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NEWS STREAM
A Desperate Escape From Mosul; Fallout Continues from Donald Trump's London Tweets; Police Reveal Third London Attacker; Myanmar's Geek Girls. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired June 06, 2017 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:13] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream.
London falls silent to pay tribute to those lost in Saturday's terror attack as police reveal the identity of the third and final attacker.
The fallout continues from Donald Trump's tweet storm as White House aides find themselves undermined by the president's comments on social media.
And a desperate escape from Mosul. Iraqis flee the city before a final assault begins on ISIS.
And we begin the hour with major new developments in the investigation into the London terror attack.
Now, police have revealed the identity of the third terrorist. And once again it seems he had been on authorities' radar before the bloody rampage.
22-year-old Youssef Zaghba was from East London. He's believed to be an Italian national of Moroccan descent and was not considered a terror threat
in Britain, however CNN has learned that he was a person of interest to Italian police. And as the investigators look for answers, many in London
are still coming to terms with their grief. This morning, the city's bustling streets fell silent to mourn the seven victims killed in
Saturday's terror attack.
The chime of Big Ben rang across the city as London Mayor Sadiq Khan joined the millions united in grief. One more of those killed has just been
named. Kirsty Boden was a 28-year-old Australian national. She worked as a nurse in London. And the hospital confirmed her death a short time ago.
Now, CNN's Clarissa Ward is live at London's Borough Market with more on the investigation. And Clarissa, all three London attackers have now been
named. What more do we know about them?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the real question becomes now how on earth did these three men know each other?
They all seem to come from fairly different backgrounds, although all of them also living in east London.
And I think there are also some real questions for authorities. One of these men was very much on the radar of the security services. And even
the third attack who you just named, 22-year-old Youssef Zaghba, not known here in the UK, but was a person of interest in Italy. CNN has spoken to
Italian police who have said that he was stopped because he had a one-way ticket to Istanbul. Authorities believe that perhaps he was trying to
travel to Syria. All of this raising the question as to why British authorities were not alerted, why there isn't more information sharing
between the various European countries. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KHURAM SHAZAD BUTT: Because he's white and he's English, he can go, but all of us that we're just praying, we have to stay.
WARD (voice-over): Twenty-seven-year-old Khuram Shazad Butt seen her during a 2015 police search was known to British intelligence but authorities had
no indication of an imminent attack.
BUTT: We are just saying we will pray, but they don't believe us.
WARD: The British national, born in Pakistan, was a brainwashed follower of the local extremist group al-Muhajiroun, who appeared in this 2016 British
documentary "The Jihadis Next Door."
ANNOUNCER: The group displayed the black flag of Islam, a symbol associated with Islamic armies with the past 1,200 years.
WARD: Police also identifying 30-year-old Rachid Redouane, who claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan as one of the three men responsible for Saturday's
deadly terror attack. He was not previously known to authorities. The third attacker has been identified, but authorities have not released his name.
According to police, Butt is believed to have lived in this apartment complex in East London, one of three areas where police have carried out
raids and arrests. The neighbor, Michael Mimbo, who described Butt as a friend, tells CNN Tuesday that the attacker had recently started talking to
neighborhood kids about Islam.
MICHAEL MIMBO, NEIGHBOR: His views changed, not changed but he became a bit more erratic about how he communicated wit the kids, telling them what to
believe.
WARD: Just hours before the carnage, Mimbo saw him speeding down the street in a white van like the one used in the attack.
MIMBO: They're quickly speeding in the bends, it was unusual.
WARD: Another neighbor telling reporters that Butt took a strange interest in his rental van.
[08:05:05] IKENNA CHIGBO, NEIGHBOR: He's saying to me, where can I get a van from, all these details, how much is it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WARD: And we have heard from Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson today, Kristie, who has said that, you know, he also thinks there will be
some legitimate questions to be leveled at intelligence services in terms of how it was possible that Butt, who was under the radar, who was part of
this Muhajiroun group, who was a known associate of hate preacher Anjem Choudary, was able to go about planning this attack completely under the
radar.
And of course whether there's a possibility that this could have been prevented - Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yeah, and why the inquiry was dropped by British police. As we reported just then, one of the three attackers was not only known by
British intelligence and police, but also appeared in a documentary called the Jihadis Next Door. Clarissa, has there been a greater discussion about
the media and the role the media may have played in the rise of homegrown extremism there?
WARD: Listen, I think the Brits are very cognizant of the fact that there is a problem with homegrown extremism, and perhaps there have been a little
bit of complacency over the past few years because up until the last three months when we've had three attacks, it has been relatively quiet and
Britain has been largely spared the sort of scourge of terrorism that central Europe has really suffered from.
At the same time, this group al Muhajiroun, Anjem Choudary, this hate preacher, he's very well known. One of his associates Abu Rumaysah,
actually had his passport taken away from him, he was still able to get to Syria and to join ISIS in Syria. He's now believed to be the next Jihadi
John, the sort of star of the propaganda films.
So, make not mistake about it, Great Britain has had a problem for some time with homegrown terror, with groups like the al Muhajiroun. A lot of
people I think dismissed them, Kristie, early on, because they were so vocal, because they were a little bit over the top in the eyes of many, and
so perhaps they didn't seem serious. They were seen as sort of clowns. Now, obviously, there's a real recognition. When you look back at all of
the terror attacks that have taken place in Britain, and many that have been foiled, a lot of them have involved members of this group al
Muhajiroun.
And so of course there's a real question now as to whether authorities were too slow to recognize the seriousness and the danger that some of these
young men posed, Kristie.
LU STOUT: CNN's Clarissa Ward reporting live for us from London. Thank you.
As reported, another of the terror victims has just been named. Let's go live to CNN's Melissa Bell at Royal London Hospital for more. And Melissa,
tell us more about Kirstie Boden and how is London remembering her and the other victims of the attack?
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, what is so tragic, just two-and-a-half days on is that we're only beginning to get an
idea, Kristie, of the identities, the confirmed identities of some of those who lost their lives on Saturday night. We've been hearing, of course,
about Christine Archibald, the Canadian, who was visiting London for the first time and who died in her fiance's arms. And now as you say a second
confirmation on the part of authorities of another of the victims, Kistie Boden, that Australian nurse who died, we're told, running towards those
who needed help.
And we're also hearing from families, who are beginning to piece together the events of Saturday night and some families are beginning to come to the
conclusion that they may have lost their loved ones, because of course what's extraordinary is that all this time afterwards, people continue to
look for their loved ones with no confirmation, Kristie, one way or the other. And it's difficult, really, to imagine what they must be going
through.
Have a listen to one woman who believes that her brother may have been amongst those who have died. There wasn't - there's been no confirmation
that James McMullen (ph) did lose his life, although according to the family his bank card was found on one of the bodies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELISSA MCMULLEN, LONDON ATTACK'S VICTIM'S SISTER: While our pain will never diminish, it is important for us to all carry on with our lives in
direct opposition to those who would try to destroy us. And remember that hatred is the refuge of small-minded individuals and will only breed more.
This is not a course we will follow, despite our loss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Melissa McMullen there. And you could imagine that sort of emotion that you heard in her voice there, Kristie, amongst all those families who
have been waiting for news, hoping over the course of the last few days that they would find their loved ones in one of the five London hospitals
that have been treating those who have been wounded, and in fact finding out that their loved one was amongst one of those who died.
Now, this is the Royal London Hospital. Prince Charles and Camilla have just arrived here for a visit to meet with some of those who are still, in
many cases, fighting for their lives, Kristie. There are - and these are yesterday's figures - 36 people still being treated in London hospitals, 18
of them were in critical care.
We're expecting an update within the next hour or so on the precise figures as they stand today, Kristie.
[08:10:17] LU STOUT: And the families of the victims so distraught, so desperate for answers earlier today in just the last few hours. There was
that minute of silence. Tell us more about that moment and how London gathered together in grief at that time.
BELL: Of course, a moment of huge emotion, about paying respect, about coming together you hear there the chimes of Big Ben which take on a whole
new significance in these circumstances.
There was also, Kristie, a moment of silence, a minute of silence led yesterday by Sadiq Khan, London's mayor right next to the city hall and
very close to London Bridge where the attack happened on Saturday night and just around that minute of silence yesterday this vigil, it was the first
time, really, that Londoners had had a chance to gather together and they turned up in huge numbers despite the blustery conditions, despite the wind
and the rain they came carrying flowers. Many Muslims came in a sense to make clear the message that Sadiq Khan delivered himself just after the
minute silence that as a proud and patriotic British Muslim these terrorists have not acted in our name.
LU STOUT: Melissa Bell reporting live for us. Thank you.
Now, this is Britain's third terror attack in just three months. And despite the repeated heartache, Londoners are dealing with tragedy the only
way they know how by keeping calm, carrying on.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports on London's defiance in the face of terror.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Meticulously looking for even the tiniest clues. Forensic workers comb through the scene of
Saturday's terror attack.
But just a few yards away, the city is getting back to its normal pace, commuters rushing to work, one of London's ways of defying the third act of
terrorism since April.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think over the weekend, the coverage - and there are a number of people that talked about London as being determined. And I
think that's absolutely what we are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The English are used to it. It's something that we just come together at times like this and just carry on.
PLEITGEN: The terrorists plowed through London with a van on Saturday night hitting many people, killing at least seven.
On Monday, the grief and sorrow still very present, many stopping and laying flowers at the edge of the crime scene, some overcome with emotion.
There is more police on the streets for extra security, but otherwise the city is barely missing a beat.
There was incredible carnage here on London Bridge as the van apparently swerved from side to side trying to hit as many people as possible. But
only two days later, the bridge is open once again with people walking across enjoying the London skyline.
Defiance in the aftermath, defiance during the attack.
Romanian baker Florin Morariu is being hailed as a hero for hitting one of the attackers in the head with a basket to save people hiding in the store
he works at.
FLORIN MORARIU, BAKER: I have two basket, yeah, (inaudible) and two baskets, yeah. One is give, yeah, is no inciting these guys, yeah. Number
two basket is delivered in the face, yeah.
PLEITGEN: You hit him in the face with a basket.
MORARIU: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...take it with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take this. Take this, yes.
PLEITGEN: Florin Morariu also recorded the moments immediately afterwards, the chaos and the carnage. He says he doesn't feel like a hero.
MORARIU: It's normal. Maybe it's my father, maybe it's my brother in this moment, yeah. It's possible help? Help.
PLEITGEN: Keep calm and carry on they say in Britain, and that's exactly what London is doing, the residents and the tourists, appreciating their
city and its many attractions even more after a tough weekend.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Fred Pleitgen reporting.
Australian authorities are investigating claims by ISIS that it was behind Monday's deadly shootout in Melbourne. The prime minister says police
considered the siege an act of terrorism. Police say a suspect with a long criminal past took a sex worker hostage in an apartment. He killed one man
and wounded three others, three officers, before he was shot and killed by police.
Now, ISIS described the attacker as one of its soldiers, but provided no evidence that he was linked to the terror group.
Now, Donald Trump is giving his take on the right way to protect citizens from the dangers of terrorism and how to get his message out. Minutes ago,
he tweeted this: "the fake mainstream media is working so hard trying to get me not to use social media. They hate that I can get the honest and
unfiltered message out."
Now, earlier, he doubled down on his criticism of the London mayor. And he also tried to pump up support for his proposed travel ban. The problem,
his tweets seem to undercut what his aides have been saying.
Joe Johns has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[08:15:07] JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump defiant again, insisting that his plan to stop travel from six Muslim majority countries
should be called a travel ban, a direct contradiction of this statement from his deputy press secretary just hours before.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think the president cares what you call it, whether you call it a ban, whether
you call it a restriction. He cares that we call it national security.
JOHNS: And previous criticism of reporters for calling it a travel ban.
SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: When we use words like "travel ban," that represents what it is.
JOHNS: The husband of top aide Kellyanne Conway, a leading Republican lawyer, warning that the president's latest tweet storm may have
repercussions if and when the case goes before the Supreme Court.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: The obsession with covering everything he says on Twitter and very little what he does as president --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's his preferred message of communication.
CONWAY: That's not true.
JOHNS: The administration now attempting to downplay the importance of the president's tweets.
DR. SEBASTIAN GORKA, DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: It's not policy. It's social media, Chris. It is social media.
CUOMO: It is not social media. It is his words,his thoughts.
GORKA: It is not a policy. It's not an executive order. It is social media. Please understand the difference.
JOHNS: After touting Twitter as an essential part of the president's strategy for months.
CONWAY: Donald Trump's social media platform is a very powerful way for him to communicate and connect directly with the people.
JOHNS: President Trump also escalating his fight with London's mayor in the wake of Saturday's terror attack, accusing Mayor Sadiq Khan of offering a
pathetic excuse when he advised London residents not to be alarmed by increased security in the city. Khan offering this scathing response when
asked about Mr. Trump's planned visit to the U.K.
SADIQ KHAN, LONDON MAYOR: The president of the USA in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Joe Johns reporting.
You're watching News Stream, and still to come, Qatar cut off the net titans after its neighbors severe ties in the country's deepest diplomatic
crisis in decades.
Plus, Iraqis escape unimaginable terror in Mosul while government forces try to retake the city from ISIS. An exclusive report from Arwa Damon
after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back, you're watching News Stream.
Now, borders closed, air traveled stalled, bank dealings on hold, supermarkets overrun. The net of isolation is closing rapidly around Qatar
just one day after six neighbors cut ties for Qatar's alleged support of terrorism and its close alignment with Iran.
Now, residents filled stores to stockpile food and basic necessities. Qatar's foreign minister says Kuwait is moving to mediate the rift and try
to contain his country's worst diplomatic crisis in decades.
And to give you a sense of just how isolated Qatar is, of the six nations that have suspended ties, four of them - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE,
and Yemen, essentially surround it.
Now, Saudi Arabia shares a land border. Now, Qatar, it juts into the Persian Gulf, and while it's rich in oil, almost all of its food comes from
its Saudi neighbor.
Now, there are fears that this kind of isolation could cause conditions to deteriorate pretty quickly in Qatar if this diplomatic rift lasts.
Now, CNN's Ian Lee joins me now from Istanbul, Turkey with more. And tell us why is this happening? And why now?
[08:20:39] IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATOINAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, this has been brewing for quite some time. There have never been these real
close, warm relations between Saudi, the UAE, and Qatar because they don't see eye-to-eye on many foreign policy issues.
Some people are saying this is an emboldened Saudi Arabia just weeks after a visit by Presidnet Donald Trump. He came there with a strong unifying
message, building close ties with the Saudis, but when you look at some of the things they disagree on, one, Saudi Arabia is accusing Qatar of
supporting groups like ISIS and al Qaeda, although Saudi Arabia has also been accused of supporting these groups.
But there's also Iran. Qatar has somewhat cordial relations with Iran, but for Saudi Arabia there Iran is their regional rival.
LU STOUT: So, Qatar calls these allegations baseless. What is it going to do next? Will it attempt to restore diplomatic relations, or seek new
partnerships?
LEE: So, they are very far apart when it comes to their foreign policy. The one thing that Saudi Arabia wants, Kristie, is for Qatar to come into
the fold and acquiesce and join their foreign policy outlook. That's something that for Qataris, at least right now, from what we're hearing is
not something that they're going to want to do.
So, you do have this rift between the two. You have Kuwait, the Emir, who has negotiated a detente before. But it looks like this one is quite wide.
Also, the Americans have said that while they're not picking sides, they want to see this end as well.
LU STOUT: And more on Qatar, it's this tiny nation in the Gulf. It only has just over 300,000 citizens, but it's a major player. Ian, tell us more
about how this is a country that has an outsized role on the world stage.
LEE: Yeah, everyone says, Kristie, that Qatar punches above its weight, and that's because of their foreign policy. They have supported groups
throughout the Middle East that doesn't have a lot of support in other countries, more specifically the Muslim Brotherhood, which is called a
terrorist group in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, it's outlawed in Egypt, but find a friend in Qatar.
Also, Hamas is based in Qatar, which gives them some clout in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
And then you also have Qatar with al Jazeera, which is based there. And that has been a thorn in the side of many Arab nations. It's been banned
in Egypt. Yesterday, we saw Saudi Arabia shut down their offices. But it's been a strong part of their foreign policy to push out their agenda.
And so when you hear from Saudi Arabia, they want them to cut ties with the Brotherhood. They want them to reign in al Jazeera, but that's something
right now it doesn't look like Qatar is too keen on doing.
LU STOUT: All right, Ian Lee with some critical context there on Qatar. Thank you, Ian, take care.
In western Mosul, Iraq, hellish scenes are emerging as government forces fight to retake neighborhoods from ISIS. We're hearing from the United
Nations that children are being killed or wounded while trying to escape the fighting. The UN says that they're about 100,000 children trapped in
the crossfire, some had been used as human shields.
And according to the latest count from the International Organization for Migration, more than 383,000 Iraqis have been displaced by the fighting.
Now, out of the suffering come harrowing stories of survival and heroes who risk their lives to help them. Our senior international correspondent Arwa
Damon brings us this exclusive report from inside Iraq. And a warning, some of the video you're about to see is from a war zone. It is disturbing
to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They stumble towards the Iraqi troops. They are breathless. Their voices are shaking
from fear and shock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): They killed my son!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): For four months, they destroyed us. We died of hunger, of fear, of strikes and mortars.
DAMON: They use single sentences that seem to hardly encompass the scope of what it is they have actually just been through.
[08:25:05] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): May God punish these infidels.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): Twenty days ago we tried to escape, they caught him and shot him four times in the head. My brother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): He was 20 years old, ISIS killed him. They killed him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): We were in hell.
DAMON: And as ISIS is squeezed into even smaller territory, the civilians they are holding hostage are running out of food.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): We were eating flour, just flour and water.
DAMON: It was only enough to feed the children to try and keep them from crying out. She and her husband, they weren't hungry.
On the frontline helping the Iraqi army is Dave Eubanks (ph). He's American ex-Special Forces. With his team of Free Burma Rangers, volunteer medics.
Just days earlier, ISIS massacred dozens of people who were just trying to make a run for it. And Dave was called to the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw these 13 bodies and we saw movement. Here they are. Look at that wall.
DAMON: A man alive and a little girl who creeps out from underneath her dead mother's hijab where she had been hiding for two days hugging her
mother's corpse.
They use the tank for cover to move out, dragging those they just saved past the corpses of those who perished. The little girl, she has not yet
spoken, not a single word. No one knows her name.
The next morning, they spotted even more movement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ran, got across the road, went through rubble like this. And ISIS on three sides of us. We can hear them talking, crawled
through, finally get off the street ISIS is shooting. She tied herself, three days, no sleep, no water, wounded.
DAMON: Much of western Mosul is already apocalyptic. And the fight for last square kilometers, it's going to be so much worse than anything we've seen
before.
There's no past blueprint for this kind of warfare. No one has fought an enemy like ISIS holding civilians hostage in a dense suburban battlefield.
We go to a clinic that's further back from the frontline. There's an old man who can't speak from the shock and a little girl. Her name is Maria.
She's ten. There with her older sister.
They say a mortar hit their house just as they were trying to make a run tore it. One sister they know is dead. They saw her lifeless body. The
others are buried under the rubble of their home but ISIS still controls the area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): My family is gone, all gone.
DAMON (translated): Who is gone?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): My mother, father, sister and brother.
DAMON: The reality of what she's just said perhaps not quite sinking in or maybe she's just looking for any distraction from a loss that she cannot
yet fully comprehend.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Mosul, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[08:32:44] LU STOUT: Now, a U.S. federal contractor is charged with leaking classified information in the first prosecution of its kind under
the Trump administration.
Now, she is accused of sharing government secrets with an online news outlet. The leaked memo details a Russian cyber attack on a company that
supplied voting software for the U.S. election.
Now, there is no evidence that any votes were affected. The FBI and U.S. lawmakers have been investigating how Russia might have meddled in the 2016
U.S. election. As mentioned, one possibility is hacking, another is by engaging in so-called information warfare. Some have accused Moscow of
spreading online propaganda designed to hurt certain candidates.
Let's get more now on this development. I'm joined by Ben Nimmo. He's a security expert with the Atlantic Council.
And Ben, thank you so much for joining us.
Let's first talk about the NSA leak. We know that the The Intercept published this classified NSA report about this Russian cyber attack on
U.S. voting software supplier that took place last year. There was no evidence that any of these votes were affected, but the fact that this
happened, what does that reveal to you?
BEN NIMMO, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Well, it's very striking, because it exposes a new front, if you like, in the Russian cyber campaign. We've heard for
awhile about the targeted hacking and leaking of documents from the Democratic Party, from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager.
And so they were, if you like, conducted to get hold of compromising material, which could be published. So, in a sense that was a - the dark
side of the hearts and minds operation, that was about influencing voters.
What we appear to have here is a hacking campaign, which directly targeted the voting system itself and the voter registration system itself. So
that's not just targeting the minds of voters, that's actually targeting the mechanics of voting. And that's of the much more direct attack on the
whole structure of democracy. And so in that sense, it's much more troubling.
Now, we do only have the one report so far, so it'll be very interesting to see what further evidence is put forward. But at this stage it looks like
it really does show a new front in the cyber campaign.
LU STOUT: Yeah, in the cyber campaign is just so vast. There's a whole range of cyber weapons in the arsenal. Hacks to disrupt. Hacks to get
intelligence, like compromising intelligence. There's also the cyber campaign of distortion and misinformation. How does that work?
[08:35:09] NIMMO: Well, if you look at the Kremlin-controlled media, they - there's very often a technique, which I think of a vilify and amplify.
You find somebody who criticizes the person you're targeting and then you give them blanket coverage and you don't put any kind of balancing voice in
to present what would actually be descent journalism.
And we've seen this many times in many different contexts. There's been a lot, for example, about the situation in Ukraine. There was a time when
Russia was having a feud with Turkey, when there was a lot of vilify and amplify tactics used against Turkey. Vilify and amplify has been used
against the people investigating the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine, for example.
And what we saw in the U.S. election last year was that this same technique was used pretty much used throughout 2016, and particularly it was used to
target Mrs. Clinton. So, there was a steady flow of negative stories, and negative comments about Hillary Clinton, broadcast by the Kremlin media,
without anything approaching an adequate degree of balancing voices.
LU STOUT: And also I want to get your thoughts on that remarkable moment that took place recently in St. Petersburg when Vladimir Putin, the Russian
president, said that patriotic Russians may be involved in hacking. And he made that admission while at an international conference, so international
reporters were there.
Why did Putin say that?
NIMMO: Reading Putin's mind is notoriously difficult, but something we've seen in the past is that the narrative shifts when it looks like there's
too much evidence proving that what they've been saying is a lie. And the classic example of that, again, is the Russian operations in Ukraine where
the facts on the ground, and all the facts we've discovered from social media and from all our researchers show that Russian special forces led the
operation to annex Crimea. The Russian regular army was sent into Ukraine to fight the Ukrainian army when the Russian-backed rebels couldn't do the
job themselves.
There's been more and more evidence about that.
But if you look at the lines that have come out from the Russian government, and from President Putin himself. Initially, they said that
there were no Russian troops in Crimea. then they admitted that there had been some Russian troops, but all they'd been doing is supporting these
allegedly local self-defense forces. Then they admitted that actually Putin has sent the troops in himself, but they denied that there were any troops
anywhere else in Ukraine. Then when troops were found in Ukraine the Kremlin said, well, maybe they got lost. And then the, I think probably
the most memorable line was when it came out the size - the number of Russian regular soldiers in Ukraine fighting, some of the Russian
government came out and said, well, they're regular soldiers, but they're on leave. They're going to fight in Ukraine on their holidays.
And so each time, as the lie gets disproven, you take a step back and say, well, we'll admit as little as possible. So, it's very, very striking that
Putin has started to talk about patriotic hackers, because if you look at his past behavior, and his government's past behavior that suggests that
they know that there's too much evidence to deny. So, they're looking for the most deniable way out that they can.
LU STOUT: Yeah, so the narrative shifts ever so slightly. Ben Nimmo, we'll leave it at that, but thank you so much for joining us to talk about
cyber warfare, information warfare, in the era of Vladimir Putin. Thank you so much and take care.
You're watching News Stream. And coming up, a group of entrepreneurs in Myanmar is making dreams come true by creating opportunity for women in the
tech industry. And we'll tell you how they are changing the workforce and the culture just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:40:20] LU STOUT: Welcome back.
Now, Myanmar has been mired in conflict and poverty and years of military domination, but the group of women that you're about the meet is helping to
push it forward by bringing female entrepreneurs into the workforce. It's this week's Road to ASEAN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: A hot Yangon morning begins as days have for centuries: devotees arrive to Shredagon Pagoda (ph), the golden centerpiece of majority
Buddhist Myanmar.
In a traditional society emerging from military rule, the temple is a favorite social spot for Cho Zin Wint and her friends. But as reforms
quicken the pace of life, women are looking for new ways to connect. For Cho Zin Wint, a self-described geek girl, now is the chance to forge
digital pathways for women to connect in business and in society.
CHO ZIN WINT: With a lot of things happening currently in Myanmar, more women are trying to take more roles in the technology environment.
LU STOUT: At 32-years-old, Cho Zin Wint runs one of the country's most successful software design companies. Her's is one of few tech businesses
run by a woman.
Her success has been has been supported by an all-female collective called Geek Girls Myanmar. 3,000 members strong and growing, the Geek Girls host
meetups and workshops to help overcome barriers for female innovators and entrepreneurs.
SANDI SEIN THEIN, FOUNDER, GEEK GIRLS MYANMAR: We stay one step behind the men in (inaudible) technology that we don't use, we don't touch the
electronic item and also like TV or radio or things like that.
LU STOUT: The digital age has been slow to dawn in Myanmar where around 1 in 5 people have access to the internet and not many users are female. The
challenge: to get out on the road to engage with people learning about the internet for the first time.
THEIN: They have learned a lot from our workshop, like they know how to use the (inaudible) because they think the internet is Facebook.
(inaudible) online (inaudible) so we teach them how to protect themselves and (inaudible).
LU STOUT: Sandi's Geek Girls hope that through bravery and innovation they can succeed in breaking down gender barriers and ensuring that female tech
geeks are at the forefront of social and economic change in Myanmar.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Innovation is the answer.
And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. But don't go anywhere. World Sport with Alex Thomas is next.
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