09/21/17 09/21/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracacy now! >> at this point, w we are witht power becausese of the first stm that came throuough. that wasas irma. we a are without water list of n you imagine yoko catastrophic. i think are going to be without services for a long time. amy: puerto rico goes dark after losing 100% power during hurricane maria. superfund sites.

including on the island of vieques, site of a former u.s. naval test range, which took a near-direct hit from the storm. we'll look speak with new republic reporter emily atkin, who writes "puerto rico is already an environmental tragedy. hurricane maria will make it even worse." then president trump gives his first address to the u.n. general assembly, boasting about the size of the u.s. military and threatening to totally destroy north korea. pres. trump: the united states has great strength and patience. but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. amy: we will get reaction from jeff sachs on north korea, iran, climate change, president trump. as continues its ethnic cleansing with more than 400,000

people forced out of burma we will s speak witith andrea pitz, author of the new book, "one long night: a global history of concentration camps." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in mexico, the death toll from the massive, magnitude 7.1 eartrthquake has risen to o 250 people, as rescue workerers cocontinue to o search for hunds of m missing peoeople. the earthquake struck justours after residents participated in anan earthquakake preparedness l marking the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 earthquake that killed 5000 people.e. mexican n president enrique pena nieto has declared three days of national mourning. tuesday's quake caused dozens of buildings and at least one school to collapse. on wednesday, residents gathered

at the site of collapsed buildings, hoping for news about their missing family members. >> i am vanessa. i'm lolooking for r my broththen ththis building that held down. he worked here and we don't know where he is. they told me he's in a hospital with his wife, that they were able to get out of the building, but that is not true. hihis wife is in critical condition, but we don't know if my b brother wenent to look fory sisister-in-lalaw or where he e. we have been calling.. it rings, but he doesn't answer. this is all very sad and wewe truly ask people t to help us wh supplies and waters to all of those who are here. and if they know anything about my brother, that they let us know, please. amy: to hear our full interview on the earthquake with laura carlsen in mexico city, go to democracynow.org. millions of people are without power in puerto rico after hurricane maria made landfall wednesday as a category 4 storm. it was the most powerful

hurricane to hit the island in nearly a century. the hurricane brought record rainfall and catastrophic flooding to puerto rico. the national weather service warned early this morning of flash flooding risks across the entire island. puerto rico's governor ricardo rosello says at least one person has died on puerto rico and that the death toll may rise when communication with the southeastern part of the island is reestablished. meanwhile, the death toll on the island nation of domominica hahs risen to 14. the hurricane caused widespread devastation there, when it made landfall as a category 5 storm. it also destroyed parts of the u.s. and british virgin islands and killed two people on the french island of guadeloupe. early this morning, the hurricane passed just north of the dominican republic and haiti, lashing the island with winds up to 115 miles an hour. it is now gathering strength as a barrels towards turks and caicos and the bahamas.

at the united nations headquarters in new york city, dozens of countries have signed on to a landmark treaty to ban nuclear weapons worldwide. the united nations calls it the world's first legally-binding treaeaty banning nuclear weapon. it prohibits the development, testing, and possession of nuclear weapons, as well as using or threatening to use these weapons. the treaty was approved by 122 u.n. member states in july, despite heavy u.s. opposition to the treaty. following the treaty's approval, the u.s., britain and france published a joint statement saying they "have not taken part in the negotiation of the treaty and do not intend to sign, ratify or ever become party to it." the treaty will be in effect 90 days after 50 u.n. member states have ratified it. meanwhile, president trump told reporters wednesday that he's made a decision about whether he'll take action to undo the landmark 2015 iran nuclear deal , but refused to say what his

plans are. nbc is reporting, based on unnamed sources, that trump is leaning toward decertifying the deal, even though secretary of state rex tillerson acknowledged wednesday that iran is in compliance with the deal. all other parties to the iran nuclear deal also agree iran is in compliance. thisis is the european union's foreign policy chief federica mogherini. frank, open and the discussion during which we have agreed on the fact that all implementing so far fully in agreement. amy: on wednesday, the iranian president hassan rouhani slammed trump's threats toto undo thee landmark deal. >> i really don't know whether a country or power or individual who tries to back out of this

agreement, other than bringing embarrassment upon themselves, it will gain nothing from it. if the u.s. government access the agreement, it will be condemned by the american people themselves. and before that, by the european ununion -- by all countries throughout the world. the condemnation will be equal.. even the allies thehe united states will no longer have the courage to support america, vis-a-vis this issue. amy: president trump met with egyptian president abdel fattah el-sisi on wnesday. ahead d of the meeting, trump sd h's considering resuming military aid to o egypt. last month, the u.s. denied egypt nearly $100 million in military funding and other aid, and d withheld a another n near0 million in foreign military financing saying the money would be released when the human rights conditions improve. sisi's government has launched a wide-ranging crackdown against human rights activists and press freedom advocates in egypt. former president barack obama has slammed the republicans' latest effort to repeal and replace the affordable care act.

pres. obama: when i see people trying to undo the hard-won progress for the 50th or 60th , to those most affected, for whom coverage once again would be honest unattainable, it is aggravating. and all of this is being done without any economic or actuarial were plain common , it frustrates. amy: that was former president obama speaking wednesday at an event sponsored by the bill and melinda gates' foundation. the health insurance industry also came out against the republican plan known as the graham-cassidy bill, warning it could cause chaos in the healthcare industry.

meanwhile, president trump tweeted a flurry of support for the plan throughout the day, tweeting -- "i hope republican senators will vote for graham-cassidy and fulfill their promise to repeal & replace obamacare. money direct to states!" later he tweeted -- "i would not sign graham-cassidy if it did not include coverage of pre-existing conditions. it does! a great bill. repeal & replace." in fact, healthcare experts say there is no guarantee the graham-cassidy bill will protect people with preexisting conditions. california has sued president trump over the construction of his proposed border wall, saying the administration has not complied with state and federal environmental laws. this is california attorney general xavier becerrara. >> the border between the u.s. milesxico spans some 2000 . the list of laws violated by the president administration in order to build his campaign w wl is almost as long.

the department of homeland security would waive 37 federal statutes as well as regulations that are related to those statutes. and he would also violate numerous state and local laws here in our great state of california. amy: in the west african nation of togo, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country on wednesday to demand an end to decades of rule by the gnassingbe family dynasty. security forces attacked the protesters, shooting live bullets and tear gas into the crowd. amnesty international says military forces shot a nine-year-old boy in the head, killing him, during the crackdown. wednesday's protest is the latetest in weeks ofasassive demonsatations demandingng president faure gnsisingbe's oustster and the reinstatement f constitutional term limits. the spanish government has dramatically escalated its crackdown against an upcoming independence referendum in catalonia. on wednesdayay, the spanish pole raided the catalan regional

government's offices and arrested at least 14 people. the arrests prompted thousands to pour into the streets of barcelona to protest the crackdown. about more protesters gathered 1000 for a solidarity rally in spain's capital, madrid. the referendum is scheduled for october 1. the spanish government says the referendum is illegal. this is the cat alone president c --atalan president. , dehe spanish government facto apply the state of emergency. freedom m being sususpended and repressed. the government will analyze in the coming hours the appropriate response to give in any case, citizens are called to vote on october 1 to defend democracy before our present an intimidating regime which we have to give a massive and civic

response. amy: the journalistic monitoring group airwars says u.s.-led coalition airstrikes along the syria-iraq border reportedly killed at least 6 civilians and wounded up to two dozen more people on sunday. the airstrikes reportedly targeted villages west of the iraqi city of anbar. in croatia, billboards depicting first lady melania trump have been removed after she threatened a lawsuit. the billboards advertising an language school by showing an image of melania trump, along with the phrase "just imagine how far r you can go with a lite bit of english." back in the united states, former tv commentator scottie nell hughes sued fox news on monday, alleging she was raped by longtime charles payne, and then coerced into maintaining a sexual relationship with him in exchange for airtime and career opportunities. in her lawsuit, hughes says she was blacklisted by fox news in 2016 after she ended the relationship and came forward

with rape allegations. fox news denies the charges, calling them bogus and downright shameful. it's the latest sexual abuse scandal to rock the network. host eric bolling was suspended lastst month amid accusations tt he texted unwanted photos of his genitals to female co-workers. former fox news star bill o'reilly was fired in april amid revelations that he and fox news had paid out $13 million to settle lawsuits by five women who accused o'reilly of sexual harassment and inappropriate sexual behavior. and longtime fox news head roger ailes was ousted last year after more than 20 women accused him of sexual harassment. he has since died. in north dakota, local judges are petitioning the north dakota supreme court to end a program that allows out of state lawyers to represent the hundreds of water protectors who were arrested amid the months-long resistance at standing rock against the dakota access pipeline. the water protector legal collective says ending the program could leave more than

100 water protectors without legal representation. more than 300 people are still facing criminal charges over the protests. the north dakota supreme c court isururrently a accepting commens on the proposal to end the right for water protectors to have representation from out-of-state lawyers. and prominent palestiniann activist rasmea odeh has been deported from the united states, after living in the u.s. for more than 20 y years. odeh was convicted of immigration fraud in 2014 and sentenced to 18 months in prison and deportation for failing to disclose her conviction on bombing charges by an israeli military court more than 40 years ago. odeh says her conviction was obtained through weeks of torture and sexual assault in israeli custody. her supporters say she was targeted over her support for palestinian liberation. on tuesday, rasmea odeh addressed the crowd of friends and supporters who gathered at

chicago's o'hare airport to say goodbye before she was deported to jordan. .> i will continue [indiscernible] it is difficult for me. [indiscernible] amy: a and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show in puerto rico, where hurricane maria made landfall wednesday as a category 4 4 storm, bringing recordrd rarainfall andnd catastrophic

flooding come destroying power lines, and leaving the entire country in the dark. puerto rico's governor ricardo rosello says at least one person has died and the death toll is expected to rise when communication with the southeastern part of the island is reestablished. this is puerto rican residenent griselele cruz. >> at this p point on many paras of the island, we are without power because of the first s stm that came through. that was irma. we are are without water and many districts. this is catastrophic. we're going to become i think, without services for a long time full's top nermeen: hurricane maria has already killed at least two people on the island of guadeloupe and devastated the island of dominica. amy: this comes as many homes on puerto rico were still dark two weeks after hurricane irma cut electricity to hundreds of thousands. the storm also raised concerns about potential environmental disasters. puerto rico is home to 23 superfund sites, including on the island of vieques, site of a

former u.s. naval test range, which took a near-direct hit from the storm. it is also the site of a coal-fired power plant owned by the private company aes. residents across the island have been demanding the plant be closed and that the company stop dumping toxic coal ash into their community, saying the waste is poisonous to their health and the environment. for more we're joined by emily , atkin, a staff writer covering the environment at the new republic. in her latest article, she writes "puerto rico is already an environmental tragedy. hurricane maria will make it even worse." welcome to democracy now! talk about the environmental crisis will stop at thihipoint, afafter the storm, verily, 100%f puerto rico is dark. it was no electricity. >> that is true. to what you said, the environmental crisis, every single major hurricane is a major pollution event, especially when it hit a

populated area. in the fact this major hurricane hit puerto rico, that is in even pollution even because puerto rico has extreme pollution problems. you mention the f fact that 100% of power is o out across ththe island.. that i is a problem -- that w wd a p problem in any situioion because most sewewage systems ae run on electricc pumps. ththe ealyly become overwhwhelmd duriring flooding, especially yf they arere shut off. if all of f the sewage systemsmr ofoff, that means e ruby ololonged releaseses of sewage intoto floodwaters and i into s, which poses a long-term health risk of people coming contact wiwith those waters or soil. there arare other issues that ae very unique to puerto rico and that have to do with their extensive financial crisisis. there are situations that, frankly, we would nonot accept n the mainland u united states..

one of those i is the fact that most of the landfills on puertro rico are overflowing with liquid garbage. they are at capacity. they do not have the financial means to createe new landfills r secure thehem. the toxic coal ash you mention is frequentltly dumpeded in thee landfills. flooding in those landfills aseatens an overflow, well as coal ash disposed across the island in ways that are very controversial. one of which i talk a lot about in my piece, a five-story uncovered pile of coal ash. five stories. that is a large building. just uncovered: ash sitting next to a community of 45,000 p peop. that community, i saw footage from that community where water was flowing through the streets like a river and the winds were whipping, one of the more

extreme when it v videos i've seen. there are a lot of concerns that i could talk about for a while. amy: i want to follow up on the coal ash. democracy now! just reported on the residents to manning the closure of the only coalal in puerto rico. this is one of the residents to scrubbing the company's track record -- describing the company's track record. e establisheded in puertoto rico at t the end of fe 1990's, the contract t with the authority of electrirical energy th supplies s energy to puerto rico and the residents, thee contractct establishshed the resisiduals of carbon congestion in the ashes generated by the burning of coal in the plan would not be disposed here in puererto rico. instead, they would be exported. so they began takiking those a s someplplace else.

among those was the dominicanan republicic. the problemsms began there. the people in the communinity'ss for thee ashes were e being didisposed beganan presenting symptotoms, including respiratoy problems andnd pregnancycy prob. baes w were born withohout extrememities or with intetestis exexposed. frfrom there t the situatition ininpenuelasas agagain. the lalandfill is s very close,t meters away from various communities. so we have been resisting for two years. for two years an active and kamman against the disposal of ashes in puerto rico. a residentas describing the company's track record. it is a long-term struggle in puerto rico. laura scottanks to carlos. laura and juan that was before the storms. >> like i said, there is that five-story ash hi all, but then

there is -- just sort of little piles of ash all over the southern part of the island. one of the things that i think are foformer guest was talking about, the fact this company transportsts the ash in open trucks,, meaningng the coaoal ah that blows off in the wind, comes off and is just sitting on a lot of puerto rican riverbanks, on the sides of roadads. the health impacts. that is something that has been reported all over and places with coal ash, but it is hard to prove attribution from coal ash to human health impacts. dusti is the feelings in aa s t be f failing and the site is wht gets companies like aeaes off te hook in n situations like this. nermeen: what about what is going on elsewhere? >> unfortunately, it is very hard to get in communication with anyone there because it is

an island off puerto rico and they were also -- that island of 9000 people was also majorly hit by irma. irma skirted most of mail in viequesico but it hit hard. it is now a tourist destination buffer 60 years, it was used by the u.s. military as a bomb testing site. explode thet nations all over this island. and the result of that, we no longer use it as a bomb testing site because of protests and because of -- because of contamination. now it is a federal superfund a site because 75% of the island is contaminated with waste from the initiative in the soil and water. there are also unexploded island.s all over the that is not really a concern for them detonating, but it is a concern for them leaking whatever is in them, especially

when very high winds and lots of flooding hit an area. like i said, superfund concerns are always a problem. we saw hurricane harvey in the houston area with the san jacinto waste pits potentially overflowing and we have already seen spills from there. this is a situation where almost in entire island is a superfund site. one of the most contaminated, military sites. it is going to take a lot of effort and a lot of attention to assess, once we can get over their insert talking to people, what exactly happened, how chemicals spread, if they spread them if munitions got into the ocean. amy: we just had congressman luis gutierrez on the show a few days ago. he is been arrested a number of times in protests, but was also arrested twice protesting the u.s. navy's bombing of vieques..

you talk about superfund sites. democracy now! was in houston after the hurricane at a superfund site. explain what they are and what -- ofa and the epa course, puerto rico is part of the u.s., puerto ricans are american citizens -- doing right now with this storm? we saw both of these storms coming. so much devastation on the island. >> the epa, from what i is not yet in puerto rico. i got a notice yesterday they were waiting for conditions to stall, to not be so bad before they sent people there to assess these superfund sites. superfund sites are the nation's most industrially polluted sites . if a site gets the designation of superfund company it means it is not safe for you to walk there without protective gear. it is not safe to touch the soil or water around there. it is usually where sort of

during the industrial revolution when we did not have environment regulations, paper and all scum oil refineries, form suitable companies, pesticide companies sort of freely released their waste into e either grgroundwat, soil, it's, in a situation that is just gross, to be honest. we see there are over 1000 all over the u.s. and puerto rico. like i said earlier, there is always a risk of contamination, of contaminants spreading from superfund sites when a major hurricane hits. it is something we will be dealing with in puerto rico and in florida now, in texas, and with will continue to deal with so long as these sites and we get more intense hurricanes. a makeup emily, we willing to your new piece "puerto rico is already an environmental tragedy. hurricane maria will make it even worse." the we come back, jeffrey sachs

am president trump's speech, north korea, iran, afghanistan, climate chahange, and more. ststay with us.. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm m amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: president trump gave his first address to the u.n. general assembly tuesday, boasting about the size of the u.s. military, threatening to withdraw from the iran nuclear deal, hinting at an intervention in venezuela, and threatening to totally destroy north korea. the 40 minute speech was reportedly written by trump's senior adviser stephen miller, and did not call out other authoritarian countries that are u.s. allies, including egypt, turkey, and saudi arabia. in his sharpest of many threats, trump called north korean leader kim jong-un "rocket man" and said the u.s. was prepared to destroy an entire nation of 25 million people. pres. trump: the u united states has great strength and patience. but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally

destroy nortrth korea. rocketet man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. amy: north korea's ambassador walked out of the general assembly just as trump took the podium. iran's government condemned trump's remarks as shameless and ignorant, while venezuelan president nicolas maduro said from caracas that trump is the "new hitler" of international politics. this is jorge arreaza, venezuela's s chancellor to the united natations. >> this is supposed to be the house and the headquarters of peace and international law. and what we heard was the opposite of that. it is the president who comes for the first time and speaks about war come about destroying countries, about blockades against countries. amy: that is the been as well in foreign. for more, we're joined by jeffrey sachs, special advisor

-- jeffrey sachs university , professor and director of the center for sustainable development at columbia university. sachs is a leading economist and the author of many books, including most recently "building the new american economy: smart, fair, and sustainable." the book's foreword is by bernie sanders. jeff sachs, welcome to democracy now! you were there. start with north korea and take it from there. >> horrifying. there was a shutter in the room. no president of the united states has declared from the podium of the united nations general assembly that the u.s. is ready to totally destroy a a country. it was absolutely shocking. the whole speech was grotesque, in my view. amy: why? >> because it was militaristic. it was filled with grievance, with bias, with ignorance. trump is a very dangerous man. there is no question about it. he individually a very dangerous

man and the united states right now is a very dangerous country. nermeen: what was the response among other member states and other people present in the general assembly when he spoke? >> you could hear shuffling, chuckles, amazement, casts - -- gasps, a few applause. wasasw who was -- netanyahu enthusiastically applauding. i am still a bit shaken by it. nermeen: secretary of state tillerson was there as was ambassador nikki halaley. did you have a sense that they were in agreement with what he was saying? >> i suppose they are or they should get out of the administration. this is policy. grotesque. and it is extraordinarily dangerous. amy: win trump called the north korean leader kim jong-un "rocket man" and said the u.s. was prepared to destroy an entire nation of 25 million

people, north korea's foreign minister issued the country's first response to trump's remarks on thursday. >> trump was thinking about surprising us with the sound of a dog barking, then he is clearly dreaming. amy: that was the north korean representative. >> i have been reminded often in these days of a statement by president john f. kennedy when he said in 1963 that in the nuclear age, to put it in adversary at the choice of a nuclear war or humiliating retreat, it would show the bankruptcy of our policy or a collective death wish for the world. president kennedy was a great man. we have right now in administration which is endangering america in the world. amy: let's talk one by one about the states that president trump called out. north korea. what do you think has to be done? in all of these cases, it involves more than one country

list of this involves more than the u.s. and north korea, as does their ran. what has to happen with with korea? >> first, we have to avoid a nuclear war. in a nuclear war is a real threat. it is not some idle imagination right now. both seemwo leaders, unstable, yelling at each other. both have nuclear arms. seoul, south korea, is a few minutes -- moments away from the north korean arms -- amy: president trump has been attacking the north korean president, the south korean president as well. >> i've heard people say, well, south korea, it isis collateral damage. it is unbelievable the way people are talking and how close we are to disaster. and how complacent we are because it is unimaginable. i am not saying it is inevitable, but i am saying it is absolutely being pushed right

now recklessly. of course, what first seems to this kindto tamp down of absolutely dangerous, provocative rhetoric. the north koreans made a statement a few days ago that was not well covered, which said, we're looking for a military equilibrium to avoid a military option. meaning, we don't want to be overthrown by the united states. the u.s., of course, is a serial regime changer. in fact, our foreign policy is based on covert and overt wars of overthrow of other countries. saddam hussein, no market off -- muammar al-assad gaddafi, bashar al-assad. all three.aos in north k korea, basicacally saida few days ago, we don't want to be overthrown. well, that is absolutely correct. we should have diplomacy

politicscs, not a nuclear exchange. amy: and china's role in this? >> china also doesn't want chaos. china is calling every day for a diplomatic response. and we know a diplomatic response is possible, indeed, when the challenge was iran, you had all five members, permanent members of the u.n. security coununcil plus germany, making historic agreement with iran. precisely the one that t trump s attacking right now, vis-a-vis, iran. we are just pushing for war. amy: are you concerned that the whole investigation of trump around russian issues is as the prosecutor is reading down his neck, that he will do something rash internationally to distract attention you go >> i dodon't kw if it is to distract attention or whether he is just psychologically profoundly unstable -- and he is -- or just ignorant, when he is, or vicious and bias in zero typing and

without historical knowledge, which he is. all of this things. i don't know what it will be, but i do know the united states tendency, and it is only restrained at the top. and here you have a president who is egging on, provoking himself unstable without inattention span. it iss stored nearly dangerous. where is the congress? not one word by our congress. it is a disgrace. under our constitution, congress has the only authority to declare war. as wengress is useless, know, because they've ceded the the president and we have a president completely unfit and actually provocative every day. nermeen: let's s go to president trump's comments also on tuesday the general assembly when he slammed the iran nuclear deal. numbing code there --

one ofrump: iran to with the most one-sided transactions the united states has ever injured into. frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the united states and i don't think you have heard the last of it. believe me. it is time for the entire world to join us in demanding that iran's government and its pursuit of death and destruction. resumeime for the to free all in a consent citizens of other nations that they have unjustly detained. above all, iran's government must stop supporting terrorists. begin serving its own people and respect the sovereign rights of its neighbors. amy: that is trump speaking on tuesday, saying the iran nuclear deal is an embarrassment to the united states. amy: and nbc is reporting he is going to decertify.

>> the last time we had this kind of rhetoric was george w. bush with the access of evil. it was immediately followed by the iraq war, which was ththe mt disastrous, sisingle step of andican military action "diplomacy" or anti-diplomacy and modern times. , again, for war, for conflict, and it is extraordinarily ignorant and dangerous. iran is in compliance with the agreement that was reached. it is an agreement reached not just with the united states, but with the u.k., france, russia, china, germany, with all of the permanent members of thehe security council. it is endorsed by the world. of course, this is trump in this kind of bizarre sense of grievance, arrogant, and ignorance that absolutely is a prelude to conflict.

amy: and now iran is saying they may start enriching uranium. >> iran is, of course, -- amy: responding to president trump. >> aftfter the deal was made, ad the moderate president rouhani was reelected, despite opposition from hardliners and the u.s. responses to provoke. why is this happening? two u.s. allies, israel and arei arabia, are luring ignorant president into this kind of vehemence. this is israeli and saudi policies. the battle for regional power and israel's own narrow concerns. alall the united states is doin, trump is doing, is being lured into this and making the u.s. unsafe and the world unsafe. it is shocking.

amy: one of his first memeetings on monday was with these really pray minister netanyahu. threat and ais a provocation and is gunning for war with iran and has been for years and trump is playing into his hand. nermeen: as you said, trump is ignorant president who is being brought into this by saudi arabia and israel. let's assume that is true. you have also criticized ng -- for forcedi ceding power to him. acknowledgment that they side with whatever he is saying. so within the u.s. government, congress or the executive, there is no limit on what trump can do. what you're suggesting is no one will stand in the way of whatever it is that trump intends to do, whether it is going to war or whatever he

decides. >> i believe the american people who do not want war and we need to avoid war and we need to speak out right now. because i believe these are the drumbeats of war. we have heard the many times before. our government absolutely is war-oriented.. we have a deep security state that believes in overthrowing other countries. we have a secret army called the cia, which is engaged in covert wars all over the world. we have a president who is openenly provocacative, openly gunning for war it seems, with these two countries and heaven knows how many more. amy: you have been writing about afghanistan. >> afghanistan has been in the u.s. done sites since 1979. into a the cia went secrcret war i in afghanistan bk in 1979 to try to the soviet

union. said there ison destabilization by the cia. everybody laughed. oh, look at the soviets propaganda a and conspiracy. it w was true. it was revealed by u.s. authorities decades later. since then, the country h has bn in constant war. we're profoundly destabilized it. we invaded in 2001. trump said during the campaign, was one of the few good glimmers said wey, rationality, should not be in there. and of course, once he got into the oval office, the generals assembled, surrounded by generals, remember, his chief of staff, national security adviser, his secretary of defense -- these are civilian positions in american tradition. they are all generals. there are telling him come you expand the military reach in afghanistan. we also found out they have bebn

lying about how many american military were actually in afghanistan for years, keeping the number lower than the truth by various tricks of rotations and accounting and the timing. so we don't even know what really goes on with our secret warsrs, but trump is absolutely not stopping any of it. amy: at the united nations, president trump's chief economic adviser gary cohn said monday the u.s. would withdraw from the landmark 2015 paris climate accord as planned. his comments came as u.n. secretary general antonio guterres said climate should be a top priority at this year's general assembly. the un's secretary-general urging countries to go above and beyond the paris climate accord commitments. >> countries have signed up to the paris agreements, but we know current pledges and plans are insufficient to keep global temperature rise to well below two degrees. 2020, will review progress.

by then, we need to make sururee have substantially raised the bar of ambition. we are still on a path for a world that may be three degrees are more warmer. amy: so that was the u.n. secretary-general. this,jeffrey sachs, aboutut also about your encounter on cnn when you are calling out the truck backer. >> basically, what we are viewing here is a corruption of american politics. the oil lobobby owns thee republican party. it is republican party that set to trump, who himself has no values after all, pullll out of paris. a a letter by 22 republican senators, which one can find secrets.orggo to open to find that how much they're paid by the oil industry, provoke this. gary cohn is another disgrace.

if you don't like it, get out of there. that is wall street, the oil industry. we have exxonmobil owning the state department right now. we have ken prewitt at epa, who is an oil and gas industry fact from beginning to end. dismantling be in harm our protection agency as we are environmental protection agency as we are expressing one disaster of another. then telling the other 192 countries, because this is a unanimous global agreement, 193 countries, were stepping back with four catastrophic hurricanes in n a row. basically, this is not imbecility, though it looks like it. this is just corruption of american politics. chevron, exxon mobil, koch industries. if you are an american, they are endangering her life.

amy: you say these chemical and oil company should be paying for the recovery after these hurricane. >> they are going to the eventually, because there are going to be lawsuits and litigation and international court of justice challenges because these oil companies are, with f foreseeability, with intent, committing what is, wrong of, a torte, a committing, endangering the lives of the people in puerto rico, author the caribbean, the lives of americans in houston and florida. we experienced it here in new york with superstorm sandy. these are exactly the kinds of shocks that are becoming more and more intense and more and more frequent because of global warming. and then you have people like gary cohn, disgraceful, saying, we pull out of the paris climate

agreement. and trump, in his fantasy world, says, this agreement is unfair to the united states. if you look at the agreement, the agreement is completely symmetrical for all 193 countries. there is not one phrase about the united states in the agreement. it is a completely symmetrical agreement globally. in trump, because he is a man of grievance, of hate, says that is against the united states. amy: i want to thank you, jeffrey sachs, for coming in, leading economist. his most recent book with afford by bernie sanders is titled "building the new american economy: smart, fair, and sustainable." this is democracy now! back in a miminute. ♪ [mumusic break]k]

amy: a shout out to girl scout troop 4723 from queens and indicated to have come to watch democracy now! in our studios here in new york. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we end today's show with a new book that examines the history of mass civil detentntion without trail. it comes as a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in burma, where more than 400,000 members of the rohingya muslim minority have fled the country after hundreds of their villages were burned to the ground, and the u.n. high commissioner for human rights has accused the burmese

government of waging a book -- textbook example of ethnic cleansing. amy: meanwhile, in the united states, there are increasing displays of anti-immigrant sentiment and anti-semitism. at last month's unite the right rally in charlottesville, virginia, neo-nazis and ku klux klan members displayed swastikas and marched with torches. members of the local synagogue, congngregation beth israel, said men dressed in fatigues and carrying semi-automatic rifles stood across the street, prompting people to leave their saturdayay service from the babk of the synagogue in groups as a safety precaution. a recent column in newsweek detailed additional security plans by a jewish congregationon in texas t to celebrate high holy days this week at an undisclosed location. for more, we're joined by andrea pitzer, journalist and author. her book has just been published titled, "one long night: a global history of concentration camps." andrea back to democracy now! ,why don't you start by responding to what has taken place in the last month.

and d then talk about why you chosen to do this global history of concentration camps. >> unfortunately, right now i think that we are in a period where sort of intolerance and labeling the other and looking as a danger to society, looking at whole groups to societys a danger is becoming acceptable again. this is happening worldwide. we're seeing it in european elections and here in the u.s. with some of these naz demonstrations, ini burma as you mentioned. there is a little bit of pendulum swings that happens. certainly, economics can be part of the issue as well. but i think that you do and that in a dangerous loop we've seen before between sort of a public sentiment rising and and people coming to power that reflect

that sentiment and then reflect that idea back to the larger population where it sometimes gets amplified. i do think this is a really critical moment for us to be paying attention to some of these issues. i would like to say that is why a lot of the book, but i started the book years ago before we hit this wave. at the time, i realized this was a phenomenon that went further back than the nazi camps and went back to the 1890's. i don't think people are aware deaths long, pre-nazi camp of concentration camps. looking back from the vantage point of today, the idea of a developed nation than in all of its modern might into the and election of a people is so huge still in the singular moment in history, that it kind of obscure's everything that came before and came after. but there is a very long story that i think needs to be paid attention to because these

things don't rise out of nowhere . so learning the warning signs, learning to pay attention, seeing however thing did unfold -- amy: tell us that history. go back to the turn of the 20th century right before, to the first concentration camps. >> they were set up by the spanish empire in cuba in the late 1890's. they were fighting rebellion. so you have these guerrillas and they were not able to defeat it and there were chronic battles over decades. finally, the governor general suggested the only way they would be able to defeat the independencented would be to sweep all of the peasants out of the countryside and put them behind barbed wire. then you could basically shoot anyone who was left, anyone who did not heed the call to report --

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for what would become the nazi later. everyone uses the local culture, some of which had prior forced labor camps in history and other things they combine it with this detentionssive without trial. nermeen: one of the places you mentioned in the book, which is in the news now, is burma a and the rohingya camps. can you talk about what you found when you are there in 2015? i went in june 2015. it was interesting because when i went, it was just two weeks after donald trump had declared his candidacy. no one was taking him seriously at that point. the rhetoric he was using

already about muslims, about latinos, was exactly the rhetoric that i heard when i landed on the western coast of myanmar and is the capital of ra khine state. it was unsetettling to me at tht time to notice so clearly that this kind of rhetoric is really a universal rhetoric. to the brakes on it seemed be house from of the institutions in a given place? of course, in myanmar, the institutions are not strong. it has made the move only in recent years from a military dictatorship to a democracy. the military still has a tremendous amount of control. when i went there, i went to see the camps. i went into the camps and talk to the rohingya. town whoto people in were in support of the camps, other neighbors being held in

these camps. what i found on the side of the detainees was that the rioting that has happened in 2012 that had led to the camps, destabilized the region. they were unhappy at being put in these camps, but because it was so dangerous for a period of time, there may have been some eaearly protective role for them in the camps. even know they did not like the camps, they understood early on it might have been something that saved some of them. camps werea that the temporary, which was set for a long time, five years later now is where we are today, it is obviously just not true. they have become very frustrated -- amy: we have five seconds. >> there were no moves being made to try to get them out. amy: andrea pitzer, we will do part two and post it on democracynow.org. her new book out, "one long night: a global history of concentration camps." that does it for our show. juan gonzalez will be speaking

and newark tonight. i will be going all through canada on the last week off september. check our website democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feed ♪ pa-tootly-do dam

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