07/12/23 07/12/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> ukraine is not closer to nato than ever before. allies reaffirmed ukraine will become a member of the alliance. agreed to remove -- dylan amy: nato says ukraine will someday be invited to the military alliance, but the u.s. and its

european allies are just not saying when. we will get the latest. then to the devastating war in sudan. >> the humanitarian crisis has intensified with over half a million people displaced, hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes. the capital city has been decimated. the structures destroyed by the rapid support forces. america we will go to vermont where catastrophic flooding submerged the states capital in many towns. >> 13 swift to rescue teams have performed more than 100 rescues throughout the state and they remain extremely busy. additionally, five teams from connecticut, massachusetts, and north carolina are assisting. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ukrainian president volodymyr solesky is attaining his first took council meeting at the summit in vilnius, lithuania. on tuesday, nato said it planned to grant ukraine membership in the future but did not offer a timetable. zelenskyy blasted the lack of clear timeline as absurd as he has been intensely lobbying for expedited accession into the military alliance. jens stoltenberg said the most urgent task is to supply them with weapons. zelenskyy is meeting with president today, who opposed immediate membership for ukraine. biden is also delivering remarks today. meanwhile, top russian official dmitry medvedev warned tuesday, "world war iii is getting closer." the u.s. has slammed russia's inhumane veto to extend a key

aid delivery route from turkey into syria. the u.n. security council failed to pass an extension after russia's proposal to approve a six-month extension, rather than nine- or 12-month one, failed to gain support. the syrian government backed russia's decision, accusing western powers at the security council of "violating syria's sovereignty under the pretext of delivering cross-border aid." the u.n. responded to the news tuesday. >> u.n. cross-border assistance remains a lifeline for minds of people in the northwest of syria as humanitarian needs have reached an all-time high is the start of the conflict. while the impact of the devastating february earthquake is still acutely felt. amy: in more news about syria, the committee to protect journalists is demanding the government reverse its decision to revoke the accreditation of two local bbc journalists after accusing them of false and politicized reporting.

in afghanistan, two children, aged four and 15, died after taliban authorities forcibly evicted nearly 300 internally displaced families from a makeshift camp in kabul. the norwegian refugee council documented the settlement's demolition, saying some 1700 people were forced into the streets while authorities blocked humanitarian aid groups from the site. millions of afghans have been internally displaced following 20 years of u.s. occupation and violence followed by the taliban takeover in 2021. in iowa, republican lawmakers passed a six-week abortion ban last night following a marathon one-day special legislative session. republican governor kim reynolds said she would sign the bill into law friday. it will go into effect immediately unless halted by a court. abortion is currently legal in iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. the new ban would only provide exceptions for miscarriages,

when the life of the patient or the fetus is at risk, and for rape and incest if the rape is reported to an official. in vermont, waters are starting to recede after historic flooding inundated roads, homes, and businesses. an emergency health order closed downtown montpelier for a day as it was submerged in water. over 100 people have been rescued. officials fear more rains forecast for thursday could create even more havoc. governor phil scott said tuesday the flooding and rains were greater than 2011's hurricane irene. >> people will think this is over but it is not over. the rivers could still rise and the water has to go someplace, the reservoirs are filling up. amy: later in the broadcast, we'll go to vermont for the latest. a federal appeals court has ordered a halt to construction of a section of the mountain valley pipeline that runs through the jefferson national forest as it reviews a challenge by environmental groups.

last month's debt ceiling legislation fast tracked approval and construction of the 300-mile pipeline in west virginia and virginia despite opposition from environmental experts, affected communities, and many democrats. joe manchin, the senate's biggest recipient of oil industry funding who pushed for expediting the pipeline, blasted the court's stay as unlawful. the european parliament has narrowly approved the flagship nature restoration law. environmentalists heralded today's vote, which right-wing lawmakers and industrial farming lobbies had been pushing against. the legislation, which lawmakers must now debate, will work to restore biodiversity in europe. in 2021, the european environment agency found that over 80% of the eu's ecosystems are in poor or bad condition. climate activists have been organizing around the law. on tuesday, greta thunberg joined others in front of the eu parliament in strasbourg. >> we demand they do not reject this law and vote for the

strongest law possible. anything else will be seen exactly as it is, a betrayal. amy: a shipwreck off the coast of greece that killed at least 81 migrants last month may have been caused by the greek coast guard, which later tried to cover up its possible blame. -- cover up its responsibility. that's according to a joint probe by several news outlets, including the guardian, which suggests the greek coast guard's efforts to tow the vessel actually destabilized it and ultimately caused it to capsize. over 500 migrants are still missing and feared dead. in haiti, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets demanding an end to the gang violence and political instability that's nearly paralyzed the island nation. heavily armed criminal groups have expanded their control, taking over local communities by force. there's been reports of extrajudicial killings and sexual violence happening on a daily basis, with women and children most at risk. this is one of the protesters.

>> we must all be one because we all suffer from the high cost of living. today we are in the streets. can haiti be free with the current government and education system? this year we are asking for liberation for haiti. amy: in san francisco, a class action lawsuit accuses google of violating the privacy and property rights of millions of users by scraping their personal data and copyrighted material from websites without permission. the information was then used to train google's artificial intelligence systems, including the chatbot bard. plaintiffs say google "has been secretly stealing everything ever created and shared on the internet by hundreds of millions of americans" to develop its ai products. a grand jury has been impaneled in fulton county district attorney fani willis' case investigating whether donald trump and others should face criminal charges for their

efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in georgia. in january 2021, trump asked georgia's secretary of state to find enough votes to overturn biden's victory. willis has said indictments could come in august. this comes as trump's team has asked to postpone the federal criminal trial related to his handling of classified documents until after the 2024 election. in more legal woes for the former president, trump has lost presidential immunity from writer e. jean carroll's defamation lawsuit against him. on tuesday, the justice department said it would no longer hold the position that trump's denial of raping carroll and derogatory comments made in 2019 were related to his duties as president. in britain, some 900 amazon warehouse workers in the city of coventry are on a three-day strike coinciding with amazon prime day, which runs tuesday and wednesday this week. the workers are fighting for fair wages, humane working

conditions, and recognition of their union. amazon workers in germany are also striking this week. >> we are in solidarity with workers and amazon in the united states. your fight is our fight. we are in solidarity with the amazon workers in coventry who are on strike. we are fighting for better conditions, for more money in amazon worldwide. amy: here in the united states, dozens of delivery drivers contracted by amazon in california have been strike since late june to protest unsafe working conditions amid extreme heat. and federal mediators have been brought in as talks between hollywood studios and sag-aftra are in their 11th hour. actors are seeking better residual payments from streaming platforms.

the extended contract of unionized actors expires at midnight tonight. the writers guild remains on strike. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, with democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: nato is saying ukraine is "closer than ever" to joining the military alliance but nato nations are resisting calls to give kyiv a timeline to membership. nato leaders are meeting in vilnius, lithuania, today for the second day of talks. in a communique issued tuesday, the 31 nations in nato said -- "we will be in a position to extend an invitation to ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met." this is nato secretary general jens stoltenberg. >> we reaffirm that ukraine will

become a member of nato. agreed to remove the requirem ent -- this will change ukraine's membership pass from a two-step process to a one step process. we also made clear that we for failing to give ukraine a timeline to join the military alliance. >> on our agenda, think today we have three important questions. weapon packages for supporting our army on the battlefield, and that is one. the second, in addition to nato

and we want -- today what we hear and understand, we will have an invitation when security measures will allow. i what to discuss these things and will fight for these security guarantees for ukraine on the way to nato. amy: over the past 48 hours, a number of nations have announced new military assistance for ukraine. france has agreed to send ukraine long-range cruise missiles. a group of 11 nato nations have pledged to begin training ukrainian pilots to fly any has finalized a new $770 million military package that includes more tanks and patriot missiles. g7 leaders are also expected to

announce today a new wide-ranging security pact with ukraine. we are joined now by two guests. in washington, medea benjamin joins us, cofounder of codepink, co-author of the new book "war in ukraine: making sense of a senseless conflict." she is just back from visiting western ukraine. and in berlin, we are joined by andreas zumach. he is the defense correspondent for the left-wing german daily "die tageszeitung." we welcome you both to democracy now! andreas, can you respond to what happened at the nato summit in vilnius so far and particularly also talked about germany's position, vis-à-vis, ukraine and the united states. >> germany and also u.s., against making the commitment to ukraine's membership at this point of time. the main reason is the calculation that by fall this year, the so-called spring offensive of ukrainian forces

might have made some gains and then would be possible to call for negotiations. whether this calculation will work or not, i'm skeptical. the hope is putin be prepared then to talk. but if not, nato would have given a clear signal toward nato membership for ukraine, putin would not have joint. this is a concern. the dilemma is even bigger than it has been before. this nato summit. the main condition for ukraine membership is an end to this war . i am convinced as long as the issue of ukrainian nato membership is on the table, this war will not end. this dilemma has become even bigger after this nato summit. so far, the public statements we have heard are somewhat dishonest. juan: what is your sense of the

public sentiment in germany as the war drags on? obviously, the european union is facing even more economic dislocation as a result. how is public sentiment in germany? >> the latest serious poll has been taken at the end of may by the public television network. according to this poll, only 43% support further weapons deliveries to ukraine. this figure is way down from about 75% during earlier months of the war. the other result is 55% think the diplomatic efforts to put an end to the war are not sufficient. this number has steadily declined from literally zero at the beginning of the war, and i expect it will climb even further in the upcoming weeks and months.

juan: there have been reports of back channel meetings between former u.s. national security officials and russian officials with the aim of laying the groundwork for negotiations. could these back channel talks be a way of actually moving forward while claiming still to be providing all-out support to ukraine militarily? >> well, first, we have to remember all efforts to end wars since the second world war has begun with more or less secret back channel efforts, sometimes through mediation of third parties. let's hope this will at some point be successful. but this is part of the dishonesty i have talked about. secretary of state blinken weeks ago said publicly the ukraine government, president zelenskyy has to be prepared to make concessions at the new negotiation table. which means, for instance, to

give up the crimean peninsula or even perhaps the eastern provinces, donbas. on the other hand, publicly declared goal of the yanis varoufakis government -- zelenskyy government is to reconquer or currently controlled occupied by russian forces. which includes crimea and the whole of the donbas. this does not put together. it remains to be seen how the that meant will be able -- that mitten will be able to bring zelenskyy to this point to accept whatever kind of territorial concessions. i don't think principally it is good this war will result in territory concession and i think it would be better to have some kind of referendums held in the crimean and the donbas, not referendums like back in 2014, not controlled and organized by russia but controlled and organized by the united nations. and there should be a question on the voting sheet which was

not on the sheet back in march 2014. this would be the option of the far-reaching metonymy both for the crimean peninsula and also for the disputed donbas areas which would mean where you have russian majority population, russia should be the language. it also the possibility to raise your own taxes, which you don't have to give up to that central government in kyiv. and decentralization, fertilization would not only be necessary for the crimean and the donbas but for the whole ukraine. i think we have been at this point before at the minsk agreement's in february 2015. i also want to remind our viewers and listeners that the zelenskyy government in march last year, the last official negotiation round between russian and ukrainian government

delegations in istanbul, the official proposal of the zelenskyy government was, number one, to give up the idea of nato membership. number two, neutrality for the ukraine. number three, no foreign military bases. number four, binding and reliable security guarantees by a number of countries. number five, we would be prepared to freeze the issue of the crimean peninsula for another 15 years, have another 15 years of time to negotiate with russia. number six, similar scenario for the donbas. i think there is no way around somehow one has to get back to this position. amy: i described your newspaper as left-wing. would you describe it in that way? if you can say whether it would be accurate to say that the green party, the party of the country's current foreign

minister, are the most sympathetic to ukraine and police likely to favor territorial concessions? -- and the least likely to favor territorial concessions? and rft believes ukraine should relinquish their tory? >> the question, what is left and right, has been more and more distorted since the end of the cold war 33 years ago. the "die tageszeitung" has been progressive on human rights issues, feminist issues, and mainly on and bar metal issues. for the last 16 months, i would not describe the position, the mainstream the paper has taken on the ukraine as the left position. therefore, i'm somewhat isolated maybe with the position i just spat out.

the paper is pretty much supporting the official western government policies. refute exceptions of some people who are now pushed to the fringes of the party. these rhetoric, for example, describing their approach as feminist foreign policy and now try to legitimize even military support, even stronger military support to nuclear deterrence for the europeans as part of feminist foreign policy. i have any problems with this kind of violence. juan: i would like to bring medea benjamin into the conversation of codepink. you recently visited ukraine. could you talk about what you saw there? >> yes.

i was in the western part of ukraine and talked to many people about their visions for the future. they are being fed a daily diet of irrational expectations that ukraine is winning this war, that ukraine can win the war, that winning means picking back every inch of donbas and crimea -- that winning means taking back every inch of donbas and crimea. even translating into stores having signs on them, the language of the russian would not be allowed in here, people say they hate hearing the sound of the russian language. i understand the midst of a war where we saw funerals taking place every day, when we went to the first limited graveyard and saw hundreds of graves of young men whose family members were there weeping, how people feel. but this is not the reality on the ground.

as we saw in the linked pentagon documents and as we see in the daily attempts via ukraine to win this counteroffensive, there is a stalemate on the ground. ukraine is not going to win back every inch of the country. those who have more realistic views of this i think have prevailed at the nato summit saying it is impossible to give a date for ukraine to enter nato because you can't enter nato while there is a war going on. and while this issue of ukraine being a member of nato is on the table, the russians will keep fighting. so the tragedy is that the poor ukrainians are in this catch 22, and there must be cooler heads prevailing to say the only way to solve this problem is to call for a cease-fire and

negotiations. amy: i wanted to ask you, you went to lviv after taking part in the vienna international summit or piece in ukraine. can you describe what happened there, having been used cancel on you? >> first of all, the vienna summit was a tremendous success but that was despite efforts by the ukrainian community, particularly the ukrainian investor to austria, to try to cancel our event. they were successful in getting the trade union confederation two days before the event to pull the plug and not let us use the venue, just as they managed to get the press club to not let us have our press conference there. the press in ukraine was extremely hostile to us, characterizing our speakers as putin apologist is absolutely ridiculous. so despite that, we did have

this event and it went up extremely well with representatives of 32 countries there, including representatives from ukraine and from russia. but i must say those from ukraine and russia were come afterwards, attacked by their own people. and this shows the kind of censorship and hostility that exists. i traveled throughout many countries in eastern europe and found journalists who are falling for negotiations were losing their jobs, people were afraid to speak out. i also attended and gathering in ireland where there has been pushed back just like in austria to stop those countries, the few left, that are still neutral. there is a tremendous pall all over europe in which it is hard for people to speak out. the same thing is happening, to some extent, in the united states where people like myself and a number of venues have been

attacked both by protesters but in one case, got violent. on the other hand, i think there is more space being created for discussion here in the united states thanks to the fact there are a number of presidential candidates from republicans like trump and desantis to democrats like robert kennedy to cornel west who wants to be the green party robes -- representative that are opening up space for a different discussion and the fact as in germany, the public opinion polls are showing this is becoming a less and less popular position for the biden administration. i think this opens up space for those of us who want to push our government to take the position that we must move to the negotiating table. juan: medio, i'm wondering if you can talk about the refugee situation. since the start of the war,

poland has absorbed a staggering 5 million refugees from ukraine without the establishment of any refugee camps. could you talk about that compared to other war zones you have visited? interestingly, for instance, here in chicago, the last six months, 29,000 ukrainian refugees have been resettled in chicago. that is three times the number of asylum-seekers from the border who have come to chicago, yet all of the ukrainians have been resettled without much fanfare and much media attention while we still have these refugees -- these asylum-seekers from the border housed in police precincts, can't get work permits, have no prospects for any kind of peaceful settlement here while their cases are being judged. could you talk about poland's amazing response to the refugee

crisis? >> people say the polish people should be given a nobel peace prize for the way they opened their homes and welcomed the refugees from ukraine. the way the refugees from ukraine have been treated around the world is an example of how refugees should be treated front anywhere. but this is not the case because the vast majority of the ukrainians are white, we can see this as a very racist policy where countries have opened their borders, have welcomed the ukrainians while they have closed their borders and in fact lead to the deaths of so many refugees who are trying to come from war-torn areas of africa. we see it happening on the shores of europe right now. horrible situations where refugees are being kept out. as you say, the refugees that are coming to the borders of the united states fleeing very violent situations in central

america, often created by u.s. policies over the years, and not being allowed into this country. yes, it is a very different situation for the white ukrainians, but i think we should see that as a model and say that all refugees should be treated like that. amy: andreas zumach, who do you see, if there were these negotiations to take place -- i don't know if you can hear me right now. i think we lost his audio. we will leave it there. we will continue to cover this. i want to thank andreas zumach, the defense correspondent for the german daily "die tageszeitung." and medea benjamin, co-founder of codepink. just back from western ukraine, speaking to us from washington, d.c. coming up, the united nations is warning sudan is on the brink of a full-scale civil war that

could destabilize the entire region with over half a million people already displaced. we will be back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to sudan. after three months of fighting between the sudanese military

and a powerful paramilitary force, the united nations warns sudan is on the brink of a full-scale civil war that could destabilize the entire region. egypt is hosting a summit this week with the goal to "develop effective mechanisms" with neighboring countries to settle the conflict. on monday, sudan's army-aligned foreign ministry rejected a proposal at a regional summit in jeddah to deploy peacekeeping forces to protect civilians. the latest fighting is focused on omdurman, a city just across the now from the capital khartoum. it is a key supply route for the paramilitary rapid support forces. sudan's health ministry said saturday strike by fighter jets in omdurman left 22 people dead. the fighting first erected in april in khartoum and has driven nearly 3 million people from their homes, including more than 700,000 fled to neighboring countries like chad where the world food program says 20,000 refugees arrived just last week.

this is a representative in chad pierre honnorat. >> i have rarely seen such an important crisis with so little funding. it is a constant flow and the ones that are coming now are much worse situation than those who were arriving the first day. amy: many of those fleeing sudan are seriously wounded, and survivors have reported a wave of sexual violence and ethnically targeted killings. this is a sudanese refugee named mokckar speaking to the united nations refugee agency after he fled to chad. >> i was shot in the back. i am waiting for treatment. sudan is being emptied of its population every day. we all fled to chad. there have been many deaths in sudan. those who have arrived in chad are fewer in number. amy: this comes as a new report from human rights watch documents the burned towns and

villages in west darfur and accuses the paramilitary rapid support forces and allied arab militias of "the total destruction" of a town and executing dozens of people there. for more on this, we're joined by two guests. marine alneel is an sudanese activist who is usually based in khartoum but is joining us from muscat, oman. khalid mustafa medani is an associate professor of political science and islamic studies, and chair of the african studies program as well as the director of the institute of islamic studies at mcgill university. he is from sudan. let's begin with you, professor. you are in cairo, actually where the talks are taking place. can you talk about what is happening on the ground and what is happening in egypt? >> on the ground, i think you covered it very well. first of all, thank you for this coverage. on the ground, the situation since early this month has escalated in terms of the capital city itself, of course,

think the gentleman that was interviewed in chad put it right. it is a strategy of depopulation of the capital city, the complete decimation of the infrastructure, complete absence now of food and medicine that targeting and destruction of food markets. the kind of scramble on the part of the militia and the sudan armed forces, she put it so well, to really try to monopolize the supply route as the stalemate between these two leaders really continued. the struggle now here is to take over physically the territory of the capital city, but also to secure supply routes in order to continue this conflict because both of them are devastating the country, but essentially, not winning the war. since early this month, we have had unbelievable massacres, looting, all sorts of

humanitarian crimes or crimes against humanity, particularly in central khartoum -- central darfur. 70% of the population has been decimated. expansion of into the southern states led by an insurgent leader has basically attacked sudan armed forces. here we happen expansion not only in terms of the devastation of the infrastructure in the capital city, the fight over supply routes in the central city between darfur and khartoum , but also the expansion on the ground with respect to the insurgency as a kind of insurgency in the southern part of sudan, now is fighting the leader of the sudan armed forces. this is a drastic escalation.

i do want to add also the 700,000, much more actually, has tried to flee or have fled have been fortunate ones. now we see countries, egypt, chad, ethiopia, who are restricting the passage of refugees across the borders. essentially holding the sudanese population even more hostage in the context of this war. in terms of egypt, tomorrow there is going to be yet another kind of roundtable negotiation, bringing in supposing the warring parties. this is a problem in terms of how it is designed and a problem that reflects this war's relationship to external actors. a number of sternal actors can you, emirates, saudi arabia, have different interest with respect to this war in different relationships in terms of their support or lack thereof with

respect to the armed forces by the rapid support forces. here we have a kind of competition or competitive initiative undermining what is key with respect to eventually resolving this war, and that is a truly multilateral -- we have spoken about this before -- multilateral, coherent initiative that brings both parties together, includes civil society actors that actually would help set the agenda and implement a cease fire and then go on to resolving this conflict towards a political resolution. here we have these competing initiatives, the one in jeddah that failed, another that has failed because of its exclusiveness and the bias that the kenyan president reportedly has, vis-à-vis the rapid support forces, and now tomorrow egypt's conference that does not include civilian stakeholders, which is essential. importantly, does not include

the external actors that are so important, including, for example, the united arab emirates. we have this initiative that are undermining any kind of positive outcome with respect to resolving this conflict. we have an internal conflict that is devastating the country, but problematically and importantly, we have these competing initiatives that are undermining all multilateral solution to a conflict that does not only affect sudan but, as you put it so well, destabilizing the entire region, including the middle east region if you don't mind me saying. juan: professor, you mentioned external forces involved. so often the conflict in sudan is portrayed basically as a civil war in a failed state without taking into account these historical outside actors. i wanted to ask you about the role of the united states, the

imf -- which is probably done maybe 11 restructurings over recent decades in sudan -- and in the 1960's and 1970's, sudan probably had the largest communist party in the arab world. it was a very important force within sudanese society, which clearly upset the united states in the western powers. if you could talk about the u.s. role, the imf role, and also this history that most people are not aware of? >> absolutely. the history of the communist party in sudan and the transition from the communist party to the islamist government that took over power not -- in 1989, represents the history of the region in general. that is by the early 1970's, the sheer strength of the communist party led to the president or dictator the time to purge the

communist party from his ranks, from the military and also from his one-party system at the time. this coincided with his kind of shifting his alliance onto the -- under the pressure of the united states and saudi arabia from the kind of soviet bloc at the time during the cold war toward the u.s. camp. that policy for transformation that is similar to many countries in africa and middle east. in that context, the support -- on the part of the former dictator to the islamist dictator that took over power in a coup in 1989 really coincided with two important narratives that were at that time very important to the united states. one of them was to turn sudan into an ally of u.s. and saudi arabia, which is really important. one of them was to them implement policies. it was after 1989 when the

islamists took over power. despite the witticism in recent years, during that period in the 1990's, there's a great deal of enthusiasm because the islamist movement under the leadership implement it draconian forms of neoliberalism under the auspices of essentially early on under the imf and world bank. that kind of policy was more abrupt and even neoliberal even privatization policies helped to build the deep state. the turn toward being an ally with united states and saudi arabia, which is a superpower in the region, coincided with the implementation of neoliberal reform under the government of islamist at the time. that becomes really important. to the 1990's, i don't want to rehearse all of sudan's history, but you bring us up to date, the

united states was imposing sanctions because of sudan's support of osama bin laden and the islamic militants in the country. but they maintained intelligence cooperation with the regime, particularly after 9/11. there was an opposition to the sudanese government as supporting terrorism but at the same time, following 9/11 and the bombings in kenya and tanzania, intelligence sharing continued. there was always the relationship of cooperation on the intelligence kind of files. that is something i think many people, particularly in the u.s., are not aware of. following the revolution of 2018, the u.s. did belatedly take a position to support a transition to democracy. but here, although that seems positive, the lack of inclusion during the negotiation of legitimate civil society forces, including the resistance committees, to make a long story

short, exclusion of the young people who brought down the dictatorship of bashir in 2019 from the negotiation, that exclusion almost determined or was overdetermined the failure of the negotiations. and highlighted or promoted the strength of the head of the military and -- into the main players following the revolution , sidelining the civil society groups and the resistance committee and the youth that empowered and were responsible for the revolution. if you follow the logic, will see these negotiations currently are following the same fatal mistakes. a, by not including the key civil society actors and those on the ground who are really the only ones who can implement any cease fire and build peace in

the different communities and transition the country eventually to civilian democracy. of course, b, not including all of the major stakeholders regionally who have vested interest in sudan without which they will play spoilers. that is supporting one militia were supporting the militia or supporting the army. here we see the same stakes the u.s. has played not only in terms of promoting neoliberalism that ended up undermining the economy of sudan, but also helping to build a deep state that is now being sanctioned, ironically, by the u.s. treasury department. certain corporations are being sanctioned to stop this war being fueled on both sides. ironically, these corporations really flourished under the policies of "neoliberalism," if that makes any sense. i want to conclude with what is

going on now. and that is the devastation that is ongoing has to have an understanding that this is first and foremost the local conflict with local roots, but it is directly related historically to external interventions come economic as you put it, but also geostrategic. therefore, there can be no resolution to this conflict if all of the actors, regional or vested -- have vested interest in sudan, and all of those stakeholders who are primarily responsible for the revolution and have the greatest legitimacy among the sudanese population, whether it is in khartoum or darfur, are brought in not only as a sideshow but to help set the agenda, for my perspective, form a united caretaker, civilian government in preparation for the end of the war and transition to a civilian democracy.

amy: professor khalid mustafa medani, session import history to understand. we want to turn to marine alneel , sudanese activist who we usually speak to in khartoum, amazingly each time we called we could not believe you were still there. but right now you are in oman. can you talk about your decision to leave, what that meant? and what the conditions are on the ground? >> it has been 100 long days for the people of sudan. more and more people have fled the city among the conflict. many cities and towns have faced airstrikes by the sudanese armed forces. also the rapid support forces. this includes my decision to leave for the lack of safety and options currently. many families are dependent on family members and don't have an income for three months now.

many depend on the help of relatives abroad but also facing difficulties. it is becoming more and more likely we will see famine due to this war. there is some medical aid coming but it is far from sufficient. in some cities, people found food aid packages being sold. [indiscernible] the medical situation is still in a dire state. over 16 hospitals have been forced to shut down. many are struggling with power cuts and staffing shortages. some cities have no functioning hospitals. medical professionals and if you hospitals functioning are facing a shortage in basic radical supplies. -- in basic medical supplies. operations are being performed without anesthesia.

all of the dialysis patients -- khartoum has been the main destination for medical services and is now inaccessible. there are many volunteer professionals and fundraising to deliver medical supplies. a popular effort being conducted -- [indiscernible] the talks in chad that hosted leaders -- [indiscernible]

2019 after entering the negotiations with the army. they have all but completely lost their base. recent statements that are emphasizing the rsf being a wagner-based militia is sparking fear that this war might turn into a proxy war. [indiscernible]

in recent statements, there is in ephesus on cease fire, but the statements -- a recent scholar says -- it is unfortunate in this day and age, we refuse to learn the lessons. that is what got us to this were the first place and will definitely not be what gets us out of it. amy: marine alneel, thank you for being with us, sudanese activist now in oman. and khalid mustafa medani,

associate professor of political science and islamic studies, and chair of the african studies program as well as the director of the institute of islamic studies at mcgill university. he is from sudan. we go next to vermont where catastrophic flooding submerged the state's capitol. back in 20 seconds. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we go to vermont where water is starting to recede after credits

to fighting, and indebted roads -- flooding inundated roads. parts of vermont received two months of rain over a span of just days restraining many people in their homes. vermont officials say they had to rescue 100 people who were trapped by the worst flooding in a century. we go now to waterbury vermont, which was also hit hard, where we are joined by david goodman, my brother, author, award-winning journalist, host of the public affairs podcast and radio show "the vermont conversation." his new piece for the vermont digger is headlined "a flood-battered but wiser waterbury rises from the ruins, again." he is co-author of "the community schools revolution." david, thank you for being with us. can you explain what you have been covering over this last day and how grave this is, what it

means for vermont? >> hi, amy. thank you for covering this. the state has been hammered. this is, the governor has described it, historic and catastrophic floods. this is the second so-called 100 year flood that has taken place in 12 years. my town, waterbury, which is just 15 minutes from the state capital, was submerged in 2011 after hurricane irene and again yesterday, although yesterday waterbury was not as devastating as it was, the state capital montpelier was inundated yesterday. so the streets were completely flooded and southern vermont was also hit. there were up to nine inches of

rain that fell in parts of vermont over the last few days. juan: have any of the flood resigns measures that were taken after 2011 to fortify buildings, did any of them hold up this time around? >> it is an interesting question. in my town, in waterbury, it is home to the state office complex, which was nearly destroyed after hurricane irene -- which was a $750 million rebuilding effort around the state and included rebuilding the state office complex with flood resiliency in mind. that meant removing earth -- removing buildings. so instead of trying to hold back the river in this climate changed world, which is impossible, to allow rivers to spread out and another of other measures. the downtown increased the size

of its drains. this was actually a long-running fight with fema after the flood of hurricane irene because fema normally only replaces with -- replaces exactly what was destroyed. in a climate changed world, that does not work. it does not work to put in the same small pipes. at least in my town, a lot of those measures seem to work. the state complex was spared. our downtown was flooded, 40 homes were flooded, six businesses. but many of them were not as inundated as they were a dozen years ago. that is not the case in montpelier d anderry which had historic destruction. amy: can you talk about what has happened with on house people? you have the catastrophe for them, at the end of the pandemic , many being put out of hotels that they were put into.

can you hear me? can you talk about the situation of the uhhoused? there are thousands of uhhoused in vermont committee put in hotels and then put out of hotels who then make their way to the rivers to set up encampments? can you talk about the situation of the uhhoused? >> the situation there, there was, for the last three years, some 2000 uhhoused people sheltered in the state and about 800 people. the funding ended and about a month ago, 800 people were forced to leave this emergency housing. many of them went -- you were provided with tents, which is

all that was available, and then it was unclear where many of them went so there has been a frantic effort over the last few days to locate some of these uhhoused people, to find these encampments. in some cases, the camping areas were found by the people had moved on. there have not been any deaths reported in vermont, so the belief is that people have relocated themselves. but these uhhoused people remain extremely vulnerable and there is tremendous concern about their fate. amy: we have to leave it there. david goodman, host of the public affairs podcast and radio show "the vermont conversation." joining us from waterbury, vermont. we will link to you your new piece for the vermont digger "a flood-battered but wiser waterbury rises from the ruins, again."

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!]

♪ hello and welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm takao minori in new york. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy went into the nato summit frustrated about the lack of clarity over when his country might join the alliance. he leaves celebrating new commitments for its security. and he's framing the meeting as a success. nato leaders spent much of their time refocusing on the war.