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.
How solid is Israel’s proof of Syrian chemical weapons?
By Mick Krever, CNN
On Tuesday, the head of Israel’s military intelligence, Brigadier General Itai Brun, said that Syria has used chemical weapons against rebels in that country – Obama has repeatedly said that would be his “red line” for American involvement.
“He did not give us a sense of what direct evidence they had,” said New York Times Chief Washington Correspondent David Sanger, who attended General Brun’s briefing. Sanger spoke with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour from Jerusalem.
The only thing that the general presented, Sanger said, was photographs of people Brun described as frothing at the mouth, a symptom associated with the use of sarin gas.
“That is not the same as having the actual samples” to prove the use of chemical weapons, Sanger said. FULL POST
Free Syrian Army general: ‘Clear proof chemical weapons used’
By Samuel Burke, CNN
The chief of staff for the Free Syrian Army said he can confirm that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons in the Syrian cities of Homs, Aleppo and Otaiba, outside Damascus.
“We took some samples of the soil and of blood. The injured people were observed by doctors and the samples were tested and it was very clear that the regime used chemical weapons,” General Salim Idriss told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
Idriss said his doctors gave the samples to “observers” of the civil war in Syria, but refused to name which groups.
Both Britain and France now say soil samples indicate “some use of chemical weapons.” FULL POST
Iran’s finance minister: ‘Sanctions haven’t crippled us’
By Samuel Burke, CNN
The tactic of choice to derail Iran’s nuclear program has been "crippling sanctions," imposed by the United States and other Western countries.
Iranian Finance Minister Seyyed Shamseddin Hosseini said that sanctions have driven up prices to some degree, but he downplayed the larger effect. Hosseini spoke with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Tuesday.
“I am not saying that they haven't had any impact on our country,” Hosseini said of the sanctions. “But on the other hand, I don't believe that such sanctions have crippled us.” FULL POST
Did al Qaeda magazine inspire Tsarnaev brothers?
CNN Terrorism Analyst Paul Cruickshank and Christiane Amanpour examine al Qaeda's "Inspire" magazine.
Chechen opposition leader denies ties to Tsarnaev brothers
By Samuel Burke, CNN
Chechen opposition leader in exile Akhmed Zakayev denied on Tuesday that the Tsarnaev brothers have any ties to militant groups in Chechnya in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“Of course not,” Zakayev said about any suspicions of ties. “Our great regrets is that the suspects of this crime are ethnic Chechens – it’s true. But I can assure you, however, that the Chechen people do not have any motives or reasons to have some feelings [against] the United States.”
On behalf of his community, Zakayev expressed condolences to those were injured, as well to the families of the victims who were killed.
Chechnya, in southern Russia, has long been a troubled region, with its own history of terrorism.
United States authorities are investigating whether the Tsarnaev brothers, in allegedly planning the Boston bombings, had any Chechen funding or training.
So far, American authorities say that communications from the surviving brother, Dzhokhar, indicate that the two were not directed by any international terrorist group.
Instead, they appear to have been radicalized by Islamic extremist literature and videos on the internet.
The Washington Post reports that Dzhokhar told authorities that he and his brother were also motivated by America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There are Chechens who have joined anti-Americans in that region, but Zakayev doesn’t believe those connections played in role with the Tsarnaev brothers.
“I should admit in the Northern Caucuses we have really [radicalized] Islamic movements,” but Zakayev said it has to do with the political conflict in that area, not with problems with the West. “We are not Islamic international terrorists.”
Hunger-striking Guantanamo prisoners near death
By Samuel Burke & Claire Calzonetti CNN
The term enemy combatant has become a familiar one since 9/11, after it was used for detainees who were sent to Guantanamo Bay.
Dozens of prisoners at that detention camp are currently on their tenth week of a hunger strike.
American authorities there say that 84 – half of the prisoners – are not eating.
Carlos Warner, a public defender who represents 11 of the detainees, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday that multiple sources tell him that the number is actually 130 of the 166 prisoners; he is afraid many of them will die soon. FULL POST
Should the U.S. government have known about the Boston plot?
When Former CIA official Philip Mudd saw the video of the younger Boston bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, with his jacket on and his hat on backward exposing his face, Mudd immediately began to doubt any connections to foreign financing and training.
“If someone is going to claim this is a huge international conspiracy turn the cap around and put the hoodie on,” Mudd told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday. “The characteristics of this so far are not that sophisticated, despite the horror of what happened.”
It is harder to find the homegrown terrorist Mudd said, because they don’t have an expanded circle of communication and they do not pick hard targets. FULL POST
Is America giving the cold shoulder to the world?
By Samuel Burke & Ken Olshansky, CNN
Vice President Joe Biden boiled the Obama reelection victory down to a bumper sticker: "Osama bin Laden is dead. And General Motors is alive."
In other words, Obama was reelected, at least in part, because of his foreign policy and national security credentials.
But in his new book, "The Dispensable Nation," Vali Nasr – a former member of President Obama's foreign policy team – offers a sharp indictment of Obama’s approach to foreign engagement.
Currently, Nasr is the dean of the Nitze School of International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and he says that under President Obama, America is in retreat. FULL POST
The journalist who knew suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev
NPR radio host Robin Young tells CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about Young's interactions with Boston suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev.
How even background checks for guns failed to pass in America
By Samuel Burke, CNN
Twenty U.S. schoolchildren and six teachers were murdered in a single rampage in Newtown, Connecticut last December. With nowhere to turn, the victims’ families dedicated the next months of their lives to try to change America’s gun laws.
Some started out with the hope of comprehensive of reform, including a ban on military-style assault weapons. President Obama enlisted the families’ support, but as the months went on his proposal was quickly watered down to mainly background checks.
Ninety-one percent of Americans now support universal background checks for gun purchases, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
But now, with the defeat of a bill in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, it appears that any type of gun reform is quickly fading away. The legislation didn’t pass, even though the majority of senators – 54 out of 100 – voted in favor of the legislation.
“This is really a defining moment about American democracy,” legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. “So many factors came together to defeat this bill.” FULL POST
@camanpour on Twitter
