And assume the responsibility. Amy west African Leaders from ecowas are holding an emergency summit to determine their next steps after a deadline past sunday to restore nigers mr. President. Former president. We will get an update. Then we speak to ukrainian pacifist Yurii Sheliazhenko who has been charged justifying russian aggression days after his apartment was raided and searched. It is total nonsense. [indiscernible] amy than 10 peace activists are rested on the runway of a u. S. Airbase in the netherlands where 15 u. S. Nuclear bombs are stock out for nato socalled nuclear sharing program. The action came on the 78th anniversary of the u. S. Atomic bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki. We will speak with john laforge who just served a 50 day sentence in germany for protesting u. S. Nuclear weapons stationed at a base there. Within the pentagons threatened use we take the pentagons threat very seriously. This ongoing well rehearsed readiness to tech people with Hydrogen Bombs is an International Criminal conspiracy to commit massacre due to radiation of firestorms. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. At least 36 people have died on the Hawaiian Island of maui as unprecedented winddriven wildfires forced thousands of people to flee their homes. Hospitals have been overwhelmed with burn patients. Some people had to run into the ocean to escape the flames. Much of the town of lahaina has burned to the ground. Lahaina was once the capital of the hawaiian kingdom. Residents described horrific scenes of destruction. I am a resident here for about 18 years. We just had the worst ive ever seen. It is all burned to a crisp. Amy the fires began on tuesday and rapidly spread as wind from Hurricane Dora and dry conditions fueled the fire. This is hawaiis Lieutenant Governor sylvia luke. A lot of the residents of hawaii, when we are preparing for the hurricane, we expect rain, sometimes we expect floods. We never anticipated in this state that a hurricane, which did not make impact on our island, would cause this type of wildfires. Wildfires that wipe out communities. Wildfires that wiped out businesses, wildfires that destroyed homes. Amy ecuador has declared a state of emergency following the assassination of president ial candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The former journalist was fatally shot after a Campaign Event 10 days before the august 20 election. He had faced Death Threats recently for speaking out about the links between the government and organized crime. This is Fernando Villavicencio speaking in late july. The country knew about the Police Report in which it revealed a series threat about one of this in a low car tells boss cartels boss. There was this morning that they would attack me or my life. Drug traffickers in a mafia want to take the political power of the state and without a doubt who is behind this. It is the political mafia who is buying this threat against my candidacy. Amy Fernando Villavicencio was 59 years old. The bbc reports a criminal gang called los lobos has claimed responsibility for his killing. One suspect was shot dead after the assassination. President biden is reportedly planning to seek an additional 25 billion congress to be spent partly on the war in ukraine as well as to speed up weapons to taiwan. This comes as the war in ukraine continues to intensify. On thursday, a massive blast at a factory outside of moscow injured 56 people. Meanwhile, poland has announced plans to send an additional 10,000 troops to its border with belarus. Nigers new military leaders are accusing france of trying to destabilize the country by releasing captured terrorists and breaching its airspace. France has denied the claims. This comes as ecowas, the Economic Community of west african states, is holding an emergency summit today. Ecowas has threatened to use military force to remove nigers military leaders who seized power in a coup two weeks ago. After the headlines, we will speak with professor horace campbell. In pakistan, the imprisoned former Prime Minister imran khan has filed an appeal days after he was sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges. Earlier this week, Pakistans Election Commission barred khan from politics for five years. Pakistans parliament removed khan from office in april 2022. On wednesday, the intercept revealed the existence of a classified pakistani cable that outlined how the u. S. State department had encouraged the pakistani government to remove khan from office in march 2022, just weeks after russia had invaded ukraine. The document stated the u. S. Objected to his neutral stance on the war. According to the memo, one state Department Official warned pakistans ambassador to the United States that all will be forgiven in washington if khan is removed. The u. S. Official, assistant secretary of state donald lu, then went on to say, otherwise i think it will be tough going ahead. The death toll from a migrant shipwreck off tunisias coast has risen to at least 41, including three children. The ship capsized and sank just a few hours after departing from europe. Dozens are still missing from another shipwreck near the tunisian port city of sfax. The number of Asylum Seekers fleeing from tunisia has dramatically increased in recent months due to the persecution of black africans by tunisian authorities and president kais saied. On wednesday, at least 27 people were found dead in the desert after they were expelled from tunisia. This is a pregnant Asylum Seeker who was expelled from tunisia. I was in tunisia. My husband is a day laborer. We wanted to good italy and it was beating at insults. After that two days ago, after we reach the borders, they took us, beat them in and left us. We walked on the road toward libya but we dont know the direction. We walked for 3, 4 hours. Then the Libyan Police found us. Amy venezuela has won a major legal battle to recover about 1. 5 billion that had been confiscated by the Portuguese Bank novo banco which is largely owned by the u. S. Private equity firm lone star. For years, the venezuelan government has decried International Sanctions that has led to foreign banks freezing its overseas assets. In 2021, the intercept reported venezuela was blocked from using some of the money held by the bank to buy millions of critical vaccines for children. President biden has signed an executive order to ban u. S. Firms from investing in chinese hightech Companies Developing semiconductors and quantum computers. The Chinese Government criticized the move, accusing the u. S. Of politicizing and weaponizing trade, scientific, and technological issues. Newly unsealed Court Documents show special counsel jack smith obtained a search warrant to access Donald Trumps twitter account as part of the investigation into trumps attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Twitter was fined 350,000 after initially refusing to hand over trumps personal data. Meanwhile, cnn is reporting Fulton CountyDistrict Attorney fani willis in georgia is expected to seek more than a dozen indictments next week in her probe on trumps efforts to overturn the election in georgia. Security around willis has increased after trump attacked her on the campaign trail, calling her a racist and spreading rumors about her. Willis is the first black woman to serve as Fulton CountyDistrict Attorney. The fbi shot and killed a utah man who threatened the life of president biden. The shooting came on wednesday morning as the fbi attempted to serve the man, craig robertson, an arrest and search warrant. Robertson had posted numerous online threats targeting biden and other officials. He recently wrote that he was cleaning the dust off his m24 sniper rifle after learning biden would be in utah today. He was killed in utah. Cnn is reporting the former head of the u. S. Coast guard covered up the results of an explosive investigation into decades of rape and Sexual Assault at the coast guards prestigious academy. Four years ago, commandant karl schultz and his deputy admiral charles ray suppressed the report as investigators were set to brief lawmakers and the Homeland Security department on its findings. The current head of the postcard coast guard linda fagan had acknowledged she had become aware of the report and its coverup but has vowed to tackle Sexual Assault at the agency. She has also apologized to survivors. Propublica has revealed new details about how conservative billionaires have showered Supreme CourtJustice Clarence thomas with luxury items for decades. Propublicas new report documents 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, 12 vip passes to sporting events, and eight helicopter flights all paid by billionaire patrons. Thomas has been under increasing scrutiny since april when propublica revealed he had failed to report frequent luxury trips paid for by the republican billionaire harlan crow. The Israeli Human Rights Organization btselem is reporting 86 members of a Palestinian Bedouin Community have been forced to abandon their homes due to repeated threats from israeli settlers. This is Muhammad Hassan abu alkabash of the Bedouin Community alqabun. We have lived here for 20, 25 years. We are farmers, shepherds. We have lived are normally with our flock. But a seller came to the area and started making trouble. They said, you are not allowed to graze here. If you days ago they spilled my sheets Drinking Water on the ground. Two days ago and armed settler came, walked around our home, came inside and just sat there. He says the land is his most he says, im the government, the state, the police, and the military. It has come to a point where we are leaving. It is a done deal. Amy according to btselem, the Bedouin Community alqabun is the fourth Palestinian Community forced to abandon its land in the last three months due to threats from israeli settlers. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In niger, leaders of last months military coup have appointed a 21member cabinet as they forge ahead with building a new government. This comes as west African Leaders from ecowas are holding an emergency summit today to determine their next steps after a deadline to restore ousted president Mohamed Bazoum passed sunday. Ecowas, backed by the u. S. And former colonizer france, had threatened to use military force if their deadline was not met but there has been deep Division Within the region over how to respond. The senate in nigeria has said military force should only be used as a last resort if diplomacy fails. Neighbors mali and burkina faso, all ruled by coup leaders who have ejected French Forces from their country, have said any military action would be taken as an attack on their countries as well. Many nigeriens have been taking to the streets since the july 26 coup to show their support of the military and voice opposition to any foreign intervention. On wednesday, the coup leadership accused france of violating its airspace. This is Niger Army Spokesman colonel major amadou adraman. The security disruptions planned by the French Forces came to discredit and create a rapture with the people who supported create the feeling of a generalized insecurity. Amy meanwhile, sanctions and power cuts imposed on niger have hampered delivery of humanitarian aid to over 4 Million People in need of assistance according to the u. N. African officers trained by the u. S. Military have now taken part in 11 coups and west africa since 2008, including and burkina faso and mali. For more, we turn to horace campbell, professor of African American studies and Political Science at Syracuse University and activist and chairperson of the Global Pan African Movement, north american delegation. Hes also the author of global nato and the catastrophic failure in libya. Professor campbell, we welcome you back to democracy now can you talk about what is happening as we speak, then meeting in nigeria, the most populous country in africa, of the ecowas leaders who set a deadline of this past sunday saying if the president was not returned, they would militarily intervene stop clearly, they havent. What is your response . Threatening that they better not attack. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Oppose all military intervention. We should make that very clear. We oppose military intervention in malley, working a fatso, nigeria, guinea mali, burkina faso, nigeria, guinea. This recent destruction of civilian power and civilian leadership in niger is one of the nine sequences that has developed since the work of tara in that region. The fabrication of terror, the intervention of u. S. And france in the region, and the consequences of the destruction of libya and theingroups mile region by france. This military intervention in niger is a consequence of the militarization of Nigerian Society when the Society Needs social and economic reconstruction. The United States has pumped more than 1 billion into this region come into military facilities and military programs and supporting military elements in this region will stuff in niger alone, the u. S. Has spent half 1 billion. Building a military base, drone facilities to support french expectation exploitation of them resources of niger. We cannot discuss what is going on in niger without discussing the call by the African People for the expulsion of france from west africa. The foreign minister of mali has called to investigate. The former Prime Minister of italy has called for sanctions against france. It is the right wing conservative forces in the u. S. That is supporting france. To the point where now we see the conservative wing of the Biden Administration, led by Victoria Nuland and anthony blinken, leading the discussion about africa. Why is it that Victoria Nuland was in niger on monday and is in south africa . The Biden Administration has an african expert. But it is Victoria Nuland that wants to militarize the planet earth who is now flying between nigeria, niger, and south africa carrying out u. S. Policies. Call for the removal of the United StatesAfrica Command from africa, the closing of u. S. Military in niger, and support the people of niger in removing france from niger just as the people of burkina faso and mali have done. We should support the call for federation between mali, niger, and burkina faso. Amy give us the history of niger and french colonialism there. We will also talk about the United States. Niger is one of those states that has suffered from French Military intervention and instruction in the region. The french are dependent on the exploitation and plunder of africa. They have military personnel in niger. When they were thrown out of mali and burkina faso, they were redeployed to niger and they were stoned on their way to the bases in niger. France has exploited the mineral and Natural Resources of niger. The french Uranium Mines in niger not only exploited the Uranium Resources of niger, but france has also closed mines and left Radioactive Material that has affected the health and safety of nigerian people. Everyone in west africa is calling for the ending of the fra and the dominationnc by france. Theyre calling for the removal of the 240,000 french personnel in west africa. In the case of niger, france is opposed to any plans for the reconstruction of the country. Lets take that major plan in this region for the reconstruction of the country. That is the repl