but that sir, not the way we do it inside the d european the inside european union. so i think it more important is to concentrate ourselves on our what could avoid search or tragedies. and again, there a change in d, a european ah, migration, and sign of policy is absolutely key. or like there is also a need for the okay, for united kingdom to understand that they are now out of the european union and they need to take their own responsibility for down migration, an asylum policy, or what i think totally understand. and i'll re savvy, i think they understand that i'm talking about diplomatic go up. so i'm not sure i'm not so sure that maybe you understand that i'm not so sure that the, that the british government and buddy johnson understand that this diplomatic stand off may be great fun for governments. but the only people who are going to get hurt by this are the migrants, isn't it time for everyone to stop playing games with these people's lives? it's, it's at the time now earth to do what are the most governments, especially also the british government, but also

, that the european union, european union officials are not at the negotiating table. so maybe this is an impulse for them to change policy. and to come up with one voice in order to play a bigger role. internationally speaking, to w, corresponded lisa. we are reporting from breast france where the ministers are meeting. thank you. lisa was get you up to speed. now, with the other headlines that were tracking a troops from 8 russia, led military alliance deployed to kazakhstan, have begun heading home because our president, called in the forces last week after peaceful demonstrations against rising fuel prices escalated into violent anti government protests. authority say they have now regained full control in the central asian nation. written this prince. andrew has been stripped of his royal highness title, along with his military affiliations. and royal patronage. is the princess facing a civil case in the u. s. over allegations he sexually assaulted a woman when she was 17 virginia jew freight is suing the prince, claiming he abused her in 2000. and one teachers an

, that the european union, european union officials are not at the negotiating table. so maybe this is an impulse for them to change policy. and to come up with one voice in order to play a bigger role. internationally speaking, to w, corresponded lisa. we are reporting from breast france where the you ministers are meeting. thank you, lisa want to bring up to speed. now, with some of the other headlines that we are tracking for you right now, troops from a russia lead security alliance deploy to kazakhstan, have begun heading home because a president called in the forces last week after peaceful demonstrations against rising fuel prices escalated into violent anti government protests, authority say they have now regained full control. teachers in france have gone on strike of what they say is the unmanageable burden of dealing with covert 19 walls. about half of france's primary schools had to remain closed due to the walkout. teachers unions want better protection in the classroom. as the on the crown variant fuse a huge surge in cases. labor unions have paralyzed pa

but we've also seen, you know, potential for a, almost a kind of a collision of european union versus nato approaches to this situation. just yesterday, in the speech by a manual, my call in brussels, where he was discussing the french presidency of the european council which has just begun. so this is, each member of state of the european union takes the presidency of this body of the european council on a rotating basis. and now it's frances turn. and in his speech a man, while my call and talks about the european union, it was time for the european union in the weeks ahead to come up with proposals for an entirely new security order in europe that could then be discussed with the russians. and this ruffling some feathers, were people thinking, gosh, is he trying to create a kind of parallel approach to dealing with russia outside nato? there been some voices saying no, that this will be complimentary to nato, but that just gives a little bit of a sense of the potential kind of complexity of dealing with this. with this situation that we face ourselves with and l d. richard, i'm jus

most european union member states belong to an area called the schengen zone. an agreement that allows for free passage across european borders of migrants. hungary is on the southern edge of that zone. that means it's the 1st country that migrants arrive at when they walk from the middle east. in 2015, hundreds of thousands of migrants showed up at the hungarian border. victor orbán had a simple solution, build a fence and enforce the country's laws. hungry is not the richest country in the world. it is not even the richest country in central europe. and somehow they managed to build a border wall in about 20 minutes. hungry began building the fence in june of 2015, by september, it was done. illegal crossings immediately dropped to almost zero. they are serious about their border it is not a high-tech border wall. it is a double fence, with a road in the middle. but the difference is they're willing to protect it. they're not kidding. its their border. they control it, because it is their country. the other thing you notice, it is not filthy. there are not pe

the euro is the european union currency. countries in the european union are members, and i think that will continue to be the case for a long time to come. if for instance, the u. k. were ever to decide to rejoin the european union, i'm sure it would be told you have to join the euro, but i think political negotiation, it would probably be allowed not to the way that suite hasn't. john paid an interesting conversation. thank you so much for talking to us. thank you. near brings with it the world's largest free trade agreement, which has come into force in the asia pacific region. the deal called the regional comprehensive economic partnership, plaza muscle, or r c. e p. was signed in 2020, it sent to east trade barriers between 15 nations. they include china, japan, south korea, australia and new zealand, and 10 members of the association of southeast asian nations or assy on countries. the deal aims to slash 90 percent of terrace between those countries. now trade in the region was $2.00 trillion dollars in 2019. the u. n says our c e p could boost that figure by 42000000000 dollars

autonomy of the european union. they are developing drafting, one of the documentary that is called that and the strategic bearings. of course, we are following this process and there is a lot of influence from us. so there is a fallback with mars, and we were told that they will come down as soon as they join you. and that didn't happen the other way around happened. but i haven't never heard it ends by crying once you talk about the strategic autonomy of the european union. and we was also talking that there is need to send united against the russian federation. i think that was good on the center standing from the b, b. c. what says russia one most an unstable dependent ukraine, or a new sphere of influence in eastern europe. right, mr. in terms of, you know, we'll talk today about this invoice for a while and unstable ukraine, the streets in the fact that unless it is a factor of our common life, political life yet, and you said business by this instability that we pick up the job. i'm sure that you being an exp

and the energy policy is just one of the big challenges facing the european union. they got these brussels correspond, christine wanderer has her insights now on where the block will be placing its focus in 2020 to 20. $22.00 is shaping up to be a nother year fraught with challenges for the european union with geopolitical tensions rising. so a phrase you'll be hearing frequently is strategic autonomy. what is that you ask? well here in brussels, that term embodies europe's desire to stand on its own, 2 feet to produce more here, instead of having to buy everything from china and to defend itself without having to rely on the united states and nato, that could include an e, g, u, army as well as efforts to ramp up production for products like semiconductors, here in europe. now, this push for autonomy is really the branch out of the french president, emanuel con, he went to europe to dream bigger and assert itself globally. but not everybody is on board some think it's a useless pipe dream, but france holds the 1st rotating presidency for the european union in 2022.

and france takes the reins of the european union for the next 6 months. the government in paris is under pressure, as coven, 19 cases, surge of elections spring. ah, i'm nick spicer. welcome to the program. hundreds of people have been left homeless and the american state of colorado. after gale force winds, fueled wild fires that tore through to communities outside the city of boulder. fires destroyed a 1000 homes but were put out in large part by heavy snowfall. at least 3 people are missing and fear dead. president joe biden has declared the area a disaster, so it's a new twist in colorado battle against the elements just days ago, heat, raging wildfires was for problem for people. he now is the cold volunteers handouts. he says to help those about power keep warmer. well we saw 2022 might be better. c and then we had omicron, and now we have this and it's not starting out very well. we're just looking to get warm and get our water turned back on here soon. the arrival of a snow extinguished for flames. saving hundreds of homes. it was cold and new yea

also coming up, france takes the reins of the european union for the next 6 months. the government in paris is under pressure as coven 19 cases surge ahead of elections in the spring . and remembering one of hollywood, best love actresses, former golden girl, betty white dies just days before her hundreds birthday. ah, i'm next, spicer. welcome to the program. hundreds of people are now homeless in the state of colorado and the us, after a wild fire, fueled by gale force winds toward through 2 communities outside the city of boulder . the fires destroyed a 1000 homes but were put out in large part by heavy snowfall. at least 3 people are missing and fear dead. president joe barton has declared the area a disaster, so it's a new twist in colorado is battle against the elements. just days ago, heat, raging wild fires was for problem for people here. now is for cold volunteers, handout heaters to help those of our power keep warm while we thought 2022 might be better. c and then we had omicron, and now we have this and it's not starting out very well. for this look at t

a search for the missing his underway and france takes the reins of the european union for the next 6 months. the government in paris under pressure, has coven 19 rampages and elections loom in the spring. and remembering one of hollywood best loved actresses, former golden girl, betty white dies just before 100th birthday. ah, i'm lame bluecross. welcome to the program. a bewildering one to punch from nature has left hundreds of people homeless in the u. s. state of colorado. wind whipped wild fire tor through the boulder area, destroying a 1000 homes only to be put out by heavy snowfall. at least 3 people are missing and fear dead. president joe biden has declared a disaster zone. it's a new twist in colorado is battle against the elements just days ago. heat, raging wild fires was for problem for people here now is for cold volunteers, handouts, heaters to help those of our power keep warm while we thought 2022 might be better . c and then we had omicron, and now we have this and it's not starting out very well for just looking to get warm and get our water turned back on here. soo

given that the threat perception of the different members of the european union is quite different. eastern european and member states will obviously feel more threatened by russia and by a possible conflict ukraine as a pace to a countries like spain and italy. and it might also be down to that fact to the fact that the european union is struggling to find a common stance that for now there actually have been left out very much of any negotiations there. didn't even get a seat at the nig is negotiation table. so for the time being, the european union is playing a limited role in these discussions. emily in moscow, another team meeting potentially in a week of pivotal talks. is there a clear path forward that can be discerned there isn't a clear path forward. in fact, i would say things are kind of in deadlock and it's sort of hard to know at the moment what the end game in the kremlin really is. the russians came to the negotiating table this week 3 times with the same set of demands. their key demand is that they want written guarantees from nato and the west that there will be no more. b

and this will never lead to a peaceful situation, and this cannot be in the interest of the european union. thank you so much for joining us of the, on our from common number of the european parliament. thank you. good line of sports on the world tennis number one, novak jock of it, you spending a 2nd night in a detention hotel after being refused entry into australia. the serbian star was stopped when he arrived in melbourne to take part in the australian open border officials council. his visa rejecting his exemption from strict code 19 vaccination . was it challenging deportation order? he found me say he's the victim of a political attack, an agenda more world years at the top of the hour, up next, a documentary looking at worldwide to boost surrounding menstruation with .

and began our conversation by asking lisa about the european union's role and resolving the crisis on ukraine's border. while e u foreign ministers have been telling his hair northwestern france all day long by, it's very important for the united european union to stand together to stand for security in europe. the danish foreign minister said, you know, it's unacceptable that russia is taking us back to dark times to the dock times of the cold war. really. but when you look a bit more closely, it'll be very difficult for the european union to find even a common stands on the issue. given that the threat perception of the different members of the european union is quite different. eastern european and member states will obviously feel more threatened by russia and by a possible conflict ukraine, as opposed to a countries like spain and italy. and it might also be down to that fact to the fact that the european union is struggling to find a common stance that for now there actually have been left out very much of any negotiations there. didn't even get a seat at the nig is negotiation.

it is very important to work within nato and the european union to counter that, and we have created an energy union. we have created a lot of tools to give us independence. but, unfortunately, you know, there are some decisions on the table which try to sort of go around it. when you -- and when you mentioned the initiative of three cs, fine, that's another initiative which can actually make us a bit more independent, for example, of the chinese influence. they've invented this form of 16 plus one in order to have more influence in the balkans, especially in those countries which are not members of the european union. so it is immensely important for us to use all of those initiatives in order to make us stronger, more resilient and more independent. and at the end of the day, we need to collaborate. we in the european union and, of course, the united states of america, because we are the beacons of freedom, and only us working together we can actually counter those malign influences and that's why it's so incredible important that countries such as poland and hungary remain democrat

and france is in the driver's seat of the european union president monro, my call, has big admissions for the block. they include the european army at most spending powerful member states. how much can he get done? ah, i'm gab alphas, welcome to the program, u. s. president joe biden has appealed to unvaccinated to americans again to get the job as the u. s. recorded more than 1000000 new cove at 19 infections in a single 24 hour period, confirmed infections have doubled in the past week as the army chron. variance spreads, although hospitalization and death rates have been lower than the previous waves, concern remains over the impact of rapidly rise in cases because ha, could have on health care infrastructure. he is president joe biden addressing the nation unvaccinated, taking up hospital beds and crowding emergency rooms and intensive care unit as displaced other people need access to those hospitals. so please, please, please get vaccinated. now there's no excuse no excuse for anyone been on vaccinated. this continues to be a panoramic of the unvaccinated, so we got to make more

but the question is why the european union follow the interest? so maybe there is another action strategize that are following which if we can new russia as a few political message opponents and the struggle for influence in duration yesterday in germany. but it states, you know, we don't want to say, but a lot of people don't want to say, but if there's no solution, there is a great fear that there's a potential conflict here, right, on europe's you know, doorstep surely that slots in any body's interests. yeah, that's true and that's why i think the crisis should not be handled that lightly. and we should not only limit our focus on ukraine because we have been in contrast done recently, that instability can rise everywhere. and we have all to analyze the situation closely and seen that there were also, there was an influence on behalf of western partners to total a russia friendly government in carfax, and similar situation can evolve on different frontline around russia. and therefore the situation is very complex. and if in fact, it's a very

the european union on this goes without saying, everybody knows it. so i do not really see what russia gets out of this. and if it starts with a made a statement that it is afraid of nato is attacking the russian soil. and in the end, everything, all it gets out is the opening of north street. it sounds a bit absurd to me. i want to thank all our guests probably fell going out coline and alright. and thank you for watching. you can see the program again, any time buy this thing a website out there, a dot com for the discussion. go to a facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha inside story. and you can also join the conversation on twitter. handle is act a jane sites for me. am wrong calling from the whole team. ah ah. a shilling. the debates they erased out of like people from the american and global story was very powerful on an online ad your voice. the comment section is right here. join our conversation, we had all protected when everyone is protected. it is not by being nationalistic about us. you just look at it in a very differe

i, during a summit on the european union african union, all europe, africa relations in february sounded on europe in defense in march and summit, another summit on the future of the european economic model in march as well. so, as you said earlier, the french and the french government, mr. mccaul, have the ability of the to it's now to set the agenda to, to bring their priorities to the european stage and discuss them with other member states and beyond. i mean, discussing, when we talk about the actual results coming out of those summits, talk with us about the prospects for further european integration, france and germany. of course, 2 of the most powerful nations in the you. we know germany has a new government. how are things between paris and berlin right now in pushing that agenda forward? while things looked very good at the end of last year, i mean it's only been a couple of days and the new year, but so far i think of hers are having a positive for seeing positive signals coming from berlin. we saw that with chancellor charles visiting the l. e. z in december. the, the new fore

hasn't revealed whether he's vaccinated against cove 90 on france or the drivers seat of the european union president about, well, my call has a big ambitions for the block, they include in a european army and more spending power, the member states about how much can they get done? ah, i'm good. how about as well come to the program? and we begin in the united states, which has recorded more than one me in new cove at 19 infections on monday, that's a world record for confirmed daily cases. it was partly due to a reporting backlog. after the new year's holiday, confirmed infections have doubled in the past week as the only cron variance spreads. that hospitalization and death rates have been lower than in previous waves. meanwhile, the u. s. center for disease control has recommended shortening the wait for booster jobs to 5 months. that with more than a quarter of the population still completely unvaccinated, president joe biden addressed the nation urging people to get the job unvaccinated, taking up hospital beds and crowding emergency rooms and intensive care units as displaced other pe

and this cannot be in the interest of the european union. thank you so much for joining us. of the owner from common number of the european parliament. thank you. take a look at some more stories making news around the world. toxic ghastly from an industrial tank. it has killed at least 6 people in western india, or the 25 were hospitalized after making hail the gas in industrial complexes to run good, you're not state free. people have been killed nearly 30000, displaced by flash flooding in the north. indonesia wasn't 11000 homes for heavy raids in north north korea says it has launched a hypersonic missile and it says in its 1st major weapons test this year. john young claims it here to target 700 kilometers away. hypersonic missiles fly at more than 5 times the speed of sound. a south korean president new j in says the launch add regional tangible. some de la italy's government is making covey. 19 vaccination mandatory for people over 50 countries struggling with the record levels of infections. it was the 1st european country hit by the pandemic and has one of the height

there's been some sort of differing positions and not always precise unity firstly within the european union. but also between the u. s. and the europeans and jack as we speak. and nato has put troops on stand by and military equipment is being dispatched to eastern europe out. what do the ministers make of that development? well, this is exactly the opposite of what russia is demanding. russia has been demanding that nato troops and american troops with withdrawn from eastern europe. and they demand that there are a promises from the nato military alliance that ukraine and georgia will never become. they to members, nato says it's an open door policy. every country has its own right to define its own security measures. but this increase in, in, in troops and, well, it is sort of hardware going into eastern europe, is going to anger the kremlin and probably bolster it to say that this is what they're worried about. they're worried about the incursion of nation nato's border coming all the way up. they don't want you claim to be a native member, because then it would be that nature would go a

it's just that the european union as a separate organization is not being included. but i think the major disconnect that we find in nato that has been there for a very long time and continues. are the traditional bold if you want to look at it that way. nato members, the people who are the original natal members versus the newer members. people like poland and hungary that have a very different vision of what they want to have their own political systems look like. both poland and hungary have been moving in a more authoritarian direction at home. and also poland is much more fearful of russian intentions than some other countries are like, may be germany and france and italy that have significant energy relationships with russia. thank you so much. kimberly martin for joining us from new york. thank you for having me. now the russian president has claim victory and defending neighboring context on from what he calls a foreign back to uprising more than $160.00 people were killed during last week's anti government protest, which turned into the country's worst unres

it's part of the european union border with bella roofs to keep my friends out. the critics, a d. e. u is failing asylum seekers. and raphael, the dal chase is a record 21st grand slam. with this truly an open knit de neil meditative is determined to rec, history. ah, our next spicer welcome to the program. a major winter storm has slammed into the east coast of the united states with strong winds and heavy snow. severe weather alerts were issued across a region of around 70000000 people. residents are being urged to stay in doors and avoid unnecessary travel. the snow storm is almost empty. the streets of boston with authorities urging people to stay at home. the bomb cyclone, as meteorologists call it, has generated a dangerous mixture of snow. and hurricane force winds in new england storm surges are threatening communities along the coast, forcing many people to flee inland to safety. we got some sandbags, we elevated things in our basement, but this is one of the worst storms i've seen so far. tens of thousands have been left without power along the eastern us. in rhode islan

and that's why the european union has to deliver it's owens ends. and this is just another expression of it. and the trade problems between the united states and china have been well documented over the last couple of years, particularly since they throughout the, the trump administration. china, if i understand it was trying to use, they are hoping to use it. it's deals with the e u to kind of offset the problems that was having with the u. s. how much of an impact is, is likely to have on china a longer term. well, as i said, the european union is trying to differentiate between we have a reliable economic partner. and sheila politics is a different story. this is no longer working at times in which the united states is back militarily, iraq, when the european continent is facing a threat from russia. and in times in which everything becomes much more transactional. you cannot expect the united states to protect, to the security perspective and allow you to do whatever you like in trade relations or in whatever economy ties with other parts of the

now a trade conflict is building between china and the european union member state lithuania. at the heart of the dispute is the baltic nation's relationship with taiwan. the you has asked the world trade organization to take action. last year, lithuania, allow taiwan to open wooded calls, a representative office in the capital vilnius. but by using the name taiwan, it broke with diplomatic custom and immediately enraged china. beijing saw the outpost as a defacto taiwanese embassy, something it can't accept china of use taiwan as part of its territory and it rejects any moves to grant the island diplomatic recognition. and it requires countries, it recognizes including lithuania to back, this one china policy. now one of europe, smallest member states, is experiencing the repercussions of its decision in the form of sanctions and blocked import. the european union says that's economic bullying, measures or threats to the integrity of that you single market, self exit interview, trade, you supply change and say hello, negative effect on you industry. this is why we are steppin

negotiating via the european union. tehran has called for any deal to guarantee a future generation -- a future administration would not dismantle it to the u.s. is recording the most covid deaths in as 11 months. the nation may be turning a corner. cdc data showed the seven-day average of fatalities reached 1975 people on friday paired that compares to the winter peak of january last year when the daily average topped 3400. the cdc has raised its japan travel advisory to three that indicates a high level of infection should china is easing covid testing requirement for participants at the winter olympics. it is a sign organizers want to limit the fallout from more and more stakeholders testing positive. 78 cases related to the games have been picked up including marketing personnel and other support staff. the first infection among an athlete or official was detected at beijing airport on sunday. u.k. prime minister boris johnson is facing further allegations of holding parties during the pandemic. i to be reports up t

look at her, a leaked phone call about the european union on line. i suppose i don't know about the refugee crisis there, but i mean, here the english channel enormous numbers of people fleeing well from the was started by tony blair and, and george w bush all that time ago. but actually, the news here is not mean about the refugees across the english channel. i'll give you far more coming for france. it's about, of course, as you mentioned earlier, the better roost. poland border is putin responsible for hybrid warfare, as we're being told every day. here is a vanguard of this kind of opposition to washington's research and imperial policies. no, i mean, obviously dissolved from me, something of a standalone diplomatic stand or taking place between feller roost and the european union. but when it started, all we were told to have 4000 refugees on the other side of the fence to poland. now it turns out that there are only 2 cars that let's put this into context is just going to be this hybrid. was this going to bring down the or can union you would k

where's the e u headed now that france has taken the helm of the european union presidency. price presidential bank m a con, has big ambitions guarantee once a year, in his own words, to be more powerful in the world. but his goals include a european army and the biggest spending ability from investing plus tennis started over joker ridge is granted. special permission to play at the australian? open it though he hasn't revealed whether he's vaccinated against coven, 19 almost adamant. charged with setting fire to south africa, parliament building the p as in court. but his lawyers say police have the wrong man. that was that they accused is just the scapegoat. ah, i'm good. how about us? welcome to the program. the united states recorded more than 1000000 new cove 19 infections on monday. that's world record for confront daily cases. it's partly due to be the to a reporting backlog. after the new year's holiday confirmed infections have doubled in the past week. as the army con, variance spreads, but hospitalization and death raises have be lower than in previous waves. we m

all gas consumed in the european union comes from russian or for the european union to impose sanctions or from hell as, as victoria newland call them. and to cut the russia from swift and to not and to break are the, the currency exchange with russia would mean that russia is free, are contractually to stop delivers. and it would certainly exercise that freedom in europe would be brought to its knees, so that just doesn't work. well, thank you very much for those thoughts, sir gilbert. dr. of an expert in international relations digesting. the issues between russia and nato and its allies. of course, along that day of statements here in brussels, there is a new meeting to attend on thursday in vienna. once again, these discussions will be re hashed vernon and whether we will find any concrete way forward is pretty much unlikely, at least that's how it seems at the moment. yeah, looks like it should have been ski with our extensive coverage there from brussels . thanks for going to bring our view is more recourse throughout the coming. i was just more reaction comes into the small some

and the reality is still that health care is a national competence in the european union. so each country is deciding exactly what it needs to do due to its case those numbers, as we heard in the report. there are huge numbers as nearly 850000 cases a day in italy, for instance, here in belgium, where i am the case numbers have doubled in the last week. and although we, we understand and a lot of health care professionals and public health officials the saying that the m a chrome varian has mild symptoms and doesn't result in so much hospitalization. the written, the countries in europe where we are seeing such huge numbers are starting today. i've considered different measures. in fact, before christmas, the european center for disease prevention and control rates concerns about oma crohn and said that they would expect these huge surges of numbers in each of the used member states. and they actually suggested that there should be non sanitary measures. so things like lot of times for instance, but we've seen over the weekend, as will know in amsterdam for instance, huge

yes, and they did di da, christine or philip jobs in the european union. and it's not an issue that the to the people are being recruited that the to work will be done as of as up to day. and what this will give a huge, huge boost to the language. there is no, there is no question, but that is increases the status of the language. and from a practical point of view, it is creating am good, high quality jobs in the european union, which works his way down to the school system. and particularly today, the term leather system, we would do a lot of work and with toward lever students in terms of promoting the language and explain them the opportunities are no arisen as a result of today's to live development. okay, so this improves the status of the language and the status of, i guess what we're saying here is irishness. but working as a translator that's, that's not, you know, they're not going to all of a sudden employ a 150, or 200 translators to work between strasburg and brussels. and that in itself is kind of an academic job. but if you're talking about

the message of president, my con speech was essentially, this is a moment of truth for the european union. do you agree? i do agree, absolutely. a pleasant a mcgraw dedicated the 1st and biggest part of his speech to democracy and the rule of law. and when, when it comes to these topics, it is a moment of truth. not, not now, but already. well for, i would say 5 to 10 years. but we are at a crucial point now where we have to decide outside, but especially inside the european union. if we hold up our democratic values and principles and i was very impressed and i was very pleased. that's such a big part of his speech was dedicated to this topic. well, this is not the 1st time that president mccoy has laid out a, a big and rather ambitious vision for europe. germany has not necessarily reciprocated in the past. there is a new government here in berlin. so what role do you think germany will play in seeing through my cons vision for a more stress strong or rather more sovereign europe? well, it was very interesting that among, on my call mentioned the french, german, a relationship several t

now the european union is ready to impose, quote, never seen before. economic sanctions. if russia attacks ukraine than marks, foreign minister was speaking ahead of a meeting of the blocks foreign ministers to discuss the crisis earlier, the us order the families of its diplomat and ukraine to leave the country. bracing for an invasion, ukraine is beating up its borders as tensions with russia. sore in kiev, volunteers are joining the effort to defend their country. the u. s. has ordered the families of diplomats to leave. ukraine was still in the capitol opinions very on just how big a threat russia poses will need. lucy will move forward. well, i am very worried when you pull things are not easy in our country at this moment. but i hope the diplomats can find an agreement and that there will be peace in ukraine. so you would agree, recruit young wisdom. i think nothing will happen is just the usual threat from the big bonding next door. but sure. bonita, losa cecilia middleton from the machine. there is nothing we can do. i have to work can feed my family. i don't have

these countries are now members of the european union, a union found an economic integration by commons freedom of the press, rule of law and an independent judiciary. together they sought to protect the basic human rights of their citizens while working to ensure access to the fundamentals of life, liberty and thehe pursuitf happiness. in addition, these countries have become strong national security partners of the net estate and other members of the north atlantic treaty organization. as such congress continues to develop and support the security alliances and work together with our european partners w to addrs joint security challenges. this is the one advantage we all have together in the face of activities and world today. in addition these countries have become strong national partners and, unfortunately, however, in recent years many of my colleagues and i in the transatlantic community including civil society organizations like t freedom hoe have become increasingly concernedol with policies and rhetoric that have emerged from central europe. slovakia, freedom house notes, tha

i mean, it is a long way before it can even join either, particularly the european union. long way, absolutely. membership of the european... so why all this fuss then about something that is not going to happen maybe for a very long time? well, ask the kremlin, not me. the reality of this way and the irreversibility of this way is becoming more and more clear to putin, and it is now even when ukraine has military troops on ukrainian territory, as the war threat and crimea annexed, and the heavy sanctions, and he couldn't undermine the unity of allies, he couldn't undermine the unity of eu, but he couldn't even blackmail the us president, so now he only has other ultimatums to put. because the reality is that there is no way to reverse our aspirations. 0k, kristina kvien, you are the acting ambassador for washington. hasjoe biden, is he being blackmailed by putin, as the deputy prime minister implies there? well, perhaps president putin has tried, but no, president biden has not been blackmailed because he won't let himself be blackmailed. and we won't let nato be blackmai