Loud & Clear

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Mark Sleboda, an international affairs and security analyst, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek. Turkish forces yesterday fired artillery shells at Syrian government forces that had moved to the area of Afrin in northern Syria to assist Kurdish fighters there. Turkish president Erdogan also warned Iran against becoming more involved in the Syrian civil war. Meanwhile, Turkey announced that it would carry out a naval exercise in waters inside the Cypriot economic zone. And 17 Turkish government employees and their families defected to Greece by rowing to a Greek island in a dinghy.Vice President Pence was supposed to have a secret meeting on February 10 with Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and with Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state. The meeting was cancelled two hours before its start when the North Koreans withdrew. Meanwhile, the resumption of postponed U.S.- South Korean mil