10/27/22 10/27/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> today to never hear of again from a threatened outright, the of atomic weapons which even after nagasaki, continued to be produced. amy: as pope francis calls for peace in ukraine, how i progress note progressives urging

presidt biden push for peace talks, created a firestorm on capitol hill. the congressional progressive caucus withdrew it. we will get the latest. then peace talks have begun in south africa between the ethiopian government and leaders from the tigray region to end the devastating to your conflict a week after the head of the world health organization issued a dire warning about ethiopia's growing humanitarian crisis. >> this is a health crisis for six years and the world is not paying enough attention. there is a very narrow window now to prevent genocide. amy: as u.s. health experts warn of a tripledemic, we will speak with a pediatrician about how many hoitals are already

filled tcapacity with children. >> we are seeg natiolly a marked increase in infections with respitory synctyial virus, also known as rsv. influenza is also spiking right now. amy: rsv starts with mild cold symptoms and can be life-threatening to infants. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united nations has warned that countries around the world are falling short of their pledges, putting the world toward catastrophic global heating. an assessment by the u.n. framework convention on climate change released on wednesday found that pledges by countries to slash emissions nearly in half by 2030 are falling far

below that goal, with the world on track to see emissions rise by more than 10% this decade. without a change in course, the u.n. warns the planet is on track to see an average temperature rise of up to 2.9 degrees celsius, or more than 5 degrees fahrenheit, by the end of the century. u.n. secretary-general antonio guterres spoke with the bbc wednesday, less than two weeks before the cup 27 u.n. climate summit in egypt. >> climate change is the crisis of our lifetime. it is the defining issue of today's world. so climate changeemains a ntral priority. if we arnot able treverse e presen trend that is leading to catasophe in the world, -- amy: we will broadcast live from the u.n. climate summit. the u.n. also issued a warning wednesday over the three

greenhouse gasses that contribute most to global heating. atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane, d nitrous oxide all hit record levels this year. methane saw its biggest year-over-year increase. meanwhile, a new report in the british medical journal the lancet finds efforts to mitigate climate change can still deliver a future where people can not only survive, but thrive. the report's lead author dr. marina romanello said in a statement -- "there is clear evidence that immediate action could still save the lives of millions, with a rapid shift to clean energy and energy efficiency." the nigerian medical association is raising alarm about the spread of water-borne diseases in nigeria after historic flooding killed over 600 people and left over 200,000 homes partially or completely destroyed. aid groups say the flooding has led to a major increase in cholera cases and other preventable diseases like diarrhea and typhoid fever. survivors are growing increasingly angry over nigerian authorities' response to the

flooding, which has displaced about a million-and-a-half people. >> my house is flooded. people are suffering. no drinking water. no lights. it is a terrible situation. amy: ukraine's government says it has discovered the bodies of nearly 1000 civilians and soldiers buried in territories recaptured from russia by a ukrainian counter-offensive. about half of the bodies were discovered in a mass grave in izium in ukraine's northeastern kharkiv region. overnight, russia's military carried out fresh attacks on power plants, this time in central ukraine. in southern ukraine, officials in the russian-occupied kherson region say more than 70,000 people have evacuated their homes ahead of a looming battle for control over kherson city. meanwhile, ukraine has deployed more of its forces near its border with belarus, a key russian ally.

in iran, 15 people were killed and another 40 were injured in a mass shooting. the islamic state has claimed responsibility for the attack. this is a survivor of the massacre. >> they chased me and i was shot in the back and three people died to me. when they attacked and started shooting, i lay down on the flr and they thought i was dead. they killed three people near me but i managedo escape with my life. amy: the deadly attack camas massive protests rocked tehran and other parts of the country as people marked 40 days since the death of 22-year-old mahsa amini in police custody. also on wednesday, the biden administration imposed sanctions on 14 iranian officials over the regime's brutal suppression of protests. in georgia, another woman has come forward to claim anti-abortion republican senate candidate herschel walker pressured her into having an abortion.

the unidentified woman said it happened in the 1990's while they were dating, and that walker drove her to a clinic to have the procedure. on wednesday, lawyer gloria allred spoke to press about her client's allegations and played audiotape of the woman. >> herschel walker is a hypocrite and is not fit to be a u.s. senator. we don't need people in the u.s. senate who profess one thing and do another. herschel walker says he is against women having abortions, but he pressured me to have one. amy: this comes as georgians have turned out in record numbers for early voting. nearly 60% more voters have already cast ballots than at this point in 2018's midterms. data also show a higher proportion of black and older voters. in pennsylvania, democratic representative mike doyle announced wednesday he is

retiring from congress, a year after he first revealed he would not seek reelection. congressmember doyle told reporters -- "i feel an obligation to make sure that people understand that my term expires at the end of the year, that i am not seeking reelection -- but there is someone that has the same name as me on the ballot." he is referring to republican mike doyle, a city councilor in a pittsburgh suburb who's seeking to replace congressmember mike doyle. he has denied he's seeking to deceive voters into voting for him based on name recognition, though his campaign literature makes few references to his party affiliation. he faces democratic nominee summer lee, a pennsylvania state representative who has the backing of the democratic socialists of america. and progressives, including senator bernie sanders and congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez. in arizona, please are

investigating a burglary of katie hobbs. no suspects have been identified but her campaign has released images from surveillance video showing an unauthorized person entering the building overnight on monday. hobbs currently serves as arizona secretary of state stuff as of monday, she had reported a voter intimidation complaints your ballot drop boxes to police, including armed people wearing masks and tactical gear. hobbs has reportedly received hundreds of death threats and threats of violence over the course of her campaign. tune into democracy now! november 8 for a three-hour election night special. we will be broadcasting live starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern. a judge has ordered former white house chief of staff mark meadows to testify before the georgia grand jury investigating trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. meadows is believed to have set up, and taken part in, the trump phone call on january 2, 2021,

in which trump pressured georgia's secretary of state brad raffensperger to find nearly 12,000 votes that would make trump win the state over joe biden. a jury in michigan convicted three n of providing materia support for a terrorist act and other charges in the plot to kiap democratic governor governor gretchen whitmer in 2020. prosecutors say the men belong to the militia group wolverine watchmen. paul bellar, joseph morrison, and pete musico will be sentenced in december. in ohio, right-wing conspiracy theorists jacob wohl and jack burkman pleaded guilty this week to placing thousands of robocalls spreading misinformation about voting in the lead-up to the 2020 elections. the calls targeted democratic and voters of color in cleveland, falsely claiming election officials would use vote-by-mail information to arrest or collect overdue debts

from voters and that the cdc would use their personal information in a mandatory vaccination program. the robocalls also went out to voters in chicago, detroit, philadelphia, and new york. elon musk is nearing a deal to purchase twitter for $44 billion. this week twitter employees circulated an open letter protesting reports that musk is planning to slash the company's workforce by 75%. musk reportedly denied the reports wednesday during a meeting with employees. earlier this year, musk suggested he will allow donald trump to reactivate his twitter account, which the company cut -- suspended after the january 6 insurrection. in pennsylvania, lawyers for political prisoner mumia abu-jamal have asked the judge for a new trial based on evidence that cast doubt on his 1982 conviction for the murder of police officer daniel fogg are.

lawyers said evidence in boxes discovered in the philadelphia district attorney's office showed his trial was tainted by racist jury selection and that one of two key witnesses sent prosecutors requests for "the money owed to me." the judge said she intends to dismiss the request and set a new hearing in december. faulkner's widow was at the hearing. she also attended monday's debate between candidates for pennsylvania's open senate seat were republican men met oz mentioned her by name. and in haiti, well-known investigative journalist roberson alphonse is hospitalized in stable condition after being attacked by gunmen tuesday in port-au-prince. alphonse works at the daily newspaper le nouvelliste and the radio station magik9. also on tuesday, a journalist who had gone missing was found dead. garry tess previously hosted a political talk show in the southern city of les cayes. the inter american press association said this year has been one of the deadliest on

record for members of the press. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy 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. we begin today's show looking at the war in ukraine and a controversy on capitol hill over a call for biden to push for talks to end the war. on monday, the congressional progressive caucus sent a letter to the white hse which urged the biden adminiration to pursue direct negotiations with russia f a ceasefire in ukraine while continuing to arm the ukrainian military. the letter, which was signed by 30 democrats, called for a "we urge you to pair the economic support the united states has provided to ukraine with the diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a cease-fire.

this is consistent with your recognition there's going have to be a negotiated settlement here and you're concerned that vladimir putin does not have a way out and i'm trying to figure out what we do about that." the release of the letter was soon attacked by other democrats. democratic commerce member of massachusetts called it a "olive branch to work criminal who is losing his war." within a day, the congressional progressive caucus withdrew the letter. progressive caucus chair pramila jayapal issued a statement saying -- "the letter was drafted several months ago but, unfortunately, was released by staff without vetting. because of the timing, our message is being conflated by some as being equivalent to the recent statement by republican leader mccarthy threatening an end to aid to ukraine if republicans take over." last week, kevin mccarthy warned republicans won't give ukraine a "blank check" if the gop regains control of congress. while jayapal withdrew the letter, some progressive

lawmakers have defended the letter's message. i commerce member ro khanna, who appeared on cnn on wednesday. >> i have supported every package of giving aid to ukraine and a to support continuing to arm ukraine. all the letter said is at the same time we stand with ukraine, we need to make sure we are reducing the risk for nuclear war, that we are engaging in talks with the russians to make sure the conflict does not escalate. we need to support ukraine with arms and we he diplomacy. that is commonsense. amy: this comes as fears for the war in ukraine may turn nuclear. on wednesday, r putin oversaw strategic nuclear forces. meanwhile, political supports united states has moved up plans to deploy upgraded nuclear weapons to europe. to talk more about the controversy around the congressional aggressive caucuses letter and what u.s. diplomatic efforts could entail, we are joined by phyllis bennis, author and fellow at the

institute for policy studies. her recent piece for the progressive is headlined "it's time for diplomacy." phyllis, welcome back to democracy now! can you lay out what happened? talk about the content of this letter, the fact that he congress member signed on. it was released and then retrted. >> what happened was very much reflected in ro khanna's statement just now. it was very carefully drawn mild letter that was very important because there had not been an official congressional statement urging the biden administration to call for diplomacy. on the contrary, we have seen signifant evidence the administration has really not supported the idea of moving toward diplomatic approach in ukraine, along with the military aid they are providing. despite the fact there have been statement from president biden and others that this war, like all wars, will end with some

kind of diplomacy, the issue is always at what cost and for how long are we going to wait until this war becomes a long-standing war of attrition or with all of the additional deaths that could lead to? or are we going to say needs to be a diplomatic component right away? some of us, myself included, have been saying from the beginning, my first piece on the war that was drafted just a day after the illegal russian invasion recognized there was going to have to be a cease-fire, there needed to be a cease-fire on day one, a cease-fire when russia was succeeding in pulling in more territory to itself. it needed a cease-fi when the ukrainians were able to seize the offensive and take back some of that territory. and we need a cease-fire now. this letter was a very cautiously, mildly drafted letter that said, as ro khanna said and as you indicated in

reading it, we need an additional component of policy in ukraine that needs to include cease-fire and diplomacy. the level of outrage that greeted this very careful sort of commonsense approach shows us how much work is still needed by our movement and more broadly in society to stop the kind of control that militarism seems to have on our sumption's about what for policy looks like. the notion this could be solely a situation where the u.s. continues to spend tens of billions of dollars with all of the weapons that are ever required by ukraine, to what end? what is the endgame? does not the questions unfortunately being asked. instead, the focus has been on the timing and did the letter

match the position of the republicans -- which of course, it didn't. the important part is to look at the need for cease-fire and diplomacy to end the war in ukraine. nermeen: as you said, because a letter in some sense was quite mild, what do you think accounts for the fact that more conservatives were mainstream democrats responded with such vehement and what abouthis one brief clause in the letter that said putin at the moment, russia at the moment does not have a way out and needs to be given a way out? what exacy would that mean? >> i think it means a series of step the first step in any situation is you need a cease-fire. a cease-fire is not sufficient. cease-fire is not a guantee you will be able to end the war in just way anytime soon, but sets the stage you could begin the process of negotiation.

and i think what the letter was referring to at that point was that there had been public and private, from what we understand, positions taken by the u.s. administration and certainly true in congress that says there is no room for diplomacy here, that this is going to be a war that is ended with a great ukrainian victory, but imagine there will be like a world war ii worthy war ends with a complete surrender and a flag raising and some band is playing "hail to some chief" and everybody will be happy. it is not one to be that way. i think everyone acknowledges that, serious about examining both the political and military rally of the war, that there's going to have to be some kind of diplomacy. that does not mean the united states, despite the fact he was providing such enormous amount of money and arms to ukraine for

its resistance -- that does not mean the u.s. has the right to tell ukrainians how they should engage in diplomacy, what they should concede, if anything. but it does mean we cannot pretend that while providing $65 billion so far, overwhelmingly for the military -- not quite all that most of it -- with another $50 billion under discussion right now in congress, and all of these weapons, all of this training that we can then also simultaneously stand back and act like a cheerleader that is not connected to the war that is underway. the u.s. has significant issues of diplomacy that need to be raised with russia that do not depend on what ukrainian decisions are about their diplomacy with russia. the u.s. needs to be negotiating with russia about reopening all of the abandoned nucle and conventional arms treaties that

right now pretty much don't exist at all and makes everything much more dangerous. the u.s. needs to be negotiating with russia on the question of what are the consequences of building a new u.s. military base in poland, less than 100 miles from the russian border? talk about provocation. this is quite serious. there needs to be some discussion about that. these are the things the u.s. can be negotiating with russia that don't go to the ukrainian position. make it clear to russia that when there is a cease-fire, the u.s.-imposed sanctions will begin to be lifted. it is crucial. because without that, there is no real intention for russia. they're looking to iraq when it made clear at the united nations that is certain point it did not matter whether saddam hussein allowed in the u.n. inspectors or not, the sentience of the were not going to be lifted

anyway. that took away any incentive that the sanctions may have ever had to encourage a change in behavior. there needs to be u.s.-russian negotiations on all of those issues which are not dependent on the views of ukraine which are crucial in determining the nature of the long-standing needs for real diplomacy to end the war, but first there needs to be a cease-fire to allow all of that to go forward. nermeen: let's talk about what attempts, if any, the significant ones there have been to reach a cease-fire either initiated by the europeans macron, who sustained conversation with russian since the invasion and even prior to it, just this past weekend but austin had conversations with his russian counterpart, although no details were released of their conversations.

the one thing that was told about the conversation, the one detail revealed is that austin reportedly emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication between russia and the u.s.. their conversation was the first in several months. in may, they -- may was the last time they spoke. again, reported the u.s. did press for cease-fire, which the russians rejected on the grounds that the u.s. is not willing to talk to the russians as equals. in talks with nato countries, turkey, france, and britain, who to varying degrees have urged cease-fire, russia has been unwilling to budge. these are according to news reports in europe as well as here. so your response to that? how can pressure be brought to

bear on russia, which is of course the aggressor in this war ? >> russia is the aggressor in this war on the ground. there's the question of the larger, longer-lasting geopolitical war underway at goes back many, many years in which u.s. and nato have played a very provocative roll against russia. no question none of those provocations justifies any of the russian moves. this is russian aggression, pure and simple. i think there are repts that have other views as well that indicate both british and perhaps other nato reports about indications that there is not a support for cease-fire coming from nato and other u.s. allies. i think the fact all of these reports are based on evidence of discussions with diplomats and others that are not identified -- it makes it difficult to know

if there is actual support among nato leaders for cease-fire or not. there were certain reports about the role of horse johnson going to meet with -- boris johnson going to meet was on ski and urging him not to reach a cease-fire. i don't think zelenskyy is necessary getting one position from his allies. he is completely depende on nato, particarly on the united states for both economic and let your support. but i think the question needs to be raid to our ow government, which is plain such a crucial role in the war come about the need to support a cease-fire immediately and longer-term negotiations to end the war. that meeting you reference between the secretary of defense lloyd austin and his russian counterpart was very important -- not meeting, telephone call. there had not been communication since last may. and that makes things particularly dangerous on the

question of the potential escalation to a nuclear exchange, which is what makes the war in ukraine so incredibly dangerous, so much more dangerous globally than any of the horrific wars we have seen the last 20 years. more than the w in iraq and afghanistan, despitete the horrific level of destruction that was brought by the u.s. invasions and occupations. those wars never threatened to erect into a global -- globally impactful nuclear exchange between the united states and russia, which together come of course, control 90% of the nuclear weapons in the world. and if the situation of ukraine, that is very different. there is a threat of that kind of escalation. what we don't have in ukraine right now is what u.s. speaks of as a d conflict and lie, which basically means i direct line of

communication, hotline, telephone whether by computer or whatever form, that we did have for example in syria when you have a historyf u.s. and russia supporting proxy forces on opposite sides. they made sure while there russia, aleppo -- cities destroyed by the two global powers, u.s. and russia did not care very much whether or not they killed enormous numbers of syri civilians, which they did, with her bombing. but they were concerned about not killing the other side. the u.s. did not want to kill any russian soldiers and the russians were just as concerned they not kill any u.s. soldiers or pilots or whatever. as a result, they had a direct means of communication to call off any mistake of escalation and to warn the other side when they were planning to bomb in certain areas, saying we are

going to bomb in place, get your people out of there. and it worked. we don't have that in ukraine. that means things are much more dangerous in terms of potential escalation commit maybe with neither side actually intending to use a nuclear weapon and right now i don't see any evidence that either putin nor president biden have any intention of using nuclear weapons but the fact that there have been these statements from russia that seem to have implied pretty directly a nuclear threat as well as potentially a threat of the use of other nonconventional weapons -- chemic, nuclear, whatever or biological -- and for the u.s., her provocative move sending 100 upgraded versions of one of the most comnly deployed nuclear weapons in grub. there are now fivcountries in europe, nato members, that are calling u.s. nuclear weapons under u.s. control in their territory.

they're now being upgraded. that is a deliberate nuclear escalation a nuclear threat. the threats are coming from both sides. i don't believe either president has any intention of using a nuclear weapon, but when there nuclear weapons iolved, until they are abolished -- when they are involved in this theater of war d the twnuclear powers are directly engaged, the threat of a nuclear escalation is dramatic. no matter how small iis. if it is anything other than zero, anything other than zero, that is way too high a risk. nermeen: we only have 30 seconds, but next month biden and putin are both scheduled to attend the g20 meeting in bali. do you have any hope there could be some communication between the two there? >> we have to hope. of course there needs to be that kind of communication, whether it is between the two leaders, which would be very visible and

the world press would be watching, or at a lower level of assistance of aid saying, ok, on this basis, we will meet -- there needs to be that kind of discussion for cease-fire immediately and negotiation to end this horrific war, to stop the killing of ukrainian civilians, stop the destruction of the citie the impact of this war on the globe a whole, not only in ukraine, environmentally, in terms of the threat of famine as a result, the militarization of europe and so much of the rest of the world as a result of this war demands there be a move toward an immediate cease-fire and a move toward diplomacy. amy: before you go, just one question as a person who has written a number of books on israel, palestine, cute observer of the region, about the growing crisis in the occupied west bank, israel is continuing to carry out daily military rates,

least hundred 20 palestinians have been killed so far this year making it the deadliest year in the west bank since 2015. on one side, president biden met with the israeli president at the white house during public remarks, neither mentioned palestinians, the occupied west bank, or gaza. >> the level of killing on a daily basis, raids and palestinian cities come if you want to go back to the accords, under complete posting and, there is no palestinian control. it is completely under israeli assault with the attacks on civilians. i believe the number is up to 30 children among them who have been killed. the arrest, the raids of civilian homes, particularly in the middle of theight with children being taken off her terrogation,ouble abruptly -- deliver really aimed at

undermining posting families to survive, it is our horrific situation. the uss had nothing to say about it despite providing billions to the israeli military in effect fact we're even hearing any discussion of this congress, in the white house, mainstream press, is a travis street -- travesty has to be dealt with in a much more overweight. has to does is support is what enables the raids to go on with impunity. that is at court this issue at holy the united tions and other parts of the international community and criminal court, the international special investigation team that is now looking at these violations between national law, that that is where we will be able to look to for an end to this kind of israeli impunity.

amy: phyllis bennis, thank you for been with us, author and fellow at the institute for policy studies. up next, ethiopia's humanitarian crisis foster peace talks have begun. the government and leaders from the putin to end the devastating to your conflict. -- from the tigray to end the devastating to your conflict. ♪♪ [music break] amy: singing wednesday at a rally outside the courthouse calling for the release of mumia abu-jamal. thmoiss ac idenocry w!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh.

we turn now to look at the crisis in ethiopia. peace talks between ethiopia's government and rebel forces in tigray began earlier this week in south africa. the african union is mediating the talks which are aimed to end a devastating conflict that began two years ago. thousands have been killed in the brutal conflict. one analyst estimates the death toll to be as high as 800,000 people. millions have also been displaced, and hundreds of thousands are facing famine. last week, the head of the world health organization's tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, who is the tigray region, warned time is running out to address the humanitarian crisis. >> this is a health crisis for 6 million people and the world is not paying enough attention. i urge the international community and the media to give this crisis the attention it deserves.

there is a very narrow window now to prevent genocide. amy: joining us from germany is tsedale lemma. she is a journalist and the founder of the addis standard, an english-language monthly magazine based in ethiopia. welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about the significance of these peace talks that are taking place outside of ethiopia in south africa and what is happening in the tigray region? >> thank you. good morning. the significance of the peace talk is such that this is the first time the two parties are having an open and public face-to-face meeting to try to solve the problem the last two years. we have not had that. there have been some secretive talks between the two that were happening, -- the significance is --

diplomatic efforts. so significant because on the ground, people are dying every day. tigray is decimated as we watch. the significance cannot be undermined at the moment. nermeen: could you explain the importance of the african union mediating these talks? >> nermeen, there is a lot of reservation about the african union being in charge of the peace talks. for one thing, it has done nothing for the last two years despite being headquartered -- the epicenter for the war. has done really nothing for the last two years. but it is important to notice it is now being assisted by other

headquarters. other agencies in africa and also the u.s. government. the combined effort could yield a result but the african union in and of itself has proven to be a total failure in stopping the war. amy: can you talk about who the parties are at the table and what is at stake? >> the parties at the table are the tigrayan government of the apia -- authorities from the tigrayan government, and the federal government represented by two people, attorney general and the security advisor of the prime minister.

the warring parties at the two now on the negotiation tape. we are waiting for what the two parties are going to come out with at the end of the day, but we know what the tigrayan authorities want from the negotiation as a result. they want immediate cessation of hostilities to the war, two years next week, they want access to humanitarian -- humanitarian access to those who have been under siege. they also want an international media and human rights organizations to be granted access to the tigray region so they can monitor the human rights abuses that continue happening with the involvement of the armies. they also want a withdrawal of eritrean troops from tigray. what the federal government

wanted so far has not been articulated. we are waiti for this come out in the next few days. nermeen: could you also explain, put this in historical context, what is the nature of the relationship of the region of tigray with the central government? and what led to the kind of fracture that has produced this absolutely devastating war? >> historically, tigray has always been a place with people hold the right to suffer minister -- to self-administer. this is the third time there is -- historically, that been very protective of their right to

self-administer. for the last 30 years, tigrayans also major power holders, so to say -- happened under their watch with allies from other countries. they been able to live in peace for the last 30 years. so to say this fight the central government over there right to self-administer had -- 30 years. we are back to that historic territory with the central government still wants to control tigray and tigrayan people. that is why the resistance of the people of tigray in pushing back against the actions of the central government that has led to the slightest uprising or resistance by the tigrayan people. politically, it has -- the

conflict started initially with the rupture in the ruling party. the kurdish government -- federal government led by the prime minister was part and parcel of the government that together current governing ethiopia for the last 30 years. with a cheat to the political dynamic at the center, that fracture began to happen between the party that is ministering tigray and the prime minister's party. this clinical fracture that we have seen initially led to that conflict in tigray. but the dynamics of the conflict have since changed. the prime minister initially said he wants to do law enforcement --

they needed to intervene because they have an army command center located in tigray. so initially, the purpose of this war was framed as a law enforcemenby the federal government containing the tigray leaders. but the sheer brutality of his conduct has turn the war into resistance by the tigrayan people against the federal government. the federal government provided eritrean forces to join it in tigray. there was no law enforcement. it was a war against everything tigray had. it was a war against its agriculture, it's education. it was a war against women. so the people initially gave it a benefit of the doubt for the

government to enforce law enforcement in the region, they realized this was a war against everything tigray's. the dynamics of the war evolved into becoming one that the tigrayan people are rising up against the state. this is why the war is complicated. there was initial understanding on how to solve this. everyone understood this was a power struggle between former allies and at the ruling party -- initially it began like that but it became a war of survivor for the tigrayans and control for the federal government and to govern tigray. that is why we have seen -- in the attempt to solve this problem. amy: the ethiopian prime

minister won the nobel peace prize in 2019. there is another conflict that is happening right now in the region of romeo in ethiopia. can you talk about whether it is connected to tigray, how it is connected? the associated press reporting drone strikes killed several dozen civilians last week, the stronghold of the roma liberation army came the midst intensified fighting between federal forces and the out lie -- outlawed group. can you talk about what happened there? >> an, the war there began before the war in tigray. there has been little coverage about it. it started in 2019, a year after the prime minister came to power. at the same time when he was actually given an award for the

nobel peace prize award. but there was little attention to it. it is a war -- the same way that prime minister is professing about the governance wants to shake -- the army was associated with a group, the liberation front but after it came to ethiopia for liberalization of the political state, the army broke apart with its mother party and they said, no, we're going to continue the resistance because the way we see the prime minister trying to reconfigure the state is against the half-century struggle of the people. so we will continue our fight. so the war there started barely

a year after the prime minister came. and now it is going deep into many parts of the country. other governments own admission, many parts and the largest regional state in ethiopia is -- they are under the control of the liberation army, particularly western parts. the government, realizing the combat zones are stretched because of the war in tigray, it has intensified the drone attacks, particularly in the last two weeks more than six drone attacks that were conducted of the federal government and more than 120 days -- casualties of civilians.

it is happening and the shadow of the war in tigray. the purpose is a fight against -- it is a pushback against the centralized rule in the country. but it is something that nobody's paying attention to and is not a part of the piece talked negotiation in south africa as well. nermeen: before we end, what is the ultimate aim of thetp? are the demands likely to be calls for referendums on independence? is tigray even interested given the brutality of the war, remaining part of ethiopia? and also the territorial issue between ethiopia and tigray now? >> well, you know, the tpla is a

party is -- other political parties, i one of the most broad political parties. i don't think there will be -- they will be pushing for referendum on their own but the idea of referendum is contrived in the ethiopian casa touche in article 39. so ifhe tigrayan people want, tpla can do nothing about it. at the moment, what the governing party in tigray what from the repeated statements and other things, they want -- they want self administration restored. th want eritrean forces, which are there as an ally of the prime minister, to be withdrawn from the sovereign territory of tigray. so they can have self

adminiration, self-rule of the tigrayan people guaranteed according to the constitution. the federal government is one -- the power grab ended in 2018 when they gave way to the prime minister himself and voted 100% for him. but the federal government has always been suspicious and they want to return back to grab power again. i don't think that is what they want. what they want is an indendent self-re system in tigray whereby the people of tigray can have a say on the destiny. it if the people in tigray want to go for referendum, it is enshrined in the constitution. it is their constitutional right. tpla cannot help that. but so far i don't think tpla will be taking the lead and

having article 30 not invoked. the federal government has invited the foreign army to occupy the territorial addition independence of the state. [indiscernible] according to the constitution. this is the dynamics in play at the moment. amy: 10 seconds. >> at the moment it is better we

focus on the hopes and the peace negotiation, the hopes they would agree on cessation of hostilities which would pave way for access to humanitarian and liing the siege. medieval era siege that has been imposed on tigray. no banking, no road. seven laypeople -- we need that to be lifted. we hope the talks would guarantee people in tigray can be having access to their own bank come having access to telecommunication -- amy: tsedale lemma, inc. you for being with us, journalist and founder of the addis standard, an english-language monthly magazine based in ethiopia. speaking to us from germany. thank you so much. next up, we talked about why hospitals are filling up around the country with children and

infants with rsv. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. public health experts are warning of a of a tripledemic of respiratory illnesses this winter -- an increase in covid cases, an early flu season, and we look at the surge of cases of this sickness among children called rsv, orespirary syncytl virus.

some hospitals are reportedly already filled to capacity. rsv starts with mild cold symptoms and can lead to pneumonia and bronchiolitis in very young children, and can be life-threatening in infants and for more we're joined by a pediatrician and houston, dr. christina propst. welcome to democracy now! can you explain why this surge in the united states? >> well, there are seral theories to why we are currently experiencing this very early surge in respiratory -- respiratory syncytial virus and influenza. one of the theories is there has been an immediate he gap created due to the pandemic. so when the pandemic hits, of course everyone was scrambling to figure out how to stay safe and avoid infection with a virus that causes covid-19. among the features that people

isolated as noting to be effective for masking, isolation, hand hygiene. some of the common sense precautions to avoid a highly contagious viral respiratory pathogen. so while those are certainly effective and have been proven effective to help prevent the spread of cod-19, they also help prevent the spread of other viral pathogens. so rsv, influenza, rhinovirus. all of these other seasonal viruses that are endemic, really, globay, were suppressed. so there is some thought that, number one, does precautions as

to effectively suppressed all of those other respiratory viral pathogens, once ose precautions were relaxed as we are seeing now, people are masking much less often, much less social distancing, people are back at work my in school and person, now those viruses are to some extent coming back with a vengeance. nermeen: dr. propst, rsv is the most dangerous for infants. can you explain what the signs are? i myself have witnessed a very close proximity, this virus in an infant below the age of three months. it is very difficult to distinguish rsv from other respiratory illnesses -- cold or cough. >> that's true. for most children, even for most adults, rsv begins as an upper respiratory illness. cold-like symptoms.

nasal congestion, sneezing, watery eyes. the problem is for infants, for the immunocompromised, the elderly as well, and notably for premature infants under the age of six months or infants and ildren who have congenital heart disease immunocompromised or have pulmonary conditions, those folks are particularly vulnerable to getting real respiratory illness from rsv. lower respiratory illness in babies referring to bronchiolitis, and inflammation of the lower small airways, and even pneumia. those are the children we worry about the most. those are the children who are driving this tremendous uptick in hospitalizations currently. amy: what can parents do to prevent their babies from getting this illness? >> the most important thing i

would say is, number one, to keep your children safe and avoid being around a lot of other crowds and avoid being aroundther ill people. notably, children most vulnerable population, former premature infants. ifou have a baby uer the age of six months, that is- now is not the time to go out to the mall with a baby or to be around a lot of people in a crowded environmt. handwashing, making sure your children are up-to-date on their vaccines, including their influenza and covid vaccines. co-infection is becoming more of an issue. so it is really important to take these common sense precautions to keep children safe and really to keep our health care system afloat at this point. amy: dr. christine propst, thank you for been with us, a pediatrician in houston, texas. tune in on november 8 for our

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