i think we're part of the 1st for. people in belarus to take to the streets some to support their president and others to tell them to go that as police and make more arrests over the violent clashes with police in the immediate aftermath of the country's disputed election. peer opinion is currently holding in the emergency session on the political crisis in belarus with russia warning the bloc not to meddle in the country's domestic affairs. is going to shoot you loose from the stage we are deeply concerned about what's going on right now and that the roots are concerned by the attempt to exclude the internal challenges facing by the groups to interfere in them from a brutal. also this hour the u.s. democrats formally nominate joe biden as their brother in 2020 as the party to its

campaign promises of peace biden's hawkish pounds come back to haunt him. and a military uprising and mali sweeps the president from power threatening to plunge the country deeper into chaos. good afternoon and welcome to the program this is our to international coming to you live from the russian capital bring your live news update to. the below russian interior ministry has confirmed several arrests as strikes and demonstrations gripped the country police and belarus disperse protesters outside the minsk tractor factory on wednesday morning dozens of people peacefully gathered near the entrance to greet and support workers who are on strike demanding that. resign protests over the disputed election are now into their. 11 day here's what some of

today's rallies both for and against the president look like. yes i was yes i think he was yes i do. i. know that the situation in our country is very serious we are against unrest in our country i want to say one thing i stand here for valorous for our president who did not condemn the question to subpoenas for the position so why should they condemn the us. i came here to support the protest because the only way to win is to keep getting out and keep showing our disagreement with the results of the election or is this i'm here to show solidarity with my people as i also want changes the dictatorship that has lost it for 26 years has finally been weakened and our country is now moving in and democratic direction the opposition's coronation council for the transfer of power and belarus held its 1st meeting on tuesday it promises to

maintain a friendly and mutually beneficial relations with the e.u. russia and ukraine also criticizes the role of the security forces and governing belarus because i go has slammed the council as nothing but an illegal attempt to seize power. meanwhile a number of foreign countries have challenge the legitimacy as president rejecting the results of the election e.u. has confirmed it's drawing up sanctions against bello russian officials who are thought suspected of election brian and violence against protesters art is a no hearkens delves into why the former soviet republic has drawn so much international attention just a fortnight ago many western viewers may have barely heard of belarus that all changes thousands poured over the streets in protest over the disputed presidential election is the country's geography which between its big east the neighbor europe sees the interests of international players intertwine and clash.

officially the e.u. is dismissed the elections as neither free nor fair. persona non-grata and already begun drawing up new sanctions lists citing human rights violations in the wake of police violence in custody. we're told e.u. why discussions on sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations how these sanctions will be organized and whether there will be further restrictive measures depends on the further actions of the bully russian authorities. condemnation was perhaps predictable but there's no shared view of what comes next the baltic states and poland have been the loudest critics of location while hungary has stopped short of outright that l.c.a. sion others still have sought a balancing act the e.u. can't turn a blind eye neither can at risk having it be stabilized neighbor state on their doorstep and confrontations with moscow a longtime ally of minsk are getting tiresome. so it's

no surprise putin has been busy on the phone holding talks with merkel the european council chief we all see russia as an actor that can help influence or regulate the situation a better roofs is russia's closest historical alloy a vital you. anomic and military partner and the buffer zone against nato over recent years have seen their relationship strained to say the least nevertheless moscow would surely rather put up with a look of shame goes over towards the west and risk chaos on its borders the russian side emphasized that any attempt at external interference in the internal affairs of belarus which could lead to a further escalation of the crisis would be an acceptable. for many years but it doesn't exactly been a top priority for the united states in 2006 they slap sanctions on minsk for you guessed it undemocratic elections and in 2008 the country's expelled each other's

a masters but earlier this year things began to change for the 1st time since 1904 minutes got a visit from the u.s. secretary of state. generously offered to meet all of butter reduces energy needs and extended a helping hand the united states wants to help the reuss build its own sovereign country this leaves washington with a dilemma should they carry on befriending look who may be interested or put their bets on the opposition and it's the uncertainty in minsk one thing is clear washington has its own interest in belarus the possibility of another u.s. friendly state on russia's border could be a game changer and as protests grow in a country suddenly thrown into the international limelight and with multiple interests at stake all actors involved hold their breath as they play out their next move the e.u. is holding an emergency summit over the political crisis and belarus currently looks i go has slammed the block for what he sees as meddling in his country's

affairs peter oliver has more on that. the virtual summit which will get underway to around noon brussels time will see leaders dial in via video conference germany holds the rotating presidency of the european union right now when chancellor angela merkel held talks over the phone with russian president vladimir putin heading into this summit in which it's important for the e.u. to speak with one voice and today as spoke with russian president putin and made it clear once again that freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate must be guaranteed that prisoners must be released and that there must be a national dialogue to settle things peacefully in belarus to lift the way and poland have been particularly vocal in their support for the opposition in belarus said lana ticket of sky is in self-imposed exile in lithuania and she said that the e.u. should make a statement rejecting the recent election in belarus this is taking place right now

in the. hero i call and you're not to recognize this fraud and their actions. mr center has lost all the legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the war but there's a balancing act to play for the e.u. alexander lukashenko has already claiming that foreign interference is behind the own rest in the country and in fact he's put the military on standby because of it this. statements have been made very some western countries who don't even know where bill is and have no idea what is happening here but nevertheless they make these statements we have reacted to this and deployed combat army units on our western borders and have brought them to full combat readiness. so what can we expect coming out of where these days of solitude we can expect clarification on

who will be targeted by e.u. commission sanctions most likely it's going to be belarusian security forces and election authorities could also expect a statement of support for the opposition however for now at least the e.u. will be looking to tread lightly. with international pressure mounting on the present a bell or us russia has weighed in with a warning for more on that let's cross live to our tis roman kustra now the leaders of russia and belarus have been in contact what's being sad. indeed alexander lukashenko initiated another telephone conversation with his a russian counterpart vladimir putin making its how 4 calls in just 5 days the president of belarus asked a lot of near putin to deliver a message to german chancellor angela merkel to ask her not to meddle in the country's internal affairs and he added that he doesn't see any point to speak to

the european leaders by himself so it now looks like moscow has become a direct mediator between the european union and it delivers meanwhile a russian the foreign minister sergei lavrov boards against external interference in belarus is internal political crisis that's happened as. it is but there should be a looser conditions are we are deeply concerned about what's going on right now in better roofs we are concerned by the attempt to exploit the internal challenges facing béla groups to interfere in them from a brutal and it is not just meddling it is aimed at imposing rules that outside actors consider beneficial everything we're hearing now from the european captions specifically from the both countries poland and the european parliament has nothing to do with alexander lukashenko human rights or democracy but only with geopolitics . now moscow is calling moscow is calling

for all on all parties for it to provide for a genuine dialogue between the authorities and the protesters so according to the kremlin officials in belarus are ready to work with the opposition but interference and. provocations in this matter are counterproductive but xander a look at shankar also accused the west of financing the opposition called on his foreign minister to deliver a message sheds to european union countries and ukraine not to fuel unrest in belarus that's having this. but it illustrates a feeling see that when you see this western countries are openly without hiding it raising funds and sending them to belarus we cannot track all of the funds as much if it is in cash but we see it we know what's going on and we will focus on this issue. now look at sugar holes and other meeting with his security council and he

instructed them to strengthen the country's borders in order to prevent and medicines and weapons from entering the country he also instructed the defense ministry to track the movements off nato forces in poland and lithuania so many statements from the the russian leader this wednesday and we are now waiting on the outcome of the e.u. summit taking place right now on the matter of belarus and that will find out whether they receive the messages from men squish were echoed by moscow as well. thank you for bringing us that report to. russia's foreign minister has recalled how the e.u. is attempt to mediate in ukraine in 2014 lead to disaster and then that brussels is poised to make the same mistake and belarus but addressing a professor at the national institute of languages and eastern civilizations said look i go well anyway rely mainly on moscow. it is also

a big difference is that belarus is much nearer geographically to moscow and russia is going to do world and especially to western countries doubt. moscow cannot accept any political change in belarus that would change the general to strategy could situation of the region it's obvious that that roof is linked with russia for strategic and military reasons and i think that the kremlin has decided to tell western powers doubt. they will not accept any chance in belarus as they did in kiev a look at womans to give to put into russia during all of mediator. that he recognizes in a certain way that belarus is linked strategy can be with a russia even if there are complicated relations between most going minsk.

to a developing story now the organizers of the military at all and mali say they will hold fresh elections and uphold all international agreements. i should distribute the civil society and political movements are invited to join us to create the best conditions for a transition towards credible general elections to exercise democracy and part a road map to the foundations of a new mali. earlier the country's president appeared on state television announcing his resignation as after he was detained on tuesday during a military one hold it for him because our said the decision to leave power would avoid bloodshed and the country. had to see him i would like to inform you of my decision to resign from my position with immediate effect and with all the legal consequences this entails the dissolution of the national assembly and of the government. to say is uprising began with

a shoot out at the current military camp close to the capital a group of soldiers detained their senior officers before marching on and storming the president's residence mutiny was swiftly condemned by the african union the e.u. and the head of the e.u. at neighboring countries have closed the borders calling for sanctions against revolutionaries who fall several months of protest in mali which saw the opposition demanding the president's resignation over corruption allegations and a deteriorating security situation. that most people here jumped for joy to say a final farewell to mr walker kate he's no longer our president. nothing is going well and i mean we're all suffering but the 2 times does not suit us we must advocate for dialogue above all. historian gerald horne claims the roots of mali's latest insurrection can be traced back to nato intervention in libya 9 years ago. this crew accept was basically

a result of the 2011 tragic overthrow and murder of more market doxie in libya engineer by the united states of america and its nato allies particularly britain and france that and murder of gadhafi led to leakage of tons of weapons into neighboring mali which got into the hands of religious zealots who call themselves muslims who since that time have been waging a brutal and bitter war against the soldiers in bali of whom can kill as a result this in turn has led to a french military intervention backed by the united states of america and it's also helped to generate unrest and instability this might be on the verge of seizing power and bomb a ko which could have a negative knock on effect throughout the neighborhood not least in cote d'ivoire in guinea. it will not take continues after this short break.

so so. 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 showbusiness i'll see that. lead.

us democrats have officially nominated joe biden for president and a virtual vote during day 2 of the party's virtual convention but despite efforts to attract younger voters with a star studded lineup for song the event has fallen flat.

without a doubt it will be the most boring repetitive told meanspirited convention in history of. the d.n.c. so far feels like one long you tube usually skip. this convention so far makes me think the democrats are the party ready to lead america into the. party crowd i'm dying which indian seen messages goodbye to just in the courtroom. 2 and while both democrats and republicans are making

a raft of campaign promises including about american military interventions joe biden says he wants to see an end to forever wars his track record on peace though leaves a lot to be desired. donald trump's surprising 2016 election victory had a lot to do with one golden promise and america's endless wars i am proposing a new foreign policy focused on advancing america's korda show interest to avoid endless wars that we're caught up in the current strategy of toppling regimes with no play and for what to do the day after only produces power vacuums that are filled simply by terrorists we now know he didn't deliver on his promise but many americans still long for that a waste of peace and in 2020 the opposition understands this all too well democrats know it's time to bring nearly 2 decades of unceasing conflict to an end and left

wing right wing it doesn't even matter polls are showing that 3 out of 4 americans want troops withdrawn from afghanistan and half of them want to see cuts to the military budget when it comes to u.s. foreign policy the vast majority of americans are fed up with never ending war and yet the democrats are supporting joe biden as their candidate a man with a track record of supporting conflicts. let's start from 2002 when joe biden jumped right on the weapons of mass destruction bandwagon and supported the u.s. invasion of iraq clearly be more secure without saddam hussein in position of weapons of mass destruction almost 5000 american soldiers dead thousands more iraqi civilians killed a catalyst for the rise of the islamic state i wouldn't say any of that fits into most people's definition of peace and security in my mind. we're. not having it. because there are no you.

as brock obama's v.p. biden cheered on america's longest war in afghanistan he called it a success and promised to bring the troops home that strategy is succeeding and as a consequence the president is making good on his commitment to bring our young men and women home right on schedule well here we are 2020 and so little has changed it just goes to show us operations in afghanistan are more about dysfunction than success what are we trying to do here we didn't have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking if the american people knew the magnitude of these dysfunction syria libya pakistan yemen the list of countries that were bombed while joe biden was vice president is very long so are we supposed to believe that he's going to put an end to years of endless war you decide well biden was there he was in the room where it happened as you say he was there for 8 years of obama so he can't

divorce and so we're obama's war mongering policy pretty rich for the democrats to pretend now that they're the peace part of the because we had 8 years of president obama starting more wars i think than any president in decades before him before him more drone strikes more bombings more killings under president obama but it was all for everyone's own good when in fact just last month when president truman announced he wants to remove 12000 troops from where he wants to remove troops from afghanistan the democratic party that controls the house actually teamed up with liz cheney daughter of dick cheney to try to block and they actually passed legislation to try to prevent the end of the longest war in u.s. history so for them to now say we want to end endless wars it really is a farce who knows that the voters will buy that's nonsense. german

authorities have can. term that an incident on the berlin highway tuesday night is now being treated as an extremist attack authorities say a series of car remains were religiously motivated 6 people were injured with 3 now in critical condition the suspect an iraqi born refugee was detained prosecutors say he deliberately drove his car into several vehicles witnesses say he began shouting god is great in arabic and threatening to detonate explosives authorities also confirm the suspect was known to them for extremist behavior and that he spent time in a psychiatric hospital in 2018 he was also apparently facing deportation from germany suspect is expected to face 3 charges of attempted murder. the u.s. senate intelligence committee has released the final part of a report on alleged russian meddling in the $26000.00 election the document accuses a lot of our putin of orchestrating the hack of democratic party service but if you were hoping to find

a smoking gun in the report you're likely to be disappointed come up and has the details. it is the 5th and final installment from the senate intelligence committee regarding allegations of russia and trump and the 2016 elections now the report is over a 1000 pages long it takes us to quite extravagant places from the ritz carlton hotel to the miss universe pageant and the ultimate conclusion of the report the long awaited conclusion is that russian president vladimir putin himself werder the hacking of the democratic national committee server take a listen the committee found that russian president vladimir putin ordered the russian effort to hack competes networks and accounts affiliated with the democratic party and leak information damaging to hillary clinton and her campaign for president do they offer any proof well no they just simply state they have high confidence this is an intelligence community assertion that the russian government

is responsible and that lattimer putin himself ordered the hacking of the d.n.c. and phrases like high confidence show up throughout the report for example the phrase likely is used 139 times furthermore the phrase almost certain shows up 23 times and the phrase seems shows up 39 times however despite all this high confidence and almost certainty the russian security services are blamed for the hacking of the d.n.c. server take a listen to this passage from the report beginning in march 26th seen offices of the russian main intelligence directorate the g o u successfully hacked competes networks belonging to the democratic national committee and the democratic congressional campaign committee and the e-mail accounts of clinton campaign officials and employees including campaign chairman john podesta the report claims that russian security services in gauged in spirit

fishing and this gave them. access to the d n c server now at this point the main piece of evidence that they put forward to back up this claim is testimony from the tech firm known as crowd strike crowd strike you'll recall was hired by d.n.c. lawyers to look into the matter now crowd strike has come under a lot of scrutiny crowd strikes president ex f.b.i. official shawn henry testified that they saw a quote activity that we believed was consistent with activity we'd seen previously and had associated with the russian government in the same testimony and we also testified that crowd strike never had any evidence the data was actually exfiltrate it i.e. stolen from the d.n.c. servers but regardless and not surprisingly we see wiki leaks also thrown into the report wiki leaks activity sort on played

a key role in the russian campaign and very likely knew it was assisting the russian intelligence influence efforts from jill innocent as long denied these allegations and said he is simply not a russian operative however the allegations persist many americans looking at this report as well as many people around the world have got to be asking themselves how much longer is this russia gate story going to keep going is this final installment really the last report or will they find a way to get it back into the news once again write or charles or tell gave us his reaction to the report. whether one or another country maybe interfering in our elections i think people are tired of that frankly and tired of the endless investigation of the same issue 20 only to russia i have seen so far little evidence if not no evidence that that happened and on the balance of probabilities again when i say the way from looking to the 16th hillary clinton ran an atrocious

campaign that's why she lost you've got to look at 16 and understand that hillary clinton went out of her way to offend a large percentage of the voting population she did not campaign effectively key states she looks very ill on september 11th 2016 she was operating with her husband a corrupt foundation and has been since 1997 where hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars have been missing their similar questions about me joe biden and his family those are the big issues that are going to animate voters in this country. that's been our breakdown and today's top stories for this hour thanks for tuning and. analysis so seems wrong. why don't we just don't call. me while

yet to see. this thing you can't answer. and it gains from it because of the trail . when so many find themselves worlds apart when just to look for common ground. the world is driven by dreamers shaped by one person those with. no dairy thinks. we dare to ask.