<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55ba7e522acae72d5f8bb17b-3500-2333/rtx1l3f7.jpg" alt="Erdogan" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Harun Ukar" data-mce-caption="Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan on July 20, 2015." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Harun Ukar</span></p><p class="caption">Turkish President Recep Erdogan.</p></div><p></p></div></div>The Russian Ministry of <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Defense">Defense</keyword> warned Turkey against launching a military incursion into Syria last week, announcing on Thursday that it had seen "growing signs" that Turkish forces were preparing to intervene to bolster rebel forces battling pro-regime troops in the north.</p><p>Some experts say, however, that Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be trying to bait Turkey into entering the Syrian battlefield in order to retaliate for Ankara's decision to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-turkey-downed-jet-2015-11" target="_blank">down a Russian warplane in November</a>.</p><p>"Russia is trying to draw Turkey into a fight to avenge the downing of its jet. Putin is confident he can win," retired Brig. Gen. Naim Baburoglu, an adviser to the Ankara-based National Security and Foreign Policy Research Center, <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/02/turkey-russia-moscow-tries-to-draw-ankara-into-fight.html">told al-Monitor</a> last week.</p><p>"He also needs this to counter domestic difficulties. Downing one or two Turkish F-16s will make him a hero at home," Baburoglu added. "It will also be a serious embarrassment to Turkey and the Turkish air force."</p><p>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan initially denied reports that Turkish forces were preparing to cross the border. But on Sunday, Erdogan signaled that Turkey would be prepared to intervene in Syria if asked by its coalition partners.</p><p>"We don't want to fall into the same mistake in Syria as in Iraq," Erdogan told reporters on Sunday, <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/taking-the-road-to-disaster-in-syria.aspx?pageID=449&amp;nID=94864&amp;NewsCatID=503">according to the Turkish daily newspaper</a> Hurriyet. "If ... Turkey was present in Iraq, the country would have never have fallen into its current situation."</p><p>He added: "It's important to see the horizon. What's going on in Syria can only go on for so long. At some point it has to change."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="Reuters" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b90abe6e97c61e048b5d62-960/screen shot 2016-02-08 at 4.37.32 pm.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b90abe6e97c61e048b5d62-793-744/screen shot 2016-02-08 at 4.37.32 pm.png" alt="Turkey syria" data-mce-source="Reuters" /></a><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Erdogan, a staunch opponent of Russia-backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, was at least partly referring to the Syrian Kurds' sustained expansion westward along the Turkish-Syrian border. That push has largely been facilitated by Russian airstrikes targeting Syrian rebel groups backed by Turkey, the US, and Saudi Arabia.</p><p>Signs of growing coordination between Moscow and the Kurds <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-assad-turkey-syria-rebels-aleppo-2016-2" target="_blank">came to a head last week</a>, when Syria's main Kurdish militia, the YPG, helped Russia and the Syrian army isolate Azaz - a strategically important city long used by Turkey to funnel aid and supplies to rebels in the city of Aleppo.</p><p>"I don't think there is any doubt that the YPG and Russia are coordinating in the Azaz corridor," Aaron Stein, an expert on Turkish affairs and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Business Insider on Monday.</p><p>He added:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">The YPG have taken advantage of the airstrikes to advance in areas south of Azaz, in what looks like a strategy to connect the Efrin canton with Kobane and Jazira. The PYD have consistently made clear, both in private and in public, that they can reach a common understanding with local groups in the area, and install a governing council inside the city.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="Google Maps" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5665b1bac28144be008b7f7e-960/screen shot 2015-12-07 at 11.01.33 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5665b1bac28144be008b7f7e-1113-587/screen shot 2015-12-07 at 11.01.33 am.png" alt="syria azaz" data-mce-source="Google Maps" /></a><p class="source"><span>Google Maps</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>As Turkish-Russian relations continue to deteriorate, Russia's military and political ties to the Kurds are getting stronger. Russia is reportedly looking to open a second airfield in the Kurdish-held Syrian city of Qamishli, and the Kurds have said they will open their first "representation office" in Moscow later this week.</p><p>Stein said:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">The PYD's office in Moscow has been months in the making. The PYD - and by extension, the PKK - are eager to escape from international isolation. Any country willing to de-facto recognize them as a legitimate political group, and not a foreign terrorist organization, is a net positive for the group.</p><p>Fabrice Balanche, a leading expert on Syria and visiting fellow at the Washington Institute, broached the limits of the US's political support for the Kurds in an analysis last week.</p><p>"Unlike the United States, Russia does not want to antagonize the Kurds by prohibiting their deeply held goal of territorial unification," he wrote.</p><p>"Vladimir Putin wants to put pressure on Turkey's entire frontier with Syria," Balanche added. Indeed, "it is one of the main regional goals of the Russian intervention."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5671bb5072f2c15b028b6234-3300-2199/rts7ryt.jpg" alt="russia bomb syria" data-mce-source="Khalil Ashawi/Reuters" data-mce-caption="A man runs through dust in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan town in Idlib province, Syria October 24, 2015." /><p class="source"><span>Khalil Ashawi/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">A man runs through dust in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in Syria on October 24, 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>That the Kurds are now closer than ever to linking their territories east of the Euphrates with the Kurdish-controlled city of Efrin in the west - a move that would cross Turkey's "red line" and allow the Kurds to consolidate their de facto state of Rojava along Turkey's southern border - may be enough to draw Turkey into the war.</p><p>"The Turkish army is very conservative and risk averse," Jeff White, a defense analyst focusing on the security affairs of the Levant at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Business Insider in an email. "So while willing to protect its borders, I doubt we will see any large scale operations in Syria - with one possible exception: unification of the Kurdish enclaves/Rojava."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56980275c08a80872f8b8c34-3300-2207/rtr4pk0u.jpg" alt="ypg" data-mce-source="Rodi Said/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) carry their weapons at a military training camp in Ras al-Ain February 13, 2015." /><p class="source"><span>Rodi Said/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units carry at a military training camp in Ras al-Ain.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>If the Kurds were to unify their cantons, Turkey might be compelled to intervene to prevent them from forming a statelet along the Turkish border, White noted. And that would be a game-changer.</p><p>"The Turkish army could defeat any opponents in its chosen areas of operation," White said. "Direct Turkish intervention, if on a substantial scale, could dramatically change the situation."</p><p>Incidentally, rumors of a Turkish military intervention began circulating days after Saudi Arabia declared that it would be prepared to send ground troops to Syria to fight the Islamic State "if asked" by its allies.</p><p>As such, "Turkey is no longer acting alone," Middle East analyst Elijah Magnier noted on Twitter last week. Though it remains "highly unlikely" that Turkey will invade Syria, Magnier said that if it did, "Russia would celebrate."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/femen-protest-of-iranian-president-visit-to-france-2016-1">A Femen protester appeared to hang herself to protest the Iranian president's visit to France</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="w1N2xqMDE66T96i8ALqH6Qm0SISMEN-N" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'w1N2xqMDE66T96i8ALqH6Qm0SISMEN-N',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Russia is 'trying to draw Turkey into a fight' in Syria, and it may be working

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b6cb766e97c61a008b57d8-2725-2044/rtx25skx.jpg" alt="Marco Rubio" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Carlo Allegri" data-mce-caption="Marco Rubio."><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Carlo Allegri</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) struggled to fend off attacks from a Republican field that largely <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-new-hampshire-jeb-bush-christie-polls-2016-2" target="_blank">aimed its fire at the senator</a> during the final Republican presidential debate ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire primaries.<p>Rubio has been surging in New Hampshire following a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-iowa-caucus-results-2016-2" target="_blank">stronger-than-expected, third-place finish</a> in the Iowa caucuses. But the full spectrum of political opinions appeared to agree afterward that Rubio had a rough night during the ABC-hosted affair.</p><p>The left-leaning Huffington Post <a href="https://twitter.com/HuffingtonPost/status/696181596341346304" target="_blank">blared</a>&#xa0;on its front page: "MARCOBOT MALFUNCTIONS," a reference to his supposedly "canned," talking-point answers. Bill Kristol, the conservative editor of The Weekly Standard, said on the network that&#xa0;the debate "damaged him."</p><p>James Fallows, The Atlantic's national correspondent, <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesFallows/status/696176435854229504" target="_blank">proclaimed</a> Rubio's debate performance the "most self-destructive" in decades. The right-leaning Drudge Report declared that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) "knock[ed] Rubio off balance."</p><p>That&#xa0;was a reference to Rubio's first perceived stumble of the night. It came <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-chris-christie-gop-debate-new-hampshire-abc-2016-2" target="_blank">during an early, five-minute exchange with Christie</a>, who seemed eager to get days' worth of campaign-trail feuding out into the open. Rubio tripped up by pivoting four times to a rehearsed line about President Barack Obama, a moment that quickly went viral.</p><p>Christie, making perhaps a do-or-die stand in New Hampshire, reamed into&#xa0;the freshman senator as inexperienced. He suggested Rubio espoused many of the same potential problems as Obama, who was also a first-term senator upon his election in 2008.</p><p>After Rubio was pressed to name his accomplishments in the US Senate, Christie pounced.</p><p>"You have not been involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't," Christie told Rubio.</p><p>"I like Marco Rubio. And he's a smart person and a good guy. But he simply doesn't have the experience to be president of the United States," he added.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b6a3086e97c662008b574a-1435-807/screen%20shot%202016-02-06%20at%208.32.00%20pm.png" alt="marco rubio chris christie" data-mce-source="YouTube/screenshot"><p class="source"><span>YouTube/screenshot</span></p><p class="caption">Rubio and Christie.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>The two candidates proceeded to exchange&#xa0;barbs over each other's records and political character. But Christie seemed to notice the&#xa0;common element in Rubio's responses when he argued that Obama, despite his inexperience, knows "exactly what he's doing."</p><p>"Let's dispel with his fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing," Rubio said. "He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country."</p><p>In his response, Christie began pointing at Rubio and accusing&#xa0;him of rehearsed, scripted lines.</p><p>"You see everybody, I want the people at home to think about this," he said. "That's what Washington, DC, does: The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information. And then the memorized, 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him."</p><p>Moments later, after being called out by Christie, Rubio attempted to defend himself by using a similar line.</p><p>"Here's the bottom line: This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true," Rubio said. "He knows exactly what he's doing."</p><p>Christie noticed.</p><p>"There it is!" he said. "There it is! The memorized 25-second speech."</p><p>Within minutes, rival campaigns were passing around a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNRNHgi1RzU" target="_blank">brutal super-cut</a>&#xa0;video of Rubio repeating the line four times. A "Marco Rubio Glitch" account also sprang up on Twitter, firing off different versions of the "Obama knows exactly what he's doing" line.&#xa0;</p><p><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HNRNHgi1RzU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></p><p>Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) also added to the criticism against Rubio, echoing Christie's attacks.</p><p>"Marco Rubio is a gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be president of the United States," Bush said. But, he argued, the experience was not yet there.</p><p>It wasn't clear how the exchange would, if at all, serve to blunt Rubio's momentum. He currently sits in second place in a Real Clear <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Politics">Politics</keyword> average of recent Granite State surveys, behind front-runner Donald Trump. </p><p>Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist and the president of the Potomac Strategy Group, said the exchange would likely be&#xa0;played over and over again through Tuesday's primaries. He argued it would "wash away" Rubio's other, more positive debate moments, such as a late-debate answer on abortion that earned him applause.</p><p>"Rubio's inability to adequately and specifically respond to Christie's criticism will dog him for at least 48 hours, halt his momentum in New Hampshire, and likely extend the race for several establishment-lane competitors," he told Business Insider. "Rubio had a number of other good moments, but it was washed away by the only thing that people are talking about."</p><p>"Chris Christie just blew this race wide open," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeNBC/status/696179227066912768" target="_blank">agreed</a> on Twitter.</p><p>For its part, the Rubio campaign argued that his rivals had tried - yet "failed" - to "take out" Rubio on Saturday night.</p><p>"Marco stood up for his principles, he demonstrated his deep understanding of the issues, laid out his record of accomplishment, and made the case for why he's the conservative who can beat Hillary Clinton," Terry Sullivan, Rubio's campaign manager, wrote in an email to supporters.</p><p>He added: "AND YES, HE STUCK TO HIS GUNS ON WHY OBAMA HAS BEEN AN AWFUL PRESIDENT!!!"</p><p>&#xa0;</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/femen-protest-of-iranian-president-visit-to-france-2016-1">A Femen protester appeared to hang herself to protest the Iranian president's visit to France</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="w1N2xqMDE66T96i8ALqH6Qm0SISMEN-N" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'w1N2xqMDE66T96i8ALqH6Qm0SISMEN-N',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

'MARCOBOT MALFUNCTIONS': Everyone's saying Rubio had a brutal debate night

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52bdb5e8eab8ea543bce32e8-1200-600/pussy-riot-sobchak.jpg?maxX=800" border="0" alt="Pussy Riot Sobchak" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>Screengrab via Buzzfeed</span></p></div><p></p></div>"How much is the Pussy Riot brand worth?"</p>
<p>That's the question Masha Alekhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova, two members of the Russian art group Pussy Riot, were asked in their first joint TV interview after spending almost two years behind bars for performing an anti-Putin song in an Orthodox church.</p>
<p>If that seems like an insulting question, you're not alone. The interviewer, Ksenia Sobchak, included the preamble "You got out of prison famous and wealthy," and another abrupt question which was simply: "what's up with your eyebrows?" (<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/miriamelder/12-ridiculous-moments-from-pussy-riots-first-tv-interview">you can see more from the controversial interview, expertly GIFed, at Buzzfeed</a>).</p>
<p>Released as part of a dubious Putin-approved amnesty, Pussy Riot's time in Russia's notorious prison system was almost certainly extremely unpleasant - Tolokonnikova went "missing" in the vast <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/16/missing-pussy-rioter-nadezhda-tolokonnikova-found-at-siberian-hospital.html">prison network for weeks</a>, and Alekhina says <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/24/imprisoned-pussy-riot-members-underwent-daily-forced-gynecological-examinations/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29">she had to endure forced gynecological examinations</a>. The pair, understandably, appeared to find Sobchak's questions trivial in comparison, and their reactions alternated between bemusement and annoyance: "Asking provocative questions is totally unethical of you," Alekhina responded after being asked if she felt slighted by the press attention on the attractive Tolokonnikova.</p>
<p>Perhaps Sobchak's line of questioning sounds silly and unprofessional, but I'd argue it betrays something deeper. The son of Putin's mentor, Anatoly Sobchak, Ksenia Sobchak's successful TV career and glamorous lifestyle once earned her the title "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/world/europe/27tabloids.html">Russia's answer to Paris Hilton</a>" from The New York Times. For the last couple of years, however, she has aligned herself with the mainstream of Russia's anti-Putin opposition, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sobchak-arrested-moscow-putin-2012-5">getting arrested at protests</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kseniya-sobchak-video-putin-election2012-2">appearing in parodies of Putin campaign videos</a>.</p>
<p>"Brand" might seem like a dirty word in politics, connoting empty politics and marketing exercises, but in the PR-obsessed world of Russian power - the one that Sobchak grew up in - it actually makes quite a lot of sense. The Kremlin's use of publicity stunts to present Putin as a strong, honest leader <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-vladimir-putin-became-the-chuck-norris-of-international-politics-2013-9">has been a clear domestic strategy</a>, and the country spends <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/vladimir-putin-nyt-op-ed-ketchum-pr-2013-9">huge amounts of money promoting itself abroad</a> (the mysterious man thought to have been behind the PR-led system, Vladislav Surkov, <a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n20/peter-pomerantsev/putins-rasputin">has even been called the</a> "real genius of the Putin era").</p>
<p>If you think of branding as identity politics, you can see why it matters so much. While the Russian opposition appeared to have some real support behind in after the disputed 2011 Duma elections, it ultimately failed to gain the kind of singular momentum required to really sustain it - the closest thing it produced to a unifying leader, anti-corruption activist lawyer Alexey Navalny, <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-navalny-nationalist-fears/25059277.html">had a backstory of aggressive nationalism</a> that makes him hard for international audiences to sympathize with. Without a clear narrative and facing strong opposition from the Kremlin, the opposition movement has found it tough to extend its message beyond urban centers. Put simply, their branding was screwed.</p>
<p>Contrast that to Pussy Riot. Since their arrest in early 2012, the group, once barely on the fringes of the Russian opposition movement, have become its most popular export. You can now <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pussy-Riot-Black-Mask-T-Shirt/dp/B009TKW6DG">buy Pussy Riot t-shirts on Amazon</a> and the group's trademark neon balaclavas were <a href="http://animalnewyork.com/2013/new-spring-breakers-poster-looks-like-pussy-riot/">co-opted in the Harmony Korine movie</a> "Spring Breakers." There were even <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pussy-riot-offered-millions-for-tour-2012-10">reports in the Russian press</a> that a U.S. music company had offered the group around $700 million for a "world tour" - a ludicrous proposal when you consider the group are more of a performance art project than a "punk band" (they evolved out of underground anarchist art collective Voina, best known for holding an orgy to <a href="http://exiledonline.com/how-pussy-riot-troupe-voina-got-the-exile-censored-in-2008-the-lost-story/">protest Dmitry Medvedev</a>).</p>
<p>Some opposition leaders have clearly bristled at Pussy Riot's international notoriety (Navalny memorably dismissed them as "<a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/russian-riot-grrrls-jailed-for-punk-prayer/">silly girls</a>"). Sobchak's questions about their "brand" and in particular her comments about Tolokonnikova's appearance seem to imply their recognition is based on aesthetics and ultimately undeserved, but she's being unfair - the group's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pussy-riot-continue-to-make-vladimir-putin-look-stupid-2013-12">eloquence in court and sheer balsiness</a> have lent them a credibility far beyond that of, say, FEMEN. The Pussy Riot message of feminism, anti-authoritarianism, and anti-capitalism is clearly potent.</p>
<p>Of course, it remains to be seen exactly what Alekhina and Tolokonnikova will do with their "brand," but today's announcement that they plan to launch a <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/12/27/pussy-riot-members-to-form-prisoners-rights-group/4217457/">human rights organization for prisoners' rights</a> seems an appropriate step. If handled correctly, however, the idea of Pussy Riot could really be priceless.</p>

You Searched For "femen" and got 3 results

Russia is 'trying to draw Turkey into a fight' in Syria, and it may be working

Natasha Bertrand

'MARCOBOT MALFUNCTIONS': Everyone's saying Rubio had a brutal debate night

Brett LoGiurato

The Value Of The Pussy Riot 'Brand' Is Now A Huge Question

Adam Taylor