germany celebrates 30 years since the fall of the berlin wall we look at just how united the country really is. the international criminal court at the hague convicts a congolese rebel commander of atrocities but it reconnects concerned the i.c.c. only convicts porker most africans. and brazil's former president lula da silva is released from prison as he appeals his case he was greeted by ciarán supporters who say the charges against him are politically motivated.

they're watching our to international bring you a live news update from our studio here in moscow welcome to the program. 30 years ago the berlin wall was torn down reuniting east and west berlin and heralding the beginning of the end of the cold war security is high a head of major celebrations across the country and berlin thousands are expected to take part in numerous events including exhibitions on the walls history let's take a quick look at its rise and fall. the berlin wall a symbol of the cold war and division a line that separated the city families friends and changed berlin for the remainder of the 20th century 40 kilometers long at slice of the city and was erected on the night of august 13th 1981 1st it was just a barbed wire and concrete fence with 12 checkpoints but it swiftly grew into the fortified version most know it today the checkpoints were reduced to 3 and crossing became all but impossible. imagine this. concrete wall 3.6 meters high and 1.2

meters wide smooth still nerve running along the top to prevent anyone climbing over watchtowers every 200 meters 962 a 2nd wall was built around 100 meters and east berlin territory this buffer zone became known as the death strip the soft sand to show footprints floodlights tripwires and machine guns the guards had permission to shoot on sight and had vicious dogs the more elaborate the wall became the more creative for the ways to cross that 5000 people managed to get through climbing over climbing under through the sewers and even and hot air balloons more than 100 died trying the fearsome bear that emerged seemingly overnight and just as rapidly on november 9th 1909 when thousands stormed the checkpoint unborn homer street at 10 45 pm the head of the checkpoint overwhelmed by the crowd gave way and open the gate the others soon followed. as germany celebrates reunification to some it seems the country is still divided with an invisible line separating east from west artist event explains

walking through the center of berlin one can see how much effort the german government has put for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall it almost seems that the country was never to fight it it is difficult to identify characteristics of socialist architecture between the multi ethnic restaurants and bars but leaving the center you see in the reality west and east still remain intact 3 decades after the fall of the wall even chancellor angela merkel admits it it's fun to show that in europe don't fool me he's german citizens in today's accommodation if you like 2nd class citizens outspent according to those less than 40 percent of germans think that reunification the most successful books and among those $119.00 anyone disagrees around 20 percent in student the lesson hot and not satisfied with democracy in germany former interior minister told us that his good one said that for east germans everything has changed for west germans only their

postal code and 30 years on his comments seem to be quite superficial a recent study shows the significant gap between the west and the east in terms of wages and unemployment and as a result of these inequalities fresh ration ends in a phobia seem to be taking over the people even after 30 years of their reunification germany still struggles to accept that the country house multiple identities the berlin wall was put up to stop migration from east to west nile the idea seems to be life again since 2015 during the refugee crisis the country saw more than 1000000 asylum seekers in germany now they're blaming them for decreasing the wages and taking advantage of their welfare system it's not a surprise that one in 2 germans believe that the country. not handle anymore refugees saying it has reached its limits and it's no surprise and nationalist

sentiments are on the rise the city of those that has yet to declare it is the nazi emergency in the recent talk on synagogue in how he has shown that more than a quarter of germans hold anti semitic beliefs. i would like to point out once again that some of those some don't want to admit this the threat of anti-semitism in rightwing terrorism is high in germany and one of the areas that we also classify as high as it is islam is terror which remains an open field of view and we make no compromises there but we have to approach this phenomenon with anti semitism right wing extremism that with the same intensity food you could see why people are happy your the wall is down and everybody is knighted but the rise of single phobia is bringing the increase of hate crimes all the chance to fight and marginalized communities should remind germany that reunification is a process rather than just a public holiday. we caught up with an american who defected to the soviet union in

1952 and then moved to east germany there grossman told r.t. what he thinks was better back then. the old days a people almost most people seemed to have more money than they could spend because there were not enough luxury goods in the shops so that they had money to go to advocation and so forth not everybody but a large number today many many people and especially children are suffering from a severe lack of money this is another problem which has taken place and makes me think after 30 years that as with many of the ends in the world history there's a good side and a bad side to everything and there were some bad sides to this makes me i should add still said that that experiment the g.d.r. a part of germany at least as it was only a small part and the poor apart but at least one part of germany where they could really almost completely get rid of poverty this was an achievement which has

rarely been it a reach any place in the world i think to a great extent the g.d.r. reach that that nobody really feared suffering from poverty even 2 generations in germany could not get rid of fascist ideas and racist ideas in people's heads but in east germany if they still had them. they kept to themselves they were they didn't voice them publicly they may have to voice them among the family in the family of close friends but not publicly now it could day end after the wall went down f. you saw it right near my home whole columns of really fascist thugs with swastikas if they can if they can somehow disguise them a little with fascist slogans and looking like just the same as the s.s. man 80 years ago and this is one of the most frightening things about the fall of

the wall. us secretary of state mike pump a also went to berlin to. the fall and he is the occasion to take the job that china and russia. everyone in this room has a duty we must recognize the freemasons are in competition of values with those unfree nations today russia led by a former k.g.b. officer stationed in dresden invades its neighbors and slays political opponents the chinese communist party used this tactic as methods to suppress its own people that would be horrifyingly familiar to former east germans. peo is a former cia chief and did some of his military service patrolling the berlin wall but his attendance at the ceremony was also greeted with criticism from one of germany's biggest news outlets there's a bell it was pondering over when u.s. troops would finally leave the country there are currently almost $40000.00 u.s. military personnel in germany journalist and author thomas fassbender says

washington fears losing influence over berlin. this is a rather cheap effort. we kind ling cold war nostalgia reported that boy kind of thing german angst in the face of russia goes the best way of course to do with that the best way to develop a strong enemy image among german politicians and populations is to picture or to paint brush in the mold as close as possible in the mold of the soviet union one of the central feeders of u.s. jews to egypt thinking as i see it is losing control over germany that germany might at one point early or later take her own fate into her own hands keeping large armies with tanks and soldiers along the russian border is from my point of view a few of which the fact of which of the intention of which is mainly to keep

western europe within a status of angst and fear of russia in order to stay close to the folds of the u.s.g. used to egypt interests. the international criminal court at the hague handed down its highest ever sons to a congolese rebel warlord he joins a growing list of africans convicted by the court of crimes against humanity however art is a term go looks at why the i.c.c. seems to only focus on criminals from that continent this. is a very special court it's out there only to rule on cases such as genocide crimes against humanity war crimes it's called the international criminal court or the i.c.c. and won't sort out let's say your cousin's divorce here's its latest verdict for a murder that attempted as a crime against humanity and as

a war crime he is for but a seclusion as a crime against humanity he said to us of imprisonment. this is the convict congolese rebel commander bosco into ganda indeed he'll now serve 3 decades for everything he did during a nightmarish civil war in the heart of africa the crimes have been well documented by activists so probably no one will argue the man got what he deserved it can't bring back his victims but the international criminal court's 30 year sentence for congolese rebel leader bosco into gumba signals that even those who once thought themselves untouchable could one day be brought to justice a signal for the untouchables. ok and the wait just a few minutes of research will show that all people who have ever been indicted by the i.c.c. there's a few dozen have one thing in common they're all from africa on the list not only

rebel king pings but very top officials former leaders but again nobody from other parts of the globe sure the african continent has witness countless civil wars there's no need for any additional explanation for just how much blood was spilled there but what about the ugly record by the rest of the world once the court was to get the atrocities of the israeli arab conflict under its microscope here's the message that instantly came from washington the united states will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court. we will not cooperate with the i.c.c. we will provide no assistance to the i.c.c. and we certainly will not join the i.c.c. we will let the i.c.c.

die on its own after all for all intents and purposes the i.c.c. is already dead. so far no one's felt the strong i.c.c. hand when it comes to that middle east crisis earlier this year alleged american war crimes in of ghana stan came into focus. if you're responsible for the proposed i.c.c. investigation of u.s. personnel in connection with the situation in afghanistan you should not assume that you will still have or will get a visa or that you will be permitted to enter the united states the case over the afghan intervention unanimously rejected even tony blair could have appeared before the judges in there but you got it right it's not something such a high at least seemed former u.k. v.i.p. would go through they get a bit more into history and you'll find out america's response to the very foundation of the i.c.c. was pay attention to this one

a law that authorizes the use of military force to liberate any american or a citizen of a u.s. allied country being held by the court in the hague the message is clear if you don't want u.s. marines storming dutch shores stick to the africans that someone say there's been a clear signal for the untouchable i believe that there are certain continents like africa and countries within that continent that are looked at with more scrutiny perhaps because they are less developed nations and have less power when it comes to their economies in the ability to shape the world policy and so it's very easy to target those countries and to ignore some of the larger countries that might also be guilty of some of these things as well but have more influence the more slip sway globally the united. states sits in a very interesting and powerful position worldwide where we are able to exert influence over international courts and to ignore those we want to ignore and to

demand investigations we want to demand them u.s. government has a very simple policy which is that war crimes are never committed by the united states or by its military that it simply does not happen and when you take that view you immediately begin to turn around and say well we can punish anyone who thinks otherwise and quite candidly the united states government can punish countries that push against it economically and through sanctions we've asked the i.c.c. for comment on the issue and will bring you any reply. they hate him but they want him that's how the syrian president bashar assad describes relations between europe and the turkish leader and an exclusive interview with r.t. it's the 1st time he's spoken to an international channel in more than a year you can watch it in full here on monday as well as on our website r.t. dot com but for now here's a quick preview. i don't know you're antagonistic with nato nation turkey but with jurgen and arguably yourself must be aware that western policy is

liable for blowback into the european union what have you made of a european union government's response to the possible. outflow of british ises day as fighters back into the european union how dangerous is it to be in london today or paris or berlin. actually the relation between. the e.u. is always they hate him but they want him. they don't do that in they know that he is phonetic islamist they know this and they're the know that is going to send them both. extremist or maybe terrorists egypt in many refugees from your country many of them from syria and some of them know they're coming from different areas in the world not only syria actually but the majority are syria not all of them are extremist not the measure 2 of them are actually most of the turkey they'd have to

because of the terrorism in syria because of the bombardment of the terrorists and so on. so they don't want him but the same time the the fear him but from the other side let's hear that thin being those. syrian and other. is danger with the most dangerous on europe is to support the terrorists in syria this is the most dangerous part so this is hypocrisy how can you fear those few 1000000 is the measure of them are moderates and they have while you do you support those theories they're rickly in 100 in tens of thousands at least and maybe hundreds of thousands in syria and you don't fear that they're going to go back to a country.

and outdated version of the iconic song baby it's cold outside raises fresh controversy that story and more after the break. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy for and let it be an arms race. spearing dramatic development the only really i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk. you know world of big partisan. and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the back and

shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. welcome back to the program brazil's former president lula da silva walked free from prison on thursday to be greeted by a chorus of cheers from supporters. was who was early release was made possible by a new court ruling that states any convicted criminals don't have to begin serving their sentence if they haven't yet exhausted their appeals hundreds of his

supporters took to the streets of sao paulo to celebrate. looks like the most you know you cannot imagine what this day means to me this is the victory of democracy never been a hope for brazil that rule is free this is the hope of this country the president always cared for the poor who always look after poor people ruling the streets today he might live forever would die for him it's a very happy day for me and many others because i was freed we've been waiting for justice to happen our country is my job i believe we have a reason to celebrate and renew our energy to continue wishing for a better country a happier resilient people come back you're here to celebrate right. over here democracy will be reestablished in this country is free. will is a silver was present from 2003 to 2012 years ago he was convicted of corruption and money laundering and sentenced to 12 years in jail well it denies any wrongdoing

this summer there was a twist in his case at least conversation revealed the prosecutor and the judge had been privately discussing the case earlier my colleague neil harvey spoke with the chief editor of the brazilian news outlet. now we've out of jail. have has a very important tend because it's going to be deleted off the opposition is going to be walking on the streets talking to the people i mean officially he's powerless new from participation in politics but he's much bigger than that he's able to do that with this decision of the supreme court he's totally free to do what he wants to do including any kind of political action is part of the decision i remember from when i was in brazil for the 24 team president lula was astounding but it was clear this man is greatly loved in brazil he's got

a huge fan base a real presence know him just being out and about with the electorate does that put a lot of pressure on the current president i'm sure it will too because now the opposition is going to have a leader up to this time to mount after both a man to. the opposition of both not have a leader improve you has 1000000 conditions to talk to people now with ruler walking and talking on the street the opposition is going to have a very important about the. old christmas songs that appears don't mix all too well with new politically correct lyrics as demonstrated by an updated version of the iconic tune baby it's cold outside that's causing the stain for many a song that tells a story of a man trying to persuade a woman any 30 banter to stay for

a night has been blamed for promoting harassment and was pulled off radio playlists a new version by american singer john legend sense a woman home in a taxi. will start to worry watch your my are going to write. soon. right now for a watch in this very habs to be had for. the yard shot. right now are saying no no no i didn't write very clearly right now. well some found the remakes enjoyable and more appropriate than the original many went to rage on twitter and t.v. the daughter of dean martin the singer whose performance of the song is best known harshly criticize the release of his many more sexual with those words and i think what he's done is he's stealing the sunday from frank loesser song and from my dad

he should write his own song if he does not like this one but don't change the live aches it's a classic perfect song john legend and natasha rothwell co-wrote a baby it's cold outside for makes the doesn't make us want to wear out by the spray i thought nothing could be worse than the annual baby it's cold outside is problematic discourse but then i read the lyrics to john legend's baby it's cold outside remakes say what you want john legend version of baby it's cold outside is so wholesome and changing the lyrics made the song that much more enjoyable and the saying is to change an innocent layer $8.00 to $8.00 what is it you know minded nobody was like you. we spoke with radio and t.v. host karen turk are things that the new words do more harm than good to the song. they took a song that was innocent flirtation and that was

a beautiful call assoc christmas song about a relationship between a man and a woman and a harmless and they have actually made this song more sexual by what they've done it's really hard to believe if they strongly believe in a me too message that they would even agel the song the way that it is they made the song dirty and the song was in a dirty song i don't know if this is just a really bad p.r. move or if they actually believe that the song should be changed which i think most of america would find very hard to believe most of the world would find it very hard to believe. or global news update for this hour but don't forget you can always hope to our website r t dot com for the details on all those stories and many more. there was a waiting list for the navy over a year and i knew it in the way that. i had a friend to me about the coast guard and i went to the coast guard and they said

that they could get me and within a month so said ok we'll. i tried to and. i had. a good job but as injured and an east texas i bought my.