there are signs that the united states is turning its back on us we are experiencing the brain death of neda words from french president emanuel mccrone published this week his warning for europe is not exactly surprising but it is shocking compared to sentiment just a generation ago tonight on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall and important question here in europe and in the u.s. how strong are they those ties that are supposed to buy i'm bring golf in berlin

this is the day. you know the events of nike did i ever bite of what binds us are 2 countries free societies transatlantic allies and spread yourself said i've already said that we certainly need more control of our own. base. but the transatlantic relationship is indispensable for us in the people and the rest of us on the street i'm not of the opinion that needle is brain dead i still believe in international cooperation. by it especially because we are facing ever larger and more international challenges that almost all of it was yes i agree with the chancellor merkel nato is strong. united states north america and europe to do more to get it done been done for decades we have implemented the strongest reinforcements also looked at the fence

instead of the cold war. also coming up a bronze statue of former u.s. president ronald reagan will be unveiled here in berlin tomorrow a statue to commemorate those words that he delivered before the wall came down. chaired this one was at the abbey. were viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with a warning that the spirit of unity that the world witnessed in 1909 is now endangered by division in 2019 today the words of french president emmanuel mccrone published in the economist fell like a bomb on the heads of european and u.s. leaders is quoted as saying that europe can no longer rely on the united states to

defend its nato allies he went on to say that quote what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of neda. mourning to europe it comes with an extraordinary sting because today is the eve of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall and today the u.s. secretary of state might bump a who was here in germany for that anniversary he delivered a response. nations of democratic values work so closely together for a long time to achieve what happened in 1900 and then again in 1900. remarkable work that created freedom and brought millions of people out of very very difficult situations. i think nato remains important critical perhaps historically one of the most critical strategic partnerships in all of recorded well the words of the french president they certainly are jolting but not necessarily surprising to talk

about that i'm joined now by mr carson votes he is a former member of the german parliament for the social democrats he served 2 german chancellor gerhard schroeder and uncle americal as coordinator of german north american relations mr vote it's good to have you on the program so we've got mr macro in the french president saying that europe should not or cannot rely on the u.s. to defend its nato allies do you agree i think it's i don't agree but the american commitment has been less clear and many inside need to observing that the americans. use the north and syria to get the isis. that. lets them know that's what they just used and therefore the credibility of all

which is not only a result of weaponry their credibility has gone. and therefore i think it's quite understandable for many reasons that many in europe are not also in for eternity if to nato but that they are saying we have to spend more on defense especially in the future of the european defense because we cannot rely a phone that the united states with help us when we have and necessary mission to north africa and other parts of europe when you say the credibility of the u.s. is not what it used to be aren't you also saying that the transatlantic times that have been build up over the past 70 years that they they are weaker or maybe they're weakening no i wouldn't say they make a distinction it's a transcendental it's business personal contacts personal relationship is as strong as in the past sometimes in store but what you have problems is that for

the 1st time since many decades we have a u.s. administration which is definitely pursuing a policy of a narrow 1st do it of american national interest and if it were suing its policy in such a narrow way it must need to conflicts with its role inside the mighty bitter alliance and this is what we are seeing and what is happening. when i hear you say that and then i think that today is the eve of the 30th anniversary of the berlin wall. the optimism that the world experience and witnessed november 1909 what happened. i'm still optimistic and so far as you should never forget that those countries not enemies g.d.r. that those countries in eastern europe which at that time was still member of the

most a pact invested dominated by the soviet union they are now free countries and most of them are members of the european union of nato and so far the success story of $89.00 is. part of the reality of your of today but what has changed we have a more critical relationship with russia today we have an unpredictable u.s. administration unpredictable in many directions and we have a new conflicts in parts of the vote like an africa middle east which we couldn't predict at that time. i spoke today with a group of us journalists who were here visiting for the 30th anniversary they covered the fall of the wall 30 years ago and what struck me is they they seem very very disenchanted by what has happened in the united states in washington with politics and i heard time and time again the question. what's germany

doing is there something that germany is doing that we could follow do you see germany now emerging as a bigger leader on the global stage now that some time is past 30 years as the fall of the wall. i would not say as a global leader as a regional need to be so but there is one big difference between the united states in germany. jummy because of its limited size and because of its history and geographic position it can only lead in the mighty little contact so many people are asking for german initiatives but inside nato inside the you inside is fraud a framework of like minded countries so far as might the letter is a must and therefore if an american president is skeptical about multilateralism he is touching one of the core elements of our understanding of a successful foreign policy and i think that germans have also

a need to pay more for its soul is also clear so you're for that germany paying more for the hand of say law. in our old show it's for it's own made just a proposal the big union that we have to do things and others are making propose in the field of defense so our all is really out of order to also need to have spending in certain areas but the spending alone is not enough if we do not explain this necessity to the jump people cost and vote we unfortunately we're out of time but we certainly appreciate you coming in sharing your thoughts with us on this 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall thank you very much as you very much. well as part of the special coverage of this anniversary we are looking at what for many east germans was their 1st time shopping in the capitalist west on the life in the member of 1989 the night that the wall came down east germans

crossed the border by the thousands and many headed straight to west berlin's most famous shopping boulevard 1st in down a street that was a showcase of consumerism in the divided city. and it remains just step we sent my colleague our very own reporter christophe kober to go where millions it seems like east germans headed after the wall began to fall 30 years ago good evening to you krista also talk to me a little bit about the boulevard where you are to know i'm. well the cooler for saddam as you mentioned bears large significance. because here. on the court for some dumb on the shopping boulevard. it is it is a place like few others in germany where the abundance of goods in a free market society and the might of the consumer are on display or have been on

display for decades shops here have been selling old fashion from paris shoes handmade in italy or pricey jewelry with diamonds from botswana and of course it is home to the world famous divi the department store off the west as it is called it is here that people from the g.d.r. and east berlin flocked to the border was open in order to see what had been unavailable to them to see what they have been craving for decades and you have to keep in mind that the west german government gave each east german citizen upon this 1st crossing of the border into the west a $100.00 for marks to spend and if you have a little extra cash well why not spend it on one of europe's most famous shopping

shopping boulevards and one of its main attractions. one of the top this to nations for east berlin is exploring west berlin was the luxury car gave a department store which was famous throughout the country since the store was founding in 1907 was ready for the record setting number of visitors east german shoppers who stayed up all night exploring west berlin. first and foremost we decided that all our guests should get a free cup of coffee here so they can warm up 1st. the shelves full of tropical fruits packed full of merchandise this was a new experience for the visitors. this. accompanied my eyes i don't know what i should buy 1st or what i should eat 1st i bought some muscle symphony crowd user new to me. these were nervy days the east germans have to head back across the berlin wall by 8 o'clock that evening no one knew if they would be allowed out again. yes or the shopping experience for these

germans and christophe you know we have to let our viewers know you know you know what you're talking about you were born you grew up behind the iron curtain what was your experience when the wall fell. well the 1st experience was pretty rough because as thousands hundreds of thousands of others germans my family also wanted to see what it's like in the west so the week after the wall fell we picked our stuff went to my grandparents' house which live about 50 kilometers from the vivarium border stayed overnight got up the next morning very early at about 4 am and took our little car towards the border and what should have been the maximum of one and a half hour to hour drive ended up being a 16 hour ordeal in this little tub on the east german car made of you know somewhat cardboard for that matter because there were so many cars lined up in

front of us all heading west all wanting to see what it's like so deep into the night we made it we spent the night in some some sort of shelter and bunk beds and then actually got to spend our money the next morning and speaking of this welcome money earlier i talked to under the house cause mama also a former east german citizen and i asked him what he spent his money on the ask a smile of any people came to the west from from germany with the welcome money spent on a lot of things that they couldn't get back home what do you buy back then 1st some very noble thing a train ticket to get to by friends outside the city then they gave the lucky lease some money and i ended the big book store because i'm a book lover and. because i was looking for some books not available in east germany and they were there and not only single books they laid out in piles so i was really confused desolate stood outside myself unable to make

a decision spend an hour in the sup a get out at it but into the next that i base that choice for a little book called the little book of the all of the. and you said you were overwhelmed by what was there on display in this book store were you overwhelmed in other terms as well by the situation of the wall finally coming down yes later on i found that i am not so shopping orientated but. by my own curiosity and to many many possibilities to get surprises and very interesting exposure experiences and this be overwhelmed by this city and exciting experiences this lasted on for a couple of weeks ok now 30 years have passed since the wall came down how do you look back on these days. it's very good to remember each year of this wonderful days. first the expectations were very botha's just to have

a look at this fascinating new world and so just make a rounded go picked home but it went on and on and expectations and hopes grow bigger and of cause let's go on to big hopes get disappointed but. it's very interesting it's very necessary to to preserve the memory of the beginning of to be hopes when they ask a smaller thank you so much. in the beginning of the big hopes he said there christophe i'm sure he is implying there that not everything is gone as the east germans expected when the wall fell back in 1990 east germans they wanted shopping equality with west germans what is it that east germans want now. well equality in a broader sense i would say i mean if we take

a look again at the numbers average pensions in east germany all lower than in the west average salaries are lower than in the west and obviously obviously many many people see that as as a setback as as if they were still sort of 2nd class citizens because after all they live in the same country the same world and this has its roots in the d.n.a. just realisation of the east of the of the country and the subsequent weakness of the east german economy so east germans will not like to hear this but until all these differences are leveled out it'll probably take more years to come you know time will take care of it we've heard that many times my colleague christophe coburn down on. famous shopping boulevard crystal thank you very much. and all this week d w is bringing you special coverage of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the

berlin wall you can catch it all here on the news you can also follow me on twitter at brings golf t.v. . discover football is a network that attempts to empower women through the forceful tools of the world's most popular sport football or soccer today the network kick started its latest project right here in berlin aimed at women in the middle east and north africa. feel is supporting discover football in their quest to promote gender equality in her native lebannon she is a pioneer of women's football and former captain of the lebanese women's national team as well as head coach of various national youth teams in lebanon so she knows what she's talking about and she's joining me now here and it's good to have you on the show you're smiling you've got reasons to be happy today don't you should why

i'm talking about i need to be had exactly what one of the key ideas behind this project. first of all i would like to thank you for. being here with you. this project has been starting. today as i am here and ellen to need discover football numbers in order to discuss about points for the project that he has and i've been on and next year enjoying 202020 there's a lot going on in your country right now the world has its eyes on lebanon why do you think that football is the right way the right vehicle if you will to improve gender inequality as you know football is the most important thing and what is the fair play so you talk about 1st place where you discuss many things up regarding the. points that are going on and i've been on specially end of the ocean

as you say you know and you always on the political sides saw we. are working now on sports for development on fair play and specially gender equality so when you talk about gender equality that means that men and men and women are the same level so you say the retort to me about what it's like in the world of sports and one of the main problems that women footballers face in lebannon 1st of all the. second women's football do not have it is that as men especially and that the sellers for football players men and women are like so down to it but there's an international problem too right yes yes yes but specially in lebanon that they are not accepting we have some some sit is that sometimes it is that not accept women that to play football specially that agent that potato and you know

some not allowed. to play football when she is like about 14 what do you say. the when you have a girl who wants to play football and her parents are standing there with you and her father says no it's my daughter she can't play what do you say to their father like i face this problem in my school at the national and any kalinski for girls and boys in south. that i have a good start is near jane football since she was 7 years old and now she is she's 9 and 8 and her father is not accepting her to play football because she's a girl and she's playing with the boys so i'm trying my best because she should take me as a role model source she she's like. she needs to play football she loves to play so what and she is trying to force that to allow her to play for the father then if he is allowing her to do that the father is trusting you yes this is that's

a huge responsibility going on your shoulders yeah it and you're fine with that it's because it does it should scare you select i like i like when parents trust me it just wears their daughters up with it with whom yeah so and specially when you know you when you tell them that i was in the same place where you are is now and like. play football and keep enjoy the game that she wants to do to play you know we saw. earlier this year we saw the u.s. women's soccer team at the world cup you know we heard time and time again that the women are paid the same as men as you said we also heard though that women may actually be better players than the men what do you say about that i'm putting you on the spot some 100 percent right really annoyed because nowadays in every way like sports statistics everything woman is the same as men so

funny woman is more smart than men for me ok ok so what is starts from mind from smugness then physically so that because that's what you're talking about football you're not talking about here at the newsdesk. about it about i did stay here and ok. maybe it's been wonderful talking with you and you're doing thank you you're doing really important things and you do it with a smile which you know i think will definitely help you on and off the pitch thank you so much thanks for joining us and good to meet you. over those of us who were alive when the berlin wall came down and remember tomorrow will no doubt be a day to reflect and remember berlin has been doing a lot of that this week tomorrow at the u.s. embassy a highlight of this special anniversary will be unveiled here is how the u.s. ambassador has been teasing it on twitter take

a look. you saw flashes of it right there in that video a bronze statue of former u.s. president ronald reagan will be unveiled at the u.s. embassy tomorrow on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall reagan became forever connected to the divided city when he stood in front of the berlin wall 1987 and issued

a call to soviet leader mikhail gorbachev 2 years later berliners would be the ones to tear down this wall will leave you tonight with the words of reagan 32 years ago and remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day we'll see that everybody you know. if you see. if you see prosperity for the soviet union and eastern europe if you see liberalization. it is. mr gorbachev open this gate that one with. mr gregory draw carry down this wall.

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into the conflict zone with tim sebastian is from holmes pro. democracy movement imagine if it had be our qualified support of the international community it is better think again i guess this week here in berlin it is joey see you a pro-democracy activist show me how a movement now tried to make a deal with the hong kong government before fast becomes impossible conflict so. in 90 minutes on d w. syrian born american visits

a local bar in berlin. he lives just opposite with a father who was a member of the hitler youth as a child. some residents are suspicious of refugees in the neighborhood. and there is curious about the bar's regulars to cross the road worlds apart. starting november 11th on d.w. . come and follow the adventures of the famous naturalist and explorer. to celebrate alex on the phone while its 251st day were embarking on a voyage of discovery. expedition was on t.w. .

on. oh we can be the generation that ends it. malaria. millions can live.

this is. tonight a major figure in nato as the french president warns europe that the military alliance is brain dead germany's chancellor and the nato secretary general they are rejecting president idea that europe can no longer rely on the u.s. and nato there is unity however in.