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.
Sporting event draws attention to wounded soldiers
By Mick Krever and Dominique van Heerden, CNN
As President Obama lays out his plan to fight ISIS, a new sporting event in London is drawing attention to the plight of so many wounded veterans of the last decade’s wars.
A Paralympics-style competition – the Invictus Games, meaning “unconquered” – features the competition of more than 400 wounded soldiers; it’s public brainchild is Prince Harry, himself an Afghan War Veteran.
“It's a story that cuts to the core of a key issue that affects the Western world today in terms of the military adventures,” Gillian Tett, U.S. managing editor of the Financial Times, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
Obama must go ‘all-in’ against ISIS, say two heavyweight American diplomats
By Mick Krever, CNN
U.S. President Barack Obama must show the world that he is “all in” if there is any hope of defeating ISIS, two veteran American diplomats told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday, hours before President Obama was set to reveal his plan to fight ISIS in a primetime address.
“We are fighting a mortal enemy, an existential enemy. We win or we pay,” said Ryan Crocker, who has served as American ambassador to Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
“It's all about American leadership. Either we assert it now or we don't win this fight.”
President Obama must demonstrate that “we're all in. We are in with a coalition that we will lead, and we are going to stick with it as long as it takes.”
“He was not all in in Libya…Nothing good is going to happen in Iraq, in Syria, and in the region without American leadership, and in our system that means presidential leadership.”
Scottish independence: Historic eventuality or rash reaction?
By Mick Krever, CNN
To stay or to go.
With just over a week until a crucial referendum and polls on a knife’s edge, the pressure is on Scots to decide whether to end their 300-year-long union with the United Kingdom in favor of independence.
To debate the issue, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour spoke with Brian Cox, an actor and Scotsman who supports independence, and Rory Stewart, a British parliamentarian whose family is Scottish who supports a continued union.
For Cox the push for independence is the result of long pent-up frustrations; for Stewart, it’s a rash and regrettable reaction to a passing set of circumstances.
Iraq: We can defeat ISIS
Click here to watch Amanpour's full interview with Zebari.
By Mick Krever, CNN
On the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech outlining the American strategy against ISIS, and after the formation of a new government that was like a “caesarean operation,” Iraq’s new deputy Prime Minister said that ISIS in Iraq could be defeated.
“I think they are on the run, on the defensive. And with the increased international support coming … I think they would be defeated, at least here in Iraq. We have every confidence,” Hoshyar Zebari, who was long the Iraqi foreign minister, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
Zebari hailed the formation of a new government – a “big, big challenge” – but some are skeptical whether the leadership is renewed or simply reshuffled.
“We all agree that this government has to be different from the previous government – in its leadership, in its faces, in its composition, and its representation.”
But Nuri al-Maliki – who was just forced to resign as prime minister for his divisive policies and whom many blame at least in part for the rise of ISIS – is back as one of the country’s three vice presidents.
Mo’ democracy for Hong Kong? No, says Mo
By Mick Krever, CNN
With a new decision by the Chinese government on how Hong Kong elects its leader, the dream of democracy “is nearly dead,” Hong Kong legislator and democracy activist Claudia Mo told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
What China has offered instead, Mo said, is a “sort of fake democracy.”
It was not too long ago that Hong Kong was not Chinese at all; in 1997, the United Kingdom handed control of the territory over to Beijing. The agreement the two powers then signed promised “a high degree of autonomy” and “universal suffrage” Hong Kong’s population.
Now, activists say, China has reneged on that agreement. The government last week said that while Hong Kong’s population will be able to directly elect their leader for the first time, the candidates for the position of chief executive must be approved by a committee of Communist Party leaders.
China’s decision must still be approved by Hong Kong’s legislative council before it goes into effect.
“I think China, Beijing, is essentially very insecure and paranoid, and they want to play tough with Hong Kong. And the message is ‘We don't care about Hong Kong anymore. Hong Kong is disposable.’ The supposed financial hub in Asia; the supposed cosmopolitan city, never mind. If you don't like it here, Hong Kong people, you can leave.’”
Could Cameron go the way of Lord North?
In ten days, Scotland holds a referendum on independence; if the 'yes' campaign wins, some say it would be hard for Cameron to stay on as Prime Minister, having presided over the breakup of the United Kingdom.
Could he face the same fate as Lord North, who in 1782, was forced from office after he lost the American Colonies?
Christiane Amanpour has the story.
For Scotland unionists, ‘there is no room for complacency’
By Mick Krever, CNN
With just ten days until Scots vote on independence - and with a poll showing a slight lead for the independence campaign for the first time - “there is no room for complacency,” conservative Member of Parliament and former Defense Secretary Liam Fox told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
“There’s no panic,” he said. “But I think there’s a genuine feeling at Westminster that the No campaign has focused too much on the negative.”
A ‘yes’ vote on September 18th would mean a bitter divorce after a marriage of 307 years; up until now, the ‘no’ campaign has kept a comfortable lead in the polls.
Political and business titans warn of grave consequences for the Scottish economy, public services, and national security should Scotland leave. But after this weekend’s YouGov poll, critics say unionists must step up their game in the final stretch if the union is to be preserved.
“It’s caused something of a minor political earthquake here at Westminster. I hope that it’s simply a strong wake-up call for those who’ve not been paying attention.”
“It’s very, very important that the ‘no’ campaign give a positive reason for staying in the union,” Fox said.
If walls could talk
Imagine a world where a village's walls speak to all people of all languages.
Click above to watch.
Russian ambassador anticipates ‘liberation’ of Mariupol in Ukraine
By Mick Krever, CNN
Pro-Russian separatists will “liberate” the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Andrey Kelin, anticipated in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Friday.
Ukrainian forces are working to fortify the city; they claim that Russian intelligence groups have been spotted in the area.
Mariupol is “the second-biggest city in Donetsk Oblas, probably, and I believe that they are going to liberate,” Kelin said.
West must include Syria stronghold in ISIS fight, says NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Click here to watch Amanpour's full interview with Rasmussen.
By Mick Krever, CNN
The West must include ISIS’s Syria stronghold in its effort to defeat it, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Friday.
There is “no doubt that Syria and Iraq should be looked upon as a whole. Many of the problems originate from the internal conflict in Syria. There is a clear spill over to the region.”
“And that’s why I think the international community will have to address these problems as a whole.”
The United States said at the conclusion of a NATO summit on Friday that it would seek to assemble a coalition to confront ISIS. President Barack Obama has said that the goal is to “degrade and destroy” ISIS.
But the White House has not said yet whether Syria, a country President Obama has long been wary of becoming involved in military, would be included its efforts.
“It has been very hard to see a military solution to the conflict in Syria,” Rasmussen said. “And still I think a long-term, sustainable solution will take a strong political and diplomatic effort.”
“But the bottom line is that we have seen the rise of this terrorist organization, the Islamic State, that has committed horrific atrocities, and now I see it as an obligation for the international community to stop it, to defeat it, and take the necessary steps to that end.”
@camanpour on Twitter
