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Syria jihadist training ‘worst since Afghanistan in 1980s’
By Mick Krever, CNN
The volume for foreign fighters seeking to battle jihad in Syria is “more significant than every other instance of foreign fighter mobilization since the Afghanistan war in the 1980s,” the International Center for the Study of Radicalization claims.
“What’s happening right now in Syria is truly profound,” Peter Neumann, director of the center, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
“The old al Qaeda, I believe, is no longer that relevant. In five years’ time we may well be talking about a different kind of organization, and one that like Afghanistan in the 1980s has been created in Syria.”
Western powers are scrambling to deal with the very real national security blowback that is emerging from the Syrian civil war, now in its fourth year.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford: I could no longer ‘defend the American policy’
By Mick Krever, CNN
The Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria, who left his post just a month ago, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that he could no longer stand behind his government.
“I was no longer in a position where I felt I could defend the American policy,” he said. “We have been unable to address either the root causes of the conflict in terms of the fighting on the ground and the balance on the ground, and we have a growing extremism threat.”
Ford left Syria in February 2012 amid the escalating civil war. He remained ambassador until earlier this year; the embassy has been extremely active on social media.
Syria is holding presidential elections on Tuesday, but ballots are only being cast in areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, and his only two opponents were government-approved.
“There really is nothing we can point to that’s been very successful in our policy except the removal of about ninety-three percent of some of Assad’s chemical materials. But now he’s using chlorine gas against his opponents.”
Juan Carlos kept Spain ‘from extremism,’ Constantine II says
By Mick Krever, CNN
Spain’s King Juan Carlos, who announced Monday he would abdicate, prevented the country from falling prey to extremism and made sure it remained democratic, Constantine II, former king of Greece, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“His legacy is very, very important,” Constantine II, who is Juan Carlos’ brother-in-law, said. “He went through a very difficult period to do that. But I was convinced that he would overcome all the difficulties, and he has done that.”
The monarch will step down after 40 years on the throne and hand power to his 46-year-old son, Crown Prince Felipe.
“Although I'm not party to his decision,” Constantine II said, “I suspect that he considered that forty years is quite substantial.”
“And so the difficulty is to find the right moment; I believe that he has done that. He has found the right moment.”
U.S., Europe may have prevented invasion of Ukraine, Polish foreign minister says
By Mick Krever, CNN
American and European action “has possibly prevented a full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
“America provided leadership on Ukraine,” Sikorski said, countering the common narrative that the West stood weakly in the face of Russian aggression.
U.S. President Barack Obama is headed to Europe this week on a trip that will end by commemorating the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy. His first step, however, will be Poland, which played a key role in the Ukraine crisis.
“We are always glad to see President Obama in Europe,” Sikorski said.
Is Assad's re-election a done deal?
Syrians around the world are casting their early ballots in a presidential election scheduled for this Tuesday. For months there has been a growing sense that the tide is turning in Bashar al-Assad’s favor.
As Middle East correspondent for National Public Radio, Deborah Amos has reported extensively on Syria from inside and out. She joined CNN’s Hala Gorani, sitting in for Christiane Amanpour, for an election preview.
Click above to watch the interview in full.
Donetsk governor: Must stabilize situation
At least 14 people, including a general, were killed Thursday when a Ukrainian military helicopter was shot down by "terrorists" near Slovyansk, according to the country's acting president. This is a major blow to the Ukrainian military which on Monday toughened its approach to pro-Russia separatists in the country's east.
On tonight's program Hala Gorani, sitting in for Christiane Amanpour, spoke to Serhiy Taruta, the Kiev-appointed governor of Donetsk. Taruta told Gorani about ongoing negotiations with the rebels and how he hopes to bring calm to the region.
Click above to watch the full interview.
Vietnam accuses China of ‘creating facts on the ground’
By Mick Krever, CNN
China is “creating facts on the ground” in the South China Sea, Vietnam’s Ambassador to the U.S. Nguyễn Quốc Cường told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
At question is an area of the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands; China this month installed an oil rig in an area both countries claim as their own.
This week a Chinese boat rammed and sunk a Vietnamese fishing boat near the oil rig; and in Vietnam, violent riots against the Chinese have forced Beijing to evacuate thousands of its workers.
“China is trying to turn [an] undisputed area into a disputed area. And that is unacceptable,” Nguyễn Quốc Cường said.
In an interview with Amanpour last week, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai disputed one Vietnamese claim after another.
“We don't want to see any conflicts in our neighborhood,” Ambassador Cui said. “But it will not entirely – it will not be entirely up to us, you see. Other people have to have the same constructive attitude and policy.”
“We have no other way but to respond peacefully but resolutely,” Nguyễn Quốc Cường told Amanpour.
Flournoy: Obama speech ‘very nuanced’
A speech Wednesday by U.S. President Barack Obama, billed as a major foreign policy address, was “a very nuanced message and it’s hard to communicate,” a former top U.S. Defense official told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“Different people will hear it in different ways,” Michele Flournoy, who served as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy under President Obama, said.
Just 38% of American approve of President Obama’s foreign policy, according to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll.
Click above to watch Amanpour’s full interview with Flournoy, who was the highest-ranking woman in Pentagon history and is often cited as a possible future Defense Secretary.
With 40+ dead, Ukrainian and Russian officials trade barbs
By Mick Krever, CNN
On a day when at least 40 people were killed in eastern Ukraine, a Russian and Ukrainian official traded accusations in separate interviews with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“What we keep asking and demanding from Russia: ‘Stop feeding terrorism and separatism in Ukraine,’” Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.N. Yuriy Sergeyev told Amanpour.
Those separatists, Russian Senator Andrey Klimov also told Amanpour, “are not under Moscow’s control.”
“They are not members of my army or our special forces but they are citizens of that country,” he said. “The problem is not in Moscow. The problem is inside [the] Ukrainian state and their society.”
Russia: 'The problem is inside Ukraine'
CNN's Christiane Amanpour speaks with Russian Senator Andrey Klimov about unrest in eastern Ukraine.
A battle between pro-Russia separatists and government forces at Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine has claimed 40 lives, authorities said Tuesday, in the deadliest outbreak of violence yet in the flashpoint city.
Brother speaks out on Iran 'Happy' video
Christiane Amanpour speaks with Siavash Taravati, whose sister was detained in Iran over her dancing in an online video.
Click above to watch.
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