07/06/23 07/06/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> like a classic kidnap. it just hasn't happened in a long time. they came, through the taxi driver of the car, put my head down and tied my hands. they put me on my knees and a pistol to my head. amy: prominent russian journalist elena milashina suffers our brain injury after

being violently attacked all reporting in chechnya. we will go to moscow. first to kyiv. we will speak with andrey kurkov . then to syria where the united nations has established an independent body to investigate what happened to more than 130,000 people who have gone missing during the 12 your conflict. we will also look at a new bbc documentary "captagon: inside syria's drug trafficking empire." >> my search reveals the role of -- >> no smuggler operates without connections to the regime. >> how the syrian regime has

become addicted to captagon. >> if assad stopped the drug trade for 20 days, the economy would collapse. amy: in the united states, we will speak with congressmember ro khanna who has introduced a bill to limit supreme court justices to 18 year terms. he was also the only member of the house armed services committee to vote no on the new pentagon budget. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the international atomic energy agency says it's seen no evidence to back claims by ukraine's government that russia's military has planted explosives at the russian-held zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern ukraine. but the iaea said it needed additional access to all six of zaporizhzhia's reactor buildings to be sure. both moscow and kyiv have accused each other of preparing to sabotage europe's biggest nuclear plant.

overnight, a russian missile attack on the western city of lviv killed at least four people and injured 32 others. in eastern ukraine, an airstrike triggered a massive fireball in the russian-occupied city of makiivka. video shows a smaller initial -- russian officials said the strike hit a hospital, killing one person and injuring dozens. ukraine's military says the video clearly shows it struck a russian arms depot. in minsk, belarusian president alexander lukashenko said earlier today the head of russia's wagner group is no longer in belarus and is instead in st. petersburg, russia. his surprise announcement came after russian state tv broadcast images of police raids on yevgeny prigozhin's office in st. petersburg and one of his mansions. yevgeny prigozhin has not been seen publicly since june 24. president lukashenko previously claimed prigozhin had arrived in belarus to live in exile as part of an agreement that ended a mutiny by wagner forces as they

advanced to within 120 miles of moscow. president biden met with swedish prime minister at the white house ahead of nato's annual summit in vilnius, lithuania, next week. pres. biden: sweden is going to make our alliance stronger and has the same value set we have in nato. looking forward to your membership. amy: sweden's bid to join nato has been blocked by turkish president recep tayyip erdogan, who accuses sweden of harboring members of the kurdistan workers' party, which is considered a terrorist group by turkey. turkey's opposition to sweden joining nato is now facing a further challenge as protests have broken out in a number of muslim countri after two men staged a demonstration in which they tore up and burned a quran outside a stockholm mosque last week. this is an iranian protester speaking monday front of e swedisembassy inehran. >> we declare we are muslim and

country h the right to inlt the qan and desecrated. if they insulted, they will be given a strong response. amy: pope francis has also condemned the quran burning. a federal judge in louisiana has barred biden administration officials from asking social media companies to remove misinformation from websites and apps. the ruling has broad ramifications for the ability of government officials to engage with the public through popular online forums. in a 155-page ruling handed down tuesday, u.s. district court judge terry doughty, a trump appointee, issued an injunction against federal officials and agencies contacting sites like facebook, twitter, and youtube, siding with republican attorneys general who accused president biden of trying to silence his critics. judge doughty said several federal officials violated the first amendment when they asked social media companies to take down misinformation about covid-19, including false content about vaccines and the effectiveness of wearing masks.

the judge also accused officials of suppressing free speech by battling claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. legal observers say the sweeping ruling could end up enjoining hundreds of thousands of government employees from participating in online debate. in more technology news, meta, the parent company of facebook and instagram, has officially launched a rival social media platform to twitter, which has been struggling to retain users and advertisers since its purchase by billionaire elon musk last october. in the latest in a series of unpopular moves, musk said over the weekend twitter will begin limiting the number of tweets its users would be able to view per day unless they pay for premium service. meanwhile, canada's government says it has halted all advertising on facebook and instagram after meta moved to restrict news content across canada. meta's move came after canadian lawmakers approved the online news act, which will require tech companies to pay news

outlets for posting their content on their platforms. google's parent company alphabet has also removed canadian news articles from search results after calling the new law unworkable. president biden has nominated elliott abrams to the bipartisan u.s. advisory commission on public diplomacy. elliot abrams was convicted in 1991 of lying to congress about the iran-contra affair and later pardoned by then-president george h.w. bush. he has defended death squads in guatemala and el salvador in the 1980's. he was then assistant secretary under president ronald reagan. abrams dismissed reports that the u.s.-trained military had massacred 1000 civilians, including children, in the salvadoran town of el mozote in december 1981. he has also been linked to the 2002 attempted coup against venezuelan president hugo chávez and helped plan the u.s. invasion of iraq. under president trump, abrams served as special envoy to iran and venezuela.

abrams will need to be confirmed by the senate to serve on the commission. the united nations is warning rates of severe malnutrition in ethiopia's tigray have risen sharply with nearly 9 million people needing food aid in the war-ravaged northern region. the world food programme and the u.s. government, ethiopia's two largest food donors, both halted deliveries to tigray in april, saying the food was being diverted away from those in need. a tigrayan official said hundreds have died, including children, since the aid was withdrawn, calling the situation extremely desperate. in israel, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of tel aviv wednesday evening after the city's police commander announced he was resigning under pressure from senior israeli government officials. commander ami eshed said he would rather step aside than follow the demands of cabinet members, who demanded a violent crackdown on protesters opposed to plans by the far-right government of benjamin netanyahu

to gut israel's judiciary. this is a protester who took to -- speaking wednesday. >> i am here today because i care about democracy. i know that the government decided to fire the head police officer of tel aviv only because he decided it is illegal to protest, this is one step further for israel to be a nondemocratic state. amy: back in the united states, unionized ups drivers and warehouse workers are moving closer to a strike after contract negotiations broke down wednesday. more than 340,000 ups workers represented by the teamsters are fighting for better wages amid soaring cost of living increases and company profits. the current contract expires on july 31. in more labor news, thousands of los angeles hotel workers

returned to work wednesday after a three-day strike over the busy july 4 weekend. workers say more stoppages are to be expected until a deal is reached on fair wages, health care and pension benefits, and improved working conditions. and in a major victory for baristas, the national labor relations board ruled starbucks violated federal labor law when it fired workers at several pittsburgh stores who were organizing their coworkers. starbucks now has over 330 unionized coffee shops. 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 democracy now! 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: we begin today's show in ukraine. overnight, a russian missile strike hit a residential building in the western city of lviv, killing four and injuring 32 others. meanwhile, in eastern ukraine, an airstrike triggered a massive fireball in the russian-occupied city of makiivka.

ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy vowed there would be a "tangible" response. this comes as ukrainians gathered tuesday to mourn the death of renowned writer victoria amelina, who died as a result of injuries from a russian strike on a restaurant in kramatorsk last week, which killed 13 people. amelina was part of a human rights group, truth hounds, investigating russian war crimes. she had been meeting with a group of colombians at a restaurant when she died. she was remembered by her peers during a funeral service in kyiv. >> it was important to her to travel to the occupied areas and cast testimony about russia's crimes. we lost a human rights defender, and honest and shining voice on the international stage.

amy: for more, we are joined andre kurkov, one of ukraine's best-known authors and the former president of pen ukraine. he was a friend of victoria amelina. his tribute to her in the guardian is headlined "her smile sparkled even in the most difficult times." he is the author of dozens of books, most recently, "diary of an invasion." welcome back to democracy now! and our deepest condolences to you. she was not only a well-known writer, but a friend of yours. can you tell us about victoria amelina, how she lived and then how she died? >> well, she was a normal person. if you just saw her in the street, she was nice, i was smiling. -- alws smiling.

she changed her way of life several times because when she was 14, she was taken by her father to canada to immigration. she decided to go back to ukraine, to her family, her own city of lviv where she studied computer sciences. then she decided to quit and become a writer. she was writing poems, essays. she published two novels. from 2014, 2015, she became very politically engaged, socially engaged. she immediately started organizing campaigns to free -- from prison. a film director who was accused by russians of terrorist activities, which was a false

accusation, course. spent five years in a russian prison. she was more active politically and socially than literally because she just did not have enough time to write. also when she was wounded in, torso, she was there with -- kramatorsk, she was -- she died on the first of july, which is the birthday of another writer who was killed one year ago by russian militar and whose body she was looking for for several months before his body was identified in november in a mass great. she recovered his diaries that

he hid under a cherry tree of his parents garden. actually, several days before, she was wounded on june 22, she was presenting the book, these diaries were included. she was one of the most active ukrainian authors and i would say political activist. nermeen: you have said she was working since the invasion, documenting war crimes in ukraine. if you could say -- she was working on her first nonfiction book in english about war crimes been documented by ukrainian women. the book was to be titled "war

and justice derek: looking at women looking at war." could you talk about that? >> this book was almost finished, like 80% of the book she wrote, wrote it in english so it would become easily accessible to the publishers abroad. actually, 16 months, the last 16 months go she was traveling all the time either to the front lines in recently liberated ukrainian territories and to europe to report on the atrocities committed by the russian army. all this was for the sake of the book, which will be published, i believe, i don't know yet the name of the publisher -- this was her last project and it will remain her last project. nermeen: she is one of dozens of

writers who have been killed, writers and film makers who have been killed since the war began. can you talk about some of the others who have died in these months since the russian invasion? >> there are about 30 are probably more artistic personalities who became victims of this war, victims of the russian army, or killed on the frontline, soldiers. i mentioned ready one who was an author of books for children who decided not to evacuate from his village in eastern ukraine because of his severely disabled son and who was first taken for questioning in the beginning of march and then returned home.

the second time he was taken for questioning and he was never seen again. he was buried in december last year. he is remembered as one of the most tragic victims of this war. i can mention, of course, many others, including yuri who was killed in action. also a poet from levine who volunteered to become a soldier and was fighting in eastern ukraine. probably we will have a separate book with the text written by authors killed by the russian aggression published in the near future.

we don't know when the war is going to end, but it will cost a lot for ukrainian culture. amy: andrey kurkov we spoke to you just a little over a year ago when you were here with the big 10 event. you are talking about your book. you have written a new book now called "diary of an invasion." explain how you started writing it. you went back to ukraine after we spoke and you just came back to kyiv as well. you were out of the country. explain your situation as a writer. >> i do right diaries, but i was writing mostly articles and essays about what happened from the very beginning of the war and also before the new invasion. i was asked, english publisher

to send him the text, which i did. in it -- actually, the book was published first in london in october last year. it covers the event in ukraine from december 2021 to july 2022. it includes also not only my diary notes but also articles and essays that i wrote for international media and publish in the newspapers like "the guardian" and "the financial times" or magazines like "spectator." i continued to write essays about what is happening now and probably there will be included in the second book. amy: andrey kurkov, again, our condolences on the death of your friend and a friend to so many,

the ukrainian writer victoria amelina. andrey kurkov, one of ukraine's best-known authors and the former president of pen ukraine. his tribute to her in the guardian we will link to, "her smile sparkled even in the most difficult times." he is the author of dozens of books, including most recently "diary of an invasion." ,we go now to moscow to look at how the prominent russian journalist elena milashina has been diagnosed with a brain injury and multiple fractures after she was violently attacked on july 4, along with attorney alexander nemov, while on their way to the court sentencing of a human rights activist in grozny, chechnya's capital. unknown assailants beat them, shaved off elaina's hair, and doused her in blue-green liquid iodine. her fingers were reportedly broken because she resisted demands to unlock her phone.

milashina reports for the novaya gazeta and exposed chechnya's human rights abuses. she described the harrowing attack from the hospital where she was being treated. >> it was like a classic kidnap. like the ones you see. it hasn't happened and a long time. they came, through the taxi driver out of the car. they got in, put my head down and tied my hands. they put a pistol to my head. amy: elena milashina works for the newspaper novaya gazeta, one of the last independent media outlets in russia. cofounded by nobel peace laureate dmitry muratov and was stripped of its media license last year. for more, we go to moscow to speak with anna dobrovolskaya, who served as the executive director of memorial human rights center in moscow before it was shut down by the russian government last year. welcome back to democracy now!

under very sad circumstances as we report on the death of the ukrainian writer victoria amelina and now the savage attack on elena milashina in chechnya. can you talk about the circumstances, what you understand -- we had her in our studio years ago talking about the gravity of the situation in chechnya, now it is different but she has still been brutalized. >> hello. thank you for having me back. elena milashina is one of the bravest russian journalists who worked a lot covering the human rights violations in chechnya. she was on her way to a court hearing but it was not -- it was a mother of three human rights activists, brothers who all of

them are outside of russia at the moment but their mother was taken as a hostage on the day of the attack against elena and alexander. she was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for the falsified case of fraud. one of the multiple cases, one human rights activists are being abused and suppressed so they would either leave the region and the country or stop talking altogether. this is done so her sons would return back to russia. if they do this, they will meet lee be taken by authorities -- immediately taken by authorities and will be there tortured to death or killed right away. elena milashina and the attorney alexander were on their way to be at the court hearing. they were brutally attacked.

it was not the first attack for her. she was attacked two years ago. she was also on her way to one of the human rights trials. she is probably one of the few persons who always comes back. i cannot say i wish she comes back to chechnya because it is a clear signal that next time it will be even more brutal. nermeen: she was actually, in addition to having been attacked before, the head of the chechen republic openly threatened her in 2022 last year, calling her a terrorist and terrorist accomplishes and demanding her arrest. -- accomplice and to ben hur rest. can you talk about that? given his open comments about her, it was quite extraordinaire she went because she must have

known she would once again be targeted. >> it was true -- it was predictable and unpredictable if she would be targeted. it is impossible to work there. elena knew this well but she still made the choice to go and demonstrate she's not afraid that human rights lawyers are not afraid of -- attorneys are not afraid to go. though it is becoming more and more dangerous. openly, publicly terrorizing her and saying there will be some consequences. i think there was a criminal case open because at this speech. right now the criminal case is also open because of this attack, because of the attack on elena and alexander.

by the federal authorities, it is very unique. they are saying it is impossible, it has to be investigated. at the same time, chechen authorities say none of it was reported on the security cameras . it was a very common response by the authorities and almost all of the authorities in russia whenever a human rights defender, journalist, independent lawyer has been attacked, it is more or less always the same response. we still have no clear picture on the killing of other human rights defenders, go wasn't she also covering the situation of the elena situational quotation? >> yes, the lgbt community but more important than that, she was covering the secret prisons.

not solely targeting the lgbtq community, but targeting basically every -- activists, but every person who speaks openly something against the regime. basically, no one could have stayed in chechnya if he or she wanted to say something against. a particular wave of oppression was targeted as you be thank you -- lgbtq. we don't know what is happening now because the region is extremely closed. our colleague was also imprisoned. it is very random victims of human rights defenders. unfortunately, they continue to be attacked.

nermeen: while you were head of memorial human rights center, said you worked on documenting war crimes in chechnya. if you could talk about the period you covered and also explain the rise to power. his father fought against the russians in the first chechen war but then changed sides in the second chechen war. could you explain the position he now occupies, how he came to occupy that position, and his relationship to putin? >> chechnya is a very particular part of russia. it is a beautiful region with very tragic episodes of history. it was one of the strongest separatist movements after russia became independent from the soviet union and the people were bravely struggling to gain more independence, gain more fair negotiations.

unfortunately, or fortunately, they did not succeed, like it didn't happen. but there was the second chechen war and between those wars and during them as well, there were massive terrorist attacks in the region and also, like, central cities of russia. some investigators say those attacks have -- blame it on terrorists from elsewhere. right now we don't have any evidence to say who it was. it was used, like, i think putin's regime and yeltsin's regime saying you will have complete power over this region if you stop fighting for freedom, we will give you what everyone. he will be the king of this land. that is what has happened. his father was killed by a

terrorist attack many, many years ago. the authorities came -- now he rules a very harsh dictatorship in the region. memorial always said whatever is happening in chechnya, does not get any investigation or any proper response from the authorities. that is the way up impunity first grown in russia. klingon ukraine's ukraine and other countries. he demonstrates to us once we ignore human rights violations happening inside a dictatorship like russia, it will always, always, always end up a massive, horrible -- with worse. amy: anna dobrovolskaya, thank you for being with us, served as the executive director of memorial human rights center in moscow before it was shut down by the russian government last

year. next up, we go to syria where the united nations has established an independent body to investigate what happened more than 130,000 people who have gone missing during the 12 your conflict and we will look at a new bbc documentary "captagon: inside syria's drug trafficking empire." then congress member ro khanna joins us from south carolina. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "caravan of life" by mahsa vahdat. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn now to syria. humanitarian groups wednesday urged the united nations security council extend syria's cross-border aid mechanism for another year in order to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to more than 4 million people into northwest syria after 12 years of war. the mechanism was established in 2014 to enable the u.n. and other groups to provide eight opposition held areas in syria without the authorization of the syrian government. doctors without borders reports the number of authorized crossing points is now down from four to one even after an earthquake devastated part of syria in february. the need is enormous.

meanwhile, the united nations general assembly has approved a resolution to establish an independent body to investigate what happened to more than 130,000 people who went missing during the conflict in syria and "to provide adequate support to victims, survivors and the families of those missing." the government, the syrian government opposed the resolution, along with russia, china, belarus, north korea, cuba, and iran. this comes as itv news reports that in the days leading up to the failed mutiny by wagner group in russia, syrian officials were in talks to increase the number of wagner fighters in syria and make the country its biggest base as part of a lucrative deal with president bashar al-assad. in a minute, we will look at a new bbc investigation into assad's role in producing the highly addictive amphetamine known as captagon and how this is impacting his relations with saudi arabia and other countries.

we begin with dr. zaher sahloul, president and ceo of the medical nonprofit medglobal, which provides health care in disaster regions, including syria. he was also a classmate of bashar al-assad in medical school. the president of syria is also a doctor. welcome back to democracy now! start off with talking about 120,000 people it is estimated are missing in the 12 years of this conflict. >> thank you for having me. this is one of the most painful chapters in the syrian crisis. as you mentioned, 120,000 people are at least missing in the last 12 years. most of them according to human rights organizations by the assad regime, about 85% of them. one of them, a dentist, also a test champion in syria, a doctor, who disappeared in 2013 by the assad regime

intelligence. six children. one of them was a year and a half. the oldest was 13 years old. no one knows where she is. she is one of tens of thousands of women and children and men who disappeared by the assad regime and their families do not know anything about them. some of the family members got to know their loved ones have died under torture by looking at the pictures and files, which as you remember, missing person smuggled about 2000 pictures of people who died under torture by the assad regime. some fellow members discover their loved ones died because of torture -- family members discover their loved ones died because of torture. along the family members the love ones, their children, sisters and fathers have disappeared, to have one source of information about their

family members. also have closure for this painful chapter. nermeen: dr. sahloul, how is this institution likely to work? what tools will people have to find these disappeared people? i suppose the assumption is they are either in the prison system or have been killed. >> when i was young growing up in syria, my uncle was in high school, also was forcefully disappeared were actually he was detained by the father of the current president. i remember my grandmother going every week to the local authorities trying to find some information about him. every week she comes back humiliated and not knowing what is going on with him. he was in prison for 12 years and then suddenly he appeared.

many family members don't know anything about their loved ones. they go from place to place. different human rights organizations. hopefully, would allow more coordination between the different human rights organizations that collect information about the families and the victims. it should have representation of the victims, the survivors of torture, and also the family so their voice can be heard. that way you have one for everyone who lost someone who had some disappear in the prisons of assad. and also other entities that are in syria. you have opposition groups and sdf who also detain and forcefully disappeared other victims. nermeen: you have gone to syria multiple times to assist in providing medical assistance. you were there earlier this year after the earthquake. could you describe the conditions in syria, reportedly,

up to 90% of syrians are now living in poverty? >> it is devastating. it is painful for me because i grew up in syria and then came to the united states and practicing physician. every time i go there, i see the deterioration of the conditions in the level -- the disparity and also the number of displaced people. i went inside idlib providing training on new technology that helps physicians to treat trauma patients, but there was a large idp camp that had 100,000 people. everywhere around you, you see tents. there are more than 1.5 million people that live in tents in idlib. cannot imagine going back to their cities with the assad regime still in control.

the situation is wearable. children are everywhere. you look in the cap. education is one of the most hidden sectors in the economy there, many parts of syria. also health care is one of the worst hit. the who, the hospitals have been attacked by the assad regime and russia. you mentioned previously about the russian attacks in chechnya. we believe in syria, because what happened in syria, you have the war in ukraine. what is happening, the russians use illegal weapons, they train their army, according to them, they use 300 new weapons in syria. they targeted hospitals and civilian buildings like what they did lviv and now doing it in ukraine. amy: we are turning now to a new

investigation by the bbc that reveals direct links between syria's trade in the highly addictive drug called captagon and members of the armed forces and serum president bashar al-assad's family. >> my search reveals syria's most powerful family's role. close no smuggler operates without connections to the regime. and cover how the syrian regime itself has become addicted to captagon. >> if assad stop the drug trade for 20 days, the a, would collapse. amy: that is the opening of the new bbc documentary "captagon: inside syria's drug trafficking empire." the reporter narrating is a senior fellow at the center for international policy presenter for bbc arabic rasha qandeel. she will join us in a moment.

first, she speaks in this clip with a syrian soldier who reveals his role in the captagon trade. the soldier's identity is hidden for their safety.

>> we ask him to describe his role and the local captagon trade. >> in 2021, i went out in a convoy with my comrades. we were not allowed to go to the factory. >> once again, the syrian army police force division is named. so is hezbollah. there close to the syrian

government and have been themselves accused of involvement in drug trafficking. amy: that is a clip from the new documentary "captagon: inside syria's drug trafficking empire." for more, we're joined by rasha qandeel. this is a powerful documentary. captagon may be a new word for people outside of the region. it has been described as the poor man's cocaine. can you tell us about it and how it became to be so prevalent for the reduction in syria, but especially its use in saudi arabia? >> thank you very much for having me. this is a project, investigation .

the lead reporter on this, we've been following in six countries per year and half the network that has been using witnesses, unseen evidence, was have conversations, inside testimonies, a lot of leads. it is called that because it is not. new but it is new as a substance . originally, amphetamine-like substance and developed by germany in the first and second world war. the formula now is very different. only carries the name captagon. you've come to the conclusion after year and a half of work in six countries there are direct links between members of the assad family --

very important project -- amy: we are talking to rasha qandeel, presenter would bbc arabic. talking about this drug captagon . if you can explain how it is determining the geopolitics of the region and the acceptance of the charlotte side regime, inviting --bashar al-assad regime, inviting them back into the arab community of possibly the lifting of sanctions? >> thank you for the excellent question. it is a force or pressure not only in the region but also on an international level. the e.u. and the united states are concerned [indiscernible]

clearly shows, and this is what i indicated and my team, the brilliant director and the rest of the team indicate that the sanctions on the syrian and lebanese people is not -- eight is a force in the middle east. there is a new normalization with bashar al-assad and the arab league recently. from inside information, i've heard throughout filming this investigation that it was the main card on the table. i have been told by prominent sources that bashar al-assad was asked directly to control the captagon in the region in return for syria coming back to the arab league. in the coming months, this is going to be a main factor and a lot of changes in the middle east, probably in the dynamics as well between russia and the

united states, given the heat in ukraine, and also the trade itself is very powerful. the networks are universal now. the alternative routes that are -- smugglers are reaching out fast and furious. nobody knows yet if it is reaching the united states or not. nothing is impossible -- consumed. important thing, which is what saudi arabia is the biggest consumer in this. i have heard even though we have not really had much interaction with saudi arabia, they were not very involved in the film, but i've heard from prominent sources in the gulf they consider this to be a war.

definitely a geopolitical issue that needs to be looked into. nermeen: just before we end, if you could tell us who are the principal consumers? who are the people addicted to captagon in syria but also in saudi arabia and other places? >> i have heard horrific stories over a year and a half about young people ,minors under 15, who consumes this heavily in all the countries, jordan, libya, and i have heard other stories from officials in the middle east that some of them are being abused to be used as smugglers, they are forced to become addicts and then smugglers because they almost get nothing for the profit goes back to those making use of this trade. i am sorry to say it is mostly young people.

some of them are targeted -- we interviewed in the film a user and he is under 22 years old and he has been an addict for six years. the atrocities he has been subjected to our untold. it is really sad to see a new generation relying on such substance and just not [indiscernible] amy: we have to leave it there because we are having trouble with the skype connection. rasha qandeel, thank you for being with us senior fellow at , the center for international policy presenter for bbc arabic. ,you can see the new documentary "captagon: inside syria's drug trafficking empire" on youtube. and dr. zaher sahloul is the president and ceo of medglobal. back in 30 seconds with congressmember ro khanna stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we spend the rest of the er with democratic congressmember ro khanna, who has several topics to discuss with us. thank you for joining us both of joining us from charleston, south carolina. we want to start with your introduction of a bill to limit supreme court justices to 18

year terms. what are you calling for? >> amy, most americans have seen the supreme court is just widely out of touch with the facts of modern life. they're taking away rights for women. they are penalizing students who are poor. they are making campuses less diverse. there rolling back environmental legislation. what we're saying is let's have term limits on these justices. every president gets two appointments. the justices get 18 years. and they can go serve on a lower court so they remain a judge for life under the constitution. amy: what about the number of supreme court justices, one president can choose? i have heard the number two, trump chose three, of course. >> every president would get two appointments. this would prevent something like the merrick garland situation, which has passed such

illegitimacy on the court, where president obama was blocked from picking someone and it expedited for trump to get three points. every president would get an appointment, two appointments in their four-year term. amy: congressmember, can you also talk about being the sole person, i think it was 58-1, on the house armed services committee to vote no on the new pentagon budget? >> it is not a distinction that i want. i wish more of my colleagues would recognize what is so obvious to many americans. they do have a loaded pentagon budget. a defense contractors are making extraordinary profits, having goods sold to the american public at 10,000% inflation. we need to tackle that. the money is not just going to

troops, not just going to national security, it is lining the pockets of many of these defense executives. we are approaching almost a trillion dollar defense budget. it is nearly 56% of discretionary income. i would rather we be invested -- investing that money in schools at home and jobs. amy: i want ask about the visit of prime minister modi. president biden welcome to the indian prime minister to the white house, praising a new era in u.s.-india relations. the trip roundly condemned by human rights advocates. at least five democratic lawmakers announced plans to boycott modi's joint address to congress, including alexandria ocasio-cortez, ilhan omar, rashida tlaib, cori bush, and jamaal bowman. in a post on social media, tlaib wrote -- "it's shameful that modi has been given a platform at our nation's capital -- his long history of human rights abuses, anti-democratic actions, targeting muslims and religious minorities, and censoring

journalists is unacceptable." more than 70 democrats in the house and senate also signed a letter urging biden to focus on human rights in talks with modi. congressmember khanna, many in the progressive community were surprised to learn you were in favor of modi addressing a joint session of congress and biden welcoming modi with a rare state dinner, one of the highest diplomatic honors bestowed on a foreign leader. but you are also a major engine for this. amit shrivastava wrote in truthout -- "why did representative khanna, who positions himself as a progressive, choose to invite modi in spite of the prime minister and the bjp's track record of violence and bigotry -- especially at a moment when the uttarakhand and manipur violence was escalating? the answer lies in the u.s.-india defense partnership and the drive toward war. it is clear that in the con of a -- context of a growing cold war

with china and russia, the west had decided that it is time to draw india in, even if it means playing to the megalomania of an authoritarian leader." your response, congressmember khanna? >> it is a fair question. i believe the prime minister is an elected leader of 1.4 billion people, and the way to make progress on human rights is to engage with the indian prime minister. i am also sensitive that india is two generations removed from colonialism. my grandfather spent years in jail under british colonialism and was part of the congress party advocating for pluralism. the idea india is going to respond simply by being lectured from the west is not going to work. in my view, it is similar to president obama. we have to engage india, arise in democracy, go where they have

problems, and then having conversations about the challenge of multiracial, multiethnic democracy. and that means respecting an already rights. it means taking sure muslims, christians are treated equally and having those candid conversations with the prime minister and others. as i did when i had the opportunity to meet the prime minister. but to simply boycott a country that has chosen to elect their own leader, i think would be a mistake and not actually advance human rights in india. amy: according to the nation, you have received more than $110,000 from hindu nationalist figures in the united states. your response? >> we raised millions of dollars online. there are many americans who contribute to our campaign committee pakistani americans who contribute. i don't ask their view on indian

politics when there contribute in. certainly, i have gone out of my way to criticize right-wing nationalism in india to stand up for pluralism and even in the last two election cycles had a challenger who has been supported by some of the extreme elements because they did not like my stance on pluralism. amy: i want to thank you for being with us, congress member ro khanna, democratic congressmember from california, and deputy whip of the congressional progressive caucus. just recently voted no on the pentagon budget , thesole voice of the armed services committee. the vote was 58-1. that does it for our show. 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!]