i. i. i. i. i. crunch time a deadline to let us aid shipments into venezuela imposed by the opposition leader expires on saturday president nicolas maduro has brought the deliveries fearing they could contain weapons also to come to gases that mass demonstrations in albania where thousands have rallied against government corruption however some western governments are condemning opposition led protests as undemocratic and we speak to a german pensioner being evicted from the flat he's lived in for a month called with a century to make room for refugee. i cannot believe that i

seventy four year old pensioner must move out and suffer all these troubles even the one paying my rent while asylum seekers are getting it. follow the welcome is four pm here in moscow you watching the international political standoff in venezuela is escalating troops are fighting a gas near the colombian border against opposition protesters and those trying to cross into the neighboring country to work according to some reports president nicolas maduro has closed the borders is a deadline to let us age into the country imposed by the self-proclaimed leader expires on saturday deliveries have been amassing at the border but the trucks have brought in phase they could contain weapons venezuelan foreign minister says that external force. it is

a trying to push this country towards violence. in brief the country is at peace and is calm but there are those directly from the united states who want to force a situation such as the one of the venezuelan border with colombia and generate violence in venezuela violating venezuelan sovereignty. the evidence where the colombia border has really become a flashpoint in the ongoing power struggle in venezuela what we have here is a situation whereby hundreds of tons of u.s. aid has piled up at the border leading to increasing pressure and condemnation not just from the u.s. but dozens of nations who have sided with the self-proclaimed leader one kwaito so it's easy to paint a picture of president nicolas maduro as an evil desk part you know denying his country this vital aid given we're led to believe that his nation are on the brink of starvation however on the flip side material is insisting that there is no crisis this is all a u.s. orchestrated show today is the deadline set by one grade zero to let that aid into

the country although it's not entirely clear what will come next it's looking very likely that it will not be letting that aid into the country wedo has vowed to rally his supporters on mass to go and physically bring that aid into the country but on the other hand there's also the looming possibility that these hostilities could lead to armed conflict donald trump has previously said that all options are on the table including a military one and one kwaito has shared those sentiments that i mean you know we would do everything possible once again this is obviously a very very controversial subject making use of our sovereignty and within our jurisdiction we would do what's necessary nikki recently the european union offered to send to venezuela which the elected president nicolas maduro said was most welcome but why of the deliveries from the united states not so welcome or concerns are that these trucks carrying u.s. aid could contain. hidden weapons which does sound overly paranoid but it wouldn't

be the first time such a thing had happened the u.s. insists that is mission is peaceful calling such claims preposterous now while it seems it's the world versus majeure oh here there are those who are calling for more balance the south african ambassador to the u.n. for instance is that no deliveries should be made into the country without their president's permission and then there's russia he has concerns of a possible u.s. all teary emotive there's. the delivery of the weapons to venezuela is planned for the beginning of march of this year in several stages by the neighboring country using the cargo planes over international companies so it's all eyes on venezuela now to see what will come next whether we will see one rally his supporters to defy the president and bring this aid to the country really does rely heavily on whether they can sway the military which are currently loyal to president nicolas maduro either way what we have here is a highly combustible situation with venezuela teetering on the brink of civil war

here in the bolivian president evo morales has echoed doris concerns to branding the u.s. aid a trojan horse while in cuba more than three million people have reportedly signed hands off and while titian urging washington not to intervene historian kevin young believes that washington is usually a delivery to provoke me into action which could be viewed as a pretext for military intervention. what's very clear is that what washington is trying to do and what the opposition led by the way though in venezuela is trying to do is to provoke the venezuelan government into violence into repression into extreme action trying to provoke it to do something which could be used as a justification for. a u.s. military action the sanctions against the economy. illegal under

international law of course have cost venezuela six billion dollars so when you compare that him out to the amount of so-called humanitarian aid that's being pledged from the u.s. and from richard branson in this crass political spectacle it's very apparent that not only is that money a drop of a drop in the bucket comparatively speaking but the motives behind it are nothing but cynical it's you know if the united states or or richard branson or the venezuelan opposition had any interest in helping the people of venezuela in helping the cause of economic recovery in venezuela they would pressure for an end an immediate end to u.s. sanctions which are causing so much damage meanwhile the two concepts were held on different sides of the venezuela colombia border one against any foreign intervention in venezuela the other supporting why days humanitarian relief plan support is that the latter claim it was in the spirit of the legendary nine hundred

eighty five live a concert which writes money for the victims of the famine in ethiopia. is that for us. don't be forward by this with the festive atmosphere all around me where we see a music going on and this is actually one of the most geopolitically hot spots in the world right now behind me on my right you can see that as a bridge crossing between colombia and venezuela i'm on the colombian side. i'd where this concert is happening it was organized by richard branson the british billionaire let's take a look at what he had to say. then. an interview with one who was asking for the world to help and i decided to pick up the phone and speak with him. and see what we could do to help the wonderful free calling on the board to illustrate . through music the importance of letting letting relief into the

country for the better as well and government is holding its own concert on the other side of the border and that is why the president nicolas maduro has said that he will actually next year's accepted humanitarian aid through the european union through the united nations now that humanitarian aid that the u.s. has in a warehouse just off to my right is said to be worth twenty mil a drop in the bucket when you look at the beef thirty eight billion dollars but u.s. sanctions have cost venezuela the red cross and many other major international humanitarian organizations have refused to participate in this saying it is in the words of the red cross not janet tarion aid. so. you know they've also joined the mercy corps and said this actually violates the principles of humanitarian aid in terms of partially impartiality. meanwhile the venezuelans boarded with brazil two people have reportedly been killed and more than

a dozen injured there in clashes between the venezuela military and protesters the incident comes amid confusion over the status of the border president had closed the front as part of the standoff over a but his rival why they ordered it to be reopened well with the finish line in opposition blaming the government for us of the food shortage one investigative journalist in caracas says not everything is as it seems springman full went to a supermarket and this is what he found. i feel lost in the supermarket in this cheese as there's a lot of cheeses and meats here fish heads fish heads rolie polie fish heads ok we got congealed me we got like so much me over twenty dollars and that's the problem here the problem is a scarcity the problem is inflation and speculation brought on by the capitalist class is the fruit section and i learned this and can't. find it

on my shampoo and conditioner took me like a while to do that because there are so many varieties. anyway duro. my video was a response to us media which is embedded with that that it's way that opposition and with the usa i d right now on the colombian border and and doing this humanitarian intervention propaganda show where they're actually claiming that there is no there are no basic goods in venezuela at all and i was showing that in a fairly upscale neighborhood in caracas the supermarket looks just like the supermarkets in my hometown of washington d.c. i can also tell you that i was out today in some of the poorer areas of caracas and i actually encountered the vice president of venezuela del cielo rodriguez and the mayor of caracas erica faria at open air food markets around the city where food is being distributed basically for free to the poor and working class communities the problem here is with speculation there are high prices on foods and random

situation that has to do with actually the kind of capitalist class here that supports the opposition and u.s. sanctions are actually allowing them to hoard goods and to make maximum profit and those so that's the irony here is that many of the supporters of the opposition and the big business forces behind the opposition are actually cashing in on the economic crisis. not to gas has been fired and bob want to put up in the capital of the small balkan country of albania which is in the grip of intense and protests people want to get rid of the current cabinet alleging corruption and links to organized crime opposition m.p.'s have resigned on mass demanding new elections because you don of. the it. was.

the it was albania is on fire the small book a nation has been engulfed in a massive anti government protests which literally left a stain on the face of the country's prime minister. start us out of. the country's opposition decided to destroy their parliamentary mandates you know kick the system out of order so what is going on well the allegation the authorities face is no joke a lot of people are certain the government is working hand in hand with the drug lords parliament that is not the product of the vote of the people but is a product that has been exposed by a judicial wire tapes published by the international media. organized crime cooperating openly with the current government alleged leaked phone calls of one of

the country's most notorious cartels revealed dozens of albanian m.p.'s were happy to use the gang's influence and well persuasion skills to buy votes in the general election which the ruling party won by a landslide wiretaps also led to the official investigation into albania is former interior minister he stands accused of passive corruption drug trafficking and of being an active gang member and here comes the twist the prosecutors can't really do anything but prowl around him since albania's prime minister has refused to revoke his diplomatic immunity shielding him from the law there fishel position was to deny everything we do every allegation of corruption you know they were to do. demented evidence in there is allegations and but in this instance there are significant documented in evidence links between the current government organized

crime money laundering and the trafficking of drugs and i think it needs to be ascertained as to whether the two thousand and seventeen elections were free and fair or whether there was buying and vote rigging going on and i think that is why people are that sort of the cherry on the cake you know why people feel they need to be said action taken and it could be a case of just a few bad apples but the opposition says it is not the sheer scale really of the drug operations in colombia of europe is mind blowing this tiny nation has become one of the biggest transit hubs for heroin cannabis and cocaine smuggling racketeering a server police force in the pocket of crime lords politicians enabling the drug trade instead of fighting it this is what albanian protesters say drives them to the street yet so far they've mostly been told to shut up and know their place for

the democratic party the socialist movement for integration and other opposition parties to abandon their mandates in parliament undermine the basic principles of democracy yeah a political protest is apparently a violation of democracy in the us rulebook the same us by the way that suffers from a severe drug problem of its own europe that albania's mafia have turned into a dirty money cash cow doesn't seem to mind of backing the elites to the lawmakers go against the democratic two as a full band citizens and undermine the progress the country has made on the european union path yes the e.u. seems eager to overlook the opposition's cry for help and set the nato nation and europe to the drug den on the course of integrating into the union. what they're doing is provided for in the electoral college i am a constitution of this country therefore what they are doing is completely one

hundred percent democratic yes it's causing a political crisis but this political crisis is only happening because there are serious allegations of election rigging. i think that the e.u. and the us i don't know whether it's ignorance or whether they have some other agenda but there is i mean people are shocked at the way that they're behaving and they've systematically failed to address any of the protests in albania over the last year the protesters are angry about this civil society is angry about this me as a journalist i'm angry about this because the fact. opposition m.p.'s resigning is democratic it's the pinnacle of democracy now still to come for this hour a german pensioner is addicted to make way for refugees and also tensions between taiwan and china grow we'll have those stories we just after the break.

after the previous stage of my career was over everyone wondered what i was going to do next the ball different clubs on one hand it is logical to signal from fields where everything is familiar on the other i wanted a new challenge and a fresh perspective i'm used to surprising people and i saw one on t.v. . i'm going to talk about football not the or else you can think i was going to the.

by the way ways of that slide here. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. welcome back now german pensioner has been told to move back to the high seas lived in full most a quarter of a century to make room for microbes. with. i cannot believe that i seventy four year old pensioner must move out and suffer all these troubles even though i'm paying my rent while asylum seekers are getting it for free it's wrong class rother was given a nine month fiction notice the authorities there have promised to find him a small a flat his previous one hundred fifty square metre apartment in a small town is to guard it will go to six migrants the town with

a population of four thousand is home to fifty five migrants wife says though he used to work with refugees helping them to integrate. i was involved in refugee work myself three years i attended meetings with asylum seekers at the caffeine international to help them integrate into our society i was actively involved and nobody told me back then that they needed my apartment. now the brakes a deadline is just over a month away with the u.k. preparing for life outside the takes an alternative look at some of the tactics employed by british politicians during the process is the latest episode of in case you missed it. case you missed it british diplomacy is going through a golden age the world can only look on and tremble with. britain is innovating changing the very definition of relations with other countries it's cold and see diplomacy in recent months and weeks it's been like

watching an aston martin practice in slow motion and then. pressure again. and then river and crash again and then again so fast sign of the new i won't claude approach to international relations was when boris johnson was put in charge of the foreign office for two years and amazingly he resigned but soon he was sacked then he was replaced as foreign secretary by a man named jeremy hunt did you know that johnson is a slang term for a man's. hunt rhymes with coincidence i think this centuries old fancy rhetoric is still in place although the empire isn't as they say in london gives no mouth and i would rather prime minister to resign may's gregg's that tactic of going over to brussels making the same desperate demands i need to get the same angry rejection from the e.u. doesn't quite work but it brings the desperation was also spotted in japan last

week britain's trade and foreign secretaries told trapattoni tokyo to hurry up and make a person breaks it trade deals he japan reportedly last counseled the told accusing bersin of being high handed and. put the matter to browse to no one is defense secretary gavin williams said an experiment have gotten very diplomacy without the guns a colonial mindset without the whole of the gab picked a fight with russia from day one telling it to go away part of that and see diplomacy i was talking about and now you get. with his new aircraft carrier he threatened china with lethal force but forgetting that the nineteenth century was in the nineteenth century so what did china do in response cancel gregg's it crazy and told britain to get everything every client. that's a real diplomatic power lies in the twenty first century it is something to

threaten the world's largest nuclear power world's largest population with just one poorly protected warship i'm sure everything will be fine after brags that these british politicians seem to know what they're doing. now taiwan's president and she is seeking reelection this week it does follow a sudden spike in hope popularity after she rejected a peace deal with china in contrast the taiwanese opposition party leader has promised to sign a treaty with beijing if his party is able to regain the presidency in twenty twenty success has more. for china this island is part of its own territory but for taiwan china is a threat if you believe the western media narrative that this free democratic land needs to defend itself from the imperialist the bishan of changing things governments china's threats to forcefully retake the island not just engaging in

belligerent rhetoric it's trying to cut taiwan off further from the business community making the redraw their maps that taiwan is part of china it has long refused to rule out the use of force to achieve that goal taiwan has looked to the west ever since it split from mainland china in the wake of the civil war in one nine hundred forty nine but the vast majority of the year when members have never recognized that as an independent country and beijing in has always stuck to its one china policy. taking responsibility for the nation and future generations both sides should pool our wisdom resolve the political rivalry and bring about sustainable peace across the taiwan straits for the long term vision for reunification of the motherland. now taiwan's opposition kuomintang party is the chairman to finally results warning assuming talks between the two sides a successful future cumin tang government would be within its rights to sign

a cross street peace treaty to formally end the chinese civil war but taiwan's current leader has a more aggressive stance after announcing her reelection bid president when made it clear that she still views china as a menace. to china's ambitions and aggression not just targeting taiwan but also other countries in the region or even worldwide chinese state media says she's playing a dangerous game the editor in chief of the global times a chinese state run news outlet called the taiwanese leaders reelection bid a quote crazy progress of escalating tensions and a public support for the local government seems to be. slipping the ruling party suffered a significant loss last november in the mid-term elections which forced chang ing when to step down as the party chair so maybe washington support is not going to be enough meanwhile in men when china people are optimistic with the next elections

just around the corner this is a hole that these elections might bring a possibility of lasting peace their strength and lee overture by that party is there it's not surprising at all that's always been the way or particularly in more recent decades presidents franklin's popularity is slipping behead been really you see that popularity as an opportunity to course for stronger relations with china because indeed it's about taiwan i think what they should recognise is that it's. time with its people have very clear view our ability to view back to its state if your economy about the fact that their economy gets tight start so any sort of fear mongering around what it's trying to choose is not going to have much effect at all on how timely its people themselves feel about the situation. and that brings you up to date for this sad don't forget that we've got plenty of

stories for you to a website and. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy for them to let it be an arms race off and spearing dramatic developments only mostly i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk. at the list and. i'm just not as that. going.

to work so their eligibility it will. be in the him a new question but. look. on the hood of the little guy we. don't want the money i don't want to worry about. something that really. mr need just. a phone call on the. want of a shuffle steming we have been down. there and we'll get a little warmth and you know what. shall i. go for this a little of the. bible god. looking closer to the earth that's mid-town. yanks. this is what happens to pensions in britain delegates. watch kaiser report.

the country has gone into a nihilistic fever that's why i think we've got to hit the road and get out the traveling across america to find what makes america take the charlatans and the genius of this place the special american hero this is it we've come to a point around which hollywood has gotten something we always are on the margins something. called culture is really important. we're starting last with. we're going to headed east into the swamp we're going into the belly of the beast i think i want to leave now doesn't do any more gonzo than that we may be completely different but the end of this journey. few.

such. as. the people. on the. road. flittering the. player live. it's the end of the weekend this is boom box broadcasting around the world and covering the world the business of finance and the impact on all of us on bart chilton washington d.c. and we could not be more pleased that you've chosen to join us we've got a great show for you coming up this time a lot of things going on in venice. waylays the answer has been by high profile

supporters on both sides we'll get to that in just a few seconds with our teeth there among the ok and then cohen is standing by plus the trump ministrations a virus protection agency has walked away from the negotiating table with the state of california over fuel efficiency standards a fierce fight appears to be in the future lauren fix the car coach will join us to explain and later you know it's one of our favorite subjects we talk christos with a c.e.o. was an investor in various crypto and blocked chain assets colleen sullivan the c.e.o. of c.m.d. c.m.t. digital holding will be with us from chicago land lots to get to today so we pop started and jump right in let's go. and we start with the ongoing controversy in south america in venezuela where the dual.