Berlin Wall anniversary, Iraq protests, Trump impeachment, South Africa rugby team trophy tour
- 4 years ago
30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the U-S sending its secretary of state to Berlin. During the Cold War, Mike Pompeo was stationed as an army officer in what was then West Germany. Emmanuel Macron warns that currently "Nato is brain dead'. Angela Merkel calls his choice of words drastic. There had been cracks in the Iron Curtain over the summer with East Germans fleeing via Hungary and Czechkoslovakia and demonstrations in Leipzig, and then came the hapless trigger for it all.
1989, the Berlin Wall falls. Exactly three months later, Nelson Mandela is freed from prison.South Africa currently enjoying something of a Mandela moment. Shades of 1995 as the Springboks tour the country with the World Cup rugby trophy they brought back from Japan, this a time when state services are groaning, inequality's rising and so is political tension.Last week, we mentioned Lebanon's leaderless movement. It has been peaceful there so far. Different story in Iraq. For the first time in a month of anti-government protests, security forces in the capital firing live rounds on Monday. More than 260 have died this week, including five in the country's second city Basra Thursday.It was the week where U-S Republicans suffered setbacks in state elections in Virginia and Kentucky and where Democrats set next Wednesday as the date open hearings on impeachment of the president would start. Among those answering the call to out the whistleblower, who first sounded the alarm over Donald Trump's July phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, the president's own son who over Twitter picked up the name that far-right websites had already been claiming as the source.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Pekola Sonny.
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1989, the Berlin Wall falls. Exactly three months later, Nelson Mandela is freed from prison.South Africa currently enjoying something of a Mandela moment. Shades of 1995 as the Springboks tour the country with the World Cup rugby trophy they brought back from Japan, this a time when state services are groaning, inequality's rising and so is political tension.Last week, we mentioned Lebanon's leaderless movement. It has been peaceful there so far. Different story in Iraq. For the first time in a month of anti-government protests, security forces in the capital firing live rounds on Monday. More than 260 have died this week, including five in the country's second city Basra Thursday.It was the week where U-S Republicans suffered setbacks in state elections in Virginia and Kentucky and where Democrats set next Wednesday as the date open hearings on impeachment of the president would start. Among those answering the call to out the whistleblower, who first sounded the alarm over Donald Trump's July phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, the president's own son who over Twitter picked up the name that far-right websites had already been claiming as the source.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Pekola Sonny.
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