Obama & the NRA: Enemies in Washington, Friends at the U.N. скачать в хорошем качестве

Obama & the NRA: Enemies in Washington, Friends at the U.N.

Watch the full interview with Andrew Feinstein on Democracy Now! at http://owl.li/jzCAm. While President Obama has forcefully called out Congress for not passing gun control, the United States has been one of the leading countries blocking a global treaty to regulate the $70 billion international arms trade, torpedoing it last summer and dragging its feet on it this week at the United Nations. Andrew Feinstein, author of "The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade," says Obama has done so for domestic political reasons in deference to the National Rifle Association. AMY GOODMAN: That was NRA chief Wayne LaPierre last July. But it was the U.S. government—interesting, strange bedfellows here, the NRA and the Obama administration—it was the Obama administration that, at the last minute, ended these talks last July. You had the head of Amnesty International saying, "This was [a] stunning cowardice [act] by the Obama administration, which at the last minute did an about-face and scuttled progress toward a global arms treaty," so that people, especially the activists, couldn't even organize, because it happened at the very end. So, NRA and Obama together, when here at home they seem like they have their sights set on each other. ANDREW FEINSTEIN: Let me make an initial point, and that is that the NRA has peddled untruths about this international arms trade treaty since the beginning. It is suggested that it would in some way impact on their ability internally within the United States to bear arms, which is an absolute nonsense. So, not only are they strange bedfellows on the international stage, but even what is happening domestically should be put in its place by the Obama administration itself domestically. But it has used the NRA, effectively, and I think for domestic political reasons in the lead-up to an election, to prevent the passage of the treaty. And, yes, it was done in an enormously cynical way at the tail end of the negotiations that led activist groups and civil society in an impossible position. And even in the current negotiations, the United States has attempted to weaken the treaty in a whole range of ways, some of which, unfortunately, have come to fruition. And I think one has to bear in mind that there are massive interest groups here: the NRA plus the large defense contractors in the United States and around the world, who want to see as weak an arms trade treaty as possible, if there has to be one at all. Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,100+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Check out our vast news archive and stream live 8-9am ET at http://www.democracynow.org. FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE: Facebook:   / democracynow   Twitter: @democracynow Subscribe on YouTube:    / democracynow   Listen on SoundCloud:   / democracynow   Daily Email News Digest: http://www.democracynow.org/subscribe