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Connect the World

Elections In Luhansk, Donetsk Further Divide Ukraine; Interview with UN Envoy To Syria Staffan De Mistura; British Investment Banker Charged With Double Murder In Hong Kong; ISIS's Brainwashing Strategy; US Midterms; Republicans Aim to Take Control of US Senate; China's Uyghur Education Experiment; FIFA Discussing Qatar 2022 World Cup Dates

Aired November 03, 2014 - 11:00   ET

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

BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: The children of ISIS: terror tactics exposed to the most perceptible. This hour, how militants are brainwashing the

next generation of fighters.

And a man whose own boss says he has a, quote, "potentially thankless task." I'll speak live to the UN envoy to Syria.

Also ahead, the U.S. midterm election less than 24 hours away. What's at stake for President Obama? And how could it threaten his foreign policy

ambitions?

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

ANDERSON: A very good evening from the UAE. It is just after 8:00 here. U.S.-backed Syrian rebel groups have suffered a serious blow, that

is according to monitoring groups and activists who tell CNN the al Qaeda- linked al Nusra group has pushed moderate rebels out of key districts in northwestern Syria.

And many moderates are now defecting to al Nusra.

In Kobani, Syria, however, it's a different story. With the help of Iraq's Kurdish Peshmerga, Syrian Kurds are hitting ISIS militants to the

east and west of that embattled city.

A lot going on, on the ground. We're going to take you live near the Syrian-Turkish border in just a moment.

First, ISIS laying the groundwork for its future by spreading its message to the next generation. Nick Paton Walsh takes us inside the

militant's propaganda machine that's molding the minds of the very young.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The dark they sit in makes the light from the projector all the more

captivating. Children in Deir Ezzor gathered. This is movie night. But it's an ISIS production and comes with a pep talk.

"So don't be afraid. We're your brothers," he says. "If anyone assaults you, a top chief or unimportant soldier, just complain about him,

and your rights will be restored to you by Allah's will."

And activist secretly filmed these pictures as the main event gets underway. An ISIS execution video, running in their underwear in their last

moments. Some of 250 Syrian regime soldiers executed by ISIS in August. They keep watching.

What's the first movie you remember? We don't know if they were shown the moment of death. But this is how that propaganda video continued.

A Syrian psychologist specializing in the impact of war and ISIS on children examined this footage.

"What we see in these videos," he says, is ISIS taking steps to make it normal for their children to see such things. They hope that all, or at

least some, will go on to do the same things. Not just be silent or accept it, but do it. Of course, when a child is growing up, it's a special time

in his life when you can work on planting specific ideas in their minds that result in attitudes in the future."

Indoctrination comes with pageantry and study. This is a graduation ceremony for the ISIS Cubs. They're not playing masked superheroes, but

real life jihadi.

After years of sectarian bloodshed hear what they have these children sing.

CHILDREN (through translator): Oh, Alawi Shia police who live to slaughter, we will come to slaughter you without you even knowing.

WALSH: Minds molded to their fit. Schooled to remember huge texts by rote. Yet, there is nothing staged about the vigor in these eyes as they

chant: "God is our leader and backer. America is their leader."

They talk about a lost generation in Syria's war. Here, the dogma and horror, it is lost, too.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Gaziantep.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh joining me now live from southern Turkey near the border with Syria.

And while ISIS it seems has a battle on its hands in Kobani after weeks of street to street fighting, despite the sort of film that you've

just shown where they are bringing on board, as it were, and indoctrinating these children, elsewhere in Syria what do we know about the defections of

U.S.-backed rebels to an al Qaeda group?

WALSH: Well, it's an extraordinarily complex issue and one that shows you the messy patchwork that any U.S. policy to try and unite Syrian rebels

is going to have to deal with.

Essentially what we're talking about is the Jubhat al Nusra, the Nusra Front. Now they are al Qaeda-linked and described as a terrorist

organization by the United States.

In Idlib in northwestern Syria, one of the key cities there, they've always held pretty strong sway in the suburbs around there, but they've

also tolerated and co-existed with U.S.-backed moderate groups, or some moderates groups that don't have U.S. backing.

What has happened in the last week slowly is that Nusra have taken the fight to some of those U.S.-backed moderate groups and it seems in some key

suburbs and towns pushed them out entirely.

One of the major leaders of the group called the Syrian Revolutionary Front, Jamal Naroof (ph) making a public statement that he actually was

pulling out of a town he considers one of his bases because he wanted to avoid further civilian bloodshed and fighting with Nusra.

Now I should say this is still in progress. This is not something which is conclusively finished. There's a potential that these moderate

groups may have, as they have in the past, find an accommodation with Nusra. But the speed of the Nusra advance, and the timing of it, too, has

got many observers concerned that they are, in fact, looking to homogenize their control of an area where they allowed other groups to exist instead

and in fact consolidate control of a part of Syria for themselves.

And that speculation for the future, but it certainly presents a major problem for those moderate groups. Their major key, I think, to

maintaining influence with the fact the U.S. potentially backed them up. There are suggestions that some of the weapons they were given by the U.S.,

or certainly some of the weapons they had, may have fallen into the wrong hands in these battles. A lot of worry about what's happening near Idlib.

A bit of context, it's not going to suddenly change the fight inside Syria, because Nusra were always the top dog there in terms of military

power, but it's a real problem for U.S. policy, because the moderates they were backing seem very much on the back foot, Becky.

ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh on the ground for you.

Well, Syria is front and center, of course, in what is an increasingly complicated and deadly story on the ground. Later on Connect the World

with me, Becky Anderson, we'll meet the new UN envoy to Syria to see what he can accomplish that his predecessors could not.

Also, foreign policy a talking point in tomorrow's U.S. midterm elections. Will President Obama's strategy against ISIS help or hurt his

party in congress? A live report from Washington also coming up.

Move on. And Russia says it will recognize the results of Sunday's elections in rebel held eastern Ukraine. The self-declared People's

Republic of Donetsk says its current prime minister has won the vote there, but the U.S. and other western governments are calling the results

illegitimate.

Well, senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is in Moscow with more details on the election. No real surprise. And by the

statements from both Moscow and indeed from Kiev and Washington and the UN, of course.

What are the consequences for relations now between Moscow and the west?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Potentially quite profound. I mean, the rebels say that this was a free and fair election.

They cite a high voter turnout. But none of that is convincing any of the critics of this election. The Ukrainian government, for one, calling it a

farce. The Europeans and the Americans saying that it's illegal. It's only the Russians, really, that are voicing their support for the

elections, saying they respect it as the will of the people.

But of course it is setting them on a collision course once again over Ukraine with the west.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Counting votes in eastern Ukraine's rebel elections. But these results won't surprise anyone, only pro-Russian separatists stood for

office.

But the elections in war-torn Luhansk and Donetsk are deeply controversial, a logical next step say rebel supporters toward full

independence.

"We won't be recognized internationally unless we have our own leadership," says this Donetsk resident. "Now the people are voting for

that. We hope the war can end soon."

This is the violent backdrop to the vote, more than 4,000 dead in a conflict that's ravaged eastern Ukraine for months.

Despite the truce with government forces on paper, on the ground sporadic fighting has continued. Organizing elections amid such precarious

security was risky.

Despite the dangers, though, rebel election officials say turnout was high. Critics have suggested voters were intimidated by rebel gunmen, or

perhaps encouraged by an old Soviet trick -- cut priced vegetables at the polling stations.

"We hope Ukraine can restore relations with Donetsk, especially the economic ones," says this voter. "They're in dire need of reconstruction."

But in fact this vote may have deepened divisions. Ukraine's pro- western government along with the U.S. and the European Union has condemned the elections as illegal. But Moscow says it will recognize the results.

Ukraine east and west are once again at loggerheads.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: The big concern, Becky, is that this election was really little more than a step away from the possibility of reunifying Ukraine and

more like a step towards bringing these pro-Russian rebel regions in Ukraine even further under the sway of Moscow.

ANDERSON: Matthew Chance in Moscow for you this evening. Thanks, Matt.

A British investment banker has been charged in a double murder in Hong Kong. Police say the bodies of two women were found inside his

apartment over the weekend, one stuffed inside a suitcase.

Anna Coren reports the murders have shocked Hong Kong, one of the world's safest big cities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dressed in black looking tired and disheveled, Rurik Jutting arrived in court escorted by police.

The 29-year-old British investment banker, until recently, working for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch was charged with two counts of murder following

the discovery inside his apartment.

Just before 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, Jutting called police from the 31st floor of his upscale residential building telling them to come and

investigate. Authorities say, when officers arrived, they found the body of a young Indonesian woman lying on the floor, her throat slashed. There were

also cuts to her buttocks. Hours later, police discovered a second female body with wounds to the neck stuffed in a suitcase outside on the balcony.

Residents in the building tell CNN there was an extremely foul smell inside the luxury apartments. Many expressing complete shock after learning

what caused it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's shocking.

COREN (on camera): Not much is known about these two women who were violently murdered. But it's believed that they frequented the red light

district of Hong Kong. It's just two blocks from where Rurik Jutting lived.

(voice-over): Some of the women that work in the red light district tell us they knew the victims, however, were reluctant to share many

details.

(CROSSTALK)

COREN: While Bank of America acknowledged that Jutting worked for them until recently, they refused to comment on the case.

It's believed the Cambridge graduate joined the investment bank in London back in 2010, moving to Hong Kong last year.

Jutting did not enter a plea but will appear in court again next week.

Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Still to come this hour, candidates making their final push before the polls open in the United States. We're going to take a closer

look at what's at stake in what are these midterm elections.

And it's a job that two of the world's most highly regarded diplomats have already walked away from. I'll speak live to the United Nations new

envoy for Syria.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Welcome back. This is CNN. And Connect the World with me Becky Anderson.

All right, let's return to our top story, the rise of ISIS in Syria and the Syrian crisis as a whole. It is exacerbating that crisis where the

past three-years-and-a-half has claimed as many as 200,000 lives and displaced millions of civilians, little wonder that United Nations

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon call the task of uniting the world to resolve the situation, quote, "potentially thankless."

Three men have been appointed by the UN and Arab League as special envoys to Syria with that mission.

The first was none other than Ban Ki-moon's predecessor in the UN's top job, Kofi Annan. He served from February to August of 2012. During

this time, he promoted what was called a six-point plan, calling for an end to violence, the start of dialogue and access for aid and media. Annan

resigned when the plan failed to gain traction.

Then came Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi. his tenure lasted for 21 months until May of this year. He'll be remembered for two rounds of talks

in Geneva in Switzerland. Representatives of the Syrian government and key opposition figures sat around the table, but didn't move any closer on key

principles.

Ban Ki-moon described Brahimi as, quote, one of the world's most brilliant diplomats. He said, quote, that the objective to which he

applied his extraordinary talents has proven elusive is a tragedy for the Syrian people.

Lest we forget, they are people. To our shame, ofttimes we talk about the numbers rather than the names of those people who have been affected by

this crisis.

Since those words were spoken, the rise of ISIS has added layers of tragedy and complexity to the Syrian situation.

It's into this climate of rampant violence and fear that Lakhdar's Brahimi's successor must go in search of a solution. Staffan de Mistura

joins me now live from New York.

And, sir, the news just today that U.S.-backed rebels are defecting to an al Qaeda group against the backdrop of the rise of ISIS just proving how

inadequate western policy is. This, quite frankly, is a total mess and a major problem for the likes of the U.S. and its allied effort for the

people of Syria isn't it?

STAFFAN DE MISTURA, UN SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA: Well, I can tell you one thing that if you look at this map and please look at it with me, you

will see how in fact ISIS is actually moving towards Aleppo apart from Kobani.

In other words, if it is true that ISIS is the terrorist organization called DAISH (ph), which needs to be stopped, this is the occasion also to

try to save those cities like Aleppo, which are being confronted by a fight which has led nowhere between the government and the opposition.

If we freeze here and concentrate on ISIS...

ANDERSON: With respect, sir, you said if ISIS -- sorry, sir, let me just stop you for one moment. You said if ISIS is this terrorist group,

what's your point there? Do you not buy the idea that this is a militant extremist group with a perverse ideology?

MISTURA: My point was not if ISIS is a terrorist group. If it is true that ISIS is the terrorist group that everyone has to concentrate to

stop, then let the conflict should be at least frozen in other areas in order to be able to concentrate on ISIS.

And one place for doing that is Aleppo. That's what I was saying.

There is no doubt that ISIS -- DAISH (ph) -- is the major threat at the moment. Over to you.

ANDERSON: I want to take you back about three weeks ago to Geneva where you made the following comments about the ISIS assault on Kobani and

the international response to it. I'm just going to play that for our viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MISTURA: You remember Srebrenica? We do. We never forgot. And probably we never forgave ourselves for that. And when there is an

imminent threat to civilians, we cannot, we should not be silent.

Our appeal is based on the principle that the UN will not after Srebrenica ever give up on, which is human rights up front.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Can I just clarify something? Are you -- were you and are you still comparing the scale of the crisis in Kobani to Srebrenic or

merely telling the international community to learn its lesson about turning a blind eye here?

MISTURA: What I was telling the international community and ourselves was that if there is a place like Kobani which had decided to stand its

ground against ISIS and that, by the way, was led and is led by a woman, a woman who is being together with a small group defending its own position,

we should not abandon them.

If we can prove that ISIS can be stopped and it's not unstoppable, that would be certainly a simulation for everyone to realize that this can

be done. And therefore even the coalition, which has been created to stop it...

ANDERSON: So what's your plan, sir?

MISTURA: Say again, please?

ANDERSON: What -- so what is your plan to stop ISIS, to prevent U.S.- backed rebels defecting to an al Qaeda-backed group?

MISTURA: My action plan is based on a very simple concept, everything has been tried from up down -- conferences, meetings, possible peace plans.

We need to prove on the ground to the Syrians, and to the rest of the world, that something can be done -- one, to stop ISIS and the other one is

to stop the conflict so that the Syrians will start feeling that there is a difference.

They are tired, like everyone else. We need to prove it.

And ISIS is offering paradoxically with his own horrific advances the opportunity for doing something about it.

How? By actually...

ANDERSON: Is it time to talk to the Assad regime?

MISTURA: ...and focusing on the peace plan, yes?

ANDERSON: Is it time to talk to the Assad regime?

MISTURA: Well, I'm doing it. With the UN has the possibility to talk to anyone. And I am, indeed, talking to them, because they are part of

hopefully also the solution in the sense that if we can do a freeze in some areas and block the fighting and bring some type of political process

inside Syria, that will be stopping the fertile ground in which ISIS are being the cultivating its own advances.

ANDERSON: Your predecessor asked a couple of presumably rhetorical questions when he stood down form the post. And I want to play you a clip

from that moment back in May. You will remember this. I'm not sure our viewers will, so just to remind them, sir. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAKHDAR BRAHIMI, FRM. UN ENVOY TO SYRIA: Everybody who has a responsibility and an influence in the situation have to remember that the

question is how many more dead? How much more destruction there is going to be before Syria becomes again the Syria we have known?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MISTURA: I could not agree more.

ANDERSON: You have been described by your boss a potentially thankless task -- sorry, sir -- yeah. Bearing in mind that ISIS wasn't

even on most people's radar at the time that those words were spoken. Do you envisage reaching a point in your tenure when the answers outnumber the

questions?

MISTURA: That's why I'm focusing on concrete examples in which those who claim -- and I hope they're serious -- that's including the government

of Assad -- they claim that they want to fight terrorism. Well, this is the occasion to show that in fact one can stop the fighting among the

various factions and the government and freeze certain areas so that the people in Syria will be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel when

everybody focusing actually on ISIS.

ANDERSON: How long are you going to give this job, sir?

MISTURA: Say again, sorry?

ANDERSON: How long are you going to give this job? Clearly, those before you have found it an incredibly frustrating task. For the good of

the Syrian people, how long will you give it?

MISTURA: Well, it's premature to say that. What I can tell you is that like my very, very strong and unique predecessor Kofi Anna and then

Lakhdar Brahimi, we do all what I can to make difficult for this conflict to continue.

You said it, 200,000 people killed, 4 million refugees, the whole region in trouble due to that. And on top of it, an opportunistic player

like now ISIS is taking advantage of it.

I will do all what I can. But you know what, you start with small, concrete examples and you make them iconic. And you make it possible for

people to believe in it, that's why Aleppo is such an important point like Kobani has been and still is.

ANDERSON: Sir, with that we're going to leave it there. We thank you very much indeed for joining us.

Live from Abu Dhabi in the UAE, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson. Coming up, an education in experiment in China to take minority

Uyghur children out of their rural homes and into big cities.

First, though, Sri Lanka's new gateway a decade after the island was hit by the tsunami. A new airport in the jungle could be the key to

boosting the country's development. Transformations, a CNN series, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is daily life in the sleepy fishing region of Hambantota (ph) on Sri Lanka's southeast

coast. Residents continue to rebuild their lives a decade after the 2004 tsunami devastated the area, tearing away homes and businesses and killing

some 3,000 people.

But as the regeneration of the area progresses, the government envisages the new Hambantota (ph) to be anything but sleepy.

Among the largest of the projects has been the Mattala Rajapa Sa International Airport, Sri Lanka's second international airport after

Colombo's international terminal BIA. After breaking ground in 2011, the terminal was constructed in what was unused jungle, thanks to funds from

Sri Lanka's national coffers and a $200 million cash injection from the Chinese government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this airport has been designed for a million passengers. We have a 3,500 meter runway, 60 meters wide. So we are

capable of landing any aircraft, modern aircraft that is in the world now. And we are geared for it.

LU STOUT: As well as serving as an emergency alternative to Colombo international, Mattala has some 37 scheduled flights to the Middle East on

top of flights to China, Bangkok and Colombo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very proud, because when I came here more than four to five years ago this a barren land, it's scrubs. Now it's an

international airport and people are moving, flights are moving. This I'm really proud of.

LU STOUT: While the Sri Lankan authorities hope the airport will serve as a gateway for tourism and agricultural exports as well as labor

traffic out of the country, the project is just one part of a wider plan for Hambantota (ph), a commercial port, a cricket ground, a five star hotel

and a safari park are among the infrastructure projects either completed or underway to further help draw economic activity into the region.

After just 18 months in operation, the airport boasts that almost 6,000 passengers have used its facilities. Some critics have said that

despite planes landing, only a small number of passengers are using the airport and despite this, authorities are still confident in the success of

the airport.

DERICK KARUNARATNE, CEO, MATTALA RAJAPAKSA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: You must be on -- go on the team. Rome was not built in one day. So, give it

time, and people will then realize that one day, this place is going to flourish.

VITHANAGE (ph): We have a master plan. That master plan contains several steps for the next 30 years, and our reason is to bring this

airport for at least 5 to 10 million persons handling the airport.

STOUT: A long-term vision that is already taking conceptual form. But as the airport's CEO acknowledges, if the project is going to be a

success, it will take time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: This is CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. The top stories for you this hour.

The al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra group has pushed US-backed Syrian rebels out of some key strongholds. That is according to the monitoring groups

and activists, who tell CNN the Nusra Front has advanced in the suburbs of Idlib in northwestern Syria. They say many moderate rebels are now

defecting to the group.

A rescue mission is underway near Istanbul after a boat, thought to be carrying Afghan migrants, capsized. Turkish media say 24 bodies have been

pulled out of the water so far. Officials say 7 people were rescued and a search is ongoing for at least 12 missing passengers.

A British investment banker is charged with murder in Hong Kong. Twenty-nine-year-old Rurik Jutting is accused of killing two young

Indonesian women in a luxury high-rise apartment. One victim was found in a suitcase, the other was in the apartment, both with wounds to their

bodies.

We are less than a day away from the midterm elections in the United States. Right now, polls show that Republican candidates are gaining

momentum in Senate races ahead of Tuesday's vote. Jonathan Mann explains why this election matters so much in Washington and beyond.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How angry are Americans with President Barack Obama and the rest of their elected

officials? Or to put it another way, how good do they feel about the men and women they've put into government. Well, we're about to find out.

MANN (voice-over): Millions of Americans will be going to the polls November 4th for what are called midterm elections. Midterm because these

elections fall halfway through the president's own term. Barack Obama's name will not be on the ballot.

Instead, we're talking about state and local officials and lawmakers at the federal level in Washington, the Congress, 471 members are going to

be seeking election or reelection, and I'll explain how.

The entire House of Representatives will be seeking election or reelection, 435 members who serve two-year terms. Those terms are up.

In the Senate, it's a little more complicated. There are 100 senators, but only a third of them seek reelection every two years. This

year, because of vacancies, we're talking about 36 Senate seats.

What's going to happen? Well for the most part, most of the officials who are already in power are going to stay there. What we're expecting in

the House of Representatives, where the Republicans enjoy a majority, is another Republican majority.

What we're expecting in the Senate where the Democrats have control is potentially the biggest change. The Republicans hope to pick up a few

seats, enough to take control away from the Democrats. What will that mean? A Republican House of Representatives, a Republican Senate, and a

Democrat still in the White House. Divided government once again.

Probably the biggest problem for American politics has been paralysis because the two parties don't like to work together. Well, Americans are

going to the polls, that's one thing that probably won't change even after the ballots are cast and counted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: If the Republicans do capture the Senate and maintain control of the House, it'll impact President Obama's ability to carry out

his agenda. That is clear. Joining me now from Washington is senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. And by that I mean his foreign policy

priorities as well as those domestically, and those, of course --

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

ANDERSON: -- being the fight against ISIS, for example, and the Iran nuclear talks and the like. How do you read this?

ACOSTA: Well, Becky, I don't know if there's going to be a huge impact on the war against ISIS. The president is the commander-in-chief,

he can issue the order for airstrikes, to send advisors into Iraq, and maybe into Syria, although the president has said he's not going to do

that.

I do think that the Iran nuclear deal is something to watch. Keep in mind, even with a Democratic-controlled United States Senate, the chairman

of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez, would like to go much further than this president would when it comes to sanctions.

They're very suspicious, even in the Democratic Party, and very much so in the Republican Party, that the Iranians can abide by any sort of

nuclear deal. And so, that is in part why you're seeing this nuclear deal come up in terms of a deadline on November 24th.

That was pushed past -- beyond the midterms, many people think, because the White House did not want to get this entangled in midterm

politics. But if the Republicans take over a slim majority in the Senate, come next year, they may want to rewrite that negotiating agreement with

the Iranians and the P5 Plus 1. So, I definitely think that is one to watch.

ANDERSON: Thanks, Jim. Tune in for CNN's complete coverage of the US midterm elections. Join Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, and CNN's entire

political team, including Jim, of course, for results and analysis in an Election Night in America, begins at quarter to midnight Tuesday London

time, that's just before 4:00 in the morning Wednesday if you are a viewer here in the UAE.

Live from Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. Coming up, what happens when children are brought from the homes

in western China to major cities in the east for schooling? Well, the answer to that up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: China has had a hard time stamping out ethnic unrest in its Xinjiang region. It's home to the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority,

and ethnic tensions frequently erupt into violence. But the government is hoping to change that by educating Uyghur children away from home. David

McKenzie has an exclusive look at that program.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this classroom in China, one student stands out. Unlike his mostly Han Chinese

classmates, Abdurrahman Mamat is Uyghur, a Muslim minority in China. He's thousands of miles away from his home in Xinjiang.

This is the first time the Chinese government has granted access to foreign media to what it calls the Xinjiang Class, an extraordinary

Communist Party experiment in ethnic integration.

MCKENZIE (on camera): Every year, the Chinese government selects 10,000 Xinjiang students and puts them in Han schools across the country.

They say it's a way to get an equal education.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Students like Mamat, often from poor families, take a strict exam to get in. "Eastern China is more developed than

Xinjiang. We get to enjoy better educational resources here," he says, "closely watched by our minders."

Uyghurs are mostly Muslims. Their culture and language separates them from Han Chinese. For years, the Communist Party has struggled with ethnic

tension in Xinjiang and blamed deadly terror attacks on Uyghur separatists. For China's much-toted harmonious society, images like these are deeply

embarrassing. And the Xinjiang Class is as much about learning as it is about politics.

LI ZHENCHONG, DEAN, "XINJIANG CLASS" (through translator): When we teach these students, we are not just educating them. We are cultivating

their feeling of love for their country.

MCKENZIE: Chinese government documents go further, saying minority students should be trained to, quote, "safeguard national security and

defend the unity of China." But some experts say the party is failing.

JAMES LEIBOLD, LA TROBE UNIVERSITY: On the sort of political and ideological front, it hasn't succeeded. What we've seen is actually

students who participate and then graduate out of these programs tend to feel more Uyghur than they do Chinese when they come out of it.

MCKENZIE: At this high school, minority students eat at Halal cafeterias, separated from Han Chinese. They bond together on the sports

field and, according to long-term studies, forge religious identity in adversity.

LI: We have to strictly manage them. We are a school, we are not a mosque. We do not allow the students to pray in our school.

MCKENZIE: But students like Mamat say the program gives him the only chance at a good education. It could take decades to find out how the

Xinjiang Class will shape China.

David McKenzie, CNN, Xinjiang, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, joining us now to talk about the anger and tensions between Uyghurs and the Han Chinese is Raffaello Pantucci, who is live from

London for us. He's the director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute. Does that report by David surprise you in

any way?

RAFFAELLO PANTUCCI, DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: No, not particularly. I think that we know

that the Chinese government has been trying to sort of broaden out its approaches to try to encourage ethnic harmony out in Xinjiang. And

certainly trying through education is something that we've seen Xi Jinping, the leader, talk about and we've heard others, certainly, talk about as

well.

I think the question that was raised by the expert in your discussion about how effective this strategy actually was I think is also, frankly,

bears out what we've seen so far. It's not totally clear that this sort of approach has brought about the sort of harmony that Beijing is hoping for.

ANDERSON: So, that begs the next question, which is, where, perhaps, the motivation and the MO is for a project like that? Clearly, we've heard

talk from al Qaeda-affiliated operatives that there is this kind of push for their ideology to spread not just in this region, where I'm

broadcasting from tonight, but through India, for example, and as far as the Uyghur minority out in China.

We've heard the talk, and even from ISIS, we've heard this talk. How big an operation or how much of an influence would Islamist ideology, which

the Chinese will see as perverse, having on that region?

PANTUCCI: I think it's very difficult to know exactly the degree of influence that it's been having, because getting accurate information about

what's happening out there can be very difficult to do, in particular when you start to go in the direction of trying to investigate some of the many

incidents that we've seen over the past year.

What we do know is that over the past year, there have been an increasing amount of sort of increasingly large-scale violent incidents,

which seem to be at root clashes between Uyghur and Han out in Xinjiang.

Some of these take the form of what appear to be quite organized terrorist attacks. For example, as Xi Jinping was ending a visit to the

province earlier this year, we saw some bomb attacks in Urumqi train station, Urumqi being the regional capital.

But then, we've also seen incidents over the past couple of months of large-scale clashes in some of the prefectures outside Kashgar, the sort of

big Uyghur city over in the south of the province. And in that instance, it's not very clear exactly what was the kind of motivations?

In some of them, afterwards groups -- extremist groups that are outside the country release videos in which they claim to praise these

incidents, or in some cases, even claim some sort of link to them. But it's always very difficult to understand exactly the degree to which there

actually is a tangible connection.

I think it's certainly undoubtedly likely that there are some people within the province who might sort of latch onto a sort of extremist

identity as a way of expressing themselves.

But I think the degree to which we can say that a group like ISIS or a group like al Qaeda has been able to sort of develop networks and contacts

and associations and affiliates within Xinjiang that are launching attacks, I don't know that we've necessarily seen a huge amount of compelling

evidence in that direction.

ANDERSON: With that, we'll leave it there. We thank you very much, indeed, for joining us.

Across the border in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is marking six months in the top job by hosting the World Economic Forum, and what a

period it's been. Since then, stocks surging, foreign direct investment growing, deficits shrinking. The question is, how long can or will it

last?

Well, Andrew Stevens, live from the World Economic forum this week, for you. Tuesday, he examines doing business in China and why some find it

so frustrating. That is this hour tomorrow in Abu Dhabi in this show, 9:30 PM in New Delhi, only on CNN.

If you miss it on CTW, CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson, you will find it across the board across the network at various times during

the week. Of course, we have a big Indian viewership on CONNECT THE WORLD, even here in the UAE, which has a substantial Indian community.

We want to know your thoughts about the country under Mr. Modi. Have your say, facebook.com/CNNconnect, one way to get in touch with us. The

other is by tweeting me, @BeckyCNN.

Live from Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD. Coming up, the debate rumbles on. Football chiefs discuss changing the date of the 2022 World

Cup again. Find out when they are now suggesting the matches could or might be played.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, the organization representing Europe's leading football clubs is meeting with FIFA in Zurich to ask them to change the

dates of the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Doha, of course, awarded the Cup in 2010, but since then, there's been debate about when it should be played.

Well, the European Clubs Association wants the matches scheduled for April and May to avoid the intense summer heat. But finding new dates is a

juggling act. Most suggestions so far conflict with other international fixtures.

James Piercy in the house, deputy editor of "Sport360" here in Abu Dhabi with me this evening to chat about this. And I know this is

something you've been writing about for months, probably 18 months or so. What are your thoughts?

JAMES PIERCY, DEPUTY EDITOR, "SPORT360": Well, when Qatar was awarded the World Cup -- bear in mind, that was four years ago, and spending four

years ago, we're still none the wiser as to when the tournament is going to be held.

But when it was awarded, obviously, the summer heat was going to be a problem. Instantly, we had FIFA talking about a winter World Cup. When

you actually look at it, Western perceptions, if you like, is that the Middle East is incredibly hot six months a year.

But April, May, domestic football is played here, obviously in the evening, but in the evening, the temperatures are very playable. It's not

the searing heat, it's not the searing humidity, certainly not near the humidity that players experienced in Brazil this summer, for example.

ANDERSON: But the fans are around all day, that's the problem.

PIERCY: Of course.

ANDERSON: And I remember being here in February, when I arrived here to start broadcasting from here in March. It was hot.

PIERCY: Yes. I mean, but you've had World Cups in Brazil --

ANDERSON: Sure.

PIERCY: -- in Mexico in 1996, when it was record temperatures. The issue, in fact, must now come to light for April is that it's the holy

month of Ramadan, which runs April the 3rd into early May, which obviously, Qatar being a Muslim country, offending potential local sensibilities, that

sort of thing.

ANDERSON: There is also the option that's been discussed of a winter World Cup. Let's just take a look at the possible options on the table for

the viewers' sake. The ECA, which represents 20 -- 214 of Europe's biggest teams, I believe, has recently shift its preference to an April-May timing.

They believe the temperatures will be cool enough to play in the evenings, and I guess if you played 10:00 or midnight here, you'd be

working to the European evening schedule, wouldn't it? It could work with a shift in domestic Cup competitions and the Champions League.

But 2022 organizers in Qatar insist that they are able to host the tournament in the original winter with air-conditioned stadiums. Sepp

Blatter, the head of world football's governing body, says November- December 2022 is the ideal date, despite opposition from within Europe because of the impact on the Champions League. We all know he has -- he

does still hold sway, old Sepp.

But UEFA would prefer January-February 2023, although that seems unlikely because of the agreement that the tournament would be played in

the calendar year of 2022. What are you writing next?

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

PIERCY: Well, the issue here --

ANDERSON: Because there's a lot of options there, isn't there?

PIERCY: -- the issue with 2022 January-February, which is favored by European Clubs as a worst-case scenario, if you like, because of, for

example, the Bundesliga area, they all have winter breaks. So you're only sort of losing maybe two weeks of the season.

But we've got the Winter Olympics 2022 as well, which potentially be Beijing or Almaty. It's just all a bit of a mess. I still stand by -- I

genuinely think April-May is a feasible date as well, because it's going to produce less disruption, because you can just start the domestic seasons a

little bit earlier, the previous couple of years.

ANDERSON: Does this all mean that the report on the alleged dodgy bid for Qatar and, indeed, a report into the bidding process for Russia, is now

sort of signed off --

(CROSSTALK)

PIERCY: Well, not necessarily, no.

ANDERSON: -- if you're talking dates at this point?

PIERCY: We're told April 2015 the findings are going to be released. Obviously, the report itself is not going to be made public.

ANDERSON: We're expecting a few leaks?

PIERCY: Well, potentially that could happen as well. But FIFA have said they're going to discuss the findings in April. It looks like

individuals involved, hopefully, will be named, and if there has been any wrongdoing. But I'm not sure it's going to have that great an influence.

ANDERSON: We've got about 45 seconds. The African Cup, they're off their plans?

PIERCY: Well, again, they've got five days, basically, to say if they want to do it. They've said they don't. I think the CAF have basically

called their bluff and said, look, if you're going to have it, the trouble is, that there isn't a great deal of other options, except maybe Egypt,

where the CAF is based. But it's another situation -- and it needs to be sorted very quickly.

ANDERSON: Piercy, you're great, because I always go "Wrap it up," and you get it all in.

(LAUGHTER)

PIERCY: That's right, that's right.

ANDERSON: I've got to put you on at the beginning of the show, not the end of the show, next time. Always a pleasure.

PIERCY: Thank you.

ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson, that was CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you for watching.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END