san marino becomes the latest european country to start vaccinating its citizens with russia's sputnik shot after supply delays of the e.u. approved jobs the labor minister explains why they look to moscow for help. me an independent even within the territory of its elite and the european union we have the right to make independent decisions. french government faces flak over its covert inoculation program after it's revealed hundreds of millions of euros were handed to controversial foreign consultants. divisions deep in armenia as the president rejects the prime minister's controversial order to sack the armed forces chief as crowds continue to demand the pm quit. drawing up plans to get children watching more british culture the b.b.c.

outlined ambitious targets to reverse the dominance of american cartoons. i think good to have you with us this weekend hits r.t. international on column broke the news this hour 1st european micro states san marino has begun vaccinating its population with russia's sputnik job after deliveries of alternative from the e.u. failed to arrive of the country which lies totally within italy is not an e.u. member so was excluded from the blocks deals with pharmaceutical giants however negotiated getting a tiny part of each delivery to italy but there have been delays to those summary no state hospital medical director says there have been no concerns about using the russian vaccine. well fuck we chose the sputnik vaccine because there was an agreement between us and italy through the european union for the supply of

modernity and pfizer vaccines that unfortunately are delayed at the moment therefore given the excellent diplomatic relations with russia we have chosen to get the sputnik the vaccine faster we saw some excellent reviews from renowned international medical journals like the land set or the spawn sanny in rome that have already tested the quality of this vaccine summary no hopes to use the russian vaccine around 15 percent of its population the labor ministers been explaining why they turn to moscow for help. in independence day even within the territory of its early and the european union we have the right to make independent decisions and have excellent relations both with members and countries outside the e.u. borders at the moment europe showing an increased interest in the sputnik vaccine and we've reached out instead of staying only inside the e.u. markets we acted in the interests of our own citizens and i'm sure that over time

more states will draw conclusions and make similar decisions for a part we have complete confidence in the russian vaccine we can see that technical administrative and bureaucratic this is taken with regard to the production and distribution of certain products significantly slow down the approval process in different countries so we think these processes should be excel aerated due to the critical circumstances in the e.u. we simply did not have a vaccine and we had to make a choice. of some arenas move comes as e.u. states also step up talks to get the support make the austrian chancellor spoke with president putin about arranging supplies as soon as the european medicines agency approved the vaccine we spoke to an austrian brawler just about how the scientific community is approaching use of the russian giraffe. i think that the lancet publication shows that sputnik the is a high quality vaccine we have promising data 91 percent effectiveness which is high demonstrates this this is

a vector based vaccine which means it is injected using a virus into our immune system to form immunity the difference between the other vector vaccine since he is that it uses 2 different viral vectors and this is important as in some cases the immune system can create antibodies to the vector making the 2nd jab less effective he has 2 different viruses it makes the back seem more effective. france has suffered its worst week in the pandemic since november reporting more than 25000 new cases on friday and m.p.'s want to know why for and consultants with deep ties to president bush pocketing huge contracts for a vaccine rollout plagued by delays and failures shot to do best in our reports as the vaccine rollout in france gains ground questions being asked about the role of private companies and consulting firms involved they said to be playing

a major role in the strategy which to many has been a major disaster several companies were hired by the french government between them they have sewing contracts worth millions and millions of euros the lion's share went to american food and the kings see their lucrative contracts signed with mckinsey and not initially disclosed to the public was supposed to help ensure vaccine duces could be transported across france work you might think is perfectly suited to process loss network of civil servants so the fact that it's been contracted out to us from there is that many with a bitter taste in their mouths. in government as in our hospitals consulting firm serve policing public administration and astronomical cost why such contempt for civil servants. what an admission of ineffectiveness and helplessness and our whole state operate us what is it for absolutely amazing what is mackenzie doing

there we have a ministry of health a ministry of the interior and a ministry of defense that know how to manage crises if we know how to mobilize them this is decay of the state. mackenzie appears to be a particularly poisoned chalice the firm recently agreed to pay more than half a $1000000000.00 to settle lawsuits brought by u.s. states it was accused of fueling the opioid epidemic for its work bursting with sales of oxycontin a painkiller not a squeaky clean reputation for a firm helping the vaccine. it's a big scam yes for me it's a scam i don't have much to say personally but it's a scam and i'm not really surprised after all it's the government so it is bizarre it's not spoken about in the newspapers here you've spoken about it and we don't talk about it on television or in the newspapers the things that are said in our country it can mean nothing but in another country it's

a scandal what can we do here in front of you know government wiring consultancy firms. uncommon these days but what has surprised me is just how quickly this appears to be accelerating calls government to sign some 575 contracts with consultancy firm since october 28th covering everything from economic recovery to. public sector perils of big business to be there for around 10 percent of their overall profits so how do people feel about. this because she says there was a call for tenders all of that was it for the french firms to will not because i don't understand why would it be a group that would benefit from things that's a bad story you just told me something actually i trust the government listen listen. i think these are things to deserve to be thought about we do need

a private company to think about how we do transportation we still have the french railways. on getting business. i think we could use the more wisely more courage to do more for france 1st you don't for example he doesn't give enough to front we give the impression that micron is no longer the president he does nothing french government has played down the role played by groups like mckinsey consultancy firms have been used for several years by multiple governments when the elaborate and implement big projects require a strategic or logistical support and advice from what really got people angry is just how close the consultancy firms like mckinsey are to president with toys going back many years and with such sons lining the pockets of a private american consultancy firm at the same time when the economy here has been laid low by the pandemic many are now asking questions so much even ski r.t.

. joe biden ordered his 1st major military act as u.s. president this week with a strike on a radio backed militia groups in syria his administration defended the move saying it was both legal and a proportionate military response. the strike was authorized in response to recent attacks against american and coalition personnel in iraq and i think to president biden's order he made clear that the united states will act to protect american and coalition personnel and our security interests in the region. a number of senior democrats in congress condemned by the move they claim the strikes were made without the authorization of lawmakers over there for a breach of the constitution but the president did win support from some opposition republicans biden said the strike sent a clear warning to iran the washington's going to be tough in protecting its own interests but iran claims of wiping out what it called anti terror forces would now

encourage more violence in the region has got some thoughts on this now scott ressa joins us a former u.s. marine corps intel officer and a u.n. weapons inspector welcome back. biden's actions got a mixed reaction at home some even coming from within his own pot saying you surprised by the reaction. i'm surprised there's not a greater. you know more outspoken condemnation of what president biden did it's a plainly it's an illegal act i mean is it ministration did not cite any current congressional authorization for use of military force instead relying on the inherent powers of article 2 of the constitution. where when you take a look at the the intelligence to break it down he bombed a foreign country syria it had nothing to do with an attack on american forces in iraq he bombed iraqi government forces you know united states calls the 2

militias that were serving in a mall the place in syria that was it pro iranian militias ignoring the fact that these militias have been absorbed by the iraqi ministry of interior and are operating in syria in an anti islamic state function. orders of the iraqi government in cooperation with the syrian government they have nothing to do with the breakaway militia allegedly fired rockets so we bombed their own people on the soil of their own country with a legitimate purpose so anybody who breaks this particular military action apart will see that it's you know it's wrong headed in the illegal there's just literally no justification for what biden did this this is seems like such familia territory doesn't have his legal gray area between congressional and presidential powers on subjects like this it happens time and time again presumably therefore the white house knows what it's doing. the white house knows that there will be 0

accountability because as you have rightly pointed out congress is long since abrogated its constitutional function when it comes to the use of military force. you know the war powers act has been extended expanded you know repeatedly throughout the past you know 3 decades congress has basically wanted when it comes to getting involved in making this decision giving full power to the president which allows a president to you know carry out these actions without any consequence there will be no consequence because congress doesn't want to get involved in the difficult the you know decisions of you know the or surrounding the use of force because it requires them to ask very tough questions about policies that are indefensible what are we doing in iraq what are we doing in syria and again why did we borrow targets on syrian soil relating to you know that are operating under the auspices of the iraqi government when the people who are telling us are in iraq we didn't bomb the

people who attacked us the people who attacked us are in iraq unscathed in the further empowered emboldened and enraged to carry out further attacks so this didn't help them as the security of the united states is hindered and joe biden's 1st big foreign policy proclamation was america's back most people took that to main mending fractured friendships on the world stage after 4 as a donald trump what do you think it means in light of these fresh strikes. well i warned at the time and i'll and i'll continue my warning today when joe biden says america's back he's talking about america's back asserting its will authority through the use of military force this is not about diplomacy i mean joe biden didn't attempt any meaningful diplomacy to resolve this issue we went straight to the guns and this is an indication of how he's going to be a down the road and it's a very dangerous situation because same rhetoric he used to back up justification

for the strike is used against nations like china and russia and i dare say that neither one of those nations will be likely to roll over and play dead if joe biden decides that he wants to you know about his chest and brag about america's return to the global stage through use of military force against one of those countries is going to play out that way this is a very dangerous president and biden's going to find himself boxed into a corner of his own making in the near future what's going to be the ramifications in the gulf and joe biden says it's about sending a classical to iran iran's response so far has to be that it's just going to embolden 3rd posse's so what do you think the reaction from iran is going to be. well 1st of all your answer 100 percent this has nothing to do with iraq i mean literally he dropped bombs on syria killing militiamen working for the iraqi government says nothing to do with iraq except to reinforce the preexisting iranian perception that united states is a nation that operates outside the boundaries of law and here we are trying to

convince iranians that we will return to the iran nuclear agreement and comply with our legal obligations there i think the signal we sent to iran is that the united nation united states is is a nation that operates outside the framework of the rule of law so this will only convince the iranians that united states can't be trusted and this is very important because we have a better 3 month window before there is presidential elections in iran where a new regime will come into play one probably populated by a conservative president who will may not be going down the same path so the united states is doing everything possible or ensure that we don't get agreement the iran and make sure that there never will be an agreement with iran i mean that's a lesson a rank up of this united states simply can't be trusted ok scott always have your expertise on this scott reza thanks for joining us again on. thanks for having.

access the president's rejected a controversial order to sack the armed forces chief and sent the document back to the embattled prime minister it comes a huge opposition rallies are underway again with crowds calling for the pm to quit constantine rush helps me following the protests in the armenian capital. the fact that the president of armenia hasn't signed the order to dismiss army's top commander is deemed as a small victory for the opposition in the ongoing standoff between the prime minister and called by she now and the top military command that news was greeted with they allowed a round of applause from the crowd and you know let's hear from the people on the streets who we ask what they think of passion on. today in accordance with the armenian constitution prime minister passion yama and his government a not legitimate there are lots of constitutional acts he violated and therefore violated the legitimacy of his rule the only power that has remained untainted so

far and relation to law has the president and the fact that our president is making his moves in accordance with the constitution gives us a chance to solve major problems this is a step forward that will lead to victory because our president is a very serious person they've scrutinized the case decided there is a reason not to sign the document and to send it back to the prime minister now people understand they've been lied to we will stand until the end right next to our you told washington has also reacted to the news saying that the army needs to remain neutral as per our meaning law prime minister can still try to fire the had of the general staff again in 5 days and he has already said that this he has intention to do so now the ball is in his court at the moment protesters are marching around the town and as you can see there are starting to come back to this area around the national parliament some of the people are going to camp here they're going to stay here overnight similar demonstrations are happening in other

cities in the border city of components to particular to nagorno-karabakh so it seems like the. protest against the prime minister portion on is widening now that this is definitely not over and the opposition has vowed that they're going to pile on ever more press. sure on the call question on demanding him to step down because when the pressure from the public will rice and we will eventually make a question yawn resign we have an unprecedented situation in our country a government that has lost cannot continue to be the government they need to have the courage to think like statesman enough like adventurous from the streets and to resign. at the time of the 28000 protests people were in a good state and now everyone is depressed everyone is shocked we've lost the war we've lost thousands of people we've lost territories our prisoners haven't returned so far they're still searching for thousands of people who have gone

missing in such a climate it's very hard to do something for a healthy society let me remind you that the latest round of power struggle in armenia has started after a top army generals accuse nichole question out of being incompetent and called for his resignation he then accuse the army generals and the opposition of an attempted coup and things began to spiral out of control all in all it's currently a dire situation in the country are meeting in military and political elites as well as thousands of people on the streets are revealing whose side they are on in anticipation of a fierce battle for power. because some analysis from caucasus and eurasia expert appeared show chicago and who believes that even if he holds on for now the prime minister's days are numbered. may try to survive this short term but in the long term. damage to his reputation and his ability to control the situation right now the situation is spiraling out of control and the fact that

he's lost the support of the military is just i mean that's a huge blow to his very very significant blow because to some extent he relied on the army in the security forces to kind of allow him to stay so he loses. interim situation very fast and i can't imagine him. even if you decide you know if you able to stay on in the next few days or even weeks in the long term he's not going to be able to survive this. this is on sale the way this saturday night sold folks for america's cultural dominance is the baby she draws up plans to win over young brits with no home grown call to get the full picture after this.

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 you then.

welcome back now when it comes to cartoons the b.b.c. wants children in the u.k. to plump for home grown creations rather than american imports the broadcasters outlined ambitious plans to reverse the dominance of shows like the simpsons sharda edwards daschle report. let's face it cartoon say it all of our childhood the simpsons tom and jerry rug rats the looney tunes you name it we've probably spent far too many hours glued to the t.v. .

actually to do according to the director of the b.b.c.'s children's department too many cartoons watched here in britain all while not british what i think we can do to set our characters in the british setting or at least european when i'm talking now i'm saying what about roost beef instead of turkey we should be thinking about these things children grow up with these cultures why not infuse more of our culture the drive as a developed homegrown animation series aimed at young says a 7 to 12 there should children be told what to watch in favor of promoting british culture or should kids be left to be kids just kind of shift focus i don't think the british people lack identity because they don't have any culture to speak like that in fact is running around london right they can step outside they think it's cool it's not that they need to be understand cochon isn't have that reach it for a young age sometimes kids like to hear something that's familiar towards them at school waste time it's not going to be really makes any difference since if they

keep it to it until the culture has got a big series to pay. when the fighting comes around again i want to recap the same it's a pretty fair american really obviously as broad as possible is going to be the best answer to anything the b.b.c. is even toying with the idea of recreating british versions of the world's most popular cartoons imagine if we could have a version of the seamstress for children and families in the u.k. it would be amazing. but is that even possible how it's come up with new things i think i'm kind of the age of remakes deceived on a lot and i'm not so i quite like new stuff and new stories to tower and i think we've been through enough this year to know there's new stories that could probably come out but i would say that yeah would be great to see that like medium come to the u.k. and be more like british and that type of humor i don't know if that would go abroad don't you see climate change it seems to be pretty well maybe the b.b.c. is on to something here after all there's been huge successes like peppa pig in

fact it was so popular that kids across the atlantic were hit with the pepper effect and began imitating british accents it's not the 1st time the foreign cartoons have come under fire a few years ago critics lashed out at a russian cartoon musher in the birth accusing of having a more sinister side being wait for it a propaganda tool. trying to. 7 see what it really is something here the cartoons are really used to indoctrinate children's minds and promote interests 30 start the better i guess. family doc has reportedly been denied treatment for an alternative for germany party m.p. because of her political views that's according to the a.f.p. politician herself who told r.t. that she was shocked when had doctors said he was taking a moral stance. you know they come off. due to

a chronic illness had to visit my family doctor i had been seen for the past 2 years the conversation went relatively well and then my doctor told me that he would like to terminate the health care contract i was horrified and asked him why he replied that he had learned from the media that i was a member of the a.v. party and that i had been elected to the bundestag from the electoral district so for moral reasons he could no longer continue my treatment then i asked if i phase in now what would you do he replied that then he would have to help me as a medical emergency case and then i said that if he was alone in the room he could just close the door and you're in there sussed ation press only every 10 seconds. the doctor's clinic has not yet responded to our request for comment however the insurance company involved in the case says it expects patients to get the best possible treatment regardless of their beliefs the incident is far from the only case of alleged discrimination against the f.d.a. about this 2019 and i have to pay he was beaten unconscious on the street here

later the party leaders car was torched a study found that alternative for germany suffers the most attacks of any national party including physical and verbal the m.p. was refused treatment claims the media's been ignoring her case. i didn't think it was it's you know i i represent the position of the air of d. and i do not adhere to right wing radical views in the area of d. i feel a liberal conservative need so there was no reason to attack me personally or to deny further medical attention i consider this to be absolutely adversary and cannot understand it my case was covered by the media unfortunately not local but only alternative media were covering the story i actually sent a statement to the police with my lawyer field a complaint with the physicians chambre and i sent a copy to a ok bottom victim back because this doctor works on the contract with the insurance company according to their rules such actions surprise hit it says he's

providing services on the health insurance policy so i decided to fight it and my fight continues. and that's the way it looks so far this saturday here for r.t. and moscow one of colorado having a backstop there right here in 32 minutes to get that. one else seems wrong but i'll just. let me. get to sleep out just in the attic. and in detroit it was betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart when just of the common ground.

again. you know when i was just the last look at just what i thought it would be now most of it from the left now but i don't want to know this why is there no. but we did enough and there. was some of that but a lot of the most of it other. than the end you have a sense on of it that unless it. is that the minister. of the c.c. list i wanted will be done in the end when i'm in earnest.

and innocent as you know. you're not seeing. how easy it would be. when i looked up at a number of other guys i was going to yeah right into my yeah. because russian asylum b.n. . you mean by a little bit i mean by that. i mean roland martin. with of all right joey. they're all those women to get out that you know from it on a moment to get you up and plead those that they say on your. voice man from memphis and. that only and doesn't know probably much and i ain't any your.