of the united states of america a national holiday with politics or put aside to make room for picnics and parades with marching bands and fireworks but u.s. president trump is rolling out the take so long with fighter jets and some 5 star generals this year a salute to america which america tonight protests are already underway against the independence day that president the producer in chief is calling the show of a lifestyle i'm burned off in berlin this is the day. i don't think that he produces or did you know this is a great speech is encouraged country and the tanks in the street like you scared it's kind of what we saw many actually this is one of it today is. the celebrations of the 4th of july is that i've ever seen it being independence day i suppose

the military aspect of the fight during the pendency does sort of ordination with a. display and it. is set up basically to throw the eagles at nasa says it's a person. also coming up tonight an exclusive report on wife after jihad d.w. talks with former islamist militants in somalia getting a rare chance at a 2nd chance. here in southern somalia in a town once under siege by al-shabaab and program is being implemented to rehabilitate extremist fighters with the hope of peace than a reintegrating them into society. to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with america's birthday party that. this year some americans can't wait to attend some

americans are boycotting and it's a party with the i.p.c. for some and no invitations for father that's right on this 4th of july americans have been gathering on the national mall in washington d.c. as they do every year but this year the declaration of independence and $776.00 the founding of the country well they're not the stars of the show this year the military might of the u.s. is center stage and it sharing the stage with the u.s. president trump has said that his salute to america parade was inspired by the steel day parade that he witnessed in paris 2 years ago were now an american version of the show i'm saying there's a that we're going to see on constitution avenue but rolling out the military hardware it has the hallmarks of what we expect to see on red square in moscow a soviet or a russian show of military muscle some former u.s.

military officers have even compared today's parade in washington with the parades that north korea loves to show the world soldiers noncitizens displayed as goose stepping symbols of military and authoritarian power. humphrey is in washington she was amid the crowds watching the independence parade here's what she said. the president promised a show like no other the parade wrapping up now was just the start it's certainly a departure from the history with its display of military hardware including an air force one fly over and 4 tanks stationed around washington d.c. not since president truman 7 decades ago when the u.s. was at war with korea has the country seen such a presence of military equipment many out here today a wearing make america great again hats they're waving trump 2025 anas

a veteran of the vietnam war told me that this is the 1st time that he feels that the military has been properly on it but not everyone is happy the democrats say that this patriotic day should not become a political one with particular reference to trump's salute to america's speech later protest groups like the antiwar group code pink are also outs with the trump baby balloon not seen since protests in london this is a show like no other a costly one in a divided country but the president clearly believes it's worth the hefty price tag . and that was helen humphrey reporting from washington my 1st guest tonight says that military parades are nothing new in the united states especially during the 1st half of the 20th century in his book welcome home boys military victory parades in new york city from 899946 examines how military victory parades became part of u.s. cultural memory and even helped to define concepts such as the nation state is the

best in europe is a professor of u.s. history at the j.f.k. institute at the free university here in berlin and he joins me tonight here at the big table professor dobbs it's good to have you on the day i want to talk about this parade in washington today just a moment but 1st i want to ask you about this this tradition i mean america does have a history of military victory parades doesn't it absolutely i mean it goes back at least to the end of the civil war when union troops marched for 2 days through washington d.c. if you think about the spanish-american war or both world wars or last seen in 1901 after the 2nd gulf war american troops marching for victory parades in new york city so there is a longer tradition of that but we have to be honest it has a different kind of thrust and we see or that at least i expect for today's parade because soldiers are center stage and soldiers as citizens are performing on the

street and today as you mentioned earlier i think donald trump a political leader will play a central role in that parade and it's kind of deviating from this american model it deviates and the me ask you then how would how would you define the parade that we're seeing today. there is a big emphasis so 1st of all what's interesting is the combination of the 4th of july a rather peaceful sort of bracing that is being celebrated rather by local parades a picnic you mentioned that earlier and bringing in the military element is kind of new jew this peaceful event community event in washington d.c. on the national mall usually a fireworks in the night and you have people hanging out to be honest enjoying their free day their day off so this is a new element in their kind of militarism we're going to witness that i expect we're going to witness is a kind of old fashioned masculine. military intervention that is different

it's interesting you say that i want you to take a listen to what a former colonel in the u.s. military said today about troops injection of the military into independent state take a listen listen military equipment is totally inappropriate to be here on the 4th of july which is a national on political holiday for the united states to get president from still in it to be the national holiday of president from. several things there she is saying that this is about the cult of personality around president trump but she's also saying that he's he's militarized independence day do you agree. i mean as i said bringing in tanks and fighter planes is something that we have not seen recently on the 4th of july on the national mall it connects to traditions but that were form of the that are present in us history of victory parades and the

celebration of the national holiday but what is interesting is that what i find important is that soldiers don't take the center stage because if you go back like 100 years of the one you saw parades where wounded soldiers were presented in the parades where the fallen soldiers were represented in the parades and parades where an event to build a community but also to take care of these citizen soldiers yeah i mean you bring up a good point too we're not seeing soldiers in the parade and we know that leaders at the pentagon were reluctant to give the president what he wanted today and we also know the president from. used medical reason to get out of serving in the vietnam war so all of these elements that are that have nothing to do with the military are coming together for the military. and so what does the message there then you have a president who's never served in the military insisting that the generals sit

around him i mean that is a conversation that goes on and on with various presidents you had that was president clinton the ninety's who also did not serve in vietnam and military people were talking that but i think there is a history to that donald trump has been using rather nonpartisan events for political purposes if you think about the boy scout jamboree a couple of years ago where he trash talked about democrats or his visit to iraq to visit the troops where he trashed democrats so it's what i expect honestly today as well that he will be using it for his own political gains and quickly you're a historian i mean do you think that the discussion today would be different. if if people were more aware of their own history i mean do you think the u.s. president is able to manipulate the public because they don't know when the constitution was signed for example things like that i think we have an informed public there are protesters today in washington d.c.

protesting this and this and this kind of coming nation so i'm hopeful that there is a discourse going on a critical discourse about this we're hopeful as well professors about in europe with the free university here in berlin professor we appreciate you giving him for thanks for having me share your insights thank you thank you. the somali militant group al-shabaab has been waging a violent campaign in somalia for more than a decade their aim is to replace the u.n. backed government in to impose radical islamist wall and african union force controls the capital mogadishu but al-shabaab still controls about 20 percent of the country the government is now offering amnesty and rehabilitation to some militants who are willing to leave the group melanie curie the ball was given rare access to one rehabilitation center in you bill one province she spoke to former

militants there about why they decided to leave al-shabaab and the nightmares that they still have. that they were part of a killing machine terrorizing somalia's population but now they're asking for forgiveness this facility in juba land is home to 86 young men who used to fight for one of the deadliest islamist extremist groups in the world. here in southern somalia in a town once under siege by al shabaab a program is being implemented to rehabilitate one extremist fighters with the hope of peacefully reintegrating them into society. the former fighters here mostly men each between 24 and 29 have been granted amnesty and are seeking a 2nd chance 2 of them are willing to share why is it decided to defect. for their safety and security they have withheld the location and real identities but calling them and that he said was just 15 years old when he joined the group 5 years ago

border and book would be you know at 1st people join because the religion they say they're promoting religion but this is just a front actually they're killing innocent people for no reason or to fight it could be. similarly who joined us above at the age of 16 it took them 8 years to escape from the group. they also killed muslims in their tack when i saw my people dying i decided i had to break away of the. many men growing up in disenfranchised and poor parts of the country into joining for financial reasons and just sense of belonging. to address this these men now receive locational training in hands on group classes. i did not know how to live within society i learned that here i've learned how to

support myself. but many here are still haunted by 9 men. they struggle to fathom how they were capable of such crime. to 70 kilometers away from this now peaceful town peacekeepers mandated by the african union are still waging overall against the minute in crude. but. it's possible we have fought a lot and liberated several areas in the past 2 or 3 months. we are also working on a plan to liberate the areas still under the control of al shabaab and them over to the somali army. to be. back at the rehab any taishan facility these young men receive professional psychological support. but above all it's companionship and leisure time that are helping them to overcome that trauma. but we can talk to each other about all the things we've

done wrong and give each of us supports about how not to fall back into our destructive ways. for somalia i hope for the birth of a united government and for my life i hope to work for the benefit of my country and for my people within his scales he sent a comment to intend to make a positive contribution to society again. to help other young people than the stake of joining up in the 1st place. their reports was produced by my colleague melanie cure of the ball she joins me now live from nairobi good evening to you melanie i mean that's an excellent reporting in a story that most people i think would not expect to hear this this is attempts to rehabilitate former jihad is how successful are these rehabilitation programs.

it seems very much they are lacking it's of course impossible to get your hands on official nationwide numbers statistics in a war torn country that is currently still experiencing an ongoing conflict but in this facility that you've seen in the report almost 300 former fighters have been in rehab a taishan and i have on their way all have already gone back to their communities and to start a life that if the government grants and misty terry one who wants to leave there is an incentive to do so but of course it's incredibly difficult to do that to break from the group the man i've spoken to they told me that they were warned numerous times that they had threats coming their way that lethal violence would be waiting for them if they did leave the group but still they wanted to talk to us because they want to send out a message to those who are out there maybe considering leaving us about and show

them that it's possible to do so yeah it's amazing that they're even making the effort considering that. many somalis really realize that they're still battling in that war with al shabaab how do somalis feel about these programs considering they've had very bad experiences with the power in the reach of al shabaab. i asked many somalis on the ground how they feel about these programs and surprisingly many told them that they believe this is the only way forward amnesty needs to be granted and there needs to be forgiveness and the need to be programs such as this one this is the only way that somalia can achieve peace and that al-shabaab can be defeated in the end many have experienced tremendous amounts of violence but many women told me about watching the husbands being killed in front of them they told me about he is on the run about being desperate wanting to go

back to their villages which isn't impossible because al-shabaab is still controlling these areas and it's heartbreaking to see that despair their fear there is no feeling safe in somalia just yet but there is hope and this program is one of the reasons why there is hope in new reports the former members that you spoke with they were all min what about the women what role do they play in all of this. many people believe there are no female members but there are despite their rigid gender norms al-shabaab has women form very important social pov in this base social base in this insurgency they generate funds they spy they smuggle arms they help recruit ng in many ways people are surprised because yes women experience a lot of violence under but at the same time in some ways up above is able to offer

some benefits that the government isn't to these women for example physical safety very hard to come by in a country where they are often exposed to physical violence so this is something that the government is aware of as well as n.g.o.s and there are programs implemented now for women as well they are about to start and hopefully we can bring a report from this. you speak to the bank that the government cannot guarantee the safety of all the women in the country you know that brings us to you this overriding question why has the government managed to defeat al shabaab i mean i think we have that still control of the country. there are many factors contributing to this but one big one is money and country plagued by poverty us about has money in many ways you could call them the somali

mafia being able to extort money from the local population and making money by illegally print you saying and exporting coal another reason is the weakness of the some money state it's not able to provide basic services to many somalis who have to tend to. in the absence of these state institutions and finally yes african union peacekeepers have been able to flush out alex about from many cities important strategic cities across the country but experts say there are not enough troops in the country to be able to defeat the thousands of fighters out about still has you know that's right is still a lot of work to be done that's for sure the only cure to bowl reporting from nairobi venality thank you we appreciate you bringing a very very important story to the world thank you. once engines between iran and the u.s. could be drawing in britain as well a british royal marines seized an oil tanker loaded with iranian oil off the coast

of job it is suspected that the oil was on its way to syria in violation of european union saying since the marines reportedly descended from helicopters in the early hours of this morning seize the ship which is known as the grease one now the taker was loaded with oil that it's believed to have come from iran and from there you can see the course that this vessel took longer than usual traveling around the continent of africa before being stopped in gibraltar authorities suspect that it was planning to cross the mediterranean and headed for a syrian oil refinery tonight there are reports that the united states asked britain to stop the taker iran's state run news agency says the seizure was illegal . the grace one has been at anchor and under god since the early morning british authorities stopped the ship as it passed through spanish territorial

waters at gibraltar at the tip of the iberian peninsula they say the oil was bound for syria in breach of e.u. sanctions against the war torn country authorities also say the ship loaded the oil in iran putting the vessel in breach of u.s. sanctions against tehran. that i want to fill you know details of what he has to deal was patrolling the zone but we're studying the circumstances in which this is taking place there was a request made by the united states to the united kingdom and we are looking into how this affects our sovereignty in the sense that it took place in waters which we understand are under spain's sovereignty it was our last question but any and the most scary is that. the ship is registered on depend on the flag and belongs to a singapore based company gibraltar says the vessel and its cargo have been confiscated. over nor now i'm joined by michael friedman he is the co-founder and executive director of the media lie news agency he has reported

extensively from the middle east he joins me tonight from jerusalem michael it's good to have you back on the show i want to ask you what do we know about spain saying that the united states requested this seizure well i would actually expect exactly that to happen this is part i believe of the series of events that began with the sanctions with which began with the united states pulling out of the nuclear agreement when that happened the europeans were very quick to come to really want in they wanted to replace the united states actually they want to replace united states in the worst way and then here's the way it's happening. the iranians are sharp they're sly and they saw an opening here and they said basically go bring us the witches broomstick and that they meant find us a way to sell our oil even though it violates the sanctions and find us

a way to circumvent american financial institutions to carry on our international trade both pretty much impossible in this day and age but as long as the europeans were willing to try to do such a thing they were happy to let them do it although they did put a timeline on it and the time is just expired right now not coincidentally at the time of this incident so i really view this incident as going back to the iranians and the americans more so than the spaniards or anybody else and are you are you surprised that the u.k. if this is true that the u.k. was willing to you know immediately stop this vessel i mean it appears that there were no questions asked they did what the u.s. asked them to do. well there has to be a self interest in order for that to happen and for the u.k. to do it that quickly means it was predestined or prearranged you know a contingency plan and if this happened then we would do that and it appears that

in this case the white house at its ducks in order and everybody knew what they were going to do when it happened and they also obviously expected it to happen. and what is more the story here iran trying to sell oil for syria trying to get its hands on or or are they both equal here i mean how do you read this. whether the story is just kind of confirming what we've known for a while. these in the middle east have changed new alliances have been drawn it's still dynamic but the testing in the prodding in the message sending in all that stuff that happens in any real transition and this is part of that transition so we're going to see quite a bit of it. where the great fears come in are the unintended consequences that if the wrong button is pushed at the wrong time or the wrong message is sent to the wrong party or in the wrong way to the right party something unintended and

disasters happen and that's probably a very accurate reading. situation for sure michael finton joining us tonight from jerusalem michael france and with the media line newsagency we appreciate your insights tonight michael thank you always a pleasure. well the day is almost done but the conversation continues online you'll find us on twitter either at u.w. news or you can follow me at brant off t.v. don't forget to use the hash tag today and remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day we'll see you then everybody.

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6. to 9 to get. the results d.w. . hello and welcome to focus on europe i'm lara babalola my so have you with us a new beginning for turkey those are the words of istanbul's new mayor who broke the ruling party's hold on the city tens of thousands of residents celebrated extremism oldest sweeping victory after president erda one demanded and last a revote.