join me every thursday on the alex simon short and i'll be speaking to guest on the world of politics or business i'm sure i'll see you there. headline story germany from reach a compromise on a joint russian german pipeline project. washington. the u.s. ramping up the pressure on it in recent weeks. the

west calling espionage allegations against them senseless with the united states first in the firing line for lobbying governments. also a. march in great numbers from washington. to the white house. asking prospects. stepping up the pressure of washington the possibility of talks with. socialist governments. governments. around the world this hour welcome to. your company. top story germany and france have reached a compromise on the joint russian german gas pipeline project nord stream to commenting on the deal german chancellor angela merkel franco german cooperation.

it was previously suggested parse was seeking to derail it. takes us through how an amended e.u. order on the enterprise back on. the directive is now a compromise between wrong between germany which means the project to will still going ahead now it looked like it was set to be derailed. it was. she can just support an e.u. directive that could have complete east scuppered this entire pipeline this is a pipeline that would bring gas directly from russia roy the way through germany it even had gone to the point that suggested that there was a diplomatic tensions between the two countries over this project what had caused president might go on to pull out of the munich security conference where he was due to be holding a joint press conference with anglo merkel frog's had raised concerns about the project saying that it would mean that europe would be far too dependent on russia

when it comes to energy and it could also have a conflict of interest for other countries particularly eastern europe to countries such as poland and slovakia but anglo merkel said this in response it wouldn't. would become dependent on russia because of this second gas pipeline and i'd say no not if we diversify the same time germany will expand its guestroom nasca or liquefied gas this means that under no circumstances do we want to become dependent solely on russia but russia was already a source of gas in the cold war and will remain one with i'll toss for an end to one sided dependency. this isn't the first time that this multi-billion euro project has come under attack particularly from the united states with the united states saying at one point that german companies who continued with the construction of this pipeline could actually face sanctions as a result of doing that and last year when president trump was at

a nato conference he made this declaration we're protecting germany we're protecting french we're perfect both of these countries and numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with right here where this thing is a valid is into the coffers of russia germany is totally controlled by russia because they were getting from sixty to seventy percent of their energy from russia . and a new part of the united states concern there about the monetary influence of germany paying russia for this energy when in fact the usa would like to be selling its own gas to europe and being one of the major supplies of energy to europe in the future not so with this project going ahead not only that but u.s. ambassadors to germany to denmark and to the e.u. are said to have been pushing pressure on nations to actually oppose this project but so far that hasn't worked as we know there's been

a compromise and the stream to project will be going ahead it seems like the pressure from the u.s. has resulted in one thing only and that go. well r t sophie and co program have been discussing washington's pressure on germany over the north stream to project you can watch the interview in full on this channel across friday. morning or on r.t.e. dot com. mr masse recently sat that questions of european energy policy must be decided and europe not in the united states i mean i can agree with him war but can really in really stop washington imposing all handless on whoever they choose. we have never be. in the last series of cases we view americans where we complain the. two of you all of american lives. for us it's not acceptable. and the thing will come

we really come to a point where we have to discuss for is frankly with the american. an update on an ongoing saga not a chinese telecoms giant huawei house hit by its critics in the west a flock late dismissing claims not it's a poll being used for beijing spying purposes. recently who always been a. the constant attack by some countries and politicians we shocked will sometimes feel amused by those ungrounded and senseless allegations chinese telecom from slammed the united states after receiving another blow in the five g. race they feel shocked and amused of how the united states is lobbying here governments against the firms the united states envoy to the european union has threatened its western allies that if the huge chinese equipment in their infrastructure projects they will face consequences and they will be

a disadvantage side when dealing with the united states the chinese firm has been receiving a lot of pressure from western regulators and law makers of it and its involvement in the next generation network with officials blindly accusing the company of spying someone from the politburo in beijing picks up the phone and says i want to listen in on the following conversation i want to run a certain car off the road that's on the five g. network and kill the person who's in it there's nothing that the company legally can do today in china to prevent the chinese government from making that request successfully just last month the united states government filed criminal charges against kwok we accusing them of stealing trade secrets from timor bile scored in the u.s. on sanctions on iran but again no proof when they were actually asked directly of where is the proof the u.s. response was simply it's actually run party one state and it seems that the u.s. qatar not choosing

a better time to actually do this european countries are actually looking and weighing in of new introductions of sanctions against companies and countries when it's coming to cyber espionage and gathering intellectual property theft but as all this is how printing there's a government officials in germany which are saying that girls government right now is ruling out the ban of germany using chinese. equipment supply for a building that's five g. network as germany is currently walking into the net and into building its five g. network europe is actually second largest market clock we has invested billions and billions and into digital sector they've been working closely with major telecom companies are on the continent such as the way to telecom orange and bt and many others and as the u.s. is now trying to impose our blanket ban on chinese firms when it comes to the five

g. market europe is actually on the horns of a dilemma just an update on there is germany's federation of industry head is running against washington saying he fears the u.s. could resort to economic sanctions in a bid to persuade western governments to way he added thought america wants sits allies to fall in line with its foreign policy. the united states is continuing to dial up the pressure and venice will as crisis stricken government calling on the international community to deal with the leader of the opposition instead are not the embattled president however nicolas maduro isn't stepping back in resisting america's calls to resign accusing washington of direct interference. opposes trained as agents of foreign governments of the united states introduce sources of. internal chaos to dismember the state. in venezuela they have driven us to the point that libya was

taken by syria was taken to the point of an opposition that they have attempted but we have not allowed to use them and venezuela. well america's national security advisor john bolton is urging russia to join the chorus of calls to recognize the opposition leader why do as interim president earlier the european union followed the move along with other u.s. allies we discussed america's barking the opposition figure with a host of artie's worlds apart. presumably the united states always knows what's best for people in other countries and you know what's astounding in this whole debacle for me is that is not only that every successive american administration falls for the same regime change operation irrespective of its ideological persuasions but also that it always does it in exactly the same way by pushing

a very stark and very misguided choice on the people it supposedly wants to benefit because. it is a very legitimate conversation of whether president there has been good or bad in handling or mishandling the economy in his country there are many critics of his economic policies within the venezuela and outside the country but very. the vocal and very unapologetic backing of by the americans really frames the conversation from the substance of his economic policies into who has the right of appointing a leader in venezuela and venezuela has a very very proud population they're very proud of their independence and this backing of wild or i think does a major disservice to go i don't himself because he's now a c. is seen not as a legitimate grassroots figure out position figure but as a figurehead for them eric and ministration they're always third and fourth and

fifth options and you know just today for my program i interviewed rafael ramirez who is who used to be. chavez right hand man and he is also sometimes referred to as the new zealous former oils are because he ran the oil industry for many many years and he's extremely extremely critical of maduro he believes that they were betrayed the legacy of who could chavez and and did pretty much all the chairman's of his government but he is just as harshly critical of who i adore because he sees him as the representative of the american interest well let's see exactly what he had to say against. three gains of this. completely illegal we we have to go to the but sure would mother with any chance to recorded that going to be both and neither though because.

bill is the. old who would say born from the u.s. that man has very strong connections within the venezuelan military as well as among international partners such as russia and china and he's now trying to portray himself as. third option that can silence this candidate he hopes to run for president if the elections are indeed called and you can watch this interview in full on while the party this coming sunday there are many many interesting moments and it's a very interesting look at the country outside these either or are framing that the united states is trying to push on the venezuelan. ok staying with scythe america brazil's former president lula da silva who is currently serving a twelve year jail sentence has been given an extra thirteen years on corruption

charges the ruling is supporters they gathered outside the workers' party headquarters in sao paulo on thursday. huge support across the country and even tried to run for president from prison but was prevented from doing so by the electoral court. led brazil for eight years until the end of two thousand and ten he was jail last april after being found guilty of using public funds to buy luxury properties the seventy three year old has denied all charges against him calling them politically motivated well let's go live now polo speak to brando editor of brazilian news website opera monday good to have you on the program what is behind this extremely harsh sentence is it politically motivated as the silver claims. yes it's police go persecution do question is to put

the president out of the game because he is the main bridges. he's the man who would be a go to lead people against the table so neither against doing right this moment which has lacson is the man who to lead again the leader a reformed disgorgement ones who implemented now account for as we mentioned where you are saw a poll of crowds i believe have being growing there are showing their support for the un polls have consistently find tend to be one of the country's most popular politicians why why are people standing behind him so forcefully. because of his biography and lack of the office go home and he's the most popular president in history during his time in power millions have been drawn from poll the economy was growing up with social inclusion and income

distribution and almost ploy and. he was respected in the go to found in. him when he and the leading latin america integration medians of resilience citizens by the way it was asians about erosion involving lula and all the workers particularly those they're sick you should. be elites go lie against the form of president the biggest story happening in south america you might have just heard us talking about on the program is venezuela and the current brazilian leader both sonar oh how has been piling the pressure on president during. was in power are still in power why would we be seeing a very different policy from brazil. well for of course it was very close to

chavez and. has lived. last in america integration side by side with president chavez day the same integration program and lula eased by his history and by his position. a man who found south of the nation a man who will always fight against terror against neil collage i'm sure if you knew lho was president he was against don't know trying to vacation integration against that as well and he was against the who did that which is happening in france well no doubt about that brazil has plenty of problems to contend with right now there was recently a mining disaster that killed some three hundred people highlighted low industrial standards also corruptions. to the pressure on the current government.

yes well let's see. who was elected to go for it months ago he's just it just it is just beginning. the now gratian also in january. try to check in the bad way that count through your very deed leader reforms again waged against so-so rye against social investment i think that does is going to. treat a group is in the bad way and they think that is going to have a reaction by the people who are against these it can only call and will lead to more very interesting thanks very much for coming in sharing your views with us brenda altman editor of brazilian news website opera monday live on the program from sao paulo. during his highly anticipated

state of the union address dollar trumpet line some of the threats that he believes america is facing among them illegal immigration terrorism and socialism and with income inequality continuing to grow in the us leftwing ideas do seem to be on the riba and kill a bloodbath has been taking a closer look at those who watch donald trump state of the union address but have a hard time missing one particular moment the topic of socialism america will never be a socialist country. illegally not mild words at all and it's not the first time the trial has raised the specter of socialism all nations of the world should resist socialism and the misery that it brings us to everyone. but the socialists they say that he was just afraid

of their rising popularity i thought it was fabulous because it shows that we've gotten under his skin and he has no vision for this country everything is about what he doesn't want everything is about the boogie man and they've got a point after all bernie sanders is one of the most popular politicians in the country but. it's not only republicans that are fearing the rise of socialism you've also got the establishment in the blue corner concerned as now at this point a majority of democrats say that socialism is the way forward for america group because a lot of the things this didn't show is that democratic socialism is the said in the party be ready now. that disunity perhaps. i would say characterization of the party presented by the republicans trump media going as far as printing guidelines on how to inoculate your children against the

rising ideological danger. so we decided to go out to the district here in new york that elected alexandria a kazuo cortez the rising star of democratic socialism and we decided to see how people here feel about the ideology that went pretty far in defining the twentieth century but why do you think people here voted for her. to vote of her because she was pretty who she voted verbiage as jurors meant to do or think they also voted for because of the change from the guy that was in it before who's very much liked and did it a lot of people are afraid to show up so i mean anything to veer away from what

trump is doing i think the fool people feel more confident about what's going on you know trump recently said the usa will never be a socialist country do you agree with him. i guess so yeah i think he's right. i don't see that happening in states being great now we know anything that comes out of his mouth is the complete opposite he's the bizarre world so if he says america will never be so it was going through i feel very good nor going to miracle will become a socialist country are you afraid of socialism. will. to some extent year i don't think deployed be appropriate for this country i don't know too much bought it so i don't know if i could be afraid of it no no we also got a chance to speak with journalist dan was there dan can you tell me is socialism no longer a dirty word in american politics well it's a dirty word still in certain quarters but it's more acceptable now in other quarters and it was a few years ago now as to bernie sanders and. alexandria ocasio cortez now do you think it is possible that bernie sanders might run against trump there saying he's

the most likely to be trump is it possible that we could get a trump versus sanders ticket in the upcoming election i think it's very possible but i don't want part of the predictions but it's very possible yes and is that something the democratic party leadership is afraid of the thing they're out there terrified of that i think that if that happens every democratic politician in the country would running for cover. as a member sanders is not a democrat just as trump is not really a republican so we'll have to have a non-democratic versus non republican and everyone in between just just hiding their head in the sand and try to forget gore was going on for a long time it seemed like the s word was almost profanity and we see the establishment trying to stoke up the same old fears once again however it seems like in twenty nineteen socialism is back on the table for debate caleb mop and r.t. new york. yes turn attention to sport where the international par limpid committee

has announced it will reinstate russia's membership more than two years after the country was bombed over widespread doping it say's though that the decision. with certain conditions deadly pc's only conditionally lifting the r.p.c. substantially by no later than fifteen march the i.p.c.c. will publish both criteria identifying the core how a level requirements p.c. must continue to meet two month in its conditional ring statement of membership of the a.p.c. well russia's parlin payne's missed start on the real games back in twenty sixteen due to a blanket ban they did however return for the winter olympics in south korea two years after the but how to compete on a neutral like today's announcement no means that the upcoming tokyo and beijing games will see the russian national flag return if those requirements are met well going through some of those requirements think the russian parliament committee

allowing all the relevant anti doping bodies to carry out the right to vote is in progress reports must be submitted every six months for at least the next three years going back though this scandal all began with the world anti-doping agency publishing mr. wilson twenty sixteen into allegations of state sponsored doping in russian the paralympic committee was among the federation it's causing a lot of fury back then if the allegations of a symptom of a doping system where on prison some of the athletes responded upon hearing of their exclusion from the real summer games. divert from the word due. to the. warming of the. world to. believe in all. my use these.

pipes to post but it is all. systems now but i'll let you know when there's a. guidebook. yes some tough testimony there ellis cashmore is a sports pundit and sociology professor in the u.k. he believes the ban was unfair in the first instance my own view is that it was overly punitive and a great many a great great man or an unknown number of paralympic athletes were excluded from the games without due process in other words we didn't know they may not have registered a negative or positive test we just don't know it because the ban was issued for russia as a country now there is one cabby out here that i want to mention. sixty nine out of seventy conditions were said to have been met but russia has not relented.

the repudiation of the state sponsored doping allegation the mclaren report as many of our viewers will remember but said it is state sponsored doping going on in russia russia responded by saying we know nothing of this we can't speak for every individual athlete but what we can say is that we have no knowledge of this systematic gopi program the current talks about and he hasn't relented on that so he's maintaining its innocence. the us democratic party has been plunged into korea's after its top three officials in the state of virginia who are accused of racism and sexual misconduct and outing to the controversy the party's leadership is nigh facing claims of hypocrisy it wasn't so long ago that virginia was a republican party stronghold but these days the democrats are running the show.

that's going be a good day for democrats but now all three of the men on stage are sinking in scandals in the middle as democratic governor ralph northam out of the blue a picture from his. nineteen eighty-four med school yearbook surfaced featuring people in black face and k.k.k. robes first he apologized and confirmed that that was him in the photo and then he said well now he wasn't it is definitely not me i did participate in a dance. in san antonio in which i darken my face as part of a michael jackson fellow democrats were baying for nor thems resignation and to right the wrong here's the alternative for the job just in fairfax who could become virginia's second black governor in its history except now he's being accused of sexual assault what began as consensual kissing quickly turned into

a sexual assault mr fairfax put his hand behind my neck and forcefully pushed my head towards his crotch fairfax as an as willing to apologize as northern is though he says the accusation is a cry for attention is all political it's. the if you wish it was but plead guilty until proven innocent right well not always how we deal with survivors who come forward right now is unacceptable we should listen to women. and i think we should be focusing on what's right now happening with the governor and this is an epidemic type of behavior is unacceptable. there's a there's do you believe that. fairfax is accuser first went to the washington post and twenty seventeen but the paper didn't run with it due to lack of evidence which didn't stop the post from going headline happy a year later when brett kavanaugh his accuser came forward all the parker see aside

though if fairfax resigns there's always democratic attorney general mark herring to take his place surely he's never done anything offensive in one thousand eight hundred one i was a nineteen year old time to graduated from college some friends. just to tend to point to dressed like grabbers we dressed up and put in weeks on brown makeup but of course the democratic leadership takes a firm stance against such immoral behavior we must hold everyone from the highest offices to our own families kunal for racist words and deeds high standards but if those three are ruled out the next guy in line for the top job in virginia is a republican the democrats like to be the party with a moral high ground when people take notice but when it's their people on the chopping block well that appears to be a different story the moral clear.