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Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford: I could no longer ‘defend the American policy’
By Mick Krever, CNN
The Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria, who left his post just a month ago, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that he could no longer stand behind his government.
“I was no longer in a position where I felt I could defend the American policy,” he said. “We have been unable to address either the root causes of the conflict in terms of the fighting on the ground and the balance on the ground, and we have a growing extremism threat.”
Ford left Syria in February 2012 amid the escalating civil war. He remained ambassador until earlier this year; the embassy has been extremely active on social media.
Syria is holding presidential elections on Tuesday, but ballots are only being cast in areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, and his only two opponents were government-approved.
“There really is nothing we can point to that’s been very successful in our policy except the removal of about ninety-three percent of some of Assad’s chemical materials. But now he’s using chlorine gas against his opponents.”
Juan Carlos kept Spain ‘from extremism,’ Constantine II says
By Mick Krever, CNN
Spain’s King Juan Carlos, who announced Monday he would abdicate, prevented the country from falling prey to extremism and made sure it remained democratic, Constantine II, former king of Greece, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“His legacy is very, very important,” Constantine II, who is Juan Carlos’ brother-in-law, said. “He went through a very difficult period to do that. But I was convinced that he would overcome all the difficulties, and he has done that.”
The monarch will step down after 40 years on the throne and hand power to his 46-year-old son, Crown Prince Felipe.
“Although I'm not party to his decision,” Constantine II said, “I suspect that he considered that forty years is quite substantial.”
“And so the difficulty is to find the right moment; I believe that he has done that. He has found the right moment.”
U.S., Europe may have prevented invasion of Ukraine, Polish foreign minister says
By Mick Krever, CNN
American and European action “has possibly prevented a full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
“America provided leadership on Ukraine,” Sikorski said, countering the common narrative that the West stood weakly in the face of Russian aggression.
U.S. President Barack Obama is headed to Europe this week on a trip that will end by commemorating the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy. His first step, however, will be Poland, which played a key role in the Ukraine crisis.
“We are always glad to see President Obama in Europe,” Sikorski said.
Vietnam accuses China of ‘creating facts on the ground’
By Mick Krever, CNN
China is “creating facts on the ground” in the South China Sea, Vietnam’s Ambassador to the U.S. Nguyễn Quốc Cường told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
At question is an area of the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands; China this month installed an oil rig in an area both countries claim as their own.
This week a Chinese boat rammed and sunk a Vietnamese fishing boat near the oil rig; and in Vietnam, violent riots against the Chinese have forced Beijing to evacuate thousands of its workers.
“China is trying to turn [an] undisputed area into a disputed area. And that is unacceptable,” Nguyễn Quốc Cường said.
In an interview with Amanpour last week, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai disputed one Vietnamese claim after another.
“We don't want to see any conflicts in our neighborhood,” Ambassador Cui said. “But it will not entirely – it will not be entirely up to us, you see. Other people have to have the same constructive attitude and policy.”
“We have no other way but to respond peacefully but resolutely,” Nguyễn Quốc Cường told Amanpour.
Flournoy: Obama speech ‘very nuanced’
A speech Wednesday by U.S. President Barack Obama, billed as a major foreign policy address, was “a very nuanced message and it’s hard to communicate,” a former top U.S. Defense official told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“Different people will hear it in different ways,” Michele Flournoy, who served as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy under President Obama, said.
Just 38% of American approve of President Obama’s foreign policy, according to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll.
Click above to watch Amanpour’s full interview with Flournoy, who was the highest-ranking woman in Pentagon history and is often cited as a possible future Defense Secretary.
With 40+ dead, Ukrainian and Russian officials trade barbs
By Mick Krever, CNN
On a day when at least 40 people were killed in eastern Ukraine, a Russian and Ukrainian official traded accusations in separate interviews with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“What we keep asking and demanding from Russia: ‘Stop feeding terrorism and separatism in Ukraine,’” Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.N. Yuriy Sergeyev told Amanpour.
Those separatists, Russian Senator Andrey Klimov also told Amanpour, “are not under Moscow’s control.”
“They are not members of my army or our special forces but they are citizens of that country,” he said. “The problem is not in Moscow. The problem is inside [the] Ukrainian state and their society.”
Russia: 'The problem is inside Ukraine'
CNN's Christiane Amanpour speaks with Russian Senator Andrey Klimov about unrest in eastern Ukraine.
A battle between pro-Russia separatists and government forces at Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine has claimed 40 lives, authorities said Tuesday, in the deadliest outbreak of violence yet in the flashpoint city.
Russia must respect Ukrainian choice, says Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt
By Mick Krever, CNN
A day after Ukrainians elected pro-Western billionaire Petro Poroshenko, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that Russia must “accept the reality” that an “overwhelming majority of them have made their choice.”
That choice is Poroshenko, who says that European integration is his priority. He has declared victory, and his main opponent has conceded.
“I don’t think the Russians were particularly happy about this particular election. But it has taken place and it has created, or produced, a very clear verdict.”
“And obviously the people of Ukraine want Petro Poroshenko as their president, and he wants to take the country closer to the European Union. That has to be accepted by Russia as well.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated on Monday that Moscow would recognize the result of the election, but he also raised questions about how the campaigning and election were conducted.
‘We are not going to elect a dictator,’ says former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa
By Mick Krever, CNN
Egypt is not “going to elect a dictator,” Former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday as Egyptians went to the polls.
Former Egyptian military chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is expected to win the presidency.
“We are not going to elect a dictator,” Moussa said. “We are going to elect a president under the stipulations of a constitution.”
His comments came in response to a statement by el-Sisi’s sole opponent, Hamdeen Sabahi, that if elected he would release “all the innocent people who were convicted according to this unconstitutional law” – referring to a controversial demonstration law enacted last year.
“He said I am going to release all innocent people, meaning that he's not going to release the non-innocent people,” Moussa said. “And who determined that? Only the courts can determine that.”
An optimistic view of a supremely difficult election
There are difficult elections, and then there is Ukraine's election:
This Sunday, voters will seek to legitimize their post-Yanukovych era by electing a new president.
But unbearable pressure from Russia has come very close to scuppering it – first annexing Crimea and then encouraging pro-Russian separatists to destabilize eastern Ukraine by declaring independence, and shedding blood in some parts.
Nine hundred observers from the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) will be overseeing the election, because a truly free and fair poll will be vital for peace and stability.
“I expect elections in Ukraine to be largely okay in the overwhelming number of districts,” Wolfgang Ischinger, representative of the OSCE for Ukraine, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Friday.
“But there are huge obstacles in the east, principally in two of the districts. And I expect that voting there will be either patchy or maybe impossible for many citizens. So we will not have a totally perfect vote.”
Despite imperfection, he said, the election of a new president represents an enormous opportunity.
“If he or she reaches out to those living in the east and explains to them that he wants to be their president also, I believe that that can change things in a significant way.”
Just weeks ago, there were significant concerns that Russia could launch a full-scale invasion of eastern Ukraine. Now, Ischinger said, he is buoyed by attempts to calm the situation.
“I am extremely excited about the fact that some of the so-called oligarchs in the country are now also finally, you know, waking up and dispatching their workers and using some of their financial resources to help create an atmosphere of calm, an atmosphere that will allow people to go to vote without being intimidated. Intimidation is a big problem here.”
Ukraine remains a very divided country, and chaotic, country. Just this week 16 people were killed on an attack on soldiers in the country’s eastern Donetsk region.
But there is no indication, Ischinger said, that eastern parts of the country genuinely want to break off – a claim backed up by public opinion polls.
“I traveled myself to Donetsk to speak to the mayor and to local oligarchs and other people,” Ischinger said. “I can tell you that I have not found a single responsible person in Ukraine who advocates, who really advocates as a serious plan, a division, a carving of Ukraine. I have only found people who wish to keep Ukraine together.”
“What people in the east are so tremendously unhappy about is that they feel left alone by Kiev. They want a different government. They want different leadership.”
“But I don't believe that people in the east, at least not those that I have had a chance to meet, really want to leave Ukraine.”
What will be critical for the country, he told Amanpour, is that the country’s governance is reformed.
“Constitutional reform in Ukraine, including in particular this item of decentralization, is the key, the principle job for post-election Ukraine.”
Rogue Libyan general: Salvation or menace?
It's called “operation dignity.” It started as a rogue campaign by a former Libyan general to purge the chaotic country of extremist Islamist militias – and the government that is said to support them.
Now, an array of Libyan military, tribal and political leaders have jumped on General Khalifa Haftar's bandwagon, even though he's played all sides.
As one said, “The dilemma is that no-one trusts him but everyone likes what he's doing. We want the Islamists out.”
So could General Haftar and his "Operation Dignity" be just what the doctor ordered? Or could he drag Libya back into a military dictatorship, much like General Abdel Fatah El-Sisi in neighboring Egypt?
“I have decided to face this threat and those who are against the Libyan people, and we hope that the Libyan tribes and the civic institutions in Libya do support us,” General Haftar told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Thursday on the phone from the eastern city of Benghazi.
“I want for Libya to be together, and I did not come out only to provide security for Libya. And I want for the Libyan society to be safe and secure. Personally, I do not want political power. But I want the safety and security of my country and my people.”
Click above to watch Amanpour’s interview with General Haftar.
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