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vanden Heuvel: 'Need some common sense' in Ukraine
Responding to Ukrainian Economy and Trade Minister Pavlo Sheremeta's interview with CNN's Hala Gorani, Editor of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel told Gorani that "some common sense" is needed in Ukraine - and neither side is free from her criticism.
Click above to see vanden Heuvel's full conversation with Gorani.
Ukraine and Russian ministers are talking, economy minister tells CNN
By Mick Krever, CNN
Ukrainian and Russian ministers are talking to each other, including Prime Ministers Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Dmitry Medvedev, Ukrainian Economy and Trade Minister Pavlo Sheremeta told CNN’s Hala Gorani, sitting in for Christiane Amanpour.
“It’s not uniformal [sic] rejection of the Ukrainian government,” Sheremeta said from Kiev. “We are communicating, we are talking, and that’s the right thing to do.”
“I think our prime minister talked to the Russian prime minister,” he said, and added that the Ukrainian energy minister had also spoken to his Russian counterpart.
Ukraine: There is dialogue with Russia
Hala Gorani, in for Christiane Amanpour, speaks with Ukrainian Economy and Trade Minister Pavlo Sheremeta
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as other foreign ministers, has urged talks between Russia and Ukraine to negotiate an end to the standoff over the Ukrainian region of Crimea, of which Russian troops remain in effective control.
It is not clear if those discussions constituted real negotiations.
Ukraine’s top negotiator with the Crimean government Petro Poroshenko told Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that the two countries’ defense ministers had spoken, but it was “not a negotiation, unfortunately.”
“We have lots of common challenges,” Sheremeta said, striking an optimistic tone.
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.”
Ukraine invites observers to rebuff Putin ‘neo-Nazi’ and ‘anti-Semite’ claims
By Mick Krever, CNN
Responding to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allegations that there are neo-Nazis threatening the Ukrainian population, Ukraine’s top negotiator with the Crimean government invited “any international organization” to come to Ukraine and see the situation for themselves.
“We are open for any observers to come to any part of Ukraine and to be absolutely sure that Ukraine now outside of the Crimea is absolutely safe,” Petro Poroshenko, a Ukrainian MP and former Foreign Minister told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“We have lots of the different nationalities including Jews in our government. And I think that [Putin] is simply not [an] understandable position.”
Ukraine rebuffs Putin 'neo-Nazi' claims
Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's top negotiator with the Crimean government, strikes back at claims made by Russia's Putin.
The Russian president launched the accusation at a press conference earlier on Tuesday.
"We have a request of the legitimate President Yanukovych to protect the welfare of the local population,” he said. “We have neo-Nazis and Nazis and anti-Semites in parts of Ukraine, including Kiev.”
“You don’t find any tiny arguments to confirm the words of President Putin,” Poroshenko said.
Former U.S. Ambassador on what's next for Ukraine
What's next for Ukraine?
CNN's Christiane Amanpour speaks with Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder.
Click above to see their full conversation.
Pistorius will get fair trial, says lawyer who taught judge
By Mick Krever, CNN
Oscar Pistorius, South African Olympian facing murder charges over the death of his girlfriend, will get a fair trial, Mannie Witz, a lawyer who served as teacher to the judge in the case, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
“I think it’s very, very important – not only to South Africa, but also for the whole world – to see that we’ve got a very, very good justice system,” Witz said from Pretoria, where Pistorius’ trial began Monday.
Pistorius faces one charge of premeditated murder and a firearms charge associated with Steenkamp's killing, as well as two separate gun indictments from 2012.
“Knowing the judge in this particular matter, I think that should ensure that he does get a fair trial,” Witz said. “She follows the rules, she follows the procedure, and I’ve got no doubt that in regards to all the parties – they’re very experienced, they’re very, very well-versed experienced.”
The trial of Oscar PIstorius
Christiane Amanpour speaks with South African lawyer Mannie Witz about the trail of Oscar Pistorius.
Click above to watch Amanpour’s full interview with Witz.
Former Ukraine leader calls for 'strongest means' against Russia if diplomacy fails
By Mick Krever, CNN
(CNN) - If diplomacy fails to persuade Russia to withdraw its forces from the Ukrainian region of Crimea, the world should apply the "strongest means" on Russia, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview Monday.
Amanpour asked Tymoshenko if she was calling for the West to use military force against Russia.
She would not directly answer the question, saying that she "cannot solve this issue," but she issued an appeal to help Ukraine.
"I am asking all the world, personally every world leader, to use all the possibilities in order to avoid Ukraine losing Crimea."
Ex-prime minister calls on world to act
Yulia Tymoshenko, former Ukrainian prime minister, says "the world has to apply strongest means" if diplomacy fails.
Russia has complete "operational control" over Crimea, a senior U.S. official has told CNN.
This was Tymoshenko's first international interview since her release from prison just over a week ago, following a truce between then-President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition. She spent
the last years behind bars on what the West called politically motivated charges.
Ukraine is just "one step" away from war, Tymoshenko said.
The Russian Duma, or parliament, has started debate on "the draft of the law of annexation of Crimea from Ukraine," she told Amanpour.
The Duma website confirms that a draft law has been put forward on defining the process whereby a country or territory can seek to be annexed by Russia.
Science and math are the ‘engines of tomorrow's economy,’ says astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson
By Mick Krever, CNN
Science, technology, engineering, and math will be the “engines of tomorrow's economy,” astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
“I want to explore because I think it's fun and I like learning something different and new tomorrow that I didn't know today. But I can't require that of everybody.”
“So if you needed a pragmatic reason to explore, the best one out there is innovations in science and technology are the engines of tomorrow's economy,” Tyson, who is director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, said.
“We've known this certainly since the Industrial Revolution. But even before then, those nations that invested in exploration and discovery would lead the world in almost every metric that mattered in anything that we call civilization today.”
NASA this week announced the discovery of 715 new planets, the largest single batch ever announced, by far. By way of comparison, about 1,000 planets total had been identified in our galaxy before Wednesday.
Neil deGrasse Tyson on new planets
Astrophysist Neil deGrasse Tyson speaks with CNN's about hte discovery of 715 new planets.
“It's not like they discovered them all last night and then it got reported this morning,” Tyson said. “They've been lined up for a while until the confidence in the detection was high enough to then present it all as one release.”
Four of the planets announced are in the so-called “habitable zone,” meaning they could theoretically support life.
“You could ask, are we alone? Is the solar - our solar system unusual? Is it - is it common? And that's one of the great questions we always ask about ourselves, and we've been asking it since we came out of the caves.”
Afghanistan should sign U.S. security deal, presidential candidate and former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul tells Amanpour
By Mick Krever, CNN
Afghanistan should sign an agreement that would keep some U.S. troops in the country after 2014, Afghan presidential candidate Zalmai Rassoul told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
“I hope and I'm confident that the zero option will not be an option,” Rassoul said. Leaving no U.S troops after 2014 is “not a good option for Afghanistan and therefore for the United States,” he said.
Rassoul, an establishment figure and former foreign minister, did not directly criticize President Hamid Karzai, who has refused to sign such a deal.
Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, has endorsed the security deal.
The Obama administration announced earlier this week that it had warned Afghanistan that it has started planning for a possible withdrawal of all U.S. troops by the end of the year if no security agreement is signed.
Rassoul said that he did not believe Afghanistan was at risk of breaking out into civil war, and that the Afghan national security forces are “well trained” and “ready to defend Afghanistan.”
Nonetheless, he admitted that they are “not yet well equipped.”
“They are suffering from that. They need better equipment, training and advice.”
Two years after Trayvon Martin killing, human rights lawyer says America ‘burdened with a legacy of slavery’
By Mick Krever, CNN
Two years ago Wednesday, a black teenager named Trayvon Martin became the latest face of what many called racial injustice in America.
Martin was unarmed, except with a hoodie, when he was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida.
The assailant, George Zimmerman, a white Hispanic, claimed self-defense. A jury agreed, pronouncing him not guilty.
Of course Trayvon's case was hardly the first or the last such tragedy.
Just two weeks ago, again in Florida, a similar situation: a white man escaped the most serious charge of first degree murder after he shot and killed a black teenager in a dispute over loud music, of all things. Michael Dunn was convicted on three charges of attempted second-degree murder for shooting into the SUV holding the victim and other black teenagers.
The cases “reflect a continuing disregard for valuing people of color in the way that we have to if we’re going to recover from our history inequality and racial injustice,” Bryan Stevenson, a human rights lawyer and founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
“This country is burdened with a legacy of slavery. We enslaved Africans for over two centuries. From the end of reconstruction until World War II we terrorized and traumatized black people in America with lynchings and violence and racial hatred.”
“And because we never told the truth about all of those problems and all the difficulties that created, we never had the moment of truth and reconciliation that every country requires if it’s going to deal with decades of human rights abuse. We didn’t have what South Africa went through.”
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