a system that she done, the easiest thing to assist with in with a little issue with the, into the we called pat lines are on our t. european nations were called daily covey numbers that the mar chrome strain takes hold. all of this, while street protests re drawn against harsh new restriction in the story to shape

the weaker. when i see a pole find that over half of adults in britain are just too scared to express their real opinions openly. it's all about for fear of falling victim to that of a cancelled culture. living in a coach now. burning, we used to have a good help. we did have a debate in the country where you could say things and then you'd have to all your case. people are frightened to say, what makes a lot of me put in demands. nato. give assurances for not move faces closer to russia. as the onset questions on global politics during his, for our annual media brief and also in the program today mark 30 years since the collapse of the soviet union. and we look back at those historic events and how they shape modern russia. the

top stories of the day, the main headlines of the week. welcome to the weekly sunday program on asi, international. so as the mac on the strain of cove, it continues to spread a number of countries in europe, a, setting records, france, italy, and the u. k. registering new highs and daily infections. i discussed all of this very short time ago with a correspondent policy. we have a huge surge, ours cause it cases new cases happening in a number of european countries. if we start off with france on saturday, france recorded a record high new number of cases for the 3rd consecutive day reporting, a 104611 cases. now, despite those people took to the streets and protest, primarily against than a set of necessity of carrying a health pass, which is needed to enter all public spaces and also for children to be vaccinated. on monday, the french president emanuel cron will discuss with a few members of his cabinet,

new measures to counter the coven. 19 pandemic. particularly in light of the new variant army con, which we know is very contagious. it is expected that the president will announce that in order to get a health pass people in france one, i'll have to agree in principle, to accepting a booster 3 months after their initial vaccination. if we move across to italy here to we have record numbers for the 2nd consecutive day on friday. it is reporting $50599.00 new cases. italy is also reporting the 2nd highest number of deaths because of covered in europe after the united kingdom, with some 141 new depths reported now. and then if we move across to the united kingdom here on friday, we had another record high, a 122186 new cases being reported. largely because

of this highly contagious on recon variant. now, the local government in the u. k, is losing political points with boris johnson's popularity rating. it has taken a snow dive and has hit record, learn december of some 23 percent. and that is largely because of his poor dealings with the for 19 pandemic. and a number of scandals here in germany, the health authorities have come forward and admitted that they are no longer tracing contacts of people who have court covert. in other words, there's no comprehensive follow up regarding people infected and who they are coming into contact with. take a listen. many germans believe that they do not have to be quarantined as a contact person because they are vaccinated. but that is not true. now the society here in germany is divided on christmas day. you had thousands of people who turned

out to protest against vaccinations, and that was in the gym and city of daffodils. but then again, on the same day, you had people waiting in long queues in puts them wake him to receive a vaccination. so the coven 19 pandemic remaining as controversial and as alarming as ever. meantime, are you ready for your special chip? something conspiracy theorists have been screaming about for years. a swedish company is invented a so called coven pass, that is a micro chip to be implanted under your skin. we talked to the people behind. i are the reverse opposed technology that can be used for many different things. and right now it's very convenient to have a cobit passport for waste accessible on your implant. so in case your phone runs out of about 3, it's always accessible to use.

the plan is readable by and the smartphone that has and if the function. so i can go to a restaurant or a movie theater. i just show them my arm and swipe me with the smartphone. and then that pops up the cobra. passport that i have on my chip. so you don't need a special ed for this kind of similar to a q r code. just up of course i don't want the cure code on my skin, right? i nato expansion, record gas prices and a wide range of other issues. and top concerns will be what the topics addressed by president vladimir putin on thursday. it was his annual marathon end of the year q and a with a media over $500.00 journalists gathered here at moscow for the event,

including foreign outlets. and the whole thing went over 4 hours in my ah, no, she needs to will directions, you know, depend on negotiations. they will depend on unconditional compliance with russia, security today and in the future. we medi clear native further movement to the east is acceptable, was not clear about it. are we the ones who deploy missiles next? the united states know that the united states who brought their missiles next to our home bill ready on our doorstep? is it an excessive demand? no more a tax systems near our home? is there something unusual about this? yet? no, we're doing. we're not an inch towards the east. we were told in a $990.00 than what they fooled us. the outrageously deceived us. 5 ways of nato expansion, and now they say, will have ukraine as whoa, whoa. usually if i take the traditional approach, that is

a woman is a woman, a man is a man, a mother is a mother, a father is a father. she is not all the peoples of the russian federation have a certain internal moral protection against such obscurity. them let them in the west do whatever they want, but also fit. and while this must be fought not by direct instructions and shouts, but by the support of the traditional values of them salute, it is necessary 1st of all, to rely on the theatre of the investigation. 17 criminal cases have been initiated under, under investigation. over a 1000 people dismissed and their criminal cases opened against them. i assure you, there is not a single investigator interested in any case. this is why we have a divided the investigative committee and the prosecutors office. there problem, yes, there is a problem. we need to work with his umbrella and a conscientious, fully fledged investigation of those crimes. and these are clearly the crimes that have been committed. we need to bring it to an end so that everyone understands the punishment for these offences is inevitable. ah, yeah, no i. oh,

long time ago i spoke with one the form you as president guess with whom. and he told me the boycott, the olympics in los angeles in moscow with big mistakes, including on the side of the united states and united states keeps on making them again, why the diplomatic and political boycotts of china. they tried to hold back the development of china. there were no other motives ah, no, these fairy city alley. we need to be realistic. the forces that appear at the helm of afghanistan, a trying to have different ethnic groups in the countries leadership. and this alone can create conditions for hope for stabilization in afghanistan. bullshit do now to help the people of afghanistan. and 1st of all, should be done by the countries that created such severe damage to the afghan economy and people. those were there for 20 years, destroying the economy should be the 1st to help on our side. we'll do everything depending on us. so a europe, so record gas prices this week and although they have dipped a little bit for now,

they're still very high at the west is largely pointing the finger at moscow saying it's withholding gas. the president putin gave his own explanation for the crisis. the little shooting they would buy them with. they are lying to us. they confusing everyone against promise. shipping the entire volume requested by counter agents. in accordance with the existing contract, we were saying we must not destroy long term contracts, but know that the european commission, we must use market terms. the market will regulated. well, here's how it's regulated. we have $2000.00 for 1000 cubic meters. you're welcome, the issue of gas. it's pretty clear that, you know, russia has nothing to do with that. he said that gas from one is one of the few companies in the world that have increase its supplies to europe. whereas, for example, the american suppliers have diverted gas from the liquefied natural gas from the european markets towards the markets where they can make more money. russia hasn't

done that. it increases supplies to germany, for example, by 10 percent. but that's not enough. i mean, and the russia is always whenever there is any issue or any contention issue or even the domestic problem. it seems that in europe and the west in general, i, in the habit of sort of resurrecting russia as the scarecrow to, you know, hang all the possible problems on. and, you know, you can be irritated by that. but after a certain amount of time, you just paying attention and i think this is if the content is at the moment, is simply boring. you know, like to narrow down every problem in the world onto the rush as plotting or evil doing or top stories of the day and the week or on our team more than half of people in the u. k. believe it or not, apparently to scare to say what they really think it's all about a new poll that found they're worried about being canceled, whether it be by friends, colleagues, or even their own family. shoddy edwards dusty picks up the story council culture

is silencing academics, a gagging public figures and wiping celebrities of the face of the planet. wait, can i really say that? who knows? but i'm not the only one biting my tongue as according to you got paul. majority of brits are living in fear of will being canceled. a majority of britons 57 percent say they have at least sometimes found themselves stopping themselves from expressing their political or social views for fear of judgment or negative responses from others. the idea or a person can be cancelled, or in other words, blocked from having a platform is happening to hundreds with a very similar cycle. you say something offensive receive a public backlash, and suddenly you're gone, done, finish, cancelled by by. but it's only happening to big names and faces, but people like you and me work on line on dates and even at home. i think we're living in a coach now of bullying, bullying in workplaces the government actually. so i think people are

frightened to always say what they feel in cases come back home. and so the main, she may just seem to have one sort of point of view of everything. and so if you say in different you get, so what you get quite has to think there's a lot of things, the climate change, covey or whatever. there's no discussion that is the narrative and you of the group or we should cause you then there's a lot of issues where you fear fred, very careful about what you say and not right now, a good debate. and we used to have a good healthy democracy. we have a debate and country where you could say things and then you'd have to all your case and some people just don't want to argue, i want to hear the ever argument. i just want to shut you down and say, no, you can't tell you that you don't allowed to say that i thought divide the traditional approach to the apology. atonement forgiveness is no longer enough to warrant if they weren't accountability. social justice point caught and the more

controversial the view on any hot topic like race, immigration breck, that the more you should keep your thoughts yourself and your mouth shop most with less progressive views on device of social topics, feel more reluctant to voice their opinion. some say rather than being politically correct, the whole thing has been spelled out of control into his social media, merciless mob rule. but i haven't felt some from taking the risk of being cancelled . like for instance, j. k. rowling and anti trust public position. worse bees, freedom of slavery, ignorance is trans. the penis things vigil. hurrah! too is a woman. oh, that wasn't her only comment. there's been plenty more. and as a result, she's been wiped off the face of the up even by the world. she created the pot to community and the movie production team deleted her from scripts. meanwhile. * r h b yos. 20th anniversary. she was bored. not only that, a number of couldn't leaks class they really do exist,

announced their rebranding to distance themselves away from j. k. rowling, the tough. that's a trans exclusionary radical feminist. but there are others in her potty school of thought. chicky raleigh wrote all the harry potter books by herself and they canceled her because she said gender was a fact. and then the trans community got mad and they started calling her turf trans, exclusionary radical feminist onto turf, gender as a fact. well, trans employees and allies at netflix stage to walk out forcing the c e o to publicly apologize when you ah voting. meanwhile team tough relished in the drama. if this is what being cancels,

is like i love it. the song continues as monty python star terry gilliam got canceled for endorsing chapels. netflix special shortly after the old vic right here in london, announcer pulling his shirt into the woods for miss november schedule. it is very said that a great cultural institution, like the old vig allowed itself to be intimidated into cancelling our production of into the woods by small group of closed minded humor, averse i. d o. x on their stuff. my unspeakable crime was recommending my facebook followers to watch netflix special by brilliant and provoked if american committed they did, and civilization didn't collapse. ok, so that's on the most extreme end of the scale. but at the end of the day, how hard is it not to say something that's obviously donning, turns out really hard indeed. cancel culture. this cancelling this punishment, it's everywhere. punishment. and i for and i,

you said that therefore you must never work again. sooner or later the counselors will win. oh, british actress of prime time, tell a more and let been thinks even comedy is now on the verge of being canceled. it's a bit like laughter in church. something has to be forbidden to make you really laugh. to make you belly laugh, it's when you shouldn't be laughing. and so therefore all the things that are being canceled out or i'm afraid the things that have always made people laugh. so is it time to cancel, cancel culture, because pretending somebody doesn't exist because they've touched a nerve, is a slippery slope. as let's face it. we've all upset someone, someone haven't re and the still to come here on the weekly, on asi international. it has been exactly 30 years since that you are just off to the break. ah

ah, join me every thursday on the alex, simon, she'll. and i'll be speaking to guess in the world of politics, sport, business. i'm show business. i'll see you then. oh is your media reflection of reality in the world transformed what will make you feel safer? isolation for community. are you going the right way or are you being that somewhere? direct? what is true? what is faith? in the world corrupted, you need to descend a join us in the depths or remain in the

shallows. the i for joining us here for the sunday weekly program. so today does mug phyllis, he years since the ussr was formerly dissolved. the union, of course, replaced by 15 independent states among them. russia was used murat gas. now think so look back at what's changed since the soviet flag over the kremlin was dropped. 30 years ago, humanity witnessed the spectacle. the dramatically changed the course of history. the spectacular overnight collapse of the ussr cielo sla, ruthie to as a result of a newly formed situation. creation of the commonwealth of independent states. i seize my activities in the post of the ussr president scale. so uniqueness,

ah, here enough, 300000000 people woke up with a new nationality. their homeland gone race that the stroke of the pen. and it began with the perestroika, a radical rethinking of soviet mentality, identity and ideology. we must begin 1st by restructuring our thinking on psychology organizationally and the style and ways of working. i would say frankly, though, we do not restructure ourselves and i'm deeply convinced of this, that we will not rebuild economy or social life. but perestroika proved too much too sudden too intense to unpredictable where the intent was evolution. the result was revolution. nationalism reared up with frightful speed across the u. s. sr. a

leads, and opportunities and various republic clamored for power and independence. the result was climactic. the usa, sorry, season his existence as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality. it was the dawn of a new age. that was pessimism, but there was also optimism what marvels could piece bring. a great empire nicholas superpower, was split into independent countries, which got the chance to cooperate with each other as closely as they wanted, without any bloodshed. and so began a flood of cultural exchange, as western ideas rolled and roiled across the former ussr. ah . ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback hundreds of millions of people have thrown off communism dictatorship or apartheid

former adversaries. now cooperate with us in diplomacy in global problem. solving. the ality, however, turned out to be far uglier than the propaganda post as will mainstream media promised the guiding hand of the communist party, god, old and buried hatreds, re ignited, and neighbors turned on each other. ah . it wasn't just war and uncountable debts. i'd was misery,

pure and simple economic social health care collapse. the rise of transnational matthews and we'll get eyes crime fraud and corruption sisted across the former soviet union. ah . ringback ringback ringback ah, a traumatized, the people undoubtedly the misery and the hopelessness of the 90s, they yearned for stability. not for communism, no, nor the ussr, but for a semblance of order. and whatever his, the tractors might have to say about putin, he gave the russians stability. agatha. unfortunately, are common fatherland, the soviet union dissolved. as you know, the core of this common states is historical russia, the russian federation,

which is, you know, lost almost half of its industrial potential, half of its economy, the same share of its population and a substantial part of its territory. what can we do about this? now, i've already said that restoring the soviet union would be pointless and impossible for many reasons and not even desirable because in the senior which make sense. few want the u. s. a saw communists back. legends have made that very clear, but to build a new state, a new russia, one which provides for the people, rather than uses them and at the same time, evoked the sort of respect that the soviet union did. while that scares russia's opponents, hooton's plan scares them. you know, i think the concern is that president putin's public lamentations and private lamentations about her demise as the soviet union have gotten, ah,

noisier and stronger over the years of the concern is that he's actually as a legacy project seeking to reconstitute to soviet union. and then, you know, would his appetite b for sailed with that eating or what he seek. the soviet union has been gone for 30 years, but had spirited lives on it lives on the hearts of former citizens who now remember only the glory days, the good pots. they forget the empty shelves, the food lines, the k g, b. it lives out on the minds of russia's rivals who still think in terms of blocks and super bowers stuck as they are in the past. who believe that russia lost it say, forever when the usaa saw collapsed? regardless of the fact that 30 years have passed since i rodnick, isn't it? even in death, the soviet union still shapes our futures. we talk with italian journalist

paolo valentino. he was actually on the iconic red square here in central moscow. as the soviet union fell 30 years ago, he says it was an unforgettable moment. it was a long process that started in august. so this realization came little by little. if i have, if i have to fix a moment, so deep emotion was exactly the night between the 25th and the 26th of december. when with other colleagues in trends, we went to the red square and we saw this flag will be represented for 70 years, the, the, the prestige and the my of the soviet union just coming out and i was not a soviet citizen. no, i mean, it was not the trade to be, but it was quite important was emotional for what? you're the obvious. you don't know how to,

for millions of people until the be in the meeting. did they in the russian forest. you know, nobody really believed that this could have happened. there was, there were, i thought is if there were room or there were, but nobody really believed that the, they simply just like that the, the soviet union could be declared not, not, not existence anymore. we went to, i mean when i say we, i mean me and my, my for colleagues and my fellow who calling my federal journalist the friends, we went to the press conference in anger because we just suddenly, you know, with the tanks in the speed to we based or causing that outflow, the papers and by the other political parties. we were seeing again,

that in the face of the soviet with which we thought was gone forever. and because of gorbachev, i, that's wrapping up the weekly for this hour here. we're not here to national, appreciate you joining us for the sunday program. anything you may have missed log on to auto dot com also check out on you to check for the meantime. i scheduled. ah. by the panoramic. no. certainly no board is under slide number t's and you farish as emerge. we don't have authority, we don't have a vaccine. whole world needs to take action and be ready. people are judgment, common crisis with we can do better,

we should be doing better. everyone is contributing each in their own way, but we also know that this crisis will not go on forever. the challenge is great. the response has been massive. so many good people are helping us. it makes us feel very proud that we are in it together. ah you took a forced air, chill patristic, always. they chose good formula. then each one of them though i suppose, yes. my william, let's use the old school is out of it is the curriculum was left the keenest eyeball. all for me, with nation

for 4th quarter with junior was, wasn't deal if the department was put in that if you can squeeze you machine that i did with no, i need to put that amount with the famous power to store and with welcome back to the lars lars said show it's 7 minutes after the hour and i'm in one of the best places you can ever be on a friday for 1st amendment friday because we're making it a 2nd amendment friday. i'm a northwest armory on se mclaughlin. this place is a mad house today. it looks like you know, shopping day after thanksgiving our business has been exponential amount.