no. i. i. it's stories the shapes of the week tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of france in the ninth consecutive weekend of yellow vest process clashes once again with police have iraq. continue with the democrats in

a standoff over his border war plans resulted in the longest government shutdown in u.s. history also to come. and this is day it is the deadliest month for. books over briggs's the british prime minister suffers another bad day in the office ahead of tuesday's crucial vote on. yes he got it right this is all to international you're watching the week. and we start this hour in france with demonstrators keeping up pressure on the government with the yellow vests movement holding a ninth consecutive weekend of protests reporting from paris.

oh. the first tensions are rising here the up to three will be in paris one of the protests in the city one of many protests taking place across france we have had violence here in new york to trails. her outlook for. the. good. stuff there is water cannons now in full force trying to push protests is a way. that water cannon and tear gas plumes coming up from the ground we've seen the

protesters throwing up projectiles at the police we've seen the police responding. to gas that's just being dispersed there's flash pulls and those cast ballots as well as one look like to be sun canapes and the mobile police force now you can see running in the hole dressed in black you can just see behind me that is a small fire that's just appeared that's been coming along people reveling around that as that i guess comes in the air the tear gas is just moving we can hear it now and people are moving to once why when i have improved as the eyes tear gas of being up pushed down there all around to find even. thousand offices taking

part in the security of paris eighty thousand across france people i've spoken to the chelation all say yes this is act nine this is the ninth consecutive weekends but this is not going to stop this is going to continue. and it wasn't only the french capital that experienced protests on saturday in one thousand took to the streets with police using tear gas to disperse the crowds over leon hundred smallest in tributes to victims of the protests by releasing yellow balloons and laying flowers to honor them and some protests in france ended in violence. i. will pass the l c i report you to this journalist and to accompanying security officers being assaulted in covering the rally in the northern french city of room one of the security officers had his nose broken and it possible treatments were also other reports of attacks on immigration on journalists across the country.

the us government shutdown has now become the longest in the country's history and this week accusations have been flying back and forth between democrat leaders and double trouble democrats in congress have refused to acknowledge the crisis president trant my staff holding murtha people hostage might stop manufacturing a crisis stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration and must reopen the government the federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only because democrats will not fund border security no president should pound the table and demand he gets his way or else the government shuts down senator chuck schumer has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past along with many other democrats they change their

mind only after i was elected president. and wednesday the us president stormed out of talks with his democratic counterparts branding them a total waste of time elated tweeted that he said bye bye so house speaker nancy pelosi when she refused to approve funding for the war. from a florida state democratic party chairman and american political commentator steve malzberg had differing views on the border war dispute. he hit on every note and you know what's holding all this up you know it's just keeping the government shutdown and holding all this up is the fact that nancy pelosi says no wall not one penny that's not negotiating this was a purely political attempt to help you saying poll numbers where sixty three percent of the people in america now say they don't want the war and they want to turn back on his statements about mexico is still going to pay for the wall because of tariffs that's nonsense we're lowering the tariffs to be less money coming in

it's exactly the opposite almost every democrat including schumer voted for a fence a few years ago with obama and love the fence and make speeches about how they need a wall obama made speeches about it now it's immoral because it's trump who wants it so please trump will declare a national emergency reopen the government take the funding from the military and guess what the democrats won't like that either so nothing donald trump could do they won't negotiate with them and it will be makes it good to criticize so you know it is what it is that's the political reality today when i think backs of times of presidents democrat or republican who asked for national time like candy during the cuban missile crisis or obama when we killed osama bin ladin or bush with nine eleven those were real national situations the problem is is that when we have a real national crisis two thirds of this country will not believe president trump based on all his past behavior to make his case for the world to travel to the

buddha between mexico and texas while there he was shown some of the come to america.

when i took the oath of all i swore to protect our country and that is what i will always do my administration has presented us with a detailed proposal to secure the border and stop the criminal gang drug smugglers and human trafficking. with the clock ticking down. vote in the british parliament to raise a maze out of pretty busy week i've been trying to win backing for divorce once again the prime minister has got a hostile reception. as is the deadest. i believe it is possible to have that future relationship which is deep in place with the european union that gives us the freedom to do what we want to do.

prime minister has been recklessly wasting time holding the country to ransom with the threat of no deal done while the prime minister. piece the facts there's little support for a deal or no deal in this house are we. why on earth would we walk away from it to be frank i have lost trust in the prime minister's ability to negotiate a good deal. if this deal is rejected is that we have the risk of bricks or rather says. securing your car making derogatory comments about threats that sticker on the subject of bricks it happens to be. affixed to the windscreen of my wife's car yes i'm sure your noble gentleman wouldn't suggest for one moment i was a wife is somehow the property or chattel.

for now it seems treason make could be forced to draft a new deal is the current one is not expected to pass on tuesday and with a growing number of m.p.'s expressing their opposition to the prime minister's plan another option is that the u.k. leaves the e.u. in its institutions without any deal in place a million certainty they're also being called for an extension of article fifty which would give the u.k. more time to negotiate a divorce while to resume a has ruled out schooling a second referendum up to could potentially still happen and all this is called to be tied to tension inside and outside of parliament explains meet anna seabury she's a conservative politician and a vocal opponent of bragg's set but this week some of her opponents came to westminster and got more vocal than her.

if you were offended by the wireless i think this is the status and this is this is what has happened to our country something has. happened the debate over how britain's departure from the e.u. should look or whether it should take place until now has turned rather ugly this is the palace of westminster it's where british politicians work and the area around it is a public street as you can see anybody can walk down here there can be demonstrators as well and it's not unusual on any given day to see a politician maybe a member of parliament or even a senior minister simply walk out of here and towards abingdon green here where they might be taking part in a t.v. debate or an interview but that practice is increasingly under threat as the atmosphere here turns increasing intense over the impending gregg's that day and the fact that there is no agreed on election in place this was an

a subaru trying to leave after the interview. that you are going to lose if you win it and the politicians aren't the only ones getting abuse from agitated members of the public sky news anchor kay burley was heckled by pro brags that protestors while live on the air. oh. sir you are the lord of the earth and owen jones a left wing journalist and author was taunted by a group of right wing protesters i believe everything to go with whatever comes right sure you know this situation outside parliament has now become an issue for parliament to deal with i must tell you to the house that it is frankly didn't total members of parliament. lists. go about their business in fear. this situation cannot

stand over sixty politicians have written a letter to london's chief of police warning of the deteriorating security sits. around parliament and demanding better protection some politicians have said that a certain degree of abuse or heckling simply comes of the territory of being a elected politician or just a public figure in a functioning democracy but the police here now have the relevant difficult task of balancing the freedom to protest of some with protecting the safety of others including mine. german politicians are outraged after the us ambassador to the country sends a letter similarly threatening german companies explain or after the break.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race on the spear in dramatic development only mostly. i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical. to sit down. the. police are always telling us oh we can't have everything at the same time we can have peace and democracy blah blah blah in a cost conflict situation i know war situation that's not true is that instead of telling people what you can't have everything and then failing to deliver on everything you are we should be ferric here and say ok you can have peace like some kind of peace you can have some kind of democracy you can have some kind of justice in the short term but unfortunately we cannot feel everything at the same time so

someone has to make a choice. welcome back the united states ambassador to germany his father the warning shot across the bows of german companies reminding them about significant sanctions for any involved in the north stream two part one project with russia let's get the latest now from our correspondent who's in berlin with the story don't take us through the details please. well that's right the u.s. ambassador to germany issued a written warning to countries to companies working on the russian led north stream to gas pipeline he said that these companies could face sanctions if they stick to the project. as you're aware the united states strongly opposes north stream to the

pipeline poses serious geopolitical consequences to our european allies and partners we continue to stress that firms operating in the russian energy export pipeline sector are engaging in activities that carry significant sanctions risk. now the ambassador the embassy spokes person said that this shouldn't be interpreted as a threat but as a declaration of us foreign policy now construction on the pipeline itself has already begun and it's set to double the capacity of an already existing pipeline over in the baltic sea now this north stream to pipeline project is a big business venture it's a joint project between the russian state owned gas company god's problem and five western companies with germany taking a leading role the pipeline itself is supposed to extend from western russia all the way into the heart of the e.u.

with the expected cost being around nine and a half billion euros now the u.s. itself is opposed to this project and back in november the us ambassador to the e.u. declared that washington had the tools to curb the project if berlin remained adamant and now berlin had this to say about this. view of somebody so this seems to give the impression he's a voice of the washington the u.s. ambassador using direct threats towards german companies using new and i'm accepted bill strengthening of tone in the transatlantic relationship which the federal government should protest against the measure of european energy policy must be decided to europe not in the u.s. . so this pipeline controversy could turn out a number of ways depending on whether the e.u. is willing to carve out its own economic path or whether it will continue to allow the u.s. to influence the situation from across the atlantic you can still call to reporting

from ma berlin office many thanks don. ok let's bring in a guest now i can speak to pierre emmanuel to a man who's a geo political expert very good in. the background to this story that is in essence is the u.s. telling me you countries who they should and shouldn't be doing business with in this case it's a project with russia does the u.s. how about right. well. the united states has to go. behind do the spread of it to turn european union. energy companies first of all the united states would like to send their own shaded guts and competition we have a russian gas and they try to blackmail. europeans in order to force them to buy more. us and in a sense it is working because germany accepts it too to be to day in you were

pulled out to to impose us from united states but at the same time the europeans want to continue to make energy business or we have russia because it's cheap and secure and they use the or who is imported russian gas since. during the quarter laws were and already at the time the u.s. was already putting pressure on the europeans not to proceed but the europeans were firm vcs maybe one of the only it to magic where you are pence opel was in a strong believe the us and nothing of a be retried to proceed we've importing a russian gas but of course. some negotiations going on

and he sees why. the american continue to put pressure because they know they are going to change something like exporting or sort of part of gas to europe the second objective of the united states has always been to control eurasia and to prevent europe to be too close to russia and. to to prevent better relations especially in energetic. energy to magic between your european union members and russia. a way to prevent a strong as humans emerging under eurasia between western europe and russia and by trying to always fragmenting eurasia it's

a way for united states to keep leadership in both worlds of your own job particular power. many thanks thanks for joining us perry munger to man geopolitical expert is my guest. your secular state flashed down to the obama administration's middle east policies and call for a new definition fighting extremists might compare highlighted the main directions of current policy for america in the middle east a speech though somewhat reminiscent of the bombers ten years ago. i've come here to cairo to seek a new beginning. in the united states and muslims around the world. the age of self-inflicted american shame is over and so are the policies that produce so much needless suffering. now comes the real new beginning. to iran's leaders and people that my country is prepared to move for president from has reversed our willful blindness to the danger of the regime and withdrew from the

failed nuclear deal with its false promises. the us we imposed sanctions should never have been lifted. because commitment will not weaken. indeed none of us should tolerate these extremists. the president has made the decision to bring our troops home from syria we always do and now is the time airstrikes in the region will continue as targets arise we will keep working with our partners in the coalition to defeat isis we will continue to hunt down terrorists who seek a safe havens in libya and in yemen. speech comes during a controversial phase of the u.s. campaign in syria while withdrawing troops in the region washington recently stepped up the number of air strikes downhole can expect. with every u.s. intervention the question of when why and if a tool to withdraw its forces has sooner or later taken center stage and both debate and controversy syria is the latest example and how much confusion this

discussion has already caused. first problem to solve is how the withdrawal will look it still remains a mystery not only to the world but seemingly also to u.s. officials themselves they're all coming back and they're coming back now they said recently that we have more time is of no if you were to were going to be removing our troops i never said we're doing exactly three years i want to wipe your time here but when you watch if you said four months ago this is your drive through do you think they should have heard that word oh we're withdrawing is it mission accomplished as with george bush's iraq war speech things that look that clear and simple. and the biggest problem of all just how will the u.s. balance the interests of its permanent and temporary allies in the region we're going to be discussing the president's decision to withdraw or to do so from

northeast syria in a way that makes sure that the. defense of israel or other friends in the region is absolutely sure those other allies are the kurds and the u.s. says they won't leave until they're safe and this is a red line for turkey a longstanding nato ally any kurd linked conditions or caviar to simply unacceptable for ankara. if the withdrawal is put off with ridiculous excuses like the turks are massacring kurds which does not reflect the reality we will implement this decision and we haven't even spoken about containing iran. also does the defeat of isis also might. equal u.s. exit president trump certainly seem to think so we have won against isis we've beaten them and we've beaten a badly but others like. john bolton still talk of the continuing battle against

islamic state u.s. forces continue as trucks in syria which show no sign of abating which brings me to this next point. despite the concerns of top officials the pentagon is already taking a more relaxed that is shoot to that current strike reports the continued degree of vises leads to decreased connecticut t.t.'s against a terrorist organization our intent is to reduce the number of reports while maintaining transparency reports will decrease from weekly to twice a month and releases will no longer indicates a specific time location or even target for such strikes it's an indication that the united states is not really withdrawing from from syria and then the meaningful way i think it means that they are plan to continue with their effort to undermine and attack the syrian government in one form or another they have not yet given up

their idea of basically promoting division within syria the effort to break off northeast syria and effectively create a separate entity in that the kurdish region that effort is failing for various reasons but there and elsewhere there's still a long term goal to prevent syria from being a strong stable united force that is independent of both washington and riyadh and if the hope for the u.s. plan in syria was a new year new strategy it hasn't quite materialized with the u.s. administration seemingly as confused as the rest of us. right today to help us even half an hour back with the latest.

as a spy you have to really split your own personality into two you that is the committed to hardest that was still alive there within me and then there is the person who wanted to counter everything they want to do and then try and dismantle everything they were doing so you have to really become a productive in order to. you have to follow your own family in order to for the.

long and welcome to the first edition of worlds apart in two thousand and nineteen happy holidays and thank you for keeping us by your side this year and i'll add a chance that that councils of war never fired meaning that decision makers often get caught up in deliberations rather than actually making and implementing decisions that may not be so bad in the case of war a but. what about peace councils of peace or the u.n. peacekeeping operations deliver what they set out to do well to discuss that i'm now joined by several of us there professor of political science at barnard college

columbia university and the scholar of peacekeeping professor out of there is great pleasure talking to you thank you very much for your time thank you so much for having me professor let me start with a personal question i know you spent years studying african conflicts which happen to be some of the deadliest conflicts on this planet and you started them primarily through field work rather than social media we seem to be the custom these days what made you so or attracted to these inherently dangerous subject well it's an inherently dangerous subject but it's also fascinating and the in that research can have if we can get things right if we can understand how to build peace what works in building peace that can impact the lives of millions of people so to me it's really worth it if i remember it may sound like a sexist question but as a woman who worked in conflict zones i think i can ask you about violence and sad.