hello and welcome to new broadcasting house, the bbc s headquarters in central london. welcome too to unspun world, where we put the key questions of the moment to the bbc s experts right around the globe. has something gone permanently and disturbingly wrong with politics in the united states, or can it be mended? we live in a time when serious political commentators are talking about the possibility of a second american civil war. the bbc ukrainian reporter who saw pictures of her own home destroyed live on television. what does she think about russia s targeting of civilians in the ukraine war? i don t see any logic of why would somebody wants to bomb those civilian people. and the world famous combat cameraman who s just been released after six months in prison by the taliban in afghanistan. how was he treated? i think you ll be surprised. they looked after us very well. as soon as we arrived, i they took the heater out of the guard room and put it. into our cell so it wa
in the battle for ukraine. now on bbc news, unspun world withjohn simpson. hello, and thanks forjoining me. we re at the bbc s headquarters in london, broadcasting house. and here s the statue of the bbc s patron saint, george orwell, complete with cigarette. he used to work here. beside him is his famous quote. if liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. well, i hope we can persuade you to hear this edition of unspun world, anyway. has germany s influence in the world shrunk? germany has been very slow, very reluctant to react when it comes to sanctions against russia. what effect will the shooting of the palestinian journalist shireen abu aqla have on the politics of israel? this has been an extremely violent period. certainly, these are extremely testing times for israel s leaders. and will president biden s lifting of some controls over cuba actually help the people of the island? i think the desire to leave is mor
Top american leaders often have problems with israel, which depends heavily on american support. Gunfire. But doesnt necessarily do what the us wants. Usually, though, american officials keep quiet about it. Not so the us deputy secretary of state, kurt campbell. He said publicly the other day, israels leaders mostly talk about the idea of a sweeping victory on the battlefield, but the Biden Administration didnt believe such a thing was possible. Neither do many other observers. So why is israel pursuing the idea, and why is Benjamin Netanyahu so willing to ignore what the us wants . I put these questions to shaina oppenheimer, a journalist with bbc monitoring injerusalem. First and foremost, he has some very far right Coalition Partners who have been very hawkish and very clear with him that they want to see the government do certain things, for example, for it to press ahead with a full scale invasion of rafah. And they would also like to see what they would describe as a total Victo
Hello and welcome to unspun world. Why is israels government deliberately flouting the wishes of its leading ally, the United States . Perhaps it goes to show what netanyahu is willing to do for his own political survival. This is definitely kind of bringing israel towards a more isolationist stance. Whats the extent of chinas infiltration of western countries . Whether its in the uk or in other countries weve seen them in the us, weve seen them in australia, theres a Canadian Parliamentary inquiry theres something going on there. And why is a law on foreign agents in georgia causing mass demonstrations . They see it as a pivot in the countrys Foreign Policy. It is quite black and white. You know, its either eu or russia. Top american leaders often have problems with israel, which depends heavily on american support. Gunfire. But doesnt necessarily do what the us wants. Usually, though, american officials keep quiet about it. Not so the us deputy secretary of state, kurt campbell. He s
Top american leaders often have problems with israel, which depends heavily on american support. Gunfire. But doesnt necessarily do what the us wants. Usually, though, american officials keep quiet about it. Not so the us deputy secretary of state, kurt campbell. He said publicly the other day israels leaders mostly talk about the idea of a sweeping victory on the battlefield, but the Biden Administration didnt believe such a thing was possible. Neither do many other observers. So why is israel pursuing the idea, and why is Benjamin Netanyahu so willing to ignore what the us wants . I put these questions to shaina oppenheimer, a journalist with bbc monitoring injerusalem. First and foremost, he has some very far right Coalition Partners who have been very hawkish and very clear with him that they want to see the government do certain things, for example, for it to press ahead with a full scale invasion of rafah. And they would also like to see what they would describe as a total Victor