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Mandela’s long-time assistant Zelda la Grange recalls her early racism
By Mick Krever, CNN
“I was a full-on racist by the time I started working for him.”
That is the shocking revelation from Nelson Mandela’s long-time personal assistant, gatekeeper, and trusted aide, Zelda la Grange, a white Afrikaner.
“Now looking back, if you [asked] me at the age of twenty-three I would probably have denied being a racist,” she told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. “Now it's easier, because you can recognize the change in yourself.”
La Grange was born the year after Mandela was sent to prison; little in her upbringing suggests she was destined to be confidant to the world’s foremost black liberation leader.
She had been so ignorant of her country’s politics that she hadn’t even heard of Mandela when it was announced he would be released from prison, in 1990.
Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón makes economic case for tackling climate change
By Mick Krever, CNN
Is climate change a crisis “we can’t afford to ignore”?
“For most of decision-takers – either governments or businessmen – the main obstacle is on the economic side,” Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
“So as the American campaign once said, ‘It's the economy, stupid’” – referring to the informal slogan of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.
A growing chorus of power brokers are making the case that tackling climate change makes economic sense above all else. The latest is Former U.S. Treasury Sectary Henry Paulson, a Republican who served under George W. Bush.
He has now joined an army of top U.S. business leaders with an economic analysis of doing nothing, called “Risky Business.”
“It is possible, completely,” Calderon said. “We can have economic growth, poverty alleviation – we can create jobs being responsible with the environment.”
Brother of jailed journalist Peter Greste: ‘It's extremely difficult to understand’
By Mick Krever, CNN
Andrew Greste, whose brother Peter was convicted and sentenced to prison along with two other al Jazeera journalists in Egypt on Monday, said he was “gutted” and “devastated.”
“Obviously it was a result that we thought, I guess, was possible. But you just can't prepare yourself really.”
Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed had been imprisoned in Cairo since December on charges that included conspiring with the Brotherhood, spreading false news and endangering national security.
Greste and Fahmy were sentenced to seven years in prison; Mohamed was sentenced to ten.
Their case has drawn worldwide condemnation from governments and journalists alike, who insist the three were simply doing their jobs, reporting the news.
“I definitely wasn't expecting such a harsh punishment,” Andrew Greste said. “You know, seven years – it's extremely difficult to understand.”
Iraqi Kurdistan: We bring stability
You can see Amanpour's full interview with President Barzani here.
In this web extra, Christiane Amanpour asks Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani how the region would react to Kurdish independence.
"Allow me to ask, ‘What shall we do? What can we do in Kurdistan? Shall we remain just watching and waiting for an unknown future, unknown destiny? Everyone sees what’s taking place in Iraq."
"We have proved to Turkey that we are a factor of stability. We are an important factor for the security and stability of Turkey."
Click above to watch.
Could Iraq turn into Lebanon? 'Maybe,' says Iraqi Kurdish President
You can see Amanpour's full interview with President Barzani here.
In this web extra, Christiane Amanpour asks Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani if Iraq could have a Lebanon-like civil war.
“I hope it will not be like Lebanon, but maybe," he says.
Click above to watch.
EXCLUSIVE: Iraqi Kurdistan leader Massoud Barzani says 'the time is here' for self-determination
By Mick Krever, CNN
Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani gave his strongest-ever indication on Monday that his region would seek formal independence from the rest of Iraq.
“Iraq is obviously falling apart,” he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview. “And it’s obvious that the federal or central government has lost control over everything. Everything is collapsing – the army, the troops, the police.”
“We did not cause the collapse of Iraq. It is others who did. And we cannot remain hostages for the unknown,” he said through an interpreter.
“The time is here for the Kurdistan people to determine their future and the decision of the people is what we are going to uphold.”
Iraqi Kurdish independence has long been a goal, and the region has had autonomy from Baghdad for more than two decades, but they have never before said they would actually pursue that dream.
But the latest crisis, in which Sunni extremists have captured a large swath of Iraqi territory on the border of Iraqi Kurdistan, seems to have pushed the Kurds over the edge.
Catalan leader encourages new Spanish king to mediate push for independence
By Mick Krever, CNN
From Scotland to South Sudan, Crimea to Donetsk, independence referendums (legal or not) are in vogue.
And for Artur Mas, president of the Spanish region of Catalonia, the desire is just as strong.
“Catalonia was born one thousand years ago. We have a long history behind us,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on the day Spain inaugurated its new king, Felipe VI.
“We have found a lot of different obstacles, problems, difficulties and so on. And we have always tried to overcome.”
“Now it is the right time for the referendum in Catalonia to go on and to go ahead. And our way to do that will be absolutely peaceful – and this is not the case in Ukraine – and also absolutely democratic.”
Obama walking ‘very delicate line’ in Iraq allegiances
By Mick Krever, CNN
U.S. President Barack Obama must walk a “very delicate line” of sectarian allegiance as he prepares to send 300 military advisers to Iraq, Former Senior U.S. State Department Adviser Vali Nasr told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the man who led America’s military surge in Iraq, David Petraeus, said that the U.S. must be careful not to appear like “the air force of Shiite militias.”
But Nasr, a leading authority on these sectarian issues, said that there is fear on all sides.
“This is now being billed as the sharp edge of a Sunni revival in the region, and that’s the way the Shiites are seeing it,” he said. “And the Sunni countries in the region are not separating ISIS from the rest of the Sunni forces, and Iraqi Sunnis have not stood up and for instance condemned massacre of 1,700 Shiite soldiers in Tikrit.”
“And all of that gives a sense that everybody is accepting ISIS as now the voice of Sunnis. And that’s exactly what will cause the Shiites to be very worried about any kind of concession to the Sunnis.”
In Iraq, social media insurrection
CNN's Christiane Amanpour speaks with Samuel Burke about ISIS's digital campaign of terror.
Click above to watch.
For U.S., ‘long road’ of mistakes in Iraq
By Mick Krever, CNN
The United States has travelled a “long road” of “numerous mistakes” in Iraq, Jay Garner, who led America’s post-war Iraq reconstruction efforts in 2003, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
“We did a good job getting in and we did a lousy job getting out,” he said. “This is a bed we've been making for the last 11 years.”
As U.S. President Barack Obama weighs how to respond to the Sunni extremist conquest across Iraq, the government in Baghdad formally requested air support from the United States.
That, Garner said, is something America should stay well away from.
“I think what we're seeing right now is an Arab-on-Arab war, we're seeing a religious war, and I don't think we need to get in the middle of that.”
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