11/12/20 11/12/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! mr. biden: the reception and walking we've got from around the world has been real. i have a number of calls to return. i feel confident we're going to back in a put america place of respect that it had before. amy: while president trump is refusing to concede to

president-elect joe biden and continues to fight to overturn the election results, many world leaders have called to congratulate biden that republican leaders have here at home. even britain's right wing prime minister, nicholas trump ally, boris johnson, is publicly calling trump "the previous president." >> had a good relationship with the previous president. a good relationship with the white house. i am delighted to find the many areas in which the biden, incoming biden-here's the administration is able to make common cause with us. amy: we will host a global roundtable today and get response to the election from brazil, south africa, britain, and the middle east. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report.

i'm amy goodman. the united states has set another world record for coronavirus cases, confirming more than 140,000 infections on wednesday and over 1400 deaths. more than 65,000 people are hospitalized with covid-19 around the u.s. -- also a record -- and doctors are warning they may have to begin rationing care as intensive care units fill to capacity. every state in t union is seeing covid cases rise. here in new york, governor andrew cuomo has ordered new limits on social gatherings in private homes and is ordering bars, restaurants, and gyms to close by 10:00 p.m. in ohio, republican governor ron dewine told residents they can no longer congregate at weddings, funerals, and banquets. he ordered tougher enforcement measures for his state-wide mask mandate. >> when you're going t

rhough hell, keep going. what you do in your private lives affects everyone. amy: across the u.s., hospitals and nursing homes are warning of an alarming shortage of masks, surgical gowns, and other personal protective equipment. the strategic national stockpile reportedly has less than half of the 300 million n95 masks the trump administration had said it would procure by winter. meanwhile, president trump's last public comments on the coronavirus came in a handful of tweets tuesday when he proposed a conspiracy theory that drug maker pfizer waited to report positive news about its vaccine trial until after election day. at the white house, at least three more staffers have tested positive for coronavirus after last week's election night gathering, where some 250 people

packed the east room of the white house -- very few of them wearing masks. white house political director brian jack reportedly tested positive over the weekend, joining chief of staff mark meadows, attorney david bossie, housing secretary dr. ben carson, and others. worldwide, coronavirus cases have topped 52 million, with nearly 1.3 million deaths reported -- though both figures are likely to be far short of the true toll. france has overtaken russia to become the worst-affected country in europe, reporting nearly 36,000 new cases on wednesday. in argentina, president alberto fernández has gone into quarantine after a member of his cabinet tested positive for coronavirus. in ukraine, president volodymyr zelensky has been hospitalized with covid-19, two days after announcing he'd tested positive. on wednesday, ukraine announced more than 11,000 new infections -- a daily record.

back in the united states, president-elect joe biden has named ron klain to be his incoming chief of staff. obama, klainnt oversaw the response to the ebola crisis in 2014. he also served as chief of staff to the last two democratic vice presidents, biden and al gore. meanwhile, biden has announced -- formed over a dozen teams to andse him on staffing running major government agencies. "in these times" reports at least one third of biden's pentagon transition team works for the weapons industry or is part of an organization or company that receives money from the weapons industry. meanwhile, the sunrise movement and justice democrats are pushing the biden team to place progressives in key cabinet positions. their dream team includes barbara lee as secretary of state, elizabeth warren as treasury secretary, keith ellison as attorney general,

and bernie sanders as secretary of labor. mustafa ali as epa administrator and deb haaland as secretary of interior. president-elect joe biden's lead in the popular vote over donald trump has now topped 5 million and continues to grow. no evidence has emerged to back up trump's claim of widespread voter fraud, but on wednesday, georgia's secretary of state ordered a hand recount for the presidential race. "the wall street journal" reports the trump campaign is increasingly looking into ways to prevent key states from certifying election results with the hope that republican-led legislatures would then appoint pro-trump electors to the electoral college. trump's refusal to concede the race may also be helping his campaign pay off debt. half of all money collected for the campaign's legal challenges is quietly being allocated to pay off campaign debt. on wednesday, trump made his first public appearance since

the race was called for joe biden. he placed a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in arlington national cemetery to mark veterans day but made no remarks. he has made no public remarks since last week. former pentagon officials are expressing alarm over president trump's firing of defense secretary mark esper and the purge of other top officials at the pentagon and national security agency following the election. former secretary of defense william cohen said trump's conduct is "more akin to a dictatorship than a democracy." trump has replaced esper with miller. he has faced criticism for refusing to promise intelligence agencies would not target merrick and's based on their political views. miller's hired retired army colonel douglas mcgregor is a top advisor. macgregor has called for instituting martial law at the u.s.-mexico border and shooting

unarmed migrants. he has also called for a speedy withdrawal from afghanistan. trump has also installed anthony tata as acting undersecretary of defense policy. he is a former fox news commentator who once called former president barack obama "a terrorist leader" and has called islam an "oppressive" and "violent" religion. former national security council official ezra cohen-watnick has become acting undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security. in 2017, he pushed for the surveillance of white house staffers as a means to prevent leaks. he also advocated using covert action to overthrown the iranian -- to overthrow the iranian government. retired four-star general barry mccaffrey warned -- "we are watching a slow moving trump coup to defy the biden election." alaska senator dan sullivan has won a second term in office, defeating democratic challenger al gross and guaranteeing republicans at least 50 seats in

the u.s. senate. the balance of power in congress's upper chamber will be decided in georgia on january 5, where democratic contenders reverend raphael warnock and jon ossoff are challenging incumbents kelly loeffler and david perdue. in hong kong, 15 opposition lawmakers are stepping down today to protest the firing of four of their colleagues by chinese authorities enforcing a new national security law. it's the latest setback to the movement by hong kongers to maintain their autonomy from china's one-party rule. this is kwok ka-ki, one of the four hong kong legislative councilmembers removed for failing to show clear loyalty to china. mission as legislator to fight for in thecy, freedom chamber cannot be continued. but i would certainly promise that i would go along if the

people in hong kong continue to for freedom, democracy. and we should never give up. news, viceigration reports immigration and customs enforcement is planning to deport another woman who says she underwent a non-consensual gynecological procedure while imprisoned at irwin detention center in georgia. the 36-year-old mexican woman, being referred to only as yanira, is among over 50 others who have come forward since a whistleblower complaint alleged horrifying medical neglect including forced sterilizations being conducted at irwin. yanira has lived in the u.s. since she was three years old and has an 11-year-old daughter who is a u.s. citizen. in news from kentucky, the "louisville courier journal" has revealed the louisville police department hid nearly 750,000 records documenting how two city police officers sexually abused minors.

the youths were abused while taking part in the explorer scouts program which was created for young people interested in law enforcement careers. meanwhile, another woman in louisville has accused former officer brett hankison of sexually abusing her in 2018. nine other women provided statements in the lawsuit. in september, hankinson was indicted for shooting into the apartment of a neighbor during the deadly no-knock raid that ended breonna taylor's life in march. the los angeles county coroner's office has announced it will open an official probe into the death of andres guardado, an 18-year-old salvadoran american who was shot and killed in june by a sheriff's deputy. this marks the first such investigation by the coroner's office in more than three decades. an independent autopsy found guardado was shot five times in the back. an unprecedented internal investigation launched by the vatican has found pope john paul

ii and benedict the sixteenth knew about and ignored allegations of sexual abuse against former archbishop of washington theodore mccarrick. the over 400-page repo points to the catholic church's syemic failure in handling sexual misconduct accusations, which in the case of mccarrick led to his rise in the church for decades. mccarrick was defrocked from the vatican last year after a church trial found him guilty of sexually abusing minors. in media news, "the los angeles times" and tribune publishing have agreed to pay $3 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by black and latinx journalists who say they were paid less than their white male counterparts. nearly 240 reporters, copy and line editors who worked at "the l.a. times" between 2015 and 2020 could be eligible to a portion of the settlement. in the philippines, at least one person is dead and millions are without electricity after typhoon vamco struck the northern island of luzon with sustained winds of over 100 miles per hour. it was the fifth tropical

cyclone to affect the philippines in the last three weeks. on november 1, super typhoon goni killed at least 26 people after it came ashore as the strongest tropical cyclone ever to make landfall. and lakota water and land rights activist debra white plume has died. born and raised on the pine ridge reservation in south dakota, white plume helped lead the fight against fossil fuel extraction and oil and gas pipelines. in 2016, democracy now! spoke with her at a protest camp on the standing rock sioux reservation in north dakota, where she joined water defenders fighting against the dakota access pipeline. in, ithe pipeline is put is going to leak or spill or that oil islode and going to get into the water. dakota access pipeline says they're going to bury it 30 feet under and they are assuring

everybody it is going to be safe. but i think western science doesn't really know everything it thinks it knows. and we need to make our decisions based on what is best for mother earth in our coming generations. and that includes protecting our water. water is under threat all over the world. there are people who have no access to clean drinking water. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined remotely by my co-host neeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: as president donald trump continues to refuse to accept president-elect joe biden's victory in the 2020 election, the white house has ordered agencies not to cooperate with biden's presidential transition team. joe biden is not yet receiving

daily intelligence briefings five days after he was declared the winner. at this point after trump's victory in 2016, trump was receiving daily briefings. the hold-up hinges on the little known to the public general services administration, which officially begins the transition and has refused to sign the paperwork to do so. republican senator james lankford of oklahoma said wednesday he will intervene if biden is not receiving the briefings by friday. this comes as the state department is refusing to pass on messages to biden from world leaders, and biden's transition team is coordinating biden's calls without state department support. secretary of state mike pompeo has refused to acknowledge biden's win and said there would be a "smooth transition to a second trump administration" today, we'll get response to the historic u.s. election from around the world, from brazil to

to thefrica from turkey united kingdom. first we go to brazil, where staunch trump ally president jair bolsonaro has not acknowledged joe biden's victory. on tuesday, as brazil's covid dental past 162,000 -- second only to the united states -- bolsonaro again downplayed the virus and attacked concerned brazilians using an offensive lgbtqor the ggp -- community. >> everything now is the pandemic. we have to put a stop to that. i'm sorry for all of those who have died. i'm sorry. all of us are going to die one day. everyone is going to die. you're going to die one day. there is no point in escaping from that. escaping from reality. we have to stopping a country of sissies. i'm giving the press the full plate. used is word bolsonaro

far more derogatory than the one we translated here. well, for more, we're joined by maria luísa mendonça, director of the network for social justice and human rights in brazil. visiting scholar at the city university of new york graduate center welcome back to democracy now! if you can talk about the significance of the biden victory and the close relationship between jair bolsonaro and president trump, what the ending of that alliance can mean, and what jerry bolsonaro is doing right now in brazil, especiay when it comes to covid. was a very important victory for brazilians because the progressive movements in byzil can also be inspired this election here. it is important to remember the result of this election in the u.s. is because of the work of grassroots movements here that

elected biden. and now bolsonaro in braz is even more isolated. and i think he also plays this game of fake nationalism when he defends there should be no regulation, no environmental for middle and destruction in the amazon increasing. but that is fake nationalism because the fires and that destruction of the amazon really benefits large multinational cooperations, mining, agribusiness, financial corporations. so i think it is important also for the social movement in the u.s. to make sure that biden will have a different foreign policy any relation to latin america. because we have to remember that

bolsonaro is actually part of the parliamentary coup against president demo rousseff in 2016 that opened the space for the far-right government. so i think the u.s. can play a much more positive role in latin america and we need to hold administration accountable now. i think -- it is a global far-right movement that bolsonaro and trump are part of. i think the election here in the u.s., the result of the election will have a positive impact not just in the u.s., but other parts of the world. in terms -- yes. nermee please, go ahead. >> in terms of the coronavirus response, trp and bolsonaro have very similar policies. they really don't believe in science. they don't promote any type of

protection. they put the population at risk. they don't express the solidarity for the suffering of the millions of people who have been affected and so many people who have died. also, bolsonaroas even played down -- he is doing everything incan to postpone a vaccine brazil. brazil actually has a very good infrastructure for mass vaccination. historically, the country always has mass vaccination campaign. bolsonaro is even trying to avoid the brazilian science ofance, the implementation the vaccine in brazil. ,ermeen: maria luisa mendoça can you talk a little more about that, the fact bolsonaro has

just rejected a vaccine that brazilian scientists -- a vaccine from china, but brazilian scientists i've also been working on the vaccine. why did bolsonaro do that? it does not make any sense for bolsonaro to be opped to these vaccines, given especially the death toll in brazil, second only to the u.s. -- over 160,000 people have died no of covid. >> yes, exactly. scientistsvery good that have a lot of experience with mass vaccination. but that is all the -- the bolsonaro position is based on , and ignoringcism science. that is similar to trump as well. they both have promoted drugs that have no evidence of being

effective for the treatment of coronavirus. the resilient society at risk because even ignoring the effects of a vaccine is something very extreme. and that is the result, of course, of the influence of the evangelical movement in his government. so this is not based on science. it is just based on far-right ideology. nermeen: could you say a little more about the relationship --,,en trump and bolsonaro not only has bolsonaro not congratulated biden, but his son eduardo bolsonaro wore a hat with the logo "trump 2020" leading up to the election and in the days following the election as the vote count was happening here in the u.s., he

question publicly on social biden's votes were going up so quickly. that is a highly extraordinary move for someone in another government to make about internal elections elsewhere. >> yes. this is also a very big change in terms of the tradition of foreign policy in brazil. brazil has had the tradition of being independent, of not interfing in foreign affairs. hadbrazilian diplomacy has this tradition historically, and now the position of bolsonaro and his sons of basically aligning with trump and making dependent on whatever trump talks about -- they have

the same discourse. they also are part of this global organization that is one of the leaders is steve bannon, for example. the discourse is very similar between bolsonaro and trump. the policies are very similar. so of course there is a coordinating effort that is global to advance those views. but that goes against the history of brazilian foreign policy. ini think now with a change administration in the u.s., that theeven influence perhaps position of mainstream media in the u.s., plays a key role also in manipulating information. here,lly,he decision whatever happens here, with the

biden administration and if biden really has a different type of policy for latin america, that will have any impact in advance progressive forces. amy: very quickly, i want to play one more clip of the resilient resident indirectly swiping at joe biden during an event on tuesday. bolsonaro's commentsome after biden criticized the far right leader's handling of deforestation in the amazon. heard aently presidential candidate from a country say that if i don't put out the fire in the amazon, he is going to raise trade barriers against brazil. how do we deal with all of that? diplomacy is not enough. when there is no more saliva, then there must be gunpowder. but they have to know that we on the amazon. that is what the world is like. nobody has what we have. sayingat is bolsonaro

there must be gunpowder. as we watched in the western united states as the fires enveloped parts of california, oregon, and washington, they are actually dwarfed by the fires in of thezon -- the lungs world. if you could talk about what he is getting at and what you think is most critical for biden to do? >> i think is very important for us to boycott for brazilian commodities that are the main cause of deforestation and destruction. beefr, sugar, soy, and from brazil. because the destruction of the amazon is really benefiting large agribusiness operations, including u.s. agribusiness corporations. so it is not about protecting the brazilian society, it is protecting large agribusiness

corporations, timber companies, and mining companies. so we need to have solidarity. the environmental movements in brazil. we need to build international environment all movement and make sure that the world als can help brazil by boycotting these commodities. amy: maria luisa mendoça, thank you for being with us, director of network for social justice and human rights in brazil. when we come back, we go to durban, south africa, to speak with kumi naidoo. we're going to turkey and cambridge, england. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. as we continue to look at the world's response to the u.s. election and president donald trump's loss to joe biden, we

continue in the global south. we go to africa. south africa's nelson mandela foundation called the defeat of trump relief, saying -- "now begins the daunting task for the u.s. of undoing the trump administration's deepening of racism, xenophobia, afrophobia." president trump never visited a single country on the african continent during his time in office. he infamously praised the healthcare system of "nambia" -- mispronouncing namibia -- during a speech at the united nations. pres. trump: uganda has made incredible strides in the battle against hiv/aids. in guinea and nigeria, you fought a horrifying ebola outbreak. a's health system is increasingly self-sufficient. amy: president trump also sparked outrage when he referred to haiti and african nations as "s-hole countries." but he used the forward. president-elect biden has said

he will halt the u.s. withdrawal from the world health organization and rejoin the paris climate agreement. africa is likely to be the continent hit hardest by climate crisis. for more, we go to durban, south africa, to speak with kumi naidoo, the global ambassador for africans rising for justice, peace & dignity, and a lifelong south african human rights and climate justice activist. former secretary general of amnesty international and also former head of greenpeace. welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about south africa in your own response to the defeat of donald trump, whether he accepts it or not, and what he has meant the continent? >> the sentiment of the nelson of foundation -- mandela foundation is felt by citizens across the african continent. while many on the continent believe president let joeiden won, we are concerned that still

so many american citizens chose to vote for somebody who's clearly racist, sexist, xenophobe, islamophobic, and so on. but i think as others have said, it is a relief and now we find ourselves in a uque situatn because i think our brothers and sisters in america are finding out that is much easier for them to change residents in other countries an to change the president in their own country. where wemoment is one also have to recognize how much of time we have lost in the last four years as the result on climate, inequality, on policy, and so on, as aesult of the trump administration. this is a relief but it is not something for us, this stage anyway, to celebrate with any great enthusiasm. i, as you mentioned, trump has not only refused to

concede defeat, he is also in the last week instituted a massive reshuffle in parts of the security establishment, most notably firing the secretary of defense mark esper. "the new york times" has reported some administration officials that gina haspel might be the next to go. there have been remarks in all kinds of quarters about the fact if this were happening in any other country in the world there would be outrage and people would say it is trump attempting a coup d'état. could you respond to that? >> firstly, it is clear that trump is attempting a coup d'état. he is trying to do it through andts and malicious lies deceit. it is shocking the public in the

party establishment -- let's be very clear. this does not come as a shock to us. because the united states administration, against the wishes of their own people, also foreign policy an approach to these things as do as we tell you to do, do not do as we do. let me give you another example. imagine a country in africa like in georgia -- let's go back to the governor's race -- where the candidate for governor is also the person responsible for running the elections come as you have in many states in the are politicalse party appointments. that would be completely unacceptable, right? that needs to change in the not to states. secondly, the fact you have an in the torah system -- electoral that will have 7 million more people voted for one

candidate than the other, technically, that [no audio] essentially, the way i look at it, coming from south africa, you must have the potential very easily for minority rule in the u.s. i think electoral college is not understood not only by people around the world, it is not really understood by the united dates. what was a device put in place centuries ago clearly is inappropriate, and those are the kinds of changes that absolutely -- epoxy that we are saying. some ofto be fair that -- we'vesistencies seen by both republican and democratic administrations over a long time. nermeen: can we talk a little bit now about what africa's response, how africa -- many countries in africa have responded much better than the

rest of the world, and certainly than the u.s. to the pandemic and the fact that trump has not -- the u.s. has not yet joined the covi19 vaccine global access facility, which would work toward making the vaccine accessible to countries all across the world. biden has said he will join the world health organization, not pullout. could you talk about that? first of all, what is e situation of the coronavirus in south africa but more broadly, and how well the countries in africa have dealt with the pandemic? and then the question of vaccine access. close if i might be permitted to comment on coronavirus and in e united stes and how it has been handled. first we should say as africans, we are horrified at the lack of

respect for human life. the fact the bigger superspreader of this virus has been the president of the united states, by your responsibly holding rallies that violate the cdc guidelines left, right, and center. and given the resources the united states has come is should have been doing significantly better with appropriate political leadership then we have been doing in africa. africa, wouldouth on television to warn country and our people that we are still in serious times, the pandemic is still serious. we need to address it and so on. and given what our situation is in south africa, we have a daily infection rate of 2000 people per day and we have a death rate of less than 50 a day and declining. hospitalizations and deaths are declining. yet our president goes on television says we need to be

ligent, wear masks, social continue to treat this as a real threat. i think of ever people wanted to get a sense about who president trump, what he really cares about, it is all really about himself. how the american people cannot see it sometimes is shocking to us because, clearly, the way he has treated the coronavirus is close to criminal. in fact, i would argue if i was a citizen of the united states, i would be pushing for president trump to have been impeached as response to the coronavirus. it is close to a crime against humanity. but when we look at it in south africa, let me just say we are anxious because we are dependent in many parts of the continent on tourism, trade, and so on for people's livelihood. as long as the u.s. and europe doesn't get its act together and doesn't get the pandemic under control, it means normal economic activity will never be

able to take place. for example, tourism and so on, which has huge impacts on many african economies. let me say one thing. it is very interesting to pick up on your report where you say brazil,o in second-worst country after the united states, u.k., boris johnson -- another close party of donald trump -- the worst doingy in europe, modi terribly in india and so on. it is interesting to see a lot of these leaders who are fascist and someone, are the ones who are showing they respond with the least care of their own citizens. i think it is important press to note that women are suffering disproportionately as a result of this virus because of the nature of the work, nurses, and so on, but also important to

note that countries that have done best in responding to the coronavirus, most of them are all led by women. and i think there is a lesson in that about how important it is for us to have mh more equity in terms of gender in our leadership in all levels, in all countries, in all institutions. amy: we will come back to on issues of the renewed deal and biden saying he will merely rejoin the u.n. climate summit, but i just want to ask, why is who is president of the united states matter so much to the rest of the world? sayf i might [indiscernible] president that led us to liberation in tanzania , once said will we look at the united states, we are to look at this country because we have seemingly to parties which generally advance interest a big business and big capital.

and he went on to say the united states is a one-party state but with typical american extravagance, they have two of them. at the moment, we have been easy for us tois be euphoric about president-elect joe biden because the incumbent is such a disastrous reality, but we will be vigilant from our perspective in recognizing that hopefully president biden is in power by january 20. we will not be making an assumption that everything is going to get better. we expect things will improve. but it cannotmprove from the lobar that donald trump said. it is not a question of now with the things is to improve, the united states has an obligation to the world to ensure the four years we have lost in the many

more years we lost in climate action by the previous administration's, there is a catch up to do and we expect the next president of the united states to recognize the unid states has led the world down, drag their feet, and put the entire world, including the united states on climate, therefore we would expect from the new administration was simply an improvement and not rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. serious structural, systemic change that addresses climate change. amy: kumi naidoo, thank you for joining us, global ambassador for africans rising for justice, peace & dignity, and a lifelong south african human rights and climate justice activist. when we come back, we go to his temple, turkey, and then to the u.k. for response to this historic u.s. election. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn now to look at how joe biden's presidency will influence u.s. relations in the middle east as the trump administration reportedly prepares to flood iran with new sanctions ahead of the january 20 transition of power. the news website axios reports trump's state department is coordinating the sanctions with israel, in part to prevent joe biden from rejoining the 2015

iran nuclear deal, which donald trump pulled out of in 2018. this comes as the state department is refusing to acknowledge joe biden's presidential win or pass on his -- on messages from world leaders to him. on tuesday, secretary of state mike pompeo was asked to compare the trump administration's response to biden's victory with overseas elections where defeated candidates cling to power. close this department frequently sends out statements encouraging free and fair elections abroad and for losers of those elections to accept the results. doesn't president trump's refusal discredit those efforts? close that is ridiculous. you ask it because it is ridiculous. amy: that was a secretary of state under president trump. well, for more, we go to istanbulhere we're joined by ghaith abdul-ahad, iraqi journalist and correspondent for the guardian newspaper. let's start on iran and what this means for iran.

president trump not only pulled out of the accord, but is now imposing more and more fierce sanctions. talk about the significance of this and your response to the biden victory that trump will not accept. talk to again. the biggest fear in iraq wherefrom is the war. in a conflict will take place on iraqi soil. any conflict already we have seen the clashes, the provocations -- all of these things are happening in iraq, not america or iran. that is the bgest. there was a sigh of relief that trump has lost the elections because that meant any possibility of a future war is distant. however, that is not very sure hearing about the shovel in the cabinet. so that is creating an anxiety in iraq. trump-bidenng at a

election with two angles. one is the possibility of innate iranian american war and how th would aect. however, although people -- people are relieved that biden has won the election, but at the same time, there is an anxiety in iraq. we have to remember early on when biden was a vice president in the obama administration, biden held former prime minister maliki to another term and not to become a prime minister for the second term. and that was seen as a , which led toent the emergee of isis. toward bidenety and his team in the way they deal with iraq. this is very ironic because we're talking about the liberal

totist, the people who went demonstrations in the streets last year calling for better democratic system, end of correction, and the role of malicious interact. those same activists are worried bede in administration might appeasing the iranians. it seems from a once ago point, how do we avoid the confrontation between america in iran on iraq iran soil? inmn: y mentioned people iraq and elsewhere across the region, at least in parts of the gion, heaved a sign of relief with vines victory, but as you said, there are concerns in iraq out what this might mean. i just want to mention that ofording to a 2017 analysis

the last year of obama's presidency of 2016, this council on foreign relations report found that in his last year in office, the u.s. dropped an day -- of 72 bombs every the equivalent of three bombs in over --6,000 bombs in over 26,000 bombs in total were somalia,n iraq, syria, and pakistan. obviously, their concerns about what biden's military and foign poli strategy will be in the middle east. so could you say a little more about that? and then what will happen to trump's erstwhile allies, particular, saudi arabia, under a biden administration? >> very good point because we have to remember that one of the most atrocious -- the middle

east, one of the most unjustified, illegal wars taking place is the war in yemen. that started under the obama administration, not under the trumpet administration. it is a very good point because although the trump administration has been -- as atrocious as it could be, we also have to remember in the middle east, is not like the previous administration or the one before or the clinton administration even with such an angelic administration in relation to iraq and the rest of the middle east. so the anxiety is there but still, how do we avoid a confrontation with iraq? again, i go back -- in iraq there are two things happening. one to avoid the war with iran because that would be disastrous. the second thing is, how do you pressure the iranians to take away some of the malicious -- we

have two states in iraq at the moment. we have those run by militias and the mainstay. how do you convince the iranians to assure the iranians that they don't need to defend themselves, don't into arm militias because they do all these things to defend themselves against any possible american aggression. the examples are so wide and many in the region from an iranian perspective. anxiety.e is there is the mistrust to the biden administration in terms of the policy for iraq,i, and the middle east. we have to see to the trump case the middle east was cut almost halfway. you of the gulf countries coalition and i would include israel coalion company have iran coalition. the yemenis, the iraqis, the syrians -- everyone of us is squeezed between these two

gigantic military powers in the region. not saudi arabia more, but the united arab emirates and israel on one side and the iranians on the other. many people are fed up with this competition. the competition is happening in yemen and iraq, syria, not iran and divide or washington. how will the biden administration trying to disengage iran from interfering in iraqi politics on one hand at thesame time avoiding marred policy of the trump by pushing the iranians into a corner and forcing them to equip come arm , fire rockets, and whatnot. amy: we have to end the conversation here but we will have you back on soon. ghaith abdul-ahad, iraqi journalist and correspondent for the guardian newspaper. today speaking to us from

istanbul, turkey. as we and today in britain, we and our look at the world's reaction to u.s. presidential election in the united kingdom. on wednesday, british prime minister boris johnson was questioned by labour mp angela eagle about his relationship to trump and the incoming biden-harris administration. oops mr. prime minister, you have any advice for his erstwhile best friend president trump who is continuing refusal to accept the results come embarrassing to him and dangerous for american democracy? good. speaker, i have a relationship with the previous president. i do not resolve from that. it is the duty of all prime ministers to have a good relationship with the white house. i am delighted to find the many areas in which the incoming biden-harris administration is able to make common cause with

us. amy: that is britain's prime minister boris johnson publicly calling his ally trump "the previous president." for more we go to cambridge where we are joined by priya gopal, university professor in the faculty of english at the university of cambridge and the author of "insurgent empire: anticolonial resistance & british dissent." professor, welcome back to democracy now! first, let's get your reaction to the biden-harris victory -- of course, kamala harris is the first african-american vice president, first woman vice president, first indian vice president. you are from the indian subcontinent as well. >> i think with much of the rest of the world, i sure not so much a sense of joy as a sense of relief that with any luck, trump will be out in january. i described this election more as an exorcism than an election. particurly are not

otherwise fond of the democrats are heaving a sigh of relief. i think i shared that with much of britain as well, that in some sense, the disaster that trump has been is gone. nermeen: could you say a little bit about the relationship that prime minister boris johnson had with trump? johnson was known as by some as britain's trump. or when trump won in a 2016 prior when he was running for the election, he said his victory would be brexit plus plus plus. and now course, britain is confronting its actual exit from the e.u. in january. and what you expect the biden -- how you think the biden administration will deal with

this brexit issue and trump's relationship with johnson? >> i think that is johnson's comments in parliament work disingenuous in the extreme. the fact remains he was relying i think on a good chance of a trump victory. we know when he congratulated president-elect biden, we could see that trump had been erased just underneath that tweet. i think they were certainly hoping there would be a trump victory. quite and -- as trump correctly recognized, are very deeply in sync. i think that audiences in america, perhaps underestimate the extent to which brexit has mobilized some of the same forces that trump unleashed in america. , and theationalism case of britain also empire pride, white supremacy. trump absolutely rightly

recognized that he and brexit were very much allied. johnson is indeed britain's trump. ofin, because of the sort exterior and the way in which he bats questions way, people think is harmless and a bit clownish. it is not. he and others in his administration sherry hardline on brexit. until biden's victory, britain was moving in the direction of a no-deal brexit. now i think one thing that may happen -- and we have some evidence there is disarray and a johnson's inner circle -- is that biden has made clear his support for the good friday agreement. his absolute opposition to any violation of the good friday agreement. remember, until now, britain has been prepared to be an international rogue states and break the withdrawal agreement

in what it calls a specific and limited way, but nonetheless it will be a breach of international law. i think that trump's -- bidens victory has made this a little less easy for the johnson government than they might have wanted it to be. i think quite a big spoke has been put in the will of hard brexiteers. times" had anyork interesting piece. minister may ame two with manual my call, angela merkel, the pesky ireland state in. that is where we have to end it. i would ask you, priya gopal, about how ireland plays into this being that biden's family is from ireland and the significance of that when it comes to global politics and brexit? >> i think it is usually significant. by jokingly told the bbc when he was asked for comments, said, i

am irish. i think that has been welcomed in ireland. we have the british right wing already going really nuts over the ireland connection. they have been commenting in the spectator magazine, the right wing journal, commenting about the weaponization of ireland against them. i think they have treated ireland with a degree of callousness and indifference when it comes to brexit. i think biden's clear links with ireland, which i think have caused jubilation in ireland, have caused parallel degree of dismay with hardline right-wing brexiteers in britain. i think the irish question is now going to have to be resolved with a great deal more nuance and care and johnson was originally planning to do. conclude, thee we comparison with the response in europe and france and germany in victory?r to bide's

>> i think in europe there has been a degree of pleasure and returning i think to business as usual in both the good and bad senses of the term. there is a higher degree of comfort with the centrist consensus that biden will bring u.s.'s engagement with the e.u. there is a centrist consensus both in europe and with the british opposition. the labour party. forces inberal britain and in the e.u. are welcoming what they feel is a higher degree of comfort in the tol you that biden belongs -- that nato will come back onto the table and the transatlantic partnership as angela merkel put it will return to some degree of normality as the european center sees it.

amy: thank you so much, priya and author ofor "insurgent empire: anticolonial resistance & british dissent." 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

narrator: on this episode of "earth focus," the illegal lumber trade is a multi-million-dollar business spanning the globe. in the northwest united states, scientists are using innovative methods to stop lumber from entering the country, while in brazil, violent clashes have erupted at the source, where indigenous groups are trying to stop poachers from decimating their forest.