♪ amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i don't see where i did anything wrongith this matter. i am lost for words. it was totally humiliation. amy: clifford owensby says dayton police violtly arrested him last month, en though

is paraplegic an repeadly told them he could n use his legs to get o of his car dung a traff stop. w police bycamideo ows the officers dragng him outf his car, yanking him by his hair as he shouted for help. we will speak to the president of the dayton unit of the naacp, who is denouncing the arrest. then to iraq, where a populist shiite cleric whose fighters battled u.s. forces during the occupation won the biggest gains in sunday's parliamentary elections. >> we can promise you victory for the nation by bringing back the honor of what we lost as well as a serious dedication to the service of the citizens, welfare, and security. amy: we will speak to an iraqi journalist about the elections and life in iraq, where he says the streets are littered with

the memory of our dead. when president biden addressed u.s. general assembly last month, he called for dlomacy. critics say he is stirring up a new cold war with china. president biden: we are not seeking a new cold war or world divided. amy: this comes as china's tensions remain high with taiwan. we will speak to an expert who says biden does not understand the new cold war. all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the rld health organization is warning climate change is "the single biggest health threat facing humanity." in a new report released ahead of next month's u.n. climate summit in glascow, the w.h.o. is urging world leaders to act with urgency to combat the climate

emergency. maria neira, director of the world health organization spoke on monday. >> food, water, the quality of the air. you can imagine all of that will represent a major risk for our self. we need to invest adaptation to climate change for more resilient health care facilities and more resilient society. amy: new research in the journal nature climate change finds 85% of the world's population has already been negatively impacted by the climate crisis. in china, at least 15 people have died in heavy flooding this week in shanxi province. nearly 20,000 homes have been destroyed, forcing over 120,000 people to relocate. in washington, d.c., over 135 people were arrested outside the white house in an action on monday to mark indigenous

peoples day to call on president biden to declare a climate emergency and stop approving fossil fuel projects. indigenous water protectors and tribal leaders helped lead the action. participants included joye braun, a member of the cheyenne river sioux and the indigenous environmental network. >> you need to be held accountable. you made promises to the indigenous communities across this land that you were going to uphold, but you have not upheld those promises. amy: more climate protests are planned in washington throughout the week as part of a mobilization dubbed "people vs. fossil fuels." to see all of our interviews on indigenous peoples' day, go to democracynow.org. meanwhile in london, at least seven members of greenpeace were arrested monday after shutting down traffic outside 10 downing street by installing a 12-foot mock statue of u.k. prime

minister boris johnson splattered in oil. greenpeace is calling on johnson to halt plans to drill for oil off the scottish coast in what's known as the cambo oilfield. doctors without borders is accusing the united states of hoarding nearly 500 million excess doses of covid-19 vaccines. the group estimates nearly a million lives could saved over the next year if the united states and other wealthy nations rapidly begin distributing excess doses to low income nations. in related news, world leaders from the global south criticized vaccine inequity on monday at the launch of a two-day summit in belgrade to mark the 60th anniversary of the non-aligned movement. speakers included ghanaian president nana akufo-addo. >> 60 years later, the great powers have not disarmed. neither has the threat of nuclear war receded.

they are still as powerful as they were then. this has been highlighted by the covid pandemic and the unsavory politics of vaccine nationalism we are currently witnessing. we are subject to the benevolence of powerful countries, who give out their reported supplies at their own pace, not necessarily in tandem with our realities. amy: a new parliamentary report out of england has faulted the government's response to covid-19 is one of the most important public health failures. the report says thousands of lives could have been saved if the u.k. had imposed an earlier lockdown and took other steps. in news from texas, republican governor greg abbott has issued an executive order banning any entity in the state, including private businesses, from enforcing a vaccine mandate. this comes as the covid death

toll in texas approaches 70,000. in iraq, preliminary results show the party of shiite cleric muqtada al-sadr has won the most parliamentary seats in sunday's election where just 41% of iraqis cast ballots. al-sadr is a populist leader who has long opposed the u.s. military psence in iraq. he spoke on monday in najaf. >> we lcome all embassiethat do not interfere in iraq's internal affairs, so long as they do not interfere. we will have a diplomatic response or perhaps a popular one, which is suitable to the office. iraq is only for iraqis. amy: several iranian parties have questioned the early results, which show them losing a number of seats. we'll have more on the iraqi elections later in the broadcast. leaders of the g20 nations are holding a virtual meeting today to discuss ways to help address the growing humanitarian crisis

in afghanistan. after the taliban seized power, the united states, imf, and world bank cut off funds to afghanistan, which is heavily reliant on foreign aid. the united nations estimates one million afghan children are at risk of starvation. on monday, u.n. secretary general antonio guterres urged the foreign community to address the crisis. >> right now with assets frozen, the economy is breaking down. banks are closing, and essential services such as health care have been suspended in many places. we need to find ways to make the economy work again. these can be done without violating international laws or compromising principles. amy: lawmakers in ecuador have voted to open an investigation of ecuador's president guillermo lasso into whether he broke the law by keeping money in overseas

tax havens. according to the recently published pandora papers, the former banker had ties to 10 offshore companies and trusts. in 2017, lasso moved assets from panama to two trusts in south dakota, which has become a popular tax haven. to see our interview on the pandora papers, go to democracynow.org. in guatemala, there has been a shakeup in the human rights prosecutor's office. the office's lead prosecutor hilda neda has been transferred, sparking criticism from human rights groups. she led the prosecution against former u.s.-backed dictator rios montt and has investigated other cases of forced disappearances, torture, and crimes against humanity. she will now be working in a new office focused on crimes against tourists visiting guatemala. her transfer comes just months after the ousting of guatemala's top anti-corruption prosecutor, juan francisco sandoval, who was then forced to flee the country.

in honduras, a mayoral candidate for the progressive libre party has been assassinated less than two months before the november elections. nery fernando reyes was shot dead on friday in the town of yusguare. hours later, honduran congresswoman olivia marcela zuniga caceres was beaten by four men inside her own home. caceres is the daughter of the assassinated honduran human rights defender berta caceres. she is also a member of the libre party. donald trump has paid tribute to ashli babbitt, the 35-year-old trump supporter who was shot dead inside the capitol during during the january 6th insurrection. babbit was shot by a capitol police officer as she tried to climb through a window to the speakers' lobby, where lawmakers had sought refuge from the violent mob. babbit was an air force veteran and supporter of the pro-trump qanon conspiracy theory. in a pre-recorded video message to mark what would have been her

birthday, trump called babbitt a "truly incredible person." in sports news, the head coach of the las vegas raiders football team jon gruden has resigned after an nfl investigation uncovered a series of racist, sexist, and homophobic emails he had written prior to becoming the coach of the raiders. in one email, gruden used racist terms to attack the head of the nfl players union, demaurice smith, who is black. gruden was the third highest paid coach in the nfl, earning $10 million a year. one of the nation's largest lgbtq+ advocacy groups, glaad, is criticizing netflix for its decision to keep airing a new comedy special by dave chappelle, which contains a number of anti-trans jokes. in a statment glaad said, "netflix has a policy that content designed to incite hate or violence is not allowed on the platform, but we all know that anti-lgbtq content does

exactly that." meanwhile, netflix has suspended three workers, including a trans employee who had publicly criticized the chappelle special. netflix claims the suspensions were for an unrelated reason. and the longtime anti-nuclear weapons activist sister megan rice has died at the age of 91. in 2012, at the age of 81, rice and two other peace activists broke into the y-12 nuclear facility in oak ridge, tennessee, where the united states processes uranium for hydrogen bombs. the activists, known as the transform now ploughshares, cut holes in the fence to paint peace slogans and throw blood on the wall. one message read, "the fruit of justice is peace." in 2015, sister megan rice appeared on democracy now! after being released from prison. she talked about the dangers of nuclear weapons. megan: why have we spent $10

trillion in 70 years when that could have been used to transform not just the united states but the world into life enhancing alteatives? instead we make something that can never be used, should never be used, probably will never be used unless we want to destroy the planet. amy: sister megan rice speaking in 2015. she died on sunday at the age of 91. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. amy: we begin today's show in dayton, ohio, where the naacp is denouncing the violent arrest of a black man who is paraplegic and repeatedly told police officers he can't use his legs.

a warning to our audience, this story includes disturbing images and descriptions of police violence. during a september 30th traffic stop, dayton police officers stopped clifford owensby's car after they said it was seen leaving a suspected drug house. police body camera footage released friday shows the co telling owensby to exit his car so a police dog can conduct an "air-sniff" search. owensby told them he could not step out of the car because he is a paraplegic. this is part of their exchange. >> stepped out of the car, sir. i am going to help you get out. >> excuse me? >> i'm going to help you get t. >> i don't think that is necessar amy: when the officers said they would help oensby get out his car, hsaid, "i don't think that's gonna happen sir."

he used his ll phoneo call for lp, anrepeatly requested a supervising officer, a "white shirt," as officers commanded him to get out of the vehicle. >> i cant step out of the car. >> you g in the car. you caget out of t car. >> can you come down to ferguson and grand? the police pulled me over, and they are trying to make me get out of the car. i tell them i cannot get out of the car without help. ring some people with cameras. bring cameras. bring people so they can witne it going on. i am not getting out. if you pull me out of he, -- i am gog to pullou out, and th i amalling ahite

shirt. you a getting out ofhe car. cooperate anget outf the ca or get dgged out othe car. i would like you to get your whe shirt. amy: owensby's ca only inhe car and said simply -- owensby is calmly in the car and said simply he cannot get out of the car. police bodycam videohen shows officers dragginclifford owensby t of hisar, yankg him by his hr, flippi him on his stomach and handcuffing him as he screamed and shouted for help. the officers then dragged clifford owensby ttheir poli car. >> get o of the car. get out of the car. get out of thear. >> you're hurting me. damn,ro.

ow! ! somebody help! amy: hkeeps shouting somebody help. officers removed three-year-old child fm the back of thcar. owensby wasot chargedith any drug-reled offenses. he has nowiled a complaint with the dayton anch of th naacp. at news conference sunday, he described the assault. >> they did not find any weapons, guns, or drugs. they did find my money, which they took. i don't see where i did anything wrong. i am lost for words. it was totally humiliation. it was hatred. i have never seen or witnessed anything in my life.

they was caught doing this on camera. i could only imagine what would have happened if the cameras weren't rolling. i felt like they were kidnapping me and was going to hold me for ransom. everything they did to me reminds me of what i used to watch on tv, the movie roots. it was total slavery. i felt like they was trying to catch a slave. they were threatening to tase me because i was crying out f help. i keep getting whipped over and over every time i think about it. every time i hear someone sharing that video, it is a constant reminder. i believe those cops need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. it is unfair that we have cops like that out here patrolling the streets in america.

amy: that is clifford owensby speaking through a face mask at a ws conference for more we go sunday. to dayton, ohio, to speak with dr. derrick l. foward, president of the dayton unit of the naacp, who was sitting next to clifford owensby at that press conference announcing he was suing police for profiling him, unlawful arrest, and illegal search and seizure of his vehicle. welcome to democacy now! it is great to have you with us, but not under these circumstances. can you explain more what exactly took place? dr. forward: thank you for having me on this morning to continue to discuss our client's case, mr. owensby. i can tell you that according to his account of what has taken place, and we match it up with the video footage that they have been able to obtain, here is how things occurred. owensby left home that morning

to take his children to school. he has seven children. he has a pretty big family. he proceeded that he needed to go pick up some cable boxes for one of his tenants. he went back outo the home of one of his tenants, which is his property, to pick up the cable boxes. he brought the cable boxes out to his vehicle. he proceeded to leave the property. at that time, he started driving and shortly after that the police turned the sirens on and pulled him over. i want to be very clear, from the start to the finish, our client was very compliant. it seems like that is a sticking point and what the officers are trying to say. they pulled him over.

that is compliance number one. they turned their sirens on and pulled him over. he is compliant. the next thing they ask him to do is roll his windows down so they can test his car for tint to see whether or not the tint was too dark. ultimately, what they did was -- because they thought they were going to find drugs. they thought they were going to find weapons, something illegal. this stopped about windows was a precursor to what they were really wanting to do. at that point in time, they test his windows. they told him his windows were too dark. th run his name, s he has prior weapons and drug charges emming back to 2008. here we are 2021.

they came ba to the car, compliceumber twis they asked him to tu his car off he turned his car off. in his mind he isondeng, why am i turning my ca off? he i thinking hes going to be gettina ticket, citation for window with that being said, they want him to stop this car. after that, the offir asked him to get out of e car. hexplains that he was paraplegic he does not have utilization of his legs. i know when heame to our office a couple of times, one of my security staff helped him back in his vicle. i helped him ihis vicle a second time. i know he do not have utilization of h legs. wi that said, when the police

office said heould help m out,t this poi in time, the lice ficer in o client's purview was aggressive. his ne had changed. he became afid of that particar officer. that is wh he askefor a white shirt. you can hear it clear on the video. he asked for a white shirt seral times. then the officer ultimately said he would call a white shirt once our client spped out of the vehicle or be pulled out of the vehicle. that was the narrative. he was stopped, a pretextual stop. he was compliant from the stop. he pulled over. he complied. number two, turn your car off. he complied. number three, at this point in time, after they ran his record

and telling him they need to check hisar and get a dog because of his prior convictions from 2008, that had nothing to do with the initial stop. that is where it becomes very problematic. when you take a look at the case pursuing, then he said you are not going to be able to pull me out, i am a paraplegic. he kept explaining that he is a paraplegic. as you can hear clearly in the video, the officer said only one of two things is going to happen. you got two options, either we are going to pull you out, or you are going to get out. you know that he was not going to be able to get out because he cannot get out of the vehicle like that. the officer chose the latter.

as thewere pulling him out, they unbuckled his seatbelt, and then after that they commenced to pulling him out. he was scared so he held onto the steering wheel and closed his eyes. he was afraid of what was going to happen. that is why he closed his eyes and held onto the steering wheel. juan: dr. forward, i wanted to ask you, have the officers involved been identified at all? they must have filed incident reports even if they did not arrest him. the release of the video, how was the video obtained because this incident happened on september 30, so it is not too long since it happened. what was the process of getting this video public? dr. forward: the police department, they went through

whatever details they wanted to go through. at the end, they did a briefing with the city commission. they released the video. i guess they wanted to make sure they had their ducks in a row to create their narrative about why they stopped him, what happened in terms of him being pulled out of the vehicle. you bring up a good point. that is part of the dayton unit naacp strategy that we have after the death of george floyd. we started -- we assembled 18 different partners that we have, and we came up with an eight point strategy for terminal justice reform and police accountability. that can be found on our website if anyone cares to look at it. part of that is training

officers. part of that is to be able to release footage immediately. youill be able to look at our eight point strategy. the city of dayton did assemble, if you are not awa, five workin groups to look at police reform itself. i commenthem for dng that. several my leadership members of my leadersh team sat on each of those working gups to he implement pts of our ght point sategy inhe recommendations the ci release. there were42 recommendations that the citizenry, that the full scope of the city of dayton, so you had citizens involved, police department involved, the business community, the faith community involved, a cross-section of community stakeholders they had assembled. with that i think they have

implement it maybe about 30 of them currently out of the 142. we have a long way to go inside the city of dayton in terms of police reform. juan: dr. forward, i wanted to ask you about another case that happened earlier this year, another similar case. can you talk about the case of jack run sir, a 50-year-old man who was deaf, mute, has cerebral palsy, and is the subject of police misconduct case? dr. forward: to your point, kind of a similar situation. he has cerebral palsy, he is deaf and mute. he was walking up the street. this particular case, along with the john crawford case, you will see why in a minute. in this particular case, runtser

is walking up gettysburg to the family dollar at the top of gettysburg in germantown. someone called in, just like someone called in on john crawford, someone called and said it appeared this man was drunk walking up the street, or he was high or whatever the case may be. the police officer when they met him insidthe parking lot of this destination, they took the caller's at face value, the same way they did at beavercreek with john crawford, instead of reasseing the situation. we called on our law enforcement agency to look at away to deal with people with disabilities, mentally ill people when making

stops. from our perspective, he was abducted from the location of where he was going to get some snacks because the police cannot communicate with him. they also thought he was high. they took him to the hospital. from there, thank god one of the doctors knew him, and they told them he has cerebral palsy, so he tried to ask them to take him back to where they picked him up from. the officers did not do that. there is a lack of empathy, lack of training. he had to call somebody to pick him up from the hospital. amy: before we end, i want to ask you back on this case, and you are referencing john crawford, the aft american man, 22 years old in 2014, shot dead

by police in walmart as he shopped. i wanted to ask you in this case, at this point, has clifford owensby sued the police? i understand the white officers involved are still on the job during the investigation. dr. forward: we feel the officers should be placed at least on administrative leave or desk duty. we do not feel officers who cannot control their tempers need to be on the street. to your first question about has he sued the dayton police officers, that has not yet happened. i would say when he gets with his lawyers -- he does have a legal team. i have been in conversation with his legal team. i am quite certain that time will tell what is going to happen once all the evidence is collected. when you conduct any investigation, whether you are a

police department or a lawyer representing someone, you want to make sure you gather all the facts. amy: we want to thank you for being with us. next up, we go to iraq, where the populist shiite cleric who has opposed the u.s. occupation for years won the biggest gains in the parliamentary elections. stay with us. ♪ >> ♪ i'm crossing you in style ♪ ♪ >> ♪ wherever you're going, i'm

going that way two drifters off to see the world such a crazy world where are changing ♪ amy: "moon river" by frank ocean. this is democracynow, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. we turn now to iraq, where people headed to the polls sunday for just the fifth parliamentary election since the u.s. overthrow of saddam hussein in 2003. turnout was just 41%, with many iraqis refusing to vote. initial results showed the political party of populist shiite cleric moqtada al-sadr,

whose fighters battled u.s. forces during the occupation, made the biggest gains. the sadrist movement won up to 20 additional seats, making it the single biggest bloc in parliament and giving al-sadr an even more decisive vote over iraq's next prime minister. former iraqi prime minister nouri al-maliki is expected to have the second largest number of seats in the parliament as a powerful iran-aligned bloc fell far behind. pro-iranian parties and armed groups denounced the early election results as a "scam." al-sadr claimed victory on monday. >> we welcome all embassies that do not interfere in iraq's internal affairs, as long as they do not interfere in iraq's formation of government. with any intervention, we will have a diplomatic response or perhaps a popular one. iraq is only for iraqis. iraq is only for iraqis. we will work on a uniting tribal fronts. stability, stability and safety. weapons are not to be raised under any circumstances. we will not allow parties to

take control of public moneynd resources. they are for t people. every corrupt person will be held accountable. amy: al-sadr has been a prominent figure in iraqi politics since the u.s. invasion. he's called for the withdrawal of all u.s. troops and is a longtime critic of neighboring iran and their meddling in iraqi affairs. al-sadr's armed movement has also been accused of kidnapping and killing its critics, reportedly including a 17-year-old boy ahead of the parliamentary election. sunday's vote was held several months ahead of schedule, triggered by youth-led, massive protests that drew tens of thousands of iraqis to the streets in late 2019 and early 2020, denouncing corruption, unemployment, and worsening living conditions in iraq. security forces killed hundreds of demonstrators as they violently cracked down on the anti-government protests. our next guest was at the demonstrations himself. nabil salih, iraqi journalist and photographer from baghdad. now a graduate student at the center for contemporary arab studies at georgetown university

in washington, d.c. his most recent article appeared in middle east eye headlined, "iraq's streets are littered with the memories of our dead". it is wonderful to have you with us. can you start off by talking about the significance of this victory and then the condition of your country, still occupied by the u.s. nabil: thank you for having me. thanks to the united states of america, every government of iraq since the barbaric invasion and occupation of 2003 either killed or failed miserably in protecting iraqis. this is no different. the protesters on the ground as reported by both local and international media remember all too well that his followers during the october uprising in

2019 have not only stabbed activists but also shot at them. of course, that is all dormant because as a powerful guy who has his own militia, it is not easy to touch him. of course, let's not forget the role his militia played in what our colleagues in the western media like to call a civil war. nothey abducted and displaced iraqis. now the same guy who had the most seats in the selection. i fear for the future of iraq,

not only that the previous men in suits were any better. for example, take a favorite of western media. people still got killed and abducted, assassinated, and terrorized during his tenure. i think i will quote the greatest arabian poet by saying i see a horizon littered with blood. a fire keeps burning. juan: i wanted to ask you, to what do you owe the continued growth of support in this election for al-sadr? is part of it that he has been walking this tightrope between those forces in your country

that continue to support or be under the direction of the united states versus those who support iran and others that may be supportive of more sunni activists supported by other middle east states? is he seen as one of the few leaders pushing for iraq independence? nabil: well, it is important to remind that the crooks who ruled after the invasion do not speak the language of e peop. they speak in a different tongue. moqtada al-sadr speaks in their language. he is one of them. he is a populist. he speaks like any other ordinary citizen during his media appearances, and peoe

like that, espeally in eastern baghdad in the area that is loyal to him. also the fact at he won so manyeats goes back to the fact that the rest of the iraqis who do not follow him do not bother going to vote because it does not make a difference. iraqis will still be killed, and the next government will still fail to protect them and enable their unnecessary deaths that started a long way back in 1991. it is important also to note that in his speech that you just aired, the tone that he speaks in, it is threatening. imagine someo whose fst speech, who speaks in this tone

in his first speech. juan: these elections only came about because of an unusual protest, mass protest movement that developed. some of the supporters of the protest did gain a few seats. do you think overall that it was advisable for these elections to occur because now we see the results? nabil: well, the elections have more to do with making this regime and this system look good then responding to the demds of the people. i was covering the protests. i was a protester myself. i saw every banner that was hoisted in baghdad. it was one of so many other demands, including respectnd

accountability. it is more of making the stem look good. yes, some new faces from the protest movement won a few seats. they won eight or nine seats. i am not sure of the exact number, which is a good sign. one needs to remember that in the 1970's, and the incumbent parliament speaker and the former prime minister under whose leadership iraq's territory was given or handed on a silver platter to a few gangs.

it is a good start, but it will be a long way to sense concrete change in the lives of ordinary citizens in iraq. amy: i wanted to ask you about the piece you wrote in your own family's expense. the piece is headlined iraq's streets are littered with the memories of our dead. you write the daily repertoire of daily misery leaves me suffocated, shouting aloud inside my head words i cannot write. to no avail, the water pump wheezes tonight, the land between two rivers is thirsty, barely a few drops dripped from the faucet in my family's residence in baghdad. the power as two diesel generators roar into the night. the piece has long gone. can you talk about what you

describe as this distant lifetime and what there is now and what has happened to your own family? nabil: i hope the listeners excuse us because we will remind them of the crime of 2003 that have remained dormant. i hope they bear with us a few minutes. i opened my eyes to the genocidal sanctions of the united nations in the 1990's and the poverty, which was the price was rth it, madeleine albright said at the time. the airstrikes of 1998, these are some of my earliest memories, watching from my rooftop as my hometown gets bombed by america and its allies in 1998 to straightness up.

of course, the invasion of 2003. the cluster bomblets that landed in my family's garden. after the invasion, i remember what my family have been through, has been through is nothing compared to what so many other families suffered, but for example my father was kidnapped by a militia claiming to represent the shia. my uncle was kidnapped by another ms. osha -- another militia claiming to represent the sunnis. of course, that is not important for western media. we do not hear about it.

yes, my mother passed away in july 25 in a state hospital in baghdad in which me and my beautiful sisters and brother had to beg and bribe to have nurses giving her medication at times. thpower goes off for many hours. even the doctors feel hopeless and helpless. they do not call the technicians and the administration and hospital to ll them to fit this -- fix this. i endeup calling an offial from the ministry of health and beg h to try to do something. the whole day until sunset, my mother, my late mother used to say how the weatheras hot and she wanted air. it is chaoti i was speaking with a friend the other day, and she told me so

people go there to die. ye that is what happens. i want to, thanks to the united states of america and its benevolence, the miniry of health is often the share of the biggest winners in this election.. imagine if that is how one ministry functioned, if i can use the word, imagine what the rest of the country will look like under their domination, not to say they are not dominant yet. i will need to remind our listeners that he will not be able to form the next government on his own because he needs 50 plus one seats in the parliament to do so, 328. coalitions will take place

afterwards. deliberations will take months. they will, of course, defeat, deceive the people again. when you're born in iraq coming you end up ruled by the one you voted for. amy: 2500 u.s. troops still in iraq. as you watched the u.s. troops pull out of afghantan, do you want to see the same thing in iraq? nabil: i will just quote seller yusuf, a beautiful iq will come when the americ leaves and the persian serpent in his turban. amy: we will link to your piece, iraq's streets are littered with the memories of our dead. he is now a student at

georgetown and washington, d.c. next, president biden, is he pursuing a new cold war in china? stay with us. ♪

amy: this is democracynow! i am amy goodman. we turn now to china, where tensions remain high with taiwan. on saturday, chinese president xi jinping called for taiwan to be peacefully reunited with mainland china. >> national reunification by peaceful means best serves the interests of the chinese nation as a whole, which includes our compatriots in taiwan. we will continue our policies of peaceful unification, uphold the one china principle, and we will work to promote the peaceful development of trade. amy: taiwan's president tsai ing-wen responded on sunday saying taiwan would not bow to pressure from china. >> we will not act rashly, but

there should be no illusions that the taiwanese people will bow to pressure. we will continue to bolster our national defense and demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves in order to ensure nobody can force taiwan to take the path china has laid out for us. amy: this comes as the the wall street journal has revealed a small team of u.s. special-operations forces and marines have been secretly operating in taiwan for at least a year to help train taiwanese military forces for a possible conflict with china. for more, we go to washington, d.c., to speak with ethan paul, research associate at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. his work focuses on u.s.-china relations. paul's recent piece for responsible statecraft is titled, "biden doesn't understand the 'new cold war'" welcome to democracy now! what doesn't biden understand and what is he doing? ethan: thank you for having me

on. when i say president biden does not understand the new cold war, i mean the new cold war itself is baked into the structure of the international system that has existed sincthe collapse of the soviet union. you cannot simply speak away the new cold war in a speech. since the soviet union collapsed, china has looked out at a world dominated by american power, not only economically, politically, but also militarily in china's backyard. the united states, many of its closest allies and partners in much of its military power is located in a ring, japan, philippines, south korea, australia. china has had a deliberate strategy to balance against

american power, particularly in its backyard. now what we have seen since the trump administration and continued by the biden administration is the united states is responding to these changes in chinese policy by trying to balance back against china. it is important to note that these are the two most powerful states history has ever known, and this game between the united states and china that we are just starting to see play has no logical endpoint. my primary concern is at as both sides set out to wire up asia with the most powerful military weapons ever to exist, inevitably there will be crises and accidents that have the constant, on escapable

possibility -- inescapable possibility of breaking out into a conflict that could engulf the entire region. go ahead. juan: i wanted to ask you, what do you make of the continued amnesia not only of some of our current political leaders in the biden administration, but also the media in constantly playing up this china-taiwan conflict as if it is a conflict of china attempting to oppress and control another people when the fact is taiwan was historically part of china, and the chinese government has consistently not only maintained it, but there is only 14 countries in the world that currently recognized taiwan as an independent country. it is an integral rt of china, always has been, and yet forget

that long-term history and try to deal with the current of the last 50 or 60 years of this history. ethan: two things i would note to start. if you look at the first correspondence between beijing and washington back in 1971, beijing made it clear that the only thing it wanted to talk about was taiwan. this was a foundational principle upon which the relationship has been built. beijing has continued that line for the last 50 years. why does beijing care so much? much of china's rise now is framed by beijing around this concept of national rejuvenation. redeeming china's past of being colonized is a major part of its political identity and what it wants to do on the world stage.

it sees taiwan as part of that. i would say, however, that there is a disconnect which drives washington's strong support for taiwan in the media. you have seen increasing trend towards authoritarianism initiation pain. in taiwan, you have seen a flourishing democracy, one of the most progressive in asia. i think there is a genuine concern among people in washington about what unification would do to taiwan, would its democracy be trampled as it is in hong kong. at the end of the day, washington needs to understand that beijing will not back down on by one. it has made this clear for 50 years. if the united states wants to avoid a conflict that could be the most devastating in history, it ultimately needs to ick to

what it has told beijing it would abide by, which is the one china policy. we are starting to see and have seen over the last couple of months that one china policy be eroded by the biden administration and by congress. yesterday in the washington post, congresswoman elaine gloria of virginia released an op-ed saying congress should pass a war powers declaration to come to the aid of taiwan. these are exactly the kinds of changes to the status quo that are contributing to the destabilizing dynamics and are the quickest way the u.s. and china could go to war. juan: i wanted to ask you how does the biden administration reconcile its increasing tendency toward conflict with china at the same time american

corporations seek to gain greater access to the chinese market and produce more gds in china? ethan: i would note that the business community has been one of the few constituencies in washington that has been pushing for a more managed and controlled relationship. the reason the biden administration has embraced the trump administration's line on china is if you look at every other constituency in washington, the defense community, the media, various parts of the federal government have been transformed recently. all of them are buying into the line. there is this overwhelming wave of support of escalating tensions with china. this is why we have seen the biden administration do what it does. amy: we are going to do part two

and posted online at democracynow.org. ethan paul, we will link to his piece, biden does not understand the new cold war. that is it for our show. i am amy goodman with juan gonzalez.

hello there and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. parents in afghanistan are running out of rice, vegetables, anything to feed their children. many of those who have jobs haven't been paid in months. delegates from the group of 20 nations and international organizations held an emergency meeting to see if they could help. italy's prime minister chaired the online summit.