Some of those affected. Which just. Confirms he want to syria. About the attempted killing. Because of a former u. S. Defense secretary. 9 pm here in the russian capital a very warm welcome to our to international from the newsroom on myself and in the. Cold on moscow to clarify how a military grade nerve agent was reportedly used on russian soil referring to the case of opposition activist Alexei Navalny russia in turn urged the west to stop politicizing his condition in a message relayed by the countrys top diplomats to his german counterpart with more developments. Well at least a phone conversation between the 2 ministers is better than nothing because at one point the talks got canceled altogether when. Chose not to fly to berlin after the russian side realize that decided to cut down the planned time for their conversation to one and a half hours an update on the Russian ForeignMinistry Website shows that the chat wasnt easy at all so here are moscows key points russian officials are and will be open to all d kinds of cooperation with germany and European Countries on this very difficult incident that of alexei no volley now russia is still a very keen to get all of that medical data of the tests that are to get to the bottom of this and finally law School Officials keep repeating if you refuse to share the findings that will be taken as a straightforward signal to moscow especially given the fact that some of that data has been shared with other European Countries and for the nation from satisfying the stated requests will be perceived as a lack of desire on the part of our partners to help establish the truth in the framework of move jet save and comprehensive investigation of what happened. So berlin has been trying to force the russian side to deal with all this through the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons that is an International Body that germany says has all the findings but the russian top diplomat told his german colleague that this shouldnt stop the russian and the german governments from talking to each other bilaterally in or outside the o. P. C. W. Now moving on to how the issue is being treated by the European Union i can tell you that on tuesday the and the volley Health Incident thats only being described as nava chalk poisoning by the. Freeze has made all the way inside the walls of the European Parliament but just as an example of how Russian Diplomats are trying to knock on all kinds of doors in europe i can tell you that just before the m. E. Peas began debating the matter russias mission to the European Union came up with 9 blocks of questions flagging and consistencies and how berlin sees this matter some of them include what is the law or the rationale behind the kremlin or the russian authorities alleged plan or scheme to poison the like saying a volley with novacek or a substance of a similar type or why is it being stated by european officials that military great nerve agent novacek was only developed in the soviet union or later russia while extensive work on it was carried out by nato countries as well now heres another part of that statement by moscows mission to the e. U. Not claiming to be experts in toxicology we still consider it necessary to draw your attention to multiple inconsistency is regarding this case claims that whatever evidence may be transmitted to russia only with the patients consent im not compatible with numerous political level statements made in germany while he was still comatose despite these concerns voiced by Russian Diplomats the vast majority of m e ps only had russia to blame without providing any evidence and it all went down to discussing the sanctions against moscow in the meantime the health of alex saying the volley has improved significantly thats the good news he doesnt need a ventilator anymore he can walk and hes even back on social media having posted a photo of him and his family and side to the german hospital. Well among the possible sanctions the scale in the parliament was a bundling the nord stream to pipeline project which is now running 90 percent completed they will supply millions of european high schools with power austria for its part has objected to sanctions stressing that it is purely an Economic Venture and one that will benefit europe lets bring in the german economist to the program also a political commentator and friend of the program i might add i k where i could good to see you again the European Commission president has apparently sided with those calling for the terminations of nord stream to we can take a listen together to what was said. And to those that advocate closer ties with russia. I say that the poisoning of Alexei Navalny with an advanced chemical agent is not a one off we have seen the pattern in georgia and ukraine and syria and saulsbury and then election meddling around the world and this pattern is not changing and no pipeline well change that its a very direct language being use what do you make of that remark by arcelor vonder lyon well im sorry i cannot make anything out of these lines they are absolutely masses he says this is a parrot or. Larry anybody can blame anybody because all of the issues. Nothing was proved. So this is of course martin to do with to this is this is true too but what she just that is calls were made in the European Parliament also to terminate the pipeline project how do you expect to morrows voting session on to go like it. Well this is a company. Now we have in the backyard lobbyists from the u. S. And poland who have bicycle interests in. The east. Because the polish want to blow up the European Union and especially the germans so that they get older europe the us and her accounts they were arms to start infrastructure or supply and germany without their blackmail our whole lives to germany the 2nd is the polish one that will fly from poland to downmarket and the last group to stop so in the best for our there are many many lovely yes work in the more or less corrupt politicians do this in the last few days where germany it would be a nightmare it would be embarrassing to have nothing else you may have preempted my next question at length because you know for years as youll know tensions have been high at but there was always that distinction between politics and economics and businesses which could hurt you know both sides here but now it seems to be this this jumble this mixing up of both of those things so why do you know i think european politicians including those in germany are so very mentally opposed to nordstrom to our all teary motives at play right now. And no this is the last chance to get this done 1st and secondly there is brought a message already of the politicians who want to sabotage the european economy to do the euro reset it is worth that and what so the very evil plan against the europe the middle than the honest working people in europe and even the most front man to do it there is. Something going on which he says he knows from the u. S. To just get your thoughts finally on another aspect of s. P. Use top diplomat you separate who has called for a nevada only sanctions regime similar to the magnitsky act by the us would such an approach at the moment when strong backing in europe do you think well i dont think so because by now all politicians should know that also didnt hurt russia or asia or germany and the powers in between so the big winners of all the sanctions are the russians and the americans because the russians are forced to build their own industry and the americans have one competitor are by trying to do business with russia so i think many people allow the sanctions though were our best science and only harm themselves and im not sure whether they get the necessary message or a plea for any further sanctions and by the way is really i mean we have Everybody Knows now that russia is the future market everybody has to be good darling with russia because there is the market of the future the americans already try the french already try to and all the us will go once dry ill just do this speaking to us from hand over this hour i get home or a german economist and political commentator thank you. With tighter new covert restrictions having come into place in much of the u. K. People are being encouraged to turn informer shop in any group wreckers its all part of efforts to combat rising infection rates but not everyone is comfortable telling tales its open to neighbors to do exactly that through triple through the nonemergency number and if they are concerned they do see that kind of thing then absolutely its now the know they should be concerned yesterday yes they should ring in and report that. It will just inundate us with cools does he think we have an Endless Supply of offices you can just go out to these things it will be hundreds and hundreds of calls coming in from twitches lets just talk some specifics the new rules include fines for people meeting in groups bigger than 6 exemptions or covert secure advance larger high schools as well at work and educational institutions here example too but with Police Forces already stretched many question how the measures can be enforced we asked people in london what they think about becoming potential informants oh no no im not going to shut. Up you here man is someone. I would want to chill out and she isnt basically what i think you know i would inform the place id expect the police to do their job not asking us the public to enforce perfects of the governmental roles that i dont agree with i phones on what theyre doing ive heard people will probably not enforce it when he say 7 people who are having a Birthday Party but will want to force it hit 240 people have no way. I guess preventions. Me off the circle plus you know strictly. Clearly demonstrated with the issue of informing on people causing such controversy we pop the monitor up for debate. There will be quite a lot of breaches some through ignorance some through mistake some just straight forward through my im not going to do it people need to understand why theyre doing what theyre being asked to do the courts understand that things are a good idea otherwise they wont comply with them i dont believe that we should be snitching on a neighbors i think we need to be encouraging people to take personal responsibility and use their common sense ok this is a time of politicians to let us down maybe the pound and the economic spend is being put a head of Public Safety and health but you know the messages coming from politicians who knew how dangerous this was and they delayed so long and we knew if we look at the flu pandemic from the night in 20 that it comes back up the summer doubly hard so we need to all share fortunately unfortunately some dont act socially responsible a year some are malicious about it some are just old for careless im just the last one way or the other we rely the police arent everywhere we rely on the public reports in the more egregious examples the worst examples so that the police can deal with them and all our safety personally i wouldnt shop somebody to their next door its just not the way we do things it is not the british way its not cool the police. You know they are being spread very thin at the minute resources are tough the tough job today we dont need to have examples of police dishing out. Tickets and. Fines for people who are trying to congregate if it was plainly a family saw a gathering and some of those were kids maybe not if it was a raucous raucous Drunken Party of the sort that maybe would attract calls about disturbance in the 1st place anyway rick regardless of coded and then maybe as our judgment taste if you pizza. People call the police about disturbances and noisy parties and things like that anyway and i suspect a lot of those will be reported now with kelly. So you want to avoid living in some kind of dystopia an orwellian nightmare where we call you know like if i had thought one of the people on the street is spying on each other and constant monitoring of this is about safety only saving lives not only life for the Public Health aspect the Public Safety aspect were an awful awful long way from on a similar theme swamped with rising demands the u. K. s Coronavirus Testing Program is said to be close to breaking point to the extent that frontline medics are among those having difficulty getting checked speaking to our to your earlier dr sophy rowlands from the u. K. Doctors association explaining how people have been forced to travel long distances just to get tested. But i did get to be about just under 3 weeks a guy i knew i need to check straight to a i looked on the website and the nearest text was sent to mark white actually 60 miles and hes done it cripes i i thought that wasnt really good enough but i wasnt well enough to make that if students and so i checked again late seventies stages of threats of his chest and youre out of whack tonight it just outside london that would be 860 mile round trip from there each way it was just that its not just the general public chris trying to get past it doctors and from my house where chris is well so you are studying this all almost 250. 00 docs and we found that 10 percent were unable to test actual and and some have been obvious to drive some homemade stringent 60 mile round trip was done well and to be able to get attached in other docs is having to make about lets try wait to see if it comes up which that means that i. Well this is the situation as regards co but in the u. K. Currently in the past few days delhi infections are quite dramatically exceeding 3 fellows and test the veil ability is running low in the countrys 10 worst hot spots due to the rising number of infections hospitals are come sling routine operations turning away patients labs are also struggling to clear the backlog of tests the u. K. s Health Secretary has admitted the Testing Programs facing an enormous challenge matan cox ses only those showing symptoms are told by their doctor to get checked should look at test he also stressed the need to prioritize the most vulnerable over the summer when demand is low we were able to meet all requirements for testing whether priorities or not but as demand has risen so were having to prioritise once again and i do not shirk from decisions about prioritization theyre not always comfortable but they are important so i mean i think its quite clear the government is not in full and we will now heading into all 2 and we need it is going to happen in schools that bad there are lots about the wind. But without it you know whether it is or whether its it was tied to. The chance to change systems up and running probably have property passed and that doesnt. Still ahead donald trump confirms he wanted the syrian president taken odds but it was only stopped by his former u. S. Defense secretary or not after this break. Lead. Join me every thursday on the alex simon show and ill be speaking to guest of the world of politics or business im show business ill see you. 20 minutes into the Program Welcome back the spine 2 years of the niles donald trump has now confirmed he wanted syrias leader dead in a new interview the us president said the only reason the assassination did not take place was opposition from his former defense secretary is it true that after assad gas children for the 2nd time that it was you they wanted to take out assad that you had a good side on him i would have rather take him out i could have all said matters didnt want to do it. This is the assassination of president assad by the United States never even discussed the book is total fiction. Claims Bashar Al Assad committed crimes against his nation including multiple Chemical Attacks both syria and its military ally russia have always done strenuously denied any involvement executive director of the Ron Paul Institute done in mcadams for years Donald Trumps admission could have consequences. Now this is made early in 2018 that the u. S. Had no evidence that a thought was the heinz either the attack or the cain she couldnt ask attack in syria and in fact or only source of evidence were the white helmet who were basically working without hiding in syria so were going to believe al qaeda over russia and assad who are busy trying to fight al qaida but theres a real danger in this that is sort of a lawless and this for a long time frowned upon even though the cia has done its its best to do assassinations but as legally and officially frowned on the idea of assassinating foreign leaders the assassination of solo money of course in iran was a huge exception it hasnt gone very well for trump who hasnt got iran coming on its knees begging for a deal after that on the contrary so all this talk of assassinating people in reality what it does is puts u. S. Troops u. S. Diplomats and just plain old americans overseas in a lot more jeopardy than they did they need to be theres a lot of tough talk and actually has negative consequences for the u. S. After months of delays and disagreements afghan peace talks finally got underway over the weekend with no major breakthroughs to report as yet the u. S. President is under pressure to fulfill promises made 4 years ago picking up the story a little quarter. The clock is ticking on the next u. S. President ial election and Donald Trumps looking to score political points with a peace deal that promises to end americas longest ever war in afghanistan washingtons very optimistic about the talks already being held with the taliban in qatar they are truly in a momentous occasion. And afghans. At long last chosen to sit together and chart a new course for your country. This is a moment do. We must dare to hope but on pales optimism doesnt seem to match with political reality. Washington knows its got to deliver a deal to the war weary u. S. Public at any cost so it conveniently neglected to consult afghanistans government when drafting the agreement until this issue. There was a consensus on that is a nice but not on the cost of even us officials arent exactly thrilled about it were not happy about the release of some prisoners but hey times almost up for trump and the president s got to fulfill his promises hes already had 4 years to take care of this one the longest war in American History by far even close will be over within 1000 years. And i think thats enough we will not dictate to the Afghan People how to live or how to govern their own complex Society Better late than never sure but Trumps Administration is only promising full withdrawal by 2021 if there is not another setback of course who knows if that will be too little too late for americans fed up with the war or for the afghanis who are possibly even more unhappy about their countrys military occupation. The americans must leave now what have they done staying here for so long what did they bring for us afghans basically even before the us arrived in afghanistan we had our own government in the uk i think of them americans leave now there wont be too many changes in terms of security on. Earth but its better if the americans leave our country our leader must take action if he makes a good decision it will be beneficial for us we can provide for ourselves but if the us stays we cannot we exporting oil we will never need to beg we can be rich and build our country and being americas longest war has proven to be easier said than done for many years but now that it might serve the Current Administration as a boost to secure another term who knows what could happen the United States invaded afghanistan in order to. Get Osama Bin Laden was taken to be the last in line behind the 911 terrorist attacks bin ladin wasnt by just on the United States killed him it was 2011 so thats almost 10 years ago so theres a real question what. On earth was the United States doing all the time in afghanistan one of course it was in the business of nation building which successive Us Administration says oh no no we will never do that were not going to get involved in nation building well of course thats what he was involved in whether it will result in the loss to peace in afghanistan thats of course anybodys guess but whats important is the final withdrawal of the United States and all International Forces from afghanistan because they really werent doing anything useful there and were essentially just making things worse. Just a reminder if youd like to have your say in any of this our stories do check out our tea on facebook and maybe even leave a comment or 2 with your thoughts i mean only see you again at the top. Of. The new gold rush is underway and gonna thousands of ill equipped workers are flocking to the gold fields hoping to strike it rich. As they. Were children are torn between gold. My family was very poor i thought i was doing my best to get back to school which side will have the strongest appeal. Time after time say were going underground 48 hours before u. S. President ial election early voting is due to begin in minnesota south dakota virginia and wyoming coming up in the show remember if you go back some of you go back if you go back 10 years 15 years 5 years everything was in 2019 china will overtake the United States is the largest economy and that didnt work out too well for them. That didnt work out we were we were just doing leaps and bounds we were doing so great and then we got hit with the plague china play as opposed to lipstick scenes from wildfires to plagues ravaged the United States in any result in 20 twentieths president ial election actually change anything well ask former White House Communications director and city scaramucci. How has the countrys postes led to todays biblical scenes when the 400th anniversary of the start of the voyage of the mayflower we investigate the puritan legacy now driving american politics all the civil coming up in todays going on the ground 1st as deaths over around 200000 in the United States i mean widespread protests for Racial Justice and the largest quarterly drop in g. D. P. Since the Great Depression questions are now being raised about what the United States will look like after the pandemic and if a change in the occupant of the white house will change anything joining me now is former White House Communications director and founder of sky Bridge Capital and to the scary movie a lifelong republican who is supporting democratic contender joe biden in november is election think so. So much of honey coming back on the show i should just say that this bob woodward book is out bob woodward allegedly a confidant of dick cheney a defender of the Bush Administrations you think we should believe anything he has to say about the whole joe thats an interesting characters asian as the Bush Administration didnt like him i mean hes written in any of these books going back to the nixon administration. The journalist you know hes fair to everybody and he ministrations fear is very unfair so listen guys spoke to him mr trump spoke directly to were you can listen to that state you can judge the daves for yourself with or without a book you can see that theres something seriously wrong there when you recognize that trump from the trump you worked with in the white house. Well i think hes changed on Michael Collins said hes changed ive said hes changed us all like im a rose that i was with her 20 years has said hes changed. I see a more real person i see a person its losing whatever level of attention that he had its gotten more narrow and i see a person that is really regressing into childhood in terms of the way they handle criticism and the way they take in input and so it is his way or the highway were running the