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Connect the World
Ukraine: Early Success in Counteroffensive in South; U.S. Justice Department: Efforts Likely Made to Obstruct Probe; World Reacts to Death of Last Soviet Leader; Russia Shuts Down Major Pipeline into Europe; Swaths of Pakistan now Underwater after Record Rainfall; World Remembers Last Soviet Leaders. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired August 31, 2022 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Welcome back to "Connect the World". I'm Eleni Giokos in for Becky Anderson. Now the highly anticipated
inspection of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants appears set to happen on Thursday.
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency is now Ukrainian controlled territory in the vicinity of the Russian occupied plant set to
spend the night there. It is not clear how long the inspectors will actually be inside the facility.
A Russian backed official in the area tells Interfax news agency they must complete their work in one day. The man leading the inspection has a
different timeframe in mind.
Melissa Bell is following developments for us from Kyiv. Melissa, good thing we know that the inspectors are on the ground and a divergence in
terms of how long they have to inspect the largest nuclear power plants in Europe.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, the largest nuclear power plants in Europe and so close to these frontlines over the course of the
last few days and weeks. Of course, there's much to inspect.
And in fact, we've been hearing from Rafael Grossi on his way to Zaporizhzhia, he's now arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia. The visit
itself will begin tomorrow morning, we understand Eleni. But on his way there, he stopped to speak to journalists with his team. And this is what
he had to say about the timeframe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAFAEL GROSSI, IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL: Well, the mission will take a few days, and we are able to establish a permanent presence or a continued
presence. Better said, then it's going to be prolonged that this first segment so to speak is going to take a few days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Now since the team has arrived in Zaporizhzhia, he's again mid speaking to journalist and saying this time that whilst it was not risk
free this particular mission, it was important that it happened.
Now, of course, the IAEA is the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations. It was simply not set up for this kind of mission Eleni and so it's going to
bring a whole set of challenges within it.
But of course the fact that they are the fact of their arrival tomorrow morning, if that happens safely will be a significant step in the right
direction.
GIOKOS: All right, Melissa Bell, thank you so very much. Now on the ground in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials say troops have broken through
Russian defenses in several areas in the Kherson region. Sam Kiley has details on the counter offensive and how shell shocked residents are
enduring the fighting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A lightning advanced by Ukraine against Russia leaves a winded landscape almost emptied
of people. Ukraine claims to have broken through Russian frontlines close to here, capturing several villages in a new counter offensive.
KILEY (on camera): We've been stopped at a roadblock about a kilometer short of where they say there has been incoming fire in the last 24 hours.
But we can see very clearly here that in these three lines these three lines were all occupied by Ukrainian forces until 24 hours ago with the
beginning of this counter offensive.
This has clearly been a location where there's been pretty heavy fighting. The fighting is now concentrated we understand from soldiers we've spoken
to here, close to the front line five or six kilometers beyond. And beyond that lies the ultimate goal of Kherson.
KILEY (voice over): The regional Capitol, captured by Russia in March was rocked by fighting Russia said today. Its forces claimed to have wiped out
a Ukrainian partisan self in a firefight who actually won the skirmish is unclear, but the city has been the center of Ukrainian resistance for
months.
Ukraine says that it has damaged the bridges connecting it to the Russian held left bank of the Dnieper River, cutting of key supply lines for the
Russians.
NATALIA HUMENIUK, SECURITY AND DEFENSE FORCES OF SOUTHERN UKRAINE: We may continue to try to set up a ferry - crossing, but the whole area where it
can be deployed is also under our fire control and will be hit.
KILEY (voice over): Russia is claimed to have held off an offensive in which it lost at least four villages in 48 hours according to Ukrainian
military sources. Maria and her husband Costia stayed on her farm in Ukraine's frontline throughout the war to feed their livestock.
That month of shelling had left her shaking. This week, she's endured jet streaming overhead as Ukrainian fighters attacked Russian targets.
MARIA POKUSAEVA, FARMER: I hid inside the house; my heart was jumping out every time. I was screaming so loud when the planes were flying over. I was
so scared, God save us.
[11:05:00]
KILEY (voice over): For now, though, survival means getting the harvest in. This may be a long war and winter is close at hand. Sam Kiley, CNN in
southern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine may soon have a direct impact on Russians looking to travel to the European Union. The EU's foreign policy
chief says bloc members have politically agreed to fully suspend a facilitation agreement for Russian visas.
The agreement will have to be approved by all member states at an EU Council level. Fred Pleitgen is following developments for us from Moscow,
Fred. So EU foreign ministers reached this political consensus to suspend the visa agreement between Russia and the EU, we know it still has a way to
go to be fully ratified. But how will Russia respond?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it has a way to go Eleni. And of course, it's not a full visa ban, which is
something that some Eastern European countries had won that essentially what this does is it increases significantly the paperwork that Russians
have to do if they want to get tourist visas to Europe makes it difficult, more difficult for them to do so also, quite frankly, makes it more
expensive for Russians to get visas to the European Union as well.
And it's certainly something where I think this was a compromise between some of those Eastern European States who wanted to go further than that.
And of course, States like for instance, Germany, but France as well, who wants to keep the door a little more open, especially for Russians who
might be having problem.
Russian people who are persecuted at some of the Germans have said as well. The Russians, for their part have always said that there would be a severe
response from their side.
In fact, Dmitry Peskov, the Spokesman for the Kremlin, he had said before this event even got underway that the Russians would certainly react to
this. They see this obviously as an adversarial step towards the Russian Federation.
But of course, the Russians themselves are also going to be looking very closely as to what exactly comes out of the process if and when the
European Union finalizes this Eleni.
GIOKOS: So the Iran nuclear deal in the meantime was also discussed at the meeting, as well, as an earlier press conference between Russia's FM and
his Iranian counterpart in Moscow. Could you give us a sense of what was said, we know this is a relationship that is relatively strong.
PLEITGEN: Yes. It's a very, it's a very strong relationship, first of all. And the Iranians have always had the Russians in their corner, if you will,
as these new negotiations were going on, the Russians really played a really, really important role.
First of all, in getting the JCPOA going in the first place and now also in the process, to try and revive it as well. It's quite interesting to see
some of the comments that were made by the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
He said there were essentially two areas where the Iranian still felt that there was some room where they wanted some more things to happen,
especially as far as this new text is concerned.
On the one hand, there is a probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency into some activity, apparently, at undisclosed sites quite a long time ago,
actually. And the Iranians are saying that probe needs to go away.
On the other hand, they also want some stronger language in the text. As far as guarantees for the Iranians are concerned, should the United States
pull out of the agreement, once again in the future?
Now, Josep Borrell, who, of course, the foreign policy representative for the European Union, he essentially said that he believes still that an
agreement on all this is very close and could happen very soon. Let's listen to what he had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEP BORRELL, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: Which more than three weeks, at a shared draft - as coordinator, to the partners in order to conclude the
Vienna talks, I got feedbacks from all delegations. I got comments from Iran and the U.S., which both are found reasonable.
And to me it's always clear that there is a common ground that we have an agreement that takes into account, I think everyone concerns. And that I am
hoping that in the coming days, we are not going to lose these momentum, we can close the deal, taking into account this reasonable comment that both
parts Iran and U.S. has been presenting to my text.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: So there you have the EU foreign policy chief saying he really hopes that this momentum isn't lost. But you do still get that sense of
optimism, at least on the side of the Iranians.
And I think we heard that from Josep Borrell as well, that all of this can still be achieved and can't possibly be achieved fairly quickly, Eleni.
GIOKOS: All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much. Now as the Kremlin's unprovoked war in Ukraine rages on the world is mourning the last leader of
the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev celebrated in the West as a great statesman yet widely criticized at home for losing the soviet empire.
[11:10:00]
GIOKOS: He died Tuesday night at the age of 91. Mr. Gorbachev had made many public comments about what's happening in Ukraine. But his foundation
posted this statement shortly after the invasion back in February, saying, "We affirm the need for an early cessation of hostilities and immediate
starts of peace negotiations.
There is nothing more precious in the world than human lives". To some, Mikhail Gorbachev was seen as an unexpected revolutionary. CNN's Matthew
Chance looks at his life and his legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With that port stain birthmark on his forehead, Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the
most recognizable figures in 20th century politics. His attempts to reform the Soviet Union, and his role in ending the Cold War made him one of its
most influential too.
As a young man, Gorbachev studied law at Moscow State University. It's there he met and married fellow student Raisa Titarenko. He went on to
forge a career in the Communist Party, eventually, age 54, becoming its general secretary, the leader of the Soviet Union.
It was in this role that Gorbachev and his wife broke the mold. He for his outgoing, charismatic nature, Raisa for her stylish outfits, and for the
unheard of elegance she brought to the role of Soviet First Lady.
But the vast communist nation they ruled was on the brink of crisis. Amid shortages of food and consumer goods, the Soviet command economy was
grinding to a halt.
There was also alarm at the apparently slow response of the Soviet authorities to the nuclear disaster, Chernobyl. Gorbachev tried to fix
things with what he called Perestroika and Glasnost reforms that were to revolutionize the Soviet system.
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, LAST SOVIET UNION PRESIDENT: I began these reforms, and my guiding stars are freedom and democracy without bloodshed. So the people
would cease to be heard lead by shepherds, they would become citizens.
CHANCE (voice over): There was revolution to in relations with the West, face to face with U.S. President Ronald Reagan; Gorbachev made a stunning
proposal to eliminate all nuclear missiles held by the two superpowers.
It was the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Soon the Berlin wall would fall. And after a failed coup by hardliners in Moscow, the Soviet Union
itself was dissolved, and Gorbachev resigned.
GORBACHEV: I hereby discontinue my activities at the post of President of the USSR.
CHANCE (voice over): In 1999 he lost the love of his life, his wife of 46 years, Raisa, who died of leukemia. But there was no love lost between many
Russians and Gorbachev to many of his countrymen.
He would always be the man who allowed the great Soviet empire to collapse, exposing millions to hardship and humiliation. Even Gorbachev himself
expressed regret.
GORBACHEV: I fought the best I could to defend the Soviet Union. But I failed.
CHANCE (voice over): But in the West, he was revered and celebrated as a great statesman, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, who played a decisive role in
ending the Cold War, peacefully defusing the most dangerous standoff of the 20th century.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Matthew Chance reporting there for us. Now in 2012 Mr. Gorbachev sat down with CNN's Christiana Amanpour, and explained in his own words,
what he'd like his legacy to be. Christiana's analysis is coming up in just a few moments, and we'll see her live on CNN.
Now new details in the case involving documents seized from Donald Trump's Florida property, the former U.S. president's legal team has until tonight
to respond to some explosive new allegations from the U.S. Justice Department.
In a court filing on Tuesday, the department revealed just how many classified documents the FBI found in Trump's Florida home and said efforts
were likely made to obstruct the government's investigation. CNN's Kara Scannell is covering the story for us.
Kara, I have to say these new images that were released are really telling on just you know how I guess you know these documents were scattered in
various boxes at his home. I guess the question would not be what would there going to be repercussions and consequences for Donald Trump?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Yes, I mean, there certainly is a lot of new details in this filing. And one of the main takeaways that we have is that,
you know, the justice department saying that. And the reason they had to execute this search warrant on Mar-a-Lago, the former president's property
is because the former president and his legal team were not being very cooperative.
So when they went in three weeks ago to Mar-a-Lago, they said that they uncovered two times the number of classified documents that Trump's legal
team had provided them in June pursuant to a grand jury subpoena.
[11:15:00]
SCANNELL: That was just one data point that the Justice Department's using in this filing to show the lack of cooperation. And, you know, in addition,
they said that there was some evidence that they have that there may have been documents that were hidden or removed from a storage room.
And in fact, when the FBI was there in June, they were able to see the storage room but not look into any of the boxes. And then they said they
later found that there were three classified documents in desk drawers in the former president's office.
So all going to little bits and pieces of evidence that the Justice Department is putting forward in this document, but you know, we're still
several steps away from them deciding whether or not there was a crime that's been committed here.
Of course, they have to figure out who directed the movement of these documents, what was the intent behind the movement, but certainly a lot
new, a lot of new information here.
And this all because the Department of Justice is opposing Donald Trump's request to have a special master that's a third party to come in and review
these materials. They say that these materials do not belong to the former president.
In fact, they are the property of the U.S. government and that is why they wanted to come in and collect them. Trump does have until eight o'clock
tonight U.S. Eastern Time to make his response.
And then they'll be in court tomorrow afternoon down in Florida before a judge who will hear arguments from both sides and ultimately decide whether
to institute a special master which she said she had an inclination towards several days ago. But since then, a lot more information has come to light
both publicly and privately in sealed documents, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Kara Scannell, thank you very much. Good to see you. Now up next on "Connect the World" from bad to worse, the energy crunch in Europe is
facing yet another challenge. We'll take a look at what it will mean for the economy.
Plus, the U.S. and South Korea are staging their largest combined military drills in years. We'll show you up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Gorbachev tears down this wall.
GIOKOS: And a little more than two years later that will did come down and unforgettable moments that started a new era including the breakup of the
Soviet Empire.
The destruction and celebration were witnessed by the world a decade later. CNN's Christiana Amanpour asked the late Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev
for his thoughts on that monumental event, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President 10 years ago for us, Westerners it was a triumph to see that wall come down
the end of tyranny the end of communism, but you were a committed communist. How did you feel personally when you saw them tear down that
wall?
GORBACHEV: By that time I changed my mind about many things. And in 1988, I came to a conclusion that the system could not be improved. We needed
political reform and more freedom, freedom of choice, political parties, give people some oxygen.
[11:20:00]
AMANPOUR: How did you feel yourself watching that wall come down?
GORBACHEV: You know there's a lot of talk about the wall. But for me as a politician, it's just a moment. It's a sign of symbolic event. The wall had
been built when confrontation reached the very acute stage, and we began abandoning the confrontation.
By that time we were meeting with President Reagan, he said he was not claiming the Soviet Union was the evil empire anymore. This will give
freedom of choice to the Soviet Union to countries of Eastern Europe. How could we deny the same right to the Germans? They proved they learn hard
from the terrible war, they became a truly democratic nation.
AMANPOUR: Did you realize that it would so hugely so massively capture the Western imagination?
GORBACHEV: In the East and around the world, the impressions were also profound. After that, I met with President Bush in Malta, and we told each
other that we do not consider ourselves adversaries anymore. That also was a significant event. It showed that the Cold War was over.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Incredibly insightful and brilliant interview. Christiane Amanpour joins me now live. An interesting hearing, says, you know, for him, it was
just a moment but you know, at home vilified, for in so many ways globally celebrated.
Could you tell me how that moment those decisions that he took that he explained there changes the course in Russian history?
AMANPOUR: Well, first and foremost, he was the first whoever even uttered words like Perestroika and Glasnost, which then entered our lexicon. I
mean, everybody in the world can say, Perestroika and Glasnost, probably, and it basically means reform and openness.
And when he started down that avenue, there was essentially no turning back. And he had said, and others have said that there was no other way to
create reforms, to help, you know, steer what was then the Soviet Union away from a dead end, as he kept saying, it wasn't a dead economic end, it
was going to collide.
It was already, you know, heading towards bankruptcy. And the military was overextended. He pulled his military out of Afghanistan, not a war that he
started, not an invasion that he ordered. But he ended that war.
And then he knew that there had to be reforms at home. And he knew that they were only going to happen because of the Soviet system top down and
not bottom up. So that's what he tried to do.
He said in later years that maybe it was too ambitious, maybe it was too fast, you know, the successes, perhaps didn't follow what he hoped would be
his chosen path and most particularly Putin, because I spoke to him again, Gorbachev in Chicago in 2012, that was some 13 years after that interview
that we've just been listening to.
And he was very downbeat on what Putin was doing in terms of political repression. And he could see already the authoritarian trends cementing
itself in his country, one that he had tried to open up, here's what he told me on that issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: You've called Putin's democracy or the current Russian democracy and imitation democracy. Do you think that President Putin is committed to
any kind of reform? And will the people's voice be heard under his presidency?
GORBACHEV: I said, on the eve of the elections, that if the president and his entourage in the future will just continue to try to fool the people
with this irritation that will not succeed. People are protesting, and people might protest in much stronger ways. If you just continue, which is
old ways, I think it'll be hard for him, given his nature to do this.
But there is no other way for him but to move toward greater democracy in Russia towards real democracy in Russia, because there is no other way for
Russia to find a way out of its dead end in which it is now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: So Eleni of course, he was right. There is no other way for Russia to emerge from whatever crisis it's experiencing, if it does not
embrace properly democracy and openness. And Putin has done exactly the opposite, as you've seen, so he was very prophetic there.
He foresaw that Putin would not have, as he said, it's not in his character to pursue these democratic norms. And we know that when this invasion of
Ukraine happened back in February, a couple of days later Gorbachev's foundation called for a negotiated and peaceful end.
[11:25:00]
AMANPOUR: He didn't approve of this kind, because his own moment in the, you know, in the spotlight, and when there was that crucial time in 1989,
he did not use force against those members of the former Soviet bloc who wanted to be free.
GIOKOS: Yes, it's the context here. Christiana is so interesting. He's a Nobel Prize peace winner, he, you know, ended the Cold War with basically
no bullets, no shots fired, but totally ideologically opposed to Putin as from what you're saying.
And I find it fascinating that his death comes at this time, while Russia is embroiled in this war, where Putin is nostalgically talking about Lenin
and the former USSR.
How do you think, you know, Putin is going to respond it; we're going to see a state funeral. And I think the messaging from Putin is also going to
be important, because he means, you know, Gorbachev represents so many things to Russians, whether it be good or bad.
AMANPOUR: Yes, I mean, obviously, in the years that followed, and everybody's been saying it, Gorbachev was not seen as a hero at home,
partly because the Soviet Union collapsed. But that's not his doing he might have because of reform and openness, sort of given an idea, but it
was Yeltsin.
And it was the president at that time of Ukraine, and indeed, of Belarus that ganged up against Gorbachev, if you like. And forced on him, this
notion that the union, that USSR was going to dissolve, and that they were going to create something else called the CIS, the Confederation of
Independent States, if I'm not mistaken, and that was at the end of 1991.
So it wasn't Gorbachev who did that. But in terms of then, in the Yeltsin years, the economic chaos, the hardship that the IMF, the West, imposed on
Russia, and on that area, to try to, you know, get their economy straight, was unbearable for so many Russians and caused a huge amount of pain for
people who had been used all their life to being literally fed by the state.
And suddenly here, they were on their own in some kind of market economy that really was not going well for them at all. And to this day, and I said
to President Gorbachev, I said, you know, I've traveled all over the world to these repressive states that sometimes seem on the cusp of some kind of
reform, and from the mullahs in Iran to the communists in Cuba.
They all tell me, ah, we don't want to be Gorbachev and see the kind of, you know; result in our country that happened in Russia. So, you know, it
was painful, I think, for him to hear that.
But again, he said, you know, history is fickle, and I'm proud of what I have done and what he did was, was really dramatic and historic. He opened
the door of the most repressive and totalitarian state of the 20th century.
GIOKOS: Towering figure, Christiane Amanpour, thank you so very much for joining us today. All right, later this hour, a closer look at the
Gorbachev legacy. Why one political observer says in his words, it's dangerous for leaders to outlive their countries and with consumers and you
is watching energy prices raise.
We'll be speaking with a German politician about what can be done to fight the dependency on Russian oil.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
GIOKOS: Europe's challenging energy situation has gotten worse. Russia has halted the flow of gas in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline which supplies Europe
via Germany.
Gazprom, the pipeline's operator says the shutdown is for scheduled maintenance that will be finished by Saturday; a previous shutdown in July
lasted 10 days. Russia is denying accusations that these shutdowns are in retaliation for Western sanctions.
More on what this will mean for the people in Europe, let's bring in Dieter Janecek. He's the Economic Policy Spokesperson for the Green Parliamentary
Group and comes to us via Skype from Potsdam in Germany, so really good to see you.
I think let's first talk about whether, you know, you're worried about Germany's stockpile gas stockpile right now and whether it's going to be
enough to get through the winter, if Russia switches off gas completely?
DIETER JANECEK, ECONOMIC POLICY SPOKESPERSON, GREEN PARLIAMENTARY GROUP: Well, I think the markets have been in turmoil the last months and so the
prices are horrendous. But on the other side, we did a lot of things in Germany that from the government side, so we diversified the supply the
purchase. And we did save energy a lot. So 20 percent demand is lower now.
And so the question is, will we get through the winter? I think we will, because the storage is and are filled with gas. And even if - is now trying
to sell us no gas anymore, we will make it through the winter. The problem actually what we have now here is the high prices. So the next question is
how do we get down with the high prices?
GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, and of course, if supply constraints emerge, that naturally, hikes the prices as well, which helps fund Russia's war. You
know, it is a huge dilemma. What is the plan to try and push down prices?
Are you having conversations with other gas suppliers to try and get other sources right now; of course, it's not that easy to just turn on the taps.
It's a logistical issue and it takes a lot of work.
JANECEK: Well, we did build LNG terminals now very fast that will open up this winter. So within some months, we did build them. So that's one
question. Then another thing is that we diversified to purchase so the Chancellor and the Economic Minister went to Canada, we talk to United
States, to Qatar to Norway to other countries that can deliver gas.
But for the short term now, the horrendous price is also speculative, because we had to manage to fill up our gas storage, we did pray actually
any price, so that for the upcoming month, we are not forced to pay any price, our demand is going down, so industry is using that so much gas
anymore, the households are not using so much gas anymore.
So we can use the market power of European Union, we can be a buyers cartel, we can be a market maker to bring down the prices, that has to be
the next step.
GIOKOS: OK, let's talk about, you know, mandatory cuts when it comes to, you know, maximum on energy consumption versus what you're seeing on, you
know, conversations with other European countries on the 15 percent possible cuts. Where do you stand with us?
JANECEK: So Germany actually stands now with 20 percent less demand in industry and the households still not in the heating period, because summer
is still here in Germany, but we will manage to go with minus 20 percent, so that's a good sign. So with minus 20 percent, we can get through the
winter because our storage is full. And on the other side, we have the problem the gas prices also defining the electricity price.
So we have to find measures for the electricity market and to gas markets to bring the prices down there.
GIOKOS: I want to talk about nuclear energy and the Green Party of course, has been very vocal about you know, decommissioning, Germany's nuclear
power plants which are meant to come to a halt by the end of this year.
There has been talk about there being a huge dilemma about whether extending the lifespan of these nuclear power plants which account for 6
percent of Germany's energy.
JANECEK: While these three nuclear power plants are only for 6 percent, as you say, in its electricity. And so the problem that we have is gas and gas
is mostly used in industry processes and for heating.
So if we would have nuclear power plants, let's say for one or two years longer that wouldn't actually change a lot. So the problem is more how to
get the gas supply.
[11:35:00]
JANECEK: And how can we have a functional electricity and gas market again, so that the horrendous prices don't bring down our industry and household.
So nuclear energy, from my perspective, is not helping that much.
And we have another problem, actually, with France; France now did shut down about 30 of the nuclear power plants. And we have to bring them
electricity from Germany because of their problems and are working at the moment.
GIOKOS: But if it comes down to it, and you need that extra 6 percent electricity with the Green Party of proof of extending the lifespan of
these nuclear power plants.
JANECEK: At the moment, the economics ministry is doing a stress test, and it will have the results within the next few days. And if the result is
that we need some more electricity, then we will do that actually, and we would also bring nuclear power plants on the grid for the next year,
probably.
But I can see that this is the whole solution for the problem. Maybe we do that, maybe not, but there are other measures we have to take.
GIOKOS: What is the worst case scenario that you are pricing in right now?
We've seen these, you know, maintenance issues coming to the fore from the Russians, we don't know how long this maintenance is going to go on for,
you know, gas is meant to come back on Saturday.
But what if the Russians decide to turn off the taps completely? Are you pricing that in as a probability?
JANECEK: Yes, we do price that in. And we're not so much frightened anymore, actually, because the Russians already had brought down their gas
supplies now for more than the 80 percent that they had before.
Then we have 20 percent of that, what we used to so if they go down with this 20 percent, we would have to take some more measures to bring down
consumptions, but this is possible. So the good thing is now we did a lot of work the last few months.
And I think the problem is we have in the European Union, a whole market of energy, gas and electricity. So we have to be in solidarity with our
partners. So there are different problems from Poland to France, but Germany is not prepared for this winter.
GIOKOS: Dieter Janecek, thank you very much for your time, great to speak to you.
JANECEK: Thank you very much.
GIOKOS: Right, South Korean and U.S. troops held a major live fire exercise a short time ago, just a few dozen kilometers away from the border with
North Korea. These are the largest field exercises in years for the two allies.
Pyongyang denounces them as provocative, calling them a rehearsal of war, but they come after a flurry of North Korean missile tests. And as
Pyongyang continues to defy the international community with its nuclear program, Paula Hancock's went to these drills for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's kind of combined live fire drills have not been seen for some time here on the Korean peninsula.
HANCOCKS (voice over): The scenario or joint U.S. South Korean counter attack to an invasion by an unnamed enemy around 30 kilometers 80 miles
south of the demilitarized zone and North Korea. It's not hard to imagine who that enemy might be.
COLONEL BRANDON ANDERSON, ROK-U.S. COMBINED DIVISION: Although the greater the threat, the greater although alliance and the greater the training and
the purpose of training that focus at training. And I think that threat is we're all here for a reason, all clear and ready to conduct counter attack.
Show goes in, goes up. And this is the safety handle.
HANCOCKS (on camera): Now both militaries are at pains to point out that these are defensive in nature. But it's simply not the way that North Korea
sees them. They believe that these are a test rehearsal for an invasion.
We've had Kim Jong-Un, Kim Jong-Un's sister calling them anti North war exercises. Now, we haven't seen this for some time, partly because of
COVID-19. There were many simulated exercises during that time, but not these large live fire drills.
And also back in 2018 then U.S. President Donald Trump put these kinds of drills on hold, saying that he wanted to give diplomacy a chance calling
them war games, saying that they simply didn't have a place while he was talking to them to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
HANCOCKS (voice over): With new leadership in both the U.S. and South Korea came a decision to expand these exercises in the face of missile launches
and feared seven nuclear tests from North Korea.
HANCOCKS (on camera): North Korea making it clear it's a no mood to talk to either the U.S. or South Korea. So these drills will continue both sides
saying it's very important that they have more chance to fight together and to train together so they have readiness for whatever may come. Paula
Hancocks, CNN, South Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: It's been called the monster monsoon of the decade and a monsoon on steroids. It's not just hyperbole, and it's not over Pakistan's 50 year
rainfall record could be further shattered in the month ahead.
[11:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Data shows that less than 1 percent of the world's planet warming gases come from Pakistan and yet the country is facing one of the worst
floods in living memory. A third of the country is submerged.
More than 1100 people have died and many are now homeless. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is visiting some of the areas hit by these floods in the
northern part of the country. And he and his ministers are appealing to the world for help dealing with what one of them called a manmade climate
catastrophe.
This giant monsoon is already the wettest on record. And those records date back to 1961. And you're looking at photos taken by a satellite showing the
difference between now and the same date last year.
Some areas have seen five times their normal levels of monsoonal rain. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent says the
recovery could take years. Early estimates put the total bull at $10 billion.
So I want to bring in Meteorologist and severe weather expert Chad Myers whose team have crunched the numbers behind Pakistan and its monsoon
monster monsoon, Chad, great to have you on.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department says that the monsoon season still has one month left and already it has exceeded any full season on record.
This is a scary prospect. What are you saying?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It truly is a scary prospect and so many people around the world misused the word monsoon, you did not, you use it
correctly. But so many people come in from outside and go man I was a monsoon out there.
That's not what the word means. Monsoon does not mean rain storm, it means wind shift. It means the humidity that comes across from India and into
Pakistan and up into the Himalayas that create the rainfall, the life giving rainfall in most cases.
But what we've had this year is a wide spread event, well above normal well above anything that we've seen even in the past. And the pictures that I'm
seeing compared to what we looked at in let's say 2010, 2010 was a very big year when it came to floods.
But this year, the floods have been widespread, not just rain on top of a mountain that comes down through the rivers and washes things away. We've
had rainfall in widespread areas.
That's why some of the pictures you see maybe the water is only two or three feet deep one meter deep, but that's not the type of flood that they
typically get. They get the floods in the rivers.
This has been so widespread that we've seen 15, 1.5 meters of rainfall in places that have should picked up somewhere around 70 millimeters, just
this heavy, heavy rainfall.
[11:45:00] MYERS: Something else that hasn't been addressed really is that up north, if you get up into the heavens up where the rivers begin, there's glaciers
up there, it rained on the glaciers as well melting the water melting the ice rushing them down the river, adding to the amount of rainfall that
actually fell.
There are places here those still that have had this year, five times what they should have had, and a combined five seasons worth the previous
rainfall just this year alone.
Some places double, some places triple many places even higher than that. One spot we found 25 times the annual precipitation expected in this just
one city Eleni.
GIOKOS: Unbelievable numbers, Chad, thank you so very much. Now millions of people have been impacted by the devastating floods in Pakistan, find out
how you can help at cnn.com/impact.
And just ahead the late Mikhail Gorbachev wore many hats during his lifetime from statesman to Pizza Hut pitchman. Why the last leader of the
Soviet Union had a sense of fun as well as reform.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Now you may remember that world famous Pizza Hut TV ad from 1997, it turned the man credited by many with putting Russia on the road to
democracy into a pizza pitchman, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev who died Tuesday night at the age of 91.
But the background to the ad had a subtle side showing Pizza Huts in Moscow was seen as a move to spotlight the Kremlin's openness and modernization.
But the commercial was never actually shown in Russia.
My next guest wrote a piece about that TV ad a few years ago and received some criticism from Gorbachev himself over what he'd said. And he writes
"For the people who created the ad, the executives, the agents, the creators, it was a professional landmark but for Gorbachev himself.
The story of the ad is a tragedy. One man's attempt to find and to find a place in a country that wanted nothing more to do with him". Paul Musgrave
is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts. He now joins us live from Arlington Virginia.
[11:50:00]
GIOKOS: So really good, to see you. I mean, firstly, how did you feel when Mikhail Gorbachev himself responded to your piece to what you said?
PAUL MUSGRAVE, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS: Well, you know, it is not every day that you are reproached by the former
leader of a superpower or Nobel Peace Prize winner. But I understand why President Gorbachev was sensitive about this and I kind of wish that he had
understood how he could have talked about this in a way that could have added to his legacy.
But I think this was a sensitive topic for him. But for me, it was a surreal experience.
GIOKOS: What was it about your article that you, you know, had created an emotive response from him? We heard that quote; could you give us a sense
of what you'd said that evoked that response?
MUSGRAVE: I think that anything that had to do with recollecting the change in Gorbachev standing from an international statesman to somebody who by
the mid late 1990s was kind of down and out.
You've detested by Russians, rude as the person who had broken up their country, you know, far from being a prophet in his own home, he was without
honor in his own home.
And I think that bringing up that commercial, really hurt him and what he thought was going to be the twilight of his career at a time where I'm sure
that he was already feeling like the post-Cold War world that he had inaugurated, was falling apart.
GIOKOS: I know that his wife had tried to stop him from doing this, she was against it. But at the same time seeing that again, now, in hindsight, it
was really brave, he took a huge risk.
And then you see that it almost captures exactly what Russians thought of him. There was very polarized, right, some were for him. Some were against,
and then everyone coming together over food.
MUSGRAVE: Well, this is one of the things that I think is interesting about the commercial, President Gorbachev talked about how pizza was a communal
experience. And so it was fine for him to share pizza, he actually had dinner with the cast and crew of the commercial.
This is a huge production. And I think that looking at it now. And when I talk about this in my classes, when I talk about this online, this is a
beautiful commercial. This really is a short film.
And it's a short film, in which Gorbachev is at the center of the action, but he doesn't speak, it is about how people processed the meaning of
Mikhail Gorbachev's presidency.
And I think that actually, he shouldn't have seen this as a travesty or a personal humiliation, but really, as a weirdly accurate reflection about
how the world makes sense of somebody whose time has passed after they've changed the world.
GIOKOS: Yes, and I mean, even the cinematography was fascinating the way that people were dressed. And you know, the young character, and then the
old lady, sort of saying, you know, putting her two cents worth. When you do speak to your students, you know, what are the elements that you bring
up?
Because for me, it also brings up, you know, Russia opening up to the Western world to bringing in the likes of Pizza Hut and other multinational
companies, which ironically now are exiting Russia.
MUSGRAVE: That's right. That's right. Over the past few months, a lot of these companies have left. For me, what's interesting are the three
generations you know, the folks, the older lady who was born before the terror and lived through Stalinism, the father who grew up during the thaw,
and saw the triumph of the Soviet space race, and then the stagnation of communism.
And then the young, very westernized guy who's talking about all this - all of the freedom that has come and the contrast between the older generations
emphasizing that chaos at Burdock. And the freedom of the younger generation really reflects the dynamism and chaos of, I think, a year or so
before when this was shot.
At the time they were shooting this, the economy was about to crater. But it did reflect something real. And the people who put this advertisement
together knew that and they had actually studied and worked with really accomplished dramatist and cinematographers in Russia, to realize this
vision, and is a quite simplistic, it's a 59 second commercial, but it's beautiful. It's gorgeous.
And they get a lot of this debate in there. And it's a real testament to how, you know, film cinema, even in a commercial way like this can say
something profound.
GIOKOS: And it's still relevant today. It was shot in 1997. But it somehow feels still so relevant today. Very quickly, you know, as I said,
ironically, it happening now when you know, Putin was so ideologically opposed to Gorbachev. What are you going to be telling your students now
about the timing of all of this?
[11:55:00]
MUSGRAVE: I think that this is profoundly sad and profoundly distressing. You know, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was the first Premier of the Soviet
Union to be born in the Soviet Union. He was the last leader of the USSR.
And he saw all of the dreams and hopes of the late 80s, early 90s come to ashes. And I think that that's the greatest tragedy here.
GIOKOS: Paul Musgrave, thank you so very much for joining us. Good to have you on the show.
MUSGRAVE: Thank you, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Right. I'm Eleni Giokos. That's it for "Connect the World". And we wish you a very good night and I'll see you tomorrow, take care.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
