A most old school. After more than 3 years of deadlock and numerous rejections the u. K. Parliament finally backs Prime MinisterBoris Johnsons breakfast with all agreements. Live from moscow where just past 6 oclock in the morning youre watching International Im rosana loquitur thank you for joining us. Now swiss Dutch Construction company also its has suspended work on the north stream to pipeline project and this is in response to a defense bill signed by u. S. President almost trump that imposes sanctions on russias gas pipeline projects. You free sabai nery choice stop now and leave the pipeline unfinished the express intention of the sanctions legislation which we offered or make a foolish attempt to rush to complete the pipeline and reese putting your company out of the busy. Yes forever for the next half decade your company in personnel will be entirely barred from the United States any transactions will be blocked oh property will be frozen in the stream too is a gas pipeline being built from russia to germany through the baltic sea it spans more than a 1000 kilometers and the us has long voiced its opposition to the project going as far as to threaten European Companies the United States commands all our European Partners who have taken a strong stand against north stream to. And we commend others to do the same germany is totally controlled by russia because they were getting from 60 to 70 percent of their energy from russia and a new pipeline this pipeline if completed would make europe even more dependent on Russian Energy would generate billions of dollars for putin billions of dollars that would follow in the Russian Military aggression. We dont want your Energy Supplies to be dependent on flattery approach is to give federal government is against extraterritorial sanctions we dont approve of this practice we oppose especially extraterritorial sanctions that has german and European Companies. Well to get a bit more insight on the scope of these sanctions and what it really means were joined by former u. S. Diplomat jim thanks for joining us quite late in the seat way you. Lets just start hit why is the u. S. Supplying sanctions the impact americas own allies we heard there from germany and germany has voiced objection to sanctions being placed on why i think donald trump is going to go ahead and done this well i leave President Trump aside for the moment the talking about the washington policy establishment is a big dumb dinosaur that can never admit that it sailed stream to will be completed i think that this this latest round of sanctions on the cessation of workers is a hit it will be finished and will go into operation but these people washington can not hit their policy has failed just like they cant admit that assad is going to survive in syria we still have to keep. Their key people dying in a case of nord stream we have to keep trying to disrupt it in any way we can even though there was an article recently in bloomberg where Administration Officials were admitting privately that we have failed that this thing is going to go in operation but we dont know how to adjust ourselves to a reality we dont like we only have one reality that is russia is bad and it think that connects russia to europe is bad too but we must do whatever we can to try to stop it and if we can stop it lets just make life difficult. And sadly whats on the penny all this of course is energy and money will come back to that but i want to talk about how effective these sanctions can be because we do know that this was spaced all cities has suspended its not strain to put on activities teach these sanctions we had there from ted cruz the cause of threatening language use to the company saying if you dont stop this we will we will make you stop but you say quite confidently that jim that you think the project will continue to just how effective can the sanctions be. I dont think theyll be very effective i dont know specifically about this company all season i dont know how irreplaceable their work is ive heard conflicting with the reports about that where they can find some way to circumvent the sanctions whether if they cant some other company will step in i again i am confident and i think people in washington know that this thing will be completed but i do hope europeans listen to the challenge of senator cruzs comments and those of others is this a voice of a friend is this little voice of a friend who is saying we want partnership with you in europe we want to have a best relationship we can have in europe or is this the voice of a master or head job that dictates to other countries as though they were vassal states or satellites and i think thats an important way the ugly thing of what weve seen in washington for some decades and or input in their rage as the worst wondering and threatening it becomes well lets talk about that friends and diplomatic relations because one might see the way the President Trump an administration here behaving by imposing these sanctions is a bit of a sort of change of tack weve seen from President Trump and his sort of relations towards russia is it is it just that whats independent to painting this is that it is energy and it is 0 and it is a business deal now is something that does you know has got President Trump fired up in the process is that was on the painting this or is it truly as you say that. Problem with russia. Well look. Were going to sell to europeans much more expensive and admired mentally hazard hatters hazards freedom gas in place of russian gas no this is not driven by business yes im sure there are some companies on the american side that would love to push the russians out of the European Market but thats about what this is about trump in 2016 said he wanted to improve ties with russia that is long since gone by the boards not impeachment of russia gate and ukraine gate all of that may have been feel yours in terms of getting trump out of office but they have been smashing successes in making sure there could never be any warming of relations between washington and moscow to that extent whatever trumps personal views more or personal preferences are utterly irrelevant that the establishment as you hear through the voice of like hands or who or ted cruz and many others in washington are in control russia is the bad guy we will do whatever we can to be the spoiler and thats really all there is to it will alongside these this know it stream to project in the sanctions that weve been talking about one of the arguments in washington to pay allies ingleton too has been that it deprives ukraine of gas transit but now russia and ukraine talking about being ready to sign a 5 Year Contract for gas transit so wouldnt you think that would a pais washington. I know not at all exactly i think i will accept them all the more because when they say oh this will cut ukraine out of the transit they will they will get less money you really think they care about ukraine they will carry about ukraine at all ukraine is not important to anybody in washington except as a club to beat the russians where and the only reason they would be concerned about ukraine being cut out of any trance it seems is that that would be what they could more difficult to put pressure on russia by having a puppet ukrainian hand on the on the spigot with regard to europes gas if that is no longer the case no were really talking about is grain being included in a more cooperative relationship between europe and russia thats the worst possible outcome from the point of view of people and washing thats about one the other key players in this which it which is gemini because they were the at the end the other end of the pipeline and theyve said quite vociferously that no in favor of the sanctions so why did the us egg know those objections and then put the sanctions on on the pipeline project. Because were used to having our socalled allies as i say really vassals or satellites doing what theyre told but remember a few years ago one chancellor merkel found that her cell phone was bugged by the Obama Administration and she was very very upset about that and what did she do about it well nothing at all what could she do she realizes that she is the chancellor of the semi sovereign state however i think there are increasing signs in europe that people are sick and tired of being treated like us and especially when it comes to the Business Community in germany and other places where it comes to there will be financial bottom line i hope theyre waking up and smelling the coffee in seeing where their interests lie and that frankly if i were a european would be in your asian integration and moving closer to the belt Road Initiative would be closer but you would economic ties with russia that really the United States is not in a position to replace them and frankly from an American Point of view we should be we should be looking at other directions why dont we develop an arc them a sphere the same way that russia and china are developing eurasia i think this is simply another example of how miscast the entire orientation of america i would see. Can i just bring up another pipeline project that if youre familiar with it but the as present as already signed similar sanctions against the turks stream pipeline potato treat the black sea and how do you expect techie to react to that. I think turkey will react with seeing what it is theyre reacting to threats over their purchase of the 400. 00 Missile System theyre going to its going to further a strain john crow from washington and theyre going to do what they think is in their National Interest as they should. Course remember the turk stream was a substitute for the south stream that actually was the europeans that took the lead in killing dikes i suppose that your money is in is very very principled when it comes to her own gas gas supply but when its gas supply going to Southern Europe greece and italy and so forth they can afford to play politics. I mean you can i dont i dont i dont know how much leverage washington really has over these things that we can do damage to people we can damage to companies that are involved in these things i dont know that we can actually put up with any more we pretend still that were all powerful suddenly plenty of moving parts here and energy very much at the front line of chip political relations for me as diplomat jim chatteris thanks her insights and. And other news Russias Investigative Committee has released the identity of the gunman who opened fire outside the headquarters of the federal Security Service building in central moscow on thursday evening 39 year old afghani minear of lived in the Moscow Region he killed in f. S. B. Officer before being shot dead himself another officer died later in hospital 5 other people including one civilian were injured at the moment the investigation into possible motives is still ongoing heres how the situation unfolded at the scene of the shooting. Was usually when you get to the end we heard strange sounds we needed to realize that we should hide then we heard someone in the street shouting go back go back. To the signal the signal going mom wasnt shooting randomly and i think we heard him shout out something but we didnt manage to make out what he was shouting at. The city in a basement were watching now when a guy came and weve just been outside and he told us there was a shooting outside also an injured passenger he told us the injured party had been dragged into the cafe. Well there are reports the russian Investigative Committee has searched the home of the suspect and interviewed his family and friends we spoke to the neighbors and the father of the shooter. But lately he became very secretive and also got some kind of strange eastern accent used to tell me that he liked shooting and even wanted to get a sports rank become a more star or sports team where he worked he replied in the Emirates Embassy as a Security Guard though i do not know if it is true he was a very calm guy and then somehow the change started growing his beard maybe it happened of the his grandmother died. Hes a lawyer worked somewhere in moscow he comes from a good family mother grandmother she was a good man she was always very polite attentive i cant say anything bad about him i cant believe whats happened in the country does in your house and he was he wasnt aggressive very calm quite quiet he was lonely no friends no girlfriend we found out about his hoby by accident he invited my husband to join him at a shooting range when he refused the topic was never raised again although we know is what weve been finding out now from the media. With some more details on the story heres our correspondent stan off. It wasnt calm last night here the f. S. B. Building is just to the left of me and the whole thing happened at around half past 6 in the evening right on the opposite side of this main f. S. B. Building of this f. S. B. Had quarter according to an unconfirmed video which we can show you right now the alleged shooter took his position between behind one of the columns right again on the opposite side of this building he took aim armed with an Assault Rifle and he opened fire it seemed that he was specifically targeting f. S. B. Offices coming out of the building now just to give you an idea as to how busy it was here last night what youre seeing right now is pretty white desolation compared to that because this is the heart of moscow its the very center of the russian capital its a trendy and hip area with plenty of bars cafes and restaurants so at 6 oclock it wasnt just the end of the work shift wasnt just the end of the word they wasnt just people leaving their offices offices out in the streets but also plenty of people just out and about plenty of tourists i mean if you just look over there Christmas Decorations are already up here so people were doing their Christmas Shopping theres a St Regis Hotel right across the street from me so there were literally hundreds of people out and about on the square and they were terrified by the shooting but initially many of them were confused because with christmas right around the corner many of them mistook the 1st bursts of fire with well fireworks. I was sitting with my friends at a bar when the shooting began it was the sound of a kalashnikov Assault Rifle i know what it sounds like my friends were like oh it must be firecrackers but i told them no way its not firecrackers and then we saw people running down the street it was scary at 5 or 10 minutes past 6 the gunfire began and it was not just a few shots it came in bursts we saw officers taking cover behind the cars. Left work met up with my girlfriend and when we heard some dull sounds in the distance i thought at 1st it was fireworks or some firecrackers but as the sound continued we realized something was wrong Traffic Police who were and because thats key bridge as usual began evacuating people they apparently caught on to what was going on people started running we heard the gunfire plenty of details are missing right now no more official information as as of yet we do know that the russian president is being kept in the loop of this attack right here in the heart of moscow. While security analysts outlined where he thinks things could go from here. Theyve said. From according to reports that nobody else was involved in this attack they will want to be sure that nobody else was actually involved in any planning aspects or in terms of assisting the government and that might take some time for example the examination of mobile phone records of any c. C. T. V. Records and of course any. Communications and so on that might be held on the suspects computers and elsewhere and of course that would require house searches and so on but the fact is i think. Even if you were going to have the most benign government the most benign state in any country to what you will get some people will react violently and sometimes its a fact just really funny because its probably because of instances of background or the circumstances of their own personal lives. And some of the Headline News 3 and a half years after the british people voted for the u. K. To leave the European Union 3 Prime Ministers later and fullbacks it deals rejected by parliament and peace have finally given given their backing to an exit plan he has more details. It would appear that way off the 3 and a half years of delays and gridlock in the house of parliament that overwhelming victory in terms of the seats won for the conservative Party Last Week in the general election means that Boris Johnson could today get his drugs approved by parliament he did so with a majority of our 120124 he managed to get it through and so what that means is by january 31st the u. K. Will be leaving the e. U. At which point they will enter into an implementation period or transition period that despite that vote today despite the win for the conservatives last week drugs it still leaves many issues on the zoltan also leaves the country bit to be divided one of the main divisions of course comes to the issue of scotland now scotland voted by 2 thirds roughly to remain in the European Union during the. Referendum and also last week they won an overwhelming number of the seats in scotland the s. N. P. That is the Scottish National party was of course Pro Independence and so they take that as a mandate that the scottish people vote want to be dragged out of the e. U. And that they want independence and those divisions remains clear in the house of commons today before that vote was held. As the emphatic lesson of the last caller unlike members opposite and reject any. Scotland could not talk been cleared of last week we did not call for breaks it come in the s. N. P. With a greater monday shows still totally and utterly rejects ca this tale is a road map for the reckless direction in which the government Prime Minister. To take our country the story story of the last 3. 00 you will be active and we would be able to move forward one of the consensus activity for the labor leader Jeremy Corbyn was workers rights and the government has now taken out a part of that bill the motion within the bill that would have ensured the protection of workers rights following practices so thats now no longer going to be part of that deal or the governments priority with that deal and also they havent said to the clause making it strict and making it more difficult if not impossible for an extension to the transition period what that means is that the government would only have from the day leave by the end of january of next year till the end of december takes year to negotiate a trade deal there are many who say that 11 months simply isnt a long enough time for a trade deal to be struck and also go having provisions for u. K. Courts to be able to question and challenge and the piece of legislation by the European Court of justice that remains in the u. K. You know or so as far as Boris Johnson is concerned hes going to be powering on with his efforts to take the u. K. Out of the European Union. Or independent political commentator and c weber believes the opposition will now lessen its for still a t. To the government there is cause for celebration for the country because the 1st period of uncertainty will be over those causes celebration because Boris Johnson is actually married a commitment which is come true the conservative party has got a huge majority they can get through anything very wants. But that will be a positive thing from the point of view of bracks and its course. Of the concern might be on other issues where. You could argue that they havent really yours or mandates but i think the public have given a mandate on the subject to break. And i think certainly some of the opposition we think is will probably turn their rhetoric including even the who are a lot of people are getting fed up with because theyre only had 45 percent of the vote very claim to speak up for the scottish people which very very clearly dont so i think over the coming months were going to see some more really sort. Of a man accused of stealing and burning an l. G. B. C. Flag from the us church has been sentenced to 16 years in jail after being found guilty of committing a hate crime adolfo martinas was 1st arrested in june and accused of desecrates in the flag belonging to a local church in iowa earlier in the week he was convicted on charges of not only committing a hate crime but also 3rd degree harassment and reckless use of fire martinez admitted to opposing homosexuality but the length of his sentence has caused some debate why does the left cheer when the American Flag is burning no one goes to jail for that but they do for burning an activist movements flag while he got more years than murderers get in the u. K. Unbelievable so burning a rainbow flag is hate speech burning an American Flag is freedom of speech i see. He should have burned the American Flag then he would have been praised statues dedicated it is disproportionate it is not commensurate with the crime committed however there are some disturbing elements a he was not given the sentence purely for stealing the flag and for burning it there were also. Accusations and claims of arson and threats to burn down all the properties namely a strip club when it came to course he did not express any regrets and indeed justify his actions based upon his particular extremist interpretation of the Christian Faith no a crime happened here it is absolutely 100 percent our institutionally protected speech to burn the gates of the gay pride flag in the same way that according to the supreme courts also protected speech to burn the American Flag i would say that the flag is a bit different from the American Flag because it days ignites a specific community in the same way as maybe burning a jewish flag might designate the Jewish Community and i think on balance probably we have to defend the freedom to burn a flag but what is exceptional in this particular case is the arson the threats the harassment this guys sentence was yes there was a threats of arson but it was may is so extreme because of the hate crime designation and burning this flag i dont believe that this flag necessarily represents the rainbow flag i dont think it represents gay individuals maybe at one point it attempted to but it is weve come to a point where the rainbow flag and all the symbolism represents an l. G. B t political ideology there are still loads of discrimination 3 practices and laws and institutions there are parts United States where l. G. Because most people do not have protection in the workplace for example they can be sacked from their jobs just because of their sexuality they could be. From housing on the base of the search already that exist those rights just in sums those rights exist in some states that exist in all States America loves gay people we dont need theres this narrative of discrimination is complete phooey and we dont need more laws to try to protect the border not necessary quite clearly with this incident that happened with this particular man the battle is not over there are some people who are prepared to go to violent ends to dehumanize our community to express their opposition to our Community Gay americans outspend and their straight counterparts they have every right in this country they can get married now in many respects gay people at the top of the food chain so why would these laws even still be on the books especially for gays its a nonissue and and i think we need to repeal. The setback for the u. S. Space program boeings still on a spacecraft has failed the nasa flight test on friday the starliner was supposed to dock with the International Space station when the orbital procedure went wrong and the ship was forced to return home the test flight was a key part of massas plan to end u. S. Dependence on Russian Space writes no one was on board as the flight was supposed to be one of the final tests before a manned launch during the flight boeing announced or twitter that there had been an all normal insertion and on air announcers said Mission Control was weighing all its options and the light was cut. Well those are the thats the round up for now we back at the top of the hour with some more news from around the world will see them. The 4. Player. Play. Play. Play. Play live. Live. Live. Oh. Please. Please. Explain. And very well might continue watching us and see us. Understanding of shell is that its a money loser from day one but it doesnt matter in the u. S. Because all the creditors who lend money into the shell industry are constantly being bailed out by the central bank that prints money thats why they do it for the fees its great for the banks but its not an energy play it is not a business its a sinkhole but here as you point out in argentina so they cant just print their way out of a losing situation and the economy is already a bit fragile you dont want to add another loser into the mix like. Drilling voided completely. Bowl come to visionaries me Sophie Shevardnadze so they say laughter is to be an occasion for mind and so on i guess today im having a good laugh herself and having others rolling around the floor talking to neuroscientist professor of cognitive psychology and stand up comic saucy scotts. Welcome to the show its really great to have you with us so let me start off by asking why is laughter important to psychology i mean laster hasnt been studied for a long time why are scientists getting into it now. I think theres probably 2 answers to that i think 11 answer is that psychologists and neuroscientists have got a lot more interested in positive emotions in general most of the research in psychology into emotions has focused on negative emotions and theres been a general recognition of the last 15 or so years that we need to pay more attention to positive emotions and