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Protesters Outside Trump Rally; Protesters Demand Dilma Rousseff's Impeachment; Five Years of Syrian Conflict; Dubai's Grand Prix of Drones; German Report Recommends Greater Balance Between Patient Confidentiality, Public Safety. New Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired March 13, 2016 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[11:00:11] NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For five years, the west has fought to stay out of another Middle East quagmire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Almost a half decade to the day and no solution in sight for the war in Syria. We will go live to Geneva for peace talks are
on shaky ground, even before they have begun.
Also tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, 2016 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm just a messenger, because there is a lot of anger in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Presidential hopeful Donald Trump is known for his no holds barred language. But now, Democrats and Republicans alike are accusing him
of fueling violence, more on that coming up.
Plus, the quest to be the fastest drone in the air. We'll (inaudible) Dubai's drone grand prix and a special guest later this hour.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
ANDERSON: All right, it is just after 7:00 in the evening here as the Syrian civil war approaches a new milestone, five years talks to end it are
set to begin in less than 24 hours in Geneva, but there are already many concerns before the negotiations even start.
Speaking in Paris today, the U.S. secretary of state accused the Syrian government of sending a message of disruption.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We all strongly support the UN efforts and we look forward to the resumption of talks in Geneva on Monday.
And there isn't a person standing here who doesn't understand how difficult that is. Witness the comments made just yesterday by the foreign minister
of Syria clearly trying to disrupt the process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, on Saturday the Syrian President Bashar al Assad's chief envoy said the political future of the president is nonnegotiable. Syria's
opposition is demanding that Mr. Assad leave power.
Well, CNN's Nic Robertson joining us now live from Geneva.
What do we know at this point, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what Staffan de Mistura has said is that he plans to give the two delegations in these
proximity talks -- they won't be in the same room. The opposition in one meeting at one time and then he'll be going to another room for another
meeting at another time with the Syrian government he'll be laying out to them the plan as he sees it going forward. And that has been laid out in
the UN Security Council resolution in December. That is a new constitution in six months, with the clock ticking already you are looking
at June for that. Following that new constitution, there would be elections, UN monitored elections, within 18 months.
Staffan de Mistura has said that those elections would be both parliamentary and presidential. The letter of the UN doesn't spell that
out, but it has, if you will, put the cat among the pigeons. President Assad's foreign minister made it very clear that President Assad's future
non-negotiable. Only the Syrian people can get involved in that.
The opposition has said he must go. They also say, as well, that the Syrian people have to decide the future of the country. But Secretary
Kerry drawing a very clear line here that the international community -- The United States, the Gulf Arab states, the Europeans have all been behind
the opposition getting them into these talks, and on the opposite side you have Russia, you have Iran as well that are involved in the talks, in the
UN security council resolution, Russia signed up to it, to get President Bashar al Assad and his delegation to these
talks as well.
Now, Secretary Kerry saying very clearly that President Putin, the pressure on you to get President Bashar al Assad in line and negotiate in good faith
at the talks. This is what Secretary Kerry said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: President Putin who is invested in supporting Assad with enormous commitment and it has made a difference obviously on the battlefield,
everybody has seen that, should be somewhat concerned about the fact that President Assad is
seemingly singing from a completely different song sheet and that he sent his foreign minister out yesterday to try to act as a spoiler to take off
of the table what President Putin and the Iranians have specifically agreed to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: What western diplomats will tell you on the sidelines of these talks is everyone here -- the UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, sees
this as a test of the commitment of Russia and President Bashar al Assad. This is the moment where they are really going to have to decide are they
into these talks to get real and get real substantial negotiations going, or are they just here to filibuster and play for time, which is what
Staffan de Mistura said, but the talks that collapsed here just a month and a half ago, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, Nic Robertson on the story for you. And to repeat -- thank you, NIc, this week marks five years since the Syrian uprising. No
one could ever have imagined the scale of the devastation from this war.
Later in the show, I want to get you some of the critical developments on that five year timeline. One of them, of course, is the rise of ISIS.
Two Syrian women risk everything, go under cover in the terror group's stronghold. Raqqa. We'll show you their exclusive report in about 30
minutes from now.
Another big weekend and another big week ahead in the race for the White House. A little while ago Donald Trump told CNN, and I quote, should get
credit not be scorned for how he handles tension at his campaign events.
Well, the Republican frontrunner was addressing the fallout after he called off a rally earlier this weekend.
It was supposed to be held in Chicago, but turned into chaos after heated confrontations. A few hours ago, CNN asked Trump if he has done enough to
keep the crowds in check.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think, in many cases, I do lower the temperature.
I tell the police, please take it easy when people are punching the police and trying to hurt people. When I say things like "I would like to punch
him," frankly, this was a person that was absolutely violent and was like a crazed individual.
A lot of them are -- you know, I don't even call them protesters. I call them disrupters. A lot of them come from Bernie Sanders, whether he wants
to say it or not. And if he says no, then he's lying.
Bernie Sanders, they have Sanders signs all over the place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, all right. Well, the Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders himself appeared on the same programs minutes later and
fired off this response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, 2016 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should take Mr. Trump's words with a grain of salt, because I think, as almost
everybody knows, this man cannot stop lying about anything.
To call me a communist is a lie. To talk about our organization or our campaign disrupting his meeting is a lie. Were there some people there?
There were thousands of people, as I understand it. Some of them were supporters of mine, but, certainly, absolutely, we had nothing to do, our
campaign had nothing to do with disrupting his meeting.
I think what you see, Jake, is a man -- and even his Republican colleagues make this point -- his language, his intonations, when he talks about
carrying people out in stretchers, when you see at his rallies people sucker-punch folks, kick people when they're down, this is a man who keeps
implying violence, and then you end up getting what you see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, meanwhile another Trump campaign event is supposed to be getting underway right now. This time in Bloomington in Illinois, that is a few hours drive from Chicago where that rally was planned for Friday and
of course called off.
Rosa Flores, our correspondent is in amongest the crowd who is rallying in Bloomington.
And Barack Obama has warned the contenders to avoid raising tensions. This a day after the rally by Donald Trump was called off. Is that appeal
likely to be heeded by protesters and the candidates, not least Donald Trump, of course,
who has been accused of stoking violence with his divisive rhetoric, Rosa?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Becky, it's a little difficult for me to understand you because the crowd is so loud, but I want to set
the scene for you so that you can get an idea of what it is like here in Bloomington.
Take a look around, you can see that a lot of these signs are in Spanish, some of them are in English. Now let me tell you about where this group
came from and how they organized. They started a Facebook page. There is a lead organizer here. And this Facebook got a lot of different shares.
So most of the people that you see here are from Bloomington.
Just to give you an idea, they had a similar rally in November and there was 30 people present. Now, take a look around. You can see that now
there are hundreds of people.
Now, here is what is happening at the moment. The Trump rally is actually at
the end of the street to my left. Now all of the attendees going to the Trump rally have to walk literally through this road between the protesters
on either side. So we have seen several clashes where protesters have shouting matches with some of the Trump supporters and attendees.
Now, just a few moments ago we started to see that state police arrived. So there is a state police presence. They parked their vehicles on either
side. I asked them why, why so much police presence in this particular rally because we haven't seen them earlier in the day? They didn't want to
give me a clear answer. The only thing that they told me was just in case.
I want to point out one more thing, as we keep rocking and you can see the size of this crowd, here outside you will see handmade signs, you will see
people with umbrellas. You will see people with flags. Inside the Trump rally, if you
take a look at that picture, you will not see any handmade signs. Why is that? Here is why, we were here earlier when attendees were entering and
all handmade signs, all umbrellas -- as you can see it's raining -- and all flags were -- the attendees were told to leave them outside.
Now, once you are inside the event you will see that there are Trump signs because the Trump organizers were giving those out.
So, I asked the organizers why, why were they not allowing anyone to take the signs in. They told me they didn't want other people inside, only
Trump supporters.
Now, as we flip our cameras around you will be able to see the size of the crowd behind me. And again, Becky, it's been a more and more protesters
have been arriving and as you can see right now you can see that the attendees
to the Trump rally have to walk in between the protesters. So at moments it can be a very
tense situation -- Becky.
ANDERSON: How many people are expected inside?
FLORES: Well, here is the interesting thing, we saw droves of people walk through here very early this morning. There was a very long line.
Probably about 30, 40 minutes ago we saw droves of people leave the event. I asked them why. They told me that they were told that the venue was at
capacity and that they needed to leave.
So our understanding is that that venue is at capacity, people still come walking in thinking that they can get into that event, but were told that
event is full.
As for the number of protesters, it started with about 50 very early this morning. And then you can see the crowd around me. There are hundreds of
protesters at this time. I have asked them what are you protesting. Why is it that you are here? And of course what we hear over and over is they
say they are protesting Trump, they're protesting his message, they're protesting his message of violence. They are against racism.
And that is what you see in a lot of these posters, a lot of attacks against Trump and some of the things that he has said, some of the things
about the border, for example, the border wall and that sort of thing.
But again, it's a rainy day. It's a bit nippy and cold. And you know the organizers of this protest thought, you know, that they were going to get -
- they thought they were going to get slim numbers because of that. That is not the case, Becky.
ANDERSON: All right, Rosa. Back to you as we get more. Thank you.
And join us later for the CNN TV one democratic presidential town hall ahead of Tuesday's critical primaries. Ohio voters will put questions to
both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, that's 8:00 p.m. in New York. If you can't sleep in Abu Dhabi, it will be here on air at 4:00 a.m. So, do
join us for that.
Well, the final report into the deliberate crash of Germanwings flight 9525 calls for better balance between patient confidentiality and public safety.
The report reveal that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was referred to a psychiatric hospital
for possible psychosis just two weeks before the disaster, but that information was not shared with the airline.
Well, on March 24 of last year, Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and flew the jet into the French Alps killing himself and all 149 others on
board.
Well, for more on the report, let's bring in senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen who joins us now live from London. And
this report, Fred, very much confirming what we already knew. What measures does it specifically recommend should be taken to prevent other
tragedies like this one?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it focuses on the mental health of pilots and how to make sure that the mental health of
pilots doesn't become an issue in airline safety. You mentioned one of the things which
was a key finding where they said that there need to be more clear rules for patients' confidentiality with people who treat pilots.
As we have noted in the past Andreas Lubitz visited a doctor 41 times and was even supposed to go to a psychiatric hospital, according to one of
these doctors . However, the employer never knew anything about this.
Another recommendation that this report makes is to make more frequent checks with pilots who have had mental health issues in the past. At this
point in time it is one check a year. The report in that press conference said it should be somewhere like three months or maybe six months, even.
And there was something else also, Becky, because the people who authored the report also said it is absolutely clear to them that of course pilots
are afraid to disclose the fact that they have mental problems if they do because they are afraid of losing their jobs. And they say that airlines
should create somewhat mitigating circumstances. Two people who disclose that to make sure pilots don't completely lose their jobs but maybe simply
get transferred to another division within the airline that does not involve piloting an aircraft, so they don't have to
face financial troubles and completely losing their job if, in fact, they come forward.
So there is a series of recommendations. But the core of them have to do with the fact that mental conditions of pilots should not impede on airline
safety.
And actually just a couple of minutes ago, right before we were going to air, we received a statement from Germanwings, from Eurowings that it's now
called, saying that the company will, of course, continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities and will support the possible implementation of
concrete measures based on the accident investigation report into the loss of flight 4U9525.
So these recommendations are out there. Germanwings is obviously -- or Eurowings, as it's now called, have said they have heard it.
Not clear, however, Becky, if this will be enough for the victims' families. Of course, a lot of them very angry, a lot of them demanding
answers as to how someone who had the mental problems that Andreas Lubitz had was able to be
certified as a pilot.
ANDERSON: Yeah, all right, Fred. Fred is in London for you tonight on the story. Thank you.
Still to come, allegations that doctors in Syria are being targeted in air strikes like these. That alarming claim comes from my next guest who runs
a charity there. Our full interview with him is just ahead.
And standing in line to apply for a job. Why wait times in the United Arab Emirates may become even longer. That story in less than 10 minutes
time. You're with Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson out of the UAE. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: You are back with Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. At 19 minutes past 7:00 this evening in Abu Dhabi. Our top story this hour is
the war in Syria. There is a cease fire holding there right now and talks expected to start, of course, in Geneva Monday.
And while it is being criticized, this ceasefire, it does seem to be holding up better than others that have come before it.
Still, not everybody is noticing a difference, though, I'm afraid. I sat down with Dr. Max Sawaf who is Syria -- (inaudible) who left his multi-
million dollar plastic surgery practice in Beverly Hills so he could find a way to help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[11:20:26] ANDERSON: Cautious optimism: that's how many observers are viewing the current cessation of hostilities in Syria.
And despite some scattered attacks, the let up has helped humanitarian workers trying to deliver much-needed aid to millions of Syrians.
DR. MAX SAWAF, SYRIAN RELIEF ORGANIZATION: We used to go in and out all the time.
ANDERSON: But for Dr. Max Sawaf, a Dubai-based physician who provides medical assistance to residents in Aleppo, it has had little effect.
SAWAF: So, when I talk to my people in Aleppo, they are still finding it very
hard to find any food and medicine.
ANDERSON: CNN's recent rare access into Aleppo, exposed the harsh realities of life in the rebel-held city. The drop in air strikes also
came after a significant increase in the city's bombardment by Russian and pro-regime forces. And in a recent report, Amnesty International accused
Russian and Syrian government forces of deliberately targeting hospital after hospital to pave the way for ground forces to advance on northern
Aleppo.
Do those doctors who are working on the ground in syria feel they have become targets?
SAWAF: They die every month. We have doctors that I know that die. When you have the same hospital being bombed over and over and over and over
again this is not a collateral damage. That is a targeting of hospitals. And they do the same to schools.
ANDERSON: And while the overall reduction in violence has set a more hopeful backdrop for peace talks, Dr. Max, a member of the Syrian
opposition himself, sees a major pitfall.
SAWAF: When big red line -- not just for the opposition, but for the Syrians who been paying the biggest price is not to have Assad part of the
solution. This revolution will never end, even if the opposition signs on to it -- and they will not -- if Assad stays in power.
ANDERSON: As the conflict steps into its fifth year, Assad's days and those of the Syrian war may not yet be numbered.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Dr. Max Sawaf speaking to me recently.
Live from Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World. Coming up, protests are underway in Brazil demanding the impeachment of Presidnet Dilma Rousseff.
We'll be live from Rio de Janeiro for you in about 10 minutes' time.
First up, though, finding work, it is becoming more of a struggle for young people here in the Gulf. We will have more on why after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Welcome back. 24 minutes 7:00 for you here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson.
All right, well, let's carry on. And Gulf countries, like this one, the UAE, have long been known for offering jobs with high tax free salaries.
But with a recent slump in oil prices finding position proving a little harder these days, especially for the youngsters.
CNN's John Jensen went down to a career fair in Dubai to speak to some of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN JENSEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Getting your first job out of college is never easy, but when oil prices are down in the oil
rich Gulf it can be especially tough.
Rameez Tariq is on the hunt right now at this Dubai career fair. The Pakistani ex-pat got a degree in engineering six months ago, but hasn't had
a single lead yet.
RAMEEZ TARIQ, JOB SEEKER: Everywhere I applied it is rejection. It's either the word regret or we inform you, we regret to inform you.
Unfortunately, this is something that really hurts now. Every single place I put my CV on, it's the same story.
JENSEN: Tariq is one of hundreds of recent graduates braving long lines here, resumes in hand, desperate to find something, anything.
Crowded job fairs like this one are increasingly common as are concerns that
cheap oil means the days of secure jobs with big salaries are over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very confusing right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Panicking a lot. Panicked and depressed, to be honest.
JENSEN: The UAE says the job market as a whole here has never been better with nearly 6 percent gain in skilled labor last year over 2015. But
across the Gulf, the slump led to layoffs, especially in the oil and gas sector.
I spoke with one young petroleum engineer recently unemployed. Now, he didn't want to appear on camera, but off camera he told me that in the past
five months he sent out 20 resumes a day and not one response.
Jaya Bhatia set up this fair. She says there is no reason to panic yet.
JAYA BHATIA, JOBHUT HR & MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY: There are (inaudible) full opportunities if you are smart enough as a job hunter to target the
right position and get aligned to the job market you are always able to find a good opportunity.
JENSEN: Tariq is not so sure. He grew up here and never imagined he would struggle to make ends meet in his own city.
TARIQ: We are hoping that oil prices will recover. And we will eventually find ourselves with better jobs for which we studied so hard for.
JENSEN; And if that fails, he says, there is always grad school.
John Jensen, CNN, Dubai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, latest world news headlines are just ahead on CNN, as you would expect bottom of the hour here.
Plus, Germans have less than an hour left to cast ballots in an election that
could effect millions of migrants. We'll tell you why the results could scuttle a
migrant proposal and push the country to the right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[11:31:20] ANDERSON: Well, polls close in less than an hour in Germany. Three states there are holding regional elections widely seen as a
referendum on Angela Merkel's refugee policy. Now, this is the German Chancellor's first electoral test, since allowing more than a million
migrants into the country, a decision that has caused some anxiety among some.
And the anti-immigration party alternative for Germany has been gaining support.
Now, this vote comes as Ms. Merkel tries to seal an EU deal with Turkey that would stem the flow of migrants into Europe.
The polls show almost a fifth of voters in one state now back the alternative for Germany party which advocates stopping migrants at the
border, but its appeal also lies outside policy.
The crisis has forced Germans into a national conversation over identity.
CNN's Atika Shubert has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As campaign ads go, it's a soft sell. Hazy images of idyllic German life for
our country, for our security. No mention of specific issues or policies. The AFD or Alternative for Germany is selling an idea, the only political
party, it says, willing to stand up and defend German identities and values, especially on the refugee crisis.
FRAUKE PETRY, AFD LEADER: We have the label of being Nazi, of being brown, which is something very, very bad in Germany, something which frightens
most people in society, and we say, hey, whatever the label is, let's discuss content.
SHUBERT (voice-over): AFD leader Frauke Petry (ph) is a chemist turned politician. The new face of Germany's conservative movement, she talked to
CNN on the campaign trail as extra security patrolled the grounds of the local sports center where she was speaking.
Petry has received threats and protests follow her campaign. But her party stands to make big gains on a policy that advocates stopping migration
altogether -- at least nor now.
PETRY: We need to define who is in our state, who's going to go back and then we need to talk after that about migration laws. At the moment, we
have the problem that we don't take these two problems apart and that the Merkel government is really afraid of sending a clear signal.
SHUBERT (voice-over): Germany is under pressure. Last year German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to the country to take in more than 1
million asylum seekers, initially basking in Wilkommen Skulter (ph) or welcoming refugees.
But then came New Year's Eve in Cologne. Refugees and migrants were blamed for the mass sexual assaults on scores of women and then came the backlash.
Arson attacks on refugee shelters; in one case, an angry mob blocked a bus full of refugees from moving into town.
Recent polls say that a whopping 80 percent of Germans no longer support Merkel's refugee policy but many do not want to be lumped in with Far Right
anti-Islamic groups, either. As audience members made clear to Petry (ph) during the rally we attended.
The AFD fills that gap but Petry (ph) still struggles to define where the party stands. A local paper quote her as saying police should use firearms
if necessary to stop people from crossing the border illegally.
That sparked magazine covers accusing her of inciting violence.
SHUBERT: The headline here, the hate preacher, what do you make of it?
PETRY: Yes, it hurts, it hurts because what I really want to say doesn't get through anymore. We need to be very strong about that and punish
everyone --
PETRY: -- who's sort of involved in violence.
SHUBERT (voice-over): But precisely by providing a conservative alternative to the powerful center bloc of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Frauke Petry
believes the AFD is here to stay.
Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:35:20] ANDERSON: This just in to CNN. There have been attacks on two hotels in the Ivory Coast. The government says they were carried out by
armed men in Grand Bassam, a town in the southeastern part of the country.
Security services are on the scene. Let's bring in CNN's Robyn Kriel who joins us now on the phone from Nairobi with more on this.
A beach resort as I understand it, Robyn. What are your sources telling you?
ROBYN KRIEL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, security services are on the scene. They are asking government -- the Cote d'Ivoire
government is asking people not to panic and to remain calm, Becky.
We have been told to avoid the area.
At the moment the government has released some of the victims, though we are not sure if these are people who are just injured in the attack or if
they were killed. Five Ivorean men, they say five women whose nationalities are not yet known and one child under 5 years was injured and
has been evacuated by emergency services.
So we are trying to get to (inaudible) this is a relatively upscale part of the country on the beach, as you said, the beach resorts. And this
wouldn't be the first attack that we have seen of this nature in that region. You will remember a few months ago an attack on the hotel in
Bamako, Mali by extremist group Al Murabi Khun (ph), as well as an attack - - sorry, an attack in Mali as well as in Burkina Faso on the Radisson Hotel.
So, these are two western hotels. We also understand that this hotel is popular with westerners, Becky.
ANDERSON: All right, Robyn Kriel working the story for you. The more we get we will, of course, bring it to you here on CNN.
Robyn, for the time being, thank you.
Well, protests are underway in Brazil demanding president Dilma Rousseff step down. President Rousseff's second term in office has been marred by
a corruption scandal involving her own workers party.
Demonstrations in her support are also expected to take place.
Well, Shasta Darlington is in Rio de Janeiro. And I know the opposition movement is very well
organized. This time last year, Shasta, they rallied more than a million and a half on to Brazil's city
streets. So I guess anything less than a large turnout will be seen as disappointing.
What are numbers like where you are? And what are protesters telling you they want?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, the streets here are just a sea of yellow and green...
ANDERSON: All right. It sounds as if we are struggling a little bit. Perhaps we'll let take a very short break. Let's take a very short break,
see if we can get Shasta back. Clearly, big crowds there. We're going to take a short break.
Coming up, though, we will try to get Shasta back. And Syria's civil war five years on and still no solution in sight. So, we explore how the
violence is spiraling across the region.
Plus, this is a racetrack where nothing touches the ground and it is right here in the UAE. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:38] ANDERSON: All right, you're back with us. This is Connect the World with me, Becky Anderson. All this hour, we have been turning our
attention to syria's grinding civil war. It will pass a five year mark this week., I'm afraid, and a search for a political solution has been slow
and muddled at best, isn't it?
Earlier, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with his counterparts from major European
countries. But we have seen many meetings like this with few results. Syria's conflict has had consequences not just for itself, but globally, of
course. The rise of ISIS among them.
Well, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has been exploring some of those consequences for us. And tells us where he believes things stand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: Well, Becky, as we move towards this highly symbolic fifth anniversary of the beginning of the unrest that turned into this
unimaginable civil war that sucked in much of the region there is a cessation of hostilities that I think most sides agree has significantly
lowered the daily death toll against civilians.
But just in the last 24 hours the Syrian opposition is reporting that Russian and Syrian air strikes killed 52 people and the Russians are
reporting ten violations.
It is far from perfect, but it is a rare and substantial change in the daily pattern of violence.
A revolt that began about the fate of one man, President Bashar al Assad, whose fate now frankly is not a side issue because it is so acutely argued
about in foreign capitals as part of the peace deal, but were he to step aside that would not suddenly overnight switch off the violence in this
spiraling war that has become in some ways a test case for the U.S.'s appetite for enduring influence in the Middle East and also for Russia's
involvement for its return onto the international stage militarily and politically as a decider.
But this war has taken us to places that five years ago was simply unimaginable.
For five years, the west has fought to stay out of another Middle East quagmire. And so on five occasions the things that never imagined could
happen did.
It took thousands to die from bombing before the first White House red line was crossed, and that was a use of chemical weapons, sarin, in Damascus
suburbs.
Unimaginable to so many, but really happening in 2013, the terror something you could feel on
YouTube.
Syria gave up its chemical weapons but so, too, did so many on Obama's red line. Mere months later, radicals pour into Syria. Here at Hattai (ph)
airport, we watched dozens of foreigners from Libya, Mauritania, Egypt insist they were charity workers.
Turkey let many like them cross into Syria and ISIS took root right on Europe and NATO's door step.
It is in the nature of wars to spread chaos and just across the border in Iraq, another never again.
The Yazidis, a sect whose obscurity didn't shield them from ISIS, were brutalized. Women used as sex slaves, children as soldiers, men just
murdered. It is still unclear how many died. U.S. officials think it may be genocide.
It took four years of desperation to spark the largest refugee crisis since World War II. Not even the rise or fall of the Soviet Union did this.
Unable to see an end to the war or a future in the Middle East they left for Germany, Greece or anywhere in between or beyond risking life, bringing
out the worst and best of those welcoming them.
One small fact also exposes how the war has hamstrung our humanity, we don't know how many people have died in it, not since January 2014 when the
UN last counted 100,000. They have since been unable to verify enough information.
Even in this the most filmed and social media posted war yet, the utter chaos stops one place at
dignity.
Some say 470,000 have died five years in, still impossible to know what the number will stop
a .
Becky, I think if you look back years from now at this particular key moment in time, it is those who began the revolution against Bashar al
Assad, the Sunni Syrian moderates who started much of the unrest who felt repressed, who were themselves attacked at peaceful demonstration, it is
them now who are reeling and most heavily hit whose battlefields now dominated from their side by al Qaeda affiliates or by ISIS who have seen
themselves under attack, who have increasingly less territory which they actually control and whose future looks increasingly bleak as we move now
into the sixth year of this conflict, Becky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:46:05] ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh reporting for you. In the self- proclaimed capital of ISIS is the city of Raqqa in Syria. Two female journalists risk everything
to go inside with hidden cameras and to capture what life is really like under the group. Their report appears on CNN Affiliate (inaudible) TV.
Have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ISIS practiced the most brutal form of Sharia. They crucify people, take their enemies, women as sex slaves, punish men and
women by flogging them on the streets and in public squares, and they behead their prisoners.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One they throw a young man off a (inaudible) block into the street below. They claimed the man gay. At first they sent him
on a 15 day long sharia course. He (inaudible) to memorize sections of the Quran. Afterwards, they told people he is gay and the he would get
punished.
They took him to the roof. Even as people gathered there, they asked people not to chant "Allahu Akbar" and not to take photographs as he was not a
Muslim.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: An inside view of what is going on in Raqqa on all this week CNN's Clarissa Ward, my colleague, is taking you, or certainly will take
you, on what is a harrowing journey deep into the heart of Syria, a country as I say, scarred by five years of war,
isolated by devastation.
You will get an exclusive look inside Syria behind rebel lines and meet the people who call what is left of the embattled country home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We had to travel under cover to see a war few outsideers have witnessed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The Russian planes target anything that works in the interest of people. The goal is that people here live a
destroyed life, that people never see any good.
WARD: There are snipers all around here, but this is the only road, now, to get into Aleppo.
Aleppo was once Syria's largest city, now an apocalyptic landscape.
Any civilian infrastructure is a potential target, including hospitals. It is possible they did not know that this was a hospital?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): everyone knows this is a hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that is all part of our exclusive special coverage Inside Syria: Behind Rebel Lines, only here on CNN all week, do stay with us this
week for that.
Now, demonstrations in Brazil, and we were trying to make contact with Shasta Darlington in Rio de Janeiro earlier on. We were failing slightly
miserably. But I think we got her back on the phone.
Shasta, if you can hear me I know that there are protesters gathering around you there in Rio. What are the numbers like and what are
protesters telling you they want?
DARLINGTON: Well, I can tell you, Becky, this is just a sea of yellow and green here on Copa Cabana Beach, that's part of the reason we've had these
communication problems, just so many people here.
Definitely the biggest demonstration we have seen in at least a year. And we will have the final
numbers later today. The bigger march is going to be in Sao Paolo this afternoon, but organizers are hoping to get more than a million people out
on the streets.
What they want, they want to bring down President Dilma Rousseff and her Workers Party and
the man who put her there, that would be former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. They blame the party in many politicians for a corruption
scandal and also for a prolonged recession.
So, what they want, they want to change government. They think that they will help also bring around the economy just across the country some 400
marches today. Big numbers, Becky.
[11:50:01] ANDERSON: All right, Shasta Darlington for you in Brazil.
You are watching Connect the World live from Abu Dhabi. Coming up...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Bulgaria celebrated the 138th anniversary of its liberation from Ottomans this month. It is one of many Balkan states with
a complex history, influenced by the likes of Islam, Communism and European ideals.
Here is how one woman is capturing it all through people's kitchens.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EUGENIA MAXIMOVA, BULGARIAN PHOTOGRAPHER: The kitchen is the most unpretentious space in the Balkan home. The idea of this area was to show
life in the Balkans despite the political and ethnic tensions in the region.
We share heritage. The 500 years of Ottoman yoke and then another 50 years of Communism.
It's a space that looks same, and people look same, and people behave the same way.
Didn't see a difference at all between all these countries. There are still elements from the
past. In the country side you spend most of your time in the kitchen. In the winter, people even sleep in the kitchen and it's the only heated space
in the house.
As a logical consequence they look weathered.
I'm Eugenia Maximova, and these are my Partin Shots.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: All right. Well, you are looking at pictures of Dubai's grand prix for drones. Whittled down from hundreds of entries, just 14 zipped
around at speeds of more than 100 kilometers an hour at Saturday's final.
This is the pilot who beat them all in the end, 15 year old Luke Banister from the UK, who looks incredibly pleased with himself, doesn't he, because
-- or perhaps that's because he will be taking a quarter of this, the total $1 million prize money.
Well, we are joined by Brian Morris, the pilot of the Dubai Dronetek whose team came
in second place.
Congratulations.
And also by Omar al Olama, the secretary general of the world organization of racing drones.
And I just thanked you earlier on.
There will be a lot of people watching this, Omar, who are incredibly jealous of your job, sir.
OMAR AL OLAMA, SECRETARY GENERAL WORLD ORGANIZATION OF RACING DRONES: They can join me. I'd love to have them.
ANDERSON: He'd love to have you.
Congratulations.
Tell me what you had to do, as I pick up this extraordinary piece of equipment.
BRIAN MORRIS, DRONE PILOT: Well, we just had to race around the course and be the first one to cross the line. So, it sounds easy, right?
ANDERSON: How difficult is it to operate one of these?
MORRIS: If you make one mistake you are out. You go home. It's all of your training, everything, done. Bye, bye.
ANDERSON: That's what this one looks like.
What were you racnig.
MORRIS: Something like this, very similar in size. We just had to carry a payload of a camera on top. So, that's it.
ANDERSON: A lot of people drawing analogies of the gaming industry. Were you a gamer, or are you a gamer?
MORRIS: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I have been gaming since I was old enough to hold a game
controller.
ANDERSON: Omar, what is the idea behind all of this?
[11:55:11] OLAMA: So, the idea was we started with (inaudible), and discussed how we can use technologies to better serve humanity. Now, a lot
of technology came to us and we looked at them and how we can improve them. We built upon the drones that we launched in the UAE, humanitarian uses of
drones. And we said how can we excite the audience to innovate and improve this technology.
So, the same way that Formula 1 improves cars that we use today, this race is going to improve
the drones that you are flying tomorrow.
ANDERSON: And I believe that there is a new competition ahead of us, 2017. Is this the world future games?
OLAMA: Future sports.
ANDERSON: Oh, I'm so sorry, it's the World Future Sports Federation. Absolutely.
And tell me about that. What do we know about that?
OLAMA; So, it is about integrating technology with human abilities. So, drones, for example, integrate the technical abilities of the drone with
the person's abilities to fly it and his technical abilities to actually program it.
So it includes coding, mechanics and everything else.
ANDERSON: How good are you at operating one of these?
OLAMA: Well, I heard that I'm not too bad, but I can't race. It's going to be conflict of interest, I think...
ANDERSON: So go on, then, how competitive was it? How difficult and challenging was it?
MORRIS: Yeah, I mean, the track was absolutely amazing. It's one of the toughest tracks we have been on. It's something we have never seen
before. And of course we are all in Dubai away from home. So, you know, back home maybe have the tools and everything you need. And just have to
make due with what you have here.
ANDERSON: Did you know what the track would be like before you got here? Was it...
MORRIS; No. No. We got the information late, I think. So...
ANDERSON: All right, well walk me through what we are seeing.
MORRIS: Well, right here you have got an overview of the track. You've got lights everywhere. And ups, downs, overs, gates that you can fly
through. And one of the challenges is day versus night flying. And we had to fly in both. So, just you can see
there this is the most amazing track ever flown on ever. It's just...
ANDERSON: So, and you pocketed quite a lot of money. What are you going to do with it?
MORRIS: Well, probably buy more of these.
ANDERSON: How much does something like that cost?
MORRIS: This one is very small, probably $500 U.S.
ANDERSON: Excellent. Good stuff.
We're not flying out here today, because you need permissions. But on that track, clearly you did. And well done. Congratulations to you.
And Congratulations to you, too. We look forward seeing in the future. Thank you.
Good stuff.
I'm Becky Anderson. That was Connect the World. Thank you for watching. From the team here, it is a very good evening.
.
END
