the headlines here on r.t. international as intensive care units in california fill up during the pandemic clinics are forced to set up makeshift wards outside one nurse tells us just how bad the situation has become. we're stuck now we were running low on oxygen on supplies patients overflow overflow overflow areas. and in russia people 60 and over start receiving the sputnik be coded vaccine after the health ministry said it was safe to do so. and vaccinations are rolling out across europe as well but people are divided on the issue. i think we did not have enough feedback on the spanx and at the moment i think everyone should take it because that's the only way we're going to have enough to get out of.

our broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is our international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us december has been the deadliest month in the u.s. since the pandemic began and in los angeles county hospitals are struggling to cope after $43000.00 covert infections in just 3 days over the christmas holiday across southern california intensive care units are full with hospitals forced to set up temporary wards outside los angeles county even reportedly sent out rationing guidelines for clinics to give less care to those less likely to survive it is still unclear whether those guidelines have been implemented or not this month one nurse filmed an emotional appeal while battling coronavirus herself. you her

through home. you don't need to go far from corporate. through her her of one or number one. that was a nurse marcia santini she is making a good recovery and told r.t. the situation is at the breaking point we're stuck now we were running low on oxygen on supplies on you know all the respiratory drugs definitely bad definitely staff we don't have enough staff we are beyond stretched we have patients in overflow overflow overflow areas that were never intended to have patients other hospitals are setting out makeshift units outside of the hospital our government they blew it all so they could have released to the defense production act and ramped up the production of p.p. and all the other supplies that we need and they didn't do that so the whole the

whole nations in a big big predicament of how we're going to be able to treat patients safely and give them the care that they need l.a. officials have issued a save for at home order to try and stop the virus gatherings for anything other than emergencies and political or religious purposes are banned most non-essential companies have been forced to temporarily shut down and the city mayors urged people to think twice about their plans over the festive period there's no celebrating this year for health care workers who are facing the toughest times they've ever seen for them with staying home for them with skipping holiday parties every sacrifice makes a difference to stopping the coven 1000 so. marsha santini again blames public recklessness for the rapid spread of the virus i can't even imagine what it be like to be a governor right now the state. especially california california is

a powerhouse right it's got the 6th largest economy in the world and. the fact that you know businesses are shutting down you have a lot of very vocal californians and and they were giving him a tremendous amount of pressure to open up and i understand that but you could open up safely and people just weren't big safe in my i would drive by bars and people would have their masks off and there be it be densely densely crowded and then you hear people like running out homes and having parties where there's 1000 people there so it's the public it's us it's the ignorance of the human being we continue to. defy the recommendations of the c.d.c. we continue to gather and i understand how important holidays are there just as important for me i haven't seen my family in minds it's terribly serious and people need to understand that you have to be careful and it doesn't matter your age it

doesn't matter yes it does it does it matters your age and your cum morbidity but there's plenty of younger people that have died from this. meanwhile here in russia 27000 new covered cases were recorded over the last 24 hours older people are known to be more susceptible with almost half of the people catching the virus in moscow and being over 46 however one brave person has proven there is hope. no age limit no matter your age. that i don't know what the secret of my recovery efforts but i know that we need to keep calm and preserve our nerves.

she was hospitalized. in relatively severe condition she was upbeat and responded well to the treatment she recovered quickly she felt really precious to us and we wanted to. see because. we're grateful to the doctors she's an optimist and radiates positivity that's why she's made us happy for so long. people over 60 and russia are now starting to get the sputnik v. shot over the weekend the health ministry said it was ok to do so after safety and efficacy tests were concluded and this morning the elderly were already lining up at vaccination centers in moscow as i choose to live tranquil reports. so monday is definitely a milestone because if you're in that most vulnerable age group 60 plus you can now

get enrolled and most likely finally forget about everything we've gotten sick and tired of in 2020 that explains why moscow's mayor is so proud and happy and by the way he's already been vaccinated to the russian ministry of health has approved the opportunity for the older generation to be vaccinated against copd 19 but the sputnik the jap it's great elderly people at the biggest risk group which is the most severely affected by the disease starting monday we're opening registration for vaccination i can say so myself then really works the vaccination program kicked off only 2 days after the announcement from the russian health ministry so i managed to speak to the people who are so desperate to get the job they did it in the morning right on the 1st day. to finally take off my most giving future saying that i had seen me let me do this. this is a heard about the vaccination i wanted to get it 1st this is how condemning the

start and 2nd i just. to travel truly good useful to remove you need to get a job a new way the disease a serious challenge to the elderly and youngsters to some discover they've been infected without symptoms but i'd rather not gamble for clinical trials showed 90 percent efficacy and an impressive safety record although only a few months ago the critics were skeptical about the vaccines numbers for the side effect rates however at this point the team says that about 15 percent of the patients get the side effects which include muscle pain fever and headache whether that number is good enough to silence the critics well that's up for you to decide but at any case all the applicants must go through very serious medical screening to do and if you can do it some the nation's screening is common practice

that person undergoes the same examination before the flu vaccine it's done to exclude risks from acute illness or affects you know the g.'s and to measure temperature as well as to assess health in terms of chronic disease if people fit the criteria we include them in the vaccination group for those who have not yet made up their mind on whether to go forward or not there is something that will probably serve as a confidence boost vladimir putin's decision to get the jab he is part of that age group that's just gotten the green light to the russian president is 68 years old. with the number of covered cases and related deaths peaking over the past 2 months the swedish government has now put forth a bill introducing strict lockdown measures if passed by the country's parliament it would allow authorities to shut down businesses and find those flouting the rules this marks a break from the earlier more hands off approach which the government has since admitted was a failure. they may have very serious situations the government may decide on

little far reaching measures to profound crowding that would include the closure of shops public transport shopping centers or other activities covered by the low we also talking about certain types of trading places with the risk of spreading the disease is assessed as high and where there is a lot of crowding or when the coronavirus pandemic hit europe in february and march sweden's approach to this crisis starkly contrasted with most other countries the so-called swedish model relied largely on voluntary social distancing and the development of herd immunity among the population while avoiding sweeping lockdowns public life remained largely unaffected even at the height of the pandemic drawing criticism from sweden's neighbors with some closing their borders in response marcello. the founder and chairman of swedish professors and doctors for human rights believes that the new measures are the only way to save lives. this weekend a.d.'s west from the beginning the economy business and of course. hard industry

etc going to be enough of a sunday. they will not be prone to close the schools because in that case that 25 percent of the or the labor force will be temporary last forced sort of study aiming to protect your economy there are not to say most no to look down and strict measures it's the only way to at least try to do. both morbidity and mortality produced by these failures are you willing saw this situation with more and more measures and i was trying to alter a strategy that you need to qualitative change here and not in turn over strategy to mean in especially in a base and not name it to suit economy but to save lives i mean it should be you know it has to be a human rights. perspective you know if we're here to do to save lives

meanwhile the e.u. has launched a cross border vaccination program with the target of inoculating every adult in 2021 contracts have been secured with suppliers for more than 2000000000 vaccine doses however polls do show a lot of people are hesitant about taking it and that is particularly the case in france with more on that here's r.t. possibly. 1000000 that if they make the number of people that phone banks are definitely by the end of. the focus now nursing homes like this one and other facilities with. vulnerable individuals and emergency workers 1st in line to say the vaccination is the only way to stop the violence the people here in france was put on the scene just above all similar i'm not really in favor i think we do not have enough feedback on this vaccine at the moment and even if it can save. life maybe it will be good to wait

a little to know that i am for vaccines normally it takes 10 years of research and testing but in this case as the vaccine has been readied very quickly i have an experience i would do it for me if. i was really the person to do with or if i had to do it to trouble i think everyone should take it because that's the only way we're going to have enough herd immunity to get out of the problem or i don't see a need to have the vaccination that probably wouldn't have one recent poll suggests that about half the population is against to be inoculated and it's not just me and 2 vets movement there are real kids that the vaccination has nothing takes to popping in the u.k. and us the number of people who have developed a severe allergic reaction to the vaccination as has happened in other countries and then on top of that there's a general mistrust to the government something we call to the population field at present but from both his way for the 2nd way to do people here feel that because

it happened on top of things now all we could hear was so one thing that the and other things that we have been existing i think it's easy to criticize when they're not in their shoes i think you might have a harder lockdown and maybe not let people go so free over christmas i can see they did a good job or a bad job i think they just did what they could work out schools people and there is a lot of sleep people as a result we don't have that in the. in the tubes from you tube which i resume on and it's really difficult because one of virus is europe's worst public health disaster in over a century as you can see winter when the food wave is already upon us even the hoping that this late took a goal out to unity and health but $1000000.00 vaccinations is only a small fraction of a. the 17 odd 1000000 adults here and from once over the age of 60 if that is the

way that paris plans to beat this to be full virus it needs to act and act fast. papists still ahead in the program a review of 2020 of the year we have to think before we speak and the challenges of political correctness so after a short break these are 2 international. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see that. the world is driven by a dream shaped by. saying

. we dare to ask. 2020 has been a year like you no wonder no it's a complete crisis changed our lives how we look. one of the things. that may never reach. welcome back this is our international now speaking on monday u.s. president elect joe biden said his transition team has faced road blocks from the

trumpet ministration as they plan for changes to u.s. defense priorities he also claimed that president trump had damaged the country's national security and foreign policy more on that here's what he's killam up. president elect joe biden took the opportunity to begin his remarks by acknowledging the explosion that rocked downtown nashville tennessee on christmas morning from there he went on to criticize the trumpet ministration and say that its policies in the area of security were lacking he said that the foreign and internal policy agencies of the united states have suffered enormous damage due to the trumpet ministration of the last 4 years and that they've been hollowed out in person now capacity and in morale he also blamed trump for not getting proper information from the outgoing administration when it came to issues of security this is some of what president elect joe biden had to say about donald trump we have encountered roadblocks in the political leadership at the department of

defense and the office of management and budget right now we just aren't getting all the information that we need for the ongoing outgoing from the outgoing administration now biden emphasized that it's very important for his team to have a clear picture of the country's force posture worldwide and operations that were due to her enemies of the united states to talk about modernizing the defense priorities to deter aggression and he made a specific point is pointing toward russia and china as a potential dangers to the united states and this is joe biden we talked about the different strategic challenges we're going to face from both russia and china and reforms we must make to put ourselves in the strongest possible position to meet those challenges that includes modernizing our defense for years to better deter aggression in the future rather than continue rather than continue no over invest

in legacy systems designed to address threats of the past now it's important to note that despite the fact that it seems pretty clear that joe biden will be taking the oath of office in january. he has not stopped criticizing donald trump and pointing out what he considers to be major flaws of the trumpet ministration meanwhile donald trump continues on twitter and elsewhere to allege that joe biden's victory is the result of electoral fraud and that joe biden is not legitimate in his victory in the 2020 election so it seems that months after the election took place after it seems pretty clearly settled that joe biden is the winner there is still deep division in the united states of america. there has been a lot to talk about in 2020 but it has also been a time to be careful what you say with more on the challenges of not being politically correct here's our chief political. frontlines of the culture wars in 2020 not everyone gave up on the practice of insulting everyone and not carrying

these red beasts who faced. basically this is it there was something about when i put this handle and maybe through like superman kanye west with with a my guy that's based on so a freedom and 1st of all just doing something that everybody tells you not to do london had teacher katherine bubbles saying gives 0. count the box why the local races when faced with the idea of putting down statues and di colonizing the curriculum she gave a reply that came straight from your grandad and now we're talking about the colonizing the curriculum it is not about the colonizing curriculum it's about getting good behavior in our schools how can you score a social justice warrior these days well just church.

they spend so much time meeting down against racism that there's hardly any skin left so guess what happened when basketball legend charles barkley said you know greed is a very slippery slope. because. if you don't this led to quite a few of those caring people to get off all steadies and declare buckley a racist who was only speaking up for his white ghost buddies must know what i want to say get it get on to your knees or they'll come for you. cave said it best when he said political correctness is guys the county and happy to make anyone else it is the congo i think you're a bad religion random luck what is neat cave me well let me explain using the giants of the intellectual dark web.

when maggette point cost. to show over to spotify earlier this year for something like a. people at the company said that they were upset that he wasn't being censored and that they were alienated by his views did you see that guy accidently hit that moved his car no. pull the video. oh my god oh my god oh my god they demanded we're p.t.s. meetings with management you know this is probably overinflated all that spotify stuff is issues complete fodder they have literally said nothing to me about it it was a similar story. jordan pietists reportedly stall for the company that was publishing his latest book was so that it was being published that they ended up. m.m.a. scrap and actress gina khurana. want to get into a fight with. has been expressing the wrong kind of politics she

doesn't think the election is about she doesn't like a small 6 and now her opponents have started a. fire gina carano. the political correctness has taken over multinationals as well with some companies making conspicuous donations to fashionable causes more. also in 20 twentieth's most of us went through lock downs of one sort or another and governments often struggled to stay on top of the virus with more on the situation in front. when 2020 or wrong i think was hailed as a double digit c.s. something that was pretty special that only happens every 100 years or so well special it certainly walls.

by the end of the month we had an inkling that things were about to get worse or worse 19 can be kind of. a pandemic. the fashion industry soon was doing was it does best for dictating what we would all soon be wearing mosques soon they wore hot property arrests for selling contraband mosques became headline news as the government requisition the mole for health authorities. during the 1st wave nurses had to deal with not only the coronavirus epidemic but with the shortage of mosques gloves and overcoat we ended up wearing trash bags at a time when everyone was supposed to be fighting the pandemic we were left without

the means of doing so there was a lack of equipment and the french government was responsible for that they should have been strategic stocks of surgical masks and not the gear now if things really started to go downhill france and the states 1st looked on the borders were closed like this we worked in the stadiums in the sea a terrace we ensure security in the event sector and since march everything's been stopped and it still hasn't resumed all the hotels were closed there were very very few hotels open during the 1st wave the hotels that stayed open did so to accommodate people in difficulties. but there was an enormous amount of worry and we didn't. have the sense of being heard alone can find spring left to many with pent up energy as restrictions eased up health care workers filled the streets fear is being underpaid and under appreciated.

drew to an end the warnings of arrests 2nd wave won't fade leaving the 1st killed yet parents took action introducing mass commissions as factions were registered but as the closures began. anger was palpable. the government promised these measures would be enough they would be no return to a 2nd look down instead a curfew that promise fell like a pack of cards before the money was art. did it start to feel like the after consultation with scientists dialogue with economic political and social players

and after exchanges with all of our partners and weighing the pros and cons i've decided that as of friday we need to go back to the lockdown the stop the virus. by no business is we're really feeling the squeeze i don't see that plus 2020 was a horrible year and we have the impression that 2021 is going to be even worse our biggest problem in the catering industry is that there is no recovery date and no restart date. posted there's a there are inconsistences and how things were decided it's been said that there are certain sectors started were able to raise you that's not a problem but it's the other start our page it's absurd i left. got be about things are still very bad because we have asked to restart our work but we can't we have to continue paying our expenses except there is no money coming back to us there's nothing in fact as for aunts headed into the winter it still wasn't of the

woods. and stuff learned from the 1st way if we can now take better care of patients but the government is felt to learn its lessons there is the problem of hospital bed shortages and lack of means to deal with the virus and during the posh long time we saw the 35 percent of infection cost is in education institutions but the government is nothing about that there were serious mistakes by the government and it makes us question our confidence in the authorities as the new drew to an end restaurants balls theatres museums all remain shells of their former selves a fresh could if it was announced in france finds itself facing an uncertain future as the bells ringing for 2021 charlotte even auti paris but does it for this additional be back in about 31 minutes with another full and fresh look at your news this is argentina.

join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you. max kaiser this is the kaiser report with stacy herbert an special year end guest misfires guy. who i must say the kind of sensitivity to world events of markets really seen anywhere except here on time for 4 minutes welcome back.

hello and welcome to cross talk where all babies are considered i'm peter lavelle 2020 has been a year like no other how has the kobe crisis changed our lives how will that continue to shape our lives you're going forward and what have we lost things and ideas that may never return. to discuss this and more i'm joined by my guest marcus papadopoulos in london he's a historian analyst and author of the forthcoming book a rise we will see a return of the.