Broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our Team International on shine thomas glad to have you with us as we recap the weeks top stories with our Weekly Program now the New York Times is facing widespread criticism after it published an article saying that russia offered bounties in afghanistan to kill u. S. Troops it also claims donald trump was briefed on the matter however the director of National Intelligence denies that either the president or the Vice President were ever briefed on this and trying himself labelled the piece fake news as a free news New York Times must release anonymous conduit this person probably does not even exist. The article has been slammed by the Russian Foreign ministry which called the piece deliberate disinform aeration a saturday also saw the taliban denying the New York Times article of comments now on the piece in question and asks who might benefit from its publication its time to blow off the dust that settled on any smear tactics guide book since the last u. S. Election but as democrats are looking to wash away the humiliation of 2016 by trying to bring down trump this time they are resorting to the same narrative that failed them in the 1st place russia gate. American intelligence officials have concluded that the Russian MilitaryIntelligence Unit secretly offered down to us to taliban linked militants for killing Coalition Forces in afghanistan the piece rests on the familiar pillars of pulitzer winning journalism Anonymous Sources that believed concluded and assessed the claims are said to be based on interrogations of captured outgoing militants at least in part the article says well because less than in part well would be nothing at all really the alleged culprits is the same russian Intelligence Unit that is accused of this elsberry poisoning western intelligence official say the unit which has operated for more than a decade has been charged by the kremlin with care in the complaint to destabilize the west through subversion sabotage and this us a nation. The west in the middle east by bribing the taliban into something they are doing anyway comic book villains have more logic and motivation than russia in this article but as evil and sleazy as russia may be portrayed in this story its still just Collateral Damage and not the actual target president trying to get briefed in march that russia is paying bounty money for dead american soldiers right now. And his response to that is nothing his entire presidency has been a gift. But this is beyond the pale its a betrayal of most sacred duty we bear as a nation to protect and equip our troops in recent in the harms way. If trump refuses to hold putin accountable for funding terrorism against u. S. Troops in afghanistan then Congress Must again step up i expect the trumpet ministration to take such allegations seriously and inform congress immediately as to the reliability of these news reports the stories taking jabs at trump amid reports hes about to take another step towards ending the catastrophic 2 decades long invasion russias Foreign Ministry has dismissed the allegations as fake pointing out that more school has all along been trying to mediate the conflict and have the United States and the taliban in fact sign a peace deal the simple this information clearly illustrates the intellectual abilities propagandists among american intelligence who have to come up with such nonsense instead of inventing something more reliable however what else can we expect from intelligence which miserably failed in the 20 year war in afghanistan its russia collusion 2. 0 as if that has ever been worth anything more but a house impeachment that left trump unfazed by hey maybe at least Robert Mueller will have a 2nd shot around 2021. We heard from max abrams a fellow at the Quincy Institute for responsible state craft in the u. S. Who says anonymous Intelligence Data is always questionable. When i 1st read this story in the New York Times i point to go on twitter that it was weekly source a number of people replied and they said yeah were you know its been corroborated by you know the wall street journal what sexual c. N. N. And so the more Mainstream Media piles up on a story like this the more it it takes on the impression of being true but again we cant really know that well without knowing more about this into how is the intel generated out who is providing this into the home and is it pure or is it largely partisan driven the intelligency is how very largely trouble and so its not hard for Mainstream Media to get in touch with sort of another anonymous intel person and to verify the veracity of these stories even if theyre not necessarily true where even if were hearing only you know a partial truth about it its certainly trying to be spun in the way in a way that implicates trout in the worst manner to push by going across the finish line. After being delayed by the Global Pandemic moscow finally held its huge military parade on wednesday marking the 75th anniversary of victory over nazi germany red square and to the sound of thousands of marching feet from those tasked with protecting the motherland and on their heels quite literally was a procession of military vehicles and equipment before the whole thing that was topped off with a spectacular fly by. P. P. P. P. E. P. Feet. Feel. Our correspondence taylor was down at red square and summed up the emotions of the day. To me actually the most moving part of the day is all to the present spoken and they say in unison without rob and thats because i hear history in that sound there are echoes of those people 75 years ago on red square victory was celebrated but more importantly so with the people who have fought tooth and nail to bring it up out my grandmother for chat she threw it in the a 1000000 lot is independent womens battalion and it was an all female unit that was part of the fust polish army and that was part of the soviet fool says a nazi they fought apostle in london which is in front of russia and they actually managed to break through to jump into france says take back and hold talk to strategic area of the bridge that proved to be crucial and not the battle later on i could go up to any Single Person on the street also what did you write that its to join the war each would keep me 80 tell family story someone who fought and died starving cried someone who survived the blockade of leningrad so many fought with the partisans on so much who on the 24th of june 1945 looked into that very scrap right behind me traditionally the event has held on may 9th but the coronavirus prevented it this year so wednesday was chosen for the jubilee instead and it was not just a random date back in 1905 the 1st ever victory parade was held on june 24th when many soviet soldiers had made it back from the front lines and could actually share in the celebrations with the whole country. In commemoration of victory over germany in the great patrick wall for june 24th 945 fine scheduling a parade of the active army the navy and moscow garrison the victory parade in moscows red square. It was a long anticipated and unfit get civil day some people strongly believed it would come. We were looking at the pile of wet cloths and thinking that the long expected victory had come and we the war is that how people to free the motherland bring back peace is my contribution. Well were going to go around and greeting the troops i could see rain trickling from their camps but they spirits were too high to even notice it was a gloomy sunday red squares cobblestones away the bunches of flowers that we got after the parade were away but years on my heart doesnt believe in those memories the 24th of june 1945 has become a part of my life it was the most cheerful and sunny day. Well as time marches on from these world changing events it seems history is not always being remembered the same way in may the white house paid tribute to to the u. S. And u. K. For delivering victory in the 2nd world war completely ignoring the soviet effort and its not the only example of airbrushing the past as arties down hawkins reports now from victory park in moscow on this day in 1945 american Great Britain had victory over the nazis the us president came under fire for ignoring the part played by other allied nations in defeating fascism not least the soviet union which suffered over 25000000 casualties but recent events go beyond just one tweet. On the 23rd of august 939. 00 the soviet union and nazi germany signed a treaty of nonaggression known as the molotov ribbentrop pact and its secret protocols dividing europe and the territories of independent states between the 2 totalitarian regimes and grouping them into spheres of interest which paved the way for the outbreak of the 2nd world war history is a set of lies agreed upon according to napoleon but when former liberators are officially relabeled this occupants and victims as aggressors just with a few strokes of a pen then both truth and agreement become allusive rewriting history revisionism altering the past to fit with present political paradigms multiple states at the center of those tragic events have been mired in controversy but when it comes to russia controversy turned to something and forgivable all but equating the soviet unions role in world war 2 with that of nazi germany do your president put in his her and stalin colluded to start world war 2 that is a fact part of was a victim of this horrible conflict from the munich pact and partition of czechoslovakia to western business interests in nazi germany many countries at the center of the wars outbreak of skeletons in the closet the key aim is to learn lessons what can be done today to maintain violet of peace the russian president has his own thoughts the historical revisionism where witnessing in the west particularly with regard to the subject of the 2nd world war and its outcome is dangerous because it grossly cynically distorts the understanding of the principles of Peaceful Development laid down in 1945 by the conferences in yalta and san francisco. The main historic achievement to fuel and other decisions of the time was the agreement to establish a mechanism that would allow the major powers to stay within a diplomatic framework when resolving their differences the response to russias position such as passing its own historical rules is telling rather than a debate accusations of deliberate false for cation and deceit to divide and conquer in pursuit of nefarious motives historians and politicians may argue for years about blame and responsibility but as the memory of conflict fades so does the fear of such tragedy repeating itself they say history is the sum of all things that could have been avoided a vast Early Warning system and the response to the president s peace may have missed the main point the way we understand history shapes the way we understand the present and shapes how were going to act in the future if we have a distorted a corrupt titian of history then were not going to be able to 1st of all know that a different future is possible but we see history being deployed for nationalistic for propagandists think for mythological for militaristic purposes all over the world and i mean russia is certainly guilty of that too to some extent im not saying that russia is outside of that but on the issues of world war 2 russia is much closer to the truth and to have a vision of the world based upon collaboration between the United StatesRussia Britain the French Resistance forces china back to allow us to begin to reinvention a world in which we can begin to Work Together again. The voting process to reform the russian constitution it began on thursday polls are open nationwide until the 1st of july. Now the vote had been originally planned for april 22nd but was the laid by the coronavirus pandemic and to alleviate concerns about crowds polling stations are open for a whole week instead of a single day there are about 200. 00 proposed amendments to the constitution one of the changes would allow the let me put it to run for president for another 2 terms critics have argued over the all d or nothing approach to the vote where people have to say yes or no to the entire package and you cant just pick and choose which amendments they what put in supported the changes in a speech in the state duma back in early march. It was january when president putin stunned russia by proposing changes to the countrys Foundation Law the constitution within hours the entire government had resigned the current constitution dates back to 993. 00 to western backed president Boris Yeltsin built from the debut of the communist soviet era yeltsins constitution created what would be criticized as a hyper president ial system the president called all the shots and it was forged in bloodshed as a hostile communist control parliament trying to impeach yeltsin he resorted to the military to keep in power. 187 people were killed but all to. One of the most important proposals today is to end that hyper president ial system while keeping the fundamentals of the constitution intact so what powers does the president currently have only he alone can nominate the Prime Minister and other cabinet Members Parliament just gives a formal green light to the candidates the proposal would flip that giving parliament the final say on who serves in government and the president would not be able to reject the m. P. s choices. Powers would be redistributed between various branches of government intended to lock in more checks and balances into russias government system another big change would limit the president s tenure to only 2 terms in total as opposed to no more than 2 terms in a row as it is now that means future leaders wont be able to serve for as long as putin has. But its not a member which has got western media excited putins perceived trick to stay in power forever the existing rules say putin must stand aside in 4 years time after his 2nd consecutive term albeit his 4th mandate in total m. P. s are pushing a proposal to 0 out his term count a reset button for an updated constitution i propose to add to the new constitution that the current president like any other citizen would have the right to be elected to the post of head of the state that would mean putin could run again in 2024 and in 2030 if he wants to rewind back to january and why putin said he wanted to change the constitution he says its to develop a welfare state. The reason for these amendments is to ensure the further development of russia as a state governed by the rule of law is to increase the efficiency of institutions in our country with that in mind the room more than 140. 00 amendments one guarantees that the minimum wage will not be lower than the cost of living another secures an annual adjustment to improve the real value of pensions and allowances that would also be tougher requirements for Civil Servants such as banning key officials from having foreign citizenship or Foreign Bank Accounts the would also be a ban on giving away any russian territory and the priority to domestic law over international there are some controversial proposals to marriage would be classified solely as a union between a man and a woman and god gets mentioned all the constitution will still say russia is officially a secular state its an all or nothing vote russians wont be able to pick and choose which of the amendments they want to say its simply a yes or no to the whole package and the changes will only be enacted if the russian people give it an unequivocal mandate. If people do not vote for the amendments they will not be added to the constitution. Online voting is being held for the 1st time in russia 2 regions are holding their votes electronically it is another measure to help quell coded fears the Online Platform being used promises data encryption and privacy guarantees and registration for online voting closed last week now while the reforms are proving controversial some commentators claim that they are necessary for russian society. But i think its very important to note that the present constitution came out of violence came out of the time of deep uncertainty a time of very small just events after the collapse of the soviet system here we are 2027 years later and this document is a centralized power dramatically putin feels it needs to be changed opinion polls suggest a majority russians feel it should be changed as well one of the western media is focusing on the putin term limits thing which by the way doesnt mean he has to go mention it one day anyway putin says he will respect that vote for me technically by the way he didnt have to have this National Vote at all i mean he was passed by every russian region all 85 federal something passed in the state parliament the duma passed it the National Parliament he didnt have to have this vote hes chosen to do it because he wants the public democratic legitimacy and fairness i think if that had been that many ballot papers it would been a hell of a lot more confusing than a single ballot paper saying yes or no. After months of Lockdown People around the world and have been enjoying their 1st taste of freedom in recent weeks this is following the ease of many crowd of virus restrictions but for those thinking the fight against the virus has been won the World Health Organization is warning it has only just begun. The plunder me. It took more than 3 months for the sort of swine medium cases to be reported. The last 1000000 cases were reported in just a. Well among those who have already felt of the 2nd wave is china a recent outbreak was traced to a local wholesale food market which supplies more than 80 percent of Agricultural Products to the Capital Beijing the government acted quickly shutting it down and firing up its Testing Program it was planned to test an entire area in just 3 days now thats more than 60000 people we asked locals how the process went. I thought it would be fast to take such a test but in fact i spent 3 hours queuing up for the test but when i saw the doctors my heart sank because they had protective googles well all folks and their sweat was running down their faces well meanwhile in germany a new cases of the coronavirus have continued popping up in various regions leading local authorities to impose Counter Measures which have differed from city to city after outbreaks at Meat Processing plants the german food and agricultural minister has called for price increases to help create a safer working environment arties peter oliver reports. Dealing with coronavirus here in germany has moved away from sweeping National Issues with restrictions being lifted or imposed based on Regional Fact is. Here in authorities have lifted restrictions that have limited get togethers to a maximum of 5 people from 2 different households the same move it being made in the states of brandenburg. Its a very different picture in north rhinewestphalia an outbreak centered around a meat packing plant in the city of. The scene over 1500. 00 people test positive and a Strict Lockdown until the end of the month has been imposed on the area. Undoes we will order a lockdown for the whole district of killer slow the purpose is to calm the situation to expand testing to establish whether or not the virus has spread beyond the employees of tonys we will get a better picture of the situation or intensive testing and can then see more clearly within 7 days what the situation is we want to bring about this lockdown which will stay in place until june 30th and bring us more clarity of. Long queues have formed as tests of being made available to everyone in the affected regions the military being drafted in to help with the large scale testing Operation Health professionals suggest that a large number of symptomless covert carriers a behind this spike the largest localized outbreak in germany. That is already the idea of these tests because we know that there are symptoms people who dont have a high fever who carry the virus and then unfortunately spread it today weve counted around 400 to 600 people waiting and we would also be setting up a hotline in the next few days to help with the registration. Locals queuing to test science at all happy with the slaughterhouse at the center of this spike all the state authorities who they say should have done more. Than 40 i dont want to be careful and take a test i dont have symptoms and what should i say im a bit angry with the slaughterhouse that they didnt react sooner and now our region is headed into another log down we have to go through it. Often fine definitely the politicians in their thirtys should have reacted to it and then completely convinced that the 1st kind of those infected were faked and then not taking any responsibility. Away from north rhinewestphalia theres also a localized lockdown in the city of my. Workers and is being seen bringing water and supplies to some of the 800 also families who are being taught. To quarantine. Around 700 people remain in an apartment complex and get again a forced quarantine which turned violent last weekend. And remember i said restrictions were being lifted in berlin well not for old berlin as in the friedrich china area of the german capital almost 40 households of being put on lockdown those living nearby a concerned about the risk posed a not too happy with those who faulted social distancing the policy in the sun the sun and i have a feeling the fear can you explain why because i belong to the risk group and i have medical preconditions. We are doing this for weeks and months we dont do visits anymore mostly we sit on the balcony apart from Grocery Shopping or a walk pharmacy or the doctor thats it. If we dont understand why some have boxes in the box and in the compounds we dont understand this. Off the back of those regional coded 19 spikes authorities here in berlin have said that they will be in full swing fines against the wearing face coverings on public transport or in shops as we try and get back to his normal a life as possible while still remembering that corona virus is infectious today as it was a few months ago thanks for all over all the it private does it for me this ill be back at the top of next hour with more of the weekly this is our c international. We go to work so straight home. What is the meeting in the worth of history why are there are those so determined to destroy cultural artifacts and rewrite history and so the understanding of history a true and just fashion of understanding of history is really about 2 things reverence in a warning the culture side we are witnessing which i think 56. On balkan 2 worlds apart we often hear that a human life is priceless which may sound virtuous as a political statement but its simply not true in economic terms economists have rule at the taj a price tag to human lives like Everything Else on the market is susceptible to fluctuations but what is the cost of putting human lives above Everything Else while to discuss that im now joined by david handler senay Research Fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University professor henderson its good to talk to you thank you very much for your time but youre now one of the things that has been possible in me throughout the call that 900 pandemic is that in many countries its economists spread merrily liberally minded economists who are very much in favor of the strictest lowdown possible while many epidemiologists and other public Health Professionals are a forum or are reserved about such tools mashers how do you explain that what i think it what economists did early on starting in march that was university of chicago study was they took the most extreme