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Putin Vows Strong Response to Ukrainian Incursion; U.S. Sends Sub to Middle East As Israel Braces for Attack; Hamas to Attend Ceasefire-Hostage Talks. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 13, 2024 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the top stories we're following today.

Elon Musk hosted a virtual rally for Donald Trump on X Monday night. It got off to a rocky start, though, with technical glitches delaying the feed for nearly 40 minutes. During the conversation, Trump made several digs at Vice President Kamala Harris, including calling her a third-rate phony candidate.

Hot, dry and windy conditions in Greece continue to fuel the wildfires, but officials say the situation near Athens is improving. More than 19 square miles have already burned, sparking evacuations in towns near Athens. The dangerously dry conditions are expected to last through the week.

And street artist Banksy strikes again, this time with a rhino spray painted on a wall in Charlton, London.

This, if you're keeping count, is the eighth animal-themed piece in recent days across the city. Banksy posted this rhino mural on his official Instagram account.

Now, several Caribbean islands are under warnings and watches for tropical storm Ernesto. It's moving towards the Leeward Islands, with top-sustained winds around 40 miles per hour or 65 kilometers per hour, but it will likely get stronger in the days ahead. After the Leeward, Ernesto is forecasted to impact the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico later today. As of now, the storm isn't a threat to the continental U.S., and it's expected to turn to the north while over the ocean.

Now Russian officials have confirmed dozens of communities in southwest Russia have fallen to Ukraine a week after its surprise incursion, and tens of thousands of Russians are being evacuated. A Ukrainian military chief says Ukraine now controls about 1,000 square kilometers in Kursk.

The Russian president claims Ukraine is trying to improve its negotiating position. Vladimir Putin asked, without any apparent irony, how Russia could negotiate with people who indiscriminately strike at civilians and threaten nuclear power facilities.

Ukraine's president said Russia brought this war to others, and now it's coming home.

Our Clare Sebastian's been following the latest with us. I mean, this is clearly an embarrassment to President Putin. We saw that, I think, in the manner of his response. What can Putin do here? I mean, this has really exposed his flaws, but also that of the military.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, we see him very clearly now in damage control mode, right? He's allowed, for the first time since the Second World War, a foreign power to occupy a part of his country.

[04:35:00]

That clearly shows a failing, at least in terms of border protection, and now a weaken, perhaps, in terms of the response.

As well, over 130,000 people are now displaced. Thousands of homes are damaged. So we see him in this sort of very choreographed meeting that we got on Monday with his top officials and the regional heads of those regions affected.

We see him lurch from sort of blaming the West, which obviously has happened many times before, threatening revenge. He's promised a strong response, trying to sort of show that he's focusing on helping people.

And then there was a moment that I think was particularly telling, when he said, shows how he's trying to gloss over just how bad this actually is. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Today, the enemy controls 28 population centers. The depth of its penetration into the Kursk region is 12 kilometers. The length of the front is 40 kilometers.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Listen, Alexei Borisovich, this is something you report to military agencies, what the width and depth is. You tell us about the social economic situation and aid for the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So he actually interrupted the acting head of the Kursk region as he listed, you know, the number of settlements under Ukrainian control, the length and breadth of the area under occupation and tried to stop him from going down that road, essentially, which I really think shows the sort of awkwardness of this moment for Putin.

And you know, I think why he has to really carefully manage the information flow around this as well, because, of course, public opinion is critical to his ability to continue to prosecute this war.

As for the whole idea of whether this is Ukraine strengthening its negotiating position, obviously, his sort of comments after that about how, you know, how can we negotiate with people who are indiscriminately targeting civilians?

Obviously, that, you know, is a well-worn strategy of taking the accusations leveled against Russia and deflecting them onto Ukraine. But that is something Ukraine has talked about as well. President Zelenskyy say that this is potentially this, along with improved long- range capabilities, will be a way to force Russia into peace.

MACFARLANE: Yes. And the big question, not along with, you know, whether Ukraine can sustain this kind of advance, what, 100,000, sorry, 1,000 square kilometers now in Kursk, is whether this will change the dynamic of the war and whether it will strengthen Ukraine's negotiating position.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, look, in the lead up to this, President Zelenskyy, who has planned another peace meeting in November, has said that he now wants Russia to be there. They weren't invited to the last one.

So those two things together, potentially telling. But of course, we don't know, as you say, how long they're going to be able to sustain this. Russia is bringing in reinforcements. And I think the big question for Ukraine is how successfully they will have been able to stretch out Russian forces to weaken them in other parts of the front line.

Right now, the analysis is on the eastern front that the dynamic is pretty much the same. Russia still has the initiative there and still able to inch forward.

MACFARLANE: Yes, certainly a psychological damage, perhaps, thus far. Clare, thank you.

Now, a new study finds cancer deaths among men could nearly double worldwide by the year 2050, from almost 5.5 million in 2022 to 10.5 million. And cancer cases could surge by 84 percent. And most of those increases are expected in men 65 and older. CNN's Meg Tirrell has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Lung cancer is expected to continue to be the most common cancer, both in terms of incidents and deaths. The largest increase in cases by 2050 is expected to be seen in mesothelioma, which is a cancer that's mainly associated with asbestos exposure. And the largest increase in cancer deaths is expected to be from prostate cancer.

Now, the researchers are advocating that societies need to prepare for this by increasing their health care infrastructure and increasing access to health care. They also advocate for universal health care coverage so that people can access the care that they need.

And on a personal basis, there are a few things we can all do to reduce our cancer risk. Don't smoke, limit your alcohol intake, eat healthy, get exercise and protect yourself from the sun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: The U.S. is flexing its military muscle in the Middle East, making sure it's ready to help defend Israel against a possible attack from Iran. That's next on CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Hamas plans to attend talks on Thursday aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the war in Gaza and returning Israeli hostages. That's according to a regional source who spoke with CNN. Over the weekend, Hamas issued a statement urging mediators to implement the ceasefire plan put forward by U.S. President Joe Biden and the U.N. Security Council last month.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is sending a guided missile submarine to the region in anticipation of possible attacks by Hezbollah and Iran on Israel. CNN's Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's rare that the Pentagon talks publicly about its submarine fleet. The ballistic missile subs, the guided missile subs, the fast attack subs, they all operate and near complete secretly. So it is a big statement when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Pentagon publicly announced that the USS Georgia guided missile submarine is headed to the Middle East as the U.S. prepares for an Iranian attack on Israel and perhaps a conflict that could spark a wider region in the war.

This is very much in and of itself a message of deterrence to Iran and its proxies, but it's more than that. To this point, the U.S. has described its force movement in the region as, quote, defensive in nature. But guided missile submarines that are armed with land attack cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles are not defensive. They are offensive weapons with powerful ways of attacking adversaries.

That's the threat the U.S. is putting on the table by publicly talking about the movements of the USS Georgia. It is a warning to Iran and its proxies that the U.S. has significant forces in the region. And should Iran decide to escalate the situation, the U.S. may well be prepared to use those forces.

But it's not just the USS Georgia. Austin also ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which was in the Pacific Ocean just a couple of days ago, to speed up on its way to the Middle East. And that will add even more to the U.S. forces already there. There's the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group. There's an amphibious ready group in the Mediterranean Sea.

Additional fighter squadrons, including advanced F-22 fighters, all of that already in the Middle East as the U.S. prepares to see what Iran and its proxies will do and on what scale they decide to act.

Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Jasmine El-Gamal is a former Middle East advisor at the U.S. Defense Department. She joins me now to discuss this. Thank you for your time.

We were just hearing from Oren there that these are now, in his view, offensive rather than defensive U.S. weapons that have been sent to the region. I mean, the obvious intent here is to deter Iran.

[04:45:00]

But is there a risk, too, that this could tip into more or further escalation, given, you know, how volatile the situation is right now?

JASMINE EL-GAMAL, POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you so much for having me. Yes, of course, the situation is becoming increasingly volatile. And all of these moves that you're seeing from the U.S. by sending these military assets to the region are meant to, first and foremost, send a very, very strong deterrent message to Iran to say, listen, we don't want you to do this. You don't want to do this. This is a war that you cannot win. You cannot win it financially. You cannot win it militarily. The U.S. is here in defense of Israel. And you should think twice before you do something stupid.

That is the message. Now, that said, when I used to work at the Pentagon, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time would always say, you don't send military assets to the region unless you're prepared to use them, because then it's a false sort of deterrent, right. You have to you be willing to use them.

So that just gives you a sense of just how sensitive, I suppose, the situation is now.

We know that Iran is going to have to retaliate somehow. It has to save face after the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated when he was on their soil as their guest. It has to establish at least some sense of deterrence vis-a-vis Israel.

But at the same time, it has been hearing messages from the U.S., from Arab countries in the region, from the Europeans to make sure that its response is calculated, is limited and does not drag the region into a war.

MACFARLANE: And on that, when we talk about a response, we know that there is a huge push now to get all parties back to the talks for a ceasefire negotiation. There's actually a bit of a diplomatic rollercoaster going on in the lead up to those talks on Thursday. Hamas have come out and clearly quite said that they want to return to the deal that was on the table in July, that they, and we're hearing that they will be there for the talks on Thursday.

It's still not clear, though, what Israel and Netanyahu want. What do you think that the parties here coming to the table are willing to revise their positions at this stage? What's your feeling on that? EL-GAMAL: Yes, that's a really important question, because obviously the progress made on the ceasefire negotiations is directly tied to the level of tension in the region. Negotiators believe, and the U.S. and other countries in the region believe, that if you are able to get a ceasefire deal signed, then that lowers the temperature a little bit when it comes to the situation between Iran and Israel and Iran and its proxies as well. So it's really, really important this week to try to make some progress on these ceasefire deals.

Now we're hearing that Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, might be going to the region this week to try to push this deal through, but like everyone else, he's waiting to see what Iran does. So it's a very tenuous situation.

Now in terms of what Israel is thinking, now we have heard from Arab mediators, the Qataris and the Egyptians, that Hamas actually wants a deal. That's why they're kind of going back and forth. First, they said they didn't want to, because the deal has been changed since President Biden laid it out back in May 31st. But now they're saying they might. It looks like they want to deal.

The Israeli negotiators are saying the opposite about Netanyahu, that he's stalling, that he's backtracking, and he's under too much pressure from his coalition partners in Israel.

MACFARLANE: Yes, I mean, we talk so much about how his political future is really tied up in these ceasefire negotiations. I mean, do you expect that Netanyahu will make the necessary sacrifices here in order to get a deal?

EL-GAMAL: I personally don't see any reason to be optimistic about that. And the reason I say that is because for months now, we have seen Prime Minister Netanyahu at the very last minute, when it seemed like a deal was really close, add new conditions to the table.

Now, of course, Hamas has done that too in the past. So there's plenty of blame on both sides. But in the more recent months, like I said, President Biden, when he proposed or revealed what he called an Israeli proposal on May 31st and said, now Hamas must come to the table and take the deal.

Since then, Prime Minister Netanyahu has added more and more conditions, which has really frustrated the Israeli negotiators who feel like they no longer have a mandate to go in and get a deal done.

[04:50:00]

So I think absent more U.S. pressure on Israel, the U.S. is the only country, the only mediator in that block of mediators that has the necessary leverage to get Netanyahu to buck his extremist coalition partners in Israel and say, listen, I know you don't want this deal. I know you're threatening to collapse the government over this deal. But this is what the region needs. This is what Israel needs to get the hostages home. I'm going to do it anyway.

Whether he does so or not, I mean, it remains to be seen. I'm just not very optimistic, unfortunately.

MACFARLANE: All right, Jasmine, it's really great to have your perspective on this. Thank you very much.

EL-GAMAL: Thank you so much.

MACFARLANE: And we'll be right back after this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Now, those of you feeling sad that the Olympics are over, fear not, because a week-long Tour de France FEM kicked off on Monday in the Netherlands after a nearly three-hour race. Dutch rider Charlotte Kool -- a great name -- claimed her first ever opening stage victory. More than 150 riders had lined up for the eight-stage race, including top riders who competed in the women's road base at Paris 2024. Gosh, they must be tired. The race continues with two stages on Tuesday.

And if you're looking to read it like a president, Barack Obama has got you covered.

[04:55:00]

The former president released his annual summer reading list on his Instagram account, continuing the tradition from his White House years. He recommends eight fiction and six non-fiction titles, books exploring global and American history, culture, religion, gender, identity and more.

Non-fiction reads include "The Wide, Wide Sea" about Captain James Cook and his exploration of the 18th century. For fiction, Obama recommends "The Ministry of Time," a time-travel love story, and "The God of the Woods" by Liz Moore, a thrilling about -- a thriller, sorry, about a missing child whose disappearance sends shockwaves through different communities. There you go for all of you heading to a beach this summer.

Now, the Humble Garden lawnmower became a high-octane racing machine in southern England this weekend. Drivers from more than 40 teams tore around a track at 50 miles an hour in a custom-built lawnmower in a 12-hour endurance race.

The race is structured like any endurance motorsport, with three drivers per team taking turns behind the wheel and coming in for pit stops. Here's one team-mate on the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARETH MOORE, TEAM SWEATBASHERS: It's all about steering angles and getting everything right like that, making it strong enough not to break and kill you, and then making it light enough to flex and be competitive, really.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MACFARLANE: I wonder if that is why Max Foster is taking time off this week. The sport of lawnmower racing began in 1973, would you believe, when an Irishman came up with the idea whilst joking with his friends at a pub. Give that man a pint.

And finally, you can't pull one over the king of the jungle, or in this case, the king of the zoo. A video out of Oregon shows lions outsmarting their zookeepers after a camera was hidden in their habitat. They can be seen pawing it around, carrying it, and what appears to be an attempt to chew it.

Zoo staff said the lions found the camera within days of it being hidden in their enclosure. Maybe they were just looking for the selfie button. You never know, do you?

Thank you for joining me here at CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Christina Macfarlane. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up after this quick break.

Stay with us.

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