01/25/22 01/25/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new yorkthis is democracy now! >> the number of forces that the secretary has placed on heightened alert comes up to about 8500 personnel. amy: the pentagon is placing 8500 troops on high alert to be -- for possible deployment to eastern europe as tension escalates between russia and ukraine. we will speak to wilam hartung

and anatol lieven of the quincy institute. >> a real threat exists of war in europ and the russian invasion of ukrne. however, in my view,his could still be avoid fairly easy a series of compromises with russia concerning nato membship, the deployment of nato forces, and autonomy. amy: we will also look at the biden administration's going review of u.s. nuclear weapons policy. dozens of groups recently issued a joint statement calling for the elimination of hundreds of u.s. intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles. meanwhile, the archbishop of new mexico has called for the abolition of nuclear weapons around the globe. >> this never happened before in s. church history, the first time an official has responded so profoundly to pope francis' call for nuclear disarmament.

we will speak to longtime peace activist father john dear about the catholic church's stance on nuclear weapons and the death of his dear friend, the buddhist monk thich nhat hanh. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the pentagon has placed 8500 troops on heightened alert to potentially deploy to eastern europe over concerns russia may soon invade ukraine. the u.s. and nato allies have accused russia of amassing 100,000 troops near the ukrainian border but russia has denied it's planning an invasion. white house press secretary jen psaki spoke monday. >> we have a sacred obligation to support the security of our eastern flank countries. it is important to remember who the aggressor is, it is not the u.s. or the eastern flank countries, it is russia who has tens of thousands of troops on the border of ukraine. amy: this comes as other nato

nations are planning to send additional troops, ships, and fighter jets to eastern europe. on monday, the kremlin accused the united states and nato of escalating tension in the region. meanwhile, negotiations to resolve the crisis are ongoing, with officials from russia, ukraine, france, and germany scheduled to meet in paris on wednesday. we'll have more on the crisis over ukraine after headlines. the united states reported more than 2100 covid-19 deaths on monday, even as daily cases and hospitalizations continue to decline from record highs set earlier this month. in new york, judge ruled monday the governor's statewide mask mandate for all indoor public places was enacted unlawfully and is now void. the supreme court justice thomas rademacher ruled only lawmakers rather than the governor or health officials had the authority to enact the mask mandate. new york's department of health is planning an appeal. in virginia school districts , seven have filed a lawsuit

to block the governor's executive order making masks optional in schools. on monday, the first of 400 million free n95 masks for the public begin arriving at u.s. pharmacies after the biden administration order them delivered from the strategic national stock pile. former alaska governor, sarah palin, said monday she has tested positive for coronavirus. palin's announcement prompted a u.s. district judge in new york to delay the start of palin's defamation trial against "the new york times," which was set to begin monday. palin has refused to be vaccinated against covid-19, telling a conservative conference last month, "it will be over my dead body that i'll have to get a shot." "the new york times" reports that on saturday, palin dined indoors at ello's italian restaurant in manhattan despite a city ordinance requiring customers to provide proof of vaccination. burkina faso's army leaders say

they have deposed president kaboré, suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament, and closed the nation's borders. in a broadcast on state television on monday, lieutenant colonel paul-henri damiba was introduced as burkina faso's new leader. the african union condemned the coup, as did leaders of the united nations. >> the secretary-general condemns any takeover by the forces of arms. he calls on the coup leaders to lay down their arms and to ensure the protection of the physical integrity of the president and of the institutions of burkina faso. amy: a warning to our audience, the following stories contain descriptions of sexual violence. in guatela, five former paramilitary soldiers have been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to decades in prison for sexually assaulting dozens of indigenous achí women in the 1980's. the historic ruling comes after years of advocacy by survivors and supporters. the women weren't able to report the atrocities until 2011. it then took over a decade for

the former members of the so-called civil self-defense patrol to stand trial earlier this month. the patrol w made up of several armed groups recruited by guatemala's u.s.-backed army. survivors said the soldiers rounded up all the men in their village and disappeared them before raping and asulting the women. e of the survivors who testifd at therial was oy 12 years old when she was raped. in mexico, another journalist has been assassinated in the northern border city of tijuana. lourdes maldonado lópez is the third journalist killed in mexico this month. she was found fatally shot inside a car sunday. in 2019, maldonado went to mexican president andrés manuel lópez obrador's daily morning news conference and pleaded for his help because she feared for her life. this is one of maldonado's friends and colleagues. >> the mechanism for the protection of journalists should

have had a patrol car patrolling permanently outside of louride'' home. how is it possible somebody can come to the home to kill some of who needs to be protected? the murder comes, waits for her, and then leaves just like that. how's that possible? amy: in turkey, prominent journalist sedef kabas has been jailed while she awaits trial on charges of allegedly insulting president recep tayyip erdogan. kabas was detained saturday after she tweeted a proverb that translates as, "when the ox climbs to the palace, he does not become a king, but the palace becomes a barn." kabas is being held at a prison in istanbul. the law on insulting the president carries a sentence of between one and four years. tens of thousands of people have been charged and sentenced over the crime during erdogan's -- the so-called crime during erdogan's presidency. london's police commissioner has launched an investigation into breaches of covid-19 lockdown rules at u.k. prime minister boris johnson's official residence.

the announcement came after itv news reported johnson attended an indoor birthday party during the first lockdown in june of 2020. it's the latest revelation that johnson repeatedly flouted the strict lockdown rules that he ordered for the rest of the country. this is keir starmer, head of the opposition labour party. >> this is yet more evidence we have prime minister who believes the rules that he made don't apply to him. so we have a prime minister in a government who spent the whole time looking up deceit. amy: in georgia, a judge has granted a request by fulton county district attorney fani willis to convene a special grand jury to investigate former president trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. willis has said she will decide whether to bring criminal charges against trump during the first half of this year. a key piece of evidence has already been made public. on january 2, 2021, trump asked georgia's republican secretary

of state brad raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn joe biden's margin of victory in georgia. pres. trump: all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,000, 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. amy: last year, willis said trump could face criminal charges, including solicitation of election fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering. meanwhile, virginia's new republican attorney general has fired the top attorney for the university of virginia, a move condemned by democrats, as political retribution. the attorney, timothy heaphy, serves as the top staff investigator for the house committee investigating the january 6 capitol insurrection. racial justice advocates are condemning the u.s. supreme court's decision monday to hear challenges against the use of

the university of north carolina were brought by the conservative group students for fair admissions founded by the right-wing legal strategist edward blum. though the supreme court has previously upheld affirmative action, most recently in 2016, advocates fear the court's conservative majority could strike down racial justice policies that have allowed lack and other students of color to have equal access to higher education. the case will be herd in the supreme court's next session, which begins in october. in labor news, some 8400 unionized king soopers grocery workers have ended a 10-day strike after members approved a new contract. the three-year agreement with the kroger-owned grocery chain brings workers better healthcare and pension benefits, tougher workplace safety measures, and wage increases of up to $5 per hour. three-quarters of kroger employees recently surveyed by the united food and commercial workers union reported they face food insecurity. attorneys general from three

states and the district of columbia have filed suit against google alleging the tech giant deceived customers over their ability to protect their privacy through google account setting the lawsuit charges google has for years deployed software tricks to continuously track a user's location even when customers thought they'd opted out by turning off the location history setting in google's software. and in iowa, prosecutors have dismissed a second case against matt johnson, an animal rights activist to released footage of hundreds of pigs being euthanized at two iowa port facilities in early 2020. he is a member of the group direct action everywhere. he secretly recorded video of pigs being killed and two pork plates owned by iowa select forms. they killed the pigs by shutting down ventilation in their barnes and overheating them.

in december 2020, matt johnson made headlines when he posed as the ceo of the pork giant smithfield foods and appeared on the foxbusiness channel. >> our industry poses a serious threat in effectively bringing on the next pandemic cdc data showing that three of four infectious diseases come from animals and the conditions inside are farms stuck sometimes petri dishes for new diseases. hog farming also causes immense harm to our waterways. amy: afterwards, foxbusiness realized they had been pumped --punked.. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, tensions escalate between russia and ukraine. we will get an update. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: the legendary singer who rose from poverty become one of brazil's greatest performance died last week at her home in rio de janeiro at the age of 91. and those are some the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: the pentagon has placed 8500 troops on heightened alert to potentially deploy to eastern europe over concerns russia may soon invade ukraine. the u.s. and nato allies have accused russia of amassing 100,000 troops near the ukrainian border, but russia has denied it's planning an invasion. pentagon press secretary john kirby spoke monday. >> secretary often has placed a range of units in the united states on a heightened

preparedness to deploy, which increases our readiness to provide forces if nato should activate the interest or if other situations develop. all told, the number of forces that the secretary has placed on heightened alert comes up to about 8500 personnel. again, no mission has been assigned to these trips. no deployment orders have been sent to them. what the secretary has ordered them to do is to be ready to go, in some cases, on a much shorter tether than what they have before. amy: this comes as other nato nations are planning to send additional troops, ships, and fighter jets to eastern europe. plans call for france to send troops to romania, denmark to send f-16 jets to lithuania, and for the netherlands to send f-35 jets to bulgaria. last week, the biden administration gave lithuania, latvia, and estonia approval to send u.s.-made weapons to the ukraine. on monday, the kremlin accused the united states and nato of

escalating tension in the region. >> we are seeing statements from the north atlantic alliance about more troops pulling forces and assets into the eastern flank, all of it causing tensions to rise. i would like to point out it is not because of what we, russia, are doing. it is all happening because of what nato, the united states are doing, and the information they're spreading. amy: negotiations to resolve the crisis are ongoing. on wednesday, officials from russia, ukraine, france, and germany are scheduled to meet in paris. we are joined now by two guests. anat lieven is a senior feow at the quincy institute for responsible statecft. he's the author of numerous books on russia and the former soviet republics, including "ukraine and russia: a fraternal rivalry." he is joining us from britain. also with us is william hartung, a research fellow at the quincy institute. his latest book is "prophets of war: lockheed martin and the

making of the military-industrial complex." anatol lieven, let's begin with you. can you lay out why this crisis is heightened to this point? and do you believe putin will inva ukraine? >> the crisis has grown to thi point becae of russia's deep unhappiness with the expansion of nato its borders and the threat of nato admitting ukraine -- wch russia regards as -- hoile military alliances in central america i don't think, in the american intelligence is not saying the russians have made up their minds yet to invade, but there is ctainly an implicit threat that themay do so. if no compromise is reached between russ's demands a americannd nato positions. ju: i would like to ask you,

the white house press secretary jen psaki talked about "the sacred obligation to defend the security of our eastern flank allies." but this sacred obligation is only relatively recent and only as a result of nato's direct expansion eastward, isn't it? that is absolutely true. but these countries are now part of nato and so america and the other nato allies have a treaty obligation to fend them. ukraine is not in nato. the biden administration has explicitly ruled out sending oops to ukraine -- this is e real point about this possible u.s. and nato military deployment to the baltic states and other nato members. russia has no intention of attacking these countries. it has showedbsolutely no indication it is going to attack

them. so the trips a not really opening any useful function at all. either way, also, i mean, if russia were threatening to attack them, then the deployments being made would be absolutely ridiculous. denmark is sending precisely two fighter jets. holland is sending one ship. it is very lucky for us that russia is not actually a threat to nato because that would not stop them. i think the only possible useful role of these do nato deployments is we can offer to take them awakened in terms of russia withdrawing its troops from borders of ukraine. juan: with the possibility of russia moving into eastern ukraine centers around this issue of the separatist movement there. could you talk about the regions

which muster megan so know much about, the historical basis for which russia is so concerned about the area? >> wel eastern and souther ukrainas ahole i mostly populated by people who have russi as our first language. about 20% the who ukraini population are russians. in the coal mining region ofhe eastern ukraine, ethnic russians are the jority. that region was always deeply -- well, he voted strongly to coinue the soviet union, that ukraine should stay in the soet union. since the fa of the soviet union, people there have always voted pro-ruian parties and stronglypposed enic ukrainian nationalismnd moves from kiev to try to make use of ukrainian language obligatory to eliminate russian from schools

and so forth. so and long history the of support for close ties to russia and also supportor local autonomy. so when the ukrainian revolution occurred in 2014 and the president was overthro, a presidt who have been elected with a huge majority in the region, there is a local revolt against ukraine calling for separation fromkraine, which was then backed in a kind of likely veiled way b russian troops. and since then, we have had frozen conflict in the area, which periodically breaks out into new fighting. in 2015, france and germany brokered an agreement, a sensible agreement in my view, ereby the dumb basque would returno -- dombask would return and would be

demilitarized. the ukrainian parliament and governmes since then have refused actually to guarantee permanent autonomy for the region. so what if the russian -- this peace process minsk two agreement can be relaunched and can have a settlement in eastern ukraine based on the principles of minsk 2 and local autonomy for thregion. amy: what you make of "this new york times" report signed britain said moscow is plotting install a pro-russian leader in ukraine? russia says this is hysteria. >> i don't thk the russia wod try to install proussian govement in the whole of ukraine bause theknow very well tt at would face massive oosition of the kind we saw in 2014 on the streets of

kiev and western and central ukraine. if the russians do invade, i think will only be parts of the east and south of ukraine where they at least may hope or may think th could g a measure of local support. now, at that point, of course, th would t to recruit local figures to run the government for them. but i don't think ukine as a whole -- i also doubt the come if god for b russia does invade that russia will annex or territory. russia will occupy territory and will try to make a new offer of a deal with that would probablynvolve a demand for federal ukraine with autonomy broadening russian-speaking areas. but the russians would look for political collaborate, but not in kiev. that is really beyond rational

expectation. amy: bill hartung, also, like anatol lieven, are with the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. you have long been an observer and advocate and activist around the issue of the militarization of the world and giblets rising in many cases -- do militarizing in many cases. what i read in the lede about country sending weapons, the amount of billions of dollars of weapons that have been sent to ukraine, can you talk about what is happening here? this is a weapons manufacturers bonanza. if weapons manufacturers were concerned the u.s. had pulled out of afghanistan and what that would mean for them, i mean, their worries must be very much a late point. >> t u.s. spent $2.7 billion

in military aid training to ukraine since 2014. president biden spent a couple million more. no doubt more to follow. from the point of view of industry, give the endn of the pentagon spent a year and tens of billions of arms to the gulf states, that amount itself is not huge but i think the tensions that are related to all of this i think auger for their ability to keep military spending and procurement high. there is a double effect. juan: bill, i wanted to ask you, we are ia situation post afghanistan where now suddenly in the last few weeks, the media are filled with dangers of a new war, potential armed conflicts with russia. we have two u.s. aircraft carriers, assorted other ships, in maneuvers in the south china

sea right now, potential problems in terms of china. we have u.s. troops reported today that lynn in syria -- battling in syria against the islamic state. as the u.s. military in search of justifying its continued expenditures to the american public right now? >> well, yes. the military's job is to perpetuate itself. i think the biggest issue that they have used is relations to china. the u.s. spends three tabs on its military what china does most of 13 times nuclear weapons. certainly we don't want a war between nuclear powers. i think that is why the u.s. needs a more restrained strategy. certainly this whole notion of great power competition which is embedded in the corre national defense strategy come has been

used as the magic key to keep pentagon spending at near record levels. amy: let me bring anatol lieven back into the conversation. the issue of who is questioning this rush to war. you have fox network of attacker carlsson, who is -- fox network, tucker carlsson, the u.s. should side with russia then you have many calling -- many of tucker carlsson's fans calling democratic commerce members saying, stop siding with ukraine, side with russia. but where are the progressives on this? not about siding with russia or ukraine, butalking about stopping this rush to war? >> think that is been one of the greatest aointment of recent years in america, and of course this goes back to the invasion of iraq in 2003 which a

great many american progressives importantly supported. i wrot at th time, was extraordinary in the debate as it was in iraq, you had all of these debates about iraq in some weight remble vietnam? vietnamese jungleswhich turned out they did imany ways. rerkab health few people are asking how does what america is doing or threatening to do or will do as an occupying force, how is that likely to resemble at america did in vietnam? and ho far to the illusions of universal privacy and of supposedly defending freem and democracy againsits enemies, how is that contribute in in

fact to the militarization of u.s. poly and the undermining of global peace? in many ways, the memories of vietnam had been wiped out. today, there is also the element that so many progressives have turned violently anti-russian, partly because of hostility to the behavior of the putin administration at home, which is often very ugly, i entirely agree with that. also because i think they have really used russian influence, which in my view was enormously exaggerated, to somehow explain or excuse away the fact that in 2016, such a huge proportion of americans, the majority of a huge proportion, voted for dold trump and continued to support donald trump. that is a deeply, deeply

regrettable fact but it is a fact that one has to face and try to understand and not seek excuses for that by blaming it on other countries. juan: anatol lieven, you have written about the potential role of france and president macron in the current crisis regarding ukraine. could you talk about that and also the historic role that france has played within the nato alliance? >> well, asou can hear, i am a brit. i do believe very strongly that in the end, as long as of course e basic defense of western central europe is guaranteed, the security of europe ought to be principally europe's business. iind the way in whi the

europeans the one hand constantly whining aboutmerica but on the other hand constantly trying tshuttleff their probms under the shoulders o america, so america has to act as a shield while they basically prance around and spend a pittance on their own military i find that quite shameful, to beonest. think if francor if macron we to essentially adopt the legacy of prese charles gold d assert france has a responsibility for the peace of europe, which means seeng -- not surrendering to ssia, certainly not abolishing nato or even withdrawinnato troops, but seeking visible compromise with russia,hat would be a step toward europe as a whole taking responsibility for its own security.

but i fear tt the eir history of europe at the end of the cold war starting with the disgraceful european failuren bosnia in the early 1990' suggests europeans will not do that. it i much cheaper apart from anythinglse st as i say, denmark since two plane parades around its herc defiance of russia while in fact hiding behind united state i fear that ll continue. amy: anatolieven, thank you for being with us, senior fellow at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. we would like bill hartung to remain with us as we look at the escalating tension between russia and united states, the world's two largest nuclear superpowers. coming at a time when the biden administration is preparing to release an updated outline of u.s. nuclear weapons policies, document known as the nuclear

posture review. a number of disarment gups and scientists have called on president biden to take action to reduce the u.s. nuclear stockpile. in december, nearly 700 scientists and engineers, including 21 nobel laureate, called on biden's to cut the u.s. nuclear arsenal by one third and pledge never to use nuclear weapons first. in addition, 60 groups recently issued a joint statement calling for the elimination of the hundreds of u.s. intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles now armed and on hairtrigger alert. william hartung has closely followed u.s. new their weapons programs for decades. can you talk about where this stands? this does not bode well for reducing new car weapons, the conflict between nato and russia and the position the u.s. has taken. >> that is correct. it should be the reverse most of

think any there is new their tensions between nuclear powers, it should make a step back and rethink what the u.s. nuclear strategy and clear procurement is. i think unfortunately in the short-term, tensions with ssia will make it harder in washington to get people to entertain changes in our nuclear policy. juan: bill, former secretary of defense william harry was called icbm's "some of the most dangerous weapons in the world." why would a defense secretary say that? >> he is been involved in the nuclear field for decades himself and he understands that in crisis, if the president thinks you're being attacked with nuclear weapons come he or she would have minute to decide whether to launch the icbm. that greatly increases the

possibility of accidental nuclear war based on false alarm and the cold war period has been -- was replete with false alarms, so it is something that could happen. so the notion is if you get rid of the icbm's, reduce the risk of nuclear war, and it is a first step toward a more rational nuclear policy. that is why 60 groups, led by groups like ruth action, just for policy, just action for social responsibility, beyond the bomb, and others are calling for it on the part of the united states. amy: i want to turn to the archbishop of new mexico he recently called for the abolition of nuclear weapons around the globe. in a pastoral letter, wester says "to love our enemies means we have to begin the process of ending our preparations to kill

them and doing everything we can not to harm them but to actively love them, including the people of russia, china, iran, north korea, others." he spoke earlier this month. >> the catholic church has a long history of speaking out against nuclear weapons. indeed, the vatican was the first nationstate to sign and ratify the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. the archdiocese of santa fe has a special role to play in advocating for nuclear disarmament given the los alamos and sandia nuclear weapons laboratories and the nation's largest depository of nuclear weapons at the kirtland air force base in of a cookie. amy: to talk more about the letter, we're joined by father john dear, who advise the archbishop on the letter. you let a campaign for 15 years

in new mexico calling for the disarmament of nuclear laboratories at los alamo and now lives in california where he is executive director of the beatitudes center. father john dear, it is great to have you with us. we also with bill hartung at the quincy institute. if yould significance of this 50 page pastoral letter calling for denuclearization of the world? >> thank you so much, amy, for having me on. this has never happened before. this is really good news. it is an official document in the church calling for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. i think it is the most important document in u.s. catholic church history. and many people are now saying that. as you know, the b treaty has been so blocked and ignored consciously and liberally by u.s. mainstream media, but so has pope francis' traatic calls in the last few years for

nuclear disarmament, including at hiroshima. it has beetotally ignored, especially by the churches her in the united states. two weeks ago, an official church document was issued responding to both of these and issuing it in time for the anniversary of the ban treat and biden's upcoming review of nuclear weapons. as i said, this is never happened before. what is highlighting is pope francis has changed everything in the church and it has been a long time coming. for decades and decades, the church -- the catholic church has allowed deterrence, calling it morally acceptable. which some of us found absolutely outrageous. it is not really about deterrence, the u.s. war machine

is about making a lot of money and first strike. francis wiped all of that out. overnight. and people need to realize that. and now deterrence, the mere possession of these weapons is totally the moral -- immoral, evil, sinful, blasphemous plus of the words that prince is used -- phrases used were shocking. and the response to this by wester, the firstm call of pope francis and the ban treaty. that is why they're so much hopeless to people like daniel berrigan, dorothy day dreamed of living to see something like this. and getting picked up by ordinary people, churches and religious community's come just start pushing on new good disarmament, this would be really hopeful and hpful. what archbishop wester does is say i want to start a

conversation in the united states. we have to put the question in existence of nuclear weapons front and center. so it is surely taking pope francis' message to the people of new mexico and the whole country and sank we have got to deal with this. the first sentence, you may wonder, amy, where did he come from? why did he do this? no other bishop has responded like this can their been very few pastoral letters ever in our history. his first sentence was he went to hiroshima couple of years ago. it is so powerful because he describes being so moved by what he saw. typical of new mexico, two days later, he back in santa fe, guests coming come it took them to the new mexico museum of history and standing before this fabulous display about the glories of the manhattan project, los alamos come the first nuclear bomb that was

built to destroy hiroshima and the nagasaki, and all of the bombs sense. he had just been in her hiroshima and had a real change of heart and then he started studying pope francis. he outlines all of this how the juror -- how it has radically shifted post of francis for the first time in early church, 1700 years, calling all catholics not only to disarm and work for disarmament, but your practice nonviolence -- but you practice nonviolence. archbishop wester takes that up too, saying the goal is universal love, love our enemies. working for new world of nonviolence and then he goes very seriously into what is happening today. that is why i urge people to read it. it is free on the internet, just look at the archdiocese of santa

fe. juan: father dear, if i can, i would like to bng in bi hartung. i wanted to ask bill if you could react to the archbishop's call and also your thoughts about the importan of this coming in from new mexico and new mexico's role in terms of american nuclear weapons? >> well, i think the moral call is really kind of what needs to inject any movement from the elimination and so in that sense, reverend dear has eloquently spoken to the importance of it. new mexico is part of the nuke there were had complex. you have the los alamos labs, they develop into engineering nuclear weapons. those labs have lobbied heavily against things like conference of test -- comprehensive test

ban. including the bases in montana, wyoming, north dakota that have intercontinental ballistic missiles. work overtime in a coalition to stop any reduction committee changes in icbm land-based clear missile policies come in a reduction in spending, including spending on the new missile built by northrup that could cost $264 billion over its lifetime. at the same time, of this moral call, have this oer pressure, what i called the nuclear industrial complex, the subset, military distro complex that has made it particularly hard in washington to rethink nuclear policy, make changes, reduce spending. amy: william hartung, thank you for being with us, research fellow at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft.

father john dear, long time peace activist and catholic priest will stay with us. what we come back, we will talk about and hear the words of the late thich nhat hanh, the renowned buddhist monk, antiwar activist, poet, and teacher. he died saturday. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we end today's show with the world-renowned buddhist monk, antiwar activist, poet, and teacher thich nhat hanh, who died saturday in his native vietnam at the age of 95. thich nhat hanh was exiled from vietnam for decades beginning in the 1960's after he spoke out publicly against the war. in 1966, he traveled to the united states and met with dr. martin luther king, jr., helping to persuade king to speak out against the u.s. war in vietnam. king went on to nominate thich nhat hanh for a nobel peace prize a year later, calling him

an "apostle of peace and nonviolence." in 1969, thich nhat hanh led a buddhist delegation to the paris peace talks that resulted in accords between north vietnam and the united states. he believed buddhist principles should be applied to everyday life and even to solve difficult political problems. in 2001, on september 25, not -- two weeks after the 9/11 attacks, thich nhat hanh spoke at the historic riverside church in new york, where martin luther king first spoke out publicly against the vietnam war. the subject of his speech was "embracing anger." this is part of his address that democracy now! aired the next day. >> my dear friends, i would like to tell you how i practice when i get angry. during the war in vietnam, there was a lot of unjustice -- injustice.

and many thousands friends of mine, many disciples of mine were killed. i got very angry. one time i learned that the city of ben tre, 300,000 people, was bombarded by american aviation just because some guerrillas came to the city and tried to shoot down american aircrafts. they did not succeed. and after that, they went away. the city was destroyed. and the military man who was responsible for that declared later that he had to destroy the city of ben tre in order to save

it. i was very angry. but at that time, i was already a practitioner, silent practitioner. i did not say anhing. i d not act because i knew thatcting sayinthings while you are angry isn't wise. it may cate a loof destruction. i we back toyself, recognizing my anger, embracing it, and looked deeply into the nature of my suffering. i was able to understand the nature of the suffering in

vietnam. i saw that not only vietnamese suffer, but americans suffered, -- severed as well during the war in vietnam. the american young men who were sent to vietnam to kill and to be killed, they underwent a lot of suffering. and the suffering continues even today -- their family, the nation. and so, i could see that the cause of our suffering in vietnam is not the american soldiers. it is a kind of policy that is not wise it is a misunderstanding. it is fear that lie at the

foundation of the policy. and many of us in vietnam have had -- had burned themselves in order to call for a cessation of the destruction. we did not want to inflict pain on other people. we wanted to take the pain on ourself in order to get the message across. but the sound of bombs and mortars were too loud. people in the world, not many of them were capable to hear us. so i decided to go to america and call for a cessation of the violence. that was in 1966. and because of that, i was prevented to go home. and i began my exile since that time, 1966.

because i was able to see that the real enemy of man is not -- the real enemy of man is not man. it is ignorance, discrimination, fear, craving, and violence. and that is why i did not have hate vis-à-vis the american people, the american nation. so i came in order to plead for a kind of looking deeply sthat your government coulrevise that policy. i remember i met with secretary of defense robert mcnamara, and

i told him the truth about the suffering. he kept me with him for a long time and he listened deeply to me, and i was very grateful for his quality of listening. and three months later when the war was intensified, i heard that he resigned from his post. tred andnger wasot in my heart. that is why i was listened to by many yng peoplin my cotry, advoting tm to folw the th of reconciliation. and together, we he helped

brinabout thnegotiations for peace in paris. i hope my friends here in new york are able to practice the same. i understood, i understand suffering and injustice. and i feel that i understand deeply the suffering of new york, of america. i feel i am a new yorker. i feel i am an american. we want to be there for you, to plead with you not to act, not to say things when you are not calm.

there are ways that we can go back to ourselves and practice so that we rediscover our calmness, our tranquility, our lucidity. there are ways by which we can look deeply to understand the real causes of the suffering. and that understanding will help us to do what needs to be done and not to do what could be harmful to us and to other people. if we can listen to each other, we can also listen to the people outside of the country. many of them are in a situation of despair. many suffer because of injustice

and discrimination. the amount of violence and despair in them is very huge. and if we'd know how to listen as a nation to their suffering, we can already bring a lot of relief. they feel that they are being understood. that can defuse the bomb already. amy: world-renowned buddhist monk, antiwar activist, poet, and teacher thich nhat hanh speaking just two weeks after the september 11 attacks right here in new york at riverside church. thich nhat hanh died saturday at the age of 95. for more, we are joined by his longtime friend and fellow peace activist father john dear, former director of the fellowship of reconciliation, the group that brought thich first nhat hanh to the united states in the 1960's. father dear, welcome back to democracy now!

that was when he met with dr. martin luther king, influenced him to write the speech against the war in vietnam and then king nominated thich nhat hanh for a nobel peace prize. talk about your relationship. >> thank you so much, amy. thank you for playing that beautiful clip. i knew him because of my friendship with daniel berrigan and because i was the director of fellowship of reconciliation. i have been in contact with him in the late's early 1990's. remember, the fellowship reconciliation is the group that brought him to the united states in 1966. our friend was the genius who set this up. this idea -- nobody knew who thich nhat hanh was. to introduce this unknown vietnamese monk to the three most important religious leaders in the united states -- martin luther king, thomas bergen, and daniel berrigan -- and that was

brilliant. our change. daniel berrigan became very close with him. after dan got out of prison, moved into paris and lived with him in 1974 and 15. i met him spent a day with him when i became the executive director in the late 1990's. i knew him up until actually spent the day with him shortly before his massive stroke in 2016 in plum village. so i got to know him personally and talk about all of these things come our friends, especially daniel berrigan, the peace movement, nonviolence. he was always challenging me and criticizing me, but, w, he is really an embodiment of peace and gentleness and nonviolence. he practiced what he preached.

his message me in the peace movement in the u.s. was, be the peace you want to see. he said to practice nonviolence, have to become nonviolent. and he did that. so all his teachings about buddhism and mindfulness and living in the present moment of peace and being as nonviolent as you can to yourself and to everyone, part of the engagement in the world that you saw in that speech,disarming the world, he said for activists to care about -- we more than all have to be on our game a totally centered in peace 24/7. it was a greatleasure and joy to know the great man. every time i was with him, it was like being with gandhi. amy: father dear, we're going to do part two with you talking about the life of thich nhat hanh. you're also a dear friend of archbishop desmond tutu.

who we also lost in the last weeks. we will talk about him as well. father john dear, long time peace activist and catholic priest come now and big sur, california. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box■ú