democracynow--2020-09-02--The End of Oil? Pandemic Adds to Fossil Fuel Glut, But COVID-19 Relief Money Flows to Oil Industry

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : Longtime Massachusetts senator and Green New Deal champion Ed Markey won his primary against challenger Congressmember Joe Kennedy III Tuesday , marking a victory for progressives and the first time a Kennedy has lost an election in the state of Massachusetts .
Senator Markey secured 54 % of the vote in a primary race seen by many as a showdown between the Democratic establishment and its new and growing progressive wing .
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Kennedy , while Markey had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ocasio-Cortez and the youth-led Sunrise Movement .
The Sunrise Movement tweeted in response to the victory , quote , “ After winning elections across the country , you think we ’ re gon na stop now ?
They wish .
We will protest outside the halls of Congress while our allies on the inside negotiate the Green New Deal , ” they said .
This comes as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he would not ban fracking during a speech in Pittsburgh .
A group of 145 organizations , including Sunrise Movement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calling on Biden to ban fossil fuel interests from his campaign and administration , if he wins .
The letter reads , quote , “ To advance environmental justice , you must stand up to fossil fuel CEOs , stop the expansion of oil , gas and coal production , and rapidly transition us away from fossil fuels , ” unquote .
This comes as the global oil industry is in crisis with falling demand and crashing prices exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic .
Despite this , fossil fuel companies continue to pump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of it stored on tankers in the ocean .
In May , as 390 million barrels of oil and gas sat in storage on the world ’ s oceans , Greenpeace activists sailed out along the San Francisco Bay , unfurling a banner saying “ Oil Is Over !
The Future Is Up to You.
” AMY GOODMAN : Despite this , Congress has poured billions of dollars of COVID relief funds into bailing out the fossil fuel industry .
We go now to Boulder , Colorado , where we ’ re joined @ @ @ @ @ @ @ energy reporter , a Bertha fellow in investigative journalism .
And her recent cover story for Sierra magazine is “ The End of Oil Is Near , ” along with another report , “ Bailout : Billions of Dollars of Federal COVID-19 Relief Money Flow to the Oil Industry.
” She ’ s the author of several books , most recently , Black Tide : The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill .
Antonia , welcome back to Democracy Now !
Let ’ s start with the pandemic and this glut of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if people realize that — some call them armadas of oil tankers , are docked off coasts , everywhere from the United States to Africa to Asia .
Explain what the pandemic — how it relates to the oil industry .
ANTONIA JUHASZ : Well , I think the most important place to start — and thanks for having me on this morning — is that the problems that have been plaguing the oil industry , that have led to the glut in oil that we ’ re experiencing right now , well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic has taken essentially every weakness that already existed in the oil industry and then made each of them much , much worse , leaving the oil industry in a situation where it is right now , where I would argue it is at its weakest since its inception , and , essentially , public policy and public will will now determine the fate of the oil industry , period .
And how we got to this place , where the height of this problem was in June with just oil tankers stacked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coast would have seen pretty much these armadas of oil tankers that were holding oil .
How we got to that place was , essentially , years of the oil industry obsessively overproducing a product of shrinking value and shrinking demand .
So , starting in 2015 , the growth in demand for oil worldwide started to fall , and it fell precipitously from 2017 to 2019 .
The price of oil was falling , but the companies and the countries just kept producing more and more and more and more , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries .
At the same time , you ’ ve got movements that are successfully weakening demand , desperately trying to get off this product , increasing the value and accessibility of alternatives , reducing the political payoff for supporting the oil industry , and the economic payoffs just dwindling , the companies falling in profits , falling in share value , investors not wanting to put money backing these companies ’ plays , and a worse and worse and worse and worse financial situation for the companies and the countries producing it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you have this glut of buildup .
Then comes COVID-19 .
COVID-19 happens .
We ’ re all in lockdown .
Demand for oil products just craters into the ground .
And at the same time , the companies and the countries keep producing more oil , which led to an even greater glut , which led to the oil being stored offshore in tankers .
AMY GOODMAN : And yet you have COVID-19 money , with how many tens of millions of people out of work , people desperate for support , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID money is going to bail out the largest corporations , oil corporations .
ANTONIA JUHASZ : Yeah .
So , you had — first you had the Trump administration say , and Trump himself say , “ We ’ re going to design a ballot specifically for the oil and gas industry.
” And there was tremendous pushback against that in the public , and Democrats in Congress said , “ No , that ’ s not going to happen.
” So , instead , what we ended up getting is three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really heavily tried to prop up this industry , that , left without that support , we would see a much greater shrinkage than we ’ re seeing right now , although we ’ re already seeing a good deal of shrinkage .
But so , these three mechanisms were , first , in the CARES Act , the Paycheck Protection Program , documented — a research organization did research for me for my Sierra magazine articles , that found 7,000 oil and gas companies receiving as much as $ 7 billion in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oil and gas industry is dominated by white men , globally and nationally — those are the people that own the companies , and in the U.S. a good deal of the workforce is white men — that also contributed to the overall bias of the PPP program towards white male-owned businesses , so they got Paycheck Protection Program money , which has propped up a lot of companies that wouldn ’ t — certainly wouldn ’ t have made it on their own .
Then you had tax loopholes snuck into the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to close in this next version of the CARES Act , that allowed over $ 3 billion to go to at least 50 publicly traded oil and gas companies , and probably many , many more , because we only know about the publicly traded ones because they have to report it in their reports to the Security Exchange Commission , and private companies don ’ t have to do that .
But I would say the most problematic pot is this unprecedented move to have the Federal Reserve , for the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the American taxpayer , through the Federal Reserve , for the first time , now become owners in oil company debt .
So , the Federal Reserve set up , through BlackRock , several different mechanisms to try to prop up the economy .
And through two measures , the oil industry has received inordinate support .
And the research group InfluenceMap looked at one of these mechanisms and found that the Federal Reserve ’ s funding is overweighted in fossil fuels .
So , through BlackRock , you and I , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debt , through the Fed , of Exxon , of Chevron , of Energy Transfer Partners , of Phillips 66 , of Schlumberger , which is a company that just moved itself out of U.S. fracking altogether , after we bought up their debt .
So we are literally , through the Federal Reserve , propping up the oil industry at a time when , you know , for a huge host of reasons — climate crisis , environmental justice , the lives of people who live next to oil and gas facilities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industry to do what it would be doing on its own anyway , which is going away , because the world is trying — and succeeding — in moving away from this resource .
And what the Trump administration — and what one of the analysts I spoke with , Alexis Goldstein , who looks at these markets , said , you know , what seems to be clear is that the influence of the Trump administration seems to have been influencing the Federal Reserve , which it shouldn ’ t be , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and gas industry .
AMY GOODMAN : At the same time , Antonia , you have ExxonMobil dropping — was dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average after 92 years , overtaken by tech companies .
BP has announced they ’ ll cut oil and natural gas production by 40 % in a decade .
What do these things indicate ?
ANTONIA JUHASZ : So , you know , this ExxonMobil was one of the founding companies within the Dow Jones Industrial Average in its earlier incarnation , Standard Oil of New Jersey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Standard Oil Company , the original oil and gas company , which then became Exxon and Mobil — and its different pieces are all of the major oil companies — BP is a former piece of the Standard Oil Company — that ExxonMobil , its largest piece , is now — its stock is so weak that it ’ s essentially irrelevant to the U.S. economy , is what that is saying .
Its stock is that weak .
And that is a clear indication that all of the work that has gone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industry , working to get banks and investors to shift their money away from it , to shift political power — to shift the political power that this industry operates and to move away from its products , is succeeding .
And BP ’ s announcement that it is going to , in 10 years , reduce oil production by 40 % is significant .
It ’ s a clear indication of the weakness of this product .
But it ’ s also a reflection of a couple other important things .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporting requirements on companies in Europe .
So , BP and Shell are responsible for telling the public what they expect to see in the future for the price of oil and for the value of their product .
And when they had to report in this last quarter that they see no value , essentially , or very much reduced value for their product moving forward , they had to account for those losses , which , in the case of BP and Shell , was $ 22 billion for Shell in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ losses for BP .
And then they had to tell the public : So , how are you going to make a profit , given that oil — you know , so much oil is essentially going to be worth less ?
And they said , “ OK , guess we ’ ll figure out how to make a profit doing something else.
” U.S. companies don ’ t have to do that .
So Exxon and Shell didn ’ t — Exxon and Chevron didn ’ t have to report those same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have to say how they ’ re going to make money .
And what they said was , “ Well , we ’ re going to keep making it off of oil and natural gas , because that ’ s what we do.
” And what that tells us is that oil is increasingly worth less , and the companies that have to tell us that did .
But what it doesn ’ t tell us is that what we should be doing moving forward is trusting the oil companies to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hand , because even in 10 years BP is still planning to have over 60 % of its operations be from oil and gas .
And BP has already started selling off oil and gas assets , but that doesn ’ t mean it ’ s keeping that oil in the ground .
It just means that it has sold them to other companies , which are already producing them .
So , if we want to live up to the obligations which the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % of fossil fuels need to stay in the ground , that ’ s going have to happen through government policy .
And it ’ s going to have to be government policy that is grounded in equity and justice , so those nations that can go first do and go the fastest , and those communities that are essentially experiencing the majority of the harms of oil extraction without enjoying the benefits also go first and are helped to be transitioned away , while they ’ re keeping fossil fuels in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nations support each other in this process through a national Green New Deal , through a global Green New Deal , through policies that make it clear that we are in this together as we make this difficult transition , but we will do it , and we will do it promptly .
The last thing I would say is — AMY GOODMAN : Antonia , I wanted to ask you — AMY GOODMAN : — about the group of 145 organizations releasing this letter calling on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and administration , if he wins .
The letter reads , “ Nearly half of Americans now breathe polluted air , the vast majority of which comes from burning fossil fuels … To advance environmental justice , you must stand up to fossil fuel CEOs , stop the expansion of oil , gas and coal production , and rapidly transition us away from fossil fuels.
” Yet during his speech in Pennsylvania Monday , Joe Biden said he will not ban fracking .
This is what he said .
AMY GOODMAN : So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Despite the fact , of course , the Trump administration , you couldn ’ t get an administration more pro-oil — he attacked Joe Biden recently , talking about him being against oil , gas , guns and God .
Can you talk about Biden ’ s record , and as well as Kamala Harris , his running mate ?
ANTONIA JUHASZ : Yeah , absolutely .
So , you know , here is a place where Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have put forth diametrically opposed pledges .
Kamala Harris pledged to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden has now said he won ’ t .
In a play of wills between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden , I ’ m going to go with Kamala Harris , and I ’ m also going to go with the public , that , you know , essentially , with Joe Biden , is going to need to continue to push , just as the entire environmental and social justice movements have said that they will .
Biden did go further in this election , and did Kamala Harris , than any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it this far .
Biden pledged to end fossil fuel subsidies for the industry .
Biden and Kamala Harris both took No Fossil Fuel Money pledges , not to accept money from the industry in their campaigns .
Harris also pledged no fossil fuel subsidies .
Biden and Harris also both pledged no new leasing on public lands for oil and gas , and offshore for oil and gas .
Those are all critically important fossil fuel policies , and they ’ re Keep It in the Ground policies .
And then Kamala @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pursue a global negotiation for the managed decline of fossil fuel production around the world .
I can ’ t overemphasize what a shift that would be , how important that would be .
And so , moving forward , during the campaign and after the campaign , a Biden administration is going to need to continue to hear loudly from the public on what it wants , not just on addressing the climate crisis , but addressing fossil fuels in order to succeed at addressing the climate crisis .
And I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stronger ally in that to keep that pressure on Biden and on the Biden administration , and during the campaign , as groups are now .
AMY GOODMAN : Very quickly — we only have a minute to go — I wanted to ask you two questions .
One , the significance of the primary win of Senator Markey in Massachusetts ?
And , two , the issue of how this bailout should be rolling forward : What should be bailed out , and what should be allowed to die ?
ANTONIA JUHASZ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ victory across the board , for the Green New Deal , for confronting the climate crisis , for progressive politics .
You know , Markey has been out front on so many of these issues .
When I was writing on the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster , his work was so key in exposing not just BP ’ s operations , but the federal government .
He would consistently hold the Obama administration to account on its failures on the BP crisis .
So his victory is tremendous in moving forward with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bailout money should be spent — first of all , just to make sure we ’ re clear on what ’ s moving forward right now , the Trump administration ’ s unemployment plan that he ’ s put into place is coming out of hurricane — federal hurricane recovery money .
So , that shouldn ’ t be happening .
What we should be doing is moving into a direction that ’ s actually going to support workers moving forward , that ’ s actually going to support our economy and actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not doubling down on an industry that is failing .
That ’ s looking forward to localized , small-scale building up of the green , renewable , sustainable , equitably owned and distributed energy and transportation solutions .
And those policies have been proven time and time again by economists now who have looked back since 2008 on what ’ s worked for recovering after huge economic catastrophes , and green economy , green jobs trump fossil fuels by four to one .
AMY GOODMAN : Antonia Juhasz , I want to thank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and energy reporter , Bertha fellow in investigative journalism .
Her recent cover story for Sierra magazine , we will link to at democracynow.org , “ The End of Oil Is Near , ” and “ Bailout : Billions of Dollars of Federal COVID-19 Relief Money Flow to the Oil Industry.
” Next up , unions representing teachers and principals in New York City avert a strike as they reach a deal to delay the reopening of the largest public school system in the United States .
You ’ ll find out what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AMY GOODMAN : “ Pomp and Pride ” by Toots and the Maytals .
Get well , Toots .
He ’ s in the hospital right now .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Longtime Massachusetts senator and Green New Deal champion Ed Markey won his primary against challenger Congressmember Joe Kennedy III Tuesday, marking a victory for progressives and the first time a Kennedy has lost an election in the state of Massachusetts. Senator Markey secured 54% of the vote in a primary race seen by many as a showdown between the Democratic establishment and its new and growing progressive wing. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Kennedy, while Markey had the support of New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the youth-led Sunrise Movement. The Sunrise Movement tweeted in response to the victory, quote, “After winning elections across the country, you think we’re gonna stop now? They wish. We will protest outside the halls of Congress while our allies on the inside negotiate the Green New Deal,” they said.
This comes as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he would not ban fracking during a speech in Pittsburgh. A group of 145 organizations, including Sunrise Movement and Greenpeace, have released a letter calling on Biden to ban fossil fuel interests from his campaign and administration, if he wins. The letter reads, quote, “To advance environmental justice, you must stand up to fossil fuel CEOs, stop the expansion of oil, gas and coal production, and rapidly transition us away from fossil fuels,” unquote.
This comes as the global oil industry is in crisis with falling demand and crashing prices exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Despite this, fossil fuel companies continue to pump out an excess of oil, much of it stored on tankers in the ocean. In May, as 390 million barrels of oil and gas sat in storage on the world’s oceans, Greenpeace activists sailed out along the San Francisco Bay, unfurling a banner saying “Oil Is Over! The Future Is Up to You.”
GREENPEACE ACTIVIST: I’m here in San Francisco Bay, where floating oil storage tankers are now idling, storing oil that no one wants and where we have nowhere to put.
AMY GOODMAN: Despite this, Congress has poured billions of dollars of COVID relief funds into bailing out the fossil fuel industry.
We go now to Boulder, Colorado, where we’re joined by Antonia Juhasz, an oil and energy reporter, a Bertha fellow in investigative journalism. And her recent cover story for Sierra magazine is “The End of Oil Is Near,” along with another report, “Bailout: Billions of Dollars of Federal COVID-19 Relief Money Flow to the Oil Industry.” She’s the author of several books, most recently, Black Tide: The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill.
Antonia, welcome back to Democracy Now! Let’s start with the pandemic and this glut of oil. I don’t know if people realize that — some call them armadas of oil tankers, are docked off coasts, everywhere from the United States to Africa to Asia. Explain what the pandemic — how it relates to the oil industry.
ANTONIA JUHASZ: Well, I think the most important place to start — and thanks for having me on this morning — is that the problems that have been plaguing the oil industry, that have led to the glut in oil that we’re experiencing right now, well precede the COVID-19 pandemic, that the pandemic has taken essentially every weakness that already existed in the oil industry and then made each of them much, much worse, leaving the oil industry in a situation where it is right now, where I would argue it is at its weakest since its inception, and, essentially, public policy and public will will now determine the fate of the oil industry, period.
And how we got to this place, where the height of this problem was in June with just oil tankers stacked up — anyone who lived on a coast would have seen pretty much these armadas of oil tankers that were holding oil. How we got to that place was, essentially, years of the oil industry obsessively overproducing a product of shrinking value and shrinking demand. So, starting in 2015, the growth in demand for oil worldwide started to fall, and it fell precipitously from 2017 to 2019. The price of oil was falling, but the companies and the countries just kept producing more and more and more and more, with the United States one of the leading countries.
At the same time, you’ve got movements that are successfully weakening demand, desperately trying to get off this product, increasing the value and accessibility of alternatives, reducing the political payoff for supporting the oil industry, and the economic payoffs just dwindling, the companies falling in profits, falling in share value, investors not wanting to put money backing these companies’ plays, and a worse and worse and worse and worse financial situation for the companies and the countries producing it. But they kept producing, so you have this glut of buildup.
Then comes COVID-19. COVID-19 happens. We’re all in lockdown. Demand for oil products just craters into the ground. And at the same time, the companies and the countries keep producing more oil, which led to an even greater glut, which led to the oil being stored offshore in tankers.
AMY GOODMAN: And yet you have COVID-19 money, with how many tens of millions of people out of work, people desperate for support, small businesses. So much of that COVID money is going to bail out the largest corporations, oil corporations.
ANTONIA JUHASZ: Yeah. So, you had — first you had the Trump administration say, and Trump himself say, “We’re going to design a ballot specifically for the oil and gas industry.” And there was tremendous pushback against that in the public, and Democrats in Congress said, “No, that’s not going to happen.” So, instead, what we ended up getting is three, essentially, stealth mechanisms that have really heavily tried to prop up this industry, that, left without that support, we would see a much greater shrinkage than we’re seeing right now, although we’re already seeing a good deal of shrinkage.
But so, these three mechanisms were, first, in the CARES Act, the Paycheck Protection Program, documented — a research organization did research for me for my Sierra magazine articles, that found 7,000 oil and gas companies receiving as much as $7 billion in Paycheck Protection Program money. Because the oil and gas industry is dominated by white men, globally and nationally — those are the people that own the companies, and in the U.S. a good deal of the workforce is white men — that also contributed to the overall bias of the PPP program towards white male-owned businesses, so they got Paycheck Protection Program money, which has propped up a lot of companies that wouldn’t — certainly wouldn’t have made it on their own.
Then you had tax loopholes snuck into the CARES Act, which Democrats are trying to close in this next version of the CARES Act, that allowed over $3 billion to go to at least 50 publicly traded oil and gas companies, and probably many, many more, because we only know about the publicly traded ones because they have to report it in their reports to the Security Exchange Commission, and private companies don’t have to do that.
But I would say the most problematic pot is this unprecedented move to have the Federal Reserve, for the first time — so, excuse me, the American taxpayer, through the Federal Reserve, for the first time, now become owners in oil company debt. So, the Federal Reserve set up, through BlackRock, several different mechanisms to try to prop up the economy. And through two measures, the oil industry has received inordinate support. And the research group InfluenceMap looked at one of these mechanisms and found that the Federal Reserve’s funding is overweighted in fossil fuels. So, through BlackRock, you and I, the American taxpayer, are now owners in debt, through the Fed, of Exxon, of Chevron, of Energy Transfer Partners, of Phillips 66, of Schlumberger, which is a company that just moved itself out of U.S. fracking altogether, after we bought up their debt.
So we are literally, through the Federal Reserve, propping up the oil industry at a time when, you know, for a huge host of reasons — climate crisis, environmental justice, the lives of people who live next to oil and gas facilities — that we need to allow this industry to do what it would be doing on its own anyway, which is going away, because the world is trying — and succeeding — in moving away from this resource.
And what the Trump administration — and what one of the analysts I spoke with, Alexis Goldstein, who looks at these markets, said, you know, what seems to be clear is that the influence of the Trump administration seems to have been influencing the Federal Reserve, which it shouldn’t be, to overweight this support for the oil and gas industry.
AMY GOODMAN: At the same time, Antonia, you have ExxonMobil dropping — was dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average after 92 years, overtaken by tech companies. BP has announced they’ll cut oil and natural gas production by 40% in a decade. What do these things indicate?
ANTONIA JUHASZ: So, you know, this ExxonMobil was one of the founding companies within the Dow Jones Industrial Average in its earlier incarnation, Standard Oil of New Jersey, which means, essentially, the Standard Oil Company, the original oil and gas company, which then became Exxon and Mobil — and its different pieces are all of the major oil companies — BP is a former piece of the Standard Oil Company — that ExxonMobil, its largest piece, is now — its stock is so weak that it’s essentially irrelevant to the U.S. economy, is what that is saying. Its stock is that weak.
And that is a clear indication that all of the work that has gone into exposing the harms of the oil industry, working to get banks and investors to shift their money away from it, to shift political power — to shift the political power that this industry operates and to move away from its products, is succeeding.
And BP’s announcement that it is going to, in 10 years, reduce oil production by 40% is significant. It’s a clear indication of the weakness of this product. But it’s also a reflection of a couple other important things. The first is that there’s different reporting requirements on companies in Europe. So, BP and Shell are responsible for telling the public what they expect to see in the future for the price of oil and for the value of their product. And when they had to report in this last quarter that they see no value, essentially, or very much reduced value for their product moving forward, they had to account for those losses, which, in the case of BP and Shell, was $22 billion for Shell in losses and nearly $17 billion in losses for BP. And then they had to tell the public: So, how are you going to make a profit, given that oil — you know, so much oil is essentially going to be worth less? And they said, “OK, guess we’ll figure out how to make a profit doing something else.”
U.S. companies don’t have to do that. So Exxon and Shell didn’t — Exxon and Chevron didn’t have to report those same type of losses, and they didn’t have to say how they’re going to make money. And what they said was, “Well, we’re going to keep making it off of oil and natural gas, because that’s what we do.” And what that tells us is that oil is increasingly worth less, and the companies that have to tell us that did. But what it doesn’t tell us is that what we should be doing moving forward is trusting the oil companies to change appropriately to address the problem at hand, because even in 10 years BP is still planning to have over 60% of its operations be from oil and gas. And BP has already started selling off oil and gas assets, but that doesn’t mean it’s keeping that oil in the ground. It just means that it has sold them to other companies, which are already producing them.
So, if we want to live up to the obligations which the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has told us, that at least some 80% of fossil fuels need to stay in the ground, that’s going have to happen through government policy. And it’s going to have to be government policy that is grounded in equity and justice, so those nations that can go first do and go the fastest, and those communities that are essentially experiencing the majority of the harms of oil extraction without enjoying the benefits also go first and are helped to be transitioned away, while they’re keeping fossil fuels in the ground, and that the world and nations support each other in this process through a national Green New Deal, through a global Green New Deal, through policies that make it clear that we are in this together as we make this difficult transition, but we will do it, and we will do it promptly.
The last thing I would say is —
AMY GOODMAN: Antonia, I wanted to ask you —
ANTONIA JUHASZ: Yeah, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: — about the group of 145 organizations releasing this letter calling on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to ban fossil fuel interests from his campaign and administration, if he wins. The letter reads, “Nearly half of Americans now breathe polluted air, the vast majority of which comes from burning fossil fuels … To advance environmental justice, you must stand up to fossil fuel CEOs, stop the expansion of oil, gas and coal production, and rapidly transition us away from fossil fuels.” Yet during his speech in Pennsylvania Monday, Joe Biden said he will not ban fracking. This is what he said.
JOE BIDEN: I am not banning fracking. Let me say that again: I am not banning fracking.
AMY GOODMAN: So, if you can respond this? Despite the fact, of course, the Trump administration, you couldn’t get an administration more pro-oil — he attacked Joe Biden recently, talking about him being against oil, gas, guns and God. Can you talk about Biden’s record, and as well as Kamala Harris, his running mate?
ANTONIA JUHASZ: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, here is a place where Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have put forth diametrically opposed pledges. Kamala Harris pledged to end fracking in her campaign. Joe Biden has now said he won’t. In a play of wills between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, I’m going to go with Kamala Harris, and I’m also going to go with the public, that, you know, essentially, with Joe Biden, is going to need to continue to push, just as the entire environmental and social justice movements have said that they will.
Biden did go further in this election, and did Kamala Harris, than any other set of candidates that have made it this far. Biden pledged to end fossil fuel subsidies for the industry. Biden and Kamala Harris both took No Fossil Fuel Money pledges, not to accept money from the industry in their campaigns. Harris also pledged no fossil fuel subsidies. Biden and Harris also both pledged no new leasing on public lands for oil and gas, and offshore for oil and gas. Those are all critically important fossil fuel policies, and they’re Keep It in the Ground policies. And then Kamala Harris went further. She pledged to pursue a global negotiation for the managed decline of fossil fuel production around the world. I can’t overemphasize what a shift that would be, how important that would be.
And so, moving forward, during the campaign and after the campaign, a Biden administration is going to need to continue to hear loudly from the public on what it wants, not just on addressing the climate crisis, but addressing fossil fuels in order to succeed at addressing the climate crisis. And I think Kamala Harris is going to be the stronger ally in that to keep that pressure on Biden and on the Biden administration, and during the campaign, as groups are now.
AMY GOODMAN: Very quickly — we only have a minute to go — I wanted to ask you two questions. One, the significance of the primary win of Senator Markey in Massachusetts? And, two, the issue of how this bailout should be rolling forward: What should be bailed out, and what should be allowed to die?
ANTONIA JUHASZ: The Markey win is essentially a victory across the board, for the Green New Deal, for confronting the climate crisis, for progressive politics. You know, Markey has been out front on so many of these issues. When I was writing on the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, his work was so key in exposing not just BP’s operations, but the federal government. He would consistently hold the Obama administration to account on its failures on the BP crisis. So his victory is tremendous in moving forward with the Green New Deal.
And how the bailout money should be spent — first of all, just to make sure we’re clear on what’s moving forward right now, the Trump administration’s unemployment plan that he’s put into place is coming out of hurricane — federal hurricane recovery money. So, that shouldn’t be happening. What we should be doing is moving into a direction that’s actually going to support workers moving forward, that’s actually going to support our economy and actually support rebuilding. And that’s not doubling down on an industry that is failing. That’s looking forward to localized, small-scale building up of the green, renewable, sustainable, equitably owned and distributed energy and transportation solutions. And those policies have been proven time and time again by economists now who have looked back since 2008 on what’s worked for recovering after huge economic catastrophes, and green economy, green jobs trump fossil fuels by four to one.
AMY GOODMAN: Antonia Juhasz, I want to thank you for being with us, oil and energy reporter, Bertha fellow in investigative journalism. Her recent cover story for Sierra magazine, we will link to at democracynow.org, “The End of Oil Is Near,” and “Bailout: Billions of Dollars of Federal COVID-19 Relief Money Flow to the Oil Industry.”
Next up, unions representing teachers and principals in New York City avert a strike as they reach a deal to delay the reopening of the largest public school system in the United States. You’ll find out what it is. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “Pomp and Pride” by Toots and the Maytals. Get well, Toots. He’s in the hospital right now.


democracynow--2020-09-02--Headlines for September  2, 2020

Headlines for September  2, 2020

President Trump traveled to Kenosha , Wisconsin , Tuesday despite fierce opposition to his visit by Wisconsin ’ s governor , lieutenant governor and Kenosha ’ s mayor .
Kenosha erupted in protests last week after the police shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times , leaving him paralyzed .
During the protests , a 17-year-old white vigilante armed with a semiautomatic rifle killed two protesters and injured a third .
Trump has refused to condemn the killings .
During his visit to Kenosha , Trump did not meet with Jacob Blake ’ s family or directly mention his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comparison of officers who shoot people with golfers who choke under pressure .
President Donald Trump : “ We have to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric .
It ’ s getting more and more .
It ’ s very unfair .
You have some bad apples .
We all know that .
And those will be taken care of through the system .
And nobody is going to be easy on them , either .
And you have people that choke .
They ’ re under tremendous — I said it yesterday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re under tremendous pressure.
” During his visit to Kenosha , Trump also repeated the falsehood that he ordered the National Guard to Kenosha , when in fact it was the state ’ s governor .
We ’ ll go to Kenosha later in the broadcast .

President Trump traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, Tuesday despite fierce opposition to his visit by Wisconsin’s governor, lieutenant governor and Kenosha’s mayor. Kenosha erupted in protests last week after the police shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times, leaving him paralyzed. During the protests, a 17-year-old white vigilante armed with a semiautomatic rifle killed two protesters and injured a third. Trump has refused to condemn the killings. During his visit to Kenosha, Trump did not meet with Jacob Blake’s family or directly mention his name. Trump also reiterated his recent comparison of officers who shoot people with golfers who choke under pressure.
President Donald Trump: “We have to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric. It’s getting more and more. It’s very unfair. You have some bad apples. We all know that. And those will be taken care of through the system. And nobody is going to be easy on them, either. And you have people that choke. They’re under tremendous — I said it yesterday, I said it last night: They’re under tremendous pressure.”
During his visit to Kenosha, Trump also repeated the falsehood that he ordered the National Guard to Kenosha, when in fact it was the state’s governor. We’ll go to Kenosha later in the broadcast.


democracynow--2020-09-03--Healing Needs to Happen: Kenosha Native Rep. Mark Pocan on Trump's Visit & the U.S. "Policing Proble

Healing Needs to Happen: Kenosha Native Rep. Mark Pocan on Trump's Visit & the U.S. "Policing Problem"

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Nermeen Shaikh .
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden heads to Kenosha , Wisconsin , today to meet with the family of Jacob Blake , the African American man left paralyzed after being shot seven times at point-blank range in the back by a Kenosha police officer last month , setting off ongoing protests .
This comes two days after President Trump visited Kenosha , where he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said Jacob Blake ’ s name .
Meanwhile , the Trump campaign ’ s press secretary , Hogan Gidley , appeared to justify the recent fatal shooting of two protesters in Kenosha by a white 17-year-old Trump-supporting vigilante named Kyle Rittenhouse .
For more , we ’ re joined by Congressmember Mark Pocan of Wisconsin .
He was born and raised in Kenosha , his family friends with one of the victims , the Black Lives Matter victims , shot to death during the protests .
We thank you so much for being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and also the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus , joining us from Madison , Wisconsin , where he lives with his husband .
We welcome you to Democracy Now !
, Congressmember Pocan .
Well , can you start off by talking about the significance of Trump ’ s visit ?
Even the local businessman whose burned-out business he stood in front of would not meet with him , refused a photo op , said he turns everything into a circus .
But can you talk about the killing of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you know — Anthony Huber , you know his family — and the police shooting of Jacob Blake , what you want to see done ?
REP. MARK POCAN : Yeah , and thanks so much for having me .
And , you know , that ’ s the part that was completely ignored by the president ’ s visit , and which is why I think the governor and the mayor didn ’ t want the president to come , just to fan the flames .
You know , clearly , what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seven times , close range , in front of their children , by the police — was another example of the policing problem we have in this country .
And then the protests and some of the violence that came out after that , when the vigilantes came from out of state and out of Kenosha — and , in fact , I think the vast majority of people who were arrested were from outside of Kenosha — so , outside agitators came in , including Kyle Rittenhouse , with — walking down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ water by the police , not stopped as he ’ s walking down the road with a rifle , and then he shot two people , including Anthony Huber , who is the grandson of my mother ’ s best friend .
You know , when those things happened , that ’ s what you respond to .
And , of course , Donald Trump came to say “ Attaboy ” to the local law enforcement , when that ’ s not even close to the message that came out of what happened @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we were very concerned when the president came , because clearly all he cares about is himself , not Kenosha .
We wish he would have cared about Kenosha when he came , but he had no messages of unity or reconciliation .
And that ’ s what we ’ re really hoping for today from Joe Biden .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : Well , Representative Pocan , it ’ s not just Trump ’ s visit that has been opposed , but even Joe Biden ’ s , which the mayor of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that it ’ s too early for them to come .
Could you talk about the significance of Wisconsin as a critical state in the upcoming elections ?
In 2016 , of course , Trump won by just a narrow margin in Wisconsin .
REP. MARK POCAN : Yeah .
Well , we ’ re a purple state .
You know , we can vote Democratic or Republican statewide .
We have really deep blue pockets and really deep red pockets .
But in 2016 , we had a 200,000 to 250,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know , that won ’ t happen again .
In 2018 , we took every constitutional office in Wisconsin — by one point , but they became Democratic .
So , yeah , we figured out the voting issue that we had in 2016 by a candidate at the time who never came to Wisconsin and didn ’ t put many resources here .
That ’ s not the case with Joe Biden .
And I was in Kenosha Tuesday visiting my 91-year-old mother when Donald Trump came .
And I can tell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you know , I think the mayor is trying to keep consistent with a message , but there is healing going on .
And Jacob Blake ’ s family wants to meet with Joe Biden .
And that ’ s part of the healing that needs to happen .
And I understand politicians want to be consistent , rather than correct , when they say people shouldn ’ t come , but the healing does need to continue .
I was rather shocked by seeing almost three-quarters of the businesses boarded up , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , because people are nervous .
People in Kenosha are good people , and this is something that they don ’ t expect to happen in their hometown , especially with outside vigilantes roaming the streets .
And , you know , I think this is what needs to happen today .
If Joe Biden says today what he said on Monday , that ’ s exactly the message of unity Kenosha needs .
AMY GOODMAN : President Trump has defended Kyle Rittenhouse .
He is a 17-year-old carrying an AR-15 automatic weapon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ illegal in Wisconsin .
AMY GOODMAN : He wasn ’ t even arrested as he put his hands up and walked over to the police , had been talking with them earlier , as he slung his gun in front of him .
He turned himself in .
REP. MARK POCAN : That ’ s the policing problem that I ’ m talking about .
And for the president to ignore that , instead come and thank the law enforcement — you know , we have to adjust policing in this country .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the House to try to do that .
But the fact that a law enforcement officer , even after what happened in Minneapolis , even after what ’ s happened by all the debate across the country , to — close range , seven shots in someone ’ s back , in front of their children , that just shows we need to seriously reform how we do policing .
You know , I ’ ve been an advocate for having consistent training across the country .
We don ’ t have that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s necessary .
There ’ s a lot of other things that we put in that bill that are necessary .
But for Donald Trump to ignore that and to actually kind of encourage outsiders to come into communities , this is all because Donald Trump is trying to — a last grasp at a message for his campaign of law and order , when all he has done is create chaos and disorder , whether it be around the coronavirus — we have no national plan .
We still don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wisconsin , for example .
We ’ ve had 100,000 small businesses close down because of how COVID has been dealt with .
And we have racial tensions because of Donald Trump fanning the flames of hatred for many of his supporters .
So , it ’ s that chaos , it ’ s Donald Trump ’ s America , that ’ s the problem .
In the Republican convention , they kept trying to say it ’ s Joe Biden ’ s America .
I remember Joe Biden ’ s America , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there .
We didn ’ t have these problems .
This is Donald Trump ’ s — it ’ s on his hands , what ’ s happening .
And he ’ s trying to have a new narrative , that ’ s not working .
AMY GOODMAN : During an interview on CNN yesterday , the U.S. Attorney General William Barr stood by his assertion — this is switching the topic , though he was with President Trump in Kenosha , but started talking about mail-in voting and said that it can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strong about it .
AMY GOODMAN : And President Trump yesterday in North Carolina encouraging people to vote twice .
REP. MARK POCAN : Yeah , I mean , these are all outright lies they ’ re trying to get ready for when they lose .
They ’ re looking at the polls , as well .
Donald Trump , with the post office , has tried to create chaos .
He wants people to think that their ballots somehow won ’ t count if they put it in the mail .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can to pick voters , rather than voters picking the next president .
And then he ’ s trying to set up this case that there ’ s somehow this fraudulent way of voting — that he and his family and many Cabinet members have themselves voted .
Members of Congress often vote from home via mail , because we ’ re not available .
So , this is just an outright lie that he ’ s putting out there , and he ’ s trying to make a case of this , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s putting out there .
And , you know , the reality is , he has created the environment where people don ’ t want to go and vote on Election Day , because they don ’ t want to get sick and get their family sick , either .
So , this is Donald Trump ’ s problem .
He still won ’ t address the problem that we have 187,000 deaths in this country because of the way he ’ s mishandled COVID-19 .
And now he ’ s trying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when the only reason we even have a large amount of people wanting to vote from home is because of COVID-19 .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : Well , on another issue regarding the elections , you recently tweeted a letter that you wrote and had 18 other Democratic members of Congress sign into , expressing concern that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has refused in-person briefings to Congress about foreign interference in the upcoming election .
So , if you could talk about that letter , and also the proposal you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ budget by 10 % so that money could be freed to fight COVID-19 in the state and the country ?
REP. MARK POCAN : Sure .
Thank you .
On the first one , this is a letter that we sent because the one power we do have as Congress is the power of the purse .
And if some agency is going to listen to the president , not do their responsibility by keeping Congress informed , we can stop their budget .
And we should stop their budget and not fund @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to allow the president to manipulate an agency .
So that ’ s what we were asking for .
And I think it ’ s something we should do .
And in this month , we have to actually — our fiscal year ends September 30th .
We have to deal with this .
So I ’ m hoping that this is something we can make very real , unless they do the right thing and brief Congress .
On the Pentagon budget , you know , this is something that I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years , we have increased defense spending 20 % , at a time of relative peace .
There ’ s no excuse for that .
And when you look at the cost overruns and the abuse and the fraud , almost every major contractor has been charged with fraud , and yet we continue to put now $ 740 billion a year into this .
We need to start cutting back .
And , you know , 10 % is a pretty modest cut for them to do .
We said not from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from all the other things , the private contractors , etc.
, that we could do .
And we were — fortunately , we got over 90 votes for a 10 % cut .
And only three years ago , Barbara Lee and I did this .
Barbara Lee , at the time , had introduced a 1 % cut and only got 70-some members .
So we increased the number of members by 20 by increasing the cut 10 % .
And also , the sequester , that ’ s kind of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of in line — if you increased one , the other increased , so if you wanted money for education or schools , you had to increase defense spending — that ends as of this year .
So , next year , we have a real opportunity to go in and make some serious cuts on defense , so we can trim it and rightsize it .
And that ’ s going to be a major goal of many of us in Congress .
AMY GOODMAN : Last 10 seconds .
Richard Neal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ways and Means Committee , over Alex Morse in Western Mass .
It was described as a fiercely homophobic campaign .
Your thoughts ?
REP. MARK POCAN : It was .
You know , whoever in their party , the Massachusetts party , convinced college Democrats to try to do a smear campaign should be kicked out of office .
There ’ s no accounting for that in politics .
There shouldn ’ t be for either party , and certainly Democrats should have a higher standard .
AMY GOODMAN : Congressmember Mark @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Nermeen Shaikh .
Stay safe .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden heads to Kenosha, Wisconsin, today to meet with the family of Jacob Blake, the African American man left paralyzed after being shot seven times at point-blank range in the back by a Kenosha police officer last month, setting off ongoing protests.
This comes two days after President Trump visited Kenosha, where he met primarily with law enforcement, never said Jacob Blake’s name. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign’s press secretary, Hogan Gidley, appeared to justify the recent fatal shooting of two protesters in Kenosha by a white 17-year-old Trump-supporting vigilante named Kyle Rittenhouse.
For more, we’re joined by Congressmember Mark Pocan of Wisconsin. He was born and raised in Kenosha, his family friends with one of the victims, the Black Lives Matter victims, shot to death during the protests. We thank you so much for being with us. Mark Pocan is co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and also the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, joining us from Madison, Wisconsin, where he lives with his husband.
We welcome you to Democracy Now!, Congressmember Pocan. Well, can you start off by talking about the significance of Trump’s visit? Even the local businessman whose burned-out business he stood in front of would not meet with him, refused a photo op, said he turns everything into a circus. But can you talk about the killing of the two protesters, one of whom you know — Anthony Huber, you know his family — and the police shooting of Jacob Blake, what you want to see done?
REP. MARK POCAN: Yeah, and thanks so much for having me. And, you know, that’s the part that was completely ignored by the president’s visit, and which is why I think the governor and the mayor didn’t want the president to come, just to fan the flames.
You know, clearly, what happened — someone shot in the back seven times, close range, in front of their children, by the police — was another example of the policing problem we have in this country. And then the protests and some of the violence that came out after that, when the vigilantes came from out of state and out of Kenosha — and, in fact, I think the vast majority of people who were arrested were from outside of Kenosha — so, outside agitators came in, including Kyle Rittenhouse, with — walking down the road with a rifle, given water by the police, not stopped as he’s walking down the road with a rifle, and then he shot two people, including Anthony Huber, who is the grandson of my mother’s best friend.
You know, when those things happened, that’s what you respond to. And, of course, Donald Trump came to say “Attaboy” to the local law enforcement, when that’s not even close to the message that came out of what happened in Kenosha. So, you know, we were very concerned when the president came, because clearly all he cares about is himself, not Kenosha. We wish he would have cared about Kenosha when he came, but he had no messages of unity or reconciliation. And that’s what we’re really hoping for today from Joe Biden.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, Representative Pocan, it’s not just Trump’s visit that has been opposed, but even Joe Biden’s, which the mayor of Kenosha has said, in both cases, that it’s too early for them to come. Could you talk about the significance of Wisconsin as a critical state in the upcoming elections? In 2016, of course, Trump won by just a narrow margin in Wisconsin.
REP. MARK POCAN: Yeah. Well, we’re a purple state. You know, we can vote Democratic or Republican statewide. We have really deep blue pockets and really deep red pockets. But in 2016, we had a 200,000 to 250,000 Democratic voter drop-off. So, you know, that won’t happen again. In 2018, we took every constitutional office in Wisconsin — by one point, but they became Democratic. So, yeah, we figured out the voting issue that we had in 2016 by a candidate at the time who never came to Wisconsin and didn’t put many resources here. That’s not the case with Joe Biden.
And I was in Kenosha Tuesday visiting my 91-year-old mother when Donald Trump came. And I can tell you, this is one where, you know, I think the mayor is trying to keep consistent with a message, but there is healing going on. And Jacob Blake’s family wants to meet with Joe Biden. And that’s part of the healing that needs to happen. And I understand politicians want to be consistent, rather than correct, when they say people shouldn’t come, but the healing does need to continue.
I was rather shocked by seeing almost three-quarters of the businesses boarded up, even in areas where no violence happened, because people are nervous. People in Kenosha are good people, and this is something that they don’t expect to happen in their hometown, especially with outside vigilantes roaming the streets. And, you know, I think this is what needs to happen today. If Joe Biden says today what he said on Monday, that’s exactly the message of unity Kenosha needs.
AMY GOODMAN: President Trump has defended Kyle Rittenhouse. He is a 17-year-old carrying an AR-15 automatic weapon, a long gun. This is illegal in Wisconsin.
REP. MARK POCAN: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: He wasn’t even arrested as he put his hands up and walked over to the police, had been talking with them earlier, as he slung his gun in front of him. He turned himself in.
REP. MARK POCAN: That’s the policing problem that I’m talking about. And for the president to ignore that, instead come and thank the law enforcement — you know, we have to adjust policing in this country. And we passed a major bill in the House to try to do that. But the fact that a law enforcement officer, even after what happened in Minneapolis, even after what’s happened by all the debate across the country, to — close range, seven shots in someone’s back, in front of their children, that just shows we need to seriously reform how we do policing. You know, I’ve been an advocate for having consistent training across the country. We don’t have that right now. I think that’s necessary. There’s a lot of other things that we put in that bill that are necessary.
But for Donald Trump to ignore that and to actually kind of encourage outsiders to come into communities, this is all because Donald Trump is trying to — a last grasp at a message for his campaign of law and order, when all he has done is create chaos and disorder, whether it be around the coronavirus — we have no national plan. We still don’t have testing supplies and PPE equipment in Wisconsin, for example. We’ve had 100,000 small businesses close down because of how COVID has been dealt with. And we have racial tensions because of Donald Trump fanning the flames of hatred for many of his supporters.
So, it’s that chaos, it’s Donald Trump’s America, that’s the problem. In the Republican convention, they kept trying to say it’s Joe Biden’s America. I remember Joe Biden’s America, when Barack Obama and Joe Biden were there. We didn’t have these problems. This is Donald Trump’s — it’s on his hands, what’s happening. And he’s trying to have a new narrative, that’s not working.
AMY GOODMAN: During an interview on CNN yesterday, the U.S. Attorney General William Barr stood by his assertion — this is switching the topic, though he was with President Trump in Kenosha, but started talking about mail-in voting and said that it can be fraudulent. He was much more strong about it.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: This is playing with fire. This is playing with fire. We’re a very closely divided country here. And if people have to have confidence in the results of the election and the legitimacy of the government, and people trying to change the rules to this — to this methodology, which, as a matter of logic, is very open to fraud and coercion, is reckless and dangerous. And people are playing with fire.
AMY GOODMAN: “Playing with fire,” Congressmember Pocan.
REP. MARK POCAN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: And President Trump yesterday in North Carolina encouraging people to vote twice.
REP. MARK POCAN: Yeah, I mean, these are all outright lies they’re trying to get ready for when they lose. They’re looking at the polls, as well. Donald Trump, with the post office, has tried to create chaos. He wants people to think that their ballots somehow won’t count if they put it in the mail. He’s trying to do everything he can to pick voters, rather than voters picking the next president. And then he’s trying to set up this case that there’s somehow this fraudulent way of voting — that he and his family and many Cabinet members have themselves voted. Members of Congress often vote from home via mail, because we’re not available. So, this is just an outright lie that he’s putting out there, and he’s trying to make a case of this, again, chaos and confusion that he’s putting out there.
And, you know, the reality is, he has created the environment where people don’t want to go and vote on Election Day, because they don’t want to get sick and get their family sick, either. So, this is Donald Trump’s problem. He still won’t address the problem that we have 187,000 deaths in this country because of the way he’s mishandled COVID-19. And now he’s trying to somehow put this onto voting, when the only reason we even have a large amount of people wanting to vote from home is because of COVID-19.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, on another issue regarding the elections, you recently tweeted a letter that you wrote and had 18 other Democratic members of Congress sign into, expressing concern that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has refused in-person briefings to Congress about foreign interference in the upcoming election. So, if you could talk about that letter, and also the proposal you recently put forth to cut the Pentagon budget by 10% so that money could be freed to fight COVID-19 in the state and the country?
REP. MARK POCAN: Sure. Thank you. On the first one, this is a letter that we sent because the one power we do have as Congress is the power of the purse. And if some agency is going to listen to the president, not do their responsibility by keeping Congress informed, we can stop their budget. And we should stop their budget and not fund them, if they’re going to allow the president to manipulate an agency. So that’s what we were asking for. And I think it’s something we should do. And in this month, we have to actually — our fiscal year ends September 30th. We have to deal with this. So I’m hoping that this is something we can make very real, unless they do the right thing and brief Congress.
On the Pentagon budget, you know, this is something that I’ve watched. In the last four years, we have increased defense spending 20%, at a time of relative peace. There’s no excuse for that. And when you look at the cost overruns and the abuse and the fraud, almost every major contractor has been charged with fraud, and yet we continue to put now $740 billion a year into this. We need to start cutting back. And, you know, 10% is a pretty modest cut for them to do. We said not from the troops or their healthcare, but from all the other things, the private contractors, etc., that we could do.
And we were — fortunately, we got over 90 votes for a 10% cut. And only three years ago, Barbara Lee and I did this. Barbara Lee, at the time, had introduced a 1% cut and only got 70-some members. So we increased the number of members by 20 by increasing the cut 10%. And also, the sequester, that’s kind of held nondefense spending and defense spending kind of in line — if you increased one, the other increased, so if you wanted money for education or schools, you had to increase defense spending — that ends as of this year. So, next year, we have a real opportunity to go in and make some serious cuts on defense, so we can trim it and rightsize it. And that’s going to be a major goal of many of us in Congress.
AMY GOODMAN: Last 10 seconds. Richard Neal just prevailed, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, over Alex Morse in Western Mass. It was described as a fiercely homophobic campaign. Your thoughts?
REP. MARK POCAN: It was. You know, whoever in their party, the Massachusetts party, convinced college Democrats to try to do a smear campaign should be kicked out of office. There’s no accounting for that in politics. There shouldn’t be for either party, and certainly Democrats should have a higher standard.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Mark Pocan, thanks so much for joining us. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. Stay safe.


democracynow--2020-09-03--Putin "Can't Afford to See Belarus Fall" as Protests Calling for Lukashenko's Ouster Enter 4th Week

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Nermeen Shaikh .
We turn now to Belarus , where people marched and sang in Minsk on Wednesday during ongoing protests of thousands against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko .
Protests and strikes against the authoritarian ruler , Alexander Lukashenko , have continued for weeks , since he claimed victory in the presidential election on August 9th .
Critics say his victory was rigged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ backing down .
Lukashenko has ruled for 26 years .
The state has responded to ongoing protests with violence and repression .
Masked police dragged student protesters into police vans Tuesday after thousands flooded the streets of Minsk .
Authorities have also arrested at least three factory strike leaders in recent weeks .
This comes amidst a crackdown on the media in Belarus .
Two former TV hosts were arrested in Minsk Wednesday .
At least 19 journalists who work for foreign media outlets have had their accreditation revoked , and two Associated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for more , we go to London , where we ’ re joined by Sadakat Kadri , a human rights lawyer and writer with a focus on Eastern Europe .
His recent piece on Belarus for the London Review of Books is headlined “ The revolution will not be colourised.
” Welcome to Democracy Now !
, Sadakat Kadri .
If you can just start off by laying out the scene and the situation in Belarus since that election August 9th ?
Talk about who ran in that election and what ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people have been imprisoned .
SADAKAT KADRI : Sure .
Well , I mean , it ’ s the sixth election that Lukashenko has won .
He ’ s been in power now for 26 years , as you said .
It ’ s the sixth election .
It ’ s the sixth landslide .
He ’ s never won less than 77 % of the vote .
He won 80.1 % this time around .
It was kind of expected , in the sense that he ’ s been rigging elections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also what was expected is that people would not really react as they have , because what happened is that there were protests , as there have been protests in all the other landslides that he ’ s won , but then he came out with — his riot police came out .
They rounded up more than 7,000 people over the next few days .
There were allegations of torture , allegations of attempted rape .
I think the difference this time around is simply that people have been using social media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social media channel Telegram .
So the allegations of torture , the images of torture went viral .
The demonstrations kept going on .
They didn ’ t peter out as people kind of expected they would after a couple of days .
They lasted for days , then weeks .
And then the bedrock of Lukashenko ’ s support over the last few years , factory workers , they came out on strike .
Leading figures in Belarusian society — heads of the national orchestra , the national theater , the director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ again in support of the demonstrators , to the extent that , after a week , Lukashenko ’ s interior minister effectively apologized on national TV , said that many of the wrong people had been arrested — which is unheard of in Belarusian history .
And for about a week , there was a kind of stalemate .
There still is a kind of stalemate .
But what that means is that demonstrators are coming out every weekend , as you ’ ve said .
Since the university started again this week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And Lukashenko doesn ’ t really seem to know exactly what to do , because , of course , he could try and crush the demonstrators , but I think he ’ s kind of — he realizes that all bets will be off if he uses serious force against the demonstrators , more serious force than he ’ s already used .
He ’ s been photographed in the last couple of weeks , both last weekend and this weekend , once with an assault rifle in his hand and once with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So he clearly wants the protesters and the world to think that they need to take him seriously .
But whether or not he ’ s going to actually get his security forces to use live fire and to use more force than they already have is — it ’ s all up in the air at the moment .
I mean , there ’ s everything to play for here .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : And , Sadakat , as we mentioned in the introduction , there has been a massive crackdown on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s going on .
And you wrote in your London Review of Books piece , “ The revolution will not be colourised ” — you wrote , quote , “ Belarusian state media , ” meanwhile , “ are pumping out alarmist propaganda similar to that seen in Russia before the invasion of Crimea — tales of fascism on the march , and fantastically untrue claims that the Russian language is about to be sidelined.
” So , could you say more about how these protests are being covered in the media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social media or other means to keep these protests going despite this massively brutal response by Lukashenko ’ s government ?
SADAKAT KADRI : Sure .
Well , I mean , the reason that my article was called “ The revolution will not be colourised ” is because there ’ s a narrative in Russia about what ’ s called the color revolutions .
It ’ s named after the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2004 , the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2005 .
In the West , we tend to think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people are angry with rigged votes .
But in Russia , they ’ re seen as something very different .
They ’ re seen as a deliberate strategy by the West to basically promote discontent , to overthrow governments which , according to the Moscow narrative , are legitimate governments .
So , they ’ re governments after very contested elections , like this 80 % majority that Lukashenko just claims to have won now .
And so , in the eyes of Putin , of people from Vladimir Putin downwards , President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing they need to avoid is another revolution like the thing that happened in Ukraine in 2014 , a color revolution .
I should say , in that context , I mean , I ’ ve been talking to quite a few Belarusians .
They ’ re very nervous themselves about being linked too closely to the Ukraine example specifically .
They don ’ t want to be thought of as being a color revolution , as being a Maidan kind of revolution like as was seen in Ukraine in 2014 .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the European Union .
In the Ukraine , you saw a lot of European Union flags being flown at all the demonstrations .
That ’ s not happening at all in Belarus at the moment .
They ’ re saying , “ We are simply fighting for our rights .
We ’ re fighting for the election to be rerun , and to be rerun fairly .
And we ’ re confident that if it is rerun fairly , then Lukashenko will lose power.
” On the question of social media that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a social media revolution .
The Arab Spring was famously called a Twitter revolution .
I suppose Facebook has been the channel that ’ s been used more often in Central and Eastern Europe over the last few years .
But it ’ s a specific social media channel called Telegram which is making the running in Belarus at the moment .
I mean , there are thousands and thousands of people getting daily updates .
I mean , there are hundreds of updates every day , with videos , with images , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s a cat-and-mouse game at the moment in Belarus .
The riot police are back out on the streets after this — after being pulled in the first week , but they aren ’ t directly confronting the demonstrators .
And the demonstrators aren ’ t directly confronting them , either .
If you look on the Telegram channels , you will actually see instructions , real-time instructions , to demonstrators to turn left on this street and to turn right on that street in order to avoid confrontations with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ censorship just doesn ’ t work anymore .
I mean , you ’ ve got — Lukashenko has done his best to make up for the fact that a lot of the presenters on state TV have resigned , by bringing in “ help ” from Russia — help in inverted commas .
Basically , broadcasters from RT , the channel that used to be known as Russia Today , have flown in .
Two teams of them came in last week , I think , and one of them is still in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keeping the state media running .
But no one — no one believes it .
People are relying for their information , of course , on foreign media channels , but also just on social media , and on Telegram in particular .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : Sadakat , could you talk a little bit more about Putin ’ s relationship with Lukashenko , and also what status Belarus has , as a former Soviet republic , with Russia ?
Putin has said that he could send in police forces into Belarus .
What @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protests ?
What kind of support have these protests received among civil society in Russia ?
SADAKAT KADRI : Sure .
Well , everything ’ s at stake .
Everything ’ s at stake for everyone in Russia .
I mean , for Putin , he can ’ t afford to see Belarus “ fall ” — in inverted commas .
You know , Ukraine has been lost , in his eyes , to the West already , or to Europe already .
He can ’ t afford to see another former member @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — and again , I ’ m using inverted commas with that .
But the position is slightly complicated by the fact that even though he and Lukashenko see eye to eye on that — neither of them want to see — least of all Lukashenko , want to see Lukashenko ’ s government fall — but Lukashenko and Putin are not friends .
Lukashenko has been in power for 26 years .
Putin has only been in power for 20 years .
As far as Lukashenko is concerned , this guy is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ got the — the two countries are theoretically in a union .
No one quite knows what the union means , because the pact of union was signed in the 1990s .
But it was signed at a time when Lukashenko thought that he would be the senior partner in the union , because his real partner was Boris Yeltsin .
And I don ’ t know if you remember , but Boris Yeltsin at that point was not a — was not , shall we say , in command of all his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by that point .
And Lukashenko thought that he was going to be running the show in years to come .
Then Putin comes along .
And we all know what ’ s happened , how Vladimir Putin has improved his fortunes over the last 20 years .
And Lukashenko ’ s reaction has been to make overtures to both the European Union and also to the United States .
As your listeners , your viewers may or may not know , Mike Pompeo made a visit to Minsk just in February of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visit by an American secretary of state for 25 years .
And , obviously , the relations between the White House and the Kremlin are complicated , shall we say , at the moment , but Lukashenko imagined that he was playing everyone off against each other .
He can ’ t afford to do that anymore .
The game may be up for him .
So he ’ s basically turning towards Putin .
Putin can ’ t afford to let Lukashenko fall , either , so he ’ s leaning towards @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in terms of civil society , you asked .
I mean , people — opponents of Vladimir Putin , critics of Vladimir Putin are looking very carefully at what ’ s going on in Belarus at the moment .
And one of the people who ’ s looking most carefully is , in fact , Alexei Navalny , the vlogger , video blogger , who has just been allegedly poisoned by Vladimir Putin .
About a week after the election , he devoted one of his YouTube broadcasts , which regularly attracts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ devoted that broadcast to the strike movement in Belarus and told Russians how effective it was at holding leaders to account .
Now , that ’ s not the kind of message that the Kremlin wants to hear , but it is an inspiring message for the people who are tackling corruption within Russia .
AMY GOODMAN : And then , very quickly , if you could tell us about Navalny right now , who ’ s in a coma in Germany ?
Talk about the German doctors ’ findings .
He was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Siberia or on the flight .
Tell us the drug that the Germans believe was used and the significance of his position in Russia , and then the fact that the opposition leader in Belarus , who ’ s now , I believe , in Lithuania , she will be addressing the U.N. tomorrow .
SADAKAT KADRI : Right , yeah .
Well , I should start by saying that the Russians who examined Navalny said that there were no toxins present at all , that it was just a case of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was that .
Then he was flown to Germany .
As you say , Angela Merkel yesterday held a press conference , where she said that , beyond any doubt , he had been poisoned , it was a very serious matter , and Russia needed to answer questions .
Her spokesman had previously said that the poison that was found was a nerve agent of the Novichok variety .
Now , the reason that that ’ s significant is because Novichok came into the news — we all know about Novichok because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the secret services living here in the U.K. , in a town called Salisbury , was allegedly poisoned by two members of the GRU , of the security services in Russia .
And they used that poison — traces of that poison , Novichok , were found .
It ’ s a very deadly poison .
It ’ s been placed on the list of prohibited substances under the Chemical Warfare Convention .
The reason it ’ s significant is because Navalny had a lot of enemies .
There were lots of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But Novichok is not the kind of thing that you get by popping down to the local drugstore .
Novichok is something which is produced only in state laboratories , as far as anyone knows , in any event .
And in any case , it ’ s not the kind of thing that should be running loose in Russia .
If Russia was serious , if Putin ’ s Russia was serious about getting to the bottom of this thing , because they say that they have nothing to do with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were serious about that , then they would be conducting an absolutely thorough investigation now , because the idea that a weapon banned by the Chemical Warfare Convention is available to ordinary people in Russia is just — is flabbergasting .
And if that is the case , Vladimir Putin should be getting on top of this now .
AMY GOODMAN : And finally , the Belarus opposition leader , what she will be telling the U.N. , and her significance , having left Belarus ?
SADAKAT KADRI : Well , I mean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the wife of another very popular vlogger in Belarus , something kind of an equivalent of Alexei Navalny in Belarus .
She ’ s very new to this game .
She is not a politician .
She stood in because her husband ’ s candidacy was ruled out back in May or June .
He was prohibited .
He was jailed on trumped-up charges , and he was prohibited from running for president himself .
So , she stepped up to the plate .
She campaigned very effectively , huge rallies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote , which , of course , is highly contested and almost certainly ridiculous .
What she ’ ll be saying to the United Nations , I ’ m sure , is that the pressure needs to be kept up on Lukashenko and that the election should be rerun .
AMY GOODMAN : Sadakat Kadri , I want to thank you so much for being with us , human rights lawyer , writer .
We ’ ll link to your piece in the London Review of Books , “ The revolution will not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Joe Biden is going to Kenosha today , following Trump ’ s visit on Tuesday .
He ’ ll be meeting with the Blake family .
Stay with us .
We ’ ll be speaking with a congressmember who grew up in Kenosha .
Stay with us .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
We turn now to Belarus, where people marched and sang in Minsk on Wednesday during ongoing protests of thousands against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. Protests and strikes against the authoritarian ruler, Alexander Lukashenko, have continued for weeks, since he claimed victory in the presidential election on August 9th. Critics say his victory was rigged, but he shows no sign of backing down. Lukashenko has ruled for 26 years.
The state has responded to ongoing protests with violence and repression. Masked police dragged student protesters into police vans Tuesday after thousands flooded the streets of Minsk. Authorities have also arrested at least three factory strike leaders in recent weeks.
This comes amidst a crackdown on the media in Belarus. Two former TV hosts were arrested in Minsk Wednesday. At least 19 journalists who work for foreign media outlets have had their accreditation revoked, and two Associated Press reporters have been deported.
Well, for more, we go to London, where we’re joined by Sadakat Kadri, a human rights lawyer and writer with a focus on Eastern Europe. His recent piece on Belarus for the London Review of Books is headlined “The revolution will not be colourised.”
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Sadakat Kadri. If you can just start off by laying out the scene and the situation in Belarus since that election August 9th? Talk about who ran in that election and what’s happened since. Hundreds and hundreds of people have been imprisoned.
SADAKAT KADRI: Sure. Well, I mean, it’s the sixth election that Lukashenko has won. He’s been in power now for 26 years, as you said. It’s the sixth election. It’s the sixth landslide. He’s never won less than 77% of the vote. He won 80.1% this time around. It was kind of expected, in the sense that he’s been rigging elections for a very long time.
But also what was expected is that people would not really react as they have, because what happened is that there were protests, as there have been protests in all the other landslides that he’s won, but then he came out with — his riot police came out. They rounded up more than 7,000 people over the next few days. There were allegations of torture, allegations of attempted rape. I think the difference this time around is simply that people have been using social media, not just Facebook but also the social media channel Telegram. So the allegations of torture, the images of torture went viral.
The demonstrations kept going on. They didn’t peter out as people kind of expected they would after a couple of days. They lasted for days, then weeks. And then the bedrock of Lukashenko’s support over the last few years, factory workers, they came out on strike. Leading figures in Belarusian society — heads of the national orchestra, the national theater, the director of the national university — came out again in support of the demonstrators, to the extent that, after a week, Lukashenko’s interior minister effectively apologized on national TV, said that many of the wrong people had been arrested — which is unheard of in Belarusian history.
And for about a week, there was a kind of stalemate. There still is a kind of stalemate. But what that means is that demonstrators are coming out every weekend, as you’ve said. Since the university started again this week, students have been coming out. And Lukashenko doesn’t really seem to know exactly what to do, because, of course, he could try and crush the demonstrators, but I think he’s kind of — he realizes that all bets will be off if he uses serious force against the demonstrators, more serious force than he’s already used. He’s been photographed in the last couple of weeks, both last weekend and this weekend, once with an assault rifle in his hand and once with a machine gun in his hand. So he clearly wants the protesters and the world to think that they need to take him seriously. But whether or not he’s going to actually get his security forces to use live fire and to use more force than they already have is — it’s all up in the air at the moment. I mean, there’s everything to play for here.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Sadakat, as we mentioned in the introduction, there has been a massive crackdown on any kind of independent reporting on what’s going on. And you wrote in your London Review of Books piece, “The revolution will not be colourised” — you wrote, quote, “Belarusian state media,” meanwhile, “are pumping out alarmist propaganda similar to that seen in Russia before the invasion of Crimea — tales of fascism on the march, and fantastically untrue claims that the Russian language is about to be sidelined.” So, could you say more about how these protests are being covered in the media there and how people are communicating through social media or other means to keep these protests going despite this massively brutal response by Lukashenko’s government?
SADAKAT KADRI: Sure. Well, I mean, the reason that my article was called “The revolution will not be colourised” is because there’s a narrative in Russia about what’s called the color revolutions. It’s named after the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2004, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2005. In the West, we tend to think of these as being popular revolutions where people are angry with rigged votes. But in Russia, they’re seen as something very different. They’re seen as a deliberate strategy by the West to basically promote discontent, to overthrow governments which, according to the Moscow narrative, are legitimate governments. So, they’re governments after very contested elections, like this 80% majority that Lukashenko just claims to have won now. And so, in the eyes of Putin, of people from Vladimir Putin downwards, President Putin of Russia downwards, the one thing they need to avoid is another revolution like the thing that happened in Ukraine in 2014, a color revolution.
I should say, in that context, I mean, I’ve been talking to quite a few Belarusians. They’re very nervous themselves about being linked too closely to the Ukraine example specifically. They don’t want to be thought of as being a color revolution, as being a Maidan kind of revolution like as was seen in Ukraine in 2014. They’re even nervous about being associated with the European Union. In the Ukraine, you saw a lot of European Union flags being flown at all the demonstrations. That’s not happening at all in Belarus at the moment. They’re saying, “We are simply fighting for our rights. We’re fighting for the election to be rerun, and to be rerun fairly. And we’re confident that if it is rerun fairly, then Lukashenko will lose power.”
On the question of social media that you raised, it is very much a social media revolution. The Arab Spring was famously called a Twitter revolution. I suppose Facebook has been the channel that’s been used more often in Central and Eastern Europe over the last few years. But it’s a specific social media channel called Telegram which is making the running in Belarus at the moment. I mean, there are thousands and thousands of people getting daily updates. I mean, there are hundreds of updates every day, with videos, with images, telling people where to march, because it’s a cat-and-mouse game at the moment in Belarus. The riot police are back out on the streets after this — after being pulled in the first week, but they aren’t directly confronting the demonstrators. And the demonstrators aren’t directly confronting them, either. If you look on the Telegram channels, you will actually see instructions, real-time instructions, to demonstrators to turn left on this street and to turn right on that street in order to avoid confrontations with the police.
And, of course, censorship just doesn’t work anymore. I mean, you’ve got — Lukashenko has done his best to make up for the fact that a lot of the presenters on state TV have resigned, by bringing in “help” from Russia — help in inverted commas. Basically, broadcasters from RT, the channel that used to be known as Russia Today, have flown in. Two teams of them came in last week, I think, and one of them is still in Belarus. And they’re basically keeping the state media running. But no one — no one believes it. People are relying for their information, of course, on foreign media channels, but also just on social media, and on Telegram in particular.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Sadakat, could you talk a little bit more about Putin’s relationship with Lukashenko, and also what status Belarus has, as a former Soviet republic, with Russia? Putin has said that he could send in police forces into Belarus. What is at stake for Russia in these protests? What kind of support have these protests received among civil society in Russia?
SADAKAT KADRI: Sure. Well, everything’s at stake. Everything’s at stake for everyone in Russia. I mean, for Putin, he can’t afford to see Belarus “fall” — in inverted commas. You know, Ukraine has been lost, in his eyes, to the West already, or to Europe already. He can’t afford to see another former member of the Soviet Union “fall” — and again, I’m using inverted commas with that.
But the position is slightly complicated by the fact that even though he and Lukashenko see eye to eye on that — neither of them want to see — least of all Lukashenko, want to see Lukashenko’s government fall — but Lukashenko and Putin are not friends. Lukashenko has been in power for 26 years. Putin has only been in power for 20 years. As far as Lukashenko is concerned, this guy is just an upstart. He’s got the — the two countries are theoretically in a union. No one quite knows what the union means, because the pact of union was signed in the 1990s. But it was signed at a time when Lukashenko thought that he would be the senior partner in the union, because his real partner was Boris Yeltsin. And I don’t know if you remember, but Boris Yeltsin at that point was not a — was not, shall we say, in command of all his faculties. He was an elderly drunkard by that point. And Lukashenko thought that he was going to be running the show in years to come.
Then Putin comes along. And we all know what’s happened, how Vladimir Putin has improved his fortunes over the last 20 years. And Lukashenko’s reaction has been to make overtures to both the European Union and also to the United States. As your listeners, your viewers may or may not know, Mike Pompeo made a visit to Minsk just in February of this year. It was the first visit by an American secretary of state for 25 years. And, obviously, the relations between the White House and the Kremlin are complicated, shall we say, at the moment, but Lukashenko imagined that he was playing everyone off against each other. He can’t afford to do that anymore. The game may be up for him. So he’s basically turning towards Putin. Putin can’t afford to let Lukashenko fall, either, so he’s leaning towards Lukashenko, as well.
And then, in terms of civil society, you asked. I mean, people — opponents of Vladimir Putin, critics of Vladimir Putin are looking very carefully at what’s going on in Belarus at the moment. And one of the people who’s looking most carefully is, in fact, Alexei Navalny, the vlogger, video blogger, who has just been allegedly poisoned by Vladimir Putin. About a week after the election, he devoted one of his YouTube broadcasts, which regularly attracts more than several million viewers — he devoted that broadcast to the strike movement in Belarus and told Russians how effective it was at holding leaders to account. Now, that’s not the kind of message that the Kremlin wants to hear, but it is an inspiring message for the people who are tackling corruption within Russia.
AMY GOODMAN: And then, very quickly, if you could tell us about Navalny right now, who’s in a coma in Germany? Talk about the German doctors’ findings. He was apparently poisoned, perhaps at the aiport in Siberia or on the flight. Tell us the drug that the Germans believe was used and the significance of his position in Russia, and then the fact that the opposition leader in Belarus, who’s now, I believe, in Lithuania, she will be addressing the U.N. tomorrow.
SADAKAT KADRI: Right, yeah. Well, I should start by saying that the Russians who examined Navalny said that there were no toxins present at all, that it was just a case of low blood sugar levels, and that was that. Then he was flown to Germany. As you say, Angela Merkel yesterday held a press conference, where she said that, beyond any doubt, he had been poisoned, it was a very serious matter, and Russia needed to answer questions.
Her spokesman had previously said that the poison that was found was a nerve agent of the Novichok variety. Now, the reason that that’s significant is because Novichok came into the news — we all know about Novichok because two years ago a Russian former operative of the secret services living here in the U.K., in a town called Salisbury, was allegedly poisoned by two members of the GRU, of the security services in Russia. And they used that poison — traces of that poison, Novichok, were found. It’s a very deadly poison. It’s been placed on the list of prohibited substances under the Chemical Warfare Convention.
The reason it’s significant is because Navalny had a lot of enemies. There were lots of people who had reasons to poison Navalny. But Novichok is not the kind of thing that you get by popping down to the local drugstore. Novichok is something which is produced only in state laboratories, as far as anyone knows, in any event. And in any case, it’s not the kind of thing that should be running loose in Russia.
If Russia was serious, if Putin’s Russia was serious about getting to the bottom of this thing, because they say that they have nothing to do with it, of course — if they were serious about that, then they would be conducting an absolutely thorough investigation now, because the idea that a weapon banned by the Chemical Warfare Convention is available to ordinary people in Russia is just — is flabbergasting. And if that is the case, Vladimir Putin should be getting on top of this now.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, the Belarus opposition leader, what she will be telling the U.N., and her significance, having left Belarus?
SADAKAT KADRI: Well, I mean, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is — she’s the wife of another very popular vlogger in Belarus, something kind of an equivalent of Alexei Navalny in Belarus. She’s very new to this game. She is not a politician. She stood in because her husband’s candidacy was ruled out back in May or June. He was prohibited. He was jailed on trumped-up charges, and he was prohibited from running for president himself. So, she stepped up to the plate. She campaigned very effectively, huge rallies, supposedly won just 10% of the vote, which, of course, is highly contested and almost certainly ridiculous. What she’ll be saying to the United Nations, I’m sure, is that the pressure needs to be kept up on Lukashenko and that the election should be rerun.
AMY GOODMAN: Sadakat Kadri, I want to thank you so much for being with us, human rights lawyer, writer. We’ll link to your piece in the London Review of Books, “The revolution will not be colourised.”
When we come back, Joe Biden is going to Kenosha today, following Trump’s visit on Tuesday. He’ll be meeting with the Blake family. Stay with us. We’ll be speaking with a congressmember who grew up in Kenosha. Stay with us.