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Inside a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan
On Monday, Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab described Bashar Assad's government as "terrorist regime" after he defected. In a statement, the Sunni prime minister said that he was "joining the revolution.” Hijab joins many high-level defectors, and hundreds of thousands of refugees, crossing Syria's borders to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. CNN's Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr takes us inside one of these refugee camps, in Jordan, where Syrians are having to adjust to blazing heat and swirling sands.
How to stop al Qaeda in Syria
By Samuel Burke
In April, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said that the longer violence festers in Syria, the greater the danger is of bad actors stepping in. Now, the Obama administration is concerned with growing reports of al Qaeda, its offshoots and other Jihadists flooding into Syria.
In an interview with Christiane Amanpour Thursday, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Counter Terrorism, Daniel Benjamin, echoed what Bill Clinton said months ago.
“Whenever you have a case of civil strife and instability, as you have in Syria, it makes it extremely attractive to extremists who want to use this opportunity for more chaos and advance their cause,” he said.
Benjamin told Amanpour that these types of individuals are indeed already in Syria, including al Qaeda fighters. FULL POST
Russia's Pussy Riot band and Putin's iron fist
Even though people power is asserting itself around the world and authoritarian regimes are falling, one is standing firmer than ever: Russia. Vladimir Putin has returned to the presidency for the third time and is lowering the iron fist.
Tonight, I spoke with Petr Verzilov, who’s an artist, activist and the husband of one of the jailed band members of a Russian feminist punk rock band called Pussy Riot. In February, the group did a protest, storming the altar at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior and called upon the Virgin Mary to "put Putin away." Of course, many found this performance offensive; but is it criminal? The women are charged with "hooliganism, motivated by religious hatred or hostility.” In Russia, that’s a felony, with a maximum seven year jail sentence. The group has pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, but they've already been in prison for five months. Two of them have small children, whom they haven't seen since their arrest.
MORE: 3 members of Russian band Pussy Riot plead not guilty to hooliganism
The climate change debate is over
In the fierce and sometimes ugly fight over global climate change, we finally have an answer coming from the earth itself: the weather is telling us climate change is here and we are causing it. Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku is among the scientist who say the world is giving us signs that climate change is already happening (to see how he explains it, watch the video above). This summer, there have been relentless droughts, wildfires, melting glaciers and unprecedented storms – all happening at the same time. And around the world people are demanding something be done about it. Even in the United States, ground zero for climate change denial, six in ten Americans say they believe it is indeed happening. But political leaders are missing in action – cowed by a vociferous climate change denial club, which is actually now shrinking faster than the polar ice caps.
Meet the runner with no country
By Mick Krever
(CNN) - More than 10,000 athletes are competing in the London Olympics, each representing a country. All, that is, except four.
One of the so-called “Independent Olympic Athletes” is Marathon runner Guor Marial. His country of South Sudan is so new – just over one year – that it doesn’t yet have an Olympic team.
It is safe to say that no one has had to overcome more hardship en route to the Olympic Games.
At age seven, he left his home and was forced to work for Sudanese soldiers, earning just a dollar per month.
FULL POST
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
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.
Is there a 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
Gun crazy in America
By Christiane Amanpour
After a heated discussion on gun control on our program, both my guests reached a point of agreement; that a larger debate on the Second Amendment must continue. This would seem fitting, given a Pew poll shows Americans are practically evenly split over gun control: 45% in favor, while 49% are against.
One of the aspects of this debate I find exceptionally important is that while some blame the culture in America, in Europe they watch the same movies. Yet, they have hade many fewer mass shootings. And after each one of these attacks they have implemented and legislated change and a tightening up of gun laws, which has worked and cut down the violence significantly.
One of the guests in our debate tonight, Alan Korwin insists we should all be armed – you can watch his perspective, and the fascinating conversation we had, in the video above.
How does Assad survive?
By Lucky Gold
They really don’t believe what they saw on state television
Dutch journalist Sander van Hoorn was on the ground in Syria again on Thursday and provided an update on the confusing situation there.
Referring to Wednesday’s bombing that killed three of President Assad’s inner circle, van Hoorn said “much is still unclear and I’m afraid will stay that way.”
“I speak to a lot of people here that really don’t believe what they saw on state television.... They say it may all have been pre-recorded. So there’s a lot of doubts if the events that took place yesterday actually were really a suicide attack.”
Asked what might have taken place, van Hoorn said, “Basically, two things you hear might be true – that they (Assad’s ministers) died before and that they had to put something into motion to make it look like they were killed in a suicide blast. The other speculation is that something might have happened, right there, right then, but not a suicide. Maybe a murder by some elements of the regime against others.”
Given the uncertainty, he was asked if the regime is still in control: “Well, if you listen to the sounds they are,” said van Hoorn. “The biggest sounds are the thuds of the artillery fire. The president’s picture I guess in the suburbs they will tear it down…But here in the center of Damascus they (Assad’s pictures) are firmly in place.” FULL POST
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