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Why Iraq could be more dangerous than pre-9/11 Afghanistan
By Mick Krever, CNN
As Sunni extremists broaden their control of territory from Syria deep into Iraq, the Middle East may now be facing its greatest challenge in decades.
“This is the Talibanization of Iraq,” journalist and author Robin Wright told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday. “And there’s no question that the global Jihadi threat is greater today than it was at the height in the 1980s or even in 2001, when we saw the attacks in Washington and New York.”
The U.S. has started moving more military assets into the region as militants advance towards the Iraqi city of Baquba, just 60 kilometers from Baghdad. President Barack Obama has said that he will not send troops in on the ground.
The rise of ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, has been fuelled by civil war in Syria. The group is trying to carve out a Sunni statelet that straddles the nearly none-existent border between Iraq and Syria.
“Ultimately we can't solve Iraq with also dealing with Syria,” Wright said. “That's what makes this challenge arguably greater than any one we've faced in the Middle East, you could argue, in six or seven decades.”
Israel would preserve ‘Jewish, democratic’ values with Palestinian deal, Tzipi Livni tells Amanpour
By Mick Krever, CNN
A peace deal with the Palestinians would allow Israel to keep its “values as a Jewish, democratic state,” chief Israeli negotiator and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
“The best choice is to divide the land and to keep the state of Israel – maybe smaller – but with our values as a Jewish, democratic state living in harmony – a secured state,” Livni said from Washington.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Washington to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama and discuss, among other things, America’s renewed push for Middle East peace.
Secretary of State John Kerry is spearheading an effort to have Israel and the Palestinians reach a framework agreement – a foundation upon which a permanent deal could be negotiated.
“I’m sure that [neither] us [nor] the Palestinians are going to be in love with it,” Livni said. “But I hope that both of us can live with it, move forward, and this is something that can create trust and basis for negotiations.”
Lord Lamont: I believe Rouhani is sincere
It seems Iran is quite the place to be right now judging by the procession of western diplomats and business leaders making their way to Tehran.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt is there meeting with his counterpart Javad Zarif, discussing Iran’s nuclear programme. And more than 100 French business executives are also having meetings inside the country this week, with other European countries planning similar trips.
In the United States though, Congress continues to battle over new sanctions for Iran; and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has even joined the fray, arguing against that move.
Lord Lamont, the Chairman of the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, has recently returned from Tehran as well. He was part of a UK parliamentary delegation that came back with strong recommendations for engagement with Iran. The former British finance minister told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that members of the government he met with were “positive” about dealing with the west and felt it was “in the interest of both parties”. But despite there being “a lot of goodwill” from the Iranian side, he says they felt negotiations could be “very difficult", that there is "quite a wide gap between the two sides”.
Asked whether President Hassan Rouhani is a man Britain “can do business with”, Lord Lamont told Amanpour he believes Rouhani is “sincere” and that he does want to make changes in Iran, but that he will not be able to make all the changes he wants unless he gets a nuclear deal.
That said, Lord Lamont says everyone he met in Tehran emphasised that any deal has to be approved “not just by the government, not just by ministers, but by other ‘centers of power’”.
Click above to watch the interview.
Turkey to Assad: Transition out or face the ICC
Turkey: Indict Assad over Syria photos
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says alleged Syria torture, killing photos represent "a crime against humanity"
The transcript of Christiane Amanpour's full interview with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu can be found here.
By Mick Krever, CNN
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should take peace talks seriously and transition out of power, or face the International Criminal Court, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
Responding to photos that allegedly prove systematic torture and killing by the Syrian regime, Davutoglu, said “those photos are clear evidences … this is a crime against humanity.”
Davutoglu spoke with Amanpour from Montreux, Switzerland, where world powers are trying to broker an improbable peace in Syria.
Amanpour was the first to report, with the Guardian on Monday, on an investigation alleging that the Syrian regime is murdering prisoners on a mass scale. The investigation was authored by a team of international legal and forensic experts and based on thousands of photographs provided by a Syrian defector.
“All of those who committed this crime must be accountable,” Davutoglu said. “We should not be doing the same mistake like what happened in Srebrenica.”
“In Srebrenica some people tried to turn their eye and some tried to ignore Srebrenica for some time. But Srebrenica has happened and it was a shame for international community.”
EXCLUSIVE: Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev says acts portrayed in Syria torture photos are ‘crimes’
EXCLUSIVE: Medvedev on Sochi, Syria
Part one of Christiane Amanpour's exclusive interview with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
EXCLUSIVE: Medvedev on Russia's economy
Part two of Christiane Amanpour's exclusive interview with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
EXCLUSIVE: Medvedev on gay rights
Part three of Christiane Amanpour's exclusive interview with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
The transcript of Christiane Amanpour's full interview with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev can be found here.
By Mick Krever, CNN
The killings portrayed in photos allegedly proving torture of prisoners by the Assad regime are “crimes,” but it is not clear who is responsible and the claims must be proven in court, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview that aired Wednesday.
“These are crimes, of course,” Medvedev told Amanpour at his office outside Moscow, but the case “should have firm proof legally.”
“I know there are a lot of victims, and that's very sad, but that does not mean that the existence of victims or victims in a particular place is the proof that those are the victims of the regime and not the bandits who were doing something or any other force.”
The investigation alleging that the Syrian regime is murdering prisoners on a mass scale, first reported by Amanpour on Monday, was authored by a team of international legal and forensic experts and based on thousands of photographs provided by a Syrian defector.
The defector claimed to have worked as a photographer at a military hospital that received dead bodies from detention centers.
Amanpour showed Medvedev gruesome pictures of emaciated corpses and torsos covered from neck to groin in bludgeon wounds.
“You know, in my university where I was studying law, I was taught that until the fact of guilt is proved in court, a person cannot be claimed guilty,” he said.
“We cannot say that Assad is a criminal without investigation,” he told Amanpour. “So probably this other trial should be held on the territory of Syria after the conflict subsides. It's the right of the Syrian people.”
U.S. hails implementation of interim Iran deal
By Mick Krever, CNN
The implementation of an interim deal with Iran is a “positive” and “concrete” step towards curbing that country’s nuclear program, U.S. Treasury Under Secretary David Cohen told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
The agreement, which was negotiated late last year in Geneva, will come in effect on January 20; and the U.S. Treasury was a major player in negotiating it.
The idea behind the deal is to create an amenable environment, for six months, during which time Iran and world powers can try to agree on a more comprehensive, permanent accord.
So just what is in the deal?
Setting a new Iran to music
'No quarrel' between Iranian and Israeli people, says singer with feet in both worlds
By Mick Krever, CNN
There is “no quarrel” between the Iranian and Israeli people, a pop star with a foot in both worlds told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Friday.
Rita Jahanforuz was born in Iran, but has been one of Israel's most popular singers for nearly three decades.
“You know, it's between the government or the leaders or something like that,” she said. “I'm very Iranian; and I'm very Israeli. And with my existence, I can show that everything can intertwine with each other, amazingly.”
She is known to her fans simply as "Rita," and took many of them by surprise when last year she released an album of songs sung entirely in her mother tongue, Farsi.
‘No military solution’ in Syria, admit people on both sides of war
EDITOR'S NOTE: Amanpour's full interview with Brahimi can be seen here.
By Mick Krever, CNN
People on both sides of Syria’s civil war now agree that there is no military solution to the conflict, Lakhdar Brahimi, U.N. special envoy for Syria, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
“Some time ago, both sides were absolutely certain that they are winning,” Brahimi said. Now, “individuals on each side tell me that there is no military solution.”
The U.N. announced on Monday that new Syria peace talks would be held in Geneva, Switzerland, in January, but the full list of attendees is still unknown.
One of the more contentious invitees is Iran, which has said that if invited it would “participate without any preconditions.”
Russia: Don’t make ‘mistake’ of excluding Iran from Syria peace talks
By Mick Krever, CNN
Russia warned on Tuesday that the U.S. and international community should not make the mistake of excluding Iran from upcoming Syria peace talks.
“Whether Iran is in the room or not … it’s going to be a player in Syria,” Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “So it’s better to have it in the room.”
The other option, he said, is to “alienate Iran once again.”
“That mistake has been made a number of times before,” he said. “Let’s not repeat it.”
Meanwhile, Iran, the United States, Russia, and four other world powers reached an interim agreement on Iran’s nuclear program this past weekend. Negotiators hope that the deal will lead to a permanent, comprehensive accord.
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