Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240622 : comparemela.

Budget cuts and tax hikes in exchange for a rescue package from european creditors, who is to blame for the debt crisis embroiling greece . Is germany trying to crush greece to set an example . Will greece leave the eurozone . What does this mean for the Global Economy . We will go to athens to speak with paul mason and in the United States economist Richard Wolff will join us in new york. He will also look at the rise of democratic socialist president ial candidate Bernie Sanders as he draws the largest crowds of the 2016 race democrat or republican. All that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has arrived in brussels for an emergency euro zone summit two days after greek voters overwhelmingly turned down the terms of an international bailout in a historic rejection of austerity. On sunday, greeks by a 61 to 39 margin voted against further budget cuts and tax hikes in exchange for a rescue package from european creditors. Tsipras is scrambling to present a new bailout proposal as greek banks remain shut down. If greek banks run out of money and the country has to print its own currency, it could mean a state leaving the euro for the First Time Since it was launched in 1999. Speaking ahead of todays Summit European Commission president , Jeanclaude Juncker said the ball is in greeces court. The ball lies in the court of the greek government and the greek government must explain in brussels today how it sees us extricating ourselves from the situation. The president of the European Commission and the European Commission are ready to do whatever necessary within a reasonable timeframe to reach an agreement. Amy well spend the rest of the hour on the crisis in greece after headlines. In yemen, clashes and airstrikes by the Saudiled Coalition have killed nearly 200 people including many civilians, in what appears to be the deadliest day since the u. S. Backed offensive began. In total nearly 3000 people have , been killed since late march when the Saudiled Coalition began airstrikes against shiite houthi rebels. Among those killed on monday were 30 people at a market in the Northern Province of amran and 60 people at a livestock market in the southern town of alfoyoush. Last week the United Nations declared the highestlevel humanitarian emergency in yemen, were it says more than 80 of the population needs aid. In syria, kurdish fighters have reportedly retaken more than 10 villages seized by the selfproclaimed Islamic State around the isil stronghold of raqqa. The britishbased syrian observatory for human rights said the victory came amidst intensified u. S. Led airstrikes. Speaking on monday, president obama vowed to increase u. S. Support for opposition fighters in syria, and ramp up what he called a longterm campaign against isil. In short, isil plus recent losses prove that isil can a will be defeated. Indeed, we are intensifying our efforts against isil base in syria and we will continue to target the oil and gas facilities that fund so much of their operations. Were going after the isil leadership and infrastructure in syria, the heart of isil that pumps funds and propaganda to people around the world. Amy iraqi forces meanwhile are said to be preparing for a counteroffensive to retake the key city of ramadi from isil. There is no sign of an agreement yet between iran and world powers who are trying to Reach Nuclear Deal ahead of todays selfimposed deadline. It appears likely the talks will be extended with key issues in dispute, including u. N. Sanctions on irans Ballistic Missile program and a wider arms embargo. The real deadline could be thursday, the last day for president obama to present a deal to congress before a mandatory review period of 30 days jones to 60 days. The South Carolina senate has voted to remove the Confederate Flag from the grounds of the state capitol. The vote was 37 to 3, far more than the two thirds majority needed to advance the bill. The vote came 19 days after nine africanamerican worshipers, including South Carolina state senator reverend Clementa Pinckney were gunned down in a , Charleston Church by a racist suspect who embraced the Confederate Flag. Republican state senator larry martin, who for decades opposed attempts to remove the flag from the Capitol Grounds said he , changed his mind following the massacre. To see that thing fluttering out there, in a way that sort of gives some official status to it on behalf of the people of South Carolina that doesnt represent all the people of South Carolina, and we need to remember that. And in that regard, it is part of our history. It needs to be respected in whatever way or honored in whatever way folks choose to do. But as far as this state state house grounds, it is in part of our future. It is part of our past. Amy the bill to remove the flag still needs to pass a second vote in the state senate today before advancing to the house. Among the three state senators who voted against removing the flag was state senator lee bright, who sought an amendment to put the flags fate to a popular vote. Senator bright used the debate as an opportunity to condemn recent Court Decisions in favor of samesex marriage. Our governor called us in to deal with the flag that sits out front. Lets deal with the nationalsin we face today. We talked about abortion, but i think this will be one nation gone under like president reagan said, if we are not one nation under god, we will be one nation gone under. And to sanctify deviant behavior from five judges, it is time to make our stay in church, time to make our stand, and were not doing it. We can rally together and talked about a flag all we want, but the devil is taking control of this land and we are not stopping him. Amy the supreme courts historic decision legalizing samesex marriage across the country came the same day as the funeral for reverend Clementa Pinckney. Some have called for replacing the Confederate Flag with a rainbow flag. New york city has agreed to pay more than 300,000 to six occupy wall street protesters who were doused with pepper spray by police in an encounter which helped ignite the movement. Video of the incident Shows New York City Police Deputy inspector Anthony Bologna pepperspraying a group of peaceful protesters, most of them women, while they are trapped in an Orange Police net. The protesters received settlements of up to 60,000 each, the highest payouts to date for individual occupy wall street protesters. The police inspector, Anthony Bologna, was penalized with the loss of 10 Vacation Days for violating police guidelines. Leaked documents appear to show an italybased private Spyware Company known as the hacking team was selling its products to u. S. Law enforcement agencies and repressive governments around the world. The hacking team sells software which lets users seize Remote Control of another persons computer. Its customers include the fbi, the Drug Enforcement administration, and the u. S. Army, as well as foreign governments including ethiopia sudan, saudi arabia, and bahrain. The documents were published to the companys own twitter feed following an apparent breach. Wikileaks and the intercept i have revealed the National Security agencys targeting of brazilian officials was far wider than initially known. While previous reports revealed the nsa targeted brazilian president Dilma Rousseffs personal cell phone, documents obtained by wikileaks and the intercept show the nsa targeted the cell phones and other devices of more than a dozen top brazilian political and financial officials, including the phone on rousseffs president ial plane. The revelations come amid new reports the United States spied on the german newsmagazine der spiegel. Meanwhile, former attorney general eric holder, who waged an unprecedented crackdown on government whistleblowers during his tenure, has said the possibility exists for the Justice Department to cut a deal with nsa Edward Snowden allowing him to return to the United States from russia. In the latest sign of the revolving door between wall street and washington, eric holder is returning to the Corporate Law firm where he worked before becoming head of the Justice Department. Holder was a partner at the firm covington and burling for eight years before he became attorney general, representing clients including ubs and the fruit giant chiquita. The law firms client list has included many of the big banks holder failed to criminally prosecute as attorney general for their role in the financial crisis including bank of america, jpmorgan chase, wells fargo and citigroup. The law firm had reportedly kept a Corner Office vacant for holder. A new study has revealed the vast majority of elected prosecutors across the United States are white. The study by the Women Donors Network found 66 of states that elect prosecutors have no africanamericans in office. Of the more than 2400 elected state and local prosecutors in office last year, 95 were white and 79 were white men. Court documents obtained by the Associated Press show bill cosby admitted obtaining quaaludes to give to young women he wanted to have sex with and acknowledged giving the drugs to at least one woman. Cosby made the admission in 2005 in a deposition as part of a sexual abuse case brought against him by a former Temple University employee. About 40 women have accused cosby of sexual assaulting them in incidents dating back four decades. The u. S. Womens soccer team is being honored at a rally in los angeles, california today after they beat japan to win the world cup on sunday. Their victory shattered tv rating records, becoming the mostviewed soccer game ever in the United States, mens or womens. Yet the International Soccer organizing body fifa, which is under fire for rampant corruption, forced the women to play on artificial turf and awarded the team just 2 million total for their victory, a fourth of what the u. S. Mens team received after they lost in the first round of the mens world cup last year. And protests and commemorations were held across the United States and canada monday to mark two years since the deadly Oil Train Derailment in lacmegantic, quebec. The train was carrying volatile crude oil from north dakotas bakken shale when it exploded on july 6, 2013, killing 47 people and destroying dozens of buildings. In portland, oregon monday, 60 people held a memorial blockade, blocking the tracks into an oil transfer and Storage Facility and Holding Signs with the names and ages of the victims. The action is part of dozens planned in the coming days as part of the stop Oil Trains Week of action. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has arrived in brussels for an emergency euro zone summit two days after greek voters overwhelmingly turned down the terms of an international bailout in a historic rejection of austerity. On sunday, greeks by 61 to 39 margin, voted against further budget cuts and talk hikes tax hikes. Tsipras is scrambling to present a new bailout proposal as greek banks remain shut down. If greek angst run out of money in the country is to print its own currency, it could mean a state leaving the euro for the First Time Since it was launched in 1999. German chancellor Angela Merkel and french president Francois Hollande met in paris monday to discuss the crisis. We have been paying close attention to the Voting Results and we respect greeces referendum. The door remains open for discussions. It is up to the government of Alexis Tsipras to make serious credible proposals so this willingness to stay in the eurozone can be realized. Amy in athens, euclid tsakalotos was sworn in monday as greeces new finance minister replacing Yanis Varoufakis who , resigned. Tsakalotos had served as greeces main negotiator on the bailout and has been a member of syriza for nearly a decade. Like varoufakis, tsakalotos has been a vocal opponent of fiscal austerity imposed by the core of the euro zone saying it has unnecessarily impoverished greece and other countries on the periphery. I will not hide from you that im nervous and very anxious. It is not the easiest time in greek history to be taking on this job. There are class issues with this vote, simple workingclass and middleclass people who have lost their businesses so that we want to trust the government to deliver a viable situation. Amy to talk more about greece we are joined by two guests. In athens is paul mason, economics editor at channel 4 news. He is producer of the forthcoming documentary about greece titled, and dreams shall take revenge. And here in new york is Richard Wolff, emeritus professor of economics at university of massachusetts, amherst and visiting professor at new school university. He hosts a Weekly National Radio Program called economic update. The author of several books including most recently, democracy at work a cure for capitalism. Lets go first to athens. All mason, first, were you surprised by sundays vote . And talk about what this means now. I was surprised by the size of it, but of course all of the opinion polls were effectively rubbish because you just cant opinion poll a country like this on an issue like this. But the size of it astonished not only the germans, but also the syriza leadership as well. I think both of the size of the rally that proceeded it friday night visibly shocked the leadership and Alexis Tsipras. It filled the square behind me and several streets around it. It was six times bigger than the opposing rightwing yes rally. And the vote itself, probably maybe 35 to 40 leftist voters here. To get 60 means liberals, conservatives, people who are not political must have voted for the no and i think it is part of what we are observing on the ground, very rough and rugged right realization i think it is probably fair to say nine out of 10 of the media groups that are camped out here in greece are not getting that because they are tied to the satellite dishes that are all around me. There is a radicalization going on. It happened the last two days of last week were people saw tv stations owned by oligarchs come together not only the usual onesided news, but actual straightforward sort of world war iistyle propaganda for the yes camp. Many people said they switched their votes when they sabes tv stations break even the most rudimentary greek which are not very good tv regulations. Basically, they make fox news look objective. Amy on to ask you about Yanis Varoufakis, who briefly spoke to reporters after he announced his surprise resignation as finance minister on monday. What is happening here is just a change of the guard between something more than comrades. We are friends, colleagues fellow academics. Euclid and i have shared similar ideals for a long time. Amy Yanis Varoufakis left the ministry of finance with his wife today on the back of a motorbike in down to downtown athens, two days before the greek referendum. He was interviewed by you, paul, for channel four news. This is a clip of what he said. Yanis varoufakis, you said you would resign if there was a yes vote on sunday. What would you do if there is a no vote . Were going to press ahead. One that is viable unlike the deals offered to us by the institutions. The only reason were having this event, paul, we were given an ultimatum on the basis of a set of proposals which we considered to be nonviable. In other words, up to