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U.S. President Delays Troop Drawdown in Afghanistan; Palestinians Blaming Israeli Policies for Latest Outbreak of Violence; London's Tate Gallery Exhibits Experiment on the Regeneration of Life. Aired 11:00a- 12:00p ET
Aired October 15, 2015 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:59:55] BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Drawdown delayed, the U.S. will keep American forces in Afghanistan at their current levels through much of next
year.
At this hour, we are waiting to hear from U.S. President Barack Obama about the decision. We'll bring you the president's remarks live once they
begin.
Also ahead this hour, tensions running high. Israel sets up security in the wake of a series of attacks. What can be done to calm the
situation? We will speak to the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
ANDERSON: Right. It was one of Barack Obama's key election promises to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
Well, today, we learned it won't happen as soon as he pledged. Instead, the current troop levels of about 10,000 U.S. forces will remain
throughout next year. It's another sign that America's longest war is Obama's Achilles heel.
When he first entered the White House, he increased troop numbers for 38,000 to 55,000. Later that year, he announced a major military surge,
which would take the total to nearly 100,000.
Well, that lasted almost three years, after which, a significant drawdown began.
Well, the U.S. officially ended its combat mission in 2014, leaving, though, some 10,000 troops to train and advise Afghan forces. That number
should have been cut in half by the end of December this year.
But now, President Obama is pushing that back by a year.
I'm Becky Anderson, this is Connect the World. We start this hour with a major announcement from the United States. Let's join our
colleagues at CNN USA for their coverage.
(CNN USA SIMULCAST)
[11:32:43] ANDERSON: And you've been listening to my colleagues in the United States. The U.S. president announcing the delay of the draw
down of U.S. troops, some 10,000 men and women, he says, will stay in Afghanistan. And while America's combat mission there is over, the
commitment to the Afghan people, he says, endures.
He said, I will not allow Afghanistan to be used as a base for terrorists, which could prove a risk for U.S. security, both in the region
and at home. And he said the Taliban has made gains, particularly in rural areas.
So, the United States will maintain current troop levels through most of next year, that is some 10,000 troops, and some 5,500 troops will be
left into 2017.
All right, let's get back to one of our top stories for you this hour. Now tightened security across Israel after a wave of stabbings and other
attacks and anger from Palestinians who accuse the Israeli government of collective punishment. Contrast that with this image from New New just
three weeks ago.
The Palestinian flag was raised at the United Nations for the first time in history.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called it, quote, our moment of hope, but these violent scenes playing out this week in the West
Bank, masked Palestinians hurling rocks at Israeli troops who in turn fire rubber bullets at them. Those clashes erupting after a spate of attacks in
Israel, a new tragedy in the decades' old conflict that now more than ever seems to have no end. And the flashpoints really around Jerusalem.
To discuss what can be done, let's bring in the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour joining us live from New York.
And Riyad, after the scenes I'm sure not just of jubilation, but the emotion that you must have felt with the raising of the Palestinian flag at
the UN during UNGA just three weeks ago, how concerned are you now about the events on the ground?
RIYAD MANSOUR, PALESTINIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UN: Well, first of all, you know, I was so proud of that historic moment for the Palestinian people
and for our cause in raising our flag to be with the flags of other nations in front of the UN. It was a moment in history that has been engraved in
my mind and it will stay with me forever.
Now, we were hoping that with raising the flag, and with the demonstration of so many countries joining us about 170 of them at high
levels that that would be a moment in which Israel, the occupying power will get it and come to the conclusion to negotiate with us in good faith
the end of occupation, the independence of our state, and to save the two- state solution.
Instead, they inflame the situation over al Aqsa Mosque. They unleashed massive militaristic power, whether from the Israeli armed
forces, security, police and armed settlers against our people. Our people now are frustrated over the lack of progress on the political front, and
with this ruthlessness by the occupying power, the number of victims on our side is staggering, more than 32 have been killed, a large number of them
are children, more than 1,500 have been injured, most of them with live ammunition and rubber-coated bullets, the great majority of them are
children and youth.
This kind of heavy-handedness and collective punishment in the Palestinian communities in east Jerusalem is not going to create peace and
security for us or for them. It will take us...
ANDERSON: And that's what I'd like to talk about, sir.
MANSOUR: Yes.
ANDERSON: Let's talk about where we go from here, because there's clearly fear on both sides. And to be absolutely fair, the Israelis
suffering enormously in this latest phase.
Ambassador, I want you to listen to what your boss, Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on state TV on Wednesday. Have a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT (through translator): I hearby call on you, Palestinian people, whatever you are, to stand
together, to close ranks and to be alert, to be aware of the Israeli plots to undermine our national -- achieve our national (inaudible). We'll never
tire of defending our sons and protect them. This is our right. And we will stick to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Now, it has to be said the Israelis have announced an uptick in security as a result of what they see to be terror on the
streets.
On the same day, though, that Abbas spoke, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his parliament that he does want peace talks to
begin with no preconditions as soon as possible.
So, why aren't Palestinian leaders calling for a renewed attempt at peace as well?
MANSOUR: Well, first of all, the one who walked away from negotiation, it was Prime Minister Netanyahu about a year-and-a-half ago.
It wasn't the Palestinian side.
And he reneged on an agreement between us and them, including the release of the fourth patch of prisoners. So, his action is that.
And he is the one who dictate conditions, although he says that he wants to negotiate without conditions. Settlements are conditions.
They're illegal and obstacles to peace. Jerusalem is not on the table. It's condition. And it is obstacle to peace. He wants us to recognize
Israel as a Jewish state, another condition. So, what should we believe? His rhetoric or his action?
He is the one who is closing every possible door for peace, and that's led to the frustration of the entire nation. And he wanted to change the
status quo in al Aqsa mosque that exploded the situation and he is dragging us with the extremists into religious confrontation over al Aqsa Mosque.
This is really what is happening.
And the victims are the Palestinian people, the victimizer is the occupation. And all of its militaristic manifestations.
If he wants to deescalate, he has to remove all these militaristic, you know, formation away from the people, disarm the settlers and let us
begin to talk about providing international protection for our people beginning from East Jerusalem.
ANDERSON: Ambassador, you've called the situation, and I quote you, very explosive. And you are urging the United Nations security council to
intervene to help stop the violence.
Now Israeli security forces, as I've said, have increased patrols across the country, but you are calling for a UN protection force for the
Palestinian people. Can you explain to our viewers what you mean by that?
[11:40:04] MANSOUR: Yes. After the massacre in al Hebron massacre in al Haram, al-Ibrahimi (ph) in Hebron in 1994. Security Council adopted
resolution 904 that called for providing protection for the Palestinian people and for the disarming of the settlers.
As a result of that resolution, 37 individuals from the Nordic countries wearing white shirts are in place. Since then, they were put in
place during the time that Prime Minister Netanyahu served as a prime minister. And they are still in place today providing some form of
protection for our worshipers in al Haram and Ibrahimi and Hebron.
We believe that we could have something possibly similar to it to provide some form of protection for our people, because the Israeli
occupying authorities instead to providing us with protection under international humanitarian law are the source of attacking us, killing so
many of our people and injuring so many people. They, forfeited their responsibility as protectors, therefore we want the international community
to provide us with international protection until the end of occupation and the independence of our state.
And the security council is capable...
ANDERSON: With that, we'll leave it there, sir. We thank you very much. Sorry, we are going to take a break.
MANSOUR: The Security Council is capable of doing that.
Thank you very much.
ANDERSON: OK. And with that, we'll leave it. Thank you very much indeed for joining us today. That is the Palestinian ambassador to the
United Nations.
Live from Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. Coming up, CNN sits down with one of Australia's rugby greats, one of the
greatest ever players to hear about the difficult of winning the World Cup and the bigger challenges that he faced at home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:08] ANDERSON: Well, the Rugby World Cup is in full swing, as I'm sure you know in England and in Wales. and the mayor of London, Boris
Johnson, seems to have taken the spirit with him to Tokyo. You see him getting a little rough there. It's -- again, in slow motion for you.
That is a 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy being knocked to the ground - - ouch.
The boy said that he felt a little bit of pain, but was OK afterwards.
For his part, Johnson said he feels bad about what happened, but he admires the quick recovery.
And he added, quote, that is what rugby is like.
Boris, it's supposed to be touch rugby.
You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. Welcome back. I assure you that little kid is OK.
The quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup take place this weekend with Australia, one of the competition's form team.
Michael Lynagh was part of the Wallabies team who won the tournament in 1991, but in recent years he has had to overcome much harder challenges
recovering from a stroke, which he documents in his book Blindsided.
My colleague Alex Thomas sat down with the rugby legend. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL LYNAGH, RUGBY LEGEND: They probably, one would argue that the form came at the moment in the Rugby World Cup in the quarterfinals. Going
into the quarterfinals, if you look across the board there, Australia one of the teams that has really put it out there and said, hey, we're here to
really compete and their a good chance.
THOMAS: Tell us a bit more about the new book, because clearly there's a lot of rugby in there, but also the massive moment in your life
3-and-a-half years ago.
LYNAGH: Yeah, there's a -- and it's more about that, the stroke that I had in April 2012 and what that was all about and what I went through and
also out the other side as well. so there's a lot of that in there, but you mention rugby, it's not really a captain's diary or something like that
where we went and played a game and that was great, then we popped on the bus and went to the next one.
I sort of spanned the period of time between amateur and professionalism. So, how the difference in the game and how it's changed.
THOMAS: When you had your stroke three-and-a-half years ago and your life is on the line, does the fact that you've been a professional athlete
at all play any sort of factor in how you are able to cope with that?
LYNAGH: I think so. Not initially, initially it's sort of nothing really prepares you for that, but once I started come out the other side of
it when I started to sort of improve a little bit, I do think that knowing your body pretty well and training and all that sort of thing, and being
relatively fit and relatively young also helped recovery.
But I think having been through a sport that has quite a great deal of physical sort of nature to it I think that helps to understand where your
body is at and what you can do and what you can' do.
THOMAS: Let's finish by going back to the current Rugby World Cup, because there is a really mouth-watering quarterfinal lineup. But did the
Australia-Wales game maybe give us a bit of an indication of how things might start to tighten up a bit.
LYNAGH: I agree with you. And I actually wrote on my piece of paper when I was doing the game on TV, you know, quarterfinals coming, you know,
game tightens up, exactly those words. And you could see it -- oh, I agree with you, I think we're starting to see that knockout style rugby.
THOMAS: In which of those quarterfinals are you most looking forward to -- New Zealand-France?
LYNAGH: That should be pretty good fun actually. I'm looking forward to that. Although, gosh, you look at it and you go well New Zealand
haven't really hit their straps yet, but we know they're all quality players, whereas France haven't given me any reason the last couple of
years to say that they can do something special. Yet we all know that particularly against the All Blacks seems to drag something out of them and
it should be a pretty special occasion.
And I quite like the look of Argentina as well. I think they've been playing pretty well. But Ireland, you know, that's so many injuries. And
that might just bring out a bit of Irish spirit as well.
But they're all good games and it's going to be great fun.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Yeah, it will be.
And you can hear a lot more from Michael Lynagh on CNN's World Rugby Show this Friday. That's 11:30 p.m. London. He gives us his full
assessment on the Wallaby's strengths and weaknesses ahead of his countryman's quarterfinal match against Scotland. That's right here only
on CNN.
Live from Abu Dhabi, you're watching Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. Coming up, why these boxes of soil are the next big thing. At
London's Tate Modern Gallery. That, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:52:41] ANDERSON: Well, have a look at these. NASA has released stunning new images of the planet Jupiter. And it shows some significant
changes. It's great red spot is getting smaller by around 240 kilometers and is turning a more orange color.
These images also showed a wave above the planet's equator which has not been scene by telescopes for decades.
You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. Welcome back.
Your Parting Shots this evening, and culture of regeneration is one of London's hallmarks, like the reinvention of a disused power station on the
River Thames as a stunning modern art gallery: the Tate Modern, which opened in 2000 is now one of the city's top attractions. Its latest
exhibit picks up on the theme of regeneration using soil.
My colleague Isa Soares reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's one of the most visited museums in the world. And this, its most iconic space.
Today, the turbine hall of the Tate Modern in London transformed into a seabed of activity. 240 wooden boxes have been filled with soil from 35
locations around the city from Buckingham Palace to hamster teeth. It may not look like much right now, but Mexican artist Abraham Gruznyvillegas
intends to provoke ideas of change and hope by watering the beds daily to see what grows.
ABRAHAM GRUZNYVILLEGA, ARTIST: We are seeding nothing and we are planting nothing. It's all about a promise that something can happen. We
saw the other day a little mushroom growing there. So, even if you don't notice, there's something already happening there, you know, on the
microscopic thing. The final sculpture will be by the time when they will close it in April.
SOARES: Since opening in 2000, the turbine hall has welcomed over 60 million visitors and has posted some of the world's grandest and most
provocative conceptual art, including Ai Weiwei's 100 million porcelain seeds, Doris Alcedor's (ph) Subterranean Chasm, and Olafur Eliasson's
Artificial Sun.
Cruznyvillegas is best known for his sculptures built from recycled objects found in hometown of Mexico City, a concept inspired by local slum
dwellers who construct their homes from whatever materials they can source. Today's installation in the Turbine Hall will undoubtedly be his most high
profile project to date.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfailingly when you do a site visit with an artist once they've been asked, you can sense that they suddenly begin to
really wonder how they will cope with that volume of space and how to fill it, not so much to produce a big work, but make a work that fills the space
both physically and in a way metaphorically.
CRUZNYVILLEGAS: Turbine Hall is one of the spaces more visited in the world. They have 5 million people visiting every year. It is one of the
most attractive with more visibility the art venues in the world.
SOARES: The space had been without a sponsor since Unilever left in 2012, but today's installation marks the beginning of the Tate's longest
commercial partnership to date: 11 years with South Korean car giant Hyundai.
WAN-HONG CHO, EXECUTIVE VP, HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY: We are a manufacturing brand, but we believe we are also innovation and creative
brand. So, you know, throughout this collaboration I think we can get a creative insight from our society.
SOARES: Like the public, Cruznyvillegas will have to wait six months to witness his final masterpiece. For the time being, the outcome remains
buried underground.
Isa Soares, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson. That was Connect the World from the team here it's a very good evening. CNN of course continues after this
short break. Good night.
END
