06/02/22 06/02/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! another message shooting. four people have been shot dead in tulsa, oklahoma, after a gunman attacked a medical complex. it is the 20th mass shooting in the united states since the school massacre in uvalde, texas, killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers last tuesday.

we will look at an issue seldom discussed, the role of the united states is the world's leading weapons exporter. we will speak to international arms control advocate rebecca peters and media cric norman solomo >> there is a crying need for gun control not only in the united states, but also around e world. and that includes gun control at the pentagon, wch routinely, unfortunately, is killing innocent civilians. but what they are doing at the pentagon is not talking about gun control. amy: dentyne -- then to ukraine. united states warns the war could continue for many more months. oops we can't predict how this is going to play out, when this is going to play out. as best we can assess right now, we are still looking at many months of conflict. amy: we will speak to anatol

lieven. his latest piece for the atlantic is headlined "cold war catastrophes the u.s. can avoid this time." plus, the climate emergency and the war in ukraine is leading to a devastating global hunger crisis. oxfam says one person is likely dying from hunger every 48 seconds in drought-ravaged ethiopia, kenya, and somalia. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in tulsa, oklahoma man armed , a with a rifle and a handgun stormed a medical office building on wednesday, killing four people and wounding several others before turning the gun on himself. police have not identified the shooter. they said the attack was not random, but are withholding other details. michelle nathan witnessed the aftermath of the assault. >> i was coming to the doctor and i've got my grandkids with

an terrible scene, awful, sad. my daughter-in-law is from buffalo, so now both of the homes, it is not even safe if you come outside anymore. my prayers go out to everyone that is in that building. amy: according to the gun violence archive, the tulsa attack was the 233rd mass shooting since january 1. there have been at least0 mass shootings since last week's massacre of 21 people at robb elementary school in uvalde, texas. in buffalo, new york, a white man accused of murdering 10 black people in a supermarket on may 14 was wednesday on 25 counts, including a domestic terrorism and murder as a hate crime. prosecutors say the 18-year-old was radicalized through online forums such as 4chan, authored a racist manifesto, and live-streamed his shooting spree. if convicted, the white supremacist gunman will face an

automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. in uvalde, texas, hundreds of mourners gathered wednesday for the funeral of irma and joe garcia. irma was killed alongside another teacher and 19 students last week at robb elementary school by a teenage gunman with an assault rifle. two days after her murder, her husband joe died of a fatal heart attack. they are survived by four children. the funeral came as public anger mounted over the response of police who waited over an hour to enter the classroom where the massacre took place. on wednesday, uvalde school district police chief pete air donda told the team a border patrol officers not to enter the classroom where the gunman killed 21 people. the officers eventually defied the order, engaging and killing the gunman. the texas department of public safety says era donda is

refusing to cooperate with its investigation but he said he will talk about it when "families quit grieving." in austin, texas, governor gregg abbott is resisting demands by state democrats that he convene a special legislative session to tackle gun violence. abbott called wednesday instead for the formation of a special legislative committee. the texas state teachers association blasted the move, writing in a statement -- "committees and other groups have studied school safety before and schools obviously aren't safe from mass shooters. this is because the governor and legislators refuse to address the real issue and enact reasonable gun laws to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them." meanwhile, a bipartisan group of nine u.s. senators met wednesday to discuss new legislation in the wake of the uvalde massacre. senate repepublican leader mitch mcconnell of ktucky said he hoped lawmakers would rget what he called the source of u.s. mass shootings.

>> it seems to me there are two broad categories that underscore the problem. mental illness and school safety. amy: he did not mention guns as a source of mass shootings. ukraine says russian forces have taken over most of sevedonetsk, the last major city under ukrainian control in the luhansk region. the city's fall to russia comes as the united nations warns the invasion of ukraine has caused the deaths of at least two children every day, with many more injured. on thursday, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy admitted russia is killing up to 100 ukrainian soldiers a day, with another 500 wounded daily. meanwhile, "the wall street journal" reports hundreds of russian soldiers have escaped the fighting in ukraine or refused to take part during the early stages of the war. on wednesday, the biden administration announced another $700 million worth of military aid to ukraine, including the delivery of advanced

rocket-launchers and more javelin anti-tank missiles. meanwhile, reuters reports the administration is considering a plan to sell armed attack drones to ukraine. this comes as about 1000 rsian troops held nuclear weapons drills northeast of moscow on wednesday. we will have the latest on ukraine after headlines. in the occupied west bank, israeli forces shot and killed 31-year-old palestinian journalist ghufran harun warasneh wednesday as she commuted to her job at a media -- radio station in the city of hebron. police raley army claims she was holding a knife, but it has been disputed. this comes comes just three weeks after the israeli military shot dead the palestinian-american journalist shireen abu aqleh. israeli forces also killed two more palestinians in the west bank over the past 24 hours and demolished the home of a

palestinian man accused by israel of terrorism. this week 15 house democrats in the u.s. wrote a letter to secretary of state antony blinken urging him to stop the israeli government's planned expulsion of palestinians from the masafer yatta villages in the occupied west bank, arguing the expulsions would be a violation of the geneva convention and would amount to a war crime. the u.s. centers for disease control is investigating a case of suspected monkeypox in georgia, the 18th such case in the u.s. this year. it's one of 550 cases seen ross 30 untries tected around the globe this year. on wednesday, the world health organization said the virus has likely been spreading undetected for some time outside of west and central africa, where the disease has large animal reservoirs. this is who emergencies director mike ryan. >> there are thousands and thousands of cases have monkeypox every year in africa,

and there are debts every year. our concern now is real. we have a concern about this disease spreading in europe, but i certainly did not hear that same level of concern over the last five or 10 years. so i think this is a lesson. these diseases will continue to emerge and pressure and spread across the species barrier. are we in a position to collectively respond? to share resources in order to stop onward transmission of these diseases within human communities? amy: morning the united states facenew waves of unnecessary dehs unles coness proves new fundg to fig the coronavirus. republicans have refused to back a $10 million compromise covid funding bill, down from more than $20 million, demanding the biden administration keep in place a trump-era ban on asylum claimst the u.s. mexico border.

on wednesday, pfizer and biontech finalized an application to the fda for emergency use of the three dose covid vaccine for children under age five. fda advisors are scheduled to meet june 15 to discuss the plan. new data shows deaths among seniors 65 and older sword to the winter wave of omicron infections. president biden admitted wednesday he was not aware how big of an impact the abbott plant shutdown would have on infant formula supplies until april. in a white house meeting with the country's largest infant formula manufacturers, spokespersons from two manufacturers explicitly said they had recognized from the start how huge a problem the formula shortage would eventually become when abbott closed one of its plants in february. a whistleblower sent a 34-page report to the food and drug

administration last october, alleging unsanitary conditions at the abbott factory but it took over four months for action to be taken. in this time, one infant had died from contaminated formula and another two were hospitalized. a infant died from tainted second formula in late february. the justice department has stepped up its criminal investigation into the creation of fake slates of pro-trump electors looking to overturn joe biden's presidential victory in 2020. that's according to "the new york times," which reports the probe has a particular focus on the team of lawyers that worked on behalf of trump, including john eastman and rudy giuliani. meanwhile, a newly surfaced recording of republican party operatives meeting with grassroots activists last october reveals a multi-pronged gop strategy to target and potentially overturn votes in democratic precincts. in the recording obtained by politico, a republican national committee staffer outlines a

plan to train and install volunteers to challenge voters at democratic-majority polling places. matthew seifried, the rnc's election integrityirector for michigan, also said republicans are setting up a network of party-friendly district attorneys who could intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts. >> truly, it is going to be an army. we're going to try to recruit lawyers. amy: the department of education said wednesday it will cancel $5.8 billion in student loan debt for borrowers who attended the now-defunct network of for-profit schools known as corinthian colleges. it's the largest one-time discharge of debt ever made by the department of education. a report by the legal organization the project on predatory student lending found that for-profit schools "systematically targets prospective black and latinx students, encourage them to take out federal student loans, and leave students with a worthless

degree and debt that they are unable to repay." in florida, abortion providers have filed suit to block a new law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. the center for reproductive rights said in a statement -- "the florida supreme court has long held that their state constitution protects the right to end a pregnancy. that means even if roe falls, abortion should remain protected in florida, and this ban should be blocked." barring a court injunction, florida's 15-week abortion ban is set to take effect on july 1. a jury has decided in favor of actor johnny depp in a defamation suit against his ex-spouse actor amber heard, awarding him $10 million in damages. the jury also found in favor of heard in a countersuit she had filed against depp saying that his legal team falsely accused her of fabricating claims, awarding her $2 million. a major component of the case was an op-ed that heard wrote

about her experience with intimate partner violence, published in "the washington post" in 2018 at the height of the #metoo movement. activist tarana burke's "metoo" movement organization has issued a statement acknowledging the "mockery of assault, shame and blame" over the weeks of the trial, calling it a "toxic catastrophe and one of the biggest defamations of the movement." and a warning to our audience, this last headline contains graphic footage and descriptions of police violence. in brazil, protesters are demanding justice for genivaldo dejesus santosh, a black man killed may 20 fit by police. video of the incident shows a pair of officers trapping him inside a vehicle after releasing tear gas canister inside a medical examiner -- he was later determined to have dd of expects you -- asphyxia.

he was tortured for a crime he did not commit. a black man with mental health issues most of the family begged for his life, but they were not heard. amy many brazilians are comparing the death to the police killing of george floyd minneapolis which took place exactly two years ago. santos kelly came just days after police killed at least 25 people during a raid on a favela in rio de janeiro. and those are some of the headlines. this is mocracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman, joined by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: friday marks the 100th day of the russian invasion of ukraine and there appears to be little progress on talks to end the war.

france, germany, and italy are pushing for a negotiated settlement but the u.s. and u.k. are rejecting such calls. the biden administration is now planning to sell ukraine drones that can carry hellfire missiles. this comes in addition to a plan to send ukraine an advanced artillery rocket system that can strike russian targets up to almost 50 miles away. meanwhile, the head of u.s. cyber command haadmitted for the first time that the u.s. has carried out offensive cyber operations to help ukraine. in a new op-ed in "the new york times," president biden writes -- "we do not seek a war between nato and russia. as much as i disagree with mr. putin and find his actions an outrage, the united states will not try to bring about his ouster in moscow." he went on to write, "we do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on russia." russia has blasted the new weapons transfers saying "the u.s. is deliberately pointing

oil on the fire." this all comes as russia moves closer to seizing the donbas region in eastern ukraine. the governor of luhansk says russia now controls 70% of the key city of severodonetsk. by capturing the city russia would control almost all of luhansk. president biden is meeting with nato secretary general jens stoltenberg at the white house. on wednesday, stoltenberg held a joint news conference with cretary of state antony blinken who predicted the war would continue for many months. >> you can't predict how this is going to play out, when this is going to play out. as best we can assess right now, we are still looking amany months of conflict was to again, that could be over tomorrow if russia chose to end the aggression. we don't see any signs of that right now. amy: we are joined now by anatol lieven. he is a senior fellow at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft and author of "ukraine and russia: a fraternal rivalry." his latest piece in the atlantic is headlined "cold war catastrophes the u.s. can avoid this time."

welcome back to democracy now! in your piece, you write that u.s. policy today is in danger of making some of the same mistakes of the early years of the cold war. the stages much smaller but the danger is in some ways greater. explain. >> i drew attention to the way george kennan's vision of the containment of the soviet union in europe s turned into a global crusade against communism. the way in which conflicts that should have had nothing to do with the soviet union and europe were portrayed as central to american security. i am thinking of vietnam in particular. it also the way inhich across the world united states lined up with anyone who called themselves anti-communist.

that set a string of disasters. the united states overthrew a liberal nationalist in iran, reinstall the dictatorship of the shawl, individually the islamic republic as result. american backing for right wing kucini central america led to -- other circumstances the united states would have called genocide. and at home, you have mccarthyism whereby really actually timing communist presence and threat within the united states was portrayed as a threat to the american republic and comments revolution, which has helped poison in many ways aspes of american political life ever since. what i was saying was today it is entirely correct to help ukraine to defeat and contain

russian aggression in ukraine, but if this is turned into instead a kind of permanent crusade against russia, this is both intellectually false, very dangerous to thenited states, and disasters for any chances of peace in ukraine because it points, as certain official suggested and several european governments have suggested, this must be a war not just to defd ukraine but to impose a comprehensive defeat on russia will step why i say this is in some ways more dangerous than in the cold war is that in the ld war, bh american and soviet governments were very careful whatever proxy wars they waged sewhere the world, wh horrible results in africa and asia, they did not wage them in europe because of the threat of

escalation to nuclear war was too great. now we see a proxy war in europe. the danger if the west does aim for complete defeat of russia is there will be an escalation, not a deliberate use of nuclear weapons, but to what used to be called and should still be called brinkmanship. th problem is if you're going to nuclear break and ship come a there's always the chance will fall off the brink. nermeen: what indications are ther-- obviously, within europe there are divisions now on how to deal with the invasion -- france and germany have been speaking regularly to both putin and zelenskyy -- but is either side at the moment interested in negotiating a peace settlement? >> russia at this moment i think is not because for putin to

claim some sort of success in what has in fact been a disastrous war for russia, russia needs to occupy the whole of the donbas region because russia before the war recognized the whole of the donbas as independent from ukraine but so far, russia has not actually managed to conquer the whole of the donbas -- although as we heard a few minutes ago, russia is close to capturing the whole of the luhansk, it is not capturing the whole of donetsk. as long as russians think they can do that, they will go on grinding forward. but either if they can capture the whole of the donbas or if they are in fact -- which is possible -- a standstill in the donbas, i think there's a good chance that russia will in fact offer a and peace negotiations

simply because they have lost so many men so much equipment. if they go on and on loosing at this rate, ukraine is also losing but ukraine is getting a great deal of help from the west. at that point i think there will be a chance of peace negotiations, but not today. nermeen: even if, as you point out, the war has been disastus for russia despite arms shipments to ukraine, the war is been disastrous for ukraine. its unclear the extent to which zelenskyy ha offered -- made reasonable offers towards a peace settlement with russia as recently as last week, saying ukraine would be willing t accept a preinvasion status quo, that is relinquishing the desire to reclaim annexed crimea.

could you talk about that? what is zelenskyy's position and what is the hesitation on russia's part to agree to this? is that the idea that russia wants to come as is haening now, take more territory in the east and will not agree to a settlement until they have done so? that russia is not willing to simply go back to preinvasion lines? >> as i said, i think quite obsolete russia is trying to take the whole of the donbass region. russia has i think quite clearly abandoned hopes of conquering the whole of ukraine or reducing the whole of ukraine to a russian dependency. that is going. the russian army is not capable of it. as far as the signals from the ukrainian side, these have been mixed and zelenskyy himself has given mixed signals. on a week to wk and even day-to-day basis.

the thing is, zelenskyy has not offered to recognize the russian annexation or sovereignty over crimea or the independence of the donbas separatist republics in the territory they held before february. he has said these issues could be compartmentalized and negotiated. they haven't said ukraine will agree to give them up. my sense is that, as i say, given how much russia -- the russian army has lost in this war, if zelenskyy would offer -- it would have to be wrapped up referenda under international supervision and accompanied by treaty of neutrality, but it zelenskyy were to offer that, it might enough for putin to claim success. because, obviously, if you're

going to get russians to agree to a settlement and withdrawal from the additional territory they conquered, then -- i know this is very, very difficult for ukraine and the west to offer, but as henry kissinger and others have said, you have to give putin a way out, get to give him some opportunity to claim that russia has gained something through this threat of war. that, however, is obviously the question of whether you want to give putin a way out comes up and it is over that issue, that problems between some of the europeans, french, germans, italians as you say, and america and britain could emerge in weeks and months to come. amy: what difference would it make of the u.s. changed its position? i want to get your comment on the latest weapons that are being sent there, and henry

kissinger, the former secretary of state, known for supporting coups from chile to the murders regime in argentina to vietnam, was pushing zelenskyy, offering global criticism saying he should offer some land or agree to some land concessions. in fact, although zelenskyy firstly attacked kissinger, zelenskyy himself has id this over and over, he seems to be changing his position. but as the major weapons dealer to ukraine, what role exactly could the u.s. do? what exactly is it doing wrong right now? >> i think what the united states is doing wrong is not accompanying the supply of weapons. -- with a serious negotiating

strategy and a peace plan. instead, the biden administration has repeatedly said, oh, this is purely a matter for the ukrainians. of course, naturally, the ukrainian government would have to sign any agreement but the united states is running big risks to the american economy, huge risks to the global economy if you look at food price inflation, huge risks for global stability as a result of food shortages -- we see what is happening to the energy markets. but also the united states is running a non-negligible risk of nuclear war. this is the biggest danger of nuclear war we have seen since the cuban missile crisis 60 years ago. that -- united states and nato has played and absolutely critical role in arming and helping ukraine step despite all

the courage of the ukrainian forces, they would not be able to stop the russians if they had not also received so many u.s. -- western weapons and so much u.s. intelligence to help them. so all of that gives the united states a rise and also a duty to e american people in the western alliance to come up with a peace plan of its own. another reason for this, as you say, zelenskyy has suggested, stated sometimes ambiguously, a set of basically reasonable proposals for a peace settlement . other ukrainian officials have taken an absolutely opposite line and said ukraine must drive russian forces out of all the territory russia has held since 2014. the point is that if zelenskyy's light is to prevail, no one is

looking at ukrainian internal politics but he will need strong u.s. backing. i would also say has a relationship to the kind of ukraine you want to see after the war. zelenskyy is a great wartime president, he is also by tradition and origin a liberal. that is what we want to see prevail in ukraine. that is what will have to prevail in ukraine if it is to move to the european union. there other forces, very brave man, tremendous self-sacrifice on their part, but their idea of ukrainian nationalism would be a disaster for ukraine and would make it impossible for ukraine to join the west. there is also a long term political strategy involved here about what kind of ukraine we want to see. nermeen: finally, the russians

have condemned this w deal, the military equipment the u.s. is now providing and you spoken just now and we have been speaking of the various proposals that the ukrainians, if unevenly, have been presenting for peace. what are the terms that russia has proposed for a ace agreement? if indeed, there has been one. what are the terms under which they woul cease fighting and even withdraw from parts of ukraine? >> well, some of russia's terms have been very clear. a treaty of neutrality, which, by the way, zelenskyy himself is also proposed come as he said, nato refused to make an offer of nato membership for ukraine, so why not a treaty of neutrality? of course, the details of that and that guarantees ukraine has asked for is part of that, something that would have to be negotiated.

but that is the first thing. in russia has asked for denazification, but not always. sometimes ssia hasppeared to drop that demand and it has come back again. there has been ambiguity on the russian side as well. it could be, however, after capturing mariupol largely destroying the regimen that russia has identified as principal, what it calls fascist force in uaine, russia could claim it has done that in itself, so it is not clear whether that would be an obstacle -- then there have been demands for guarantees for the status of the russian language in ukraine and ukraine should withdraw the past couple of years, basically, abolishing the russian language from public li, education, government in ukraine and from thmedia.

that it seems to me is something the ukrainiansshould do in any case and without reference to russia, simply because the russian speaking population completely contrary to russia's expectations has overwhelmingly remade loyalty ukraine in this war. they deserve recognition of that. this also relates to what i set about what kind of ukraine we want to see in the future. we obviously want a civic nationalist ukraine, not an ethnic nationalist one. finally,hough, the great sticking point russia has demanded recognition of russian sovereignty over crimea, which russia annexed in 2014, and recognition of the independence of the donbas within the ful territory of the donbas which russia does not yet fully occupy. russia has not yet me any demands about the ditional territories conquered in southern ukraine, so that is not

actually on the table so we presume russia would be willing in principle to abandon the new territories, to withdraw if enough of its other demands were fulfilled. but russian demands are very clear to stop these remain russia's formal demands. the details part, but in principle, the main demands are. it would be the task of diplomacy somehow to bring together what zelenskyy has offered and what russia has demanded -- obviously, both sides will have to give something if there is to be in agreement. amy: anatol lieven, senior fellow at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft, author "ukraine and russia" and his latest piece in the atlantic is headlined "cold war catastrophes the u.s. can avoid this time." next, we look at an issue seldom

discussed, the role of united states as the world's leading exporter of weapons. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. another math shooting. it was wednesday night, four people shot dead in tulsa, obama come after gunmen attacked a medical complex at a catholic hospital. it is the 20th mass shooting in the united states since the school massacre in uvalde, texas, killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers last tuesday. on capitol hill, a bipartisan group of nine u.s. senators met weesday to discuss new legiation in the wake of the shooting. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell said he hoped lawmakers would target what he

called the source of u.s. mass shootings. >> it seems to me there are two broad categories that underscore the problem, mental illness a school safety. amy: mental illness and school safety. he did not mention guns. president biden said tuesday much of the violence f from mass shootings is preventable after he met with new zealand prime minister jacinda ardern and discussed how her country moved quickly to change its gun laws after the 2019 massacre at a mosque in church christ -- in christchurch, new zealand. we turn now to look at an issue seldom discussed, the role of the u.s. as the world's leading weapons exporter. for more, we're joined by two guests. rebecca peters is an international arms control advocate and former director of the international action network on small arms. she is joining us from guatemala. and norman solomon is with roots action and the institute for

public accuracy. he is author of "war made easy: how presidents & pundits keep spinning us to death." he has a new piece in commondreams headlined "how about some gun control at the pentagon? the weapons of war that maim and kill -- the big ones and the small -- let's do something to curb them all." welcome you both to democracy now! norman solomon, talk about the connection between the massive number of mass shootings this country -- 20 since last week alone, since the uvalde massacre -- and mass shootings are defined as shootings of four or more people, whether they are maimed or killed. that connection -- and we are all sing it on our screens now, to what happens abroad and how the u.s. may horribly be the link.

close the connections are hidden in plain sight and it is really stunning with all of the discourse about gun control and that invades cash debates in the political and media arena, there's virtually no discussion of the crime need for gun control at the pentagon. we know implementing gun-control restrictions in other countries has real reduced drastically the shootings, the mass killings with guns. and yet it is off the dia map because of the internalized militarized in the political establishment in this country to talk about the huge amount of gun usage by the pentagon. when you look at the stats, we know about 19,000 people a year on average in u.s. are killed with shootings. when you look at the stats from the cost of war project of brown

university, we see in the last two decades, comparable number of civilians have been killed by the u.s. military. and that really understates the extent of really the murder using weapons. we talked about assault weapons in the united states. we, the u.s. pentagon is wielding huge array of assault weapons in many countries around theorld and the figure of about 19,000 average civilian deaths since 21 caused by the u.s. military really understates , for one thing, those are just the direct -- the destruction of infrastructure unless direct deaths are several more times the 19,000 average per year. and then as the great journalist anan gopal set on this show last

summer, the official deaths caused by u.s. military actions in afghanistan are willful underestimate. what we have is th sort o hidden conceit in the united states in 70 different realms that folk, yeah, we're going to talk about having gun-control in the united states. it should and should be implemented but until we have a serious curtailment of the militarism of the pentagon and u.s. government, then what the u.s. society is saying in silence is the grief of some people in the united states who have loved ones who are killed with weapo because of lack of gun control inside the country, that grief is really, really portant -- and it is and we should recognize that. but another part of the messages, the grief of people in somalia or afghanistan or syria or iraq, that is completely off

the media map because, to be blunt about it, a tacit message from u.s. media and political power structure, the elephants and the donkeys in the living room, they are essentially saying in silence, we don't care about the grief of people elsewhere in the the world. not only that, but we particularly don't care when the u.s. military is causing the grief. nermeen: rebecca peters, you were the former director of the international action network on small as. i would like to ask about the role the u.s. has played in advancing or blocking treaties at the u.n. that govern the arms trade, the u.s. of course th largest exporter of military equipment worldwide. and if you could speak specifically about the arms trade treaty which the u.s. played a major role in crafting

but the trump administration pulled out of a few years ago and the biden administration has not rejoined. >> thanks. the point that norman makes about u.s. exports in general and the damage they do applies of course absolutely should the question of guns, which in u.n. powers are called small arms. the u.s. is the biggest producer of guns in the world and also the biggest exporter, both illegally and ugly. -- illegally and legally. cause havoc, including where i am in guatemala. within -- the u.n. started to try to get countries to work togeer to strengtn the controls on guns around 2000 subs over 20 years, there's been an effort within the u.n.

during most of those discussions, the u.s. has really taken a pretty unhelpful position. in the beginning, the main agreement related to guns the u.n. called a program of action and that was developed in 2001. i really important point that was not able to be included in that agreement because of the u.s. insistence, was there is no mention of any regulation of guns in the civilian population. although, almost every other country under the world felt it was important to say, 85% of the guns in the world are in selling hands for regulation of guns should deal with civilian arms weapons but the u.s. refused and therefore that was not able to be included. later we were able to develop the arms tradereaty, whi is the first internationally binding treaty dealing with trying to link the arms sales to, for example, human rights standards. the u.s. would privately say we

need this but they were very concerned by the fact the american gun lobby felt the arms trade treaty -- i don't think they really thought this, but the american gun lobby claims the arms trade treaty was a global ban on the second amendment. and so the u.s. definitely made the whole negotiation on that treaty harder, but it finally was adopted and has come into force. unfortunately, now the u.s., the biggest producer of military equipment co has not actually ratified it. it does not obviate the need for the treaty. obviously, if the big producer has not ratified it but still it would make -- it would be really helpful the biggest producer of weapons would join the international treaties governing an agreement governing that instry.

nermeen: could you speak, rebekah, just earlier this week on tuesday, the prime minister of new zealand jacinda ardern met with president biden in which of course among the issues they spoke of was gun-conol. explain what happened in new zealand following th christchurch massacre and the significance of this meeting between the two. >> new zealand was an example of a country that got it wrong once and lategot it right. new zealand was supposed to be part of the changes that came about in australia's gun laws in 1996 because those changes were under a buddy called the sho asian please ministers council. and that means i shall n zealand. in australia cnges fun -- gun laws to and semiautomatic rifles and shotguns, new zealand should

have adopted that change, too. at the time, the gun lobby in new zealand persuaded the new zealand government there was no need for that and therefore new zealand did not change its laws in 1996. then in 2019, the massacre at the mosque in new zealand was carried out by an australian who would not have been able to do that in australia, would not have been able to get the weapons, but went to new zealand where he was able to get asslt weapons and murdered over 50 people. it was a massacre and also an act of terrorism and an act of white supremacy. then new zealand changed its laws. i suppose -- i was interested to see jacindauring's -- adern's coents. she also shared -- we can only tell youhat we do another countries, and that is true for

australia as well. i think the more u.s. vernment and u.s. people can hear from the leaders of other countries, which are culturally similar, which the lifestyle is similar from other countries that can seehen there's a problem, fix it, i'm hoping that wilgive a bit of force or impetus to change in the u.s. amy: we will end with the words of jacinda ardern delivering the harvard university commencement speech. she was met with a standing ovation. >> march 20 19, 51 people were killed in a terrorist attack on two mosques in christchurch, new zealand. the entire brutal act was livetreamed on social media. the role commission that followed found the terrorist respsible was radicalized online.

in the aftermath of new zealand's exrience, we felt a nse responsibity. we knew we needed signifint gun reform and so that is what we did. amy: that was new zealand prime minister jacinda ardern. rebecca peters, thank you for being with us international arms , control advocate and the former director of the international action network on small arms. and norman solomon, national director of roots action, ed institute for public accuracy, we will link to your piece on common dreams "how about some gun control at the pentagon? the weapons of war that maim and kill -- the big ones and the small -- let's do something to curb them all." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. the president of senegal who chairs the african units were in the european union that africa

is fing food csis with soaring wheat, fertilizer, energy prices combined with increasing food shortages due to the war in ukraine. during an address on tuesday, he also criticized western sanctions on russia saying they're making it harder for african nations to buy food. the african development bank says the price of wheat has already jumped 45% on the continent. younger crisis is being felt across the globe fm afghanistan to yen to ethiopia. we're joined now by shannon scribner, leads oxfam america's humanitarian work. last month, oxfam released a report with save the children and the jameel observatory titled "dangerous delay 2: the cost of inaction," which found that one person is likely dying of hunger every 48 seconds in drought-ravaged east africa. shannon scribner, if you can talk about the extent of the catastrophe? >> absolutely. thank you for having me.

this dangerous delay report, which is the second report -- we did a previous report almost 10 years ago. that was during the 2011 one of africa drought where 260,000 people died, half of which were children. right now in east africa, across kenya, somalia, a ethiopia, we are on tra for 350,000 somali children to die. we are actually worse off than we were 10 years ago, and that sobering statistic of every 48 seconds one person across ethiopia, somalia, and kenya is dying of hunger today. nermeen: shannon, could you explain what the different causes are for this crisis? from the pandemic to the war in ukraine and the climate crisis? absolutely we know the pandemic over the last two years has had a huge impact globally and in east

africa in particular. it also has caused prices, inflation to skyrocket, caused the supply chain to be interrupted. but we've also had the driest ason on record and east africa and we knew this two years ago because we have in early warning systemelling uthe drout is coming. the rains are faing. malnutritions skyrocting. so we knew th two years ago. and then whave the conflict in ukrainthat has exacerbated the cris in east africa as well as west africa and other places because the black sea exports that are so important to this part of the world and wheat, exported from ukraine and russia that is impacting an already exacerbated food crisis. nermeen: shannon, as you mentioned, the blocking of the ports in ukraine is in large

rt responsible for the crisis. the other issue, though, and so wheat producers are concerned, amon them france, india, and u.s., these countries are facing massive droughts which will or have already resulted in wheat shortages. could you talk also about the impact or elaborate on the impact of that, notust the fact tt ssia and ukraine's eat exports are vastly diminished but also what is happening as a result of that climate crisis in other wat- producing countries? >> absolutely. these countries -- two years ago, we arted hearing about food insecurity because of the drought. we knew three consecutive rainy seasons had filled. in april, we heard t fourth

rainy seasonill fail. it will tell us when malnutrition is spiking. the communities we have been talking to and those countries are saying their lives are off beuse ofhe climate crisis. they have had tleave their farms that they can no longer grow anything from and are living in internally displaced camps. we have people whosenimals are dying, so we had one woman in somalia who had 150ows and has two left. this of the stories we're hearing across the country's. now people are worried about not just animals dying, but their nehbors and their families and their friends dying because of the famine-like condions. we also know this is an extreme time, an extraordinary time with the pandemic but also with the conflict in ukraine. but we are on track by 2030 to have 560 disasters a year.

and that is related to climate change. i don't know if this is extraordinary times. we need a system that is more responsive to the early warnings . we are investing in the early warnings, we need to act when they give us the information that drought is coming, that malnutriti is rising, and that animals are dying. and we are not doing that today. amy: oxfam released a report recently that i knew billionaire has been created every 30 hours since the start of the pandemic while in million people could fall into extreme poverty in 2022 alone. can you talk about this and also the language that is used? we now say things like food insecure. what does that mean? why aren't we saying "huer" and "famine" straight out? the report you're referring to is talking about the 20

million people that have died as a result of the pandemic and over those two yrs when we have had somata people dying, we have seen an extreme inequality p between those geing richer and those getting poorer. it is siking at this moment in history. what we're findingis in east africa, it is not that people are working less hard, they're working more hard. they're walking for miles to try to find water on the trying to find a pasture or od for their animal. they're doing everything they can to keep their families alive. th are skipping meals. often one meal a day and somemes the parents are not eating. we know womenre eating less or not at all a they aralso premade ash responsible for refining the meals. the billionaires are working harder because of the

circumstances of the pandemic that they' been able to make a loof money. we really need to think about that. right nown east aica, there is a humanitarian aistance $4.4 billion but we only have 3% of the funding. we have funding going to ukraine but not to place like east africa. in terms of extreme hunger, there is alassificaon that looks at malnrition, los at watethat is available a los at how my meals people eat day. therare all of these factors. it determines where it is, extreme hunger, famine, and it is -- right now ieast afric we are in 3, 4, and five and ve is famine. those are the emergency categories based on people's access to food, based on availability of ean water, and

based on the number of calories they're able to take in a day. amy: shannon scribner, thank you for being with us, leading oxfam america's humanitarian work. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] ÷÷ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñc

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