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Connect the World

Preview of Champion's League Group Stage; Green On Blue Violence In Afghanistan On The Rise

Aired September 17, 2012 - 16:00   ET

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

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it does. Tonight, on Connect the World, a warning from the enemy within.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: "I know they will increase. I know more people will do what I did."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: An Afghan who shot dead two U.S. soldiers tells CNN exclusively why he turns his gun on his trainers.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.

ANDERSON: Well, tonight the human tragedy of these green on blue attacks, from the father of a soldier who predicted his own death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG BUCKLEY, SR.: GREG'S FATHER: He says I'm not going to come home. And I was I don't understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Also this hour, we're going to debate images like these could provoke American politicians to take a tougher line on the Middle East.

And as a royal row over topless photos ends up in court, we're going to ask whether the Duchess of Cambridge should have known better.

A very good evening from London. I'm Becky Anderson.

First up tonight, it's the ultimate betrayal by supposedly friendly forces. And in the last weekend alone six more coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan by Afghan security forces. Anna Coren joins us now from Kabul with details of shootings over the weekend.

So-called blue on -- sorry, green on blue attacks already at a record high this year, Anna. And then this.

COREN: Yeah, that's exactly right, Becky. 51 coalition soldiers have died this year as a result of these green on blue attacks, or insider attacks at the military refer to them, that being Afghan soldiers turning on the coalition troops that are training them.

We saw four U.S. soldiers killed early Sunday morning when an Afghan police officer turned his weapon on them earlier. On Saturday, two British soldiers were killed.

Now it's a frightening trend that really does have NATO and U.S. forces on high alert, because as you say this is a trust issue. These people are training the Afghans in the hope that they can take over security when foreign combat troops leave here in 2014, but Becky we have an exclusive interview with an Afghan soldier who says he is responsible for one of those green on blue attacks, killing two U.S. soldiers three years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: In a small house in a Taliban controlled village is a man who claims to be responsible for a green on blue attack. With his face covered to hide his identity he pulls out his police uniform, something he hasn't worn since the attack on the 2nd of October 2009.

On patrol with U.S. forces in Wydek Province (ph) in central Afghanistan this father of two says he waited for an opportunity to launch his premeditated attack.

"The Americans went inside the nearby school for a break," he explains. "They took off their body armor and put their weapons down. At that moment, I thought it was the right time so I took my gun and shot them."

Two soldiers were killed: 25 year old Sergeant Aaron Smith and 21 year old Private First Class Brandon Owens. Three other soldiers were injured, including Captain Tyler Kurth (ph).

When asked why he turned his gun on the U.S. soldiers training him he said, "Because Americans were oppressing people in my country. They were burning copies of the holy Koran and disrespecting it."

Having escaped from the scene, he claims he was later captured by the Taliban who thought he was a policeman.

"When I told them I had killed Americans, they took me to a safe place, gave me new clothes, then they drove me to Quetta, Pakistan where the Taliban welcomed me very warmly like a hero."

He says he later moved to Iran for three years, returning to Afghanistan only recently after being told it was safe.

"They said Americans were not everywhere like they used to be. The Taliban had brought security and I should return home. I'm happy to be back in my country."

Green on blue or insider attacks as they are known within the military have sharply increased this year here in Afghanistan. It's an alarming trend that has coalition forces extremely worried and every single time there is an attack the Taliban immediately claims responsibility.

COL. TOM COLLINS, U.S. COALITION FORCES: the Taliban lie and we know they lie. We think they overstate their influence on these tragic incidents. We think somewhere around 25 percent of them are insurgent related to some degree.

COREN: The majority of attacks, according to the coalition, are related to personal grievances, cultural differences, and the psychological fatigue of an 11 year war that is about to enter its 12th year.

And while trust has been undermined, forcing new measures to be put in place to protect international troops, the Afghanis are determined to ensure these insider attacks don't derail this vital partnership.

SEDIQ SEDIQI, AFGHAN INTERIOR MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: We will continue to work together. We have been working for the last 11 years. We have built very good relationship together. And this will continue despite any -- any effort by the Taliban to make us separate. That will not happen.

COREN: But for this 30 year old Afghani, he believes these attacks won't stop.

"I know they will increase. I know more people will do what I did."

Anna Coren, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Still in Kabul for us, I want to bring it back in shortly. I just want to reinforce these numbers for you. The man who spoke to Anna says he killed U.S. soldiers in 2009 when the so-called attacks were rare. Well, now they are far more common. According to the New American Foundation there were none in 2008, 10 the following year in 2009. That doubled to 20 deaths in 2010, 36 last year, and as Anna said at least 51 this year so far.

And one of those deaths this year was a young U.S. marine who predicted his own murder in a chilling phone call to his father. He told him to prepare the family for the worst.

Well, David Ariosto visited the marine's heartbroken relatives recently in Long Island, New York. And he filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was the game Greg Buckley Junior was the supposed to see back on home on leave from Afghanistan where he helped train Afghan forces. The 21 year old marine had only two days left before heading home to see his brother play varsity high school football for the first time.

But before getting word that he was to go home early, he phoned his dad.

BUCKLEY: He told me that he does -- I have to stay here until November. He says I'm not going to come home. And I was, well, I don't understand. He goes, I'm going to -- you've got to be able to tell mom and Justin and Shane, you know, that I'm going to be killed over here.

I said, out in the field? You know, whatever?

He goes, no, in our base.

ARIOSTO: Then it happened. Greg was gunned down August 10 by the very forces he was training. Like he said, it happened inside the base. And by his phone calls and letters, he knew it was coming. And on one particular night on guard duty, he had a run-in with a trainee.

BUCKLEY: The guy turned around and said to Greg, you know, we don't want you here and we don't need you here.

And Greg was, what are you saying? He said it again. And Greg turned around and said to him, you know, why would you say that? You know, I'm here giving my life for you guys, to help you to make better -- to do better for yourselves. And the guy just started tormenting him all night.

ARIOSTO: His dad says Greg spent the rest of the night with the trainee.

BUCKLEY: Pitch black out and all he kept on saying over and over again we don't want you, we don't need you, we don't want you, we don't need you.

ARIOSTO: Building up local security is considered the lynchpin of NATO strategy for withdrawal, but attacks by trainees have become disturbingly more frequent. Families like the Buckleys say it's a sign America's longest war has gone on long enough.

BUCKLEY: I basically collapsed and of course his mother collapsed and we were both on the floor balling.

ARIOSTO: But Greg's two brothers refused to cry, at least during the day.

BUCKLEY: One night I went into Shane's room and he was on the end of the bed and his head was hanging over the end of the bed. I thought he'd dropped water on the floor and he was just balling. Heart broke for him.

And later on that night, I heard noises from Justin's room and I went inside and he had a pillow over his face at 4:30 in the morning screaming at the top of his lungs. Heartwrenching. And how do I explain to Justin, you know, why don't you cry during the day and they both turned around at the same time and said we can't. We have to take care of you and mom.

ARIOSTO: With the community behind them, the Buckley family is now coping as best they can. And Justin, Oceanside's star running back wearing camo with his team to honor Greg makes sure to salute his fallen brother each time he scores.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby brother, baby. Get it, baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Justin, whoa, whoa. That's who cares.

JUSTIN BUCKLEY: Greg was supposed to be home for this game.

ARIOSTO: What would you tell him right now?

JUSTIN BUCKLEY: I would tell him I love him and I miss him. That's about it.

ARIOSTO: Thank you.

David Ariosto, CNN, Oceanside, Long Island, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Let's bring my colleague Anna Coren back in Kabul. Anna, the U.S. military says it is looking at ways to improve the security of coalition troops, but it does insist the rise in let's call them insider attacks will not force a change in war strategy. It must, though, affect morale and ultimately the mission as stated.

NATO forces due to leave Afghanistan by 2014, can you see any change in that at present?

COREN: Look, Becky, you would think that people would want to get out of here and certainly that is the impression that I get from the forces that I speak to. No one is actually ever going to say that on record, that they want to get the hell out of here, but that is certainly the feeling.

As for weather, you know, it's going to affect the mission, no. As far as NATO is concerned, as far as the U.S. is concerned, they are steadfast. They are here until 2014. They are committed to training up the Afghan armed forces. It's now at 350,000. It will increase to 380,000 by the time that the foreign combat troops leave here in two years time.

But whether they're ready, you know, that's the big question, Becky. We look at that attack on Camp Bastion on Friday night. This is a heavily fortified compound down in Helmand Province, you know, a big British base. 20,000 troops inside. And the Taliban were able to infiltrate the perimeter and kill two U.S. marines and create so much damage and carnage on that air field.

So, you wonder if this is what happens to the U.S. and coalition forces, what is going to happen to Afghan forces when they take over? But let's have a listen to what the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had to say about the weekend's events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: This is a war. We're engaged in a war. And every day when you're engaged in war, there are serious risks that confront those who fight the war. And we will do all we can to minimize those risks, but we will not lose sight of the fundamental mission here which is to continue to proceed to assure a peaceful transition to Afghan security and governance. We're going to stick to that mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: So the U.S. and NATO forces certainly committed to staying here until 2014. What happens between now and then and how many more green on blue attacks, Becky, obviously that is something that nobody wants to see. But I guess a lot of people here in Afghanistan would say that it's only a matter of time before the next one happens.

ANDERSON: Yeah, all right, Anna. Thank you for that. Anna Coren thank you tonight out of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Well, the country that hasn't been immune to the anger felt by many Muslims over a film that mocks the Prophet Mohammed of course. The protest and violence have brought U.S. foreign policy back into the spotlight. Coming up on Connect the World tonight, a former Pentagon official and a Middle East expert debate the future direction of U.S. policy in the region.

Still to come this evening, live in Damascus: struggling for a normal life in the midst of war. And the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge await a decision over topless photos of Kate published in France.

This is Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson in London. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Welcome back.

Now Iran's foreign ministry denies that members of its elite revolutionary guard are currently in Syria, that is despite Commander Mohammed Ali Jafari (ph) telling Iranian media that guards are advising the Syrian military, but not engaged, he says, in fighting.

Well, the mixed messages come amid another bloody day in Syria. Opposition forces say at least 40 people have been killed across the country with fierce shelling ongoing in Aleppo.

In Damascus, residents live in constant fear of what's to come as our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Driving back into Damascus after an absence of eight months. Clouds of black smoke signal conflict is closing in on Syria's capital. But first impressions are deceptive. At the city's heart it's fabled mosque all appears tranquil. No one flinches when artillery shells explode just a few miles away. Nearby, the ancient bizarre is teeming, stalls all open, shelves well stocked, supplies aplenty.

We've tried talking to several storekeepers here, but they all tell us they're too afraid to talk on camera, worried about what the government might say, worried about what the rebels might do to them. They all tell us that despite the abundance of people here, business is down. And when I asked them about the shelling that we can hear in the background, they tell me they're worried, afraid, afraid because they think the war is getting closer.

And they are right. 10 minutes drive away, destruction by government forces chase the Free Syrian Army. On many days, the death toll around the capital far higher than for other cities.

But where they can, people are trying to hold on to their old lives. For Rama Hamdi that's a few minutes at the beauty salon. It may look like normal life, but it's not.

RAMA HAMDI, BEAUTY SALON CLIENT: Every day we're hearing this boom, boom and everything else. And that will -- there is a lot happening -- going on.

ROBERTSON: You don't worry about it?

HAMDI: I'm worried. I'm worried sick about it, but there's nothing we can do.

ROBERTSON: She tells me she hates the killing, supports neither government nor rebels, wants them to talk, feels stuck in the middle. So, too, the salon's owner.

RAUDA ALAITA, BEAUTY SALON OWNER: You know what it is, I cannot go to the countryside without being worried somebody will stop me. Is it the real army or the other army stopping me? What answer should I answer if they ask me with whom I am? So, it's really difficult now, because you are really stuck in the middle.

ROBERTSON: At a news conference under the banner of unity an array of anything but united opposition figures call for talks with the government.

There is an air of urgency here. The speakers are discussing how the situation is worse than it was a year ago, that they need to be united, that they need to speak with a common voice. But even as these discussions are going on here, you can hear the blasts happening outside, perhaps as close as a couple of miles.

Reality is none of the armed opposition, like the Free Syrian Army, are here. They'd be arrested. The groups gathered here are the ones the government tolerates. They know they are powerless.

"We are demanding from the regime for guarantees of safety of the opposition to come in," he says. "But we can't impose this on the regime."

With nightfall, the city looks serene, but like daytime it's deceptive. The shelling continues. The only talking now is with guns.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Damascus, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: You're watching Connect the World here on CNN with me, Becky Anderson. We're going to take a very short break for you. When we come back, though, the new Champion's League season is here in Europe. So Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid might wish, well it were just a little delayed. And I want to tell you why up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, if you are a football fan, you don't me to tell you that Tuesday brings a return of the Champion's League to the sporting landscape, Europe's most prestigious club football tournament, of course, now the biggest of its kind the world.

So let's get you a taste of things to come. We're going to run through Europe for you with a preview of what is the new season. Have a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In Russia, two teams are vying for a first ever Champion's League title. Spartak here in Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg. For Spartak, it's an 11th group stage campaign. But Zenit has creating all the buzz. Not only is it their Champion's League debut, but they've also splashed out $103 million on just two players: Hulk and Axel Witsel. If there is to be a return on that investment, it begins Tuesday in Malaga.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Four teams will be flying the German flag when the Champion's League group stage kicks off. You have Borussia Dortmund, the reigning Bundesliga champions, four time European Champions Bayern Munich as well as 2011 semifinalists Schalke.

Now Borussia Dortmund kick off against Ajax Amsterdam in the Group D. Now that is the group that is known as the group of death, probably the toughest group in the entire Champion's League, that has a long with Ajax and Borussia Dortmund also Manchester City as well as Real Madrid.

Bayern Munish have a chance to redeem themselves after narrowly losing the final four months ago. They play at home against Valencia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Alright, as Fred mentioned group of death is Group D this season. And it features a marquee match-up Tuesday as Real Madrid and Manchester City lock horn. Let's bring in Amanda Davies for more on that.

Amanda, Real Madrid coming into this match, well, let's just say they've been reeling a little bit aren't they?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: They have, Becky, yeah. Jose Mourinho has always had a great reputation, hasn't he, of taking the pressure away from his side ahead of these big occasions from letting them have it a little bit easy until now, because he has given his Real Madrid side a verbal battering this weekend ahead of the big match, the big one against Roberto Mancini's Manchester City, the English Premier League champions of course, in large part because they were beaten 1-0 by Sevilla in La Liga at the weekend. They now sit eight points behind their nearest rivals Barcelona in La Liga.

So Mourinho didn't go easy on his team. He has said we were bad in the first half, we were bad in the second. And he then went on to say he didn't have a team.

Some people are saying it might be mind games, he's trying to give them a little bit of a kick up the backside, but the former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has said maybe the team think they haven't got a manager. So it should be an interesting one this week.

ANDERSON: Excellent stuff. If he hasn't got a team, what did he pay for in the last couple of seasons? I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON: Lots of mind games being played there, I think.

Amanda, good to have you with us. Amanda Davies out of CNN Center for you this evening.

You're watching Connect the World here on CNN about 20 hours to go until the Champion's League. So stick around with us for that over the coming hours.

Still to come tonight, though, as Fresh protests erupt over a film mocking Islam is it time for the United States to rethink its foreign policy on the Muslim world. That, a debate just ahead.

And as William and Kate press charges, can this popular royal couple really expect any degree of privacy? We're going to talk about that.

And meet the Kenyan activist who took on the world's biggest banks to stand up for the planet. All that coming up in the next half an hour and your headlines, of course, here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Just after half past nine in London. Wherever you are watching in Europe or, indeed, around the world, a very warm welcome. I'm Becky Anderson, these are the latest world news headlines here at CNN.

Thousands of protesters have poured into the streets of Beirut in Lebanon to voice their anger over a low-budget film that insults the prophet Mohammed. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah urged people to demonstrate against the video, which he describes as a, quote, "dangerous turn in the war against Islam."

Anti-Japanese protests in China are becoming increasingly destructive. Some Japanese firms have shut down factories. China is furious over Tokyo's move to take control of a small group of uninhabited islands which both countries claim.

South African police have barred Julius Malema from addressing striking miners earlier today. The former ruling party youth leader is now a fierce government critic who's been encouraging workers to make the mines ungovernable.

And lawyers for Britain's royal family filed a criminal complaint in Paris against the magazine that published topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge. An Italian magazine published the photos today, and the editor of the "Irish Daily Star" has been suspended after the paper published the photos over the weekend.

All right. We've seen a protest in Beirut today, as well as protesters angry over the movie that mocks Islam. Others taking to the streets of Pakistan's cities today, as well. There were demonstrations in Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi.

The Pakistani prime minister has now ordered YouTube to be shut down so that the video cannot be viewed. And in Indonesia, several hundred protesters clashed with police outside the US embassy in Jakarta.

Well, some Republicans it the United States blame the violence on what they describe as Obama's disengagement in the Middle East. Pulling troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, they argue, has helped leave a void. Well, has it? And is it time to re-think?

Professor Toby Jones believes the US should reconsider its approach, but a former Pentagon official, Michael Rubin, says the US needs to engage in the Middle East now more than ever. Michael, that's what you argue, more rather than less, why?

MICHAEL RUBIN, FORMER PENTAGON OFFICIAL: Well, first of all, I think it's important to recognize that this movie provides a useful foil. But much of the violence we're seeing in the Middle East is simply for domestic purposes within the very specific countries.

If in the Arab Spring, the uprising about economic accountability caught not only the Americans but the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda by surprise, what we saw was the Muslim Brotherhood fill the vacuum. And now, to make a Russian Revolution analogy, we're seeing the Bolsheviks try to defeat the Mensheviks.

ANDERSON: Toby, Michael arguing that the protests underscore the risks of US inaction in the region, that the perceived disengagement is a bad thing. Do you see a disengaged US at present, and I certainly know that you believe less is better than more at this point. Why?

TOBY JONES, PROFESSOR, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: Well, it's hard to see what's happened in Libya or Egypt as an expression or a reflection of American inaction in the region. Rather, communities in both places, as well as in other parts of the region, have long expressed frustration about American militarization, support for autocrats, as well as military adventuresome in the --

American war-fighting in the region since the 1980s has raged almost unending. People across the region are, frankly, quite tired of it.

My case wouldn't be for American withdrawal or for the absence of projection of American power interest, but rather for its normalization. We've narrowed our range of options to military engagement and very little else. We ought to explore other avenues, soft power, other kinds of diplomacy.

ANDERSON: More soft power, more kinds of diplomacy, Michael?

RUBIN: Well, certainly, any coherent strategy should have both a military component and a non-military soft power component. When the Harvard University professor Joseph Knight coined the term "soft power," he didn't mean it to be an opposition to hard power, he meant it to be in conjunction with hard power.

The problem is, if one withdraws the defensive guarantees we have in the region, it can embolden some of the worst actors to try to achieve through the -- through bombs and bullets what they can't achieve through the ballot box.

ANDERSON: Michael, let me just stop you there, because the US is out of Iraq, it's getting out of Afghanistan in 2014. Are you suggesting you want to see more boots on the ground across the region? More US boots on the ground?

RUBIN: Well, you're trying to put words in my mouth, Becky --

ANDERSON: No, no.

RUBIN: I actually said "security guarantees," and it's important to recognize, for example, among the Gulf Cooperation Council states that they are between a rock and a hard place.

Ultimately, it's important not to repeat the British Anthony Eden's East of Suez speech and create a vacuum. It's important to have a vacuum in place, not only in the Arab Middle East, but more broadly throughout the Islamic world.

If we look at Pakistan -- I'm sorry, if we look at Afghanistan, we allowed a vacuum to develop in the 1990s there. It wasn't in anyone's interest for that to occur.

ANDERSON: Toby, some people watching this tonight will say how do you suggest the forces of fundamentalist Islam are kept in check if -- and I'm not suggesting that your saying the US wipes its hands of the region -- but if it shows only soft influence going forward?

JONES: Well, there's no guarantee that radicals on the fringe of any society are going to remain in check in a world where information and offensive images flow with abandon.

The reality of what's gone on over the last week or so is that the protest movements represent a very small fraction of Arab and Muslim society, yet we've misrepresented them as something more fundamental and more widespread.

The reality is, in fact, that the opposite is true. Al Qaeda has emerged weakened over the last few years. It's not quite the threat. Certainly they can carry out sporadic acts of violence, but it doesn't require a more robust form of American military engagement or the projection of more American military power.

Rather, it requires the opposite. Fewer drones, more development. Less violence, more water, more social inducement.

ANDERSON: We've got a matter of weeks until the US election. From both of you, very briefly, there's been an absence of rhetoric on foreign policy to date. Do you expect that to change? Michael?

RUBIN: Well, no one wants the 3 AM phone call among either of the candidates, either President Obama or Governor Romney. They wanted this election campaign to be about the economy. They're learning that we live in a very difficult world. Both of them, I think, wish the foreign policy debate would simply go away. The Middle East isn't going to give them that luxury.

ANDERSON: Toby?

JONES: Yes, I think that's right. I think Obama would like to run away from the region, and Romney doesn't have a strong position on the region, or at least not a clear one. I think they both like to pretend it wasn't a problem.

ANDERSON: Both of you, we thank you very much, indeed. Good talk all night. We're going to have to take a very short break, though. Thank you.

The course of the Arab Spring just one of the many foreign policy challenges, of course, facing the US right now. This week, CNN looking at some of the most significant differences between President Obama and his challenger, Mitt Romney.

Look out for special reports from our national security correspondents, and online head to cnn.com/election as we break down the candidates' views ahead of November's crucial vote.

Going to take that very short break for you. Still to come, the royals push for legal action over those photos. Is it a breach of privacy or just the paparazzi world we live in? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Back with CONNECT THE WORLD here on CNN. Now, the Duchess of Cambridge will have to wait until Tuesday morning for a decision on the publication of topless photos of her featured in a French magazine.

The royal family here in the UK has requested an injunction to have all editions of "Closer" magazine removed from sale, and they want to prevent further publication of the pictures, citing breach of privacy. Now, the photos have now also appeared in the press in Italy and in Ireland, with the editor of the Irish newspaper being suspended in the past couple of hours pending investigation.

Speaking to CNN's Richard Quest, the French finance minister said he understood the British public's anger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERRE MOSCOVICI, FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER: I don't appreciate that. I don't think these are the right methods. And I think that when we have got so prestigious guests, but it would be good for everybody, they have the right for their private life or their privacy. And so I understand the emotion of the British people about that. I share it.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You condemn it?

MOSCOVICI: I share it, this emotion. I don't think this is a good way to work in the press.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Lawyers have also asked for a criminal case to be pursued against the photographer, but that could take months to go to court, as especially as his or her identity is not yet know.

Well, CNN's Royal Correspondent Max Foster is following the couple's trip in the Solomon Islands, and he joins me now from the capital there. And Max, this story very much overshadowing what has been a Diamond Jubilee trip for this couple.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: It really has. It's been the main story throughout their time here in the Solomon Islands, and I did have a chance to speak to the duke and duchess yesterday, and I think basically what they're doing is trying to put that at the back of their minds. They're here representing the queen and they're trying to do that job as best they can.

So, when you see the images here, and I've been to the events with them, they're all smiles and I think it's been really encouraging for them to have these huge crowds welcoming them here.

And it's interesting that here in the Solomons, they're not reporting that story on the photos. They're all talking about this story about the couple finally coming here. They know this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see them. They don't travel here very often. The queen came here decades ago, and this is their next big trip.

So, that's been really encouraging for them. It has given them some respite. But at the same time, behind the scenes, they're working hard on this legal case. It's very much being spearheaded by the duke and the duchess.

She is humiliated by what's happened, and he's really angry, Becky. I mean, he refers to Diana when he talks about this, and that's because he associates Diana's death, his early youth, with hounding by the paparazzi. He doesn't want to see it happening to his wife. So, he's making sure that this French magazine is made an example of.

And it's interesting, they wouldn't have had a chance to digest this information about the Irish editor, but they have appealed to media outside France, the rest of the world, to use their better judgment. They know they can't hold legal cases in every country.

But that would have been interesting to them, that there has been some sort of recourse to the Irish paper publishing it without going to court.

ANDERSON: All right, Max down there in the Solomon Islands. We thank you for that.

Our next guest says we live in the age of voyeurism and the long lenses of the paparazzi satisfy our "insatiable desire for garbage," and I quote. CNN's contributor Roland Martin saying Kate needs to wake up to the knowledge that the paps are always watching. He joins me now from Washington.

Sir, thank you for being with us. You say as long as photographers can reap six-figure paydays and websites can rack up millions of page views and charge advertisers more money, every boob shot of a celebrity will be shown. That, though, sir, doesn't mean it's right or even legal, though, does it?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Of course. And look, I never said it was right, I never said it was legal, and I find the paparazzi to be despicable. But you also have to protect yourself. As the phrase in boxing says, protect yourself at all times.

And so, you have to understand that when you're one of the most photographed folks in the world, the moment you step outside of a door, the risk is there that you're going to be photographed.

I was talking to somebody, and they said, well, what if you were getting dressed in the privacy of your own home? I said, guess what? If you -- leave the curtains open, you are having the risk of somebody possibly coming inside with a long lens. And that's just the reality of the world that we live in, unfortunately.

ANDERSON: The decision will be made by the French judge at some point in the near future about whether these pictures are injuncted in the French press. The royal couple are also going after a criminal case against whoever this photographer is. There will be a discussion --

MARTIN: Sure.

ANDERSON: -- about the line between prurient interest and the public interest. You say -- and you're right to suggest -- that whoever you are, if you're in the public domain and you're getting changed, effectively watch out, there could be a lens somewhere close to you.

MARTIN: Right.

ANDERSON: But -- you've also used the word "garbage" in one of the articles you have written today. Prurient interest or public interest. Where is the line, do you think, Roland?

MARTIN: There is no line that exists. That's the problem. When you look at these celebrity magazines and these websites, they make a ton of money, and you see all kinds of photos. You see people on airport, you see mothers, you see fathers, you see young women, young boys, reading these magazines. They're nothing but picture magazines. They make a ton of money.

At some point, we've got to recognize that somebody's buying this stuff. You couldn't pay a photographer six figures or seven figures for what is called "the money shot" if somebody was not purchasing the publications that will then pay for those kinds of photos.

And that is the problem here. And so all I'm saying is -- I'm not blaming Kate, because they certainly invaded her privacy and the laws in France. But what I am saying is, if you don't take your top off, there are no photos. And I think you have to be cognizant of the reality that they could be lurking out there and you have to protect yourself.

And that might mean sunbathing indoors. It might mean if you do go outside, you have your bikini on, you choose not to go, not to be nude. But that's just the reality, again, of the difficult world we live in where people have such an insatiable desire for anything celebrity.

ANDERSON: Right, I get what you're saying. I -- well, I certainly hear what you're saying. Give me a sense for our viewers watching in the UK and around the world, how this story is playing out in the US?

MARTIN: Well, I tell you, it's interesting. I write about a lot of stuff, a lot of political stuff, cultural stuff, and I've been -- I've done more TV today talking about that -- this piece about Kate Middleton and her breasts than stuff that I've written on the presidential campaign.

And people obviously are talking about it. It was the number two column on cnn.com, the world's largest website. That means folks are reading it. And so the royal couple still -- people have a huge fascination with this. And we saw it in this country, as well.

We've seen Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, and others, deride paparazzi, and that's just the reality that we're living in. And so, there is a significant interest.

But remember, there's a great interest of people who buy celebrity publications, and this goes right with it. These two worlds collide.

ANDERSON: A lot of people in Britain wouldn't see them as celebrities, they'd see them as the royal couple. These days, I guess, you're probably right, that is what they are, with a big "C," these celebrities. And Roland Martin on the story for you this evening. Sir, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us.

You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD here on CNN. I'm Becky Anderson for you. When we come back, she campaigned for the indigenous community to be given a voice and for our planet's natural resources to be preserved. It was a pleasure to sit down with activist Ikal Angelei. That -- an interview that is coming up after this short break. Do stay with us.

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ANDERSON: Sometimes you've just got to fight for what you believe. Ikal Angelei is a Kenyan activist a massive dam being built in neighboring Ethiopia.

Now, here tireless global campaigning made heavyweights like the World Bank pull out of the project and won her this year's Goldman Environmentalist prize. She told me what made her take up the fight and why it's only just begun.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON (voice-over): The Gibe 3 dam has been described in local media as the pride of Ethiopia. The multibillion-dollar project aims to harvest water from the Omo River to create a reliable supply of electricity for all of East Africa. But further downstream, across the border in Kenya, the hydroelectric plant is not so welcome.

IKAL ANGELEI, 2012 GOLDMAN PRIZE WINNER: For me, it's a -- it's a manmade catastrophe in simple terms. It's a huge project that very little was done to actually determine whether it made sense to the communities. While some people saw it as an economic plus for their country, it was not really considered what impact it had on the people downstream.

ANDERSON: The Omo River supplies 90 percent of the water in Lake Turkana, the world's largest desert lake, upon which an estimated 300,000 people depend for survival. Ikal Angelei is among them, and because of her relentless campaigning, some international sources of funding for the dam have dried up.

The Ethiopian government says critics of the scheme don't want to see a developed Africa and has vowed to complete the dam at any cost.

ANDERSON (on camera): The arguments you face on a day-to-day basis is, I'm sure, that there is an economic necessity for hydroelectric power. What's your response?

ANGELEI: Over time, we've seen big -- developed countries decommissioning their hydroelectric dams. Why are we going back to this? We have wind energy, we have geothermal. This has no negative impact on the community.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Studies on the impact the Gibe project will have on Lake Turkana vary in their conclusions, but some expect the water level to droop as much as 33 feet within the first five years of the dam's operation.

What also needs to be considered, says Angelei, is climate change. Drought is becoming more prevalent in the region, a trend she says could render the new multibillion-dollar plant useless.

ANDERSON (on camera): Does everybody who is of your generation feel the same way in your community?

ANGELEI: My community, yes. Other communities -- when I go into the city, then people look and say, we need energy. We need -- we are tired of power rationing. Yes, we are tired of power rationing, but if we look at the discussion of climate change, how long does this dam? What's the life of the dam?

Why do we spend millions of dollars on building a dam that five, ten years later is no longer working either due to siltation or no water.

ANDERSON (voice-over): When Angelei first raised the question four years ago, few people, even in the Lake Turkana region, understood the threat.

ANGELEI: When you stand and look at the lake, you wouldn't believe that this lake would no longer be there. So, that was the first thing. They couldn't believe that anything could be done to actually destroy the lake. So, that was the first thing.

And then, in a place where food -- food security is a problem, basic conflicts is a problem, access to hospitals, access to many things was hard. So, at that point, they didn't want to hear this whole issue about natural resource governance or environmental justice. They just wanted a meal and the next day to leave it.

But I -- we later brought videos of what has happened to Lake Chad, what has happened the RLC, and they could actually see that actually a lake like this could dry up.

ANDERSON: Climate change, population growth, and competing irrigation projects have seen Lake Chad's water level drop 90 percent in four decades, a site that that has helped Angelei unite those who've increasingly been in conflict over access to Lake Turkana's resources.

ANGELEI: Across generations, across cultures, across communities, everybody had a different story. The elders had a different story of how they related to the lake. The women had a different story of how they related to the lake.

And so, I brought all these people together. Everybody to narrate their story on a different platform. And we realized at least even if we may conflict on different issues, we had one issue that we were all -- we all knew we had to fight for, and that was the lake.

ANDERSON (on camera): Is this a battle that you believe is won? You're winning? Where do you stand?

ANGELEI: I think it may basically -- it's a fight that we are winning because we're actually making people see the questions. We are making the country understand the issues of natural resources.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: The Ethiopian government has hit back at critics of the scheme, including NGOs, like Survival International, who said it would harm people from the downstream -- living downstream, sorry, from the dam.

Last year, the late Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi said that they, and I quote, "want us to remain undeveloped and backward to serve their tourists as a museum" while reiterating that the dam would be completed. The report here on CNN.

I'm Becky Anderson, that was CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you for watching. The world news headlines up after this.

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