he was president of the united states just four years long enough to finish the cold war and start a new world order with one germany divided no more george herbert walker bush tonight remembering the last foreign policy president and the last president of america's greatest generation i bring golf in berlin this is the day. when a history books are written. they will say that george h.w. bush was a great president of the united states george herbert walker bush was america's last great soldier statesman. a twentieth century founding father and on his watch

a wall fell in berlin chancellor kohl. said categorically that this historic initiative of german reunification could never ever have succeeded without the brilliant leadership of president bush. a diplomat of on mass scale a commander in chief but for medical accomplishment and a gentleman who actually created to duties of his office with dignity and honor. also coming up tonight the war in yemen talks aimed at peace are about to begin today a reminder of what is really at stake seven million children in yemen today go hungry too bad every single evening at this only when you talk to the children themselves the cute rurally and this town how hard hitting the

war and the crisis of each and every child. but we begin the day with the forty first president of the united states george h.w. bush today the u.s. europe and the world convened inside the national cathedral in washington d.c. to bid farewell to a war veteran a politician a diplomat and a statesman as the eulogies were delivered and the faces of other former presidents and world leaders were faded in and out on television screens it became clear that the world bush had been at home in had already passed away the late president was eulogized by his son george w. bush the forty third u.s. presence. in his inaugural address the forty first president of the united states said this. we cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car or

a bigger bank account. we must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend a loving parent a citizen who leaves his home his neighborhood and town better than he found it. what do we want the men and women who work with us to say when we are no longer there. that we are more driven to succeed than anyone around us or that we stop to ask of us such out had gotten better and stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship. well dad we're going to remember you. for exactly that and much more and we're going to miss you your decency sincerity and kind soul will stay with us forever. so through our tears let us know the blessings of knowing and loving you are great and noble man. the bass father of your daughter here today. and in our grief but

a smile knowing that day it is hard. and holding mom's hand the game. of the. well the tears of a grieving song as a nation and its allies more the president and the world that he represented now that sense of loss was embodied yesterday by the ninety five year old former u.s. senator bob dole as he saluted the man that he once challenged for the u.s. president's.

moving moving images they are. but to talk about the history and the importance of what has happened i'm joined here at the big table by verizon he is a senior journalist from german television and i witness to the events that involved both of dole and the forty first us president mr bush it's good to see you again mr is on that need did you get the since as well that more was being mourned today than just the the loss of one man definitely you saw these two figures bob dole and george bush and the a re present a bygone era i mean very present in an old republican party that was so much

different from the republican party today under donald trump for example. and what about for. me for germany today was particularly poignant for for germany americans that a few days ago that bush was one of the fathers of german reunification and that this definitely true he supported german reunification all the way but not unconditionally before he greets you stress that germany to stay with the west and especially within nato that it was his absolute precondition for the german you're in if you question and there was another condition of that. old. line the polish water would be there as the polish border for ever and only then you fully supported the idea of german unification and everybody here in

berlin today and last week when he died agreed on month thing he was a stroke of luck for germany and that is historically speaking absolutely true. and here in germany george bush sr is remembered as a president closely linked to the dramatic era that marked the end of the cold war and german reunification it was during his presidency that the berlin wall fell in one thousand nine hundred nine and that communist east germany and west germany were reunited after forty years of division. it was the moment germans had awaited for decades and while it was ronald reagan he famously called for the berlin wall to be torn down george bush sr was in office when it finally happened. hebert called the chancellor who oversaw a unification once described bush as a stroke of luck in his country's history saying that every united germany wouldn't

have been possible without his help bring were described as a tireless diplomat the forty first us president help soften the front after decades of animosity between washington and the eastern bloc and he focally supported the idea of german reunification when other european countries were strongly opposed. on the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall those cold and former soviet leader mikhail gorbachev came together to mark the occasion . the war could never be raised your dream our green. one germany. a free germany a proud germany that is thankfully regained its rightful place among the leading nations on the earth. when news of his death broke bush diplomatic contributions to german unity were at the forefront of many people's minds. on the sidelines of a g.

twenty summit in argentina german chancellor angela merkel expressed her condolences as well as an apparent sentimentality for a different era in transatlantic relations and would call quentin's a home that cold could always rely on his ally in the white house during george h.w. bush's presidency we experienced reliability and strength in the german american relationship and we'll never forget this experience you forget. george bush legacy isn't viewed without controversy in germany many citizens were deeply opposed to his war on the gulf war that was co financed by their government . nevertheless most will remember that will keep us as a friend and as a us president who helped show what's possible when countries slept together. and then as one of the german chancellor angela merkel she is with without a delt one of those who has inherited the world that was created by helmut kohl and

and george bush and other western leaders with i mean and with on the bridge off and it's but today when we talk about her she actually is seen as holding up the torch of that most highly lateral liberal democratic world order definitely and you just heard her saying that i mean she was almost sitting standing next to donald trump and he said all the good things about george bush all the things that. trump does not represent and that was a very obvious and clear message from her and what is striking is we today when we talk about the rhetoric that we that comes from berlin versus the rhetoric that comes from washington it's like night and day but if you go back to the era of george h.w. bush it's almost like doing a one eighty turn i'd like to read an excerpt to you of

a speech that was delivered by the late president to the u.s. congress in september of ninety ninety because i think it's striking the phrases in the terms that he use now of course this was the time when the first gulf war when that conflict was brewing and he said out of these troubled times a new world order can emerge a world quite different from the one that we've known a world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. it world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice we are now in sight of a united nations that performs as in vision by its founders because that would in the united states i mean that is a u.s. president saying the u.n. is the place to come together and that is something that we would expect to hear on the americal say that's

a speech delivered more so than donald trump yeah i mean obviously this was this is the legacy of george w. bush and by gun era when it comes to the united states of today and that marks the huge difference between the trump era and the george bush era definitely and what struck me most about now listening to all the speeches in the national cathedral in washington was all about the virtues of george w. bush is that the man who was sitting there and who was not allowed to speak because the bush family did not want him to speak that does not have that was a very clear almost unspoken message unspoken in a sense that he was not named that there was no mention of it but it was clear to everybody in that conspirator cathedral what was really meant by that you saw all

the developments also in the united states the political developments in the one nine hundred ninety s. do you think george h.w. bush and his republican party are do they carry responsibility are they partly responsible for where the republican party is today and the loss of civility in politics well as i said it's a completely different republican party today than. twenty five thirty years ago. and i mean the republican party for example of what was the party of free trait not any more definitely it was a product that wanted to have international alliances that wanted to have a strong united nations and all that is not true anymore with this republican party one hundred. and so far all is. a

little few critics within the party more or less mute then not speaking out against him not yet the other way there has been a criticism today in the past couple of days that we're sugarcoating the politics of george h.w. bush and his republicans that they were present when people saved the seeds of the current politics of hate disunity were sold in the united states the one nine hundred eighty eight political campaign ad which became the measure of future politics of personal destruction some would say was a clue to congress on crime most aborts the death penalty for first degree murder as you can because not only opposes the death penalty he allowed first degree murders to have weekend passes from prison one was willie horton who murdered a boy in a robbery stabbing him nineteen times despite a life sentence orton received ten weekend passes from prison or fled to kidnap a young couple stabbing the man and repeatedly raping his girlfriend weekend prison

bashes dukakis on crime. that is considered really the standard when the politics of distress of hate begin in the united states well well i mean if we're going to have a you know you have guns yet the politics of hate was always present in the united states starting the civil war and racism was always present but not as strong as it is today and that's the difference and this loss in civility that we saw particularly the nine hundred ninety s. newt gingrich for example you and i were talking earlier some of that has spilled over into europe now we we talk about the trump train coming into europe i mean how do you see it here in germany well of course that there are trends you. should take them seriously but they're not by far not as strong as they

are in the united states right now and that is the major is still the major difference between here and there right now and you know despite all that maybe seems to have gone wrong there is something there's a silver lining to this president bush sr reminds us that it does not have to be this way in january one thousand nine hundred three you'll remember this when bill clinton moved into the white house bill clinton discovered a letter in the oval office and it had been handwritten by the outgoing president bush bush of course that was the republican who had just been defeated by mr clinton i want to read this final passage from the letter it reads you will be our president when you read this note i wish you well i wish your family well your success is now our country's success i am rooting for you good luck. george they became friends and they became friends and his son the president

bush today said that even in the concede row that both of them clinton the man he defeated became close friends to today and it's do you think there's hope for a return to political civility well let me say i keep my fingers crossed but the time being hold my breath ok well then it's on it's always good to have you here on the show you know learn from your experience and your insights we appreciate it tonight thank you thank you very much for having me. or could the guns fall silent at least briefly in yemen talks aimed at peace between a delegation of who the rebels and representatives from yemen's government are set to begin tomorrow in sweden the negotiations brokered by the u.n. are the first aimed at ending the conflict since two thousand and sixteen.

possible sin tickets in hand for a journey many hypo bring pace and dedication if the rebels waiting to pull that flight to sweden. the un special envoy martin griffiths has been instrumental in setting up the talks with the yemeni government such is the distrust between the two sites and rebels wouldn't pass on the plane without him. basic guarantee is the presence of the un envoy with us on the same flight this is the only guarantee we have for going there. the evacuation of fifty wounded he fights is from the war zone has also helps build confidence in the talks with the conflict locked in stalemate. the here's these backed by iran control the northwest of the country including the capital sanaa which they took. the government backed by saudi arabia and the u.a.e.

has set up a base in aden in the south. for years of conflict have left thousands dead and created what's been described as the worst humanitarian crisis in recent history with yemen's economy cripples more than fourteen million people many of them children of facing starvation. is a country at war as i've heard me say that this is a country of the break of catastrophe that if this is not a country on the brink of catastrophe. this is a country that is in a catastrophe. the catastrophe that sun falls is in full view of the whole world but one many say has been ignored the hope is the talks will result in a truce allowing food and aid to reach those who need it most. or it is a sad and surprising fact that many people in taiwan are so severely short sighted

that they become blind the alarming prevalence of pathological myopia as it's called has been known about for some years but not much seems to have been done about it was that we look at one school's attempts to tackle the problem with seeing up close. a truck and boat race in taipei an exciting event especially if you can tell he's out in front yet many here can see about this much practically nothing. some eighty percent of tiling is children like pinky are severely short sighted by the time they leave school techies mother only realized this when peggy was twelve years old she was constantly falling behind in callous eyes and dad i had. yes up one day she came home and couldn't read anymore what the doctor told me that peggy would need an operation if i didn't do something about it straight away that. peggy was about to go blind then

tragically her father died and her mother couldn't afford laser eye surgery for her daughter and so from their small flat to peggy's mother began selling insurance policies should then so until the early hours of the morning scraping together enough money for a treatment that's become very popular in east asia night lenses. the extra thick contact lenses reshape the patient's cornea while they sleep but they're only effective if worn every night and peggy's mother has to keep buying new ones. you're a young geezer the one says it's expense of but the eyes are the window to the soul . to fall under she didn't see anything then the world would be a very dark place so i thought so too i want her to have pleasant thoughts to me and feel peggy was lucky yet cases of sudden blindness as a result of short sightedness becoming ever more common in taiwan then mainly due

to the immense pressure of succeeding at school in university. cross collen was a successful i.t. manager and to just developed a new software program when he woke up one morning looked at his cellphone and couldn't see anything he had a detached retina hid ignored his short sightedness for too long con underwent twelve operations without success. since then he's been torn taiwan schools as a living warning to others this principal invited him personally she wants to move away from conventional teacher led classes which can be bad for the eyes and instead bring in a more playful way. the principal wants to attack the problem head on today two professors are visiting she shows him her students high marks. the professors the hair on behalf of the government and analyzing study methods

a high ranking official sits in the background passing of one that when a treaty shortsightedness is now a national security problem for taiwan we're struggling to find engineers and soldiers. and if our students can't see then in the end they can't learn anything because they're bound by that you poor people the study is unequivocal what's needed are few a teacher that lessons more breaks and more natural light. that's all the data you enjoyed listening to a thing that had one very. well recent experiments with chickens and monkeys have clearly shown that regular daylight can reduce myopia in children by thirty percent a year and there's a difference and something that he said to everyone agrees in the start from two it's parents that are the principals biggest problem shows a bad say keep telling me that there are no grades for being able to see well it's exams they care about they say it's more important for their children to do well

and those that this is for them to be able to see. that is something that many of their parents would rather not admit that mr khan is these children's ideal teacher a real person talking from his own experience instead of delivering a conventional lesson that you will be able to he's a very special person and here in taiwan we say he fell from the clouds into a deep valley on talk to start all over again well the children understand us and i admire him for his courage in sharing his story with us what will one pave the path to. the people here are now learning that the health of their eyes is more important than intense study and good grades. and that this sort of learning can be really fun. so most of those here in any case.

well the conversation continues online you'll find us on twitter. or you can write directly to me. t.v. don't forget to use the hash tag the day we're going to leave you tonight we're going to take you back to washington d.c. with images of the late u.s. president george h.w. bush today when his body was transported from the u.s. capitol to the national cathedral for that state there remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day we'll see that in fact. that.

the style being. you're still a. discerning living concept. and standing architecture. style essential.

job. on. living in the conflict zone on a sea of us off what impact are tensions between ukraine and russia having on people's everyday lives. as old fears are still. to people there still have hope. in sixty minutes on d w. a continent is reinventing itself. as africa's tech scene discovers its true potential. inventors entrepreneurs and high tech professionals talk about their

visions successes and day to day business the difference. it's in the history you know everyone sort of. sees the maverick vision the eyes. digital africa starts december twelfth on t w. they're welcome to the show where today we'll be taking a closer look at the recipe behind a yummy yuletide snack is a preview of what's coming up.