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Connect the World
El Chapo Evades Police Again; The Conflict From Both Sides: Palestinian, Israelis Talk About Root Causes; Syrian President Visits Moscow; Predicting the Future: Back to the Future Day Today. Aired 11:00a- 12:00p ET
Aired October 21, 2015 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:11] BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Surprise visit, embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad makes his first overseas trip since his country
descended into war more than four years ago. We're going to get you a live report from the Russian capital up next.
Also ahead...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Guzman escaped from a Mexican maximum security prison last July, literally, under the guard's feet
through a mile long tunnel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Mexico's most notorious drug lord is still on the run after that daring escape. Are the authorities any closer to bringing him in?
Well, CNN's Martin Savidge is in Mexico where police are on the hunt.
And remember Back to the Future? Well, according to that box office hit, we are now officially in the future. So, what did the 80s movie get
right about life in 2015? Find out a little later in the show.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
ANDERSON: And a very good evening from the UAE at just after 7:00 here. Straight to Moscow for you this hour. And the Syrian president's
trip there, his first appearance abroad since war erupted in his country more than four years ago.
Bashar al-Assad thanked President Vladimir Putin for his help in the fight against what both men called terrorists trying to overthrow the
Syrian government.
Well, Moscow started its widely criticized airstrikes against, quote, extremist rebels three weeks ago. But as CNN's Matthew Chance reports,
there's more to this visit then just two allies talking tactics about their joint military action.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The unannounced overnight visit was kept secret until it was all over. Only in the morning
did the Kremlin reveal what's believed to President Assad's first trip abroad since the Syrian crisis began. With Russian war planes pounding his
enemies, this was a confident and grateful Kremlin ally.
BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I thank you for standing up for Syria's unity and its independence.
And more important than that, this is being done within the framework of international law.
And I have to say that the start of these political steps that you have been undertaking since the beginning of the crisis, they have
prevented the situation from developing into a more tragic scenario.
CHANCE: For three weeks now, Russia has bombarded ISIS and other rebel groups opposed to Assad, effective air support for a Syrian army-led
counter offensive to recapture lost territory. Reports from the ground, suggest significant advances have been made.
But the face-to-face meeting in the Kremlin also sends a message about Vladimir Putin's diplomatic intentions.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): Syria is a friendly country to us, and we are prepared to do whatever we can not only
in the course of military efforts to fight terrorism, but also in the course of the political process with participation of all political forces
and ethnic and religious groups.
In the end, the final say should be left to the Syrian people.
CHANCE: Since the Syrian crisis began, Russia has pushed for a political solution, which includes Assad in any interim Syrian government,
something that's been rejected by opposition groups and western governments.
But the Kremlin appears to be digging in its heels. Assad, it seems, remains Russia's man.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, after the meeting, Russia's defense ministry said two of the terror groups they are targeting in Syria, ISIS and al Nusra, are in
talks about joining forces.
For more on all of this, let's bring in Jill Dougherty in Moscow. She's a former CNN bureau chief if you're a regular watcher you'll know
that, in Syria. She -- in Russia, sorry. She's now with the International Center for Defense and Security. It's great to have you,
Jill.
Do you think this trip marks a new strategic stage in the war in Syria?
JILL DOUGHERTY, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY: You know, I think it's a very interesting trip the way it came at this point.
And in -- the Russians have been bombing for what, a couple of weeks. And already they have (inaudible).
ANDERSON: All right. See whether -- caught me there -- as the wind blew. Let's see whether we can get Jill back. Can we get Jill back?
No, all right. OK. Apologies for that. The gremlin is with us tonight, which is disappointing because the analysis from Jill it clearly
extremely important.
We'll see if we can get her back.
The UN Secretary-General, meanwhile, is urging Israelis and Palestinians to show some courage and make peace. Ban Ki-moon is
continuing his shuttle diplomacy in the region in an effort to help end weeks of violence.
He met Wednesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Ban says a political solution, including an end to the Israeli
occupation is the only way to peace.
Well, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu meantime is facing a backlash over highly controversial remarks he made about the holocaust.
Let's bring in Phil Black for more. He's live in Jerusalem.
And what was it that the Israeli prime minister said earlier today that is causing such a furor?
[11:06:00] PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky, has called it an enormous controversy by suggesting that the final solution,
the extermination of the Jews in Europe was not an idea thought up by the Nazis or by Hitler, but in fact was an idea that came from a Palestinian
Muslim.
According to Netanyahu, he says that it was at the time the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, a known Nazi supporter, who
suggested the idea directly to Hitler when the two men met in November 1941.
This was a the account of that conversation given by the Israeli prime minister. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Few to Berlin. Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the
Jews. And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, if you expel them they'll all come here.
So, what should I do with them? He asked.
He said, burn them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACK: It is obviously, Becky, impossible to overstate the sensitivity of the Holocaust to the Jewish state. And so, Netanyahu's
political opponents have really turned on him en masse today, accusing him of politicizing this issue.
A lot of historians here are saying he simply got his facts wrong, that he is absolving Hitler of responsibility, and that he is giving
support to Holocaust deniers and Neo Nazis everywhere.
More than that, at a time of great violence in this region, when Benjamin Netanyahu himself is accusing the Palestinian leadership of using
incitement to inspire terror against Israelis, the Palestinian Authority president says in this case it is Netanyahu who is clearly using
incitement, rewriting history, to blame the Palestinians.
Now Netanyahu has tried to explain his comments. He has said that he was not trying to absolve Hitler. He stands by the claim that the mufti
was central to the idea to creating the thought process and the logic that led to the final solution.
He says what he's trying to do in pointing this out is show that the forefathers of the Palestinian nation were very committed to the idea,
aspiring to the idea, of destroying Jews long before the establishment of the Jewish state, long before they believe their lands were occupied by
Israel -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Further calls meantime, by Representatives of the international community today, that being the secretary-general of the UN
fore peace and calm. What is the story on the street this hour?
BLACK: Well, there has been more violence today, a number of incidents involving Palestinians with knives who were then in return shot
by Israeli forces. One of them just a 15-year-old Palestinian girl who was said to have approached an Israeli settlement on the West Bank, carrying a
knife, we are told. She was warned away, did not listen to those warnings and so was shot in the shoulder.
It shows the cycle of violence is continuing. And as it does so, a diplomatic effort is underway. In the last 24 hours, we've seen the UN
secretary-general stand beside the Israeli prime minister. And today the Palestinian Authority president. In both cases, the public remarks by
those two leaders would indicate that their positions, publicly at least, have not changed. In both cases, they continue to blame the other side.
The Israelis say that the Palestinians are responsible for causing this violence through incitement, encouraging the hatred and violence towards
Jews. The Palestinians continue to blame the conditions of the occupation and the impression that they say goes with that.
What it means is that neither side is prepared to publicly dial back their language, which is what the international community is looking for to
try and break the cycle of these regular attacks, which have now been taking place on the streets here in Jerusalem and the disputed Palestinian
territories for the last three weeks now, Becky.
ANDERSON: Phil Black with the very latest from Jerusalem. Phil, thank you.
Coming up, two special reports that take a closer look at some of the roots of this conflict. Phil visits a Jewish settlement deep in the West
Bank where residents explain their claim to the land.
While Ben Wedeman talks with Palestinians who say their main frustration is living under occupation. That is ahead on Connect the
World. Do stay with us for that.
Now, to another step towards getting Iran's nuclear deal with western powers implemented.
The country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini has conditionally endorsed the accord in a letter on his official website. The letter is
addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. And its message is clear, saying the deal would be rendered void if any future sanctions are imposed
on Iran by any country under any pretext.
Well, I want to get you back to Moscow. President Bashar al-Assad overnight making his first foreign trip in some four years, a surprise trip
to Moscow.
We lost Jill earlier on, I think we've got the gremlins sorted out. She's live for us in Moscow.
And we were talking about whether you feel that this trip really marks a new strategic stage in this war. And I also want you to just get some
sense of how the Russians might explain their suggestion today that the terrorist groups, in quotes, ISIS and al Nusra, they say, are now in talks
to join up, as it were, as the enemy against this Russian intervention -- Jill.
[11:16:42] DOUGHERTY: Well, you know dismissing with that second part pretty quickly. I mean, what they're saying is they are creating chaos in
the ranks of the terrorist both ISIS and other groups that are associated. Of course, the U.S. says that they are opposition.
But it is a big mix-up bag of groups and what they are saying is some are fleeing, some are meeting together and trying to figure out what to do
in the face of some very heavy bombing by the Russians.
Now, on the Assad visit, I do think that it is a very important one, because afterall the fact that he got out in the midst of this very
difficult time, comes to Moscow in very high profile and looking pretty confident is discussing things with President Putin.
I think it is a message that I take from it is that Russia is saying to the world essentially, look, in two weeks or so of bombing, we've been
able to bring this to a situation where the terrorists are on the run, Assad is able to come here and talk to us. In other words, we're moving
forward. We've done, they would argue, what the west in a year of bombing hasn't been able to do.
So, what's the next step then? The next step is what President Putin was talking about today. Political settlement, but don't forget that the
Russians are not wedded to Assad if it's in their interests, they could do a deal that would exclude him. It's not -- it's entirely possible.
ANDERSON: Jill, very briefly, this was always supposed to be -- or we were promised by the Russians -- a very short and sweet intervention, as it
were. Is there as much pressure at home on President Putin to adhere to that and stick to that as there might be from the international community?
DOUGHERTY: No. I mean, you look at the polls. It's I think 72 percent of the Russian people either support him strongly or support him
just period. So, there's no pressure at this point to stop, but to in effect it was a lot of pride about it. You know, if it were to turn bad,
if there were some -- let's say somebody was killed or there was some terrible incident, that might change.
But right now, he has people behind him.
That said, they -- I do not believe that Russia wants to be in Syria for a very long time, at least militarily.
What they want to be is they want to be a player, a global player in Syria, a global player in the Middle East. And they are happy to do that
for a very long time.
ANDERSON: Interesting.
All right, Jill, always a pleasure, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Again, apologies, viewers for the technical problems that we
have with Jill slightly earlier on. Good to have you back. Jill, thank you.
Still to come tonight, the hunt for Mexico's most wanted man, El Chapo, evades police once again, but authorities say they are closing in.
The full story for you is up next.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FOX: Are we back?
You mean, we're in the future?
CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, ACTOR: October 21, 2015.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:15:02] ANDERSON: Which means the future is now. We'll show you what the hit movie got right and what it got wrong. And there's no need
for time travel, it's just 40 minutes away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLORIA MENDOZA, WITNESSED RAID FOR EL CHAPO (through translator): I'm still traumatized. Imagine what I went through throwing grenades in the
air. It was very ugly.
I say he doesn't go to the ranch anymore, that he's left and left everything behind, that he won't return there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, you're watching CNN. This is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. 18 minutes past 7:00 in the UAE.
She was just one of many terrified locals after Mexican special forces staged a daring raid earlier this month trying to capture the escaped drug
lord El Chapo.
Now a Mexican official tells CNN that Joaquin Guzman managed to get away again, but that he fell off a small cliff as he did, injuring himself.
American authorities helping to close the net, monitoring the communications of those close to Guzman.
And Martin Savidge has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORREPSONDENT (voice-over): He's Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, and authorities say they're
close to recapturing him. We've come to Mexico to try to get a sense of just how close. But it's not easy.
(On camera): For security reasons, we have to keep a low profile because the risk we face include everything from corrupt cops to an army of
drug cartel informants who are really looking out for just about everything we do. So sometimes the video or the audio may not be quite as good as
you're accustomed to because we're using less than traditional means.
(Voice-over): The danger here is real. Last week officials said they nearly had Guzman, cornering him near a town in the mountains of Sinaloa
state in northwest Mexico. Exactly what happened isn't clear, but it was definitely violent. Reportedly Mexican Marines swooped in from the air,
getting so close to Guzman, he was injured in the frantic dash to get away. But he got away, much to government embarrassment.
Locals tell a different story. They describe a less precise military strike with helicopters raining gunfire indiscriminately down on homes,
vehicles and people. Guzman escaped from a Mexican maximum security prison last July, literally under the guard's feet through a mile-long tunnel.
That isn't out of character for Guzman. Part of his drug lord success is due to his extensive use of tunnels to smuggle drugs into the United
States.
(On camera): There's a reason this search is so focused on the state of Sinaloa. It's a place where Guzman obviously feels comfortable and it's
where he was arrested before.
In a house not that far away from here and then brought to that high- rise beachfront hotel and kept there for a couple of days until authorities
could arrange a safe transport back to Mexico City.
(Voice-over): So for all these reasons, authorities believe they are close, and the area remains on edge.
Everyone here knows it is an all-out effort to find the man called the most dangerous criminal in the world who may be injured, desperate, and
possibly cornered. There is a lot that could go wrong.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Sinaloa State, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:21:38] ANDERSON: Well, with Halloween just over a week away, El Chapo will be inspiring fear of a different kind. Customs bearing his
likeness pretty much jumping off the shelves in Mexico. CNN Spoke to one factory owner for whom the only scary thing will be keeping up with demand.
You can find that story and much more online at CNN.com. That is CNN.com.
Live from Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. Coming up, going to the roots of one of the longest running conflicts in
the world. We're going to hear from both Israelis and Palestinians about what's fueling this recent surge in violence.
And gaming in Nigeria. Find out how one business man is using his electronic talents to highlight issues like corruption. That is next.
Stay with us. Taking a very short break. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's called Gidi Run (ph), a computer game that's about more than play.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We realized there are not so many African stories out there. And what we wanted to do is create African stories, but for the
global audience.
Gidi Run (ph) actually explains like a scenario between a driver, a bus conductor and a policeman trying to take bribe and while the driver
refused to wait. It kind of became like a chasing game scenario. So, we created 3D runner game. It shows the experience of an average Nigerian.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was created by Nigerian games enthusiast Abeola Olanoran whose company GameSoul (ph) makes games for phones and
tablets.
According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Nigeria's gaming market will reach $170 million by 2017.
Olaoran (ph) is on the cusp of that growth.
Since launching in 2012, GameSoul (ph) says its games have been downloaded more than 10 million times in 191 country with African
contributing 5 percent of that growth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tend have a lot of downloads in those region, like Latin America, for instance, about 24 percent of our downloads came
from Brazil.
In some of that region, like India, there is an issue. And a couple of other countries like Indonesia. So get our downloads from there.
UNIDENTIIFIED FEMALE: Olanoran's (ph) journey to gaming started at university where he created his first game, Road Blazer, which he says was
downloaded 40,000 times and gave him the idea for GameSoul (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we started by just doing free games, so you download for free. And we have advertisements in those games.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the first 18 months of business, Olanoran (ph) says he received $35,000 in seed funding, allowing him to expand.
To date, GameSoul (ph) says it's released 35 games and generates $30,000 a month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, if we have the concept that we want to work on, we develop sort of like a storyboard on how it's going to go. We have
a plan for a game play in terms of the architecture of the (code and (inaudible). And also for the designers, the design (inaudible) the ones
we use.
We want to create games that everybody all around the world appreciate. We are going to support the gaming, Google Play the iOS App
Store or the Windows Store, so those stores are global anyways, so why limit yourself to the local audience.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:31:56] ANDERSON: You're watching Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson. This is CNN at just after half past 7:00 in the UAE. The top
stories for you this hour.
And Syria's President Assad has made his first appearance abroad since the Syrian war erupted more than four years ago. he visited Moscow for
talks with ally Russia whose military help he praised and expressed gratitude for.
The two are cooperating on what they call an anti-terror campaign against extremist rebels in Syria.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has welcomed President Xi Jinping to 10 Downing Street. The latest stop on his first state visit to the UK.
The two leaders held a news conference in the last hour with major business deals worth billions announced between the two countries on Wednesday.
FIFA has released the names of more people being investigated for corruption at world football's governing body. Among them is Germany's
former World Cup winning captain Franz Beckenbauer. He was a FIFA voter when Russia and Qatar won the rights to host the World Cup.
Returning to our top story this hour, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We want to take a step back from the day's headlines and look at
the root causes of this latest round of violence.
Israel accuses Palestinian leaders of stirring up anger over Jewish visitation to a Jerusalem holy site, but for Palestinians the grievances go
far deeper. Many have lost hope after living under occupation for decades watching settlements expand and peace negotiations fail time and time
again.
Ben Wedeman has their side of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pull up your pants, pull up your T-shirt, turn around, show your I.D. -- that's
the only way residents of the east Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Esoweia (ph) can get to the city center under tough new security measures
in the wake of a spate of stabbing attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly accused of Palestinian Authority, Hamas and others, of inciting the violence. But ask
the Palestinians at the checkpoint what's behind it all, and they seem to say the same thing, the Israeli occupation.
"The occupation sleeps on our chests, on our stomachs," says 63-year- old Faruk (ph).
Says this woman, "occupation is oppression, oppression and subjugation."
Since the June 1967 War, more than half a million Israelis have settled in east Jerusalem in the West Bank, often on confiscated
Palestinian land. Israel has set up an extensive network of roadblocks and checkpoints across the West Bank and now walls and concrete blocks have
gone up in east Jerusalem.
URI ZAKI, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Occupation means that you have approximately two and a half million Palestinians living for almost 50
years now under military administration.
[11:35:08] WEDEMAN: The Palestinian Authority, set up after the 1993 Oslo accord, has little authority beyond the confines of Ramallah.
ZIAD ABU ZAYYAD, PALESTINIAN ANALYST: What occupation is the major incitement of the people? People want to live normal life. They want to
feel free. I did nothing wrong
WEDEMAN: Former Palestinian Authority Minister Ziad Abu Zayyad warns that stopping the violence without addressing its causes, won't cure the
ills of this unhappy land.
ZAYYAD: If you have cancer, do you think that Advil can help you? It can be a relief of pain for a short while, but it will not cure you. You
need real medicine to cure you, and the real medicine here is the end of the occupation.
WEDEMAN: The clashes here in Hebron and elsewhere in the West Bank continue. The attacks on Israelis also continue.
(on camera): For the last 30 years, there have been two major Palestinian uprisings. Before, in between, and after, there have been many
more flare-ups like this one going on right now. And in the absence of a final resolution to this problem, more flare-ups, and more uprisings aren't
likely, they're inevitable.
(voice-over): Expect more of the same, only worse.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Hebron, on the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: That's the Palestinian perspective.
I want to get the Israeli side for you now. The repeated stabbings and other attacks by Palestinians have left many people on edge. Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to fight what he calls the wave of terror saying its root cause is not occupation or settlements, but quote
the desire to destroy the state of Israel.
CNN's Phil Black visited a Jewish settlement deep inside the West Bank where people say they are the legitimate residents of the land.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHANTING)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hebron is a sprawling city, home to some 180,000 people, almost all of them Palestinian. The
rest, a tiny fraction of the population, drawn here from around the world to fulfill a religious dream.
NOAM ANON, JEWISH SETTLEMENT SPOKESMAN: Hebron is the beginning and the cradle and the roots and the foundation of Jewish history.
BLACK: Niagh ANON is one of around 700 Jews who have settled here in the center of the city, located in the West Bank. Territory Israel took
from Jordan during a war in 1967. It's why Palestinians and much of the international community consider this occupied territory.
(on camera): Just out there, there are so many people out there that view you and your community as occupiers. Are these people right when they
say that you are occupiers?
ANON: Totally not. Totally not.
BLACK: Why not?
ANON: Because Hebron was liberated by the state of Israel.
BLACK: Israeli soldiers are still here, guarding the handful of streets that make up this isolated community.
A recent video shows the tension that comes with living here. A Palestinian man lies dead, shot by a Jewish settler who said he was
defending himself against a knife attack. That inspired wider street clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli forces protecting the Jewish
settlement. Jews blame the ongoing violence on what they call an incitement machine, made up of mosques, schools, media, and politicians, which they
say train Palestinians to hate Jews. And they insist it's not new.
ANON: These are just some of the victims.
BLACK: Anon shows me a museum exhibit dedicated to the massacre of 1929 when Palestinians turned on the local Jewish community, murdering 67
people.
ANON: It happened right here against an innocent Jewish community. 40 years before this the State of Israel was even established.
BLACK: There's been lots of violence in Hebron since then, notably here, a sacred site known to Jews as Tomb of the Patriarch, the burial
place of the Biblical Abraham. It's holy to Muslims, too. And in 1994, an Israeli Jew massacred 29 Muslims praying here.
(on camera): There's the violence is fueled by the total absence of the peace process, any viable hope of an end to this conflict. The Jews of
Hebron don't buy that at all.
(voice-over): Uri Karzen (ph) settled here more than 30 years ago and voices a theory widely held by many Jews, that Palestinian leaders use
incitement and terror to strengthen their hand in pursuing their goals.
URI KARRZEN (ph), JEWISH SETTLER: The attacks will continue if they think that they're going to achieve a Palestinian state.
BLACK: The idea of a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine as peaceful neighbors, doesn't fly here either. Too much hate, too little
land, say the settlers.
KARZEN (ph): Eventually, the Arabs will have to get used to the idea that we're here to stay.
[11:40:05] BLACK: Determination that will be met with more violence because these Jews and the Palestinians resisting them all believe their
cause is just.
Phil Black, CNN, Hebron, in the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Live from Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson.
Coming up, the vault that scientists say could save us all from a global crisis. We'll take you deep inside the Arctic after this.
And the future is now. It's Back to the Future day. So, did the 80s movie get it right? We'll find out if technology today is as strange as
fiction.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: A snowy fortress in Norway may seem like an odd choice for the largest collection of crops on Earth, but that is exactly where the
world has placed its seed samples and its faith.
CNN's Arwa Damon paid a visit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Glittering, like an exotic gem in the distance. The entrance to the Svalbard Seed Vault extends
out of the side of an arctic mountain. Looking more like a villain's lair from a James Bond movie, that's where humanity has banked the seeds of its
survival.
We walk into a long cement foreboding hallway, safety helmets line the wall, protection against falling ice.
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: So that's about 150 meters down into the mountain. This is becoming the Perma frost here in granite.
[11:45:02] DAMON: Michael Koch with the crop trust that oversees the vault, guides us deeper into the mountain. With each step, the temperature
drops. It's like something out of a movie.
MICHAEL KOCH: It is like a holy place. Every time I come here, I feel like I'm in a cathedral. This is a place to pause and to think, because
it's a very unique place, and it's a very important place for humanity.
DAMON: This is so beautiful. And yet, it's so simple. It's just a door, but behind it is the key to humanity's salvation. There are 860,000
types of seeds from all over the world here.
KOCH: So you have boxes from Germany, from Nigeria, from India, the United States, the largest gene bank in the world. That's an interesting
box right here. This box comes from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the only wooden boxes in the vault.
DAMON: This is humanity's insurance policy, meant to safe guard against cataclysmic events that wipe out our crops. Despite multiple
conflicts around the world, Kock says that's not what will bring about our demise.
KOCH: Agriculture is not adapting as fast currently as the climate is changing on us. We have to adapt to rising temperatures, to wind and storm
and flooding, new diseases and pests. We have salt water coming into the rice paddies in the fields, so salination is an issue.
So these tolerances to these issues are found here. This is a diversity of the genes that you're going to use to adapt agriculture, and
you do not know what you're going to need 50, or 100, or 500 years from now.
DAMON: Even if power goes out, the vault can preserve these seeds for decades. In the race against climate change, protecting our past may be the
only way to ensure our future.
Arwa Damon, CNN Svalbard Norway.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Amazing stuff.
Live from Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World. A little bit left for you before we are out of here tonight.
Coming up, we don't have auto-fitting clothes just yet, just what did the 80s movie Back to the Future get right then about 2015? We're going to
take a look for you up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[11:50:39] ANDERSON: Slavery, you might think it's a thing of the past. It's not. It's all around us.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: There are between 20 and 36 million slaves in the world today. 5.5 million children globally are in
forced labor. And half of all human trafficking victims are sexually exploited.
ANDERSON: Some 2011, the CNN Freedom Project has been highlighting modern day slavery. Giving a voice to victims.
Now, we need your help.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Join CNN's Fly to Freedom campaign and help raise awareness of modern day slavery.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Here is what we want you to do. Make a plane. Make a pledge. Show us your plane and pledge using
the hashtag #flytofreedom. And nominate two friends to do the same by tagging them.
COOPER: You might think you can't make a difference, but when we all unite as one, we can make a change together. It takes just a few minutes
to participate, so please join us.
QUEST: Share you videos and photos using the hashtag #flytofreedom and be part of ending modern-day slavery.
Let's show the world that it's time for slavery to stop.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: You're with CNN. This is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson.
Well, we here at CNN make no excuses in our fight against modern-day slavery. And that is why I'm joining my colleagues by pledging to support
a local trafficking shelter Ewa (ph), it's called, here in Abu Dhabi.
I've written my pledge on the side of this paper plane. And I nominate CNN's John Defterios and the UAE's Noura al Kaabi (ph) to join our
fly to freedom campaign next.
But we also need you (inaudible). Head over to our Facebook Page. Facebook.com/CNNConnect. Post your pledge in the comment section of this
clip. And we will share them for you.
Let's fight modern-day slavery together and fly to Freedom. Goodnight.
Before we go, just a little extra for you this evening. The future has arrived, well sort of. In the 1989 film Back to the Future II, the
main characters travel forward in time to this date, October 21, 2015. And back then they had some pretty zany ideas about what it would be like.
In our parting shots, then, tonight, just before we go. Jeanne Moos shows us that the only thing more difficult than traveling into the future,
is predicting it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is called...
CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, ACTOR: Back to the Future.
MOOS: ...but now the future is becoming the past as the time traveling machine's destination and the actual calendar match.
LLOYD: Where we're going, we don't need roads.
The flying DeLorean might not, but we 2015ers still do. Flying car likes the Aero mobile exist. As a business they're barely off the ground.
Ditto for the hover board. Up until now they have hardly hovered. As people riding seem to do most of the flying off.
The actors who played Marty McFly and Doc Brown reunited.
LLOYD: Those self-tying sneakers.
MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR: I've been waiting for those.
MOOS: Waiting for Nike to match the movie.
FOX: Power laces. All right.
MOOS: An outfit called Power Lace claims to have the technology.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You slide your foot into the shoot.
MOOS: Though they haven't tied up the financing, and the lag in laces is being mocked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put these on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh Rad. I bet they are futuristic self-lacing sneakers, right doc?
UNIDENITIFIED MALE: What? No they are called Crocs.
[11:55:02] MOOS: And this seemed to be a crock as well.
FOX: This thing doesn't fit.
MOOS: It's 2015, and there's still no self-sizing, no self-drying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drying clothes on.
MOOS: Remember when Marty McFly ordered a drink?
FOX: All I want is a Pepsi.
MOOS: His Pepsi perfect came with a straw built into the lid.
But Pepsi special commemorative bottle is just a regular twist off, with plain old Pepsi inside.
Pepsi created 6,500 of the bottles and is selling them for $20.15. Get it? 2015.
Back to the Future's most astounding prophecy was this. 26 years ago, there was no team in Miami but there is now. And the forever hopeless Cubs
are in the playoffs.
The ride service Lyft is offering free rides for a day in Deloreans. Mercedes jumped on the band wagon with a spot mimicking the movie's
floating robot dog walker.
In real life we're dog years behind. With all this "Back to the Future" hoopla, here' a toast to the past.
How time McFlys when you are hydrating pizza.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hydrate level four, please.
Jeanne Moos, CNN...
FOX: Boy, oh boy, mom. You sure can hydrate a pizza.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, I didn't get it right the first time, so I'm going to try it again. That was Connect the World. Thank you for watching. It was
a very good evening from the team here and those working with us around the world.
CNN, though, does of course continue after this short break.
END
