18
Tillerson Closely Tied To Russia & Putin; Nuclear-Capable Chinese Jets
Fly Over South China Sea; Cyclone Vardah Kills 10 People In India;
Activist: Regime Forces Executing Civilians; Rio Faces Economic Crisis
Instead of Post-Olympics Boom; Political Turmoil in S. Korea's Makes
it Target for N. Korea; Questions over Ivanka Trump's Business
Practices; Trump Supporters Call for Boycott of New "Star Wars" Movie.
Aired 1-2a ET - Part 2>
VAUSE: And you can add into that, the opposition fighters, those who are still left out in this, you know, devastating defeat in Eastern Aleppo, they vow to continue on with some kind of low-level insurgency against Assad. They still have their backers and the Gulf States. They have the U.S., other western countries. What are the options now for those countries like Qatar, like United States, like the west, those countries which have sort of been backing the opposition fighters now. What do they do now that the opposition has had this huge loss?
LISTER: Well, we know, for example, the incoming Trump administration takes a very different view to Syria than did the Obama administration is looking to cooperate with Russia in defeating terrorism in Syria. And Donald Trump said of the moderate rebels, we simply don't know who these people are. So, the Free Syrian Army that's been backed by the west, the last few years, has particularly bleak outlook, and many of its factions may well find themselves sub-student within the Jihadist movement are still really strong in areas like Idlib. As for the Gulf States, they now looked to what the U.S. wants to do, because it's a very heavy lift for the terrorist who say they will continue to support groups that they've supported in recent years.
It's a really heavy lift for them to counter this massive Russian, Iranian, Syrian alliance with a steamroller in the rebel factions are of places like Aleppo. So, the Gulf countries, they're going to be looking to the U.S. for a lead, but they can't do it themselves. And the (INAUDIBLE) have a very complex set of considerations. Obviously, they want to beat ISIS, but at the same time, they've got an eye on the Kurdish groups that have taken over so much of the north of Syria. An incredibly complex picture, but I think Assad looks at these national environment now, the weakness of Europe and an incoming Trump administration and says that the winds are blowing in my favour, John.
VAUSE: Again, life is on an upswing for President Assad right now compared where he was just a few years ago. Tim, thanks so much. Tim Lister there giving us some analysis of the situation in Aleppo.
We all take a short break. When we come back, Rio de Janeiro had Olympic-size hopes for the benefits of hosting the games, instead, there are now protests in the streets. We'll tell you what went wrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:32:39] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause, with the headlines this year.
It's only been four months since Rio Janeiro hosted the Summer Olympics but the hoped-for boom is a bust. There have been violent confrontations between riot police and protects against austerirty measures and low paychecks. Millions of dollars in state tax exemptions are under investigation. Two former governors are under arrest for corruption charges. Crime rates are soaring.
Joining us in Los Angeles with some perspective, David Wallachinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians.
Been a while. Good to see you.
DAVID WALLACHINSKY, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF OLYMPIC HISTORIANS: Good to see you.
VAUSE: Let's talk about Rio. The Olympics were never meant to solve Rio's economic problems, but there was this hope there would be an economic boost, which hasn't happened. Now they're paying this huge price. What went wrong?
What went wrong is a lot of corruption, the money was spent in the wrong ways which really didn't help the neighborhoods that needed to be helped. People got contracts that helped a minority of rich people. It just went the wrong way.
VAUSE: In the last few months, there have been a lot of street protests, because many government workers aren't getting paid, there's not the money there, they're broke. Officials have revealed numbers, and there's a big surge in crime compared to last year. Look at this, street robbery up by 50 percent. The homicide rate jumped almost 20 percent. You can't draw a direct line between those numbers and the games but you can blame the financial crisis though caused by hosting the games?
WALLACHINSKY: No, well, I think the financial problems were going to be there one way or the other.
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACHINSKY: I'm glad you're even talking about Brazil, because I was afraid as soon as the Olympics were gone we'd forget about the problems they had all along.
VAUSE: Sure.
[01:35:08] WALLACHINSKY: I think the Olympics were just a blip in what was a descent in the hallway of how the Brazilian government is being run, the whole society. I mean, this game is what we anticipated, most of us.
VAUSE: So the Olympic games was really a sideshow is what was a downward spiral already --
WALLACHINSKY: I think so.
VAUSE: -- underway? OK.
What is interesting is the IOC has gone out of its way to talk up Rio, saying they were the most perfect imperfect games. How much has to do with trying to convince future hosts that hosting the games isn't a problem, these games weren't a disaster, stick with us?
WALLACHINSKY: I think -- I was just in Switzerland. I had some meetings. And what they're trying to say is, look, you had all these bad warnings, and they're weren't true. There was no Zika. Nobody got murdered, at least none of the athletes got murdered.
VAUSE: Right. No terror attack.
WALLACHINSKY: Yeah, no terrorists. So, it wasn't as bad as was anticipated. But I think they would really like to avoid another -- how can I put it delicately -- another country that doesn't organize things well.
VAUSE: OK. With that in mind, we're now looking at Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris. Those are the bids for the 2020 Summer Games. First up, which city is best positioned to afford the Olympics? Which is most likely to get the Olympics?
WALLACHINSKY: I think both Paris and Los Angeles were in good position, because like 80 percent of the venues are done. Both have a lot of experience hosting international events. But I think Los Angeles took a real hit when Donald Trump was elected president.
VAUSE: How so?
WALLACHINSKY: Because there's 100 people who vote and that's all. And a lot of them are either Muslim, Latino or women. And there's a big international perception that Donald Trump doesn't like those three groups, or at least doesn't respect them. I think Los Angeles has a real problem. They'll have to say these are the Los Angeles games, not the Trump games.
VAUSE: So maybe keep Donald Trump away from any promotions.
WALLACHINSKY: That's right.
VAUSE: Don't set him out there to campaign.
WALLACHINSKY: That's right.
VAUSE: OK, good advice.
David, thanks for coming in.
WALLACHINSKY: OK, thank you.
VAUSE: Appreciate it.
Next here on NEWSROOM L.A., political turmoil South Korea is making it a target for fresh intimidation coming from north of the border and Kim Jung-Un. We'll explain in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:40:34] VAUSE: South Korea has strongly condemned the North's recent war games which involved a simulated raid of a mock-up of the Blue House, the official residence of South Korea's residence.
As Brian Todd reports, Kim Jung-Un may be trying to exploit the recent political turmoil in Seoul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An artillery barrage, heavily camouflaged commandos parachute in, storm the compound, take positions around columns as the building burns. these are North Korean Special Forces conducting an attack drill. Their target? A mock-up of South Korea's Blue house, their version of the White House.
LT. COL. TONY SHAFFER, FORMER U.S. MILTIARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: I think this should be a wakeup call to the South Korean that you have a North Korea that is still bent on the potential destruction of the South.
TODD: The troops practice capturing an enemy, who the North Korea anchor says needs to be put on trial. This drill, according to North Korean media, was personally directed by the country's barbarous young dictator, Kim Jung-Un.
Experts say Kim's forces have good intelligence on the layout of the South Korean leader's residence.
CURTIS MELVIN, JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Here we see a very well detailed reproduction of the Blue House. We have the main facility here, the two auxiliary buildings, even the carport, and even the unique pattern of sidewalks in front of the building. So, they paid very close attention to detail when they build this.
TODD: The North Koreans have staged an actual attack on the Blue House. January, 1968, more than two dozen North Korean commandos infiltrated the South. Armed with these weapons, dressed in South Korean uniforms, they got to within about 350 feet of the Blue House. In a furious gun battle, at least 30 South Koreans were killed, as well as 29 North Korean commandos. One North Korean attack, who was captured, later spoke with CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED NORTH KOREAN COMMANDER (through translation): I came to South Korea to kill President Park Geun-hye.
TODD: It was a mission that failed. And that South Korean leader's daughter, Park Geun-hye, is the country's current president. But she's just been impeached in a massive political scandal and had her power taken away.
(SHOUTING)
TODD: Experts say Kim Jung-Un will use the South Korean crisis, the political instability to his advantage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If they continue to have a political paralysis, it could be very difficult to deal with the North Koran provocation. We should keep in mind that North Korea has a very savvy sense for drama. They will be trying to get on the radar of the Trump administration.
TODD: It appears now that Kim Jong-Un is already on the president- elect's radar. Donald Trump telling FOX News he needs more help in pressuring Pyongyang. TRUMP: You have North Korea, you have nuclear weapons, and China could solve that problem, and they're not helping us at all.
TODD (on camera): But experts say China is fed up with Kim Jong-Un, tired of his nuclear tests and other provocations, angry with him for not telling them about those tests beforehand. And they're punishing him. China has just suspended coal imports from North Korea, cutting off a major source of cash for Kim Jong-Un. But that suspension is only lasting for a few weeks.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A somber tribute as China remembers the Nanking Massacre. Many stood in the rain to pay their respects, marking December 13, 1937, the day Japanese troops invaded the city of Nanking. After the troops entered the city, an estimated 300,000 people were killed during a six-week-long rampage of rape and murder. Japanese conservatives insist the mass rapes and murders did not happen.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka, is coming under new scrutiny for some of her businesses practices.
CNN's senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It turns out during that entire campaign when Donald Trump was criticizing --
TRUMP: China's taking our jobs, our money.
China, which has been ripping us off.
We have a trade deficit with China, $500 billion a year.
GRIFFIN: -- daughter, Ivanka Trump, was busy doing business with, yes, China. She sells shoes and handbags made in China. And even in the last three months, the final leg of the campaign, the Ivanka Trump brand was receiving shipment after shipment of merchandise, more than 60 in all, according to records analyzed by CNN.
TRUMP: We owe them. They took everything, $1.4 trillion. How do you do that? That's like a magic act.
GRIFFIN: Trade talk on the campaign trail intrigued Robert Lawrence, a professor of international trade and investment at Harvard. His interest piqued when, early on, Donald Trump found out Nabisco was moving its Oreo cookie bakery to Mexico.
[01:45:13] TRUMP: They're leaving Chicago, which means I'm never going to eat another Oreo again. Nobody -- I'm serious! Never!
GRIFFIN: Professor Lawrence asked one of his assistants to find out where the Trump family makes things. And settled on Ivanka Trump's extensive line of handbags, shoes, clothing, and accessories. Hundreds of products made in China and many other nations.
ROBERT LAWRENCE, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIOANL TRADE & INVESTMENT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: I think we found something on the order of 600 or 700 products and about half of those were made in China and the rest were imported.
GRIFFIN: Shipments as recently as November have been arriving from China. And in a CNN report earlier this year, we tracked Donald Trump's now-apparently defunct clothing line -- manufacturers in China, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.
LAWRENCE: It is certainly at odds with what he claimed was immoral behavior on the part of companies -- other companies, like Nabisco.
GRIFFIN: Which raises a possible conflict within the Trump family. Will Ivanka's products face an increased tariff if the soon-to-be president enacts a soon-to-be-launched trade war? Will Ivanka continue to make her shoes overseas, while her dad tries to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States?
CNN asked those questions to Ivanka Trump. This was the response from her brand's spokesperson: "We have consistently expressed that we share industry leader's interest in bringing more manufacturing opportunities to the U.S. And are looking forward to being a part of the conversation."
Scott Nova, who studies the industry for the Workers' Rights Consortium, says he doubts any clothing jobs will ever come back to the United States, no matter who is president. As he said earlier this year, discussing Donald Trump's clothing line, the industry survives on cheap labor, where, in terms of paying workers, it is a worldwide race to the bottom.
SCOTT NOVA, WORKER'S RIGHTS CONSORTIUM: There is a worldwide search for the countries with the lowest wages and the least regulation.
I'm unaware of any way in which the Trump brand has taken a different approach than the one that is, unfortunately, standard in the industry.
GRIFFIN (on camera): Business as usual?
NOVA: As far as we're aware.
GRIFFIN: Find the cheapest labor for the clothes you're making. It's a business. So, you can make the biggest profit.
NOVA: This is the nature of the global garment industry.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Next on CNN NEWSROOM L.A., some Donald Trump supporters are calling for a boycott of the new "Star Wars" movie. The drama unfolding before the movie makes it to the theater is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:51:38] VAUSE: Fans of certain galaxy far, far away won't have to wait much longer. "Rogue One, A Star Wars Story" had its world premiere in Los Angeles over the weekend. The movie hits everywhere by Friday. But a few rebels and their mission has set off some ardent Trump supporters. They're calling for a boycott of the film because they say the story line is filled with anti-Trump message. It's all about them.
Sandro Monetti joins us now, managing editor of "Entity" magazine.
Nice to have you hear.
OK, may the force be with you.
SANDRO MONETTI, MANAGING EDITOR, ENTITY MAGAZINE: Absolutely.
VAUSE: Let's back up. This started last month when one of the writers for "Rogue One," Chris Weltz, tweeted, "Please note that the empire is white supremacist human organization," to which the co- writer, Gary Whitta, replied, "Opposed by a multi-cultural group led by brave women."
MONETTI: And then the fun began. All through history, when art has been deemed offensive to certain groups, they have protested. Now the online hate group known as Alt-Right have declared that they feel under attack and their values are under attack. They think "Star Wars" is completely biased against Trump. They also protest the fact that it's all male white villains and a multi-cultural group of rebels, led by a woman, no less.
VAUSE: This is a replay of the election.
MONETTI: It is.
VAUSE: But, this time, the woman will win.
We have a statement from a group called Citizens for Trump, posted online. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, CITIZENS FOR TRUMP: The writers of the new "Star Wars" movie, "Star Wars, Rogue One," called Donald Trump a Nazi and then spent millions of dollars rewriting their film and changing the ending to bash Trump. Well, we're going to respond. #dumpstarwars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: There are so many things wrong about that statement. And it only last 26 seconds. What did he have wrong?
MONETTI: There's been a lot of talk about fake news recently and that is a perfect example of it. But a lot of people believed what he said. And, no, it wasn't rewritten and it wasn't about the election. Because such is the nature of movies, the script was written three years ago, when Disney was developing their whole "Star Wars" program, and filmed over a year ago. So, any suggestion there are any rewrites to do with the election are not true, but a lot of people have jumped on this bandwagon. And, yeah, I think Disney will lose that big Neo- Nazi audience.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: A very lucrative part of the market.
OK, with that in mind, the boss at Disney told the "Hollywood Reporter," "It is not a film that is in any way a political film. There is not political statements in it at all."
Regardless of what the movie was intended to be, has it become political?
MONETTI: I would say "Star Wars" was always political because, if you look at the original in 1977, there were so many in the evil empire. There were so many references to the Nazis. Their soldiers were called storm troopers. The villain's uniforms were based on the S.S. uniforms. And the medal ceremony at the end, George Lucas, the director, admitted was taken from a restyled Nazi propogandist film. And the ice planet was named after a Nazi general as well. There are Nazi references throughout "Star Wars."
VAUSE: That's historical symbolism. They're not commentary on today's politics.
[01:55:04] MONETTI: No, but the point is, those that forget the lessons of history are bound to repeat it. That plays out, not just in the modern world but also in a galaxy far, far away.
VAUSE: Absolutely.
They say all publicity is good publicity. But Disney usually hates this kind of stuff. Is there any concern this could affect the box office with the movie coming out at the end of the week, or is the fan base is so massive, this is -
MONETTI: The fact is, everyone is talking about "Star Wars." They're talking about the plot. So, I think --
(CROSSTALK)
MONETTI: So it's very much in the debate. So, whatever side you fall on, everyone knows the movie is coming out on Friday. The last one was the third-biggest film of all time. Yeah, I'm sure Disney sees dollar signs in their eyes.
VAUSE: And some good reviews -- (CROSSTALK)
MONETTI: Fantastic, wonderful and marvelous, tends to be the early reviews, so we shall see.
VAUSE: OK. Sandro, good to see you. Thank you.
MONETTI: Thank you.
VAUSE: You've been watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
Stay with us. I'll be back with more news after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:08) VAUSE: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.
Ahead this hour --
(HEADLINES)
(Byline: John Vause, Brian Todd, Sunlen Serfaty, Jill Dougherty, Matt Rivers, Don Riddell, Pedram Javaheri, Tim Lister)
(Guest: David Wallachinsky, Sandro Monetti, Mac Zilber, John Thomas)
(High: Trump to pick ExxonMobil CEO as Secretary of State; Rex Tillerson closely tied to Russia & Putin; Trump tells Romney he won't be Secretary of State; Nuclear-capable Chinese jets fly over South China Sea; Cyclone Vardah kills 10 people in India; Activist: Regime Forces executing civilians while 100,000 civilians still trapped. Rio de Janeiro is facing an economic crisis instead of a post-Olympics boom, with violent protests and corruption investigations, and crime rates are soaring. South Korea has strongly condemned the North's recent war games which involved a simulated raid of a mock-up of the Blue House, the official residence of South Korea's residence, and Kim Jung-Un may be trying to exploit the recent political turmoil in Seoul. Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka, is coming under new scrutiny for some of her businesses practices. Some Donald Trump supporters are calling for a boycott of the new "Star Wars" movie. The drama unfolding before the movie makes it to the theater because they say the story line is filled with anti-Trump message.)
(Spec: Rio de Janeiro; Olympics; Protests; Economy; North Korea; Kim Jong-Un; South Korea; Military; Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Businesses; "Star Wars"; "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"; Movie Industry; Boycotts; South America; Asia; Politics; Government; China; Foreign Policy; One China Policy; Global Times; Donald Trump; President-elect; Secretary of State; Russia; Hacking; Elections; Istanbul; Car Bomb; Suicide Bomber; Syria; Airstrikes; Regime Forces; ISIS; Aleppo; Death; Palmyra; Twitter; Exodus; Vardah; ExxonMobil; Rex Tillerson; Secretary of State; Cyclone; Nuclear; Jet; India; Execution)