 Welcome to this episode of the International Roundup by People's Dispatch. Today we're talking about the ninth day of the Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria. News Clicks Prabir Burkayashta talks about the ground situation there, the regional implications of the conflict, and the declining role of the U.S. in the area. Take a look. Well, I think the most important point is what we had discussed earlier, that will the YPG be able to reach an accommodation this short time with the Syrian government? Because there is for them no other alternative. That actually has happened on the ground. They have been able, within a very short span of time, to reach an accommodation, allow the Syrian government forces to come in, take positions of at least the major concentrations where the Kurdish population is, and this has changed the complexion of Syria today, particularly because if SDF goes, SDF is led by the YPG, if SDF goes with the Syrian government, Assad's government, then we have liberated another 20-25% area of Syria which was under the occupation of SDF, and this was also the gas and oil-rich areas. Coming back to the question that you asked, what about the Turkish invasion? It does seem that the Turkish invasion is not really being led by Turkish armed forces in large numbers. They may be supporting it, they may be giving it logistical support, but it seems to be largely what used to be called the Free Syrian Army, which has now got another name. But essentially it is what we would have called al-Qaeda light forces which were backed by, from the Saudis to Qataris, also by the United States and NATO allies, and of course sheltered by Erdogan. Turkey was the main backer of these forces. Now this raktag band which has been camping for quite some time in Turkey and is also a significant part of that is also there in some pockets in Idlib. They seem to have joined the Turkish forces and they seem to be spearheading this, and this is the fight between actually the Kurdish forces and the so-called Free Syrian Army. In fact, one of the SDF women leaders was brutally killed as a part of this on the M4 highway and it's again from what we see it's again the so-called Free Syrian Army which is spearheading this kind of attacks. So at the moment it also appears that the Turkish forces are reaching some kind of an accommodation with the Syrian government as well as with the Russian government. And this is somewhere being brokered by Russia who is playing the honest intermediary in this particular case between Syria, Turkey and also the Kurdish forces, the YPG because if you remember the Kurds always had a very good equation. The Russians they have an embassy in Russia and their equation with Russia has always been there in spite of the fact that they were under American umbrella. So I think the quickness with which this has happened has shocked everybody because we didn't think that there was chance of Kurdish switch over in such a quick way and they could coordinate this so quickly. The other important part is it appears that both the Syrian Air Force and the Russian Air Force have declared that Turkish Air Force cannot enter that area. So there is no air cover that these forces will have when they enter northeast Syria. So with all of this I think the picture that is emerging is that Turkey is using the Free Syrian Army as cannon fodder essentially. After a month long strike the management of General Motors and the leaders of the United automobile workers have arrived at a temporary deal. The company has agreed to most of the demands which were made by the workers including two key issues. The first is to ensure the protection and the generation of jobs in the United States. The second is the formalizing of temporary workers who have been employed in the company's plans for years. According to the deal the company has agreed to invest close to about 9 billion US dollars to keep one production unit in Detroit operational. The plant was among the four plants that were scheduled to be closed by the company. The company will also work out mechanisms to generate or retain the 9000 jobs in the country that were to be laid off initially. The company has also agreed to a wage hike of about 3% to 4% or a lump-sump annual bonus for the employees. It also agreed to clear pathways to formalize the temporary employees who have worked at the GM factories for more than three years. General Motors currently operates 33 production units across the US of which it had planned to close four units and transfer a large part of its production work to Mexico. Union negotiations had failed to yield results which had led to the strike earlier. We'd be keeping a track of that story and a lot of other stories as well for all these updates and news around the world. Follow our website www.peoplesdispatch.org Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Thank you for watching. Thank you for watching.