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Britain, France Leaders to Argue for Tougher Action Against ISIS; War of Wards Between Turkey and Russia; Pope Francis Calls of Peace and Unity in Africa; Obama Reassuring Americans Over Thanksgiving Travel; Russia Deploying Defense Missiles in Syria; South Korea to Meet with North Korea Thursday. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired November 26, 2015 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[03:00:01]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL NEWSROOM HOST: Making their case, the leaders of Britain and France set to argue for even tougher action against ISIS, amid a war of words between Turkey and Russia.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN INTERNATIONAL NEWSROOM HOST: Also coming up, the Pope in Africa. The pontiff calls for peace and unity and huge celebrations at an outdoor mass in Nairobi.

CHURCH: And no credible threat. The U.S. President tries to ease terrorism fears as millions of Americans hit the road for Thanksgiving.

BARNETT: A warm welcome to our viewers here in the states and those of you tuned in all over the world. I am Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I am Rosemary Church. Thanks for joining us as we kick off our second hour of CNN Newsroom.

And we begin this hour with two major developments in the fight against ISIS. British Prime Minister David Cameron prepares to make his case to parliament for U.K. air strikes on the terror group ISIS in Syria.

BARNETT: This while French President Francois Hollande is set to leave for Moscow, trying to bring Russia on board a multinational coalition against ISIS.

CHURCH: And we have guests and correspondents covering developments from every angle. We will take you around the globe with live reports this hour from London, Paris, Moscow, and Istanbul. Well, let's start with CNN's Phil Black. He is live in London. That's where British Prime Minister David Cameron is preparing to make his case before parliament for the U.K. to begin air strikes against ISIS in Syria. And Phil, Mr. Cameron tried this before and failed. Have the attacks in Paris made his chances more likely this time around?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He clearly believes so, Rosemary. The last time he came to parliament to ask for permission to take military action in Syria was back in August of 2013. But that was to conduct air strikes against the Syrian regime for its use of chemical weapons. He has long since then believed that Britain should also be involved in the air campaign against ISIS. He's long argued that it's the right thing to do. But he hasn't come here to the parliament, the House of Commons to argue this because he knew that he simply didn't have the numbers.

He didn't have the support to get that permission. He doesn't need by law parliamentary approval, but ever since the Iraq war there has become the political convention in this country. The other political legacy of Iraq is a deep skepticism of foreign military intervention like this. So David Cameron is going to try and overcome some of that skepticism today. He's expected to argue as he has done in the past that he doesn't think it's right that Britain outsources its security to other countries, that other countries take on the responsibility for hitting ISIS in Syria given that ISIS is a threat here in the U.K.

But convincing M.P.'s that ISIS is bad, that it is a threat to British citizens, that's not the toughest part of his challenge here. Those that have held out support so far have done so because they simply don't believe that air strikes are enough. They would like to see the argument for air campaigns within the context of a wider plan, a wider strategy for bringing something close to peace and stability in Syria. It is the details of such a plan that he reveals here today that he will be judged on. How he explains his wider strategy will determine how successful his argument here is in the parliament today, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, CNN's Phil Black there in London as David Cameron prepares to make his case to parliament, many thanks to you.

We go to Paris now, where French President Francois Hollande is meeting today with Italian Prime Minister Mateo Renzi. Mr. Hollande is working to firm up a multinational coalition against ISIS.

BARNETT: On Wednesday he welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the French Presidential palace. As you see here, the two also laid flowers at a memorial to the Paris attack victims. Mr. Hollande will leave Paris for Moscow in just a few hours where he'll meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. For more on that let's bring in CNN's Max Foster following all this from the French capital. And you wonder, Max, how President Hollande will be able to convince President Putin to target rebels less and ISIS more without offering some kind of incentive.

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the issue really here. President Putin, an official who worked for him, has made it really clear that they are happy to go along with President Hollande's plan to coordinate efforts on the ground in Syria with the western powers. But the White House is making it very clear that's not possible whilst President Putin targets non-ISIS positions within Syria. So as President Hollande goes over to Moscow, French officials actually playing down the progress that can be made here, but he may try to find some way of coordinating efforts.

[03:05:01]

If he can make some progress with President Putin on restricting the amount of strikes away from ISIS targets, then that will be the big breakthrough. But it's not what was expected last week. And I think certainly this incident on the Turkish border with Syria, with a Russian plane being shot down by a NATO member has toughened Putin's resolve to stick with his current strategy in Syria, which by all accounts is a wide range of positions, not just ISIS positions. But certainly, Moscow and Paris do agree that a greater sense of coordination between all of the powers in Syria working against ISIS would be a beneficial thing.

BARNETT: Certainly a very busy and important week for the French President. Max Foster, live in Paris for us, thanks.

Now we want to talk about the tensions between Russia and Turkey. The two are failing to find common ground over the downing of a Russian warplane.

CHURCH: Russia suggested it was a planned provocation and announced plans to deploy anti-aircraft missiles to Syria to protect its jets. And Turkey's President accused Moscow of being deceitful, saying Russian planes were not flying over ISIS targets but ethnic Turkmen instead.

BARNETT: Now, more information about the incident is emerging. For example, Turkey backed its claims of repeated warnings to the warplane.

CHURCH: And the rescued Russian co-pilot gave his version of events. Barbara Starr has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allah Akbar.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The shoot down of the Russian fighter jet by Turkey sparking rising tensions from Moscow to Washington. One pilot shot dead by Turkey-supported rebels as he parachuted to the ground. The other rescued but only after a first failed attempt when a helicopter was hit by a U.S.-made tow missile fired by rebels on the ground. Turkey insisting the shoot down was justified. Today, the Turkish government releasing audio of what the Turks say were ten warnings to the Russian pilots, Russia disputed any warnings were given, broadcasting an interview with the rescued pilot, his back to the camera, presumably to protect his identity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not via the radio. Not visually. There was no contact whatsoever.

STARR: According to the Turks, the Russian jet flew just over a mile into its airspace and was there for just 17 seconds before they shot it down, raising questions about the Turks' very quick action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it in an attack posture? Was it really threatening? Or was it simply violating the airspace of Turkey?

STARR: The U.S. Pressing for calm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important thing right now is for a de- escalation of tensions.

STARR: Publicly, Russia appears to agree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not intend to wage a war on Turkey.

STARR: Moscow far from backing off. In recent days, Russian long- range bombers flew two extraordinary attack missions, leaving northern Russia to fly around Europe into the Mediterranean and another set of bombers flying into Iranian airspace, both launching cruise missiles into Syria. Additional surface-to-air missiles will be placed at Lattakia, its main Syrian air base. And tonight, the U.S. looking at allegations of what appears to be an air strike against a humanitarian aid convoy just six miles south of the Turkish border inside Syria. Not clear yet who may have been responsible, Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And Russian anger goes beyond high-level diplomacy to protests in the streets.

BARNETT: Several dozen demonstrators threw eggs and tomatoes at the Turkish embassy there in Moscow. They called it an embassy of murderers and said the jet's downing was an act of war.

CHURCH: For more on this Ian Lee joins us now from Istanbul. So Ian, we can see that tensions are high between the two countries, with Russia now moving surface-to-air missiles into the region as well as fighter jets. How is Turkey responding to this and to Russia's message that this had better not happen again?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Turkey has said repeatedly that they will protect their territorial integrity, that they do not want anyone to violate their airspace. But they have had a bit more of a conciliatory tone with the Russians saying they hold no animosity toward Russia. But they also said Russia's efforts, their attacks in this part of Syria, in this region are disingenuous.

[03:10:01]

Russia saying they're attacking ISIS. Turkey saying there's no ISIS there. But going forward, it's likely the question to be is would Turkey do this again if Russia violated their airspace? Now, Russia has violated their airspace beforehand, and Turkey has warned them. This time they shot down their plane, although Turkey says they didn't know it was a Russian plane at the time of the incident. But you do have Russia moving in military assets. You have S-400 surface-to-air missiles, which are the most advanced surface-to-air missiles Russia has.

They also say they're going to have fighter escorts with their bombers presumably to make sure that they don't come under attack again. This does create a real tension between the two countries, although both have said that they're not going to let this lead to an all-out war.

CHURCH: Yeah. I mean, we heard from that Russia's foreign ministry, didn't we that this wouldn't lead to war, a sense perhaps that they are stepping back from the brink. Is that what you're feeling there in Turkey as well?

LEE: Well, definitely. As the days progress, we don't see any more actions, at least military actions taken between the two countries. It does seem like cooler heads are prevailing. You also have NATO and the United States saying they want us to deescalate as well -- as well as you have the French President trying to ramp up support for a coalition against ISIS. Really the winner in this dispute between Turkey and Russia is ISIS because it has thrown off at least for the time being a lot of this talk of unity and going after them as you do have the Turks and Russia, this tension between them.

But when you look at it, you feel it here, it does seem like things are calming down. But don't expect Russia to forgive and forget immediately. We are hearing that they are taking punitive measures against the Turkish economy. Also I talked to one analyst and he told me that we should expect that Russia will try to go after Turkish interests within Syria, Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right, many thanks to you. Ian Lee, reporting there live from Istanbul in Turkey.

BARNETT: Now, ISIS says it's responsible for an attack on a bus that killed members of Tunisia's Presidential guard. Tuesday's explosion in Tunis killed 12 people along with a suspected suicide bomber. The country is now under a state of emergency for the next month, and a nightly curfew is in effect there in the capital.

CHURCH: ISIS targeted the nation two other times this year, attacking a museum and a hotel. Most of the victims killed in those assaults were tourists.

BARNETT: Now, U.S. President Barack Obama calls for calm in his hometown of Chicago. This after video of a deadly hooting is released. We'll bring you details on this story coming up.

CHURCH: And you're taking a live look at the enormous crowd in Nairobi, if we can bring that up. There it is. As Pope Francis celebrates mass. Why this Africa visit is so important to the future of the Catholic Church. We will address that on the other side of the break. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:17:01]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. U.S. President Barack Obama is reassuring Americans it is safe to travel this Thanksgiving holiday.

BARNETT: In the wake of the Paris attacks, ISIS has threatened several times to attack targets in the U.S. Mr. Obama says the government is taking every possible step to keep the country safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Right now, we know of no specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. And that is based on the latest information I just received in the Situation Room. So as Americans travel this weekend to be with their loved ones, I want them to know that our counterterrorism, intelligence, Homeland Security, and law enforcement professionals at every level are working overtime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: It's worth noting of course, this holiday weekend in the U.S. is the country's busiest travel weekend of the year. Millions of Americans will be traveling more than 50 miles, or 80 kilometers to celebrate Thanksgiving.

BARNETT: That's right. The American Automobile Association says some 42 million people will travel by car, while about 25 million will fly. AAA also says around 770,000 holiday travelers are expected to do so by train.

CHURCH: And one of those train travelers was U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. After a news conference in Washington Wednesday, Johnson boarded an Amtrak train to New Jersey.

BARNETT: And as you see there, the Secretary appearing calm, not worried, as he waited for his train to depart. Earlier, Johnson said Americans must help protect the country along with law enforcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Time to protect the homeland, to evaluate and reevaluate what we see. We also want to encourage the public at the beginning of this holiday season to be vigilant yourself and to be aware. If you see something, say something has to be more than a slogan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And police will be conducting random checks at the U.S. stations.

BARNETT: It appears there is perhaps more of a threat from bad weather. A heavy dose of freezing rain could make holiday travel miserable all over the central U.S.

CHURCH: Let's find out more. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has been checking this all out. How's it looking?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Great segway, I should say, Errol and Rosemary. Take a look at this. We have got quite the storm that is developing over the western and central parts of the United States. This is a look at the latest watches and warnings. I am going to identify a few and give you some of the timelines here. We have a winter storm warning in effect for portions of Wyoming into Utah, Nevada as well as Idaho. But that deep shading of purple, that is an ice storm warning for the panhandle of Texas. That is an area that we're focusing in on for the potential of some serious problems across that part of the United States.

In fact, I want to take you into the temperatures here, which you can see that dividing line between the cold air to the north and the -- well, warm and humid air to the east. We've got a tale of two seasons here across the United States. And it is significant, because we're talking nearly a 40 degree temperature difference between Denver, for instance, and into the Oklahoma City region. So we have a significant temperature swing in store as this cold arctic air continues to plunge southward. This is going to cause havoc on the roadways, especially for interstate 40.

That runs east and west from -- well, basically the east coast of the United States all the way to the west coast. But look at what's shaping up near the panhandle of Texas. We've got that warm, moist Gulf of Mexico air that's rising. Remember, warm air rises. Then we have cold air kind of undercutting that all thanks to that arctic plunge, temperatures really dropping significantly behind that cold front. So in a typical winter storm, this time of year we would have a snowflake drop from a cloud deck. And if the column of air that it was falling through was below freezing, it would stay frozen the entire way to the ground.

But with this particular scenario, with our change in seasons that is taking place at the moment, we get that overriding warm layer of air. And as that ice particle drops through that warm air, it melts. And then we get that undercutting cold layer of air thanks to the cold front dropping south from Antarctica. That is going to allow for that droplet to refreeze near the surface of the earth, creating the potential for an ice storm. And that's exactly what we have in store for that i-40 corridor and into the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle.

[03:22:01]

Take a look at this. We have anywhere between half an inch to an inch of ice expected from Des Moines into Omaha, Wichita, Oklahoma as well, just west of Oklahoma City I should say and into the Amarillo, Texas region. That is a particular region we are going to pay very close attention to. Here's the storm as it evolves across the central U.S., and it's not only the ice we have concern with. We actually have the potential for flooding, this time upwards of six inches of rain on the warm side of this front. So just east of Oklahoma City into Little Rock and Dallas, that's where we could experience six inches of rain locally.

So we have flash flood watches for that area. And Errol, Rosemary, this is for you. We've got the Macy's Day Parade taking place today, looking pretty good in New York City.

CHURCH: All right, sounds good, happy Thanksgiving to you.

VAN DAM: Same to you.

BARNETT: Thanks, Derek.

Now, demonstrators take to Chicago streets for a second night. CHURCH: Their peaceful protest is in response to the release of

graphic video, showing a black teenager being gunned down in the street. A white police officer was charged with first-degree murder for shooting him 16 times during a confrontation.

BARNETT: And U.S. President Barack Obama is sharing his personal thoughts about the deadly shooting. Here's what he posted on his Facebook page, "Like many Americans, I was deeply disturbed by the footage of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. This Thanksgiving I ask everybody to keep those who've suffered tragic loss in our thoughts and prayers and to be thankful for the overwhelming majority of men and women in uniform who protect our communities with honor."

CHURCH: And the protests we were telling you about come more than a year after that deadly shooting.

BARNETT: CNN's Miguel Marquez breaks down the video captured that night second by second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The video is 6 minutes and 53 seconds, most of it police vehicles trying to find what they are told is a knife-wielding suspect stealing and threatening others.

What's happening in my head as an officer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know that this person has a knife. You know that he's been using that knife. Now, as you're approaching there, the sense that this potentially could be imminent danger of loss of life or serious bodily injury.

MARQUEZ: The dash cam video has no audio. Shortly before officers encounter Laquan McDonald, someone points officers in the direction the 17-year-old went, 15 seconds later police spot and surround McDonald.

At this point right here, you see an individual go from running, or trotting, to walking. And then you see him pull the knife out, which is a provocative move right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is that telling me as an officer? It's telling me that somebody is potentially getting ready to make a move with this weapon.

MARQUEZ: Then Officer Jason Van Dyke and his partner arrive, both immediately train their weapons on McDonald, commanding him to drop the knife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, the officer should feel fear tactically, what I was taught. This officer has the right to use deadly force on that individual. MARQUEZ: Six seconds after jumping out of the car, Van Dyke on the

force 14 years, fires. The first round appears to hit McDonald's left shoulder. He spins and falls, still holding the knife.

So because McDonald does not drop the knife here...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They continue to shoot. I can guarantee you almost 100 percent of all law enforcement if the knife had fallen out of his hand would have stopped shooting.

MARQUEZ: Van Dyke fires 16 times. All 16 bullets hit the teenager. When McDonald falls, one shot goes through him, kicking up debris. McDonald still holds the knife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he's still moving and still has the knife. And he gets shot again.

MARQUEZ: Another shot right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.

MARQUEZ: And then his hand goes forward with the knife still in it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

MARQUEZ: Van Dyke's partner tells him to stop firing and clears the knife away. The incident is over. But the controversy has just begun, Miguel Marquez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: All right. We do want to go back to France now where investigators are working to piece together the network of terrorists that carried out the attacks in Paris nearly two weeks ago. Our Max Foster is live in the French capital. Max, what more are we learning on this?

FOSTER: Rosemary, a huge amount of frustration, actually. The two men are still on the run. And the security services as far as we know don't know where they are at all. They could be anywhere in Europe, even beyond. Regis Le Sommier joining us throughout the week from Paris match, updating us on the investigation, what do we know? We haven't had anything more since a couple days ago, have we?

REGIS LE SOMMIER, PARIS MATCH DEPUTY EDITOR IN CHIEF: Yesterday, we had some more news. I mean more detail by the prosecutor, Francois Moulin, who gave us a sense of the itinerary a little bit. And today, they are actually working on recouping all the routes taken by the various groups, because we know that some of the groups were stationed in the north, in Saint-Denis, that that was raided, but others booked hotels before committing suicide to the Bataclan. So they are trying to find where they were and especially what they're looking for now is the connection with Syria.

How some of the guys used the migrants' routes in order to get to France, but also some others were positioned along the way and what is the exact connection they have to Syria, because that's what the investigator want to know precisely in order -- who ordered, who plan, get a better sense of how many people were involved and make sure also that all these people are either dead or, you know, about to be arrested.

[03:27:01]

FOSTER: It also exposes the problems with the system here in Europe, because these people might be moving through different jurisdictions and different security systems might pick up on them, but they're not sharing the information and this is something that came up yesterday with the meeting with Angela Merkel. Hollande is currently meeting the Italian Prime Minister right now. It will come up again, won't it?

LE SOMMIER: You would think. Europe -- after all those talks of Europe, all those years of experience, sharing a common complicate system, common laws and stuff, you would think with that level of security of danger that are threatening all of our society that the intel services would be cooperating. And you want to realize right now that even between the Belgium and the French it's not that clear. There's not that much of sharing information. And what's interesting in that particular case between France and Belgium is on the ground in Syria the Jihadists fight together, the Belgian Jihadists.

There's a francophone brigade along the lines of the brigades in Spain during the civil war. The Jihadis that come to Syria are grouped in linguistic groups. So you would think it would be normal and absolutely necessary for French intel service and Belgium to share what they know. And I hope this is a really wake-up call for all of us. You're talking about Germany as well, because Germany is not far. And all those borders for years have been very cross. All the custom agents have been looking is drug traffic, basically coming from Holland because that's where they have -- there are a lot of drugs over there.

And you know, crossing through Belgium into France. They've been looking for cars on that. On terror there's been very little done. And that's a point of worry.

FOSTER: That's going to be coming up in a meeting, as I was saying, Rosemary and Errol, between the Italian Prime Minister and Francois Hollande as we speak right now.

CHURCH: All right. Max Foster there in Paris. It is 9:30 in the morning. And of course, Max will actually take the show at the top of the hour. And he'll be talking with us all from Paris there. Many thanks.

BARNETT: Still to come, Pope Francis celebrates his first mass on the African continent. In fact, here are some pictures from earlier at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, where hundreds of thousands have gathered, the significance of this mass when we come back.

CHURCH: Plus, British Prime Minister David Cameron prepares to ask parliament to approve air strikes in Syria. We will talk with a former British Army Colonel who's calling for a much more ambitious plan. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:37:41]

BARNETT: Welcome back to those of you watching here in the U.S. and all round the world, this is your last half hour of CNN Newsroom with the both of us. I am Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I am Rosemary Church, time to check the headlines for you. And Russia says it's deploying defense missiles in Syria to protect its jets. Moscow suggested Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane was a planned provocation. The rescued co-pilot says there were no warnings from Turkey. Turkey released an audio recording to back its claim.

BARNETT: British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to make his case to parliament for U.K. air strikes against ISIS in Syria. Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande will head to Moscow to discuss anti-terrorism efforts with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

CHURCH: South Korea has agreed to meet with North Korea on Thursday. Representatives from the two countries will meet in the truce village of Panmunjom. These will be the first talks since August, when the two sides met to try and ease tensions.

BARNETT: Pope Francis is celebrating mass right now in Kenya at the University of Nairobi. In fact, we can show you live pictures coming to us from that mass right now. More than 300,000 people were expected to show up.

CHURCH: Well, the Vatican says this will be the Pope's largest event in Kenya. His journey highlights the Catholic Church's dramatic growth in Africa.

BARNETT: Our CNN Correspondent Robyn Kriel joins us live from the University of Nairobi overlooking those services. And Robyn, I am just wondering how many people have showed up in the end, and what's the mood there as the Pope delivers mass today?

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can't tell exactly, but what we're hearing, Errol, is that 300,000 Kenyans and probably east Africans from around east Africa, because there are some fairly large communities of Catholics in neighboring countries, Tanzania, Rwanda, and indeed Uganda, although that's next on his tour, electrifying atmosphere here. The video that you're watching live is Kenya's single cardinal, John Njuwe, giving an address. He is the Pope's representative here in Kenya. We are awaiting -- everyone is waiting for the Holy Communion to happen.

We have been told that every single person who wants to take Holy Communion can take Holy Communion today. That might be a lot of pieces of bread to give out to Kenyan mouths today in Nairobi, and as you said, a growing Catholic population on the continent of Africa, exploding almost 200 percent, more than 200 percent since the 1980s. And then you can see just from the number of children here at this event and the number of children at masses that we've been covering in the weeks leading up to this visit saying where the future is.

BARNETT: As you were speaking we saw the camera pan across the crowd as people kind of smiles and waved, certainly a positive mood there. I can say that what's unique in my experience with various African faiths is that people all over the continent can both follow Catholicism and their local indigenous beliefs without contradiction, just wondering if we're going to see that play out at all during the Pope's visit.

KRIEL: I am going to step out of the camera for a minute because they're going to be singing, and the singing is some of the most beautiful parts of today's ceremony. You can see how excited everyone is getting. And as you say, Errol, this is exactly it. Catholicism mixed in with local African culture. The Pope was greeted by traditional dances last night when he -- when he arrived in his papal plane. And he's heard beautiful singing and harmonization here in Kenya since he touched down. We went to a Masi wedding in the heart of Masi land.

[03:40:01]

In fact, it was on the peripheries of one of the largest diocese in Kenya, where we saw the most gorgeous, striking mix of culture, Masi culture with the beads -- a white wedding and a mass wedding at that because Catholicism when a Pope visits, usually they do see an increase in weddings, increase in confirmations, and an increase in the number of priests or nuns who want to take their vows after a visit as inspiring as a papal visit. Indeed, Pope Francis, the people's Pope, everyone's calling him, he knows poverty, he knows the issues of the third world, and he is truly connecting with Kenyans.

BARNETT: Roughly 20 minutes to midday and Robyn Kriel showing us the sights and sounds of a joyous mass in Nairobi as Pope Francis makes a splash and an impact as he visits the African continent. Robyn, we'll continue to check in with you throughout the day. Thanks very much.

CHURCH: We do want to return to our top story now. Turkey is standing firm in its version of the downing of a Russian jet bomber. Ankara has insisted it repeatedly warned the plane not to violate Turkish air space.

BARNETT: Turkey released an audio recording. It said supported those claims. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn't backing down. He says he doesn't want war.

CHURCH: Russia's agriculture ministry announced its strengthening controls over food and agriculture imports from Turkey. The agriculture ministry says it's in response to repeated violations of Russian standards by Turkish producers. And we are joined by Jill Doherty in Moscow now. She is with the International Center for Defense and Security. And Jill, of course the world was assured by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as we said, Wednesday that Russia will not go to war over this. Turkey said it won't either. We've got different versions of what happened. There is this sense, though, that they're moving away from the brink, de-escalating this. But let's talk about what sort of impact Russia is likely to have on Turkey going forward.

JILL DOHERTY, INTERNATIONAL CTR FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY: Well, militarily, they say of course they're not going to go to war. There's no question of that. But Russia is very angry at what happened, and it's looking at ways to retaliate diplomatically and economically. And now we're getting something that has a familiar ring to it. Agricultural imports, agricultural imports from Turkey to Russia total $1.7 billion, very important factor in the relationship. And now the Russian Agriculture Ministry is saying that the body that's in charge of supervising imports is looking to control and tighten controls over the import of Turkish agricultural products.

Those would be basically meat, vegetables, fruit, and etcetera. And what they're saying -- and this, again, has been used by Russia previously as countersanctions. What they're saying is 15 percent of those imports do not meet the sanitary standards of imports for Russia, therefore they're going to crack down, they'll be at the border checking, they will look at the sources of Turkish production and try to reduce the imports and strengthen controls over those imports. So this obviously, Rosemary is one way that Russia can retaliate for that shoot down of its plane by Turkey.

There are others. You know the relationship is very broad. It has a lot of -- there are a lot of Russian tourists who go to Turkey. They have been cutting back. Russian tour companies have been cutting back tours to Turkey. That has certainly hurt the Turkish economy because Russians are a big factor in tourism in Turkey. And then you also have to look at the energy component. That's more complicated, because if Russia were to cut some of the energy exports, especially natural gas, it could hurt Russia itself. But here we go with agriculture. And as I said, that's been used before with both Europe and the United States for Russia to show its displeasure.

CHURCH: And of course, in tourism you're talking about three million Russians a year going to Turkey, if they stop going, that's going to have an incredible impact on the country's bottom line for sure. Jill Doherty joining us there from Moscow, many thanks to you appreciate it.

BARNETT: U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron will try once again today to make his case to parliament that the U.K. should join the air strikes against ISIS in Syria. We'll have updates on this coming up.

CHURCH: Plus, U.S. astronauts in space will find their own way to celebrate Thanksgiving today, even finding a way to eat turkey. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:46:01]

BARNETT: British Prime Minister David Cameron is preparing to make his case before parliament for the U.K. to begin air strikes against ISIS in Syria.

CHURCH: British lawmakers approved air raids in Iraq more than a year ago, but they specifically ruled out action in Syria.

BARNETT: Tim Collins is a former British Army Colonel and counterinsurgency expert. He joins us now live from London to discuss options ahead. Colonel, thank you very much for your time and joining us on CNN today. We should let our viewers know you recently wrote in the telegraph newspaper that military and political efforts are needed to eventually stamp out ISIS, but it can only be done if the coalition essentially in your words carves out a new Arab homeland for the moderate Sunnis who are forced in many cases to support ISIS. That is a bigger undertaking than what's currently going on. Is that really viable?

TIM COLLINS, FORMER BRITISH ARMY COLONEL: It's not a question whether it's viable. It's needed. The lines which were drawn in 1916 were more about areas of British influence and areas of French influence. And that's left 100 years gap. In the modern world the vast majority of the constituency of the death cult that calls itself ISIS are the Sunni tribes, but they're caught between on one hand the Syrian regime, which is backed by Iran and Russia, as we have seen, and on the other hand the Iraqi regime, which is backed by Iran and predominantly a Shia regime, and they find themselves very isolated and pretty much nowhere to go.

To the north is Turkey and to the south is a desert. They need a homeland and that's part of the broader view we have to take is we need some form of stability there. Good fences make good neighbors. And if we can take away the threat from those external influences to the Sunni tribes and give them hope, give them a chink of light, they will turn on ISIS, they will destroy ISIS, and that's going to bring a long-lasting solution. If we try and do it by intervention from the west, it'll just perpetuate a long-standing war.

BARNETT: Well, I want to talk to you more about that point. Our viewers can read your article that really makes the case for this. It's quite interesting. But we've got to be clear here, the current borders that created Iraq and Syria and really prevented the Kurds from having their own country in the first place were drawn by French and British diplomats in -- as you mentioned there, the infamous agreement after World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Many historians agree that sowed the seeds for conflict throughout the 20th century. Shouldn't we learn the lessons of history here?

COLLINS: That's exactly what I am saying. Colonel Sikes was a military staff officer. Mr. Pico was a politician. The experts on the ground, T.E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, John Filiby, and Guthrie Bell said at the time that the Sunnis must be given a homeland, otherwise it will lead to conflict. They're exactly right, and their voices beyond the grave come back 100 years later, and that's exactly what we've found. You talk about the Sikes-Pico line at the Syrian-Iraqi border, it's a border drawn by Sikes and Pico that frankly doesn't exist anymore.

And part of the difficulty is no one recognizes it on the ground. If we're going to get involved in air strikes in that area, whose sovereign territory are we over flying? Who has the writ there? It's very hard to say. BARNETT: Now, how confident are you that Prime Minister David Cameron

would be willing to take the lead on this as you suggest? You've called the U.S. leader quite weak on this front. We know that Cameron will be making the case today just for air strikes, just for the U.K. to join coalition air strikes against ISIS, which they voted down last time he made this attempt. How much confidence do you have in him to make a plan like the one you suggest?

COLLINS: Not a great deal of confidence at all. The man is not there. The strongest leader clearly in the area without a shadow of a doubt is President Putin. President Obama's made it clear he's not the least bit interested in foreign policy and particularly in the Middle East. So currently, everyone in the region has to look to figure out what they're going to do against Russian -- that's difficult. President Erdogan in Turkey has his own difficulty, because of course they've got an ongoing conflict with Turkey -- Kurdish separatists within their own country.

The Iranians behind the scenes are very manipulative. They have people on the ground. The de facto commander of the Iraqi army is the deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. He works to his boss, Hazim Suleiman, who's in charge whole region. These are the people making the calls. In the west we have no voice in that. We need a voice. I'd like it to be President Obama. He's not interested. But it would be good if David Cameron found -- was able to do it. I don't really see it.

BARNETT: Well, we'll have to wait and see. Certainly has become more complicated over there in the past few years. We appreciate you bringing your insight, Tim Collins, counterinsurgency expert and former British Army Colonel joining us from London. Thanks for your time today.

[03:51:01]

CHURCH: And still to come, an American Presidential tradition. President Obama pardons a Turkey before Thanksgiving.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: Welcome back. U.S. President Barack Obama carried on a more bizarre American Thanksgiving tradition on Wednesday by pardoning a Turkey.

CHURCH: Yeah, the public voted on which Turkey to pardon, either honest or Abe. They voted for Abe. But you know what? Honest was also pardoned. Obama seized the opportunity to make his daughters laugh with some good old dad jokes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: It is my seventh year of pardoning a Turkey. Time flies even if Turkeys don't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was good. That was good.

OBAMA: I thought it was pretty good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Some Republican Presidential candidates were asked to show how they would pardon a Turkey.

CHURCH: So Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and Marco Rubio gave their demonstrations.

[03:56:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think you're so beautiful. You should be pardoned.

BEN CARSON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am pardoning it for being ugly. It agrees.

MARCO RUBIO, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hope you don't grow upset at me, but we roast one the normal way. And the others, we fry them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: All right. Now, even astronauts will celebrate this Thanksgiving.

CHURCH: The men and women at the International Space Station will eat smoked Turkey, candied yams, and cornbread stuffing. It's just not prepared quite the same way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Yikes. But does it taste as good? I don't know about that. Thanks for joining our two-hour block, everyone. I am off. So I will see you in a while. Max Foster is next with another edition of CNN Newsroom. I am Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I am Rosemary Church. And for all of you and from us at CNN Center, we wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving.

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