During Monday's edition of Lubbock's First News on KFYO, Texas Tech's Vice Provost of Foreign Affairs Tibor Nagy, Jr., talks about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza as well as the Malaysian Airliner shot down over Ukraine.

Nagy started out by stating that Vladimir Putin is a former KGB Colonel, meaning he will "obfuscate, lie, accuse [his] opponents of doing exactly what [he is] doing or what [he] wants to do, never admit any wrong, and of course, the best defense is always going on offense." Many of these tactics have been employed with the Malaysian Airliner shot down over Ukraine.

His strategy is to put the influence of Russia back where the influence of the U.S.S.R. was. Part of this involves portraying himself as a hero in the eyes of the world as he did with the Syrian "Red Line in the Sand." Nagy pointed out that Putin is in a position to do this again in Ukraine if he is willing to break up the conflict between the rebels and Ukraine.

In addition to being a victory for Putin, Nagy also stated "I think the most defining moment in the Obama Foreign administration was the red line in the sand in Syria." Even though America lost credibility after this event, Nagy suggests one way for the U.S. to regain foreign influence would be to cut off flights from Russia, sending a message to Russia and the rest of the world.

Moving on to Israel, Nagy pointed out that Gaza is about twice the size of Washington, D.C., and includes a lot of rural areas. Because of this, "it is almost impossible to find 100% of the tunnels," Nagy said.

Although the fighting has increased in intensity, Nagy explained that both sides want to elegantly end the hostilities. However, he added that Hamas will not be willing to end the fight until they can claim some kind of victory.

To listen to the full interview, click the play button below:

To listen from a mobile device, click the following link: KFYO LFN Tibor Nagy July 21, 2014

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