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Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky speaks out
Khodorkovsky: I don't know why I'm free
Part one of Christiane Amanpour's conversation with recently freed Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Khodorkovsky not ruling out politics
Part two of Christiane Amanpour's conversation with recently freed Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky: I've got an iPad
Part three of Christiane Amanpour's conversation with recently freed Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
By Holly Yan and Dan Wright, CNN
(CNN) - For the first time since his release, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky is telling the world about the 10 years he spent behind bars as a critic of the Kremlin.
The oil magnate, who backed an opposition party, had been in prison since 2003 and was convicted in 2005 of tax evasion and fraud. He was due for release next year, but President Vladimir Putin signed an amnesty decree for him Friday.
In an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, the former Yukos oil tycoon said there were no conditions for his release.
"Mr. Putin, on a number of times, publicly said that he was ready to consider the question of my pardoning - but I had to say I was guilty for that," Khodorkovsky said during the interview in Berlin. "That was an unacceptable condition for me."
'No quarrel' between Iranian and Israeli people, says singer with feet in both worlds
By Mick Krever, CNN
There is “no quarrel” between the Iranian and Israeli people, a pop star with a foot in both worlds told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Friday.
Rita Jahanforuz was born in Iran, but has been one of Israel's most popular singers for nearly three decades.
“You know, it's between the government or the leaders or something like that,” she said. “I'm very Iranian; and I'm very Israeli. And with my existence, I can show that everything can intertwine with each other, amazingly.”
She is known to her fans simply as "Rita," and took many of them by surprise when last year she released an album of songs sung entirely in her mother tongue, Farsi.
U.S. Ambassador: Syrian opposition needs 'credible & legitimate delegation' in Geneva
U.S. ambassador: ‘What appear to be crimes against humanity’ in C.A.R.
By Mick Krever, CNN
Crimes against humanity may have been committed in Central African Republic, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday from the capital of that country, Bangui.
“I don't think we…know the full scale of what has happened here in recent days, weeks and months,” she said. “But I certainly agree that what appear to be crimes against humanity have been committed.”
Both sides of the conflict, she said, are responsible for those offenses – both the Muslim Seleka militias that overthrew the president earlier this year, and the rival Christian groups that sprung up in retaliation.
“We met with one 20-year-old woman today who watched her husband get stabbed to death right in front of her,” she said. He was “then covered with kerosene and then lit on fire – literally burned to a crisp before her very eyes.”
That happened, she said, just last Thursday.
Billie Jean King to gay Russians: ‘You are not alone’
By Mick Krever, CNN
Billie Jean King told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Thursday that rather than boycott the Winter Olympics in Russia over gay issues, perhaps athletes and representatives should engage in civil disobedience.
“Maybe we should wave rainbow flags or something, I don’t know,” she said, drawing an analogy to the Black Power salute – a raised fist – given by two American athletes at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
“As long as we’re not being malicious,” she said, “we can show our feelings.”
President Obama named the former tennis champion, who is gay, to the American delegation at the Olympics earlier this week.
“I'm very proud to go as an athlete, and as a gay woman,” she said. “I'm thrilled.”
In North Korea, ‘nobody is safe’
The world's most unlikely lone-ranger diplomat, Dennis Rodman, has gone to North Korea for his third visit.
This time, he is there to prepare for "the big bang from Pyongyang" - an upcoming basketball extravaganza between North Koreans and former NBA stars, for leader Kim Jong Un's birthday.
Rodman is clearly undeterred by the shocking news this week.
His "good friend," the increasingly ruthless Kim, ordered his own uncle executed last week.
State media said the husband of Kim Jong Il's sister was "human scum", who "dared to dream different dreams".
How to decipher what’s coming next...?
As the former British ambassador to North Korea, John Everard knows the Hermit Kingdom better than almost any other Westerner.
“They'll all be thinking, if Jang Song Thaek can be removed from power and executed, then nobody is safe,” he told Amanpour.
Click above to see the full interview.
In managing crisis, Bernanke has been ‘grown-up in the room,’ says veteran economic journalist
By Mick Krever, CNN
In terms of crisis management, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been the “grown-up in the room,” Financial Times Assistant Editor Gillian Tett told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
They spoke moments just after the Fed announced its decision to begin reducing its simulative measures.
Wednesday was Bernanke’s last scheduled public appearance before he hands the reigns over to his expected successor, Janet Yellen.
It was, in other words, his swan song.
Bernanke was “pretty slow and timid” in reacting to the economic bubble, Tett said, but kept his cool when the crisis hit.
“In terms of providing stimulus to the economy” through the Fed’s extensive and unprecedented programs – “he’s done that well.”
“If the Fed now handles the exit well, Bernanke will indeed go down in history extremely well,” she said.
Former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on CAR intervention: ‘Were we supposed to let them die?’
By Mick Krever, CNN
The former French foreign minister issued an impassioned plea on Tuesday for the world to follow France’s lead in protecting populations under imminent threat from war.
France, in dramatic fashion, has been at the forefront of intervening in deadly conflicts over the past few years, whether in Libya, Mali, or now Central African Republic.
“We are human beings, protecting human life,” Bernard Kouchner, who served under President Nicolas Sarkozy, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“Were we supposed to let them die?”
First Guantanamo commander calls for prison to be closed
By Mick Krever, CNN
The man who opened up the Guantanamo Bay Prison now says he wants to see the facility closed.
U.S. Major General Michael Lehnert (retired), first commander of the Guantanamo Bay Prison, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that terrorists were “successful” in changing America.
“The objective of terrorism is to change the nature of their adversary,” he said. “And I would opine that they've been successful. They've changed the way we've acted, they've caused us to walk away from the Constitution, and they've caused us to act as if we were afraid.”
Closing Guantanamo Bay was President Barack Obama’s signature promise during the 2008 campaign; he even signed an executive order to that effect.
But it never happened.
About 160 prisoners remain trapped without charge in Guantanamo's legal limbo, even though 82 have been cleared for transfer to their home country.
Following a hunger strike this year by more than 100 prisoners, President Obama again kicked this issue into high gear.
And even Congress is for the first time voting to loosen some restrictions on transferring prisoners.
“It looks right now that we have probably our best chance in a decade to close Guantanamo,” Lehnert said.
Stay-at-home dad analyzes Syria videos from couch in England
By Mick Krever, CNN
With Syria the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, how do we have any idea what is going on?
There are thousands – perhaps even hundreds of thousands – of videos posted on social media of the war. But most people have no idea where to start in analyzing them, journalists included.
Enter Eliot Higgins, a stay-at-home British father who, as an amateur sleuth tracking hundreds of videos a day, has become a source for everyone from the New York Times to the British Foreign Office.
Working mostly from the couch of his home in Leicester, England, he studies videos for details about things like weapon type as evidence in how the war is developing and who is responsible for what.
He blogs online under the pseudonym “Brown Moses.”
“I was, like many people, discussing stuff online about conflicts and current events and I was looking at Libya quite closely,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday. “And there was a lot of stuff coming out from Libya from social media, tweets and videos that were just being completely ignored.”
“So I thought, why not put them in one place?”
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