SUMMARY:As nearly 200 countries negotiate at the COP27 climate talks on reducing emissions, there's a call for greater regulation and transparency around prior and future pledges. A United Nations report targets governments, corporations and banks for what's called "greenwashing," or making false or exaggerated claims of progress. Jamie Hannan of Fossil Free Media joined William Brangham to discuss.
PERSONAL COMMENT: As I said in the past, the Never Ending War between Israel and Palestinians will never end UNTIL the Palestinian People tell their governments to stop AND the People of Israel tell their government to stop. No one outside, no outside government, can really do anything. Although outside governments can make things worst.
SUMMARY:The battle between the Israeli military and Hamas militants has now entered a second week, as calls mount for an immediate cease-fire. So far, the violence has killed more than 200 Palestinians in Gaza, and another 10 people in Israel. That comes as the United Nations estimates more than 38,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee the airstrikes. Stephanie Sy reports.
SUMMARY: John Yang reports on the ongoing crisis in the Middle East as calls for a ceasefire are ignored and destruction spreads as Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli artillery attacks continue on day nine with no let-up in sight.
SUMMARY:Israel and Hamas forces in Gaza may be edging closer to a cease-fire after 10 days of open war. Egyptian mediators say there's a truce agreement, in principle. A top Hamas official said he expects fighting to stop in a day or two. Pressure to end the conflict built today, with 227 Gazans and 12 Israelis killed so far. John Yang reports.
SUMMARY:For decades, the U.S. has supported Israel, backing up its defense policy and supplying tens of billions of dollars in aid and weapons. Now, some within the Democratic party are questioning that support, and challenging President Biden's handling of the Gaza conflict. John Yang speaks to Daniel Brumberg, director of democracy and governance studies at Georgetown University about the matter.
SUMMARY:A cease-fire is at hand in the war between Israel and Hamas. Word of the truce came Thursday from Israel, and Hamas quickly agreed. If it holds, it would end 11 days of fierce fighting that killed at least 230 Palestinians and 12 Israelis, and wrecked Gazan cities. John Yang begins the report, and Yamiche Alcindor joins Amna Nawaz to discuss the Biden administration's role and reaction.
Correction: In this segment, we referred to Refaat Alareer as “Refaat Aljareer” on first mention. We also mistakenly referred to Diana Mushtaha as attending the University of Houston, instead of the University of Texas. NewsHour regrets the errors.
SUMMARY: John Yang reports on life on the ground for Palestinians and Israelis caught in the crossfire of war, and how US pressure on the region’s leaders has affected civilians, and Middle Eastern immigrant communities in the US.
SUMMARY:The shooting has stopped, but the war of words goes on as Israel and Hamas offered sharply different appraisals Friday of who won and who lost their fourth conflict in just over a dozen years. John Yang reports on day one of the ceasefire.
SUMMARY: The cease-fire between Israeli forces and Hamas held for a second day. Meanwhile, Gazans returned to their homes to survey the damage as UN humanitarian relief officials said rebuilding health facilities was a high priority because of the coronavirus pandemic. NPR correspondent Daniel Estrin joins to discuss.
SUMMARY:In Syria, almost every conceivable atrocity has been committed in the last few years, says UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. Al Hussein joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the U.S. role in the destruction of Raqqa, the investigation into a suspected chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime, as well as the “horrific” conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
SUMMARY: When President Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel and promised to move the U.S. embassy, the immediate response was relatively muted. What are the long-term, strategic consequences? Nick Schifrin talks to former U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Paul Salem of the Middle East Institute.
The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council on Monday will vote on a draft resolution that would nullify President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, according to Reuters.
The resolution, which was drafted by Egypt, doesn't specifically name Trump or the U.S. in its text, the news agency reported on Sunday.
But the one-page draft, which diplomats told Reuters's enjoys broad support among the council, comes less than two weeks after Trump announced the U.S. would formally recognize the contested city as Israel's official capital.
In order to pass, the resolution would need the votes of nine of the 15 members of the council. It also cannot be vetoed by the U.S., France, Britain, Russia or China.
The U.S. Mission to the U.N. did not respond to Reuters's request for comment.
According to the news agency, the draft text "affirms that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered, the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council."
Arab leaders have criticized Trump's move, warning the decision could spark further unrest in the region.
Palestinians have long called for the eastern part of Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Israel annexed that part of the city in 1967.
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news; including the fate of the latest Senate Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, President Trump’s role in the special Senate election in Alabama, and what that runoff says about the state of the GOP, plus the President’s debut address at the United Nations.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): But let’s go right now to Shields and Brooks. That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields, as you just saw, and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
The only thing better than seeing you guys once is seeing you guys twice, three times.
MARK SHIELDS, Syndicated Columnist: Just a great…
(LAUGHTER)
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, the health care story.
David, the Senate Republicans have been trying to so hard to once again resurrect an effort to repeal Obamacare. They thought they were getting — or at least they sounded like they were getting somewhere.
But, today, John McCain throws down the red flag, says he’s not voting for it. Where does this leave all this?
DAVID BROOKS, The New York Times: It’s pretty grim. Francisco Franco is still dead, to quote that old “Saturday Night Live” joke.
(LAUGHTER)
DAVID BROOKS: It’s — I should say, first of all, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with having state flexibility and sending the health care thing back to the states. We’re a diverse country. We might profit from different systems.
And there is nothing wrong with reducing the rate of increase in the cost, the amount we spend on health care. We would spend a lot more than other countries. Personally, I would be happy if we spend a little less on health care and a little more on education.
But the way the Republicans have done this yet again is without a deliberate process in a way that seems to have magically offended every single person outside the U.S. Capitol Building, no matter what party, and in a way that raises anxiety on every single level.
And so, it’s very easy for John McCain to say, you haven’t followed regular order, you haven’t worked with Democrats, you haven’t held hearings, and so I’m going to be against this thing.
And that’s him being very consistent with the way he’s been over the past several months. And one would have to suspect that Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski will follow suit. And, therefore, it’s down the tubes.
JUDY WOODRUFF: What does it look like to you?
MARK SHIELDS: I hate to say that I agree with David, but I agree with David.
And I would just add this. It’s no accident, Judy, that the Republicans find themselves in this position. It’s really since the retirement of John Chafee of Rhode Island in 1999 or David Durenberger from Minnesota in 1995, that there’s been any Republican senator who has any earned credentials or any deserved reputation for working on health care.
They have just been an against party. That’s all. So, who’s the sponsor of this? Lindsey Graham. I happen to like Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham’s credentials, military, national defense. He’s worked bipartisan on global warming, campaign finance.
Is there a — Lindsey Graham on health care? And Bill Cassidy, who got to the Senate a year ago, not exactly a long-toothed, long-term legislator.
I mean, all they have succeeded in doing this year is taking the Affordable, which had always been controversial and never had majority support, and now has majority support in the country. And they have convinced voters that Democrats care much more about health care than they do.
And Democrats had an advantage. They believe in Medicare and Medicaid. They believe in federal action. There is no coherent Republican organizing principle or philosophy about health care. Everybody should have it, and it should be private.
It’s an abstraction. It doesn’t work in the real world. And voters have concluded it doesn’t. And Pat Roberts, to his credit, the senior senator from Kansas, said, this is not the best bill possible. It’s the best possible bill. And this is the last stage out of Dodge. Because of the quirky rules of the Senate, they need 50 votes until the 30th of September, when the fiscal year ends.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Yah.
MARK SHIELDS:After that, it’s 60. So, they’re trying to pass something. And they won’t.
JUDY WOODRUFF: It’s a tough moment for Republicans.
DAVID BROOKS: They’re caught with a divide.
I do think there is a defensible case that an intelligent market-based system could reduce — cause efficiencies. There’s models around the world that Republicans and conservative policy wonks can get to, to point to that.
But if you are going to get people to entertain the idea of some sort of reform, you have to give them universal coverage. We’re at the point where even a lot of conservative health care economists think, if we give them universal coverage, if your get your preexisting, you’re going to have coverage, then we can work on the reforms.
But the Republican Party and the Republican Congress — congressional party — is basically out of touch with their voters. Their voters are not libertarians. Their voters are insecure economically and want some security. And Medicaid and Medicare and even now Obamacare offers some of them security. And they will not support their own Republican Party when it takes that away.
SUMMARY: In his first American television interview since becoming Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres sits down with Judy Woodruff to discuss why the world needs a United States that is engaged in issues of security, development and human rights, plus opportunities for reforming the U.N., the importance of protecting refugees, the struggle to end the bloodshed in Syria and more.
SUMMARY: Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power used her final speech to focus on Russia as a major threat. Judy Woodruff sits down with Power during her last days in office to discuss troubling actions by Russia and the future of Russian relations under the Trump administration, as well as the Obama administration's complicated decision not to intervene militarily in Syria.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): President-elect Trump's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, plans to question why the U.S. contributes 22 percent of the U.N.'s budget.
In prepared remarks for her confirmation hearing tomorrow, we also learned that she will criticize the recent vote condemning Israeli settlements.
Earlier today, I sat down with Samantha Power. She's the outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. We spoke at the State Department.
And I began by asking why, in her final speech, she focused on Russia as a major threat to the U.S.
SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations: There is a fair amount of competition, obviously, with ISIL and the terrorist networks around the world, China also posing a different kind of threat to the rules-based order.
But I thought it was very important before leaving to draw on my eight years, our eight years here in these jobs of privilege that we have had, to take note of the pattern that has developed, particularly in the last few years, starting with the decision by President Putin to go into Ukraine, to lie about it, to take Crimea, to try to annex it, involved with that regime, itself resorting to tactics that were outlawed 100 years ago, and then systematically, in Europe, backing these illiberal parties whose world view is closer to this kind of populist authoritarian, anti-Muslim, anti-diversity kind of line that has been pursued in Moscow.
All of that plus, of course, the most recent and most egregious example that hits close to home for us, which is interfering in our elections through hacking, through fake news, and with an eye to trying to help one candidate win.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And so, when the President-elect speaks, as he has often, about wanting a better relationship with Russia — and, in fact, one of his advisers has just said in the last day or so, he said, the U.S. needs to find a way to get along better with Russia. He said, we need to focus less on combating communism and more on rejecting radical Islam.
How do you react to that?
SAMANTHA POWER: Well, let me raise my hand and say at no point have I been fighting the last war and seeking at the U.N. to combat communism.
I think we do have an interest in combating states that try to cross borders and steal parts of other people's country. We have an interest in combating tactics in war that are abhorrent and that only fuel terrorism because they incite people on the ground.
And we, as Americans, have an interest in ensuring that the only people who get to vote for our elected leaders are our citizens, and not some foreign people who think that they have an interest in skewing our election in one direction or another.
Look, I think the point that we all agree upon is that we have to engage with Russia. I have spent, you know, as much time with my Russian counterpart as I have probably with anybody else, including close family members, over the course of the last four years. And we have done really important work together.
At the same time we're at each other on Aleppo, on Ukraine, we're authorizing peacekeeping missions, putting sanctions in place on North Korea for its nuclear tests. We need to find means for cooperation.
I think the potential difference or the issue that is going to need to be adjudicated is, on what terms? Are we going to bring historical amnesia and pretend as though history is just starting on January 21, or are we going to take into account egregious violations of the rules of the road that may have — in the first instance have predated the administration, but that are inevitably going to continue if Russia believes that there are no costs to its actions, as if all it has to do is just wait out the United States, and then eventually we will soften our positions and forget about what happened?
NOTE: It was the isolation of the 1940's that tried to keep out of the war in Europe (aka WWII) that lead to being forced into the war with the bombing of Perl Harbor.
SUMMARY: President Obama gave his final speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. He spoke about the “growing contest” between authoritarianism and democracy in the face of terror and the refugee crisis. He appealed to the world to do more for the millions fleeing war-torn countries and joined other leaders calling for a stop to the fighting in Syria. Judy Woodruff reports.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): For the President today, a moment on the world stage at the United Nations one last time, his message no less than an urgent plea to make a better world.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: At this moment, we all face a choice.
JUDY WOODRUFF: It was his final address to the U.N. General Assembly, and President Obama used it to issue a challenge.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:We can choose to press forward with a better model of cooperation and integration, or we can retreat into a world sharply divided and ultimately in conflict along age-old lines of nation and tribe and race and religion.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The President spoke of a growing contest between authoritarian rule and liberalism, and of people losing faith in the face of terrorism and the refugee crises.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Given the difficulty in forging true democracy in the face of these pressures, it's no surprise that some argue the future favors the strong man, a top-down model, rather than strong democratic institutions. But I believe this thinking is wrong. I believe the road of true democracy remains the better path.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Mr. Obama appealed to the world to do more for the millions fleeing war-torn countries. And he warned against the politics of Donald Trump, without mentioning the Republican nominee by name.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The world is too small for us to simply be able to build a wall and prevent it from affecting our own societies.
MAN: The prime minister of the United Kingdom.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Newly named British Prime Minister Theresa May, making her first address at the U.N. after her country's vote to leave the European Union, said Brexit was not a signal that Britain was retreating from its global responsibilities.
THERESA MAY, Prime Minister, United Kingdom:They didn't vote to turn inward or walk away from any of our partners in the world. Faced with challenges like migration, they demanded a politics that is more in touch with their concerns and bold action to address them. But that action must be more global, not less.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But for many leaders, Syria topped the agenda. President Obama aimed strong criticism at the Syrians' main ally, Russia, for its aggressive moves there and in Ukraine.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:In a world that left the age of empire behind, we see Russia attempting to recover lost glory through force. It may fuel nationalist fervor for a time, but, over time, it's also going to diminish its stature and make its borders less secure.
JUDY WOODRUFF: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also forcefully denounced the Syrian regime, and its main backer, in his last address to the General Assembly.
SUMMARY: Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić is the latest perpetrator to be convicted of war crimes committed during the 1990s Balkan wars. In "The Butcher's Trail," author Julian Borger examines how tough it was to hunt down those responsible for the most grotesque atrocities of the conflict. Borger sits down with chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner.
WEN IFILL (NewsHour): Last Thursday, a U.N. tribunal convicted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić of war crimes and genocide in the 1990s Balkan wars.
A look at how tough it was to hunt down those indicted is the focus of the newest addition to the “NewsHour Bookshelf."
Margaret Warner has that.
MARGARET WARNER (NewsHour): The genocidal crimes of the 1990s Balkan wars stunned the world, mass killings, concentration camps, systematic rape.
Many, but by no means all of the perpetrators were the majority Serbs, starting with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. The U.N. set up an international tribunal to investigate and indict some 161 people it found most responsible.
The challenge was to actually apprehend them. How they did so is captured in a gripping new book by Julian Borger, longtime correspondent and editor at The Guardian newspaper, titled “The Butcher's Trail: How the Search for Balkan War Criminals Became the World's Most Successful Manhunt.”
Julian Borger, welcome.
You open this book with a really vivid account of the capture of the last of these criminals in a forest in Serbia. Who was he and what had he done?
JULIAN BORGER, Author, “The Butcher's Trail”: He was Goran Hadžić.
And he used to run a Serb statelet inside Croatia which had been carved out of Croatia by what was called ethnic cleansing, a euphemism for mass killing of other ethnicities. So he had overseen that killing on a large scale.
SUMMARY: The landmark Iran nuclear accord is soon due to be implemented fully, but renewed tensions between that country and the U.S. could affect the deal. The U.N. has said that recent ballistic missile tests violate prohibitions, prompting possible sanctions by the Obama administration. Judy Woodruff talks to Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): The prospects for a thaw in relations between the U.S. and Iran that some thought possible after the nuclear deal were again set back this week, after several flash points that showed the fundamental disagreements that remain.
The landmark nuclear accord signed in July between Iran and six world powers led by the United States is soon due to be implemented fully. Just this week, most of Iran’s stockpiles of low-enriched uranium were removed from the country by ship.
But there are renewed tensions between Iran and the U.S. that could affect the nuclear accord. Recent ballistic missile tests by Iran were said by the United Nations to violate prohibitions on missile testing. The Obama administration then drew up additional sanctions on Iran’s missile program.
But, last night, The Wall Street Journal reported the White House had delayed those sanctions for now. Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said yesterday his nation wouldn’t only continue its missile development, but expand it.
And just last weekend, Iranian boats within the very tight quarters of the Straits of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf, fired a rocket near the U.S. aircraft carrier Harry Truman, a move the U.S. called highly provocative. The carrier and its battle group, and a French naval vessel, were sailing into the Gulf to continue the bombardment of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
As we begin the new year, where do things stand between the U.S. and Iran?
For that we turn to Karim Sadjadpour. He’s senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
SUMMARY: There's been a dramatic uptick in the number of people fleeing civil war in Syria, while the number of countries intervening in the conflict has also increased. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power sits down with Judy Woodruff to discuss developing a unified international approach to fighting the Islamic State, as well as the U.S. role in relieving the migrant crisis.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): The civil war in Syria entered a new phase in recent months. Millions of refugees have been displaced, as more countries like Russia, France, and the United Kingdom enter the fight against ISIS.
And, as we saw this week, the threat of radicalization became real here at home.
So, how does all this look to America’s top diplomat to the United Nations?
I spoke with Samantha Power just a short time ago.
Ambassador Power, welcome.
I want to ask you first about, in the wake of this confirmation by the FBI today that it’s looking into the San Bernardino shooting as an act of terrorism, is their concern on the part of the administration that it was late to recognize the threat here on U.S. soil?
SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations: Well, look, DHS, FBI, Department of Justice professionals have been working 24/7.
There have been a huge number of plots around the world and a number here that have been disrupted. These are the most professional people around in terms of looking out for American security. I think the investigation is still progressing, so it’s a little premature to go beyond what has been said, and once we have come to some conclusions, I know people will be looking back, and the President will insist we do an after-action to make sure that everything we can do is being done.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, I’m sure you know that observers, critics, even including some even Democrats, are saying that the administration needs to have a more defeat ISIS strategy rather than a contain ISIS strategy, which was the language the President was using until just a few days ago.
SAMANTHA POWER: Well, from the beginning of the campaign, our slogan, as it were, has been degrade and destroy, degrade and defeat.
The challenge, of course, internationally, is that ISIL has rooted itself in populations that need to be contested on the ground. Their financing has to be cut off, which we have made, I think, significant progress on even in recent days, and hope to make more progress on actually later in the month here at the Security Council, when Jack Lew chairs a session of the Security Council and brings the world together around tightening the screws on ISIL financing.
We have got to deal with the messaging. And then in communities where people are alienated, it’s going to be not only a whole of government effort. It’s got to be a whole of nation effort, where citizens and family members are also much more attuned to what might be going on in their own households, never mind in their own communities or cities.
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including President Obama’s urging for united action against the Islamic State at the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the importance of debating U.S. action against the militants, the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder, plus the “classy” career of Derek Jeter.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
*Anti-First Amendment policies that attempt to turn America into a theocracy by enshrining ANY religious belief as law.
* Any attempt to suppress human or Constitutional rights.
* Any law or policy that supports discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, race/color, gender, sexual orientation, or any law that does NOT support Equal Treatment under the law.
*Any law or policy that attempts to suppress Freedom of the Press or Free Speech.
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