Since the end of the siege of leningrad one of world war 2 was the most appalling humanitarian disasters. A very warm welcome youre watching r. T. International with me. First to paris where hundreds of gathered for the latest protest against the governments pension reform plans in some parts of the french capital clashes erupted between police and demonstrators. The old. A strike by public transport workers has brought chaos to the french cops off almost 2 months now that despite the governments promise to compromise agreeing to drop some of the most controversial aspects of its reforms the French Parliament is due to debate the pension bill next month. President Emanuel Mccraw is under huge pressure over the controversial reform on friday night he was booed as he left a paris theater with people chanting mark wrong resign from demonstrators again smoke rons Pension Reforms got past police into the hall to deliver their angry message. It was. The. Us. Dollar mccrackens motorcade as they tried to speed away the president who was reportedly with his wife bridgette in a rental car schooled by Police Motorbikes journalist and political activist ha ha ha of snow to smoke run in the theater and film tim saying that the evening may be eventful well after that he was arrested for being part of a group formed with the purpose of committing acts of violence his arrest has sparked outrage. Meanwhile more than 100. 00 protesters in the french campus are blocks the entrance to the iconic neuve Museum People have joined union calls to demand the complete withdrawal of proposals but there are mixed public feelings about the protests. Tom coleman the filmmaker to you im happy that theyre defending culture i left at 7 in the morning from additional on where im from to see the an artist eventually exhibit but its not a big deal because if they do not strike there want really be a lot for as we know it so i dont mind the strike im actually happy i supported them. If someone would lend me hand im ready to break through the picket line because this situation is unacceptable i dont care about their pension issues. They are uniting and supporting each other reinforcing each other so thats why im here also call we are against it they should not be here. Should be directed at the government who wants to force its pension reform project through we are not the ones that are standing in the way were not blocking the public Cultural Service on the contrary were fighting for a strong public Cultural Service where you look at the support of the population of the strikers were very surprised to see the government maintaining its position is of extremism that is unacceptable for a democrat like me who voted for manual micro in the 2nd round of the president ial election against. The pentagon insists its been nothing but our list after washingtons own watchdog for afghan reconstruction accuse the military leadership of looting lies over progress in americas longest war arties kelly morgan reports. Common cynicism aside most people would prefer that those responsible for leading the country tell the truth and this is most especially true when it comes to situations like war where the lives of the men and women in the armed forces are on the line well according to the special inspector for afghan reconstruction the pentagon has been lying for years the problem is theres a disincentive really to tell the truth we have created an incentive to almost require or for people to la theres an odor of mendacity throughout the afghanistan issue and i know congressman connelly has heard me talk about this years ago mendacity and who bruce now the department of defense was quick to chime in and dispute this congressional testimony here is the response the idea that there was some efforts to hide the truth the reality on the ground just doesnt hold water this idea that they were somehow missed statements i dont think that really joes it has been roughly a month since the Washington Post published the afghanistan papers this is a trove of documents from the office of the special Inspector General showing a sensually among many revelations that the efforts of the usa against the taliban have been completely ineffective americas top military brass were clueless about afghanistan and had no real understanding of what was happening on the ground and no real strategy this is how one of the top military generals under the administrations of both bush and obama explained it would trying to do here we didnt have the full goose newsham that would ruin the taking through the fundamental get up and distancing of the front and the stated objectives. In the military and the lack of understanding of the resources necessary internally the pentagon knew that the situation was bleak however that is not what was told. U. S. Public for years americans have gotten a steady stream of information claiming that there was progress being made in afghanistan we helped liberate an oppressed people. And we will continue helping them secure their country rebuild their society and educate all their children boys and girls. That i set to defeat al qaeda and deny it a chance to rebuild is within reach and were doing a tremendous job. And as you know a big part of the job is. Certainly the biggest. And we. Got him down very low numbers wise lies and more lives the usa has been in afghanistan for 17 years now making it the longest military engagement in all of us history and despite the new revelations showing how bleak the situation is and that deception was part of the modus operandi for the pentagon it seems like top voices in washington still dont have an exit strategy. R. T. New york. Analyst told is the watch talks revelations come as no surprise. Weve been told so many times by by american generals that weve now earned the order where everything is going to get better and or stand that weve actually done in a circle and so on their merit explains a lot of people who are. Informal and say sure oh responsible who work. For progressives center and stare they dont want to jeopardize their career of our theory. Its not going well and were not in progress i think it is definitely time for the United States to remove its troops weve been there 18 years so we have killed over 150000 afghans some of whom are colophon some of whom are you know various militia groups the great majority are afghan civilians who only want peace here and there for free something they really havent cared so long the Inspector General is speaking out after documents he tried to keep secret were leaked and those words leaked after year after year after year of this same nonsense being repeated so its possible for these things to build and steamrolled but the United States has a has a president who campaigned on ending this war and is that out repeating the tired old lies that hes about to win it in a day which are not unique to this war they say they come with every war every occupation and theres not even been a requirement that a victory be defined nobody has any idea what it would be a victory is to continue losing for another year. A Russian Program a rest on washingtons request when the authorities are resorting to torture and methods break am i going to vinick is being held in greece on u. S. Cyber crime and Money Laundering charges hes now written a plea for help. Theyre trying to use torture and psychological pressure to break me they do not allow me to breathe fresh air the last time they let me out for a walk for a few minutes was on new years eve im a man without rights illegally imprisoned in greece for 30 months without charges they want to destroy me for my knowledge they want my head on a block just because of what i know and my technological abilities the case of alexander vinick is a case of blatant violations of human rights its an International Disgrace this man is been imprisoned for 13 months without a charge in greece hes not being prosecuted in greece without a sanction without a penalty without a trial alexander is not a criminal alexander is someone who has extremely high skills technological skills in blocked Chain Technology he is not targeted for any kind of criminal behavior because its very clear that what he has done is not criminal however what he has done is very very annoying to those who wish to control the economic. Exchanges of the people what is worse is that during the last days the conditions of detention of alexander make amount to cruel and inhuman treatment which is a form of torture as we all know alexander is being denied the right to go outside his. Hospital room hes been hospitalized during the last 12 months more than 12 months actually and today his mother who came to visit him from russia was the night of the right to see her son when it was arrested in 2017 the u. S. Accuses him of laundering billions of dollars of money through. Digital Currency Exchange and hes also wanted by france which claims of an it carried out Cyber Forward from his prison cell russia also wants to question him well athens has already approved his extradition to all 3 countries however where she is acting foreign minister has criticized procedures warning that greece has completely failed to examine the evidence presented by moscow and another lawyer for victims of fate was sort of told us why he should be extradited to russia. Yes of but elated. By greece has not only decided to extradite alexander simultaneously to 3 countries but has also specified the order by which alexander should go to these countries the point is that the extradition of alexander to the United States cannot be fair as he has never been there and hasnt committed the crimes that the usa attributes to him work with new technologies cannot be a crime especially if at the time of the activity the legislation regulating these actions simply did not exist. Concerning france they used only american evidence and investigators have never concealed it but today we know that france is not going to conduct any prosecution against him on its territory so the decision about the extradition of alexander vinick to france and then to the United States is purely technical the socalled greek trick is this to send him to france where hes going to be rejected and then sent him to the usa. The best ending for both alexander vinick and for every other party to this case will be of course his extradition to russia because russia is the place of the alleged crimes and because russia has all the information it is capable of creating joint inquiry commissions for conducting an investigation in any field. 77 years ago today the red army broke the nazi siege of leningrad with the blockade ending a year later the vast majority of it into the city died not from bombing but from hunger and hypothermia well i think that may have changed its name to them petersburg they how if it memories still run deep. It was was. Yes thats what it was over me and my friend went to a store with food stamps there was a huge field and suddenly we saw a plane it dropped a bomb we were told that if we see a bomb flying towards us you have to run in the direction of the bomb because that way itll pass so view but we ran away we got away and kept walking suddenly i realized id left her behind she walked towards a fence i came up to check on her realized she was hanging on the fence already dead my friend what could i do i was barely alive myself some people helped me carry her home a good thing we werent too far away from home because were. Tied up and you know when my father died of hunger and we were going to bury him the weather was extremely cold it was about minus 36 or 38 degrees we owed thanks to our neighbor who constructed the casket for him and helped us to carry my father to the cemetery and the cemetery there was a chapel next to the chapel there was a pile of dead bodies higher than the chapel itself and every time i come to that place i still can see this pile of dead bodies in my head i still have this picture in my head. Was. Already after i buried my father i signed up as a nurse at the military Field Hospital once in january i came home from the hospital and my mother was lying on the bed hall for life but she said to me zoya i think im about to pass away i bought meat patties at the market and i think theyre made out of human dont leave the girls alone dont marry to you. And dont cut your hair short after an hour she died. All on. You that go very well they always said the russians will win our pilot course was shot down i remember they carried him in sheets she was all brown his skin was brown from bruising and we prepared a warm bath for him with medicine they lowered him into it and he exclaimed please save me i have to keep flying i have to keep fighting. Through but york during the war many lives in the city were saved by the simple ticks of a metronome. Did. The metronome followed by sirens were broadcast on 1500 speakers throughout leningrad as slow beats mental or treats while a false one warns german bombers were on their way and became a symbol of resistance to the nazi air raids and to attempts to stall people to death maria Financial Reports from the northern capital. Leningrad known today as St Petersburg was a main strategic targets for nazi germany and the fates they prepared for this beautiful city was still laid to waste by bohrman it and also starred in its almost 3000000 population to death the horror of the siege was hollow just became routine when you walk down the street many remember it or rather try to forget you come across dead bodies carried on sledges all the time or dead bodies lying on the streets and at some point those a law if they simply stop paying any attention to these horrific sights the appearance read i remember the 1st time i saw a corpse on the street wrapped in some rags at 1st it was scary but then people got used to it and just walked by i can see the bodies were just randomly dumped in the street eventually they took them away. Kids their childhood was stolen by immersion in this war gongs and hunger there was already too much for them there was something maybe even more terrifying as local food became too dramatic children as well as many adults often became a target for enough to germany for hungry people. No the worst thing was the hunger it was unimaginable at the factory they gave us just 200 grams of bread it was made from strange ingredients some a drop in the cabbage others burnt sugar i dont know how i survived and i think god saved my life when. People saw gold but even less so i couldnt bear it anymore the water supply system froze added to lobster people hungry people freezing people they now became the 1st super bowl searching for war to everywhere including sewerage system. And we went to get water on food with a sledge as it was very cold there was a severe frost the river had frozen over but there was a hole and people were queuing to get water to drink people still wonder how we didnt die drinking this water the citizens during the delivery shelling this side of the street is the most dangerous says this sign one of many similar across the city these warnings became a symbol of the fingers faced by residential let in by during the siege and still today they stay as silent reminders of those terrible days under my peyton has also been taking part in commemoration events he laid flowers up along monks stone monument at the no. Morial site it was the scene of fierce fighting during world war 2 its believed the russian president s father was also in japan. Now questions like where are you really from could now land you in trouble as a u. K. University which is paying students to snitch on classmates deemed to commit racist microaggression weve got this story and plenty more coming up after this very short break. Join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and ill be speaking to us of the world of politics or business im sure business ill see you there. Welcome back stop making everything a race issue comments like that could now get you in hot water how do you Call University which will pay students to snitch on people making what it calls racists micro aggressions Sheffield University in Northern England will hire 20 students as race equality champions and pay them more than 9. 00 pounds an hour to investigate offenders other examples of unacceptable questions are why are you searching for things to be offended about and where are you really from where are people for their reaction to the move sometimes a you do you dont realize that you. May be being mean with someone and you dont even realize and i think its important to tell them about it people often ask. What their form. For example. Was it might go on. For you know youre tired of your terrorist problem laws are you do you get where youre from because i know that i have a little accent and there was no arms or sorry and i know why are you apologizing because i didnt take a i was like a bad thing i think it is a matter of ignorance really. Just not really being aware that someone might be offended by something however theres been a significant online backlash to the universitys initiative. The regime of the settled university have decided to Police Incidents of perceived rudeness with an army of bait student my Group Gresham detectors for police jobs at the university of sheffield how is this not illegal what the hell have i just read the author problematize is even benign curiosity is a micro aggression and therefore as racist this is a recipe to create a climate of distrust and a breakdown of social relations these people do not speak for me. The university claims its main objectives are to facilitate healthy open discussion im Good Students are taught to think critically about race issues if theys like the regressions have a real impact on minority groups well talk radio host and jungle until the program could end up doing more harm than good. We need to obviously condemn racism but recruiting students to do it like it is if theyre undercover are think its horrible i think its a sin and of a very very big wedge and also will be very concerned about who does so each what is not allowed to be said is another attack on freedom of speech and universities should be concealed rules of free speech these kids eventually are going to go out into the real world if they work in a factory if they work in an office theyre going to hear the news they dont like. Its about challenging that of course and i just think this is not going to prepare them for the real world track or racism track or 6 isnt track or miss orgy and tackle homophobia of course and make sure your institution is inclusive but this is not the way to do it this is a orator great step this should use some idiotic academic whos never lived in the real world themselves you need to get a life and get out of students lives. Sake a look at some news in brief from around the world now hundreds of trying to have packed onto the streets of berlin farmers along with the vests are protesting against the agricultural policies of both germany and the e. U. The demonstrators accuse the German Government of prioritizing large scale farming at the expense of Climate Friendly organic methods attractively descended on berlin from a number of regions throughout the country. African migrants have started fires outside greeces morea refugee town following the stabbing of a 20 year old bear that demanding to be held separately from immigrants from afghanistan after all for it is arrested in afghan become over the killing. Of the sound of a metal am capital for a 13th week of protest rallies began over metro fare increases police on friday deployed water cannon to disperse crowds after demonstrations turned violent. And all for a seat in the philippines they are told volcano remains life threatening vast after its sudden and spectacular eruption more than a week ago even though its continuing to cover surrounding areas in ankle deep ash de vry are learned around 20000 people have been evacuated from the. German Foreign Office has apologized after inappropriately trying to tap into the viral hashtags to do some one in 4 words government institutions around the world are trying their hand at humor in the latest twitter craze but for many users their efforts arent exactly love at 1st sight. X. X. X. X. X. X. Your b. Said court approved. If your visa application process did not make people feel less than human it might have been funny but it does so this is gloating in your discretionary power laughing at people who are subjected to it not cool and quite out of touch this is not funny playing on peoples feelings is inappropriate there are thousands of people who are waiting for their visas thats simply the real face of you guys period. Being funny is apparently not always our strong suit we deleted it weve been there and apologized to all who were offended by this we know that the surprise is complex and these are decisions can deep effect peoples lives our colleagues taken a decision is very seriously. You shouldnt apologize the joke is actually good good now i am offended that you deleted the tweet because apparently offended someone with no sense of humor obviously i. Want to get in touch and let us know what you think by following us on social media were back at the top of the hour with the latest headlines with either. So what weve got to do is identify the threats that we have its crazy to. Let it be an arms race of his own spearing Dramatic Development only closely and going to exist i dont see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk. Down action or times you were going underground as reapproach 9 years since britain and the United States used their air forces to destroy africas richest country and in a week when moscow attempted to broker peace in libya coming up in the show 24 hours ahead of the berlin summit to find a peaceful solution to libyas post nato intervention we speak it was abraham former spokesperson for libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and how stable is restored all star power sharing in its recording of a money and Boris Johnsons vow to rule out prosecution of u. K. Soldiers during the troubles we talked to the doobies Ian Paisley Jr and shin feigns fronting malloy about putting irish before english all this more coming up in todays going on the ground 0 1st you gave labor leader Jeremy Corben defended his election manifesto against Boris Johnson the Prime Ministers questions on wednesday almost seeming unaware it has been rejected by the british people but while his party in fights over its pro israel leadership candidates the subject of democracy itself was raised by this scottish m. P. The Prime Minister sent the letter to the 1st minister of scotland which. Cuts right of the people of scotland