amy: from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el shaikh, egypt, this is democracy now! >> nothing takes place on the outside of the official venue. there is no people summit, no demonstration. many of these things are illegal here in egypt.

amy: climate justice activists demand the united states and other large polluters do more to combat the climate crisis. this comes as pressure is growing egypt to release alaa abd el-fattah and other political prisoners. president biden is meeting with xi jinping in indonesia as tensions escalate between the two world powers. it is their first meeting since biden became president. pres. biden the world expects china and the u.s. to play key roles in addressing global challenges such as climate change, food insecurity, and for us to be able to work together. amy: the united states and china work together from taiwan to the war in ukraine to the climate crisis. all that and more coming up. ♪

welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el shaikh, egypt. democrats have held onto the u.s. senate after incumbents mark kelly of arizona and nevada's catherine cortez masto won their midterm races over the weekend. if senator raphael warnock beats republican challenger herschel walker in georgia's december 6 ruff, democrats will expand their majority with 51 total senate seats, meaning they may not need to rely on vice president kamala harris to break a tie, and can afford to lose a single vote when confirming executive and judicial nominees, or passing certain measures through reconciliation. control of the house is still

undecided as neither party has secured the necessary 218 seats. demoats now 204 hold house seats while republicans have 212. in washington state, two democrats won their races over the weekend. newcomer marie gluesenkamp perez beat trump-backed joe kent, while kim schrier held on to her seat against republican matt larkin. in neighboring oregon, republican lori chavez-deremer flipped a democratic seat, after beating progressive candidate jamie mcleod-skinner, who ousted long-time incumbent kurt schrader in the primaries. newly elected progressive democrats arrived in d.c. sunday to meet with members of the congressional progressive caucus, including 25-year-old maxwell frost of florida who became the first generation z congressmember. >> we have heard all about this

red wave and all of this, but we see the numbers, and we see what stop that was young voters who came out and turned out historic numbers, voting for democrats by 53%. in nevada, democrat cisco aguilar defeated 2020-election-denier jim marchant to become secretary of state. and in arizona's secretary of state race, democrat adrian fontes beat out republican mark finchem, who has ties to the far-right oath keepers group. in arizona's governor's race, democrat katie hobbs has maintained her narrow lead over republican kari lake. lake, whose chances of overtaking hobbs look increasingly slim, previously refused to say whether she would accept a loss and has been projecting a major victory for days while making baseless allegations that election officials were slowing down the counting. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky visited the recaptured southern city of kherson, which

russia had occupied since march, before fleeing last week, celebrating a major victory in the ongoing war. zelensky said investigators found evidence of hundreds of russian war crimes in kherson . over the weekend, jubilant crowds in kherson greeted ukrainian soldiers. >> it is impossible to express what i feel right now. never have i felt such joy as now. our brothers, our protectors have come and we are free today. this is impossible to convey. kherson isai ukrainian army is the best in the world. amy: zelensky said over the weekend fighting in the russian-occupied eastern donetsk region was like "hell." kyiv is hoping to reclaim donetsk though it's expected to be a particularly tough battle as part of the area are defended by long-standing separatists.

the biden administration announced plans that would lower methane emissions from domestic oil and gas drilling by 87% below 2005 levels. the new regulations were unveiled as president biden attended the cop27 climate summit here in sharm el shaikh, egypt. pres. biden: we immediately rejoined the paris agreement. we convene major climate summits and reestablish -- i apologize we ever pulled out of the agreement. amy: the united states is currently the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses after china, and by far the largest historic polluter, accounting for about 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions. during his remarks biden did not mention the issue of "loss and damage.” climate activists are pushing the u.s. to compensate poorer countries over the irreversible impacts of global heating.

meanwhile outside the halls of cop27, hundreds of people rallied saturday to demand global systemic transformation to defend human rights and combat the climate catastrophe. this is south african climate activist gabriel klaasen. >> we are not only representing ourselves but the community we come from. the areas and the spaces that can into be exacted for the use of big industries, big corporations, big fossil fuel industries. for too long we have invested inc. also fuels and a dead future. we are here to stand up and say enough is enough. it is time for change. amy: climate rallies also took place in other cities across the world as part of a global day of action.

the family of imprisoned activist and writer alaa abd el-fattah received a letter from him today in the first proof of life since october 31. el-fattah stopped drinking water on november 6, at the start of cop27, after already being on a hunger strike for seven months protesting his imprisonment. in the letter, dated saturday, november 12, el-fattah said he began drinking water again on that day. he also said his vital signs are "ok" and that he was receiving medical care. in response, el-fattah's sister, sanaa seif, said "we're relieved to see proof of life, i can sleep today without nightmares. but we want this to be over, our family deserves a break, we need to be reunited in peace.” meanwhile el-fattah's lawyer is

, outside the prison today in his third attempt to visit him after he was denied entry to the prison despite having permission from the court. his plight has received intensified attention over the past week with british prime pinister rishi sunak, french president emmanuel macron, and u.s. president joe biden all raising his case in their meetings with egyptian president abdel fattah el-sisi. president biden has met with chinese president xi jinping in bali, indonesia for their first in-person talks since biden took office. the meeting took place ahead of the g20 summit and amid increasing tensions between the two countries over taiwan, the war in ukraine, and technology. president xi pledged to hold "candid" talks with biden, saying "the world has come to a crossroads." biden expressed similar sentiments. we'll have more on the biden-xi meeting later in the broadcast. in between his appearances at

cop27 and the g20 summit, biden was in cambodia, saturday, to address asean, the association of southeast asian nations in cambodia. he says southeast asia letters have done little to battle burma's situation involving the coup. turkish police have arrested 46 people following sunday's powerful explosion in a crowded istanbul neighborhood that killed eight people and injured dozens of others. the suspected bomber, a syrian woman, is among the arrested. turkey has blamed kurdish fighters for the attack though the perpetrator has yet to be confirmed. iran's islamic revolutionary court has issued its first known death sentence to a person convicted of participating in

banned anti-government protests. the court also handed down prison terms of up to a decade to five unnamed people charged with violations of national security and public order. the protests erupted more than seven weeks ago after the death of 22-year-old mahsa amini in police custody. human rights groups report at least 326 people have been killed in the demonstrations. a united nations envoy is urging western and other nations to lift catastrophic sanctions at were imposed on syria over a decade ago after the start of the war. the u.n. says the measures enacted by the united states, the european union, and others have exacerbated "the destruction and trauma" faced by the syrian people, leading to dangerous shortages of medicine, food, water, shelter, and other essential resources. at least 90% of syria's population is currently living in poverty with sanctions severely undermining efforts of economic recovery, according to the u.n. envoy.

in news from the occupied west bank, israeli forces killed a palestinian woman during a raid in the city of beitunia monday. the 19-year-old was fatally shot after an attempted vehicle check. so far this year, israeli soldiers have killed over 130 palestinians in assaults in the west bank and east jerusalem, making 2022 the deadliest since at least 2006. ethiopia's government and tigrayan officials signed an agreement making way for immediate humanitarian access as the two sides move ahead with a peace deal reached in south africa earlier this month. this is former kenyan president , mediator in the deal, uhuru kenyatta. >> there shall be a degree of sanctions on anyone who commits atrocities. amy: all parties to the tigray war have been accused of war crimes.

by some estimates, up to 800,000 people have died in the two-year-long war, while millions have been displaced. the u.n. says 5.2 million people in tigray are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. back in the u.s., in charlottesville, virginia, at least three people were killed, and two others wounded late sunday after a gunman opened fire at a garage on the university of virginia campus. classes were canceled monday as the suspect, who is also a student, is still at large. the biden administration has extended temporary protected status, tps, for people from haiti, el salvador, nicaragua, honduras, sudan, and nepal until june 2024. the move will continue to shield us on 260 thousand immigrants from deportation. their relief was due to expire at the end of this year. and twitter put on hold its recently launched $8 "blue checkmark" subscription service

friday after fake accounts inundated the site. among the imposter accounts, a fake eli lilly account posted a tweet announcing they would make insulin free, causing the pharmaceutical company's stock to take a plunge. meanwhile, a fake lockheed martin account, @lockheedmartini, posted it would halt weapons sales to saudi arabia, israel, and the u.s., causing the real lockheed martin to lose value of their shares. fake accounts for tesla were also created. in related news, twitter started laying off a large number of its contract workers on saturday, including those working on content moderation. one of musk's first acts as twitter's new owner was to lay off around half the company's permanent staff, almost 4000 workers, earlier this month. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el sheikh, egypt. on saturday, hundreds of protesters marched inside the conference venue calling on wealthy nations to pay reparations for their role in causing the climate crisis. the united states is the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gas emissions. on friday, president biden attended the climate talks in egypt and pledged to spend $11 billion annually on international climate aid. pres. biden: to do our part to pervert the climate hell that the u.n. secretary general so passionately warned about earlier this week. we are not ignoring harbingers that are right here. it is true, so many disasters, climate crises are hitting those countries artist and communities that have the fewest resources to respond and recover.

that is why, last year, i committed to work with our congress, quadruple u.s. support for climate finance, provide $11 billion annually by 2024, including $3 billion for adaption. amy: president biden was briefly disrupted by a group of youth and indigenous activists from the united states who unfurled a large banner reading "people vs. fossil fuels." climate justice activists criticized the united states for not doing more and questioned whether congress would approve even a fraction of biden's pledge. meanwhile, as the u.n. climate summit enters its second week, pressure is growing on the egyptian government to release political prisoners including the imprisoned writer and activist alaa abdel fattah. his sister led to saturday's climate march, where many chanted "no climate justice without human rights."

to talk about all of this and more we are joined by asad rehman, executive director of war on want and lead spokesperson for the climate justice coalition. welcome back. >> it is a pleasure to see you in person. amy: our first major trip since the pandemic. this is a very different kind of summit. what is laid on a table not by states but civil societies, human rights and climate justice must be considered as one. could you talk about the joining of these two specifically when it comes to the demand, the release of the political prisoner in egypt, not to mention thousands of others who are held, alaa abd el-fattah. asad: human rights and climate justice have been inextricable. the fight of climate crisis is the most basic of rights, the

right to be able to live and survive with dignity. we also know that, as we make movements, we face pressure. environmentalists are murdered every day around the world. we know that criminalization is taking place. we came here knowing that our fight for climate justice was a fight for human rights. we have always listened to and responded to the call of our movement, to the issues they want to raise up, how we can best support them, amplify their voices. the call to free alaa has been central to climate justice organizations, coming to cop and raising our voices here. amy: a number of egyptian activist didn't even make it to cop, as they are imprisoned.

the significance of this. asad: let's be real, the things that we can do in this cop venue, many are denied the right to free speech, organize, protest. when we came here, we recognized that many of our movements could not be here in person because of repression. the space itself is deliberately chosen to be quite distant from major population areas. there are huge restrictions. huge security operation taking place all around the cop, inside and outside. many of the egyptian human rights activists, climate justice activists are already in prison. 60,000 already imprisoned. amy: more than a number of people attending the summit. asad: absolutely.

it was an obligation for those that can be here, that we raise the voices of those people who are denied the opportunity to be here. civil society has always been the years and eyes of the front-line communities. there is no more front-line community than those who are behind bars, demanding a better world, the one that we are here fighting for. amy: just before we went on-air here at cop27, i spoke to the long time environmentalist nnimmo bassey, director of the , health of mother earth foundation, about the protests here both for climate justice and human rights. you were here for the protest on saturday, could you talk about those? >> usually we march on the streets in the city. here, we were within the confined perimeters of the

cop27. it was very surreal. it showed the resiliency of the people. we didn't want to legitimize any kind of controlled march in the town, so this was important. the demands were mostly just announcing the cop itself. it is lost and damaged. we also declared that zero is a hopeless idea. eventually, they are pushing this on the young people to whom the future belong. that instead of just talking about loss and damage. because of the degradation, the payment of the climate debt. amy: you were standing in the front line near the sister of alaa abd el-fattah.

can you talk about the significance of him in a desert prison while this cop goes on, and what the demand was? >> no climate justice without human rights. that really captures the situation. we are worried about the humanitarian situation in egypt, activists on hunger strike, who are just suffering out there. and here we are discussing as everything is normal. the march, having the demand of release for political prisoners, environmental defenders, was very significant. amy: there was going to be a human rights conference right after cop in cairo. what happened? >> that meeting would have shown

there is space this conversation in the country. just when activists were getting ready to go to cairo, we got information that the meeting would not take place because it is no longer authorized. amy: finally, this is called the african u.n. climate summit. >> big misnomer. this is not an african cop. africa is not here. people are suffering floods, droughts, all sorts of situations, and they are not here. they cannot afford to get here, they cannot get accreditation in this city that is mostly for tourists. it is totally exclusive cop. others were exclusive, but this is super exclusive. we are all cut off from the country from which we are supposed to be. this is not an african cop. amy: that was the nigerian

environmentalist, nnimmo bassey, speaking about whether this is africa's cop, as egypt and other countries are billing it. asad, if you could talk about what that means and who is represented here. asad: who is represented, we are told is tens of thousands of people. some of them are civil society but there are huge barriers for people to attend, particularly from egypt itself, the region of cop. the majority of this at become a trade fair. we have seen lobbyists, also if you lobbyists, many on government delegations, big business saying we are providing the solutions. while ordinary people on the

front lines in pakistan come across the horn of africa, and they are not physically here. which is why human rights is such an important part of what we raise. the case of alaa is not about an individual, it is about symbolizing oppression and criminality, our desire to not just free alaa, but free the world. amy: when it comes to alaa, do you think the el-sisi regime is responding in any way? just now completing a fast without water for the past week. asad: the egyptian president see thought that this would be something where they could shake hands, sign deals, do all of these trade deals, bask in the fact that they could deliver finally something positive on

loss and damage, for example. instead, they are faced with the reality that we in civil society have said, we are not allowed business as usual, you are not hearing the voice of the family of alaa. yes, president macron, prime minister rishi sunak all came here, and they did not leave with alaa. they did not get consular access for him. but we insist society have been relentless -- amy: he is not only an egyptian citizen but a british citizen. asad: he is a dual national. until this morning we didn't even have proof of life. his family didn't know if he was alive or dead, being force-fed come etc.. the marks, the press conference, the constant pressure, the fact

that we did not allow political leaders to ignore his case have made a difference. it is now week two. the goal is for alaa to leave before the weekends. amy: next year's cop is in the united arab emirates. i think there are the most delegates from that area. the number of delegates with links to fossil fuels has increased 25% overall from the summit in glasgow. with the uae, it also has one of the highest carbon emissions per capita in the world, not to mention its shameful human rights record, when you look at the workers, the number of deaths of workers in the uae. how does this interpret the decision of the cop to hold next year's in uae following this

year in egypt? asad: civil society have always said, there should be some criteria about where the cop is held. but there should also be criteria about who is invited. that is why civil society have asked for a conflict of interest to say, who are these delegates, what length do they have with the fossil fuel industry? you cannot have the very people burning the planet sitting here pretending to drop the solution. that is what is happening in these negotiations. what we are seeing increasingly in civil society is, we need to be held accountable on their actions. this is a connected crisis. human rights is an essential part of it. we will be taking that message forward. wherever the cop is held, we will be voicing our human rights. that is our commitment. it will not just be during the cop, it will be up to, during,

and after. this is the world we want to create. amy: you mentioned loss and damage. that is you and speak -- u.n. speak. explain what that means on the ground. asad: when we talk about the climate crisis, there are three things that need to be done. stop doing harm, stop polluting more is emissions into the atmosphere. there we see countries refusing to do their fair share. we are heading toward warming that could be close to three degrees. repair the harm. how do we live with the fact that we are living on a warming planet? that is adaptation. not just building seawalls. how do we work on our food production? the third element, you have to

pay compensation for the damage you have caused. economic damages, but also damages that are beyond a cost, the cultures of people, land being lost. loss and damages a part of that. the call is, we need to have a lot of work on loss and damage. as ministers arrived today, we can get into that negotiation. amy: what about president biden's promise of $11 billion, and where he is right now in indonesia with chinese president xi jinping, what we have to understand about the u.s., by far the largest greenhouse gas emitter, and currently, china, the largest greenhouse casimir in the world. asad: from the u.s. perspective,

their line in these climate negotiations have been simple. we recognize we are the largest responsibility but we don't want to talk about the fact that we should compensate. everybody should do the same action. everybody should be responsible. what they also mean is, china, india, you must also be expected to do what we are expected to do. from the chinese and indian perspective, most of these emissions are from you. we have only recently begun to pollute. yes, we have to reduce our emissions, but you have to reduce them first. you put the money on the table. it is your obligation. then we will talk about ours. there is a challenge going on between the richest countries.

when the u.s. refuses to take action, the rest of the world follows. the u.s. has to live up to its responsibility. president biden came here last week, made a speech about climate change. back home, just like the u.k. and european union, is expanding oil and gas. that is why the united arab emirates feels so able to be here. they are saying oil and gas can be the fuel of the future. what we have seen here is a new conversation which is largely about how we remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, all about carbon capture and storage. on proven technologies to allay

the fossil fuel industries. amy: thank you for being with us. we hope to come back to you this week or next as the u.n. climate summit wraps up. we will be here throughout. the director of war on want, director for the climate justice coalition. president biden and chinese president xi jinping held their first meeting since president biden became president. we will get a response. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: from minneapolis, minnesota

to washington, d.c. that concluded sunday. markers were for the release of him. he has been in prison since 1977. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el shaikh, egypt. meanwhile, president biden met with chinese president xi jinping in bali, indonesia today for their first in-person talks since biden took office. the meeting took place ahead of the g20 summit and amid increasing tensions between the two countries over taiwan, the war in ukraine and technology. the two leaders were also expected to discuss the climate crisis and north korea. president biden spoke earlier today prior to the meeting. pres. biden: our two nations, we share responsibility in my view to show that china and the

united states can manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming anything like near conflict, and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation. i believe this is critical, for the sake of our two countries and international community. this is a key to the theme of the cop27 meeting where i spoke on friday, will be discussing a lot of these challenges together i hope. amy: chinese president xi jinping also spoke before meeting with president biden. their first since president biden became president. >> the world has come to a crossroads. this is not only a question on our minds but on the minds of all countries.

the world expects that china and united states will properly handle the relationship. our meeting has attracted the world's attention. we need to work with all countries to be more hope to world peace, greater confidence to global stability and stronger if it is to common development. amy: we are joined now by two guests. michael klare is the professor emeritus of peace and world security studies at hampshire college. he's also the defense correspondent of the nation magazine. orville schell is the director of the center on u.s.-china relations at the asia society. previously the dean of the graduate school of journalism at berkeley and has been reporting on china since 1970. we welcome you both to democracynow. orville, let's start with you. the significance of today's

summit, what you think need to be accomplished. orville: biden and xi jinping getting personally together. they have had talks virtually but have not set down -- sat down. in a curious way, biden is precisely the right persono thaw out. he took merips with him in the past, hosted him in the u.s.. to the extent that it is possible to know xi jinping, biden knows him. he is a very open person. there isome hope there. of course, we have two countries that have very different political systems. china has become much more

autocratic, bullying countries around the world, much more aggressive, bellicose. they think this isheir moment. they have gained sufficient wealth and power to gain not only a voice in the world but to begin setting the rules of the game. there is an awful lot of contentiousness and disagreement. one wonders just how far th can get. if they can lower the temperature a little. amy: my call, what you think needs to happen right now? it was not clear that this face-to-face meeting was even going to happen but it did. what you feel china and the u.s. have to give at this point. what needs to happen in the world? michael: the backdrop coming into this meeting, tensions

between the u.s. and china were at their worst level in decades. very high level of tension over taiwan in particular. nce nancy pelosi visited taiwan in august, china has stepped up its military activities around taiwan. at the same time, the u.s. has increased its own military pressures agnst china by concluding military deals with australia, building up its military alliances with south korea and japan. by the way, biden met with the leaders of those two countries while he was in cambodia on the way from sharm el shaikh to bali . there has been an increase in military tensions in the pacific. in my mind, is a continuation on

the path that they were on, would le to a military clash sooner or later. what has to happen at this meeting, the two leaders need to find a way to cool those tensions down, find ways to reduce their risk of a military clash arising in the pacific either over taiwan or in the south china sea. in the clips that you played minutes ago, you could see both of them stressing the need to manage tensions, to avoid conflict. that is really what this summit is all about. amy: orville schell, you take a different view from michael klare, very critical of nancy pelosi's trip to taiwan.

if republicans take the house, it is pretty clear, kevin mccarthy, if speaker, would also go to taiwan. your thoughts on the pelosi visit and the u.s. approach to taiwan? it was also clear that the biden administration was n completely supportive of pelosi going. orville: i think the administration was wary of sticking unnecessary fingers in the eyes of xi in china. in fairness to nancy pelosi, she kinda of got trapped by circumstances. originally she announced that she was just going to asia and then the ft leaked the story. then she was stuck with the fact that china had advanced warning. originly the plan was just to spend 24 hours and then leave, not be as provocative as it ended upeing.

however, having been in taiwan right after her trip, i think it had a certain utility. as michael noted, there is a norm is tension in the time on streets. xi jinping has been incredibly bellicose, has not used the terry forced to retake taiwan, which he claims is a part of china. nancy pelosi's trip helped to wake up people not only in taiwan, who are used to the status quo, make them begin to recognize tre is a real threat on the horizon, that they have to mobilize themselves against it to be a deterrent if they expect to prevent it from happening. but also her trip helped to wake up the world in terms of what china actually has in mind for taiwan. they had seven live fire zones all across the island shooting missiles over thesland into

japan' waters. xi jinping is a very aggressive man. the taiwan straits is a very dangerous zone. the question is what is the best way to deter china from doing anything? amy: michael klare, maybe you can take that question. michael: i think orville raises some of the difficulties that we face. certainly, xi jinping and the chinese have made very threatening comments against taiwan. that is only half of the picture. the other half is what has the united states done to increase tensions in the taiwan strait? if you look at what the biden administration has been doing, it has been suggesting that

taiwan should become a part of the u.s. military alliance, joining japan, south korea, australia, india, in the so-called quad, as part of a chain of violence and states surrounding china, trying to thr ottle its rise. that may not be how it is framed in government statements, but that is how it lookso china. from china's point of view, it is the u.s. that is the aggressor. i am not sing that that is necessarily the master plan in washington, but that is the way it looks. just as orville says, the chinese tos appear very bellicose and threatening, that is a question of rception on both sides.

what has to happen, both sides have to lay out what their real intentions are, try to dispel any mionceptions and try to find a peaceful path forward on taiwan. if the u.s. says taiwan will be a part of the u.s. alliance system, which the biden administtion has said, that will provoke a conflict which could lead to world war iii same tng if china invades. we are really in a dangerous situation here. amy: speaking of war, the more in ukraine, the position that xi jinping is taking. very interesting that the russian president vladimir putin did not attend the g20 summit. many felt that he would not have enough support from xi.

your thoughts on this, orville schell? orville: a gat question hanging over what vladimir putin told xi jinping over the winter olympics, whether he actually told him what he had in mind. i suspect he thought he could get in, take kyiv in a short period of time, told xi jinping, we have to do this. this is our territory. don't worry, it will be over quickly. of course, that has proven not to be true. i would disagree with michael klare. it is not a 50/50 matter in the taiwan straits, the u.s. and china are provoking each other equally. china has not issued the use of force to retake taiwan, reintegrate it into the motherland. the united states rejects that.

it has not threatened to make china a treaty ally, put it into the quad. but it does, by congressional act, is committed to provide self with adequate defense. it seems legitimate. only 2% of the taiwane peopleant to be a part of the mainland. that is the reality. it is an open, free, democratic society. china is not. there lies the contentiousness. that is the contradiction. it is not one that biden can solve, even from a summit in bali. amy: michael klare, if you could respond to that. looking at the readout -- i want to let the viewers and listeners know, as we broadcast, the news conference is just taking place right now.

from that readout, the concern has been raised about -- that readout from the white house, president biden raising concerns about china's practices in human rits more oadly. your thoughts as we wrap up this discussion? michael: i am sure orville and i agree that the human rights situation in china is atrocious, and that this should be raise wherever possible. we should also mention that there has been a huge increase on attacks on asian americans in the united states. i attribute both of them -- the horrendous conditions in both countries -- to the intensification of these cold war tensions we have been discussing. one hopes that the meeting in

bali will lead to a lowering of hostilities between china and the united states, and that may make it possible to address human rights situation in china without it being overlaid with u.s.-china tensions making i worse. then conditions in this country against asians will improve. amy: orville schell, your final thoughts about this issue of human rights in china? orville: the united states, since 1972, during nonpresidential u.s. -- nine presidtial u.s. administrations, is to embce china, bring it into the world system.

was actually xi jinping who put a stake in through heart of engagement. we are now instrangement, increasingly more hostile relationship. there is some regret, i think, why would look back and try to bend leninism and autocra in china by introducing them into the world system. it did work but now we are facing a much more antagonistic system, and we don't know where it will lead. amy: orville schell, thank you for being with us. we will have to carry this discussion on for another time. the directive for the center of u.s. relatns in asia study, previously at the graduate school of journalism at berkeley and has been reporting on china since 1970. michael klare, defense correspondent for the nation,

professor emeritus of hampshire college. back here at cop27, we will look at where we are in egypt with ahmed el-droubi, greenpeace's middle east and africa director . ♪♪ [music break]

amy: amir eid, "when are you born." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting live from sharm el-sheikh, egypt, a country that is warming faster than the global average and in many ways is a bellwether for the painful effects of climate change. egypt is facing everything from rising seas and drought to desertification and deadly heat. the nile delta is considered one of the most vulnerable large deltas in the world to be directly affected by climate change by 2050, according to the u.n.'s intergovernmental panel on climate change. egyptian farmers are already struggling after changing weather patterns have severely affected crop yields in a country that is facing rising food insecurity. along with agricultural productivity, water scarcity and soil salination are among the most pressing issues egypt faces. egyptian authorities have launched a national strategy for tackling climate change for 2050, in which the government

would spend $113 billion for adaptation programs. it envisions almost half of that budget going to agriculture, although it says most of the money has yet to be raised. for more on how the climate crisis in egypt as well as the rest of the region, we are joined by ahmed el-droubi, greenpeace regional campaign manager for the middle east and north africa. we only have a few minutes, but if you could lay out the scope of the issue as we sit here right next to the red sea? ahmed: thank you for hosting. first of all, you summed it up well. the most significant the impacted sector in egypt is agriculture. it is facing many different threats. we have already seen the impacts happening across especially the last decade. for example, the olive harvest has been impacted heavily five

out of the last 10 years. there are many more significant issues like wheat, a part of our subsistence. this is made so much worse by geopolitical advancements in ukraine. ukraine exports so much wheat that comes from russia and ukraine. we are feeling the impacts of that global society here more so than elsewhere. what we have seen in the cultural sector is you can acclimatize to the changes in the weather. seasons have been shortened, impacting yield. we have seen waves of heat can impact you significantly, as well. our mango season was impacted

heavily last season. it is a vital crop for farmers in the eastern canal region. they suffered great economic losses. the nile delta is usually covered by sea water, but now we can see the impact. if you simply look at satellite images, you can see the first rows of farms across the delta have turned into aquaculture, are no longer able to provide the food. it is a growing crisis. the nile itself, models predict the standard deviation -- in the future, it is double as likely before drought -- for drought.

egypt is already under the water poverty line. putting into that the geopolitical issues, it creates a high likelihood of conflict, as well. amy: what do you think egypt has to do, what do you think nations that are most responsible for the climate crisis, like the u.s. and china, western countries need to do? ahmed: this is the point of these negotiations. it is an oversimplification but it hits the nail on the head. for 13 years we have been negotiating one question. whether those that have cause of this climate crisis will be held accountable and liable for their actions. so far, they have refused to

take responsibility. the founding principles-- have been watered down for decades. sadly, we are seeing this today with negotiations around loss and damage, even after the horrendous impact of the climate emergency here, especially in pakistan, nigeria, other places. they are proposing false, temporary solutions that do not address the core of the climate crisis. amy: that is what we will be doing all week, addressing the core issues here. who is responsible, what needs to be done. ahmed el-droubi is the greenpeace regional campaign manager for the middle east and north africa. all this week, democracynow is broadcasting live from sharm el-sheikh, egypt, from the

cop27. 27 conference of parties, the u.n. climate summit. democracy now! is produced with renee feltz, mike burke, deena guzder, messiah rhodes, nermeen shaikh, maria taracena, tami woronoff, charina nadura, sam alcoff, "@@4zñ

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ yaara bou melhem: new zealand, aotearoa, is blessed with fresh water, with its turquoise rivers and lakes and snow-capped mountains. its pristine and dramatic landscapes are the sets