She joins us today h. Then we look at how the Koch Brothers are influencing climate policy. Politic this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The death toll from a massive typhoon in the southern philippines has doubled to more than 270 people. Typhoon bopha is the most southerly typhoon ever recorded in the western pacific and the strongest to hit the philippines this year. 80,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. We will have more from doha after headlines. New clashes have erupted in egypt in the ongoing uproar over a proposed referendum on a new constitution. On tuesday, thousands took to the streets to protest egyptian president Mohamed Mursis effort to hold a referendum vote later this month after asserting wide ranging powers, protecting him from judicial oversight. Egyptian forces fired tear gas at protesters, some of whom broke through lines to approach the president. The rally coincided with a one day strike from newspapers. The United Nations is warning Food Shortages are growing in syria as a result of rising prices and mounting attacks on un vehicles delivering supplies. The u. N. World food program is currently feeding one, 5 Million People in syria, the vast majority displaced from their homes. The news comes after the u. N announcing they are cutting back and removing staffers from damascus. Among the latest victims of violence in syria, nine students and a teacher were killed when their school was bombed in damascus. Government forces have blamed rebels for the attack. Nato has approved a request by turkey for the deployment of patriot missiles to its border with syria. Turkey sought the missiles to defend itself from cross border violence. Speaking in belgium, Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the patriot missiles would serve as a deterrent to syria. I do believe that a deployment of patriot missiles will serve as an effective deterrent, and that way the escalate this situation along the syrianturkish border. The mere fact that the patriot missiles have been deployed make it necessary for any potential aggressor to think twice before they even consider attacking turkey. The Palestinian Authority is urging the United Nations and other actors to hold israel accountable for its recent expansion in the west bank. Israel has announced plans to build 3000 new settlement homes and expand the e1 settlement the which splits the west bank in two in response to last weeks vote at the United Nations. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas says the Security Council should pressure israel to stop expanding settlements. We have communicated with both the un and un Security Council on this issue. We want to follow up on this. Not just in the e1, but all settlement activity. Clearly, israel doesnt want to reach peace. While the Settlement Expansion have affected five other countries and their ambassadors, the Obama Administration has offered a tepid response, calling it counterproductive. I want to remind you, on building settlements in jerusalem are in accordance with israeli law. If anyone wants to investigate further, they can go to the bush letter and see on the changes in the territory which the u. S. President spoke of. The white house is denying irans claim of having captured a u. S. Drone in iranian airspace. Iran says that they captured a scaneagle aircraft conducting surveillance. Speaking at the white house, press secretary jay carney rejected those claims. We have no evidence that the iranian claims you cite are true. I would refer you to the pentagons comments this morning on the details of this particular type of uav, but again, we have no evidence that those claims are true. Protests are continuing in mexico in the aftermath of clashes between police and citizens after it the inauguration of president and ricky pena nieto. Activists have accused Mexican Police of using infiltrators to carry out vandalism and other acts of sabotage. In mexico city, hundreds of people marched through the streets to call for the release of jailed protesters and to denounce police infiltration. All this vandalism was caused by infiltrators. Has been hard because we have been protesting peacefully. We have been peaceful and as we reject the return of the pri. We are rejecting the return of pena nieto and we do not think it should be like this. Many should be released. The u. S. Senate has unanimously approved a 631 billion military spending bill. The measure includes the accelerations of a withdrawal from afghanistan as well as intensified sanctions on iran. The Obama Administration has threatened veto minutes over his authority to handle terrorism suspects. In a separate vote, Senate Republicans defeated a measure to ratify a landmark concatenations treaty banning discrimination against people with disabilities. The final vote was 6138. Five votes short of the two thirds majority needed for approval. Republicans rejected the measure, saying it would make it easier to obtain abortions and place restrictions on home schooled children. The rejection came despite the un treaty itself being modeled on a piece of u. S. Law, the americans with disabilities act of 1990. 126 countries, including britain, germany, china, and russia, have already ratified the Un Convention is a person with disabilities. Bernard obermeyer of the who noted that the treaty rejected by republicans covers 15 of the worlds population. People with disabilities make a 15 of the worlds population and have worse health and Socio Economic outcomes than people without disabilities. Across the world, people with disabilities have for help, lower educational achievement, less economic participation, and higher rates of poverty and people without disabilities. This unacceptable situation must change. California has formalized its refusal to ensure the enforcement of federal effort begin immigration requests. On tuesday, attorney general Kamala Harris said state agencies are not required to comply with the program known as secure communities, where local authorities share fingerprints with immigration officials. The program led to the record deportation of around 400,000 people last year. Striking care for workers at the port of los angeles and long beach have reached a tentative agreement after an eightday walkout. Workers went on strike last week against International Corporations who they say are outsourcing good paying jobs. The strike cost Southern California a reported 8 billion in lost Economic Activity and marked the worst disruption of local cargo traffic in a decade. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. High level talks are continuing here at the United NationsClimate Summit in doha, qatar. Just before we went to air, a coalition could in solidarity with the philippines following yesterdays deadly typhoon that killed at least 270 people. For years, scientists have warned Climate Change would cause strong typhoons in the region. On tuesday, un secretary general ban ki moon warned that extreme weather is the new normal. Danger signs are all around. Onethird of the worlds population lives in countries with moderate to high water stress. Land degradation affects 1. 5 billion people. Icecaps are showing unprecedented melting. Permafrost is thawing, sea levels are rising. The abnormal is now the new normal. A new report out today by the World Bank Warns disasters related to Global Warming have cost arab nations 12 billion in the past 30 years and will increase greatly in coming decades. The World Bank Says some cities in the arab world could become unlivable by the end of the century. Here at the climate talks in doha, developing nations are accusing the United States and other wealthy nations of not pledging to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions enough and failing to pay poorer nations for loss and damage from weather events caused by Climate Change. The director of the third world network. It seems the developed countries are not doing what they should do. The commitments that they have put on the table, cutting emissions of Greenhouse Gases under the kyoto protocol, is very low. It is very important that the data states is not part of the protocol, and worse, we have more concretely in the second commitment period. I had a chance to question the chief u. S. Climate negotiator jonathan pershing. Civil Society Groups are extremely frustrated here. President obama, in his first speech after elected, said that he didnt want our children to live in an america that is threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet. Yesterday, a number of civil Society Groups held a News Conference and they said greenpeace said that tod stern and got the pershing have come to doha with a goal of obstructing the process. He said that it was disrespectful of president obama to inflict on us to the bureau negative negotiators to act as if the commerce that he made after the election were never made. Obama should pick up the phone and tell his delegates to follow his lead or alternatively return to washington. Jonathan, are you calling president obamas wishes, and how you respond to thcivil sociy groups who say that the u. S. Is the leader of stricter to any kind of negotiatied deal . All have no comment on the first part. On the second piece, the United States role is engaging actively in the discussions. We are one of the significant triggers to the intellectual thinking in the process. We will continue to do that. It does not mean that we will agree with everyone. We are looking to participate in an outcome that will lead to reductions in global Greenhouse Gas emissions. We are looking at outcome that will be acceptable to all parties. We are looking at an outcome that will be effective in the timeframe we set for ourselves to move forward. , to make a comment. The world the president obama the but what his children to live in is already here, and it will only get worse. The most trusted people on earth right now must be scientists. There is all this talk about we have to do the recording to the science. While the talks might begin moving at a snails pace like a caravan stuck in a sandstorm. Everyone seems to be breaking your neck to get far away from the sides as possible. The world is already here. And whether the u. S. Or any other country, including my own andhey are living in it i would hope maybe their kids would turn around and tell their parents, havent you noticed . We are already there. That was ronny jumeau of the seychelles. Before that, you heard jonathan pershing, the chief Climate Change negotiator. So far, the u. S. Envoy tod stern has only held one News Conference after one week and half. He was goodlett told another one today, but if you look at todays list of meetings, the event is the only one marked in red. A press conference was cancelled. Ronny jumeau is with us here in doha, representative of the alliance of small island states. And we are joined by martin khor, executive director of the south centre in malaysia. Ambassador, youre on the panel with the jonathan pershing, the u. S. Climate change negotiator. Do you agree with greenpeace international, that they should be forced out of the conference, or follow what president obama has to say, if in fact, president obama is saying Something Different from what they are saying here . I want to be sure we are not shooting the message in spite of the message. My problem is the message from the u. S. This morning when we started, the doha caravan seems to be lost in a sandstorm, battling to find its way out. The u. S. It is not the only actor, although it has a big effect. All the big countries and they have limitations of what they can do, are in an economic crisis, but are we living in a world where only the u. S. And the eu are in economic crisis, and small countries are not in an economic crisis . We are all in a crisis. If they can cut emissions, and they do not, how is that affecting others in the philippines . The number of dead from the typhoon has increased to 270. What about the seychelles . As an island nation off the coast of africa, how are you affected by Climate Change . Our economy is mainly based on tourism. Incidently, mainly from europe. There have been changes in the patterns of the fish, so our whole economy is now at risk. If it continues like this, the seychelles, the Sea Level Rise will not be our biggest problem but we will become a failed state. You are in the indian ocean. Place yourself geographically with other islands off the coast of africa that you are near. We are in the group of 115 islands east of kenya, north of madagascar. We cover a huge area of the southwestern indian ocean. Were at the full mercy of what happens in the ocean. We are ocean people. Anything that affects oceans, whether through increased temperatures, acidification, which is a bigger threat to khor reece that morning temperatures. What happened with acidification . Why is that a result of Climate Change . We are reaching the limits of Carbon Dioxide and water can take out of the air. We have abused the oceans as we have abused the forests. People here have said they joked that they found something with a label made in the u. S. A. , and that is co2. Martin khor, you are not that far from the philippines. Talk about the significance of typhoon bopha and what that means for malaysia and for these climate talks. I think we are seeing these extreme weather events. In our country is the heavy rainfall. The scientists have said, Climate Change is contributing to that. As the oceans become warmer and there is more water in the atmosphere, we get much more rainfall. For three years running, pakistan, for example, have suffered massive floods. Many parts of china have been suffering from flood. And then we have these storms coming in the United States, sandy, in the philippines, central america, and so on. The catastrophe of Climate Change is already on us. We are now waiting for the next century. We are the children we are talking about, who are suffering from Climate Change. Unfortunately, the talks that we see in doha are not reflecting the urgency that is required by what is happening out in the world. Why . Years ago there were countries who did not believe in the science of Climate Change. Today, all countries believe in the science, but the fight is over who is responsible and who has to carry the burden of stopping emissions and halting Climate Change work happens. Here we have in doha developed countries not living up to their promises, legal commitments. What are these commitments . There are a few times. One, they would take the lead in cutting emissions. Because their emissions have been very high in the past and they have grown rich because they were able to emit and live off cheap oil and coal. Secondly, they had committed to helping developing countries to take action, through the transfer of funds, and the right kind of technology. But what we are seeing here in doha are many developed countries leaving the kyoto protocol, and joining the United States, who had left some time ago, and the remaining members in the kyoto protocol are putting forward Emission Reduction figures that are too low Something Like 20 for europe, which they have already achieved. So the system we started with in bali, five years ago, that developed countries would cut emissions by 5 to 20 , a similar effort under the convention. The u. S. Did not sign onto the kyoto protocol . Under bush, they agreed they would do similar to would be to recall program joke part of all members would do tkyoto protocol but never signed on. Now each country puts forward whenever it can do, and that will not be challenged. This is not based on science. As a result we have very low emissions coming from developed countries, which means they are showing a bad example to developing countries who would want to do more, but seeing that leaders are not living up to their expectations, this has repressed their ability to do more in terms of their own population. Ambassador jumeau, before you were the roving ambassador for the seychelles, you were a u. N. Ambassador. The u. S. Has a major drone bass in the seychelles, which means you have close ties to the military. Does that affect your negotiations here . Not at all. First and foremost, we are a small island country, a member of the alliance of small island states. We are also part of the african union, but we always take the same position as the islands, because the islands have to stay together. Ironically, the u. S. Drones in seychelles take off from an airport only 10 feet above sea level. That should give them an idea of the kind of threat we are facing. When a tsunami