07/07/17 07/07/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacififica, this is democracy now! welcome to hell. that's been the rallying cry of protesters in hamburg, germany, where donald trump and other world leaders are meeting for the g20 summit. we will go to the streets of hambmburg and then look aheaeado trump's meeting with russian president vladimir putin. the meeting taking place a day after trump acknowledged

possible russian interference in the 2016 u.s. election. pres. trump: i think it was russia and i think it could have been other people and other countries. it could have been a lot of people interfered. i have saiaid it very sisimply. i ththink it could very well hae been russia, but i think it could well have been other countries. amy: we will speak with the nation's katrina vanden heuvel. and we will go to honduras to speak with bertita zuniga caceres, the daughter of slain honduran indigenous and enenvironmental leader berta caceres. berta was assassinated last year. her daughter was nearly assassinated l last week. >> we did d not expect t the at. wewe were traveling b back whena vehicle blocked the r road inin front of us and m men jumped out with machetes and threw rockss t us, trying to attack us. as we escaped, they pursued us.

amy: we will speak with bertita zuniga caceres from her home in honduras. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in germany, more than 100,000 protesters flooded the streets of hamburg thursday, as leaders of the world's largest economies gathered for the g20 summit. marchers carrying banners reading "welcome to hell" and "the world is not for sale" were met by heavily armed riot police who used water cannons, teargas, and stun grenades to disperse the protests. protests resumed earlier today as demonstrators staged sit-ins at key intersections in the city in a an attempt to disrurupt the first day of the g20, where president trump is meeting with other world leaders. a germanan news agency reported first lady melania trump was unable to leave her hotel because of todayay's demonstrations. this is a protester who took part in actions.

wewe are here today because think the g20 has no place here in hamburg, has no place in the world. it is not needed. it is an organization of the ruling classes, for the imperialist systems that deepens exploitations around the world. and produces fascism racism, particularly trump, who presents himself as a racist and says "i am willing to use the nuclear bomb close court and such a man here in the name of the so-called capitalist democracy and therefore legitimizing him is outrageous. in a earlier today from brazil, russia, india, the so-called brics countries, push for implementation of the paris climate deal, despite president trump's decision to pull the u.s. out of it. this is angela merkel speaking at the g20 talks as they opened. >> we know the united states has

withdrawn from the paris agreement. all of this, as far as i know, many others are still committed to the agreement and how that turns out is something we will tell you at the end when we have finished the comedic a. amy: president trump is scheduled d to meet with vladimr putin on the sidelines of the g20. he sought to deflect screwed he over allegations his campaign colluded with russia to interfere in november's election. trump took a swipe at a former hillary clinton campaign chair john podesta, tweeting -- that was the tweet of donaldd trump today at the g20. we will have more on the g20 summit and trump's meeting with putin after headlines. just ahead of the g20 talks, japan announced thursday it will forge a new trade agreement with the european union. the deal will cover about a quarter of the world's economic activity, making it one of the largest trade agreements ever. it followed the collapse earlier this year of the sweeping

trans-pacific partnership, or tpp. in a statement, greenpeace blasted the japan-eu agreement, writing -- "this trade deal, and others like it, smack of corporate protectionism at the expense of democracy and the environment." in washington, d.c., the government's top ethics watchdog abruptly resignened thursday, months before his term was set to expire in january. walter shaub, jr., said he'll leave his post as head of the office of government ethics later this month and wilill taka job at a nonpartisan c campaign finanance reform group. shauaub told repteters he wasn't pressured d to resign, though h frequently cshshed with the white house e over his dememands thatat president trump d divestm his vast busininess holdings. this is walter shaub speakiningn janunuary about prpresidenent 's move to put his s holdings intoa trust opererated by his adult sons. >> this is not a blblind trust. not even close. i think politico call this a half blind trust, but it is not have way blind.

billy ththg it has i in common with a blind t trust is s the ll "t"trust." his sons are still rurunning the business and he k knows what he owns. amy: after announcing his resigngnation, walter shaub said the office of gogovernmement ets is ill-equipped to prevent conflicts of interest, telling npr news -- "the current situation has made it clear that the ethics program needs to be stronger than it is." shaub's resignation n opens the door for president trumpmp to ne a replacement to head ththe offe of govovernment ethihics, pendig confirirmation by the senate. shauaub's departurure comes on e heels of the resignation of top justice department official hui chen earlier this month. chen is a former corporate compliance watchdog who wrote in a social media post -- "on my mind were the numerous lawsuits pending against the president of the united states for everything from violations of the constitution to conflict of interest. i wanted no more part in it." secretary of state rex tillerson cocould soon be calllled to tesy about a separate email account he used for years to discuss global warming while he served as ceo of exxonmobil. that's according to the associated press, which reports

new york attorney general eric schneiderman is prepared to question tillerson as part of his probe into whether exxon misled its investors about the impact of climate change. while at exxon, tillerson used the alias "wayne tracker" on a separate email account to discscuss climate-related topic. exxon officials have admitted most of the emails from the account have been permanently deleted and that the company allowed months' worth of tillerson's emails to be deleted even after the new york attorney generaral's office requested thy be preserved. the trump administration told a federal judge thursday it plans to keep voter roroll data it has requested from all 50 states on white house computers controlled by vice president mike pence. the disclosusure came after the electronic privacy information center sued to halt the requests for voter data made by kansas secretary of s state kris babac, asas part of t the presidential adadvisory commission onon elecn integrity.

he is s the vice chair. kobach's request would gather the names, addreeses, birthh dates, social security numbers, party affiliatations, and feloly conviction records of virtually all u.s. voters. critics say the white house plans to use the data for large-scale voter suppression, and at least 44 states have said they will not comply with kobach's reququest. at the united nations, more than 120 countries are posed today to -- poised today to adopt a first-ever treaty banning the possession, use, and threat of nuclear weapons. the landmark deal was negotiated without the participation of any of the world's nine nuclear-armed states or their allies, with the exception of the netherlands. the nuclear ban is based on humanitarian law, and its authors note that just one% of -- 1% of the world's nuclear weapons are enough to devastate the natural world and could lead to h humanity's extinction. in the sea of japan, south korean jets and warships fired a barrage of missiles thursday in a major live-fire exercicise tht came j just two days after north korea successfully tested a new

intercontinental ballistic missile. at the pentagon, defense secretary james mattis said the icbm test didn't mean the u.s. is closer to war with north korea. the statement contradicted trump's comment earlier in the day that he's considering pretty severe things in response to north korea's missile test. meanwhile, in the north korean capital pyongyang, thousands of people attended a mass rally and dance party organized to celebrate nonorth korea's neww weapon. in turkey, thousands of opposition prorotesters s contid a 250-mile march from ankara towards istanbul thursday, protesting the authoritaririan government of president recep erdogan and his moves to detain and fire hundreds of former prosecutors and judges. >> we are not going to get tired. we will continue our march for justice. we will continue our struggle for it until the very end. amy: the marchers are set to arrive saturday for a mass rally in istanbul amid heavy security. their protest comes as turkey continues to detain idil eser, the director of amnesty

international's turkey office, as well as other human rights defenders. in iraq, the head of the kurdish autonomous region said thursday he expects a new kurdish statate to emerge after an historic election on independence scheduled for september. massoud barzani was speakingng with reuters. >> i don't think anybody caca stand agaiainst the bigig wave f people of kurdistan when they decide their destiny. maybe there will be some attempt to foil it. we will try our best not to let that happen. the september 26 plebiscite amy:the september 26 plebiscite could increase tensions in turkey, syria, and i iran, countries with sizable kurdish populations who fear an indedependent t kurdish state. meanwhile, in mosul, iraq, u.s.-backed kurdish and iraqi forces cornered the last of the city's isis fighters in a tiny stretch h of the c city on thehs of the tigris river. an iraqi commandnder sd d about 10,000 civililians remainedd trapped in the battle zone. back in the united states, the christstian craft chaiain store hobby lobby has agreed to pay a

$3 million fine and return thousands of artifacts looted from iraq. federaral prosecutors say hobby lobby spent over in 2010 to $1.5 million purchase more than iraqi artifacts from a dealer 5000 based in the united arab emirates. the sales violated a ban on the sale of iraqi cultural artifacts in place since 2004. hobby lobby's owners are conservative christians who plan to open a museum of the bible in washington, d.c., this fall. in 2014, hobby lobby won a landmark decision at the supreme court, which ruled that private companies that claim religious objections can refuse to provide birth control coverage to employees.s. in virginia, prison officials ended the life of death row prisoner william morva thursday night with a lethal cocktail of three drugs after governor terry mcauliffe denied morva's final appeal for clemency. the execution relied on the drug midazolam, which has repeatedly failed to make prisoners unconscious in other executions, leading to painful deaths. this is reporter drew wilder,

who witnessed the execution. >> he started gasping for air. came out and contracted pretty dramatically. it came in and out a handful of times, maybe 10 timemes. amy: william morva was pronounced dead at 9:15 p.m. local time. his death sentence came despite a doctor's finding that morva suffered from a severe delusional disorder. in a statement, amnesty international tweeted -- "the execution of william morva, a man with a severe mental disability, is appalling. the death penalty should be ended once and for all." in illinois, lawmakers on thursdsday approved d a new stae budget, ending a two-year stalemate that saw illinois fall $15 billllion behind on its bib. the deal came as the state house voted to override a veto by republican governor bruce rauner, who was increasingly isolated in his opposition to a state income tax hike.

this is governor rauner speaking wednesday. >> this is not just a slap inn the face to ilillinois taxpayer, this is a two by four smacked across the for heads o of the people of illilinois. sololve not ofill our prproblems. in fact, long run, it will just make our problems worse. amy: the budget impasse idled roadwork infrastructure projects, left social service nonprofits unable to serve the poor and disabled threatened to , bankrupt public schools, and threatened the accreditation of many universities. even with passage of the budget, moody's investors service said thursday i it might still downgrade illinoisis' credit rating to o junk status. and in moscow, russian authorities raided the office of prominent anti-corruption activist alexei navalny thursday, confiscating election pamphlets ahead of campapaign events scheduled for saturday. the raid came as navalny is set to be released from jail after

he was arrested on an many charges. the protests drew a harsh crackdown by russian police, who beat demonstrators and arrested more than 1000. official site it disqualifies him to challenge putin for the presidency. on thursday, his campaign chair that he will carry on. >> over the weekend, we plan to hold a major campaign event which includes disturbing our leaflets, hoholding pickets, displaying information about our campaign, and the authorities are try to disrupt it. the wantrities simply do not him to campaign. this will not stop us in a matter what we will campaign. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace repoport. i'm amy goodman.n. mass protests continue across hamburg, germany, as world leaders gather for the g20 summit.

demonstrators scheduled sit ins and attempted to disrupt the first of the g20 summit. according to the news agency dpa , melania trump was unable to leave her hotel because of the protest. on thursday, about 100,000 protesters took to the streets marching with banners reading "welcome to hell" and "the world is not for sale." police used d water cannons, ter gas, and stun grenades to disperse thehe protests. according to the police, 29 people were arrested and more than 75 officers and dozens of protesters were injured. key issues on the g20 agenda include climate change, trade, north korea, and migration. protesters say the g20 has failed to solve many issues that threaten world peace, including climate change and worsening inequality. this is ststeve price-thomas of oxfam. >> we live in n a world wheree t eight men have the same wealth as the poorest half of the world population. that is 3.6 6 billion people.

where one in 10 people live on less than two dollars s a day, where almost 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. that situation is completelyly unacceptable. we are here at the g20 in hamburg and it is essential that g20 but the quality number one on their agenda. amy: earlier today brazil, russia, india and china -- the so-called brics countries -- called on the g20 to push for implementation of the paris climate deal despite trump's decision to pull the united states out of it. meanwhile trump is scheduled to meet later today with russian president vladimir putin on the sidelines of the g20. we go now to the streets of hamburg where we are joined by the croatian philosopher srecko horvat who took part in the g20 alternative summit -- the global solidarity summit. he is one of the founders, along with yanis varoufakis, of the democracy in europe movement, also known as diem25. his latest piece for the guardian is titled "we came to

hamburg to protest about g20 - and found a dystopian nightmare." srecko horvat, welcome to democracy now! tell us why you describe this as a dystopian nightmare and what you're calling for in hamburg. hello, amy. i am really glad to be here from the streets of hamburg. welcome to hamburg as well. i have been to many process around the world. park.memberzucotti but i have never seen such a big ,mount of heavily armed police drones, helicopters, water cannon, and so on as i have seen on the streets of hamburg yesterday, today, probably also tomorrow. this summit costs around 50 million euros, and it is

happening in one of the biggest cities in germany. what we could have seen in the last days is that this is really turning into something with the -- an legals would call it means civil liberties, even peaceful process are approached by violent police actions and so one. this is the reason why i call it dystopia. amy: can you describe what the streets are like and what the police response has been? >> well -- just a second, because the police are just there. the streets of hamburg are mostly completely blocked, empty. public transport, buses, doesn't even drive. only the metro. you can hear helicopters all the

time. at this point when we are here, there are many blockade taking place all around this zone, which is very near to the red zone -- which is the very place where the summit is taking place. yesterday, protesters tried to have a demonstration called "welcocome to hell," but it was blocked by the police. even peaceful demonstrations are removed by the police. this is not something unusual. this is something in all corners of the world. when we complain, when the powers and the police complain about the violence of the protesters on the streets of hamburg, we should always -- robinwhat was said a banknk in comparison and formg a bank. i was in the same goes for the g20 in hamburg. what is the violence on the streets compared to the violence of the g20?

of the governments which are part of the g20? of the violence of the saudi's making trade just with donald trump and then bombing yemen and is a kind of isis boboomerang of all of this? what is the violence on the streets of hamburg these days, a few burned cars, compared to the violence of 1 million and more people displaced in syria, iraq and afghanistan, and all the wars which are taking place still all around the world? i think we should deconstruct the notion of violence and what athappening here in hamburg the moment. amy: can you talk about the agenda of the g20? you have been participating in the alternative summit. what is what you are proposing and all of the people who have gathered to challenge the g20? yes, first, you have to understand what is actually the current g20.

actually is the g20 doesn't exist anymore. when you look around me and you see the police and you see all of these world leaders are coming to hamburg, you might ask me somehow doesn't it exist if we can see with our eyes? i don't know if you watched the "youngv series called pope" were jude law is youngying a conservative pope who doesn't even believe in god anymore. i think the current g20 doesn't even believe it is a g20. if there's one thing on which all of the leaders of the g20 theyd today, it is that disagree on a list all fronts. angela comes to the -- merkel, donald trump. there is division between the chinese and german to are supposed to be the allies. they cannot even agree on the concept of globalization and

free trade among themselves. then there is the paris agreement and climate change, then there is terrorism, and new restrictions on the internet. but what i think is important to say, and here we come to the message of all of us who are these days protesting, discussing what our next steps should be, is that we should not only protest against donald trump and the new dictators such as erodgan, p putin, and the chinese. the answer is not what they call today the leaders of the free -- macron, theresa may, or merkel, it is the same as in the elections in the u.s.. hillary clinton and donald trump same coin.rts of the the same goes for g20. they are two parts of the same coin. the washington consensus, which and thened on the g20

in 2000, is actually feeding the new fascism, which is rising all araround the world from poland, which is s the country were dodd trump was welcomed j just before the e g20, to hungary, the couny where i come from, croatia, serbia, and many other countries. i think what we're proposing from the other side is we have to get out of this double blackmail, get out of this illusion and trap that the answer to donald trump is angela merkel. unfortunately, the answer to donald trump is not angela merkel. we have to fight to create a third space at which can only be a radical movement. amy: i want to go to president trump speaking yesterday in poland. pres. trump: the fundamental question of our time is whether the west has the will to survive . do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our

borders? do we have the desirire and the kurds to reserve our civilization -- courage to protect the civilizization in te face of those who wordrds overt and destroy it? the l largest economies in the most lethal weapons anywhere on earth, but if we do not have strong families and strong values, then notill be weak and we will survive. amy: srecko horvat, can you respond to president trump? >> what should i say? a speech that sounds like his inauguration speech. as someone who was raised in communist yugoslavia where we created a system which wasn't ideal, but at least we had

solidarity, different economic system, i must say the western values donald trump is talking about are not western values at all. he is erecting borders and walls with solid panels, by the way, the mexican borders. yemen, to to bomb make lucrative arm deals with saudi arabia -- these, my opinion, as some who comes from the west, from europe, by the way, from eastern europe which is not west, but it doesn't matter -- these are not western values. western values had to do with the workers movement and the workers rights are being diminished in the u.s. and all around europe. western values have to do a doorsrity and opening the for people who are fleeing from wars who want to survive, lilike all of the million syrians in afghanistan people from iraq, somalia, and so on. western values are providing a decent salary to all of the

people and not in the way donald trump is talking about. so when donald is talking about western values, it doesn't have anything to do with the west as i understand it. amy: yesterday, the polish president was there with your president, the croatian president. i was wondering if you could respond to that, but also talk about the movement that you formed together with yanis varoufakis, who resigned as finance minister in greece -- certainly had his confrontations with angela merkel when it came to austerity being imposed on greece. if you could respond all of this, srecko horvat? >> yes. what we're trying to do with diem25's response above parts of the same coin. we don't believe the answer lies in the rising population and

extreme politics represented by the public president or even the croatian president, who is very happy to just jump around donald trump as a small dog. we also don't believe the answer are in the policies which proposed and implemented mainly by the german government. one of the two countries of the g20, besides south korea, which has a -- what we're trying to do is unite all progressive europeans, not only those who are part of the european union in a new radical progressive international movement. it has come out of the conviction the concept -- finished with the concept of the nationstate, that we cannot retreat to the illusion that something such as national serenity still exists in this world. this is also the reason why we are called to many leftist, to propose the so-called

grexit position. that an exit from the euro zone is a solution. we believe that only by reuniting, reforming but not reforming the reformist sense, but in the sense of somewhat could be called a new process that there is a possibility for a brighter future for europe. this is the reason why at diem25 we're proposing the european new deal. it is pretty difficult to talk about that here since the police are moving all of the time. but we don't want to live in such europe anymymore. want to get your response to german chancellor angela merkel who has said at this summit in hamburg that she is focusing on climate change. she was asked what a compromise thursday on climate change might look like. this is what she said. we know the united states has

withdrawn from the paris agreement. all alerts, as far as i know, many others, are still committed to the paris agreement and how that turns out is something we will tell you at the end when we're finished wewe communicate. , yourrecko horvaat response to not only what angela merkel is saying, but the position president trump has taken? when it comes to the paris agreements, i think the biggest scandal is not so much that and hisrump retreated withdrawal from the paris agreement. i think we should go a step further and be even more radical. to say the current paris agreement is not enough. because the g20 states still spend more public money, four times more than any other countries on fossil fuel. what we should do instead of the paris agreement is on the

municipal, local level that all citizens have the power to actually decide on climate change. this is still not happening. what i see with the paris agreementt is a very similar position to the position on terrorism or war. this is cynicism, i would say as well. even if donald trump, which is a science-fiction today, would agree on the paris agreement, i still think that the paris agreement as such is also not enough. that we should go much further than the paris agreement itself. your final horvat, words as you stand there in the streets of hamburg today, over 100,000 people have been protesting the g20 summit. a number of prototesters and police got h hurt. as you speak today in a message to the world, what you have to say? well, my message to all of the americans and to all blows

for-- all those who voted bernie sanders, even those who didn't but don't support donald trump policies, my message would be donald trump, that was the first step rejejected to go to e u.k. because he was not welcome there in the u.k. then he went to poland because he was welcomed, because his allies and the conservative polish government organized buses of thousands of people who would come and cheer him and welcome him. well, tomorrow -- just a second because the police are coming. [sirens] hamburg, i hope more than 100,000 people will show that donald trump is also not welcome in europe. historic day a because it will be one of the biggest public demonstrations against donald trump in europe today. footnote, i don't think

it is enough to protest donald trump. we should also protest the other part of the coin, which is represented by the so-called leaders of the free world. amy: srecko horvat, thank you for being with us, croatian philosopher, one of the founders, along with yanis varoufakis, the former finance minister of greece, of the democracy in europe movement, also known as diem25. we will link to your latest piece in the guardian headlined "we came to hamburg to protest , about g20 -- and found a dystopian nightmare." this is democracy now! when we come back, we will talk about the meeting between president trump and vladimir putin, the president of russia. we will be joined by the publisher of the nation katrina vanden heuvel. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump is having his firsrst officialal meeting with russian president vladimir putin today at the g20 summit in hamburg, germany. secretary of state rex tillerson and russian foreign minister

sergey lavrov are the only ones who will be in the room with them. this comes as thousands of people have filled the streets around the g20 summit to demonstrate against globalization as well as donald trump's policies. national security adviser general h.r. mcmaster said last week there is no specific agenda for the meeting. the topics of conversation could include the war in syria, north korea, u.s. economic sanctions against russia, and nuclear weapons. democrats are also pushing for trump to confront putin directly about the alleged russian interference in the 2016 election. on thursday, five senate democrats, including minority leader chuck schumer of new york, sent a letter to trump calling on him to "make absolutely clear that russian interference in our democracy will in no way be tolerated." but during a news conference on from poland, trump cast doubt on thursday whether he believes russia interfered in t the 2016 elecection.. >> will you once and for a

coming yes or no, definitively say that russia interfered in the 2016 election? pres. trump: i think it was russia and i think it could've been other peoplple in other countries. it could have been a lot of people interfered. i have set it very simply. ii think it could very wewell he beenen russia, but i think it could well have been other countries, and it will be specific. i think a lot of people interfere -- i think it is been hahappening for a lolong time. it is been happening for many, many years. the thing i have to mention is babarack obama when he was presesident, found out about ths in terms of if it werere russia, foundd out about it in august. now,w, the election was in novembmber. that is a lot of t time. he did nothing a about it. > mr. p president, you sasayu think itit was russia. your intelligence agencies have been far more definitive. they say it was russia. why won't you agree with them? pres. trump: let me start off by saying i heard it was 17

agencies. i said, boy, do we even have that many intelligence agencies? let's chececk it. we did some heavy research. it turned out to bee three or four. it was in 17. and many of your compatriots had to change the reporting and apologize and had to correct. now, with that being said, mistakes have been made. i agree. i think it was russia, but i think was probably other peoplpe and/or countries, and i see nothing wrong with that statement. nobody really knows. amy: that was president trump in question by nbc white house correspondent haley jackson. but trump took a more adversarial position against russia spepeaking later in t thy in warsaw's krasasinski square,n a speech in which he also claimed the future of western civilizationon was at t risk. pres. trump: we urge russia to cease its destabilizing activities in ukraine and elsewhere and its support for hostile regimes, including syria

and iran, and to instead joined the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defense of civilization itself. the fundamental question of our time is whether the west has the will to survive. do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? amy: for m more, w we're joinedy katrina vandenen heuvel, editor and pupublisher of the nation,n, america's oldest weekly magazine. katrina vanden heuvel is a columnist for thewashingtonpost.com and her latest article is titled, "patriotism in the trump era." so they are meeting today. it is trump and putin. sergey lavrov and rex tillerson. even that is an enormous deal.

clearly, keeping the circle very close. how do we even know what they will have talked about? who is going to say? and you believe those who say it? >> i think one has to step back and set the scene. we are facing the greatest nuclear catastrophe since the first cold war. and i think urgent, practical steps need to be taken to reduce the risks of military nuclear confrontation and to stop the cycle downward of distrust. i think you can despise putin and trump, but it is real is him to acknowledge there is serious -- serious interest in a working relationship with russia to resolve the crisis in syria, which is destabilizing those european leaders sitting in to halt the nuclear escalation, you with nuclear nonproliferation, to deal with cyber issues. either way, we focus a lot on cyber issues in this country and foreign interference in

elections is unacceptable. there must be an independent and fair investigation. but there are reports this one the possible cyber hacks of nuclear utilities. i think cyber hacks -- as senator nunn said, the former senator from georgia released a g 27, the danger of cyber hacks of should you took arsenals are command-and-control systems, something we need to pay attention to. the fact this is a small circle, has happened before, in 1986 when soviet leader gorbachev and can reagan's met eight had to pull him out of a meeting where he and gorbachev were going to abolish nuclear .eapons but i think it is an important meeting and i stepped back again and say, as thousands of americans who signed a petition by roots action over july 4 weekend, negotiate, dodon't escalate. it is n neither does i mean, trp

sounds like warmed over fourth rate reagan in poland. it is not in support of that. it is saying, both countries have real interest in trying to work together. amy: i want to turn to rex tillerson speaking wednesdayay ahead of their meeting with the presidt t of russia and the foreign minister. >> i think the important aspect of this is that this is where we have begun, an effort to begin to rebuild confidence between theelves and russia at military level, but also the diplomatic level. i think it is an effort that serves both of our interests as well as the broader interest of the international comommunity, e hope, that this is going to be the beginning of other important areas that need to be addressed in order to strengthen our relationship. but we are at the very beginning. i would say at this point, it is difficult to say exactly what the russians are russia's

intentions are. i think that is the most important part of this meeting, to have a good exchange between president trump and p president puputin over what they both sees the nature of this relationship between our countries. amy: you have among the things that we think are going to be addressed, north korea, ukraine, syria >> -- nuclear issues. and nato issues. amy: on ukraine, what clearly putin once is a lifting of the sanctions. the question is, what will the united states demand. it is interesting to have rex tillerson there because as former ceo of exxon, he also wants sanctions lifted against russia. >> what is underreported in this country, there are several european countries who want sanctions lifted because they are facing domestic issues at home, from farmers, for example, who won exports to go. step back. ukraine could be settled. there was something called the minsk accords on the table.

you could have an internationally negotiated mandates toith u.n. secure that. ukraine becomes a nonaligned country. it becomes part of the eu, i mean, a bridge between east and west. more than 10,000 people in ukraine haveve died. there neneeds to be a longng-tem waway to resesolve the crisis. it also is history. nato expansion. nato is a military alliance designed to counter the soviet union when the soviet union into, promises were made by george h.w. bush that nato would willxpand one inch you stop those promises were broken as the u.s. expanded. nato has become as a full paradox. -- fateful paradox. you cannot ignore nato expansion when you look at ukraine, but the key thing for the sake of millions of people, lives, the possibility of a democratic ukraine. the sanctions regime -- the vote in the senate was also about

iranian sanctions. you have a reformist election in iran and they're going to clamp to undermine an iranian nuclear joe, which is the template for what should be done with north korea, which domestication's and you need chinina and russia involved in those the negotiation's. amy: the vote in the congress -- amy: 98-2. i speak with limits because, listen, i think cold wars are bad for the left or bad for progressives will stop they empower the military-industrial complex. they empower the worst forces on both sides. i am for dissent in both countries. you had a video of the arrest prior to this. i worked for the independent leading newspaper in moscow, which is under serious threat were journalists are killed. journalists, independent citizens, those full also for his srecko horvat was talking

about, suffer. we need to find a way to move beyond the forces on russia's borders, the possibility of military conflict in syria. we need to take nuclear weapons off of here trigger alert. we need to build down our nuclear weapons. we would have a very different agenda. and citizens around the world should weigh in heavy part of that and not just tillerson, trump, lavrov, and putin in that tiny circle. we are not there because the escalation -- if i might, a lament -- the democratic party. they should be working to deescalate nuclear tensions. they should not be holding out the possibility that anything that comes out of the summit is toxic or a giveaway. and i think that is a real issue. amy: let me to do one of the democratic congress members speaking on cnn democratic , representative adam smith said

he wished trump treated vladimir putin more like he treats cnn. which trump has often c called fafake news. >> putin takes advantage of weakness. it is very ironic that someone with as much bluster as donald trumump throws around every day, certainly i guess i was she treated vladimir putin more like he treats cnn, , was more willig to stand up p to a worldld leadr who is threatening democracy and undermining countries s all acss the globe. because it is not just the u.s. elections that the russians have hacked into and influenced and manipulated. they have been doing it for quite some time. they have run disinformation campaigns. amy: that is adam smith. your response to what he has to say? >> i step back and i look at this summit and it is not about trump or putin, but each country's interest moving fort. there is an investigation underway. it must be taken to the final end. maybe it is collusion.

but as another democratic representative, senator chris murphy said, just a few weeks ago, it is increasingly -- the obsession almost with russia and hacking has distracted democrats from looking more seriously at some of the fundamental issues that are a problem in this country. and i think it is hurting democrats in that context. i also think, again, come back to cyber hacking. instead of the continuing escalation a about sowing distrt and undermining our democratic institutions -- by the way, i think we are resilient country. let us focus on a cyber treaty, which the obama administration did not participate in. there was one offer. i come back, sam nunn's letter coming talks about the need to lay down cyber rules of the road. i had to get into tit for tat, but there's an interesting carnegie mellon study that shows the u.s. has interfered in over 80 foreign elections between

1946 and 2000. that does not mean the russian interference -- it is inappropriate. but let us not, you know, let us not police the world there militarily or morally because we need to get our own house in order. i think we would be a better democracy for that. amy: thank you verery much, katrina vanden heuvel, for joining us, editor and publisher of the nation, america's oldest weekly magazine. she had been reporting from moscow for more than three decades. vanden heuvel also is a columnist for thewashingtonpost.com. we will link to the nation and to her peace "patriotism in the , trump era." when we come back, we go south. we go to honduras where bertita zuniga caceres, the daughter of the murdered indigenous environmentalist berta caceres, had an assassination attempt against her this past weekend. we will talk to her. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: performing here in democracy now! studios. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to honduras.

on friday afternoon, there was an attempted assassination on bertita zuniga caceres. she is the daughter of the murdered honduran indigenous and environmental leader berta caceres. bertita has stepped up her political leadership in recent months and continues to call for a full and independent investigatation into her mothe's assassinatation on mararch 2, 2. she is carrying on her mother's fight against the agua zarca dam,m, a project planned along a river sacred to the indigenous lenca people. well, on wedednesday, democracy now! spoke to bertita zuniga caceres at her home in la esperanza, honduras. i asked her about the assassination attempt -- this as she just took on her mother's mantle of head of the organization copinh. her to talk aboutut what happened l last weekend. youou.tinggs to

on friday, june 30, when we e we returning from a community where copinh has continually worked, we suffered an attack on our way back. we were traveling in a vehicle that belonged to copinh, so it is rececognized as belelonging o copinh. we believe the attack has to do with a conflict over water and wawater sources in the region, d that conflict we also know thatt usaid has played a role. so we didid not expect the atta. we were traveleling back from te community when a vehicle passed as at high speed. ofblocked the road in front us and men jumpeped out witith machetes and also o threw rockct us, trying to attack us. as we escaped, they pursued us. thenexplain driving and

who the people were who came up behind you, as best as you could ascertain, and then what happened, whwhat they came out withth, what their weapopons we. so i was traveling back from the community with the coordinator of organization for copinh and also the driver of our vehicle, as well as the secretary of copinh who was sitting in the back of the car. the people that attacked us, we don't know them. them.was quite joe of ththree of the attacackers had machetes. the fourth one was the driver of the vehicle, the most aggressive. amamy: what do they do when they came out of their car, when they came out of their vehicle? >> the three men with the machetes, they came out of their car and stood in front of where we were coming to block our

vehicle from continuing forward. they put their machetes imposition of attack to try to attack the car. at the driver, he swerved -- our driver swerved the car to the right and we were able to go around them. at the driver of their vehicle, inn he saw we were sweweing the attack w was not goingng toe successful, , he threw a rock at the window of our driver, the driver of our vehicle.e. amamy: bertita, , were you i ind in any way? so we were e not injured. we w were also ablble to escapeh the vehicle and tact as well, but it was a big surprise in big alert for us because e it cououd hahave had very different consequences. in many ways, it was like we were able to escapepe in the way we w were. amy: did you say, once you g got back i in your carar and they cd yoyou, the tried to push you off the road? yes, once we passed the men

with machetes, they got back in their car and it highest need caught up to us. they put their car right alongside our car. the road we were traveling on had a cliff and so we were forced to the very edge of the cliff. our driver was able to continue forward and not stop. amy: bertita zuniga caceres, this comes just weeks after you were named the head of c copinh, the organization that your mother, the leading environmental indigenous righths activist berta caceres headed, before she was assassinated. do you think there i is a link between your heading up copinh and what happened to you this weekend? the copinh a similar process, which we just had, is a process that not only names the new leadership of the

organization, but also a process that has reorganized and has strengthened the community's that make up copinh as well as our work. honestly, the strengthening of the organization, of the communities, is something that the economic and political works that don't like our are obviously concerned about. that could very much have to relate to this attack. amy: it also comes right after you made a video calling for support for congressman hank johnson's bill that would cut off all u.s. military aid to honduras. >> in particular, the law m may dates the suspension of all military aid that the united states gives to honduras. until the e murder cacase of bea aneres is solved in effective manner. not just that case, but other cases that have been representative, like the cases other regions w will have

died defending life in this country. amy: last year, demococracy now! spoke to congressman hank johnson shortly after he introduced the bill to sususpend all u.s. m military a aid to honduras, the bill is called the berta caceres human rights s and honduras act. congressman johnson explain what the pending legislation would do. >> this legislation would suspend financial aid to the republic of honduras for military operations and training and also weaponry, equipment. it would suspend u.s. financial assistance to honduras for those purposes until such time as the republic of honduras can demonstrate that it has adequately and transparently investigated and taken action on

the many killings, unlawful and extrajajudicial killings, of hun rights activists, environmental activists, lgbt activists, human rights defenders in honduras.s. amy: t that w was georgia congressman hank johnson, who has introduced a bill that would end u.s. military aid to honduras for now. in addition to bertita zuniga in honduras, who just survived an assassination mattpt, we are joined byy ginsberg-jaeckle, a longtime friend of both bertita and her mother berta caceres. he has done solidarity work in support of and translations for copinh o over the last 17 years. of one of the founding groups of the hundreds

solidarity network. welcome to democracy now! your first response when you heard about the attempted assassination of your friend of bertita, who was on with us by democracy now! video stream from hundreds. >> it is extremely worrisome. it was the response of really fear for her well-being, but of portland, it was not a response of surprise. this is predictable. as long as money continues to flow to the security forces and these conflicts are allowed to rage incomplete state of impunity, we can expect these kind of attacks. amy: b bertita, can you directly address the men with machetetes whwho attempted to kill you last friday?? so i would tell them we're going to o continue forward in r struggle. part of our struggle is to break the cycle of impunity so the people who carried out thehe attack, they should be held responsible fofor their actions

and for what they did. amamy: bertita, how old are you, if i might ask? >> 26. amy: what makes you so brave? >> so i was born into people of great dignity a and of great strength. and my mother instilled upon us frfrom a very young age that the struggle is rooted in digignity and that we must continunue forward defefending the e rightf our people. was bertita zuniga caceres, the daughter of berta caceres, the honduran indigenous and environmentalist assassinated march 2, 2016. survived anelf just assassination attempt. -- ecial thanks to bertita zuniga caceres has now

replaced her mother as the head of copinh. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by

narrrator: to o keep big cities afloat, great wawater demandnds require g greater watater solut. water protectors combat climate change and the illegal wetland development floodiding towns in argentina. in n mexico c city, citizens use innovative education models and techchnologies to address the city's water issues.