spirit of christmas. you decide. i a you with your nation, so i hit by record daily, good numbers, while protests continue against tosh. new restriction, in other story to take that you must give us the guarantees it is up to you and you must do it immediately. and demand assurances from nato that it won't move place is closer to russia. that says the president feels questions on global affairs. that his annual media briefing a poll finds more than half of adults in the u. k. think

counsel culture has gone too far, and they're no longer able to speak their minds by living in a coach. now a bullying we used to have a good healthy democracy. good. have a debate in this country where you could say things and then you'd have to all your case people are frightened to always say, well, they fail in cases that come today marked 30 years since the official right of the soviet union. we look back at those historic events and how they have shaped modern russia with hello welcome to the weekly or north in finacialow, daniel hawkins. wherever you are this hour, welcome to the program. or the christmas season's been overshadowed by record cove and search in europe with france, italy and the u. k. registering new highs in daily infections. parties policy layer has more. we have a huge surge. ours cause a 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 the necessities necessity of carrying a health past, 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 it,

me here to we have record numbers for the 2nd consecutive day on friday, italy reporting 50599 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 the con 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, learned december of some 23 percent. and that is largely because of his poor dealings with the co. 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 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 wakened to receive a vaccination. so the coven 19 pandemic remaining as controversial and as alarming as ever. still to come this hour, there is a new form of cobra pass that could really get under your skin,

find out more interested human. its time. nato has offered to hold folks in russia on january, the 12th, after months of tensions between the 2 sides driven and has responded, saying it's considering the proposal m oscars. top priority is to stop native eastern expansion and western military involvement and ukraine. those issues were addressed by president booth in this week during his traditional end of the a, q and a with the media. ah, no, she used to google directions, you know, depend on negotiations. they will depend on unconditional compliance with russia, security today and in the future. we medi clear nato's further movement to the east is unacceptable, 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, already on our doorstep, is it an excessive demand?

no more attack 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 the 19 nineties and what they fooled us. the outrageously deceived us. 5 ways of nato expansion. and now they say will have ukraine as whoa here. 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 or 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 borrowed for fit and well, this must be fought, not my direct instructions and shouts the by the support of our traditional values of them. so it is necessary 1st of all, to rely on the data of the investigation. 17 criminal cases have been initiated under under investigation. over a 1000 people dismissed and their criminal cases opened against the law. i assure

you, there is not a single investigator interested in any case. this is why we have divided the investigative committee and the prosecutors off. is there problem? yes, there is a problem we need to work with it's umbrella and 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, i have no way long time ago i spoke with one the form you as president guess with whom. and he told me the boy cause the olympics in los angeles in moscow were 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 elements of china. there are no other motives ah, you know, these very city alley. we need to be realistic. the forces that appeared at the helm of afghanistan are trying to have different ethnic groups in the countries

leadership. and this alone concrete conditions for hope, for stabilization in afghanistan. bullshit, do now to help the people of afghanistan. and 1st of all, it 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. another topic that was raised natural gas, the europe for us, of course, it by record prices this way, commanding higher bills for millions of household. some on the west, the pointing the finger at moscow saying it's withholding gas for president putin gave his own explanation for the crisis. the rule to him it would weigh them with. they are lying to us there. confusing every one gets promised. 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 regulate it. well, here's how it regulates it. we have 2000 dollars, 1000 cubic meters. you're welcome,

the issue of gas. it's pretty clear that you know, russia has nothing to do with that. a he said that gas from one is one of the few companies in the world that has increased its supplies to europe. whereas, for example, the american suppliers have diverted gas from the liquefied natural gas from the european market. toys the markets where they can make more money. russia hasn't done that. it increased its 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, any contentious issue or even a 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 the, you know, you can be irritated by that. but after a certain amount of time, he's still thinking attention and i think this is a state that the concern is at the moment. it's just simply boring. you know, like to narrow down every problem in the world onto the rushes, plotting our evils,

doing more than half of adults in the child who scare to say what they really think . a new poll found they're worried about being canceled by friends, colleagues, or even their own family, or to use shut ad was darcy, has 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 not the only one biting my tongue as according to you got paul. majority of breads are living in fear of will being canceled. the 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 id or password can be canceled 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 a finish cancelled by by. but it's only happening to big names and faces, but people like you and me work online on dates and even at home. i think we're living in a coach now of bullying, bullying in workplaces a government as that actually. so i think people are frightened to always say what they feel in case there's a come back on. so the main she made you seem to have so one, so a point of view of everything. and so if you say in different, you get what you get quite a has to think there's a lot of things for the climate, change, covey or whatever. there's no discussion that is the narrative. and you of the group or wish cause you down has a lot of issues where you fear fred, very careful about what you say and that's not right. well, have 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 of your

case and some people just don't want to argue. i want to hear the 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 device. i traditional a private to the apology. atonement forgiveness is no longer enough to warrant if they weren't accountability, social justice boycott. and the more controversial the view on any topic like race, immigration breck, that the more you should keep your thoughts 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 spun out of control into his social media, merciless mob rule, but having 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 biggest thing to vigil. hurrah! too is a woman. well, 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 bought the 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 gas 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. jackie rally 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 with

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 from its november schedule. it is very said that a great cultural institution like the old, vague, 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 actors of prime time tele more in 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 last. it's when you shouldn't be laughing. and so therefore all the things that are being cancelled out, or i'm afraid the things that i've 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 separate slope as let's face it. we've all upset someone somewhere haven't way.

now you might think the audio glancing microchips on your skin to show cobra immunity is just a conspiracy theory. but a swedish companies actually developed such a device. we spoke to the mentors behind it. i or the reverse opposed to acknowledge that can be used for many different things. and right now it's very convenient to have a passport for waste accessible on your in plan. so in case your phone runs out about 3, it's always accessible to ah, the implant is readable by and the smart phone 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 a smartphone and then that pops up the passport that i have on my shift. 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. busy still got this hour, it's exactly 30 years us. it's our officially cease to exist. we living that historical turning point off of the bright. ah, i oh, is your media a 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 great? join us in the depths or remain in the shallows. for special gas today, the old in the legendary mich fire sign, author of the planet ponzi match. nice to see happy holidays. ah, welcome back to remarks 30 years since the u. s. a saw was formerly dissolved. the union was replaced by 15 independent states among them. russia ought,

he's more ghastly uptake to look back now. it was changed since the soviet flag with the kremlin was lowered. for the last time. 30 years ago, humanity witness. the spectacle, the dramatically changed the course of history, the spectacular overnight collapse of the ussr sulu lucrative 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. so uniqueness, ah, here enough, 300000000 people woke up with a new nationality. their homeland gone race that the stroke of the pet. 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 in the style and ways 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 worried up with frightful speed. across the u. s. i saw a leads and opportunities in various republics, clamored for power and independence. the result was climactic. the u. s. a sorry, says in 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 uh, 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 and global problem solving. reality, 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 void and uncountable debts. i'd was misery, pure and simple economic social health care collapse. the rise of transnational matthews and we'll get ice 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 like a bertha. unfortunately, our 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 of the senior which make sense to want the u. s. a saw communists back. elections 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 the demise of the soviet union have gotten a noisier and stronger over the years. so the concern is that he's actually as a legacy project seeking to reconstitute the soviet union. and then, you know, would his appetite be fulfilled with that eating or what he seek? the soviet union has been gone for 30 years, but had spirited lives on it lives on in 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, at lives on the minds of rush has rivals who still think in terms of blocks and super bowers stuck as they are in the past. who believe that russia last did say forever when the ussr collapsed? regardless of the fact that 30 years have passed since i roddick, isn't it even in death? the soviet union still shapes our futures. or we spoke to mchale to retire. we lived in estonia, but was never made a citizen of the collapse of the u. s. i saw it. alls about the struggles russian speakers can face these days. is still senior. she doesn't, you mother was like a lot of the sun ins have always held high positions. and after histone again, its independence. all arch enterprises were brought to bankruptcy by any means. all the russians who worked there did not speak a stone in and were fired. and while they were learning miss stone in their people

took all the vacant places. my mother tried and learned the language, but even she, with the higher education, had to work as a cleaner. after independence language categories appeared in estonia, language inspection body was active and rates of schools and other institutions began. those identified were laid off of their ra russian. speak in civil servants, but they tend not to be further up in the highs government circles. russian speakers can vote in local elections, but they cannot vote in parliamentary elections. my de known citizens status are truly like the ellen passport is equivalent to refugee state. and i have it even though i was born and grew up here in estonia and my grandmother and mother are buried here. it is not right. i am serious, serious or been oh, russian schools will be close in, taught to go. and they want to prohibit teaching in russian language. they haven't studied russian history for a long time. like the schools are teaching the history of estonia,

about the occupation and all that. for sure. i was born in the stone in soviet socialist republic, which has become estonian. but for me, nothing has changed. cease it was in the ussr. it has remained the same, the same people around me, the same houses, the same roads. i consider histone it to be my homeland. if my motherland will always be the country where my ancestors leapt, russia, it turns out next thought your commentary takes a closer look at the gun control debate in oregon, usa, the team, and i a back and all for now that i just said line to join us again that ah, and i make no borders line to nationalities and

you various as a merge we don't have authority. we don't to look back seen the whole world leads to take action to be ready. people are judge, you know. 2 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 with 0, $1.00 of the major functions are merged go with president bush junior, was in 2008 this so called bucharest company. and that state the united states

actually wants it for georgia and ukraine to get them a nato membership to start this so called membership action plan. and it was germany that stop that and then said, no, we don't want to do that because these countries will not add to the stability nato, which is one of the prerequisites. and the nature of treaty ah ah ah.