Af/Pak update

Atia Abawi is back in Afghanistan and this morning reported on the current situation there as well as General McChrystal's comments about needing more troops:

Peter Bergen is also in Kabul, and this morning John Roberts spoke with him regarding the long-term outlook:

Over the weekend, Stan Grant profiled a reporter who was taken hostage by the Taliban in Pakistan:

Cal Perry is also in Islamabad, and has been trying since last week to get confirmation on whether an American drone airstrike has killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud; there is still no compelling confirmation, although there have reportedly been succession meetings that have turned violent with in-fighting and US government officials are saying they are sure he was killed:

And Michael Ware continues to report from Mexico this week and spoke with Don Lemon about his profile of the drug cartel known as Los Zetas:

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: Alina Cho was in for Kiran Chetry; TJ Holmes was in for Tony Harris; Suzanne Malveaux was in for Wolf Blitzer; Erica Hill was in for Anderson Cooper.

TUESDAY: TJ was in for Tony; Suzanne was in for Wolf; Erica was in for Anderson.

WEDNESDAY: Michael Ware was in Mexico City; Ed Henry was in Elkhart, Indiana. Don Lemon was in for Tony; Suzanne was in for Wolf; Erica was in for Anderson.

THURSDAY: David McKenzie reported on SecState Clinton's visit to Nairobi (above); Atia Abawi was back in Kabul; Peter Bergen was in Islamabad; John King was in Eugene, Oregon; Wolf was in New York City for the "200 Days" report card special;. Joe Johns was in for John Roberts; Don was in for Tony; Fredericka Whitfield was in for Kyra Phillips; Erica was in for Anderson.

FRIDAY: Cal Perry was in Islamabad; Rob Marciano was in Dunlap, Tennessee for the world's longest yard sale. Joe was in for John Roberts; Betty Nguyen was in for Tony; Fredericka was in for Kyra; Erica was in for Anderson.

SATURDAY: Rob was in for TJ.

SUNDAY: Michael and Suzanne were both in Guadalajara, Mexico to cover President Obama's summit; Morgan Neill reported from Tokyo. Rob was in for TJ.

That's a wrap for me; see you back here on Thursday!

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Warnings, bombings, and football

Stan Grant is currently doing a stint in Islamabad, and yesterday he reported on the recorded message from Zawahiri that calls on the Pakistani people to support the Taliban and fight against the Americans:

I really hadn't planned to turn my posts into Almost-All-Things Michael Ware, but recent weeks have had so much saturation-coverage of first Michael Jackson's death and now the Sotomayor confirmation hearings that it has been tough to get much else ... luckily for me, Michael has been working like a stevedore throughout all this and I have had a lot of clips to utilize! So ... from last night's AC360, here is Michael's piece about the bombings of Baghdad churches:

But it hasn't all been grim coverage in Baghdad. Monday night the Iraqi soccer team played its first home match since before the war began, and Michael was there to cover it:

And on International's BackStory, a look at the filming of the match coverage:

See you next week.

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Pakistan, Afghanistan ... and MOB visits PDX

Stan Grant (in Kabul) spoke to a former high-ranking Taliban official about his internment at Guantanamo Bay and his return to Afghanistan. Stan also discusses a major drug seizure in Helmand province:

Afghanistan supplies most of the illegal opiate trade to the world, but Reza Sayah reports that Iran is doing some PR to make it clear that the drugs are not welcome in that country:

Ivan Watson was one of the reporters flown into the Swat Valley by the Pakistani military so that they could show off captured Taliban turf. Friday, a brief bit of footage from that excursion:

Saturday, a longer look at the bunkers as the tour continues, but Ivan also points out that the military took reporters on a similar tour early last year. At the end of the clip, a brief Q&A from Islamabad:

And what about all those refugees? Yesterday Dan Rivers reported from a refugee camp near Peshawar:

Using your cell phones, Americans can text the word “SWAT" to the number 20222 and make a $5 contribution that will help the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provide tents, clothing, food, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of affected people.

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Well, here's a familiar face we haven't seen on ATC in awhile ... this past week, PBS has been airing a documentary by Miles O'Brien titled Blueprint America: Road to the Future. Part of the program was filmed last month here in Portland, and I pulled a couple minutes of it:

The locals don't like anyone bragging up the city, afraid it will bring more people up here, so shhh... But it was great to see Miles riding the Max and seeing some of the sights. I still really miss his NASA coverage on CNN. You can keep up with Miles on Twitter and True/Slant.

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: Wolf Blitzer hosted TSR from New York, where he accepted the Peabody Award given to TPBTOT; Larry King also hosted his program from New York all week as he promoted his new book.

TUESDAY: Anderson Cooper was one of the guest hosts for Larry King Live.

WEDNESDAY: Candy Crowley was in New York.

THURSDAY: Candy was back in Washington; Cal Perry was on from Baghdad (above). Don Lemon was in for Heidi Collins.

FRIDAY: Dan Rivers reported from Islamabad; Ivan Watson was in the Swat Valley region of Pakistan; Reza Sayah was in Zahedan, Iran. Don was in for Heidi; John Roberts was in for Wolf (from New York); Kitty Pilgrim was in for Lou Dobbs; Ryan Seacrest was in for Larry.

SATURDAY: Ivan was back in Islamabad. Alina Cho was in for Betty Nguyen; Randi Kaye was in for Don.

SUNDAY: Stan Grant was on from Kabul; Dan had a piece on from Peshawar. Alina was in for Betty; Randi was in for Don. Domestic carried the International feed for about 20 minutes starting around 1amET to cover North Korea's nuclear test, with Zain Verjee and Don Riddell hosting.

That's it for me today... hope you had a good Memorial Day. Now it's back to work tomorrow. Speaking of which (nice segue there, huh?):

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Extreme Challenges ... and Reza Aslan

There will be another program in the "Extreme Challenges" series airing tonight at 11pmET. This looks like another terrific hour of intelligent, thought-provoking viewing:

AC360 is running a special hour, “Extreme Challenges: The Next 100 Days”, on Thursday night. Anderson is the host of a compelling hour of panel discussion with some of the brightest minds at CNN who examine the crucial issues facing President Obama over his next 100 days in office. Topics include The Wars (Afghanistan and Iraq), Foreign Policy (mainly Iran and the Middle East), The Economy, America’s Health (Reforming Healthcare), The Supreme Court, and Change in America (governance). The panelists are David Gergen, Christiane Amanpour, Michael Ware, Fareed Zakaria, Candy Crowley, Ali Velshi, Sanjay Gupta, Jeffrey Toobin and Joe Johns.

(Guess which part of that paragraph makes me very, very happy? Hint: check the photo I chose for the top of the post!)

Another preview clip is available on CNN.com:

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Monday, Fareed Zakaria was a guest on The Situation Room, where he discussed the meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Resolving the Palestinian crisis will be a major challenge but is crucial in resolving so many issues in the Middle East:

Also on Monday, Tony Harris had a very interesting three-way discussion with Ivan Watson (in Islamabad) and Stan Grant (in Kabul) regarding the Pakistan/Afghanistan border issue:

Tuesday, Anderson Cooper focused on the fight against the Taliban and the refugee crisis -- now the largest mass-movement of people since the one that occurred during the genocide in Rwanda. First he spoke with Ivan Watson:

That was immediately followed by a discussion with Fareed Zakaria and Peter Bergen:

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Tuesday night, I was fortunate enough to be able attend a book-signing event with Reza Aslan. As you know from his appearances on CNN, he is absolutely brilliant at explaining the complexities of how the Muslim world views the West and our actions (especially of late!). His first book, No god but God, is essential reading for anyone who is looking for a primer on Islam, and his new book, How to Win a Cosmic War, details the thought processes of those who are fighting not for land or freedom, but for other-worldly objectives. It's one thing to someday be able to sit down with Hamas and talk about negotiating land boundaries and peace treaties, but how do you ever sit down with al Qaeda and discuss the removal of all borders in order to create a Muslim caliphate? "Cosmic" warriors are not interested in events in this world, they are focused on the world to come, which is why they find it easy to martyr themselves and anyone who gets in their way.

(One of the things that I find extremely interesting is the concept of apostasy, which is what allows Islamic extremists to slaughter so indiscriminately, despite Mohammed's explicit teachings that to kill innocents is a violation of Islamic law. But if you decide your neighbor is misguided in how he worships, if you declare him an apostate, then you rationalize a way to excuse it; in fact, it is now essential that you kill him, he is worse than an unbeliever because he sullies your one true religion. This is why Sunnis kill Shias, as we have witnessed for so many tragic years in Iraq. But in his book, Reza lays out the concept as it is used by Jewish and Christian "warriors" as well. It is an easy and effective tool whenever a cosmic war is waged.)

At any rate, yesterday Ms. Sapphire listed the remaining dates from this month's book tour; next month he spends a week in the UK and then is back here for a few more dates... keep an eye on his schedule and by all means go see him speak if you can. He has a wonderful way of cutting through the fog and of puncturing so many of the misguided precepts that were applied to this "war on terror." (Unfortunately, we usually only get to see the very serious, buttoned-down Reza when he appears on CNN; in person he is very, very funny and mocks what so desperately needs to be mocked. We have given more power to these groups by acting as if we are all cowering under our beds because of them.)

Also, for what it's worth, he's a really nice guy. He appreciates "the greatest book store in America." (It really is.) And he started his talk with a swine flu joke ... you gotta love that!

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The Age of the Unthinkable

Friday, Anderson Cooper interviewed Fareed Zakaria about the Taliban and the battles to come in Pakistan. It's sad to watch the Pakistani army making the same mistakes that we so recently made in Iraq (and are arguably still making in Afghanistan) as far as not using counter-insurgency tactics rather than conventional warfare. And Fareed's point at the end of the piece about Pakistan feeling that they need to plan for what happens after the Americans leave echos something stated many times by Michael Ware about the Iran/Iraq relationship:

Stan Grant reported from Kabul on Thursday about a pitched battle between American forces and Taliban fighters in Khost: 

Nic Robertson is back in Baghdad, and on Friday he reported on something few of us would have expected to see -- the Baghdad train station and the return of service to Samarra:

The title of today's post comes from a book title, and it refers to the connections between previously unimaginable events such as the evolution of Hezbollah and the power of Google. It's a fascinating concept, with inplications in many areas of modern life. Wolf Blitzer interviewed author Joshua Cooper Ramo on the Saturday edition of The Situation Room:

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Where in the World...?

SATURDAY (5/9): Reza Sayah was still in Islamabad; Stan Grant was still in Kabul.

SUNDAY (5/10): Ivan Watson was back in Islamabad after a trip to report on events in Peshawar; Ben Wedeman was in Amman to report on the Pope's mass there.

MONDAY (5/11): Ben was back in Jerusalem; Rob Marciano was at the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Carol Costello was in for Kiran Chetry.

TUESDAY (5/12): Gary Tuchman was in Atlanta; Ed Lavendera was in Sherman, Texas; John King joined Heidi Collins for NewsRoom in the CNN Center in Atlanta (above) and then later traveled to Mongtomery and Selma, Alabama to record pieces for his program.

WEDNESDAY (5/13): Suzanne Malveaux was in Tempe to cover the president's commencement address at Arizona State University.

THURSDAY (5/14): Suzanne was in Albuqueque, New Mexico for the president's town-hall meeting; Morgan Neill reported from Tokyo (where he is filling in during Kyung Lah's maternity leave -- thanks to BookAsylum for that info). No Bias, No Bull was pre-empted for a "Money and Main Street" special, hosted by Anderson Cooper and Ali Velshi.

FRIDAY (5/15): Nic Robertson was in Baghdad; Dr. Sanjay Gupta was in New York. TJ Holmes was in for Rick Sanchez; Suzanne was in for Wolf Blitzer.

SATURDAY (5/16): Susan Candiotti was in South Bend, Indiana to cover the preparations for the president's commencement address at Notre Dame.

SUNDAY (5/17): Suzanne covered the Notre Dame address. Anderson gave the keynote address at the 2009 Daniel Pearl Memorial Leacture at UCLA.

By the way, Kristien advises me that Christiane Amanpour and her husband Jamie Rubin will be speaking this evening at the Temple Buell Theatre in Denver, Colorado. 

That's it for me today...I'm back on Thursday.

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Terrorists and Pirates

The news this week was dominated by the high-seas hostage drama as an American captain was held by heavily armed Somali pirates on a small lifeboat in the Indian ocean. Navy SEALS ended the standoff yesterday, and the captain is on his way home now, but some of the background pieces on the pirates reveal important insights on the on-going trend.

Thursday, American Morning aired a piece from Nic Robertson about the possible links between the pirates and al Qaeda. Just who is funding these attacks and benefitting from the enormous ransoms being paid?

Saturday gave us a NewsRoom report from Stan Grant, who is in Mombasa, Kenya (where the ship was originally heading and is now currently docked.) Local fishermen and tourists react to the acts of piracy:

And here's a perspective that most of us have not studied since junior high: what is the affect of piracy on world trade? Ali Velshi and Christine Romans spoke with Richard Quest on the weekend edition of Your $$$$$ about the bottom line:

Meanwhile, Nic covers a second news story on Thursday, a different (dare I say "more normal"?) type of terrorism -- a cell gets rolled up in Manchester, England. The raids had to be started earlier than planned after an all-too-human blunder: Top Secret documents were photographed being carried into 10 Downing Street, with the names/addresses of the targets plainly visible:

A second report aired on The Situation Room a few hours later, with some local reaction to the arrests:

Finally, a word about a different kind of terrorism: Jeanne Meserve explains the concerns that cyber-terrorists could attack US power grids. Kyra Phillips talks to former CIA operative Robert Baer about the newest aggressions:

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Now or Never

Jack Cafferty appeared as a guest on a couple of CNN programs this week to talk about his book. On Thursday he appeared on Larry King's program:

And on Friday Campbell Brown had a recorded interview with him:

I love Jack's dry sense of humor and his scathing honesty. And even without ever meeting her, it is so clear that his late wife must have been an extraordinary woman. I can't wait to get this book.

Also, Jack will be appearing on The Daily Show this Monday, March 30. Should be a memorable interview!

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A couple of the world economy pieces ran this week. This first one is from Frederik Pleitgen (in Berlin) and Stan Grant (in Dubai):

This one features Kyung Lah (Tokyo), Stan Grant (near Abu Dhabi), Ivan Watson (Istanbul), and John Vause (Beijing):

And here's an unusual financial piece -- Nic Robertson gives us a look at a "financial boot camp" the Army is running in Baghdad:

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Where in the World...?

SUNDAY: Christiane Amanpour was in Chaghcharan, Afghanistan.

MONDAY: Michael Ware was in New York. TJ Holmes was in for Tony Harris.

TUESDAY: Wolf Blitzer was in New York to cover the President's press conference; John King was also in New York. Betty Nguyen filled in for Tony; TJ filled in for Rick Sanchez.

WEDNESDAY: Don Lemon was in The Situation Room, as he visited Washington for an interview with RNC head Michael Steele; Jill Dougherty was in Mexico City with SecState Clinton; Anderson Cooper hosted AC360 from El Paso, Texas. Fredericka Whitfield filled in for Tony.

THURSDAY: Anderson spent the day in Juarez, Mexico, then hosted from El Paso (above); Randi Kaye and Drew Griffin were also in Mexico; Gary Tuchman was in Tuscon, Arizona. Jack Cafferty appeared on Larry King Live, as a panelist and a guest. Don filled in for Tony.

FRIDAY: Christiane was in New York; Peter Bergen appeared on AC360 to discuss the President's plan for Afghanistan; Jack was on Campbell Brown's program; Anderson was still in El Paso; the second hour of AC360 was the fourth installment of Ali Velshi's "Money Summit" series. Don was in for Tony; Tavis Smiley filled in for Larry King.

That's a wrap for me today. Have a great weekend!

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The economy is tough all over...

As you can imagine, not a lot of international news during the "Road to Rescue" week, but there were a couple glimpses of how the world economy is faring. In this first one (which aired Thursday) we have Paula Hancocks reporting from Galilee about employment problems, Stan Grant from Abu Dhabi about the still-strong tourism industry, and Al Goodman from Madrid on the drop in divorce rates and increase in traffic accidents:

Friday we got this one, which has Matthew Chance reporting from Moscow about the expected drop in birthrate and rise in abortions, and Jim Boulden from London on the rise in internet dating:

Thursday also gave us this report from Barbara Starr that focuses on the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

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BookAsylum posted that wonderful interview about Jack Cafferty's new book yesterday, and last Monday Wolf Blitzer spoke to Jack about the book during TheSitRoom. It is heartbreaking to watch Jack's face as Wolf reads the excerpt about his late wife Carol. She sounds like an extraordinary woman, and it is easy to understand why he misses her so much:

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Where in the World...?

SATURDAY: Susan Roesgen was in the NewsRoom for Betty Nguyen.

SUNDAY: Stan Grant was in Islamabad reporting on the riots in Lahore, Pakistan; John Zarella was at the Kennedy Space Center to cover the launch of Discovery. Susan was in for Betty.

MONDAY: Rick Sanchez hosted his hour of NewsRoom from the campus of Georgia State University; Anderson Cooper hosted AC360 from outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

TUESDAY: Anderson hosted from New Orleans.

WEDNESDAY: Ali Velshi was in The Situation Room as he prepared to interview SecTreas Tim Geithner; Anderson was in Warren, Michigan. Don Lemon was in for Tony Harris.

THURSDAY: Recorded reports from Paula Hancocks in Galilee, Stan Grant in Abu Dhabi (above), and Al Goodman from Madrid; Ed Henry was in Los Angeles with President Obama; Anderson Cooper hosted from the campus of Hofstra University. Christine Romans was in for John Roberts (who was in Orlando for the Student Television Network Conference); Don was in for Tony; Lisa Sylvester was in for Lou Dobbs.

FRIDAY: Recorded reports from Matthew Chance in Moscow and Jim Boulden in London; Candy Crowley was in Trenton, NJ to look at how stimulus money is being spent; Rick hosted from the campus of Morehouse College; Anderson was back in the NY studio. Christine was in for John; TJ Holmes was in for Tony; Fredericka Whitfield was in for Kyra Phillips; Lisa was in for Lou.

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The latest news about Iran/Iraq, Pakistan, and Mexico

Nic Robertson reported this morning that an Iranian drone was shot down over Iraq a couple weeks ago. Certainly makes you wonder exactly what (or who) they were spying on...:

Stan Grant reported from Islamabad about the anti-government protests going on in Lahore:

Saturday, Fredericka Whitfield spoke to Michael Ware about the situation with the Mexican drug cartels as she prepared to host an hour-long discussion on the topic:

Michael was one of the participants on the panel, and addressed questions on whether it is safe for Americans to travel to the country:

Later in the day, Don Lemon spoke to Michael about the latest recording from Osama bin Laden:

That's it for me, have a great week...

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