Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Russia's War On Ukraine; Mexican Governor Seeks Indefinite Leave Of Absence; Robot Olympics. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 24, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When it comes to military support. Of course, that is something that President Zelenskyy has long been pushing for in Ukraine. We are learning that the UK has confirmed that it will allow for classified information regarding components for the development of long range missiles to be shared with defense firm, MBDA, to allow for Ukraine to bolster its long range missile capacity and capabilities in defending itself against Russian aggression. So this will be a significant boost for the Ukrainian military and, of course, for the efforts to defend, crucially, eastern Ukraine from further attacks.

And we have seen, of course, Russian attacks also boosting over the last few months, particularly targeting civilian areas. But this is something that President Zelenskyy has been pushing for. But in addition to this boost in support from the United Kingdom, we are also learning on the occasion of Ukraine's Independence Day, of a further boost from the European Union as well, releasing a statement from the European Commission earlier this morning approving some 6.1 billion in new defense procurement for Ukraine.

I can read you just a bit from that statement saying the funding covers air and missile defense systems, missiles, ammunitions and radars, reaffirming Europe's commitment to supporting Ukraine's defense and resilience against Russia's ongoing aggression. But of course, while we are seeing this boost in support from the United Kingdom and from the European Union, we have heard from the Ukrainian President who spoke and gave some wide ranging remarks on Sunday, but also calling out the United States, calling for more support on that front, particularly when it comes to Ukraine's air defenses and support in the form of Patriot missile air defense systems.

Zelenskyy highlighted, for example, the significant downward trend that we have seen in the amount of Patriots being supplied by the United States to Ukraine. Highlighting those figures, he says some 675 were supplied in 2023, that in comparison to a forecast of just 264 by the end of this year. And of course, we have seen those ballistic missile attacks being carried out by Russia expanding and deepening as well into Ukraine, again having a disastrous impact on civilian infrastructure as well as civilian lives, crucially.

And of course, those Patriot missiles would be essential and crucial in fending off such attacks. So that is something that of course, Zelenskyy has highlighted, but he has also indicated that he is pushing for further talks with the United States to try to push forward some sort of route for development of that military cooperation between the two. And as you mentioned, Polo, we are expecting, according to Zelenskyy, to see those challenges faced by Ukraine and the Ukrainian military deepening as well.

According to Zelenskyy's remarks, the Ukrainian military and intelligence service is expecting some further 300,000 Russian troops to be mobilized later this year as it attempts to complete its capture, according to Zelenskyy, of eastern Ukraine. So this will have a significant impact, of course, on Ukraine's ability to defend itself if indeed we see such a significant remobilization of Russian troops in Ukraine.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Nada Bashir, thank you so much for closely following the British prime minister's visit there in Ukraine.

To Iran now, it says that it will not hesitate to retaliate against the US and its allies in response to the White House's threat of an economic war. A Tehran warning that ships violating its transit rules in the Strait of Hormuz could be fined or maybe even seized. The country's security chief saying that it will target the interests of nearby countries cooperating with the United States, also adding "if they start such an action, we will not allow a single drop of oil to pass through the Persian Gulf."

And all of this as the US treasury secretary is expected to announce new sanctions against Tehran in the coming hours. Let's go more perspective now and I'm joined again by Fawaz Gerges. He's a Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Fawaz also the author of "The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East."

Fawaz, you're joining us live from London. Thank you so much for taking the time.

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: As we wait for the announcement, Fawaz, from the White House, how do you think this expected new round of economic sanctions will or will not potentially impact the future negotiations in this conflict?

GERGES: Well, you know, I mean, I think most of us, the media, often focus on geopolitics and war, and interstate relations. We, the media, often really neglect the human dimension, the human aspect, the human suffering. The two wars launched by the United States and Israel on Iran in the past one year have exacted a heavy toll on Iranian society.

[04:35:00]

Let me just give our really viewers a glimpse of what I am talking about. Inflation in Iran now is between 80 and 90 percent, 80-90, which is unprecedented. Skyrocketing in unemployment, which has made basic food items out of the reach of the 100 million Iranians. You have now critical infrastructure in Iran has been battered by the US and Israel wars in Iraq.

And the new economic warfare announced by President Trump will most likely pauperize the Iranian people further than they have been than they are. My take on it is even though economic warfare will pauperize the Iranian people and break the backbone of the Iranian society. I doubted very much whether the economic warfare that will be announced by the US treasury secretary today will really unseat the Iranian regimes or basically topple the Iranian regime because for the simple reason.

Iran has been under one of the most significant economic sanctions by the United States in the past 47 years.

SANDOVAL: Yes. And I think you heard some of our reporting too, at the top of the hour, and making that point about those eventual impacts on those, as you point out, nearly 100 million Iranian civilians who are deeply hit by any increased sanctions. But, you know, we can't mention that enough.

How incentivized then is Iran to give in to any sort of Trump administration demand?

GERGES: Well, I mean, I thought the whole idea behind President Trump's war against Iran was to empower the Iranian people. Go out and take charge of your own government was the first thing that President Trump said. Think of how many stories have been written about basically the question of liberation, enabling the Iranian people to stand up, to be free. And here we are today.

Who is suffering the most in Iran? Surely not the Islamic Republic of Iran, surely not the Supreme National Security Council. Surely not the Iranian regime itself. Suffering the Iranian people, the ordinary, everyday Iranian people is suffering.

And my take on it, what we need to understand is that even though President Trump blusters and says he will basically cripple the Iranian economy, I think what we need to take into account, what will Iran do? It's not just about what the United States will do, has been doing, even though the United States is the most powerful. My take on it as Iran's top National Security Council, as you just said, he warned that any state, any neighboring state that basically joins America's economic warfare against Iran will be an enemy state, and not even a drop of oil will reach the world from the Gulf.

And further, and this is really a very important point, Iran's national security, top National Security Council member, Mohsen Rezaei, wondered, he wondered on Iranian television whether Iran should build a nuclear weapon in light of the fact that the United States and Israel attacked twice -- Iran twice, despite the treaties and despite the diplomacy. So all in all, it seems to me the reason why we are seeing this kind of big bubble about economic warfare, because I think the military fight, the military hostilities have failed to basically force Iran to surrender, have failed to push Iran to accept America's conditions.

And that's why it's some alternative, it's a trial by error. But the big point, and this is a good thing, even though there's a great deal of suffering, I think economic warfare, the new strategy or supposedly strategy will mean that the United States will not return to fighting in the foreseeable future. I think this is a very important point that the all out military hostilities have been basically now taken off the table because they have not really, the wars have not really produced any major results.

So economic warfare, the question on the table, who will blink first, the Iranian regime or President Trump? We have to wait and see.

SANDOVAL: It's such an important distinction, Fawaz, that the -- that what comes with an ec -- with the economic warfare versus the strikes we've seen in months past, especially if the US would set its sights on targets closer to civilian areas. We know the Iranian civilians have already been through so much, as you pointed out at the top.

Fawaz Gerges, grateful for your insight as always. Thank you for your time.

[04:40:03]

GERGES: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: Of course. Well, still a lot more to get to in the coming next few minutes, including the US accusing a sitting Mexican governor of aiding a drug cartel. Now he's stepping away from his post again, but will he ever face charges in the United States? We'll take a closer look when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. The governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa, accused by the US of aiding a drug cartel, has reversed its decision to return to his job, requesting instead an indefinite leave of absence. Ruben Rocha Moya announced his return on Friday after more than three months on leave following the announcement of his indictment on US drug trafficking charges.

But he quickly drew criticism for that decision from those in his own Morena party, including from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Rocha Moya continues to deny any wrongdoing and described the US case as a politically-motivated attack.

Well, Sheinbaum's government has said that there was not enough evidence even as they launched an investigation of their own. And the US indictment fueled some tensions between the United States and Mexican government, and also marked a rare move by the US to go after a sitting governor. Let's discuss more on that.

I'm joined by Malcolm Beith. He's the author of "The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo, the World's Most Wanted Drug Lord." Malcolm, thank you so much for joining us. Good morning to you.

MALCOLM BEITH, AUTHOR, "THE LAST NARCO": Good morning. Thanks for having me. SANDOVAL: Of course. So when I got the news over the weekend, I mean, the first question that I had, in fact, going back to earlier this year when the indictment was announced, was will the governor of Sinaloa, Ruben Rocha Moya, actually ever see a US courtroom an answer to these drug trafficking charges?

[04:45:00]

GERGES: I think it's unlikely, and I think stepping down as governor does invite an investigation in Mexico. If he stayed in power, he wouldn't be investigated. But it also takes the power away from the US authorities and US prosecutors, probably New York, to actually bring their case against him.

SANDOVAL: Yes. With him out of office, I also was wondering about the issue of diplomatic immunity. This is maybe a protection that he has. I'm also wondering about just the nature of this dynamic that exists right now since Trump returned to the Oval Office between the US and Mexico.

Is this uncharted territory for US prosecutors to not only indict a sitting Mexican governor accusing them of corruption, but continuing to claim that high level Mexican government officials are essentially collaborating with members of Mexican cartels?

BEITH: It is in terms of a governor. And this indictment, it's worth remembering, it's not just Rocha Moya. It is -- he's one of 10 Sinaloa officials, including the former attorney deputy attorney general, the head of investigative police. This is a huge move against what you might call alleged entrenched Sinaloa corruption.

The US has gone after in recent years the Mexican -- former Mexican secretary of defense, the former Mexican police chief who's, you know, sort of effectively the homeland security chief, Garcia Luna, who was found guilty and sentenced here. So it's a continuation of an onslaught -- sort of law enforcement and judicial attack on Sinaloa that has been going on since about 2008, which is when I actually started reporting in Sinaloa.

SANDOVAL: And Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, I mean, she has had a hardened tone of her own, saying that the US government is trying to undermine Mexico's sovereignty with the Sinaloa governor's charges. How does Mexico seem to strike that balance you think?

They have to preserve operational cooperation, you know, especially in the war on drugs, but at the same time, emphasis their sovereignty. How do you think they do that, though?

BEITH: I think Sheinbaum has done an excellent job so far. Under Andres Manuel Lopez over the order before, also the Morena party that he founded, he really alienated the DEA. He made it very difficult for the US to work with Mexican counterparts.

Sheinbaum has to present, obviously. She has to defend Mexico's sovereignty. She can't have -- she can't really praise American agents running around, especially if they're acting in any way inappropriately. But she has to protect, so, you know, protect the innocence until, you know, proven guilty of any political figures.

But she also recognizes it's clear extraditions have gone way up since I don't have the numbers on me, I'm afraid, but they've gone way up since she took office. And so, we're sort of back to a collaboration -- collaborative relationship between Mexico that we haven't seen for, about, I mean, since the Obama administration actually.

SANDOVAL: One of those extraditions, as you know, Malcolm, is Ismael Zambada, a guy known as Mayo, a guy who was flown to Texas a couple of years ago. You know, we've seen, as you point out, the steady stream of high profile cartel figures arrested in Mexico and then sent to the United States for prosecution.

But the question is like, does this actually have an impact on the cartel landscape in Mexico and the drug trade in general?

BEITH: I think on the drug trade, no. I think we're pretty -- it's pretty much conventional wisdom now that the drugs will continue to come, whatever drugs they are, the newer drugs. The market is there so the supply is going to form around the market, the demand.

And it's not just the US, you know, drug traffic -- drug use, abuse has been rising in Mexico, Europe. The cartels supply to everywhere. In terms of, does it make a difference in the cartels? I think the judicial, the sort of what I call the right over my approach is important.

This indictment shows that again, with all the rhetoric coming out about military strikes in Latin America, this is coming out of Washington, where I am, it's reassuring to have these indictments because it shows that again, the prosecution work is going on. Does it break the cartels over time? Yes.

[04:50:06]

I mean, we've seen it. There have been -- there's progress been made over against the Sinaloa cartel in the courts here. The fact that the Guzman -- Chapo-Guzman family, who I wrote about, and El Mayo Zambada, they were the two families in Sinaloa. They are basically now almost all in prison in the US or have already served their time and are actually free but, you know, they're not going back to drug trafficking.

This does work, but it's slow and it does not reduce the violence necessarily. It does not reduce the flow of drugs. But ideally, it does break down the institutional corruption. And the fact that, you know, we're seeing 10 officials who are now, at the very least, under, you know, intense scrutiny for their actions.

And the pressure shows if Rocha resigned, something's happening. You know, there's some effect.

SANDOVAL: Without a doubt. Malcolm, this is a great conversation. Thank you so much for joining us to have it. Of course, we'll watch to see what comes next in the saga for the Sinaloa governor. And then, of course, those two Chapo sons that are still in charge south of the border, while the other two are on this side.

Thank you so much for joining us again. Appreciate your time.

BEITH: Thanks very much.

SANDOVAL: Thank you. And we'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:18]

SANDOVAL: So Chinese robots are breaking human records at this year's World Humanoid Robot Games. Like the Robot Olympics, if you will. This is the second year that China has hosted this competition as it aggressively invests in its robotics industry. Here's Mike Valerio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some astonishing and not so astonishing feats in one of the Olympic stadiums here in Beijing.

A humanoid robot named Lightning ran the 100 meter race faster than Usain Bolt's world record. But you know these competitors, they don't need protein drinks, they need batteries. Here at the World Humanoid Robot Games, robo athletes are being tested like never before.

More than 2,000 robots from 16 countries are registered for this year's games. And we have kickboxing, football, table tennis. And some of these events are getting much harder.

The 400 meter race, for example, is now totally autonomous it's reading. These robots need to see the track, navigate it and cross the finish line without anybody guiding them by remote control.

And this is actually part of the point when a robot falls, gets confused, or manages to recover on its own, engineers get a real world test of technology they ultimately working outside the arena.

China's made embodied AI, which is essentially AI in a physical body, a national priority. And the government has backed research, training centers and real world testing as so many Chinese universities and companies have raced to build better robot bodies and even smarter robot brains.

So the real competition here isn't just robot versus robot, it's how quickly China can move these machines from spectacle to something a little bit more useful. And judging by what we're seeing here, there are both some amazing achievements and a little bit more training to do. Mike Valerio, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: But look last shot, it's always important to just dust yourself back up and get up again, and keep playing.

Thanks so much for joining us. Our coverage continues with CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.