unspun world withjohn simpson. hello. it s good to see you. we re here in the bbc s central newsroom for another edition of unspun world. in today s programme how is it that russia s economy is doing so well in spite of the ukraine war and western sanctions? a quite extraordinary transformation of the russian economy into a war economy, with massive defence spending, with the reorientation of its industrial base towards its war machine. iran s client groups around the middle east get a hammering from us missiles. but what s the point of having the americans in the region? maintaining counterterrorism efforts against isis, and also, they check iranian influence in syria, in iraq, in lebanon. and, is ethiopia yet again going to be a byword for hunger and despair? this is the moment to try and fix this problem, - not six months down the line l when an awful lot more people have died and it s much harderl to turn the whole thing around. russia invades its neighbour after signin
and counterclaim from both sides. both sides are reporting heavy losses. and as we have been hearing, this counteroffensive is going to take many months, really the focus has been on the spring and now very much the summer offensive, which will last until about october or november before the rainy season begins. and as we have also reported, it is quite difficult to fight when the weather becomes colder. it becomes difficult for the tanks that go off road to be operating on wetland. so, they had this window where they need to try and make as many gains as possible. joining me live from fife in scotland, kezia dugdale, former leader of the scottish labour party, and from washington, bryan lanza, republican strategist and former director of communications in donald trump s transition team. looking at these developments in ukraine, this counteroffensive is something that has been anticipated for a while now. keep has been quick to talk about successes, but brian, these are small
we start in germany. king charles has arrived on his first state visit since he succeeded his mother as the british monarch. let s show you the latest pictures but a warning these contain flashing images. a short time ago king charles and queen consort camilla arrived at bellevue palace in berlin for a state banquet. hosted by the german president. this is now a three day trip. and it began here in berlin. but this was all supposed to begin in france at the weekend. that leg though was cancelled because of those protests in france over pension reforms. well in berlin, the king received this ceremonial welcome at the brandenberg gate. that s significant it s the first time the brandenberg gate has been used to welcome a head of state. the king and queen consort then moved on the german president s residence, bellevue palace. they signed the guest book and this evening are attending a state banquet in their honour. let s hear from the german president. translation: this v