Follow Christiane on social media:
What time is Amanpour on CNN?
Check showtimes to see when Amanpour is on CNN where you are. Or watch online.
Analysis: Why gun controls are off the agenda in America
By Jonathan Mann, CNN
What is it about Americans and guns?
How much time do you have?
"I can tell you that I don't think there's any other developed country in the world that has remotely the problem we have," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said after the shooting rampage in Colorado.
There are an estimated 270 million guns in the hands of civilians in the United States, making Americans the most heavily armed people in the world per capita. Yemen, a tribal nation with no history of strong central government or the rule of law, comes in a distant second. << FULL POST >>
Running from Sudan... to the London Olympics
Monday, Christiane Amanpour speaks Guor Marial, an athlete from the world’s newest country, South Sudan. The marathon runner was just seven years old when he was kidnapped and enslaved during the country’s civil war—a battle which took the lives of near 2 million people, including 28 members of his own family.In a daring escape, Marial ran away from his captors and sought refuge in the U.S. Next week he’ll be running in the Olympics. Not a citizen of the U.S. or South Sudan, Marial will be running as an independent in London. The full interview airs Monday at 2100 & 2300 CET, but you can watch a preview of the conversation about Marial's amazing story in the video above.
Courting the Jewish vote
Even though the majority of the Jewish vote in the U.S. goes for Democrats, former White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer tells Christiane Amanpour about his efforts to court the Jewish vote for Republicans. He believes one place Republicans can make major inroads is with American Jewish expatriates living in Israel.
The return of al Qaeda
By Lucky Gold
(CNN) - Despite the claims of some within the Obama administration, al Qaeda and its offshoots aren’t dead, yet. They’ve insinuated themselves into Mali, Somalia, Yemen – and now in Syria, too.
Journalist Jon Lee Anderson of The New Yorker is in Aleppo, which has become a key battleground Syria’s civil war. And in an interview with Christiane Amanpour on Thursday, he gave a unique insight into the fighting there.
Speaking of the out-gunned opposition, Anderson told her, “They’re young men prepared to fight. They believe this is the decisive battle for Syria. That if Bashar al-Assad can’t dislodge them from Aleppo, then it’s over for him. So they have to fight to the death.”
But do they count foreign fighters among their numbers and are there members of al Qaeda and its splinter groups opposing Assad? FULL POST
Kim Jong Un married in 2009, according to intelligence service
(CNN) - North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un married 23-year-old Ri Sol Ju in 2009, according to a South Korean lawmaker on Thursday.
The curiosity over Kim's wife started several weeks ago when North Korean state television and news agencies showed video footages and pictures of an unidentified woman attending official events by Kim's side.
The name of the mystery woman was only announced Wednesday as Ri Sol Ju by North Korean state television.
Details about her remained unknown until Jung Chung-Rai, a South Korean lawmaker from Democratic United Party, attended a closed-door intelligence session by National Intelligence Service (NIS), which is equivalent to the CIA in the U.S. FULL POST
From a Chinese prison to Wall Street
Tian Hou, who was imprisoned during the Tiananmen Square crackdown two decades ago, talks about her career in business.
Romney's foreign policy prescription for Syria
By Samuel Burke
The international community’s lack of a coherent policy for Syria’s spiraling situation has now allowed the power vacuum to begin to fill with al-Qaeda elements, a senior intelligence official has told Christiane Amanpour. In addition, Jihadi elements are also working to fill that space.
With the radical presence increasing in Syria, calls for Western help to arm the rebels are growing. Wednesday, Mitt Romney’s Senior Foreign Advisor Richard Williamson, reiterated that the Republican presidential candidate believes the U.S. should openly help arm the opposition – a stance the Obama administration rejects and White House spokesman Jay Carney in late May said would add to the “chaos and carnage” in Syria.
In an interview with Christiane Amanpour, Williamson said, “This has gone on for seventeen months and early on Governor Romney said we should have people working with the opposition, trying to identify the moderate forces and help them unify.”
But when Amanpour pressed Richardson on other options to try and weaken Assad, he said Romney is reluctant. “He won’t join his friend John McCain and others who are calling for no fly zones and safe havens.” But he added, “Clearly it’s not something you can put off the table if this goes on.” FULL POST
Romney campaign: Arm Syrian rebels
By Samuel Burke
The international community’s lack of a coherent policy for Syria’s spiraling situation has now allowed the power vacuum to begin to fill with al-Qaeda elements, a senior intelligence official has told Christiane Amanpour. In addition, Jihadi elements are also working to fill that space.
With the radical presence increasing in Syria, calls for Western help to arm the rebels are growing. Wednesday, Mitt Romney’s Senior Foreign Advisor Richard Williamson, reiterated that the Republican presidential candidate believes the U.S. should openly help arm the opposition – a stance the Obama administration rejects and White House spokesman Jay Carney in late May said would add to the “chaos and carnage” in Syria.
In an interview with Christiane Amanpour, Williamson said, “This has gone on for seventeen months and early on Governor Romney said we should have people working with the opposition, trying to identify the moderate forces and help them unify.”
But when Amanpour pressed Richardson on other options to try and weaken Assad, he said Romney is reluctant. “He won’t join his friend John McCain and others who are calling for no fly zones and safe havens.” But he added, “Clearly it’s not something you can put off the table if this goes on.”
Vali Nasr, a former Senior Advisor to the Obama administration admits the U.S. has largely been reactive in Syria. “The conflict keeps metamorphosing into something worse. It goes in new directions, and then we try to come up to answers to what is happening.”
Nasr doesn’t believe the U.S. can continue its policy of non-engagement as Assad continues to lose his grip on power. “The danger now is that the situation in Syria is deteriorating very rapidly, and if we are going to have a policy of reaction to the latest development, then we will be chasing this ball in whatever direction itis going to go and that’s not where we want to be.”
The international community has pointed its fingers at China and Russia for blocking action against Assad by vetoing three resolutions in the U.N. On that matter Romney’s advisor said, “Yes, you work with them. But you don’t allow Russia to determine how the U.S. pursues its interest in Syria and you don’t allow Vladimir Putin to decide if you’re going to protect innocent people in Syria being killed in awful and horrific ways by a regime that’s going out the door.”
Williams echoed a chorus of criticism that is rising against the Obama Administration, accusing the U.S. of using Russia’s opposition to intervention in Syria as a convenient shield to postpone any action until after the November elections.
The hollowing of America’s middle class
The premise of the "American Dream" is that each generation of children will be more successful than their parents. It defines America and it's what has attracted so many immigrants from around the world. But the reality is that in recent years, the U.S. has become one of the world's most unequal countries, with a shrinking opportunity to move up the ladder.
To add to that, a new report due to be unveiled in September, shows poverty will be higher than it has been at any time since 1965 in the U.S.
Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz discussed his new book, “The Price of Inequality," with Christiane Amanpour Monday. Stiglitz says that America's shrinking middle class endangers the very future of the United States.
CNN’s Ken Olshansky produced this piece for television.
Does U.S. have plan for a post-Assad Syria?
Former U.S. National Security Adviser, General Jim Jones tells CNN's Christiane Amanpour the absence of such a plan would have grave consequences – for Syria and the rest of the region.
“It was okay to be surprised by Tunisia for example,” General Jones said. “Maybe you could excuse it a little bit in Egypt. But Syria is a real big strategic country, particularly as it relates to stability in the Middle East. What happens to Lebanon for example if Assad goes? What happens to Iran?”
But does a plan exist? General Jones, a former member of the Obama administration, didn’t confirm it. But he did stress the importance of having one: “Obviously we should have a plan. As a global leader we need to consider what the elements of that plan are.” FULL POST
@camanpour on Twitter
