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Amanpour

CNN Podcastswww.cnn.com
Amanpour is CNN International's flagship global affairs interview program hosted by Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
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Episodes

'Dark hour in our shared history'

Those are the words of President Biden to the world, as the war in Ukraine enters its fourth month. Ukraine’s President Zelensky meanwhile told the annual gathering at Davos that he fears the world is losing interest, that momentum behind Ukraine is fading. He appealed “not to lose this feeling of unity.” Sergiy Kyslytsya is Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Nations. He’s spent the last three months since the invasion driving home the horror of this war, unafraid to confront his Russian counter...

May 24, 202257 min

Biden challenges Taiwan 'strategic ambiguity' policy

President Joe Biden is on the last full day of his Asia trip, hoping to shore up America’s commitment to its allies after they were shaken by the last president. It’s a trip that all plays out against a backdrop of China’s growing dominance. But as so often happens on these international visits, it’s what Biden said when he wandered off script that garnered the most attention: at a press conference in Japan, he was asked whether the US would get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if China inva...

May 23, 202256 min

Karzai: Afghanistan "doomed" unless women are included

In today's Amanpour, recorded live from Kabul, Christiane opens the show by interviewing former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. He tells her that his country is doomed if women are not part of its future. Then, UN special envoy to Afghanistan Deborah Lyons, who's had more meetings with the Taliban than any other western official, weighs in. Also in today's show: DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison, New Order's Stephen Morris and Bernie Sumner. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, v...

May 20, 202257 min

'They are afraid of an educated woman'

Every new dawn in Afghanistan seems to bring with it a new Taliban edict against women. Tolo News – Afghanistan’s leading independent news channel – has been told by the Ministry of Virtue that its female presenters must cover their faces when anchoring. Tolo has a long history of success and sacrifice, with a display case in their bureau dedicated to two reporters killed in a bomb attack in 2018. Despite everything, it’s managed to stay on the air, and female staff play a leading role. But now ...

May 20, 202257 min

Resisting the Taliban with a needle and thread

A damning new report released today from a US watchdog blames both the Trump and Biden administration for the swift collapse of the Afghan military in August last year. Afghans are now living with the consequences, with women and girls bearing the biggest burdens. After 20 years of progress, many of their rights are slipping away, with secondary girl students still barred from public school. Despite their fears, though, girls are continuing the fight right under the Taliban’s nose. Today Christi...

May 18, 202256 min

Special Report: Humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has fallen from the world’s attention since the Taliban’s takeover and the chaotic American withdrawal nine months ago. But for almost everyone in the country, life has become a daily struggle against poverty. Children are particularly hard hit, with more than a million facing acute malnutrition according to UNICEF. Christiane witnessed all this firsthand, visiting a humanitarian distribution center, a hospital, and a family home. Following her special report, she's joined by the Wor...

May 17, 202256 min

World exclusive interview with Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani

Today's show features part one of Christiane's world exclusive interview with Afghanistan's Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the feared extremist Haqqani Network. The Taliban leader has never done an interview with his face showing and has never sat on camera with a western news organization -- certainly not with a female journalist. The US government says Haqqani has American blood on his hands and there’s a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Yet top western ...

May 16, 202256 min

Esper on his new memoir, "A Sacred Oath"

Former US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was sworn in just days before that now infamous phone call in 2019 where then-President Trump repeatedly asked Ukraine’s President Zelensky to investigate the Bidens in return for military aid. Esper’s new memoir, A Sacred Oath , is filled with explosive and instructive behind-the-scenes examples of what it was like working for the most disruptive American president in modern times, and he joins the show to discuss. Also in today's episode: British-Ameri...

May 13, 202256 min

On Finland and Sweden joining NATO

n a historic change for a once neutral country, driven by its neighbor Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland's leaders today said their country must apply for NATO membership "without delay". They share a 13-hundred-kilometre border with Russia, and as expected the Kremlin swiftly called the move "a threat," but Finnish president Sauli Niinisto pointed the finger squarely at Putin. Meanwhile neighboring Sweden, which has an even longer history of neutrality, is also expected to make a decision o...

May 12, 202257 min

US Senate's symbolic vote to codify Roe v. Wade

The US Senate votes today on a measure that would codify Roe v. Wade. Democratic leadership strongly backs its passage but didn’t expect it to get close to the filibuster-proof 60 votes required. The purpose is more symbolic, shining a spotlight on which senators – and which parties – are for and against abortion rights. The ACLU’s Alexa Kolbi-Molinas recently argued a case on abortion rights before the Supreme Court and joins the show. Also in today's episode: Audrey Diwan, director of "Happeni...

May 11, 202255 min

The climate impact of weaning off Russian oil

As Europe and the G7 plan to phase out Russian oil, could this help or hurt the struggle for green energy? Joining the show to discuss this is US climate envoy John Kerry. Also on today's show: One of the world's top Russia historians and authors, Simon Sebag Montefiore; journalist Judith Warner. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...

May 10, 202257 min

Putin offers few clues in Victory Day speech

In perhaps the most anticipated Victory Day parade in recent memory, Russian military might was on full display this morning in Moscow. But President Vladimir Putin, while defiant, delivered a short speech without declaring victory in Ukraine, or formally declaring war and mass mobilization, or indeed any battlefield plans. Instead, Putin again defended his actions and again claimed that he had no other choice. Andrei Kozyrev has unique insight into the Kremlin leadership, having served as the R...

May 09, 202257 min

'Back to the future' in the Philippines?

The Philippines is bracing for an important presidential election on Monday. Way ahead in the polls is Ferdinand Marcos Jr., also known as Bongbong, and his running mate Sara Duterte. If those names sound familiar, they should: Marcos is the son of the Philippine dictator of the same name, who became notorious for corruption and human rights abuses, as well as his wife Imelda – and her massive shoe collection. Sara Duterte is the daughter of outgoing strongman leader Rodrigo Duterte, whose rule ...

May 06, 202257 min

Rep. Speier's personal story of abortion

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, more women may die – that is the blunt warning from the director of the CDC, as America grapples with the fallout from the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion. For California Congresswoman Jackie Speier, abortion is a lived experience. In 2011, she became the first member of Congress to share her story on the House floor. The impromptu moment happened after she heard a male colleague discussing the issue. She joins Christiane from California. Also on today's show: au...

May 05, 202257 min

How abortion arrived at the center of US culture wars

Americans on both sides of the abortion issue are fired up following the leak of a draft opinion that shows the Supreme Court looks likely to end a women's right to choose after nearly 50 years. The issue has long split the two political parties and the country, but how did it get this way? Francis Schaeffer is an evangelical scholar whose son Frank encouraged him to campaign against Roe v. Wade with Christian literature and movies they were producing. He joins Christiane from Boston to explain ...

May 04, 202256 min

Political earthquake about to rock US?

The leak of a draft Supreme Court ruling overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion decision is sending shock waves throughout the United States. For decades, right-wing activists kept the fight against ‘Roe’ at the heart of America’s culture wars. Carrie Severino is the president of one such organization: the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative legal advocacy group. She claims the draft ruling accomplishes many of her life's ambitions and she joins Christiane from Arlington, Virginia. Severino is...

May 03, 202256 min

Exploring the Russian propaganda machine

Evacuations are underway from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where dozens of civilians who were holed up in and around the Azovstal steel plant have emerged. But hundreds more remain, running out of food, water, and medicine. Mariupol’s mayor says the Russian forces are creating obstacles and making progress on evacuations difficult. Journalist Peter Pomerantsev is an expert on Russian propaganda, and he recently spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He joins the program f...

May 02, 202257 min

A close looks at the Kremlin's failures

Putin is doubling down on Ukraine’s Donbas region, and the Pentagon says Moscow’s shift in strategy may be working for them. Their apparent advances on the battlefield come after Putin’s initial assault on the north two months ago was blunted by the Ukrainians in a show of force that surprised the world. Russian investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov has been taking a close look at Russia’s failures so far, and the blame game that followed in the Kremlin, and he joins the show from London. Als...

Apr 29, 202257 min

How might the war end?

As Russia shifts its strategy in Ukraine, so is the US shifting its tone and upping its urgency. President Biden asked Congress today for an additional $33 billion in aid, more than twice the amount he approved just last month. For more on this and how the war might end, Christiane speaks with former US officials Ivo Daalder and Evelyn Farkas. Also in today's episode: Former French President François Hollande, award-winning author and futurist Amy Webb. To learn more about how CNN protects liste...

Apr 28, 202257 min

Remembering Madeleine Albright

Today the heights of Washington paid tribute to a titan of American diplomacy, as presidents and diplomats past and present gathered at the funeral of Madeleine Albright, the first female secretary of state. Instrumental in leading the U.S. and NATO allies to ending the genocide in Bosnia, she was the one who termed America the indispensable nation. Active and incisive to the last, in February - just one month before her death - Albright wrote an essay in the New York Times about Putin and Ukrai...

Apr 27, 202258 min

Can Mallory McMorrow spark a turning point in the culture wars?

The midterm elections are just months away, and right on cue the culture wars are raging. Michigan Democratic lawmaker Mallory McMorrow found herself in the middle of this pitched battle after defending the LGBTQ community. A Republican colleague accused her of wanting to “groom and sexualize” children. McMorrow's blistering response on the floor of the state senate has been viewed over 15 million times, prompting the question of whether she's offered fellow Democrats a blueprint to navigate tho...

Apr 26, 202257 min

An in-depth look at France's presidential election

Emmanuel Macron is the first French president in two decades to win re-election, comfortably beating his hard right challenger Marine Le Pen in the second round this weekend. Despite Macron's victory, Le Pen -- who has ties to, and sympathies with -- Vladimir Putin -- herself declared a great victory last night. For more on this, Christiane speaks in Paris with Laurence Haïm, a French journalist who served as Macron’s spokesperson during his presidential campaign in 2017. Also weighing is Philip...

Apr 25, 202256 min

Focus on Earth Day

We mark Earth Day with a special program, following efforts to combat climate change in the present and digging into why it’s taken so long to take action in the past. We begin in Chile, which has a brand new government with a serious climate agenda. Christiane discusses this with Chilean climate scientist turned environment minister Maisa Rojas. Then we welcome Dan Edge, producer of a new, three-part Frontline series, "The Power Of Big Oil," which focuses on the missed opportunities to mitigate...

Apr 22, 202257 min

Majority of Britons want Boris to resign but he refuses

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in India for a two day visit, some 5,000 miles from home – but it seems he can’t outrun the accelerating fallout from his ‘Partygate’ scandal. Today, the House of Commons launched a formal investigation into whether Johnson misled parliament about breaking his very own Covid-19 laws. This as Johnson kicks up a fresh controversy by announcing a plan to offload asylum seekers to Rwanda, prompting immediate backlash from opposition politicians and human rights def...

Apr 21, 202256 min

Exclusive interview with Israeli PM Naftali Bennett

Clashes with Palestinians in Jerusalem have deepened a political crisis in Israel. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s fragile ruling coalition lost its one seat majority earlier this month when a member of his own party defected, and now it faces a new mutiny: the Arab Ra’am party has suspended its membership in the coalition to protest the government’s handling of the clashes in Jerusalem. And rockets have once again been fired between Gaza and Israel, less than a year since the last crisis that ...

Apr 20, 202256 min

Is West's aid to Ukraine sufficient?

President Biden has implored western allies to stand up to Putin’s aggression in a call with partners today. It comes as both Ukraine and Russia declare that the battle of battles has begun, for the eastern Donbas region. But is the west getting enough material support to Ukraine in this crucial moment? Christiane speaks with President Zelensky’s chief diplomatic advisor, Igor Zhovkva. Also on today's show: Sarah Longwell, founder of the Republican Accountability Project; Frank Tsai, founder of ...

Apr 19, 202255 min

Russia escalates missile strikes, Lviv among targets

Russian missile strikes continue even around Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and the western city of Lviv, as Ukrainian officials say Moscow has completed its regroup and is preparing to launch the expected offensive in the east. At least seven civilians – including a child – were killed in Lviv this morning. For the latest, Christiane speaks with the deputy mayor of Lviv, Andriy Moskalenko. Also on today's show: Nicu Popescu, Foreign Minister of Moldova, which might be Ukraine's most vulnerable neighbor...

Apr 18, 202257 min

“Never again”

Those two words -- "never again" -- have echoed through history as a promise to the dead and a warning to the living. Never again will we allow atrocities to be committed with impunity. Never again will the rest of the world just stand by and watch. But now, Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine is testing that promise and the West’s will to stop him. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is accusing Putin of genocide, a claim also made by President Biden. Tonight, Christiane looks back at...

Apr 15, 202257 min

On the front lines of Russia's assault on Donbas

Today's episode begins as Christiane interviews Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, who sees Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, amid separatist rumblings in the Balkans, as a threat and worries about her own country's sovereignty. Next, a special report from Nima Elbagir in Kharkiv, where Russian forces are launching the next phase of their invasion -- the war for Donbas in the east. Then, correspondent Ben Wedeman checks in from the edge of Donbas with Ukrainian defenders as the Russians build up for t...

Apr 14, 202256 min

Will the West keep up its tough stance against Putin?

President Biden is up against it trying to make his economic case to a nation reeling from inflation exacerbated by rising energy prices due to the war in Ukraine. Is the political will there to maintain the pressure on Vladimir Putin? Joining the show to answer those thorny questions is Jared Bernstein, a top economic adviser in the Biden administration. Also on today's episode: A.J. Baime, author of "White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America’s Darkest Secrets"; Zanny Minton Be...

Apr 13, 202256 min
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