David Podolchuk knows a thing or two about peacekeeping, having worked with NATO and the Canadian Forces in Sicily.

He thinks Canada should be doing more to help Syrians, but says because the West missed opportunities to help in the past, it's more difficult to intervene now.

Listen to his discussion with Checkup host Duncan McCue:

Duncan McCue: David Podolchuk is calling from Gimli, Manitoba. Hi David, welcome to Cross Country Checkup.

David Podolchuk: Hello. Thank you for taking my call.

DM: Should we have done more in Syria, David?

DP: Absolutely. I think we should have done more in 2011, 2012.

I think the people of Aleppo, their fate was really sealed when President Obama ignored his own red line. And when NATO, like France and Britain, were ready to go, were ready to support any type of action — to declare a no-fly zone, to open up humanitarian corridors — when he decided against doing that, I think their fate was really sealed. And once the Russians came in, in strength, it was a terrible mistake.

A terrible mistake because at the time — I had some experience with the Libya operation, and Syria was kicking off at the exact same time — and it's apparent now that some NATO officials approached the Free Syrian Army, the generals that did not want to support Assad, and said start something and you'll get supported by the West. So they did.

And not to do something after the chemical weapons red line was crossed was a terrible mistake.

DM: You've worked with NATO and Canadian forces in Sicily. Is that right?

DP: At the time we were there. Canadians and all NATO countries were there as part of the U.N. mission. Yes.

DM: And what do you make of the Canadian response today, or this week, to the events that are unfolding in Syria?

DP: Well it's too late for Canada. I mean we should do what we can. But I mean Christie Blatchford's article in the National Post was just laughable. What exactly would she want Canada to do, confront the Russians on our own? This had to be done in 2013.

And if it had to be done without the Security Council, because of the things mentioned previously — we've done [it] in Kosovo, we didn't have a Security Council vote in Kosovo. Putin was determined not to let a Libya happen again. We abandoned Libya after a successful operation for three years. Now thankfully, they're in there helping them again.

There's so much misinformation that goes on about these events in the media. [The public] has just been constantly gaslighted by not only misinformation, but also deliberate misinformation from from the Russians, from Assad. It's really terrible that they mash all these events into one. Comparing the Iraq war to — yes the Iraq war had influence on this — but it was a mistake not to support, [to] at least create a no-fly zone.

DM: And so you think there should have been a no fly zone declared a couple of years ago. But now that that didn't happen, so what do you think is next?

DP: Well Obama's got until the 20th of January to confront the Russians there. But we know that's not going to happen. And this is not over. It is not over at all. I don't think that the supporters in the Gulf states of the rebels are going to give up.

And we can't let Assad take — Syria's gone and actually should stay fragmented now. Because as Yugoslavia was broken into its constituent parts, this country's been a country for 4000 years almost, but Assad can't be allowed.

Now we supported the Kurds and I think we should. But now they're not going to leave. I don't think Assad's got the power himself to to take back more than maybe a half, or less a third of Syria, and he shouldn't be allowed to.

DM: You mentioned President Obama's role his time is waning. President-elect Trump has said that he has had an isolationist approach to the area, and said that the U.S. would like to see safe zones created there. What do you think of that signal coming from from the President-elect?

DP: I think it's just talk. I mean he's learned his gaslighting technique right from Putin himself. So I take nothing that man says at face value. I don't even think he does. I don't think he really thinks or believes or understands much of what he says. And he's saying this for public consumption. They have no idea what to do there. And I don't trust him. I don't trust how he's going to work with the Russians, and I don't think our country should. And I think we better start to develop a more independent foreign policy now because the next four years could be very bad.

DM: David thanks very much for sharing that perspective.

DP: Okay. Thank you. Have a good day.