my show stay mainstream because i'm probably gonna make you uncomfortable. my show is called direct impact, but again, but we don't want to watch it because it might just change the way you think. a panic on social media. as on verified video footage appears to show an explosion over the us city, where a chinese surveillance balloon was previously spotted. officials deny any blas happened. the g 7 nations impose a price cap on russian oil products to caught moscow's revenue with the e. u commission president praising the decision as a way to stabilize global energy prices. cutting off alternative voices. the youth cracked down on media freedom courses r t d e production to seize its operations in germany.

ah, good morning from are to international studios in moscow when welcome to the hour's top stories worldwide. i'm 0 is about social media accounts and use outlets have cried foul over reports of an explosion in the same us city where a balloon which china has labeled a weather device was spotted earlier. this on verified footage is that to show the moment of the blast while some media linked it to the balloon. it's unclear what exactly cause the explosion. at the same time, local officials deny the blast actually took place. we have confirmed with montana disaster and emergency services, and governor join force that there have not been any explosions in her round or cross montana. they are aware of the video and it can not be substantiated. we're going live now to reduce killer mop in. good morning, caleb,

quite contradicting reports coming through about the development of this story. what more do we know? well, at this point, we're hearing conflicting accounts, obviously on social media, there is this video floating around that purports just show an explosion. however, we have heard from us officials that they can't confirm this explosion exists. now the whole thing revolves around this balloon, and this balloon is of chinese origin. it was 1st over the aleutian islands, then it was in billings montana. there's some concern about the possibility that it's near nuclear sites. china has confirmed that this is a chinese balloon as a weather balloon used for media logical research by the chinese authorities. now they have made clear this balloon serves no military purpose. it's not being used for spying or anything of that effect. it's simply for monitoring the weather man. it's also been confirmed by

a number of experts in the united states that there is nothing that could be obtained from such a balloon that couldn't easily be obtained by china with satellite so satellites. they could just as easily get any information and that there is no threat to civilians posed by this balloon. this is not a weaponized balloon. this is not a drone or anything like that. there is no danger to civilians by this balloon. now, it is worth noting, however, the anthony blanket, the u. s. secretary of state did cancel his meeting with the chinese president and canceled it, saying this balloon is the re, is that this is what he said. i make clear that the presence of the surveillance balloon in you as her space is a clear violation of your sovereignty, an international law that is an irresponsible act, and that the piercing decision to take the section on these, my plan visit is detrimental to the subject of discussions that we were prepared to have. now the language that's being used by us officials and by us media is they're

referring to as a spy bull loan. and there are reports of another balloon somewhere in latin america, possibly another balloon, a chinese origin. and it is worth noting that beijing has apologized for this bullet on they said it was not their intention to violate us aerospace this balloon went off course. however, beijing has been pretty firm to denounce the anti china town and the anti china hysteria. the wave of hostility to china, we're now hearing an american media. here's what we've heard from chinese officials . this was a complete accident caused by a force, missouri, and effects. a very clear. china has always, strictly abided by international law, respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, and has never intentionally violated the territory and air space of a new southern country. some politicians and media in the united states have taken advantage of the issue to attack and described a china china firm that opposes this. now there's

a social media bonanza going on. of course, all kinds of names and images, people, invoking star wars, the death star, all kinds of science fiction. you know, there's memories of, of spot neck in the panic in the united states. back in the 1950s, in response to the soviet union was launching the the spacecraft and you know, people are making all kinds of comparisons. it's been the talk of american media. however, at this point, china is pointing out. this is the unintentional violation of us aerospace by a balloon that could not really threaten to anyone that has no danger, even according to us experts. they're saying that their territorial integrity was intentionally violated by nancy. pelosi was then secretary of state. she went on to china's territory in taiwan without the permission of the us recognize chinese government. the u. s. government recognizes one china. and yet in violation of that,

the u. s. secretary of state went to beijing and created a, went, went to taiwan and created a diplomatic crisis. and so china is pointing out that while they are not intentionally violating any countries, territorial integrity or aerospace, it appears the united states ban on continuing to haunt china with their provocations around taiwan that are definitely intentional and involved more than just balloons. and this point high ranking officials, and there is also, may be pointed out that us drones and other us aircraft have violated the territorial integrity and air space of countries throughout history. this kind of thing is happening from the us side. however, this has not stopped american media from going into an anti china overdrive. there's all kinds of very fierce allegations and heated language being displayed on us media and from us officials. very interesting development start to kill him up and thank you. according to the u. s. military,

the chinese balloon has changed its trajectory. it is now moving east, which demonstrates that the object can maneuver legal and media analyst line all says the us are deliberately blowing things out of proportion with the use of the word balloon. having a strategic meaning, in this case, american mean stream corporate media actually reacting in a way that is roughly commensurate with the situation that is going on. normally it's, i, what are you going to do? and i must say something, because i am a cultural scholar. when it comes to balloons, that word triggers something. whenever we see somebody fly across the sky at hypersonic rates and make right turns we don't call it a u. f o we call in a weather balloon. these weather balloons are all over the place. are swamp gas. now, here is the question. does anybody understand what this means when you have a balloon fly over a sovereign country?

may i also ask the question if and joe, the china, we replaced the country. when another name, do you think the reaction might be a little different? it's incredible. let me tell you the will use of the word balloon is strategic. is that can you imagine being attacked by a balloon? gets it a part i am i, i know i'm making too much out of this, but i know how people work. devoted my life to what it does, any kind of anticipatory or reaction for recall formation to it. there is no put teller, wait a minute. when you hear missile rocket plane, you know, then you, you, you, you react, but the part of your brain, which normally turns on this as i think i better investigate this more does not activate. when you say boulogne is sound innocuous, a sound anodyne, sacred. so what is a mistake? and oh, and not only that, it's that a shot. i went below it. so either below,

you know, whether climate change, good rain, inaccurate. we made a mistake, and here's the best part. wait and show. china says, can we have our balloon back? and do you mean to tell me a can't be intercepted? and the g 7 states have agreed to impose a price cap on russian oil products, which will take effect from this sunday. the new price for products such as diesel will be a $100.00 per barrel and $45.00 for fuel oil and not. the president of the european commission praised decision as a move aimed at stabilizing global energy prices. we must continue to deprive rush of the means to wage war against ukraine. use import bed and russian petroleum products comes into force on sunday. with the g 7, we're putting price caps on these product, cutting washes revenue while ensuring stable global energy markets. rushes retaliatory measures to

a crude oil price cap agreed upon by the g. 7 nations in december last year came into effect on the 1st of february, meeting that exports the country supporting the price. limitations is no longer possible. russian president vladimir putin earlier stated that russia isn't feeling any financial losses as a result of the sanctions barrage. our chief contributor chris and joined me live now to discuss this topic. good morning, chris. first of all, what more do we know about this newly imposed price cap agreement? yeah, this is really interesting. so this brought to us last night, moscow time where you and i are. and it's really interesting, right? because the whole thing this price kept like you just said in the biggest that we've got a $100.00 price cap on what we call premium oil premium. like diesel and $45.00 on on, you know, other products that may be used. now the interesting thing about this piano is,

is price cap predominately it's been imposed by the u, but by the presidency v. presently, the presidency right now is held by suite. it so we didn't actually, you did it on 60 percent or even more of renewable energy. they're not so dependent compared to that, that bold take european partners like even like potent until the beginning of the special military operation. but more or less totally dependent on russian oil in terms of the trade in products. so really, both states now said look, okay, we'll take this for now. but we want to review every few months on this price gap. and it's very, very hard to see how these countries. ready be able to depend on oil from the united states, or from the pick up countries like saudi arabia. that is said, look, we cannot, we will refuse to pass the we won't give you any more than we are using right now, which leaves them in a very small now, according to the g 7 members,

the price cap is said to be created to stabilize the oil market prices, but does it really though? absolutely don't see around us. we have to look at biden's, sort of frantic visit to saudi arabia. last july. we went to saudi right off the saudis. hey, when you off your audio production capacity. the saudi said, absolutely no, we said look, they said, you know, we've been international agreements with the russian federation and with all the allies that i'm partners that you know, that we can only produce a certain amount of oil because our entire part is to stabilize. so prices, not just the what the united states that we need to do, by the way, the only reason the united states is more or less able to depend on their own supply of oil and gas which doesn't affect the rest of the world, is because of the policies of, of the previous president trump, who decided to, to frack natural gas, to increase production of his own country. and which suddenly this, this new administration that came in, we're not new anymore. came in and said, hey,

that was a great idea when they opposed it last time. so in your opinion, chris, in the long run, will russia be affected by the price cap as much as western leader to predict? i don't think so until fiorella, looking at where russian russian oil and gas exports to going these days ever since the start of the special ministry operation, even before then ross has already started trading with that there are other partners. they weren't solely dependent on the west china, we buy more russian oil and gas than ever before. the chinese economy can eat up as much as possible. if you look at india, for example, we've got a lot of western se thing that buying indian oil, but we're pretty aware that that india and oil coming in, originate in russia, where the majority of it does so, it's very hard to see how effective, whatsoever, and only really hope really hurts the part of me, those, those, those, those western countries saying that russia responded to the oil ban. and that took

effect on the 1st of february meeting that moscow no longer export any oil products to the countries that agreed on this price. cap, how does this look in terms of the, the global scene? the fact that you know, this is happening. yeah, this is a really great question. fiorella, right? so you can, you can, you can battle, you can still exploiting at different places, but the fact is, oil is not like you buying, buying a kind of coca cola. that's where it came from. right? so a lot of oil, oil changes, parents that anyone house for fine, right. so that taken other country to be sanctioned by the west in the pop that have been a way that iraq. right. but it's where did it around the didn't stop exporting oil and gas just because the west told the nazi, right. as soon as that leads back that country of origin, it goes the other goes to other refinery. it's very, very hard to trace. the provenance of that so, so in reality these, these are the types of totally ineffective, especially for a company like russia,

which is known for the quality of the product which it produces. it's not some kind of bustle states. it doesn't know how to refine how to, how to produce very high quality, but petroleum products. right? so really incompletely ineffective. they can talk as much as they want, but the reality is trying to actually back up and try to figure out whether it came from roster in the 1st place is more or less impossible. while speaking of talk, according to a recently published, bloomberg article, new york in particular is ramping up exports of indian oil, which is in turn, comes from russia. if the west is still buying russian oil, why does it try to create this image of sanctioning it? yeah, this is another really great question for me. fair. the, the fact that it's just the story right. it makes great headlines, allow someone to sit up in the european parliament, whichever one of these, you know, west and parliament around the world that they want to make a big. but the reality is, the world cannot depend on oil from the country build the us. number one,

if you're, you're, it's way too expensive to do a number 2, they're just not enough of it. russia is the largest country on the planet. you can't suddenly block all of its capacity, all of the ability to extract we, those is from it, and i'm so buys of the nation is just never going to happen. and really quick, chris, the i'm of says russia, oil exports won't be affected with some international experts also admitting that the sanctions on oil have failed completely. so why are they sticking to this policy then? that's a really big question about it. because beyond that, there's no friend of rush, we've covered this on the program all of all of this week. right. and really that would mean that that won't happen again. i think it's because the just getting, getting orders from that, from that american masses to come up with these rhetoric to pull in the proper down the west and meet the machine just to say, hey, russian oil bad american oil look is great. the u. s. economy, right, the us is

a country which is know in the europe where all of these european nations now kind of being cajoled to buy from them at a premium price. it only really has the consumer in the west and it benefits us, us oil and commodities. businesses are taking tribute or chris, i'm thank you, chris and still staying on europe. the latest round of sanctions has him bypassed a chance to sanction media freedom as well with brussels restrictions. now having forced our outward to seize the work of its production office in germany. however, our t, german language channel will continue to operate and broadcast internationally from its headquarters and moscow in this statement, our t b says the move came as a result of the betrayal of fundamental rights and freedoms by the european union. and the german governments are tv productions regretfully announces the decision to cease the company's journalistic activities in germany. archie de productions has

faced immense pressure from government media, businesses and others who have sought to curtail is journalistic work. and to silence the voice as it brings to public attention, the e. u. in permitting the imposition of sanctions on media. freedoms has shown that the very values claims to define the core of its existence are without any substance. the freedom of the press to operate without hindrance does not exist in germany today. the r t d, a production office located in berlin has created a wide range of content for our german language channel. the outlet has faced immense pressure ever since it was launched from moscow. in december 2021. germany persuaded a european satellite tv operator to show our channel. our t german language stream on youtube was also blocked the same day. it was launched following the start of the conflict ukraine and ukraine. a year ago, e u authorities took unprecedented steps to shut down are cheese activity inside

europe and march aber lin courts divided with germany's media regulator in banning our channel in the country. according to our tv, the latest e sanctions effectively cut off oxygen for our remaining staff inside germany. our t managing director alexi nichol love, says international viewers won't have any trouble tuning into our t. despite the western ban. they are afraid of say, our competition. even though our resources of so much smaller, our finance is so much smaller our ability to broadcast our in comparable even so they got so scared of somebody challenging their agenda that they are just doing what they're doing. and this really shows how weak they are, how weak is their agenda? people overall are not stupid. they're not it. they don't like to be treated

as it is. if they are right to access the independent information, the alternative source of information is being stopped. they find inevitably, they will find the way to get this information. it's already happening, including in germany. it's so funny. the germans almost did not use any of the pan to access the hub in the band. i internet addresses at all. now the, the usage of the dance has grown exponentially in germany. i, it was very rude wanting to hear that. and somebody who believes that you can completely block access to alternative information to alternative views is making a huge mistake. and they will learn that very fast. former greek ambassador, earlier night, as chris and populous says,

you officials have shot themselves in the foot by violating european law. there is no freedom of the 1st it all of the ease of the european union, including my country, greece, where we have no information. oh, what is going on in reality? as it goes against the e, who legislations, it goes against her opinion treaty over this, been where the liberty of information liberty, of the press are guaranteed to submit that it's taken. they are hitting themselves and they are weakening themselves the european union. we only have western information and western information is not correct. it's basically propaganda. we need to have both sides available to, to the people so that the people can make their own judgment on one by one.

russia is backing india's bed to become a permanent member of the united nations security council. this was emphasized by moscow's envoy to new delhi while addressing the indian council of world affairs. russia supports india's commitment to become and the permanent ambo, the, you ask. the crew to council will see the currents engine peasants seeing the g 20 and in the saw high corporation organization as an opportunity to efficiently promote the agenda of these crucial associations. we appreciate the idea of the consensus based response to the challenges with regard to motion, energy, and food crisis, as well as through sustainable development needs, especially in the global south. the un security council was thought founded right after the 2nd world war and established 5 men, permanent members, china, france, russia, the u. k, and u. s. aside from them, the council also includes 10 non permanent members elected by the general assembly for a to term of 2 years in officials that earlier mentioned the under representation

of populace asian and african nations in the un pushing for reform within the organization. foreign affairs expert, dr. swati, rob believes india is fully eligible to receive permanent membership. i think in just a bit of credit to who can reinstate faith in these though, you know, google institutions because india has been doing such still work when it comes to how it so staring the policies, you know, i'm it the g 20 right. no beach and g 20 as well as the operation organization. so that's one. so into is a correct candidate. that's one. the 2nd thing is that, let's also understand that united nations security council is not reflective of the current bill on to because united nations security council in many ways is still reflective of the world. that was there after the 2nd world war. so it is an institution which is kind of frozen in time. ok, i think that's a community council unless i'm listen, i'm to let reforms,

it will really lose it. so, you know, i would say it's rational and if you become a little bit, it will be monitored by embassies again and again. so i really feel it. and it really does need to change because it's not able to a saw the score deals maintaining the sensitivity to world health concerns run counter to the desire for a faster vaccine release with a top pfizer executive allegedly describing how the company turned a blind eye to concerns about the possible problems with women's metro cycles. oh, i'm like, oh so you will need that. yeah. was there any day that i can be in with that, but we don't it shouldn't take somebody out and we don't know. it's around this statement. it comes as part of a series of scandalous revelations from a nonprofit journalism enterprise project veritas demonstrating how pfizer rushed

to release the vaccine and turned a blind eye to concern pfizer previously denied allegations that he used monkeys to create and control new types of core. oh no virus. we spoke with a former president of the indian medical association who expressed concerns about the possible complications from the vaccine. that is, this has come on down the minutes to get out of this large number of people giving up a good bit of noise in this place without taken much more care out at leisure, in bomb and the previously what the complications with related to the rec, today, unfortunately, they have not disclosed this to all other complications. so well be feel that it is a morning giving you missed information to the public for the pick up. they are one invoice that is not accepted or expected in the company of that state of the face

of this day. since they are not mentioned in the beginning of their audience, they are all the 15 of the $51.00 and that does not be insured. so that gives us the fear that the more complicated will be, the more people will be getting up like that. so that is why we are concerned that's and those were the top stories. this our for more up to the minute use updates, head over to r t dot com. and don't forget to follow us on odyssey rumble. and gab, thanks for checking in. we'll see you back at the top of the hour. ah ah, museums are important for preserving our history so that it is lost to future generations. but our fiscal museum spaces themselves

a relic of the past. this is one of the best museums in the world, from a touch in st. petersburg to help roughly the director here and i bet he has met ah, louise to come to russian state will never be as tight as anton and ignore some scheme divest to him the knocking house. oh son, send me it within 50 babel been okay. so many gardens speaking. one else about this even with we will van in the european union, the kremlin media machine. the state aren't russia today and split or t spoke neck. even our video agency, roughly all band to on youtube with patricia, did you think even close to chat with

me? ah, i'm option residency and welcome back to going underground rural, gusting all around the world from dubai. in the united arab emirates, african nations faced mounting pressure from nato nations to support that war on russia through ukraine, especially since vladimir putin's foreign minister sag elaborate, groundbreaking tour of african nations cullman in joint military drills between the armies of russia in south africa. with me today is the professor at a k at about jo, former director, the institute of pan african thought and conversation at the university of john his work. he served on you and missions in south africa. he's also the author of the

new book, boutros boutros golly, after our profit profit proselytize, a pharaoh and pope, one of the very few written works on the u. ends. first african arab 60 general, whose contributions he says had been raised by nature nation scholars professor at about your choice. we now from johannesburg in south africa. thank you so much, professor for joining us. before we get to the book, i must ask, man, i should say, a book about a un secretary general that wasn't assassinated unlike dag hamish old famously, your view of a lab, rob's visit to africa. i mean, in asia nation, media, i don't, i knew you were in nigeria at the time during the visit, but i mean all but condemning as, as african count about melody pander. oh, for join russia? south africa perhaps shine a military drills a, i suppose, as a class, divide in all the sorts of things elite in south africa, looking down at the a government in south africa for doing anything with russia and a different story for the masses. well, thank you very much and i have to say,

i'm the university of so re, i even though i'm based in johannesburg, i think the last visit and the whole ukraine issue has divided opinion in south africa. generally. i think it's also important to note that among the ruling africa, national congress leads many of them was educated, received military training in the soviet union at the time, and a lot of sympathy for russia generally and the way at the time. but typically the us brits on the reagan darcia was supporting the regime against which the n c was fighting. so those dynamics are quite important to understand in south africa position.