Im going to say no you can put somebody else on hes going to say yes and then youve got its bait that he would have to make up there are much more well lets start going down there is where i get this tendency of thinking whether its a millionaire or kisses most of it at this point i find it ironic that both the russian and the west and commentators sought to present it as sad as is my dumb moment with all the theories and hopes a fantastic but youve been arguing that ad been dancing dollars arent nothing like weve seen before what made them stand out for you. Its in many ways a unique revolution the tendency to link it to my down because again its the people on the street mass demonstrations it looks very similar superficially is obvious and the western coverage International Coverage i mean obviously the edits is going to reach for those kinds of parallels because the. Amount of Information Knowledge that you can assume in your readers is actually quite limited its a good one covering the sneer a bit at night that well its not on the news every day and so the view is in the u. K. Or the us would recognize this oh its another color revolutions in europe the masses of people on the street and so theres a natural tendency to frame the story in terms that your readers recognize but what were trying to in is to the more human story and surveillance of it and again the informed as watching this its very different or have that one of the big chains one the biggest difference is ukraine is a very divided country between the rest of us in the east and the nationalists in the west and in belarus it seems to be a universal across the society as well i mean from the middle since actually is immense through to the people that were in the factories of university reject. Shank and the peacefulness of the process the votes just as the organizers took them off sky air and several made it absolutely clear they want to have a peaceful process and also the lack of geopolitics if you remember john mccain the u. S. Senate was on my done making speeches about freedom we are with the people which was to say that we reject the democrats key elected president on a cove issue although everyone hates him and he was a terrible president. And appeal to the crowds there where is the protest is in better russia have made it clear that this is not you this fight while i dream of you that probably have grass roots promise in our largely void of geopolitics im not sure they can. They really come across this way and they can stay this way because theyre clearly a lot of adjure is quite trying to use those products to advise their to political interests going on because the problem is better usher is getting dragged in slowly to the chip lets stand off bits. In russia or in the west im in just been in brussels she just met with my crohns shes just about to meet with metal and my problem is you know they they have agendas too that they have problems with russia but you know. Matthew was commenting i think just this morning and she was saying that we stand with this other. With the people and at the same time we believe look the sinkers knowledge is present the president but at the same time we do know want to get involved as you know block in this fight. First english language address to the e. U. Said we want your son to die at sea but please respect the sufferance see it better russia in other words this is a fight between the people and the president and then this is a tricky question because when an adult when you recognize be it tainted nature or even try to project land the nature of the boat. You know any possible intimacy of the incumbent election can this case its one thing but when you will annoy just certain status and legitimacy to his competitor without actually having an accurate tally and develop Something Else entirely. That this is a disputed question i mean then and you probably saw i had a long argument and so its it was one of the see its exactly this point. Say the beginning that we dont know what the actual result is however there is some evidence in so much as there were 20 rebel owning stations set released what they claim is the real results and those shows that. Won by an overwhelming majority. We did that could be that could serve as a proof that the david did vote or the actions were a free and fair but you cant take that as a measure or as a pro of you know another person and as it is my my problem is that at its core its ultimately sassy teaching internal election german the jamison with. An outside practical. And it is at its core you tell to me deciding for the people thats exactly what the ship is doing hes deciding for the people isnt the e. U. With as much criticism of him as it provides isnt actually doing the same deciding for the valor russian people that the issue here is to what extent are we comforted that he lost he claims he won 80 percent of the official result was 81. 00 he has not behaved as a president who won 80 percent of the vote yet see no gration the rebel polling stations we have numbers and those numbers in order those stations so a landslide they say and also there was a statistical study on that based on the official results also says 70 percent and finally when the progovernment demonstrations have been organized no one sends up if you lets just say im at the end really to ask and there is in the name of the recent tracking to the question of whether the look of shock is legitimate or not im not having that argument i think there are lots of additives that these these elections werent free and fair and that hes legitimacy as a leader is that very very questionable my question is if a friend again should meet a c. M. That he cannot get that is a legitimate representative of the belarusian people that she had this biggest you negotiate lets say aid package as she did on behalf of the belorussian people and the reason im asking these is not because im trying to put you know a look at shock and the e. U. On this sad to say moral authority because the means that it is it used to procedure and and in this particular example it is not it is made to be serving assumptions the problem is that its missy as president you know the live ins is a say a pulling out president elect is that the sensor Lesson Committee its all of that so theres no possibility of a recount and theres no possibility to check which means there has to be another election in. If we question that this is a this is something that the e. U. May well cross for but its not doing that it is saying that we recognize directly or indirectly by accepting that he had lost at that behind us level in brussels that she is the leader and that if youre reading into it that the only people who actually recognized. What they said and if you have seen is careful about this they have not recognized that dissent is the just missy the only the latvians have said that shes actually president and then you dont hear is that i mean the economy and we can become very legalistic here and i both look at shankar and that the russian government has a long tradition of being legalistic that if you accept somebody of the highest level and an afghan has been accepted by but it hasnt all european institutions hes negotiating a package for democrats want to get all this thing that annoys her with this status even without you know putting it formal press release out i mean its also about symbols is it not yeah but you know i mean negotiating is a loaded term i mean shes gone suppressors and shes talking to them by except to ask who exactly as who and that i mean as the a member of the nation house which is a self appointed buddy in order to negotiate but you know in that sense we see she normally won the elections or at least the likes of falsified im not sure but then they set up as a party to have a negotiation and then its working about Transitional Government and a new election so this is being the position. And in that as the semi official head of the Opposition Movement is why shes being received in brussels but i wouldnt say shes negotiating in so much as theres no legal force to any of these scuffs its having to live in fear of these cow autocrats and be it imposing champions of democracy abroad ought all to play into each others hands because they provide for these and national and all geopolitics and. Grassroots democratic initiatives because look at how they can now go and say yes they recognized her without even counting the ballots and you know that and they did is out to get me you will be 1st on the ultimately reinforcing each of the narratives and. You know making it so much difficult so much more difficult will all actors from grassroots movements huge crowds for Democratic Change without being accused of without being branded as a for an actor and i agreed like i said in the beginning of this comments that you know its getting dragged into this to political game and at the same time 2nd i. Said in her comments that she has been a bit more demanding of the in so much that she thinks more pressure needs to be put on and so she is acting more president ial by taking that like shes made that decision on our own and shes shes not like its anything at this point. But she she remains the face and europe remains convinced that not only were the elections totally legitimate she probably won the gold down the line everybody is saying that no ones going to make a president. That there has to be new elections and with those spent ballots there has to be because you need a definitive number on how many votes she wants and that simply is not available and we have to take a very short break now we will be back in just a few moments 800. 00. Nuclear power plants will become a battleground in the u. S. In vermont people are demanding the shut down of a local plant for my coanchor. Right now my focus because its a very dangerous oh no clare power plant the owner is attempting to run the reactor beyond its operational limits this case just sort of puts a magnifying glass on wheres the power in this country wheres it going is it moving more towards corporate interests or is it more in the idea of a traditional participatory democracy is your power with the people this case demonstrates that struggle in very real ways. Seemed wrong. To me to be yet to shape out disdain and become educated and engaged equals betrayal. When so many find themselves worlds apart. She still look for common ground. Well the naturals a private bank heiress and a change here from b. N. A. In telling me is up than i want to touch on and other news bomb dead kid s. On in september and i am talking about the illogic poisoning all that russian opposition politician alex saying about me not only triggering all the mail year and narratives in both russia and the west but i think it actually may at a seriously undermine out war changed the post whole war relationship between russia and germany there is now a real prospect of a hole in the construction of the north stream pipeline ad if that happens if that comes to pass im absolutely sure that the russian or russian german relationship will qualitatively change now that you are a long time russia watcher when you are presented to me than he is like that its so many complications and underground currents how do you how do you go about making sense. Be any sense focus on the business the economics and its a nice frame of reference because you know so i follow the money thing if you say the issue the north stream theres a lot of. People said repeatedly that the u. S. Is looking you know now theyre producing gas in excess and they want to export their energy clearly the commercial aspects of this story late in this story and being the issue was not stream. Basically that it cuts ukraine out of the transit routes from russia and western europe feel like russias been bullying ukraine but if you look at the economics i mean that talking about Energy Security however. In the seventys eightys russia was responsible for 70 or 0. 80 europes gas thats foreign in the meantime to about 3540 percent so europe is already diversified away from russian gas and that having this new pipeline the most stream to. Russia will to live in exactly the same amount of gas as its now so theres no increase in dependency on russia the problem is the and he Security Issues because when they went through the pipeline to ukraine because of the terrible relationships between russia and ukraine and because of ukraine being effectively bankrupt it couldnt pay its gas and gas from sent off in 2006 and people are taking this as a Political Action whereas it was actually an economic one and germany the reason why theyre keen on this pipeline is actually increases their Energy Security because it goes directly from oil it is actually clean clear that they are so keen on these pipelines anymore because in marco hit herself as that quite ambivalent it seems and i didnt expect that there is such a as sure going to be. Allowed to poisoning of somebody like the bali and the set huge implications huge an economic terms. What does it tell you that was dramatic i mean medical suggested she didnt say explicitly shes just it. That no strain to pipeline may not be complete because of not only was asking for the kremlin you know to be accountable of the self accounts its what actually happened which is news and i see said i mean this whole affair open about these poisoning good. Dramatic change in attitudes mostly because matt the man who doesnt have a very good working relationship i mean they both have to deal with the geopolitics but all such as me is a major investor russia has literally 10 times more Companies Working in russia than any other europe in paris more than all the others put together. And if that relationship changes if. Its like now were going to do it here as an e. U. Entity rather than german russian and say thats amazed change and thats a major blow to russia i think they not only wheezing stories a very particular kind of story because it falls into a very special category for me that characterized by 2 features why that is extreme visibility everybody has heard about it and the 2nd one is very little no ability there are very very few established facts and the most Critical Data this case now all these test results im being held by germany the test results and the formula of the allegedly poison then being held by germany even though one of the thing that one of the most revealing things would be to compare the test results that not only had in russia and windows test results and when that were produced when he was just not entirely true why didnt i think what could possibly hold germany back i checked into this that the issue here is now which is actually a military. Nerve agent chemical one the responsible authority is the the International Organization chemical weapons and that what happens this is not only becomes a by last way shoot everything has to go through the p. C. And that germany has submitted that information to the p. C. And mr is a member of the organization and is entitle to access the data through the o. P. C. W. So as far as the protocol is consent germany and russia have nothing to do with this now but it will be c w as are very controversial are going to say sure because immediately you know what getting vote here is the. All squeeze anything and the old be a legend das stories of using chemical weapons in syria and that you know better than i do that then number of western scientists who work mediocre c. W. And who are on record to die means on record complaining about the pressure put on them by western security agencies to provide the result favorable to that conclusion so you dont trust based on the overriding you dont trust trust the russian process how inclined he tries the o. P. C. W. Protest and given the history of that are going to say shit and then roll it has been playing these geopolitical games between russia and the west i grant you their p. C. Is obvious but despite his history and has had problems in the past and that undermines its just miss in his authority. Nevertheless everyone signed up to this chemical weapons treaty its the one thats in force and is the one that has to be for that and its a good situation and then you can ask questions as to you know whether theyre playing again super scoopers. Im done and if im putting on its suit school that you know im aware of the reports that its actually full and that in the past and that raises a question ive written that one that it isnt that you literalistic a position for germany to take in duty if you are so concerned about human rights about the yeah you know youd be use of chemical weapons out on the terrace f. Europe about there russias track record of dealing with opposition figures its ok about germany i mean germanys nothing but bureaucratic i mean theyre. Very elastic and theyre doing this by the book which is released it says the o. P. C. 72 and then the protocol say that it has to be checked independently but to other people which was france and sweden. They present no its not thats me i would agree i say why not share the dates directly with russia because it would be just a right not just something joint investigation i mean you can have a russian a german investigators on both sides. Yes and that would mean you must be kind of the red tape and increase the transparency of the time i see a 100 percent with you on that i think because we want to mitigate this like you said this i mean the consequences of this could be significant and of thanks very much to them in russian relations so you dont want that nobody wants that and by sticking to the price of the book you know i see increased tensions and it is to my mind not really clear why they are sharing it but nevertheless the protocols are very clear in the o. P. C. To germanys doing exactly what its supposed to ok lets move to the free syria have all be of the monk that i want to ask you about and its the only thing they renewed poor bit when i was there but john and i mean and i am absolutely and taken aback by by the cameras or what is going on because. I think this whole conflict shows the degree task nature off in 4 wars because i dont know if youve seen the other day but that leave went on television accusing. The Prime Minister i mean you know being a puppy the sorest question you know that actually used to leave all being a dictator assy any of that matter is he in the in the case of the territorial conflict doesnt show that. You know were all so taken aback by this narrative of you know democracy purses that talk receive sattar at that even when they have nothing to general parties immediately employ dance here or you know get somebody on their side and name calling between as it goes on and i mean yeah i mean its been going on for decades the whole oh im not going to kind of back issue has been rankling since the fall of the soviet union and the propaganda. President s in both countries have been using it as a Political Tool to rally National Feelings and ensuring elections and what have you and its been festering we i was in i suppose on so insists the Russian Agency and they were complaining that in be any we have the news of armenia next as about john and could we not move it to the magazine that was saints or did. This is insane but it just highlights me you know how the embassy the scene thats so when this fighting begins its natural that they start calling each other names its got very emotional very suddenly both calling each other when it means but using familiar themes to you or attract support today is sad and one of the one of the other things that struck me is how little coverage there is both in russia and in europe about true keys role in all of that because undoubtedly both brussels and the girl in moscow extremely concerned about the role turkey is playing essentially adding that i stand by john on that not making any secret of that secretary who came up pretty quickly. And it was everybody because turkey here has the rhetoric has changed that so hes always been a supporter as a potion and that. And so he supports it in principle but not at a gun has come out hes basically saying theyre going to put supports at mits wrist. And then that raises also support them so hes a member of nato of course. And i mean use member the lecky was your organization was russia so theres a possible scenario with sex and the russians so just stop fighting and like 5 maids. I mean these things that we floated none of that is actually very like this is what he said it has not likely but there are family day armenia officially accuse turkey 005 shooting down its plane over its own territory now nobody took it seriously and that everybody is sort of treating it as a fake without admitting to it that none of the sides has also released and that none of the radar data that they are in possession and. I dont really sure that that Something Like this is like a serious peeing often a guy gassed in russias last military alliances really all the cars because you need seems like all the all the parties are trying to hold the warring parties ill try to draw as much support in as they can i mean i think the end of this is definitely going to be to politico i mean the thing with the collective security and i so that its again its a techie from a tank of turkish territory not military so its ok so soldiers are killed in the only or anywhere else outside and fight doesnt get treated them so you know thats why those consensus less likely but as you say everybody is reaching for that you have political power as opposed on sticky and i mean its to russia and i think the resolution of this is this going to be a nasty would its going to go on for maybe months as john in an already rejected. Must because of its media because the fighting is too early on that people are now battling to see what territory they can get and i think when the fighting settles down and the lines are drawn and people realize that theyre not going to move forward or backwards then theyre going to send to the other players but he has serious interests in the region so does russia is actually friends with both as a john and i mean. They want to see a resolution to this but then theres a lot of. Political capital to be done in the negotiation that follows between russia and even the other well that its been a fascinating talking to riyadh running out of time so i have to put an end to it now but thank you very much for sharing about that and if mr president youll call what she has hope this year again next week in our worlds apart. Not going to just say i dont know about that get a list of all the ill just. Keep coming one look at what why did why do you know i moved out of the. Clear we hope to be but they were here are awesome friends so that the us are still soul but the souls feel hoping to do something this year. So yeah which for sure. They have about the house i suppose i feel a softball and i was able to put them on the back of the whole book and. Join me every thursday on the alex simon show and ill be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business im show business ill see you then. My name is sucks to see on the world social media to see jack see what i dont see check. Of the harder you know. When you know weve got to get it out. To cause you need to move. So you can. See spirits and i used. To make it very very easy. To use to people. Who stood for close to clubs during his. Shift the. Music. Because he makes me happy. Because he meets me. And when he moved to. Be with. Us. You know. Airstrikes destroy a hospital and residential buildings in the disputed region of. Reports from the ground as hostilities between armenia and azerbaijan continued for a day. And i was up by john side of the border and outside the main conflict zone one town is reportedly hit by around 2000 shells in a mass raid. Infections hit record numbers in france as reports suggest the government could enforce a nationwide shutdown on restaurants and museums from monday. And return to his duties in full soon as the us president gives an update on his condition from a Military Hospital after contracting coronavirus. Those are your headlines up