tv Democracy Now LINKTV July 24, 2014 8:00am-9:01am PDT
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>> from pacifica, this is democracy now! we are undeterred. we will continue the operation as long as it is required. 70 daysrael enters its of assault on gaza, prime minister benjamin netanyahu promises to fight on. and getgo to gaza city the latest from the sharif abdel kouddous. and then we speak to yael even -- reservist to
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refuses to serve. and then we also speak to yonatan shapira. >> i was captain in the israeli air force and flew a rescue helicopter. after a long process, after becoming aware of the world i live in, mostly the occupation and war crimes that my government and my army was a part of, i decided to refuse to be a part of this circle of revenge. flight 17 should trigger talks, not violence. that is a column from katrina vanden heuvel. we will speak with her about ukraine crisis. execution,r botched this one in arizona. it tookood is dead but
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him two hours to die. to watch a man why they're gulping air for one hour 40 minutes, i can liken it to a fish hitting thrown ashore and gasping for air. all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israel continues to bombard the gaza strip where the palestinian death toll has reached at least 732. israeli forces killed an estimated 73 people on wednesday including at least 31 in the town of khan younis. another 25 people including three people were killed earlier today. hundreds of civilians are said to be trapped in the city of khuzaar which is seen heavy violence. the attacks come after israel rejected a request for a brief humanitarian pause. the united nations said 75% of the dead are civilians including
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an estimated 168 children. in the last few days, palestinian children have been killed at a rate of one per hour. israel's recent targets have included an apartment building where 19 children from one family were killed, mosques, a hospital, and gaza's sole power plant. the united nations at a school for girls has been hit for the second time in three days. as the bombing continues, the human rights council has voted to investigate israel for potential war crimes. with 17 was 29-1 abstentions. the u.s. cast the lone no vote. marie harf told reporters -- speaking at the united nations, a high commissioner for human rights, navi pillay, said israel may have committed war crimes in
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its attacks against civilians in gaza and called for the request to lift the blockade. >> respect to the right for life or civilians, including children, should be a foremost consideration. not abiding by these principles may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. the crippling effects of the israeli blockade and other measures linked to the israeli occupation of gaza suppress the ability of the people to go about their daily lives and prevent them from rebuilding their lives and communities after repeated military operations. i reiterate my numerous calls for this blockade to be lifted once and for all. >> she also condemned the rocket fire by palestinian militants into israel which has so far killed three israeli civilians. three more israeli soldiers were killed inside gaza wednesday.
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palestinian militants are claimed to have killed another eight israeli soldiers today which would bring the israeli military told to 40. another soldier is missing with hamas claiming to have captured him and the israeli military claiming he has died. secretary of state john kerry left wednesday after holding talks on a cease-fire but the efforts remain at a deadlock with israel rejecting hamas' promise to any prolonged cease-fire. the federal aviation administration had said the move was carried out to protect passenger safety. israel had denounced the decision, accusing the obama administration of rewarding hamas. in an appearance with michael bloomberg, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu criticized the flight ban. airport.tect this
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there is no reason whatsoever to the mistaken faa decision instruct american planes not to come here. i think you are proving it by coming here. where i stand, the prime minister of israel, where you can stand, anybody. this decision only rewards the hamas terrorists. you can fly in and out of israel and i hope the faa rescinds this decision as soon as possible. >> we will go to gaza city to speak with sharif abdel kouddous. in iraq, 60 people have died in an attack today north of baghdad. suicide bombers and armed fighters attacked a bus transferring prisoners from the main prisoner. -- prison. 42 people were killed wednesday in two bombings in nigeria and the city of kaduna in an attempted assassination attempt on leaders that have been critical of boko haram. both targets survived the attacks.
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the u.s. death penalty system is under new scrutiny today after yet another botched execution. on wednesday, arizona took just under two hours to kill joseph wood, sentenced to death for a double murder. after he wasr air injected with a two drug combination that was relatively untested and had been used only once before. 826-minute execution earlier this year in ohio. a lower court ruling was overturned. the ninth circuit court of appeals had sided with his request that arizona disclose its lethal injection methods and the source of the drugs involved. his execution was the fifth since the botched killing of clayton lockett in april. the aclu said in a statement --
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we will have more on that story later in the broadcast. the obama administration has expanded the national terrorist watchlist system by approving broad guidelines over who can be targeted. reporting for the intercept, jeremy scahill and ryan devereaux obtained a secret watchlist from an intelligence source. the guidebook says that to be a deemed terrorist target "irrefutable evidence or concrete facts are not necessary." both known and suspected suspects are tracked and terrorism is so broadly defined it accuses people guilty of damaging property belonging to the government or financial institutions. other factors that can justify include facebook
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postings or relatives already on the list. , hina shamsi of the american civil liberties union said -- a funeral has been held in new york city for eric garner, an african-american father of six who died after police placed him in a chokehold. confronted him because he was selling bootleg cigarettes. graphic video of the incident shows an officer pulling garner to the ground by the neck and then holding his head against the pavement. as other officers crowd on top of garner, he repeatedly says i cannot breathe. garner soon stops moving. he was pronounced dead at a
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local hospital. on wednesday, bishop kareem evans address the mourners at redland baptist church. >> this is an awesome task onlyse brother eric is not family. but he is not only is he family, but he is one that you consider close family. >> the officer who used a chokehold has been moved to desk duty in order to turn in -- and order to turn in his gun and badge pending investigations. the new york city police department says it also plans to overhaul training procedures in the wake of garner's debt. four emergency response workers have been suspended without pay. those are the headlines, this is
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democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israel continues to bombard civilians in the gaza strip where the palestinian death toll has reached 732. the israeli death toll stands at 32 soldiers and three civilians. palestinian militants are now claiming to have killed eight israeli soldiers today which would bring the israeli military told to 40. forcesesday, israeli killed an estimated 73 people in the town of khan younis. the attacks come after israel rejected a request for a brief humanitarian pause. the united nations says at least 75% of the dead are civilians including an estimated 168 children. in the last two days, children have been killed at a rate of one per hour. as the bombing of gaza continues, the united nations human rights council has voted to investigate israel for potential war crimes. the vote was 29-1 with 17 abstentions.
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the united nations high commissioner for human rights navi pillay said israel may have committed war crimes in its attacks on civilians in gaza. she also renewed calls for israel to lift the gaza blockade after secretary of state john kerry left israel wednesday after holding talks on a cease-fire. for more, we go to gaza, where we are joined by sharif abdel kouddous. can you tell us the latest? i am just coming from the south of gaza from khan younis where people are talking of a brutal assault on the southeastern part of khan younis. they say it was worse than the attack on sunday, the bloodiest day of the conflict. they say the attacks began tuesday night, the israeli with heavyving in, s, and drone16'
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attacks. i spoke to some people who tried to leave yesterday morning and they found israeli tanks blocking the streets. one group said that they started firing on them. they had to leave back to their homes. they spent a harrowing 24 hours going from house to house. they said each home they went to was shelled. they finally ended up walking out with white flags and hands above their heads wednesday morning. they said that there were dead on the streets, were calling hospitals and the red cross online that could not get in. i spoke to a doctor in an ambulance who went four times from his hospital to the area to try to get in and said he was by thepon four times israeli military. no one can get into the area. they are getting calls from people on the inside who are still trapped and the wounded
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cannot get out. hospitals are overcrowded. the biggest hospital in southern gaza was completely crowded today, they have no more room for any more people. they are trying to send people to different parts. dr. said that this is one of the worst nights they had ever seen. it continued brutal ground offensive by the israeli military. now a couple of kilometers into gaza into the southern area near khan younis. about secretary of state john kerry coming to israel to meet with palestinian authority? >> i think it is significant that mahmoud abbas has backed for a conditional cease-fire with the lifting of the siege and the freeing of prisoners who were arrested in the west bank.
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these were prisoners that were freed in the gilead chile deal and then rearrested without charge. there are a lot of diplomatic efforts to seek some kind of truce or humanitarian cease-fire a real this is becoming humanitarian crisis. every day we wake up to find more people have been killed. there are very serious attacks at night. israel is blocking people from escaping from their homes, firing on them as they leave, ambulances and medical workers are not allowed to rescue the wounded, to clear the dead bodies. there are still dead bodies from the attack on sunday. there needs to be some kind of effort and reconciliation, some kind of stop to this bloodshed. >> on wednesday, a statement was put out in gaza, though cease-fire without justice. academics, public figures, activists, seo we are witnessing
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the intended genocide of 1.8 palestinians living in the gaza strip. ifcall for a cease-fire only there is an end to the blockade and the restoration of basic freedoms that have been tied to the people for more than seven years. thatu know about the group sent this out in the conditions they are talking about? >> these are humanitarian request mostly based on lifting the blockade and granting a dignified life to the people of gaza. that ise-fire here predicated on a political solution that includes a lifting of the siege is doomed to fail or last only a few years. we have seen that over the last few years. we saw the assault in 2007 and 2008, 2012, and now 2014. this will only continue unless the siege and the basic rights of palestinians in gaza are recognized. at this point, do you see an
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end to the fighting? >> it's hard to say. every day, the violence seems to escalate. we think it cannot get worse and then it does. we saw what happened on sunday. we thought that was the worst of it but now people say that it is worse in khan younis. the israeli military continues to push in. it has become incredibly bloody since they launched their invasion. the only words out of the government are bluster and increasing the offensive. it is hard to tell how long people in gaza can hold out. there is nowhere to run, as we talked about. shelters have been attacked. they are being pushed into war the coast from all areas. there are people in hospitals, in unfinished buildings, cools, well over 150,000 people displaced.
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there is hardly any electricity or water. i can hear the booming starting again, so the onslaught continues. sharif.fe, we will link to his pieces at democracynow.org. when we come back, two israeli reservists, one a former air force captain, one an israeli living in the united states. they are resisters. we will talk about why. [♪]
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post" ran a piece by yael even or called "we are israeli reservists. we refuse to serve." writes --or that is the message of this petition. joined by there author of that article, yael even or, an israeli journalist and activist who during her service looked at candidates for recruitment for the israeli army. she is now a graduate student at the new school.
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in tel aviv, we are joined by yonatan shapira, a former israeli air force captain and pilot, one of the organizers of those whoetter from refused to participate in operations against palestinians. shapira has also signed on to the israeli movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions known as bds. thank you for being with us. i want to go to you, yonatan in tel aviv first. tell us about the climate and where you stand 10 years after resisting as an air force pilot? the line is not perfect but i will try my best. just before i answer your question, you asked me where do i stand?
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if the cameramen can make a wider shot, i can show you the center of tel aviv. you can look behind me. the camera guy is not happy about that, but you can see the headquarters a few meters from the biggest hospital in tel aviv . you can see all of them just behind me, just in this frame. next to it you have the biggest tower on the side of tel aviv. the peace tower. in some symbolic way, it tells the whole theme. about hamas talking surrounds themselves with children, using them as a shield. by now, 160 children dead, around 740 people, most of them civilians. and israel is still using the argument that hamas surrounds themselves with children.
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look at this picture and tell me what you think. you can see the tower with the antennas. this is the headquarters of the army, the israeli army that is controlling gaza and the air, the sea, the area in the west bank, everywhere. re, youeters from thei have the city center of tel aviv. it is very important, especially for liberal jews, who are now protecting and helping israeli propaganda machine. after 10,where i am i feels after refusing, like it is a situation where you are walking on a path and slowly, almost everyone else is disappearing far to the right of you. today we are a minority of a minority of activists in israel.
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of course, there are more people but we are still a very small minority. jail, ipeople going to have a friend going to jail on monday for refusing to enlist in the army. , there is a disease in my country, and the disease is spreading very fast and it is called fascism and racism. fascism and racism is now the biggest threat of the jewish people in the middle east. i can just cry and shout and ask , to join hear us now the bds movement, to join the boycott divestment, and sanctions movement, and to put enormous pressure on your leaders, wherever they are, that they can help stop the massacre, this ongoing slaughter of innocent people. i have friends in gaza who called yesterday and said that their house was leveled.
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now the only thing they have is their cell phone and a family of nine people are hiding in the hospital. this is a war crime, an ongoing slaughter of innocent people, and that is what we have to talk about, how to stop it. i am getting very emotional because -- >> i want to bring yael even or into the discussion. she wrote this piece in the washington post. can you talk about how you came to your decision? >> first, i should say that the timing, the platform was chosen on the urgency of the matter. our call to the israeli government to stop the attacks on gaza. it was planned, for a long time. for me, personally, it started when i decided i did not want to into the reserves.
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that was after the attack on gaza in 2008. i realized in my unit, i do not have to really refuse. political refusal, you can only do in public means, there is no category for it in the army. out by notmy way taking the army's phone calls, saying i was in school, i moved here. since i am here, they cannot call me. i never stated the reasons for which i decided not to go to the army. i found other people, at the moment, 56 people, felt the they wanted to issue a statement on why they did not go. even if they found a way out or an exemption. publish it now was because of the operation but
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we are trying to talk in the letter, as you can see, about things that are broader than the current operation, or not talking about the occupation. >> talk about that. what did you explain in the letter? >> one of the main things is a feel a- a lot of us disconnect between soldiers actions and the violent consequences. that sit in offices at the city center, it is difficult to grasp the meaning of what you do on the computer. even when it comes to refusal, the discourse and discussion is usually what is happening in the occupied territories, which is important to talk about, but it also leaves a whole area that is
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not widely spoken. it is our job to do that. i wanted to turn to a video that was posted by the israeli , that theyces, idf say showcases some of the work its members do to keep israeli civilians safe. let's go to a clip. >> our country is surrounded by enemies. you always have to be prepared. one day you can live a normal day and after you can experience a bomb or rockets. my job is in emergency situations. i feel very proud to do this and i feel so satisfied from the fact that i actually help evil saved their lives. >> yael even or, your response to the video?
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it is definitely part of what we were trying to talk about, teaching soldiers, soldiers going to school, and for kids at an early age to meet soldiers. this is part of the militarization we are trying to talk about. andng uniforms and weapons teachers in uniform is something that is so normal in israel. it creates the idea that all of us are part of this army. i think this limits our thought ,n regards to what can be done or if we are talking about about justice in the area. , when you shapira resisted in 2003, as an air force captain, to attack palestinians, what were the consequences of that?
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you are part of an elite group of air force pilots. you come from a family of pilots. >> first, luckily, i was flying rescue helicopters and i flew soldiers, but i felt my was nevertheless as big as those attacking and throwing bombs. the reaction, of course, the military dismissed us and said it was wrong, but we had about of israeli society supporting us. that was about one million is really sympathetic to the concerns that we raised about the morality of these actions. the interesting thing about what happens now is what you hear is how amazing and morally react.
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yesterday, listening to the news, the discussion was how pilots and soldiers are complaining that there are so many limitations they have to because the threat of harming civilians. the whole discourse is how good we are and how we are willing to sacrifice and in danger ourselves in order to not kill civilians, while doing this crazy massacre, which, by the way, is much more intense when you look at the number of casualties. it is much more. afterhe army did with us, 10 days to think about it, to meet our immediate commanders in , we were invited to an interview with the commander of saidrmy and then if we
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that we were not withdrawn our signature, we were dismissed from the air force, and we got a letter of dismissal. the first thing they mention in wes legal letter was that uniform.ed out of they had difficult times ringing us to court hearing i actually wanted that. i said to the commander of the feel totally complete and whole with everything that we did and i'm happy to you even be sent to jail if you can prove in court that we refused to legal orders. we think that these orders are legal and moral. you must disobey an order that
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is illegal and immoral and is going to harm civilians and innocent people? of course, the army chose not to open any court case against us because it would just give us a platform to raise more and more of these issues in the public debate. a conscientious objector status? >> by law? not that i know of. rare, buts very mostly, if you want to declare yourself as one, you just do it publicly. the army avoids giving these kinds of menaces and categories for obvious reasons. >> how did you find the other reservists that have joined you? there are 56 right now.
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out to friends and people that i knew from my political circles that i knew were in the army once and i also knew that they could not find their way to refuse or oppose or take responsibility for the action they committed in the past. they did not have a way to break refuseence or could not higher officers. so we wanted to create a new category that would include all of us by saying that we all participated. are differentre degrees of responsibilities, but we should all take it. >> the issues raised by benjamin netanyahu, among them, it is hamas, the terrorists, that are
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firing thousands of rockets, terrorizing israel. >> you want me to respond to this argument? and friends family who are suffering from the rockets. their lives are at risk. but i do not think that was the ,eason to start the operation the operation of the west bank before that. byo think there is a way, accepting the hamas cease-fire provisions. >> the key one that you think is critical? >> the siege, obviously. >> most people in the u.s. do not know what you are referring to. based on the media, they see israel under siege because of the thousands of rockets but they do not know when you --
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when you say when you talk about gaza. >> it is a bad time for palestinians and israelis. one of the main points also was that it seems very easy to go to a military solution instead of trying to solve things by political means. it seems it is not even being discussed, and that is how we feel. the rockets started after some political efforts were dismissed easily by the israeli government. , you are inhapira tel aviv. this issue about the siege, for an american audience, it is not explained very much. what it means for gaza to be under siege for all these years. can you explain, technically, what that means? technically, gaza is the
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biggest open air prison. people inside cannot go in and out. they can find their way through tunnels sometimes but most of the population is locked up there as prisoners. israel controls the air. israel controls the sea and the land. the little strip that egypt controls is basically coordinated with israel and the united states to keep those 1.8 million people in a cage. groups, ath different flotilla, to sail to gaza and symbolically break the blockade that we were stopped by the israeli occupation forces, claiming that we were dangerous because maybe we were bringing a weapon. it is ridiculous to see now. they stopped us from bringing weapons but i do not think hamas
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had any problem bringing weapons in. maybe in a paradoxical way it helps netanyahu and these missile guys. have are in tel aviv, i 10-month-old baby, i have to go to the shelter when the missiles it is nothing but compared to what people in gaza rx. sing. i have family near gaza, .elatives who are in gaza if i had to give one allegory to this whole thing, and me, myself, this idea of self protection -- i want to be safe, i do not want anyone to kill me and my baby -- i would imagine it as -- forgive me for
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using this hard language, but gang rape. when you have a group of people raping someone, and this person being raped starts to scratch, the first thing you want to do in order to stop the scratches is to stop the rape. officially, what israel is trying to do is to continue the rape and continue with the scratches. i say, stop the occupation, stop the apartheid. ghettoizationmane of palestinians, and then we can start talking and then we can reach peace agreements and all these beautiful words that now do not mean anything to us. >> yonatan shapira, thank you for being with us. and i want to thank you, yael to aor, who has signed on
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>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. leaderine, a rebel claimed for the first time pro-russian separatists used an antiaircraft missile, the kind that was used to shoot down mh17 . the commander blamed ukrainian authorities for provoking the strike that killed all 298 aboard. he said kiev had launched air strikes in the area even though it knew the buk missile system
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was in place and rebels would fight back. >> they provoked the usage of the buk missile system by starting to attack the object that they do not need at all. not been attacked by plans a week before that. on that day they pushed so hard and at the moment of attack, the moment of the civilian plane flying, they were attacking. missilethere was a buk system, and even if it had been used, ukraine did everything for the civilian plane to be shut down. >> this comes as two ukrainian fighter jets were shot down not far from where the airliner was hit. the border continues to see .eavy fighting on wednesday, lawmakers in the ukrainian parliament broke into a fistfight after a decree passed that would enlist male citizens under 50 to combat russian forces on the border. coffins carrying 40 of the 193 dutch victims arrived in the
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netherlands as the government cleared a day of national mourning. crowds gathered on bridges along the route to throw flowers on to the convoy of hearses. for more we are joined by katrina vanden heuvel, editor and publisher of "the nation." "downing ofolumn is flight 17 should trigger talks, not more violence." what do you feel is being missed? that has gonery unreported in this one-sided media narrative that americans have been given in the last months is the unreported war in the southeast of ukraine. the nation published a story a and we are seeing in the downing of the plane the tragedy, which occurred in this
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virtually unreported civil war. today, there are stories that kiev has been used for missile runge lockets -- launch rockets. organization and corporation in europe is alleging civilian deaths here. it is the context that is needed. >> how many people have died in this war? >> i have figures. the report 250 people that have been killed in one of the major cities in the eastern part of ukraine. 800 injured since the war began. 432, six children died in donetsk since april. 110 thousand refugees from south eastern ukraine have fled to russia. 56,000 displaced people in ukraine. >> would you call this a civil war? >> i would, and the tragedy is
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ukraine has been a deeply divided country through time, language, religion. country,he pro-russian, ethnically russian. this did not need to become a military civil war. this is what i try to address in the column. in the wake of this tragedy and the downing of the plane, there should be a renewed effort not to trigger more violence, but to trigger talks that could end the humanitarian catastrophe i described. another unreported story is that there were cease-fire talks in june with russia, france, germany, ukraine, the united states, and he had -- kiev. poroshenko, the president, pulled out after two days. that.s. things on defensive and the military action started a new. common sense.
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recover,if it is to and if it is to emerge as a financially stable country with some elements of democracy, need to be a bridge between east and west, between russia and the west. , months after agreeing to a $17 billion loan program, yesterday, it knowledged what is known, that there is a terribly sharp economic downturn in the ukraine. the cost to rebuild the country will be enormous. the oligarchical control of this think, remains unreported. ,ood protesters in the square from last year, so much of their oligarchicalbout cryptography.
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remainsp on the country . beenthink americans have done a disservice by the one-sided media coverage. i will say, and i hope the -- to coverthers the civilian casualties and the results on cities like donetsk, which has become a virtual ghost town. >> what about the u.s. role? the u.s.ot understand role, to be honest. it's not in the national security interest of the u.s. to make ukraine cold war proxy, but it is becoming that. this is a regional civil war that has been internationalized. often sounds like the secretary of war, not the secretary of state. we have tethered ourselves to government in a way
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that may make it difficult to find a way beyond a new cold war, if not a hot war. a war would dwarf both countries politics and international relations. think about what this has done in terms of diverting our attention and resources from the threats, the real possibilities of providing and building a new world. it is also underreported in america. america sent advisers in ukraine to embed with its military. they have put forward a package of military equipment. john brennan finally headed off to kiev. it is not in the u.s. interest, not in the world's interest, not interest, but there is not a peep out of contrast -- congress. the media is so one-sided that
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we are not having a debate that is also deserving of america's people, the wisdom of america's people, the disconnect that we see with the beltway establishment and immediately is telling. people are not interested in sending weapons. they were not interested in sending weapons to syria or to ukraine. they are not interested in a war. >> let's go to russian president vladimir putin. we are being called on to use our influence with separatists in southeastern ukraine. of course we will do everything in our power. ultimately, there is a need to call on the authorities in kiev to respect basic norms of decency and a short time implement a cease-fire during the investigation. >> can you talk about putin's role and how u.s. actions compared to europe, the dutch in particular?
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>> i have family in holland. i think the dutch, in the way that they have grieved in this tragic moment, are a model of dignity and a model of saying that we are not going to rush to judgment or use this as political gain. as opposed to the u.s., i have to say, where secretary of state kerry rushed quickly. i admire him but he is not suited to be secretary of state right now. now the intelligence community is saying we do not know if this was a mistake, we do not know who played a role. on sanctions, the u.s. has led the way. the european community, the key member being germany here, and france, have resisted. there is a tendency in this country to say it is because of their trading ties. it is true but that underestimates the fact that
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they have in their dna in history that understands that in order to have a sullen, angry russia on their order is not in anyone's interest. --boot in, where do i begin? putin, where do i begin? he has done some impressive things on human rights. this will go on if it is the way it is. the hawks on both sides always become more powerful when this happens. but putin has politics in his country. right-wingtionalist which has been pushing him to be far more assertive. i have friends, journalists who report on the right in russia, and the right has been in a fury in the last weeks. pro-russians, ethnic russians in ukraine being bombarded, and where is newton -- putin?
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and lavrov have been calling for a cease-fire since april. the other day he said that he would do what he could to restrain the rebels. aree are no question there ties, but we have seen, whenever you have a civil war like this, the good guys do not often emerge. not talking about the civilians under assault, but you have the ram those of russia, those that fought in chechnya or afghanistan, but putin cannot do everything. in the context of a real cease-fire, real negotiations, and in the context of the u.s. not playing games, as it has since the end of the first cold war and expanding its influence to the doors of russia, and then the whole nato question, unreported. when this eu offer triggered this -- what was unreported was
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there was a trigger in this, a secret entry door for ukraine to enter nato. this is a russian redline. first of all, we should not be having nato in these times. it is a military alliance. media in this country has so demonized putin. as i said, he is an authoritarian, but i will quote someone that i know we have mixed feelings about, henry kissinger. putin isid demonizing not a policy but an alibi for not having a policy. i think america needs a policy, not an attitude, as it engages with russia. >> thank you for being with us, editor and publisher of" the nation." we will link to her column "downing of flight 17 should trigger talks, not more violence." in arizona, looking at last night's execution and how a
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procedure that usually takes 10 minutes instead took one hour and 57 minutes, the execution that took lace -- place for joseph wood. he was injected with a controversial mix of drugs. media journalists describe what they saw next. joe wood is dead but it took him two hours to die. to watch a man lay there for one hour 40 minutes gulping air, i can liken it to catching a fish and throwing it on sure. drugs work, he eventually died, but i cannot imagine this is what the criminal justice system hoped for when it up with this new protocol. for everyone in that room. at some point, you wondered if you was ever going to die. >> that was reporter trey hayden. joined by megan mccracken, an attorney with the
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university of cal or near berkeley school of law. can you explain what happened last night? we only have a few minutes, but also, the fact that the lawyers for the man being executed toually left the chamber appeal his execution in the midst of it because it went on for so long as he guest for your -- gasped for air? >> [inaudible] to go into lawyers court to seek an order to stop the execution. one lawyer did stay in the area the entire time. not all of them left. the execution took an extraordinarily long time, almost two hours. mr. wood was breathing and gasping for air and struggling for one hour 40 minutes. an extremely disturbing,
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prolonged execution, which really is the predictable consequence of arizona's experimental drug procedure. the fact that arizona shrouded its receipt or in secrecy. >> can you further talk about where the drug came from, the legal attempts to stop the execution before a court had stopped the execution on that day? two courts had issued injunctions on the execution, not typing it, but saying the department could not move forward without first disclosing additional information about the procedures. i cannot tell you where the drugs came from because the department of corrections has refused to disclose that information. informationl of the the department disclose was the name of the drugs it would be used and the doses. the department refused to disclose, despite repeated requests from mr. wood's
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lawyers, where the drugs came from, their lot numbers, expiration dates, were they fda approved, what pharmaceutical company made them, where they obtained illegally? they refuse to release information about those that were part of the team. it's took combination of drugs from ohio, the only other state to have used it, and in that use it was also a botched execution. that was the procedure they took what altered the doses but they did not release information on how they reached the new doses and why they thought it would work better than the botched execution of dennis mcguire. >> there is an amazing dissent from the chief justice court of appeals who wrote a blistering technique of the lethal injection. judge alex kozinski wrote --
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we only have 20 seconds, can you respond to this? >> what is interesting about the dissent is he was seeking to engage in a discussion about how we carry out executions. so it's ironic that he wrote that as a dissent to an opinion that the arizona department of corrections ought to disclose additional information, giving he wanted to engage in discourse. >> thanks for spending the time with us. that does it for the broadcast.
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