palace was going to be
a footman for the for the Royals and I
at the time I was going down to London
study for my year undergrad degree in
journalism and I thought it sounds like
a good job let's let's apply see what
comes a bit put it to the back of my
mind and then a few weeks later I was
invited down to to actually go an
interview for this job and it was the
most in the palace itself and really
really kind of heavy packed day of doing
lots of different things you you had to
be able to mingle with different people
you have to show that you cousin holding
a transit
Atreyu had to I remember the one thing
that we had to do we we had a job we
were given a situation so a an army
general was meeting with the Queen and
he was going to a reception later on
that evening obviously meeting the Queen
he'd be in full uniform and he needed to
get change really quickly to be able to
shoot off to this this dinner and yeah
we had to be sure that his lounge suit
so similar to what I'm wearing now would
be ready for him to just go and and get
into so we had to make sure that
everything from the the belt was in the
belt buckles the right way around the
cufflinks in the shirt and boxing socks
was something I'd never come across
boxing socks
not quite I wish they were but you had
to make sure that the socks were folded
on the on the top of the shoes so that
you could in essence just pull the socks
onto your feet within and you don't have
to worry about you know getting big 104
married absolutely and when you've got
time when you've got only got five
minutes you know pulling your socks up
it takes takes a long time so but ya
know I didn't the only thing I got wrong
I was told was I put the D belt around
the wrong way in the belt loops and so I
didn't get the job and and yeah but it
gave me an insight into life behind the
palace to us and an insight into the
absurdity of it as well as the majesty
of it it's theater it's it's one of
those things that everybody wants to
know what goes on behind those glasses
it's the longest-running show in the
West End no it's you've chosen the right
five years because what a bonanza it has
been but this Royal Wedding today is the
tops is not the cherry on the top of the
cake it is and this week has been
absolutely packed with drama from all
sides of the family we've had Harry and
Megan kind of had this royal bombshell
dropped on them
we now know that Megan's dad not going
to the wedding and it's one of those
sisters writing book we've got two deals
absolutely we've got Thomas Markel
junior half-brother writing that he
Prince Harry should call off the whole
wedding and shouldn't married days later
he's saying actually I know yeah I've
said lots of not nest about you Megan
but we're still family can I have an
invite to the wedding anyway and it's
been a real it's been a real drama of a
week but it's been an interesting one
and I think the one thing that a lot of
people will kind of want to take from
this is that Harry and Megan and it is
their wedding day still and it's one of
the most important days of anybody's
life their wedding and I want to look
back at it with fond memories but
they'll also want to be sure that the
media and the the kind of crowds around
the world because it's got huge media in
my system yeah and we'll get the show
that they've been waiting for and it's
one thing that we do quite well as a
country is the pomp of the ceremony in
the tradition so I think it will be
something that goes down in the history
books and hopefully it'll be something
that say Harry Megan in years to come
will can think yeah we did a good job
obviously all the paparazzi is part of
it but I am a bit surprised that you
know these deals and all the the sister
coming out talking against they're good
all of this might have been avoided good
they're not I've sent someone like you
yeah DeMarco I don't know how much I
would have been able to it's a help with
the situation but bowler hat at palace
officials or a retired Fleet Street news
newspaper editor to go there it would
have been worth the money and mind the
whole menage so that it didn't become
really a rather tawdry show or novella
yeah it's one of those things that
Kensington Palace this week have been
criticized quite heavily for for almost
letting the ball drop ride at the last
second because up
until kind of this week really we've
we've seen the palace trip feeders of
bits of informations about the the
flowers the cake and the music who's
going to be pageboys bridesmaids etc and
though the one thing that a lot of
people are saying is is that why was
Thomas Michael not given the support
media wise before yeah it is the
tradition of every man in this building
asks the father of his intended for her
hand in this case Prince Harry
hasn't even met her father he's not
weird it is a bit strange I think he did
ask for permission it's understood he he
did it over the phone it is one of those
a lot of people have been so why didn't
Harry go out and and meet him to to
prepare him for the fact that he is
gonna have an uphill climb in the
lead-up to the wedding and unfortunately
I mean we've heard that he's had or
supposedly been in hospital having heart
surgery supposedly had a heart attack
because of all the pressure that he's
been under in the run-up to the wedding
and if he thinks that the media
attention is going to go away even
though he's not at the wedding and he's
not going to be involved unfortunately I
think he's got a bit of a shock because
now that Megan's coming into the Royal
fold that's it media attention will be
on her entire family just as it was for
for Kate when she married William for
Diana which as I'm seeing a lot of eerie
echoes of what happened to Diana no
potentially happening to Megan no I
think she's fantastic breath of fresh
air black and actress beautiful and so
on a lot of the British press coverage
especially in right wing royalist
newspapers like the male group for
example it's really snobbery isn't it
it's really reflecting the fact that
like and Widdecombe famously on Big
Brother or wherever she was loved Island
maybe
that the that this black common common
our American family are really
cheapening the the royal brand doesn't
it's not really what lies behind a lot
of the scarcely veiled hostility there's
a lot there there has been a lot of
hostility and it's one of the things
that Harry has already called out quite
early on and he wanted to make sure that
Megan was actually welcomed into the
family and she felt comfortable marrying
him because we've seen from his previous
relationships that the reason that he's
not settled down before now is because
the the women and the girls that he's
previously been linked with aware of
what it means to be marrying into the
royal family and Harry wanted to be sure
that Megan knew that from the get-go and
a lot of people a lot of the press
giving her a hard time in the lead-up I
personally think it's a yeah it's a it's
a fab moment for the royal family to be
able to kind of just take stock you know
we're big fans of the American sitcom
Modern Family this is a truly modern
match isn't that it is it's one of the
things I was in Nottingham when they
announced ed they they were to get
married and they were going down to do
their first engagement after that and
you just saw the connection that they
had with the crowds that were there so
there were groups of school kids lined
up and they were going down just having
a chat Harry just talking about normal
things that you would to any I don't
know 13 14 year old what are you doing
this weekend you playing football or
what what are you up to
it's the one thing that I think a lot of
people find relatable about Harry and
Megan and to some extent William and
Kate although William Kate a little bit
more pressure because William knows he's
going to be king Harry knows that he's
got a little bit more weight off his
shoulders because he's not but they are
relatable in compared to the likes of
the Queen Prince affiliate Charles
Camilla and but having said that that's
what they need they need
to know that in 10 15 20 years time if
the monarch is to survive it needs to
modernize it needs to change with times
and if it doesn't they run into issue
you were quite lucky that you didn't get
that job as a footman because you're a
much better royal commentator last
question briefly you better make the
most of this because it'll be a long
time before those an occasion as big as
this just I mean what's the next one
after this well we obviously have
princess Eugenie's wedding in in October
it's not it's not gonna be as big as
this not in the same chance design
conference League yeah it will still
have media coverage it will chances are
still make newspapers and headlines
around the world but not to the same
extent so the big weddings probably
Prince George I would have staged what
no four four it's one of those things
that will have a long time to wait and
that's why this wedding has so much
significance of the minute a lot of
people waiting and if they've been royal
fans for years and they want to make the
most of it before they well you may see
most of it to make you well the Sun
shines thanks very much Jim for joining
us
coming up next we'll be talking Turkey
don't miss it
you
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welcome back to Sputnik Britain
historically propped-up Turkish Sultan's
in the great game of the 19th century
even fighting a war with Russia in the
Crimea to do so with the collapse of the
Caliphate at the end of World War one
the British adjusted easily to the era
of the secular caliphs at a torque even
more easily with his dictatorial
successors embracing Turkish membership
of NATO the rise and rise of an Islamist
Sultan in the form of air dogon has been
more of a challenge turkey's current
position as an ally of Russia and Iran
arrival to Saudi Arabia and a disrupter
of NATO's relationship with Israel has
made things even more complicated so
president Erdogan's appearance this week
behind the sublime Porte Buckingham
Palace would have made for the most
fascinating fly-on-the-wall documentary
joining us to untangle the knots is
Turkey expert and director at Eurasia
future Adam Geary Adam welcome to the
Sputnik first of all to be hit the the
Aldo Gans state visit passed off almost
without notice was it therefore of no
significance or was it perhaps secretly
a matter of some significance well I
think the truth is somewhere in between
it was when you combine a country like
Turkey that's always been significant
and particularly for Britain because it
was Turkey which was the hinge upon
which the British could screw and the
more that screw was turned in Turkey
could and did provoke wars with Russia
it was always not just in the Crimean
War but throughout the 19th century the
Western European imperialist powers that
were provoking Russia and Turkey to
fight wars now things are a bit
different because you've got Turkey
that's allied with Russia for the first
time in history and it was a long way
coming in many ways you've got to
remember that in 1936 r2 torque agreed
to the mantra convention which said
the Turkish straits or Turkey because
after the first world war the Western
victorious Allies wanted to
internationalize them Ataturk who always
had a good relationship with his fellow
revolutionary counterpart of a different
kind Lenin he made good on that promise
to say yes they are Turkey but any
country who's got a navy in the Black
Sea will have permanent access in both
peacetime and wartime so Turkey is
obviously incredibly powerful and under
air the one he really got in Turkey a
leader that's more powerful than any
leader since Ataturk and certainly more
powerful than the last few Sultan's in
Britain you've got a country that's
looking for its identity air Diwan was
very much reshaping the identity of
Turkey when he came in
I call him a Turkish nationalist with
ottoman and Islamic characteristics
Britain now doesn't know if it's
European or not doesn't know if it wants
to be Donald Trump's friend or his
opponent certainly when it comes to
things like Iran and so it would be
difficult for the simplistic mainstream
media to really spin a pro-british
positive story about the meeting so
they've ignored it how Sultan like is AB
Dogon obviously wins elections there was
a time when he was unchallengeable
Turkey's economy was growing faster than
China there was an internal peace
process with the Kurdish minority and
Turkey had a policy of no quarrels with
the neighbors then there was a period in
which war resumed inside Turkey and
Turkey had quarrels with all of its
neighbors so arrogance quite a flexible
friend isn't he how do you know that his
current posture will last well Idi Amin
has very much matured since he first
came to power and when he first came to
power frankly as someone who admires our
to talk very much I was skeptical but
edwin's record of being able to pivot
interests between West and East in this
win-win formula that we hear so much
about to coin the phrase from Chinese
President Xi Jinping it's really worked
to the best interests of Turkey and
insofar as he's popular he's strong and
he has a low threshold for abuse from
opponents let alone from terrorist
groups like feta or the PKK or indeed -
one can call him a sultan but only in
the same way that any powerful leader
could be associated with such an epithet
one of the reasons you'll never hear
Merkel being called a Kaiser or maybe
called some sort of Empress is because
they're not very popular and as a result
not very powerful
so air21 it's funny in some ways he's a
victim of his own success I still think
that in this forthcoming election he's
going to win and win quite comfortably
and this of course always currently less
than 50% in the polls
well which would force a second ballot
indeed I tend not to believe opinion
polls I think that it's difficult to
predict these things I think even if it
goes to a second round he'll be in a
fairly confident position and the reason
I say he's a victim of his own success
is the following when he came to power
the economy was in tatters you had the
typical stereotypical if you will south
Mediterranean west eurasian economic
malaise he changed that by pumping an
investment into major cities into rural
areas
he was much friendlier to small
businesses and turkeys are generally a
very small business merchant friendly
culture he unleashed some of the
bureaucratic restrains on them and he
was popular now that the cities are very
clean they're very vibrant a lot of them
are saying well we're going to go back
to our CHP Kemalist roots and we're
going to abandon air the one for
ideological reasons even though
economically he's done well and just a
little Asterix I put next to that we've
been hearing a lot very recently about
the lira which has been it's been in
fairly bad shape but this is Finn
fitting with the classic Keynesian model
of when you've got employment going up
productivity going up overall economic
growth going up you're going to have
inflation so weak currency is only
really dangerous if you've got
stagflation sown of the Philippines
another example of a
the quickest fastest growing economies
in Southeast Asia but the peso very weak
so long as employment when wages are up
and at the economy is growing turkey
like the Philippines will be able to
withstand that now it's only a couple of
years ago maybe less that the Turkish
Air Force was shooting Russian airplanes
out of the sky and real crisis existed
between Russia and Turkey and Russia
took economic measures against the
doggins government now they seem to be
on the same wavelength not quite the
same wavelength but at least an overlap
visibly Iran and visa vie the need to
defeat the Islamist extremist threat in
Syria but Abdul GaN is himself an
Islamist he is a part of we could say
he's the leader of the Muslim
Brotherhood's international so two more
extent do you think Russia can depend
rely upon such an ally I think first of
all we need to remember that while in
the fog of war everyone thought that the
order to shoot down the Russian jet
which was undoubtedly a crime came from
the top subsequent investigative
reporting from very serious Turkish
journalists and it's been reprinted in
Russia indicate that it was a calculated
conspiracy among officers and even the
airmen involved who were loyal not to
the Turkish state but to feta the fact
other terrorist organization of a man
who's living in the United States and
whose organization is funded covertly
five miles from the CIA
how convenient he doesn't even need a
Boris spike so so Gulen is I believe and
many in Turkey and many in Russia bleep
responsible for that outrageous
provocation since then Turkey and Syria
have not only reconciled but Russia and
Turkey Putin and everyone recently cut
the ribbon for Turkey's first-ever
nuclear power station that Russia's
going to build the Turk stream to
pipeline is progressing at a very
healthy rate and in Syria well this
wasn't true two years ago I would say
that Russia and Turkey now have more in
common than Russia in Iran because Iran
wants to fin
the war follow it through to its logical
conclusion and frankly it's ethical
conclusion in terms of trying to push
for the liberation of the occupied Golan
Heights and to eradicate all of these
terrorist groups militarily Russia wants
to wind things down and kickstart the
political process allowing it to
generally supplant the military process
turkey tends to take that same view as
well and has been much more vocal this
part of the very important triumvirate
of the Astana partners Turkey Russia and
Iran which have been working to bring
peace to Syria so Turkey and Russia of
course they have healthy disagreements
as any healthy partnership does where
both sides respect each other but they
have more in common now than almost any
other partnership in the wider region
which can only be a good thing because
it means unlike what Britain in France
used to do in provoking wars between
Russia and Turkey and between Russia and
Iran now all three
despite disagreements are together the
tectonic plates are definitely shifting
how stable there will be after the shift
remains to be seen
Britain supported Turkish membership of
the EU that we are now leaving and seems
still to do so what are the prospects of
Turkey joining the European Union very
little I would say next to none it's
unpractical and the actual members of
the EU have never really wanted it and
now they want less this though again is
part of Britain's identity crisis the
other day there was a summit hosted by
Britain saying why the West Balkan
nations Serbia Albania Montenegro should
join the EU which is a bit like an
Austin is saying that you should join
the fire brigade it doesn't it doesn't
really make sense certainly the optics
as they say are a bit funny but I think
turkey's position is solidified now it's
a country they can look both ways from a
position of strength and the prime
example i'd give of this the united
states tried to tell turkey we will
sanction you if you buy the s400 missile
defense systems from russia and we'll
with withhold or delivery of the f-35
jet two Jet's turkey said no you cannot
treat us in this way and guess
but the gating the American jets and
they're getting the Russian missile
defense systems
that's win-win when when indeed Adam
Gary thanks for joining onboard the
school and now it's your time to tell us
what you think through the portals of
social media what's rattling gayatri
right so we asked our audience how
excited they are about the royal wedding
today and frankbooth says
robbing the wealth they have in our
faces and being subsidized by US
presence in a time of austerity hashtag
stinks hashtag let them eat cake
and mark andrew i will be wondering why
is the country having spent three
hundred thousand on address there are
people sleeping on the streets and
finally guac says what i got them a $20
gift card from walmart now go towards
the buying of the wedding dress I don't
think these arguments really add up
because actually the British economy
will be a net beneficiary from this
wedding in a very big way from tourism
from merchandise and all of that that's
big big business revolutionary looking
at Megan Marco yeah black a black woman
in a white wedding dress costing three
hundred thousand for Ghana a Catholic
there you go although she had to cook
convert correct like what I'm looking
for yeah well that's all the time you
got her a treat today
alas means that's the end of the show
but you can stay in touch with us on our
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Artie underscore Sputnik and on Facebook
Sputnik on Russia today it's goodbye
from me Gayatri and for me George
Galloway it's been marvelous
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