08/10/23 08/10/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> with the arrival of the military in burkina faso and mali, we have seen a reduction in security. we even think in niger, niger doesn't need fringe or armed forces in this country. we want logistical resources to help to defend security forces

and assume the responsibility. amy: west african leaders from ecowas are holding an emergency summit to determine their next steps after a deadline past sunday to restore niger's mr. president. -- former president. we will get an update. then we speak to ukrainian pacifist yurii sheliazhenko who has been charged justifying russian aggression days after his apartment was raided and searched. >> it is total nonsense. [indiscernible] amy: than 10 peace activists are rested on the runway of a u.s. airbase in the netherlands where

15 u.s. nuclear bombs are stock out for nato so-called nuclear sharing program. the action came on the 78th anniversary of the u.s. atomic bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki. we will speak with john laforge who just served a 50 day sentence in germany for protesting u.s. nuclear weapons stationed at a base there. >> within the pentagon's threatened use -- we take the pentagon's threat very seriously. this ongoing well rehearsed readiness to tech people with hydrogen bombs is an international criminal conspiracy to commit massacre due to radiation of firestorms. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

at least 36 people have died on the hawaiian island of maui as unprecedented wind-driven wildfires forced thousands of people to flee their homes. hospitals have been overwhelmed with burn patients. some people had to run into the ocean to escape the flames. much of the town of lahaina has burned to the ground. lahaina was once the capital of the hawaiian kingdom. residents described horrific scenes of destruction. >> i am a resident here for about 18 years. we just had the worst i've ever seen. it is all burned to a crisp. amy: the fires began on tuesday and rapidly spread as wind from hurricane dora and dry conditions fueled the fire.

this is hawaii's lieutenant governor sylvia luke. >> a lot of the residents of hawaii, when we are preparing for the hurricane, we expect rain, sometimes we expect floods. we never anticipated in this state that a hurricane, which did not make impact on our island, would cause this type of wildfires. wildfires that wipe out communities. wildfires that wiped out businesses, wildfires that destroyed homes. amy: ecuador has declared a state of emergency following the assassination of presidential candidate fernando villavicencio. the former journalist was fatally shot after a campaign event 10 days before the august 20 election. he had faced death threats recently for speaking out about the links between the government and organized crime. this is fernando villavicencio

speaking in late july. >> the country knew about the police report in which it revealed a series threat about one of this in a low car -- tells boss -- cartel's boss. there was this morning that they would attack me or my life. drug traffickers in a mafia want to take the political power of the state and without a doubt who is behind this. it is the political mafia who is buying this threat against my candidacy. amy: fernando villavicencio was 59 years old. the bbc reports a criminal gang called los lobos has claimed responsibility for his killing. one suspect was shot dead after the assassination. president biden is reportedly planning to seek an additional $25 billion congress to be spent partly on the war in ukraine as

well as to speed up weapons to taiwan. this comes as the war in ukraine continues to intensify. on thursday, a massive blast at a factory outside of moscow injured 56 people. meanwhile, poland has announced plans to send an additional 10,000 troops to its border with belarus. niger's new military leaders are accusing france of trying to destabilize the country by releasing captured terrorists and breaching its airspace. france has denied the claims. this comes as ecowas, the economic community of west african states, is holding an emergency summit today. ecowas has threatened to use military force to remove niger's military leaders who seized power in a coup two weeks ago. after the headlines, we will speak with professor horace campbell. in pakistan, the imprisoned former prime minister imran khan has filed an appeal days after he was sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges. earlier this week, pakistan's election commission barred khan from politics for five years. pakistan's parliament removed

khan from office in april 2022. on wednesday, the intercept revealed the existence of a classified pakistani cable that outlined how the u.s. state department had encouraged the pakistani government to remove khan from office in march 2022, just weeks after russia had invaded ukraine. the document stated the u.s. objected to his neutral stance on the war. according to the memo, one state department official warned pakistan's ambassador to the united states that "all will be forgiven in washington" if khan is removed. the u.s. official, assistant secretary of state donald lu, then went on to say, "otherwise i think it will be tough going ahead." the death toll from a migrant shipwreck off tunisia's coast has risen to at least 41, including three children. the ship capsized and sank just a few hours after departing from europe. dozens are still missing from another shipwreck near the tunisian port city of sfax. the number of asylum seekers fleeing from tunisia has dramatically increased in recent

months due to the persecution of black africans by tunisian authorities and president kais saied. on wednesday, at least 27 people were found dead in the desert after they were expelled from tunisia. this is a pregnant asylum seeker who was expelled from tunisia. >> i was in tunisia. my husband is a day laborer. we wanted to good italy and it was beating at insults. after that two days ago, after we reach the borders, they took us, beat them in and left us. we walked on the road toward libya but we don't know the direction. we walked for 3, 4 hours. then the libyan police found us. amy: venezuela has won a major legal battle to recover about $1.5 billion that had been confiscated by the portuguese bank novo banco which is largely owned by the u.s. private equity firm lone star. for years, the venezuelan

government has decried international sanctions that has led to foreign banks freezing its overseas assets. in 2021, the intercept reported venezuela was blocked from using some of the money held by the bank to buy millions of critical vaccines for children. president biden has signed an executive order to ban u.s. firms from investing in chinese high-tech companies developing semiconductors and quantum computers. the chinese government criticized the move, accusing the u.s. of politicizing and weaponizing trade, scientific, and technological issues. newly unsealed court documents show special counsel jack smith obtained a search warrant to access donald trump's twitter account as part of the investigation into trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election. twitter was fined $350,000 after initially refusing to hand over trump's personal data. meanwhile, cnn is reporting fulton county district attorney

fani willis in georgia is expected to seek more than a dozen indictments next week in her probe on trump's efforts to overturn the election in georgia. security around willis has increased after trump attacked her on the campaign trail, calling her a racist and spreading rumors about her. willis is the first black woman to serve as fulton county district attorney. the fbi shot and killed a utah man who threatened the life of president biden. the shooting came on wednesday morning as the fbi attempted to serve the man, craig robertson, an arrest and search warrant. robertson had posted numerous online threats targeting biden and other officials. he recently wrote that he was cleaning the dust off his m24 sniper rifle after learning biden would be in utah today. he was killed in utah. cnn is reporting the former head of the u.s. coast guard covered up the results of an explosive investigation into decades of rape and sexual assault at the coast guards' prestigious academy. four years ago, commandant karl schultz and his deputy admiral charles ray suppressed the

report as investigators were set to brief lawmakers and the homeland security department on its findings. the current head of the postcard -- coast guard linda fagan had acknowledged she had become aware of the report and its cover-up but has vowed to tackle sexual assault at the agency. she has also apologized to survivors. propublica has revealed new details about how conservative billionaires have showered supreme court justice clarence thomas with luxury items for decades. propublica's new report documents 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, 12 vip passes to sporting events, and eight helicopter flights all paid by billionaire patrons. thomas has been under increasing scrutiny since april when propublica revealed he had failed to report frequent luxury trips paid for by the republican billionaire harlan crow. the israeli human rights organization b'tselem is

reporting 86 members of a palestinian bedouin community have been forced to abandon their homes due to repeated threats from israeli settlers. this is muhammad hassan abu al-kabash of the bedouin community al-qabun. >> we have lived here for 20, 25 years. we are farmers, shepherds. we have lived are normally with our flock. but a seller came to the area and started making trouble. they said, you are not allowed to graze here. if you days ago they spilled my sheets drinking water on the ground. two days ago and armed settler came, walked around our home, came inside and just sat there. he says the land is his most he says, i'm the government, the state, the police, and the military. it has come to a point where we are leaving. it is a done deal. amy: according to b'tselem, the bedouin community al-qabun is the fourth palestinian community forced to abandon its land in

the last three months due to threats from israeli settlers. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in niger, leaders of last month's military coup have appointed a 21-member cabinet as they forge ahead with building a new government. this comes as west african leaders from ecowas are holding an emergency summit today to determine their next steps after a deadline to restore ousted president mohamed bazoum passed sunday. ecowas, backed by the u.s. and former colonizer france, had threatened to use military force if their deadline was not met but there has been deep division within the region over how to respond. the senate in nigeria has said military force should only be used as a last resort if diplomacy fails. neighbors mali and burkina faso, all ruled by coup leaders who have ejected french forces from their country, have said any

military action would be taken as an attack on their countries as well. many nigeriens have been taking to the streets since the july 26 coup to show their support of the military and voice opposition to any foreign intervention. on wednesday, the coup leadership accused france of violating its airspace. this is niger army spokesman colonel major amadou adraman. >> the security disruptions planned by the french forces came to discredit and create a rapture with the people who supported -- create the feeling of a generalized insecurity. amy: meanwhile, sanctions and power cuts imposed on niger have hampered delivery of humanitarian aid to over 4 million people in need of assistance according to the u.n. african officers trained by the u.s. military have now taken part in 11 coups and west africa since 2008, including and

burkina faso and mali. for more, we turn to horace campbell, professor of african american studies and political science at syracuse university and activist and chairperson of the global pan african movement, north american delegation. he's also the author of "global nato and the catastrophic failure in libya." professor campbell, we welcome you back to democracy now! can you talk about what is happening as we speak, then meeting in nigeria, the most populous country in africa, of the ecowas leaders who set a deadline of this past sunday saying if the president was not returned, they would militarily intervene stop clearly, they haven't. what is your response? threatening that they better not attack. >> good morning. thank you for having me.

oppose all military intervention . we should make that very clear. we oppose military intervention in malley, working a fatso, nigeria, guinea -- mali, burkina faso, nigeria, guinea. this recent destruction of civilian power and civilian leadership in niger is one of the nine sequences that has developed since the work of tara in that region. the fabrication of terror, the intervention of u.s. and france in the region, and the consequences of the destruction of libya and theingroups -- mile region by france.

this military intervention in niger is a consequence of the militarization of nigerian society when the society needs social and economic reconstruction. the united states has pumped more than $1 billion into this region come into military facilities and military programs and supporting military elements in this region will stuff in niger alone, the u.s. has spent half $1 billion. building a military base, drone facilities to support french expectation -- exploitation of them resources of niger. we cannot discuss what is going on in niger without discussing the call by the african people for the expulsion of france from west africa. the foreign minister of mali has

called to investigate. the former prime minister of italy has called for sanctions against france. it is the right wing conservative forces in the u.s. that is supporting france. to the point where now we see the conservative wing of the biden administration, led by victoria nuland and anthony blinken, leading the discussion about africa. why is it that victoria nuland was in niger on monday and is in south africa? the biden administration has an african expert. but it is victoria nuland that wants to militarize the planet earth who is now flying between nigeria, niger, and south africa

carrying out u.s. policies. call for the removal of the united states africa command from africa, the closing of u.s. military in niger, and support the people of niger in removing france from niger just as the people of burkina faso and mali have done. we should support the call for federation between mali, niger, and burkina faso. amy: give us the history of niger and french colonialism there. we will also talk about the united states. >> niger is one of those states that has suffered from french military intervention and instruction in the region. the french are dependent on the

exploitation and plunder of africa. they have military personnel in niger. when they were thrown out of mali and burkina faso, they were redeployed to niger and they were stoned on their way to the bases in niger. france has exploited the mineral and natural resources of niger. the french uranium mines in niger not only exploited the uranium resources of niger, but france has also closed mines and left radioactive material that has affected the health and safety of nigerian people. everyone in west africa is calling for the ending of the fra and the dominationnc by

france. they're calling for the removal of the 240,000 french personnel in west africa. in the case of niger, france is opposed to any plans for the reconstruction of the country. let's take that major plan in this region for the reconstruction of the country. that is the replenishing of lake chad. you started this news broadcast this morning by talking about a fire in hawaii. those kinds of fires going on all across west africa because of global warming. global warming has accelerated the depletion of lake chad. lake chad has lost 95% of its water resources. there is a plan by the lake chad basin authority to replenish lake chad. who is against this? france. who is against investment in

reconstruction in west africa? france. who allegedly has been supporting terror groups in west africa? when united states called for investigation into boko haram? it was revealed in the nigeria newspapers that the french have been supporting boko haram in edge. so the french create terrorist groups and then go into african countries to say there fighting terrorism in africa. this kind of duplicity by france fomenting terror destruction has been challenged by the peoples of west africa. in every country of west africa, their calling for the ending average economic, financial, military domination. we in this country must call on our representatives and our political forces or progressive,

for example, alexandria ocasio-cortez, when she was a student she went into niger. why are they not raising their voices against the militarism and militarization of west africa by the united states military and to call for investments in health, reconstruction, water supply, and the safety of the people of niger, burkina faso, and mali? the united states, france, is gung ho about reversing a military coup in niger. what about the military coup in sudan? that has been supported by the united states, saudi arabia, and the united arab emirates. what about the destruction of the military in sudan against the peoples of sudan calling for the restoration of democratic relations? we cannot be selective in our

opposition to militarism. we must oppose militarism of all sorts in africa. with a priority at this moment is for the removal of france and to call on the united nations to have sanctions against france for its destruction and militarism in africa. amy: talk about the u.s. role, the was drone pace -- the u.s. drone base in niger and talk about the significance of uranium in the world that is in niger. >> well, let's start with united states of america. united states of america has been involved in what they call a war on terror, which in the words of jerry mckinnon, a in west africa. the people who are called terrorists in many cases were supported by france.

in the case of the destruction of libya, the united states and france removed qaddafi and now the united states and france are fighting on both sides of the war in libya. after the destruction of libya, went into mali, burkina faso, the french supported groups that are supposed to be terrorist groups and the united states started with a called an initiative and spent half $1 billion on it. the united states then went into niger to build a military base and a drone base. all of this is very murky because even the pentagon cannot account for what is happening. the congressional representatives say they do not know what is going on in niger.

when four united states marines were killed at tongo tongo in niger -- if you look at the map to see where tongo tongo is, right on the border between mali , niger, and burkina faso. when these four marines were killed in 2017, two now, the pentagon cannot say what happened to these four marines. the abc documentary talks about the murkiness of the intelligence and the opaque operations of the pentagon in niger. the united states needs to remove its military forces from africa and to support the peace, social justice forces in africa who are fighting for reconstruction in that part of the world.

so the united states itself gave a force -- against the people of africa at the moment. amy: i want to ask about the leaders of burkina faso, mali, guinea, all warning against the foreign intervention to reverse the coup. burkina faso's interim leader who took power in a coup in september recently spoke in moscow during the russia-africa summit, criticize what he called imperialist neocolonialism. >> the questions my generation is asking are the following come if i can summarize, is that we do not understand how africa, with so much wealth on our soil, water, sunshine in abundance, how africa is the poorest continent and how come there are

heads of state all over the world begging to the questions we are asking ourselves and we have no answers. we have the opportunity to forge new relationships and i hope these relationships can be the best ones to give our people a better future. i generation also asks me to say because of this poverty, they are forced across the ocean to try to reach europe. they died the ocean but soon it will no longer have to cross because they will come to our palaces to seek their daily bread. as far as what concerns burkina faso today, for more than eight years we have been confronted with the most barbaric and most violent form of imperialist neocolonialism. slavery continues to impose itself on as. our predecessors taught us one thing, a slave who could not assume his own fault is not deserved to be pitied most of we do not feel sorry for ourselves. we do not ask anyone to feel sorry for us. the people of burkina faso have

decided to fight against terrorism in order to relaunch their development. amy: that is the interim leader of burkina faso who took power in a coup in september, wearing the red beret that is reminiscent of the leader who was assassinated in 1987. talk about that history, professor campbell. >> the political consciousness of the peoples of africa at the moment, this consciousness has been heightened by the global capitalist crisis, the investments for billion years, the climate crisis, covid-19, and the general this duration of the african people. the previous leader and burkina faso, though we and a military coup d'état, we do not have a

knee-jerk reaction against all military leaders because within the ranks of military in burkina faso are the fears of a leader who organized the people of burkina faso to bring safety, security, sanitation, peace to that country and it was about how to mobilize the people of west africa against french imperialism. and through french machinations, thomas and karo was killed. the military in burkina faso still has some of this intimate and consciousness of the previous leader. but what was being said by the leader of burkina faso is now

reflected across south africa. in senegal, the anti-french, anti-sentiment are very high in the highest and take her list sentiment at the moment is to be found in the sudan. it is mobilize the people into resistance committees that overthrew the military. so burkina faso, sudan, mali, and now niger are countries where they ruled for the political consciousness of the people and strengthening the anti-imperialist block in africa is very strong. last week, the -- there was the 10th anniversary of congress. if you listen to the speech of the anti-peer list speech, you get -- anti-peer list speech,

you get an idea of this intimate but the need for harnessing the resources of africa, and to ensure that africa is not drawn into any new wars. what we are seeing in nigeria is an nigerian government, which many in nigeria called the present government illegal, this government in nigeria needs an intervention in niger and burkina faso and mali in order to get favor from the united states of america -- the people of nigeria are against this military intervention. the senate and nigeria come as you said in the lead of, said they should not intervene. they said there should be dialogue. the people are one.

what the burkina faso leaders said at the russia africa summit is a sentiment of the peoples all across africa about western military intervention in africa. amy: interestingly, professor campbell, the african officers who are involved in these 11 coups in the last 15 years and west africa, including in burkina faso and mali, have been trained in the united states. >> and trained by this money that the united states is spending on counterterror. that is why we need great investigation into what the united states is doing in burkina faso, mali, niger, guinea, guinea, calling for the closure of the command and for there to be greater relations between the civilian societies in africa and the people of the united states. the united states africa command

needs to be removed from africa. the united states africa command has been responsible for part of the sequences of militarism in west africa most of america finally, if you can talk about the u.s., i would say, intensified interest in africa right now, as it tries to compete with russia and even more importantly, china. if you can talk about africa as a kind of proxy for this global competition? >> yes. first of all, the african peoples have been fighting for self-determination. the african peoples have been calling for the unification of africa. the african peoples have been calling for the african currency

so that they are not sending billions of dollars to western european countries every year. the african countries want freedom of movement. they are creating the africa continental pretrade community. the united states, france, the european union all foreign powers are against africa uniting and creating roads and railways and ports with african peoples. the overthrow in libya was directly related to the plan by the african union for an african currency. an african currency that prevents the outflow of resources from africa is a threat to france, the european union, and the united states of america. and that is why the united

states is creating -- united states is intensifying militarism in africa. next, this war in ukraine is a terrible war. but that war is another step of the militarization of the planet with united states supporting the fascist element in ukraine. africans have taken a position that they do not have any dog in this fight. they want peace in ukraine. the united states is threatening africans with -- pass a bill and congress to coerce africans to support the united states. when africans are calling for nato to be accountable for the

destruction of libya. in south africa in particular where there will be the brics summit, coming together to break this domination of the united states over the world economy, the united states is threatening the south african government. it is not by accident that victoria nuland went from west africa to south africa. they have been threatening the south african government and making allegations that south africa is selling arms to russia. all of these are fabrications. the united states is now leaning on kenya to send soldiers to haiti. the united states is calling on kenya to sign a strategic trade and investment partnership with kenya to break up the plans for

greater cooperation in eastern africa. the united states is running amok in africa based on challenging china. the african people do not need the united states to tell them to challenge china. what the people of africa needs is to plant food to end hunger. they want jobs, roads, health care, and they want tangible resources internationally to fight climate change. this is the most important crisis globally. so we in this part of the world need to join with the african peoples supporting peace and reconstruction, supporting the replenishment of lake chad come and do not support france and the united states in the destruction of africa. amy: horace campbell, thank you for being with his, professor of african american studies and political science at syracuse

university, chairperson of the global pan african movement north american delegation. author of "global nato and the catastrophic failure in libya." next up, we speak to ukrainian pacifist yurii sheliazhenko was just been charged with justifying russian aggression days after his apartment was raided. he says he is a pacifist. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "the weight" by the band. the leader has died at the age of 80. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the ukrainian peace activist yurii sheliazhenko has been charged by the ukrainian government with justifying russian aggression, days after his apartment was raided and searched. sheliazhenko is executive secretary of the ukrainian pacifist movement and a member of the european bureau for conscientious objection and world beyond war. he has appeared on democracy now! numerous times and has vocally opposed any escalation of the conflict through fighting or sanctions. he has vowed to remain in ukraine and continue his peace work from behind bars if he is imprisoned. he joined us tuesday from his home and i began by asking him about his interrogation that he

had just come from an hour before. >> investigator provided me a copy of a request from the court . he asked the court to apply me to home arrest. i must say from this pilot papers, i see surveillance was started a year ago. it was started when i published a human rights defender legal a document --

[indiscernible] this statement is -- it calls for critical thinking, it calls for prevention of human rights violations by armed forces.

[indiscernible] the international day of peace 21st of september. last year i sent it to several officials including the president of ukraine. the parliamentary commissioner for human rights. the office of the president, the office of commission up or human rights. instead of considering the statement -- any democratic leader should do, say just send it to security service.

i must bring your attention to the security service of ukraine. when the office of president, instead of considering petition of the people to discuss with the ability of peace to seek diplomatic solutions, defender of human rights as president of ukraine -- instead of considering this, it looks like direct involvement a prison of ukraine zelenskyy -- president of ukraine zelenskyy --

amy: i wanted to ask you, how do you respond to the state saying you're justifying russian aggression? >> it is total nonsense. the office is accused -- [indiscernible] denounces the russian aggression. we must understand any violations of international law

are -- we should strengthen democratic -- it is a formula of peace.

it is a security compact which was developed by a working group . the key security compact includes western military supply for ukraine. amy: how do you see the war with russia ending? >> i know many scenarios proposed from pessimistic to optimistic.

i dream is that people in ukraine, and russia come everywhere will think seriously about necessity to transform society. and structural violence will be repressed. and only this war but all wars. since this war -- financing is lobbied, it is very serious. this long-term attitude --

as for more traditional approach , it would be great if russia would leave ukraine. russia out of ukraine, nato out of existence. if this happened, it would be the best scenario. it happened only in the case if serious changes will be started in society. not even more conservative -- for example, cease fire, some sort of frozen conflict. it would be of course very painful option but if instead of

taking rational choice to stop the war, but to stop but not because of choice but because of extortion. this extortion could happen because we have tens of thousands of people, a growing number of people who don't want to fight. and russia might have more to. i'm not saying to people. there are a lot of killed soldiers and civilians. ukraine has destroyed cities. this war should be ended at least by humanitarian reasons. it is humanitarian necessity to seek cease fire and peace talks. it is very conservative

formulation, peace talks. not needed big changes -- to ensure peace of everybody, to ensure that all people know something about nonviolent conflict resolution. cease fire and peace talks is very conservative. have at least that. amy: ukrainian pacifist yurii sheliazhenko has been charged by the ukrainian government with justifying russian aggression days after his apartment was raided and searched. next up, we speak with one of the 10 peace activists just arrested on the runway at an airbase and the netherlands where 15 u.s. nuclear bombs are stockpiled. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show with one of the 10 peace activists arrested on the runway tuesday at an airbase in the netherlands where 15 u.s. nuclear bombs are stockpiled. the activists entered the airbase. the nonviolent protests were part of international peace can't and would give action he

came on the week marking the 78th anniversary of the u.s. atomic bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki. today the activists arrived in germany to protest at the volkel air force base which is preparing for the delivery of replacement nuclear weapons, including the new be 6112 thermonuclear gravity bomb now production in the u.s.. we are joined in wisconsin by john laforgem codirector of nukewatch. he recently served a 50-day sentence in glasmoor prison outside hamburg, germany for protesting u.s. nuclear weapons stationed in buchel air base. we also joined by susan crane who is an anti-nuclear activist. if you could talk about why you are at buch and why you are rested atel volkel. >> thank you for having us.

we were very concerned about the legality of the united states sending nuclear warheads to the five countries in europe, particularly to the netherlands and germany. because it is against the nonproliferation treaty. the treaty says that nuclear countries can't share, as it were, their nuclear weapons with nonnuclear countries and none nuclear can't accept these weapons. so as far as we are concerned, the volkel air base, which is in the netherlands, is a crime scene. the same with buchel air base. they are both crime scenes were international law is being broken. we want to bring that to people's attention. amy: three of u.s. citizens who participated in this week's protests were banned from entering the european union for a year. their passports were stamped

with an entry ban. the significance of this? were you one of those three? >> i was not one of those three but it is pretty significant that a country would say, oh, oh, were part of a nonviolent direct action saying these nuclear weapons are a crime and therefore we are not going to let you go anywhere in europe for the next year. amy: i want to bring in john laforge, the co-director of nukewatch. you just served a 50-day sentence in glasmoor prison outside hamburg, germany for protesting u.s. nuclear weapons stationed in buchel air base. talk about your reasoning for doing that and your time in prison. >> sure. the prison is a minimum-security place, very easy-going conditions. the fine that was imposed for

going into the volkel a couple of times in 2018 went unpaid deliberately by me so the court system and post the alternative jail sentence. we argued in trial as susan pointed out the stationing or transfer of u.s. nuclear weapons in germany is an unlawful act and violation of the articles one and two of the treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. we were convicted anyway. although effort to present testimony -- although we offer to present testimony. we argued the case presented primarily by the international law professor francis boyle of the university of illinois who points out nuclear weapons are components and their delivery

systems germany and everywhere are principally just instruments of international criminal activity, repudiated and prohibited as he says by international law, including and especially the nuremberg charter , the nuremberg judgment, and the nuremberg principles. we would not recognize his property, the right of gas chambers and are sure it's. we consider newco weapons not property at all -- nuclear weapons on property at all. those offerings that we offer to this and other expert witnesses including a retired german judge refused by the court and for that reason we have appealed from the german constitutional court to they pain court of human rights complaining refusal

to hear this expert testimony prevented us from presenting inadequate defense and we should be allowed to have -- amy: john laforge we are talking to in wisconsin where you have returned home. susan, we just have 30 seconds. you are at buchel now. what are your plans for today? >> we plan to go to the base and hold some banners and hopefully [indiscernible] ask them not to fly the planes. they don't have planes there right now, but they do have the nuclear weapons. what is happening is working on the runway [indiscernible] amy: we're going to leave it there. i want to thank you, susan, for being with us. your phone line is breaking up.

susan crane, one of the antinuclear activists arrested at volkel air force base in the netherlands. just arrived at the buchel air force base for today's action. and john laforge is the co-director of nukewatch. now back home in wiscon