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First Move with Julia Chatterley
More Information Emerging about Suspect in Abe's Death; Twitter Shares set to Tumble after Musk Pulls $44B Bid; Niinami: Japan must Discuss how to Amend the Constitution; Biden to make Controversial Visit to Saudi Arabia this Week; CNN at Site of Russian Missile Attacks on Kharkiv; NASA to Reveal Images from Webb Telescope Tuesday. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired July 11, 2022 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNNI HOST: A warm welcome to "First Move". It is great to be with you as always this Monday and we begin in Japan, a nation that
remains in a state of mourning and continued disbelief after the assassination of Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
His wake took place today in Tokyo with a funeral service set for Tuesday. Following the shooting Abe's political party also won a landslide election
victory this weekend. We'll be discussing his life's work, and what this election result might mean for his economic and political legacy with Tak
Niinami, the CEO of leveraging giant Suntory Holdings, who served as Abe's Senior Economic Advisor.
And there's much more to discuss in Asia too, Sri Lanka's President and Prime Minister agreeing to resign after a citizen revolt amid soaring food
and energy prices. That economic crisis exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
And Chinese tech stocks have also tumbled in Hong Kong, Beijing imposing fresh fines on Alibaba and Tencent for antitrust violations. Investors
beware hopes that China was easing its regulatory crackdown on tech may be premature. And U.S. technology stocks also losing altitude as well.
Twitter shares set to tumble after Elon Musk torched his $44 billion takeover bid not a surprise I think Elon Musk's recent messaging but a move
not entirely priced into Twitter's stock. As you can see they're DOW some 6 percent plus pre market and it's softer picture overall on Wall Street
after solid gains last week for the S&P and the NASDAQ the best week for tech in fact this year.
Europe also lower on renewed recession fears Russia is shutting the Nord Stream I Gas Pipeline for 10 days' worth of repairs. But at what rate will
those gas shipments resume a huge question for Europe's increasingly hard to hit manufacturing base?
There's plenty to discuss as always on the show today, let's begin now in Japan at the Zojoji Temple in Tokyo's Shiba Park, where the wake for Former
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took place earlier today. Kyung Lah joins us now. Good to be with you a private wake I believe for friends and
family today ahead of tomorrow's funeral. Just talk us through how the country plans to remember him and honor him?
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're exactly right, Julia, private families wake. And this is also going to be the way that the funeral is going to be
held it's going to be reserved for family and for close dignitaries of the Former Prime Minister and really there to support his widow.
The public though was able to pay their respects at the temple right behind me. We saw, you know a stream of people, people from around the city coming
to pay their respects. A lot of them carrying flowers, there was a table setup with a large photo of the Former Prime Minister.
People were able to pause they were able to reflect, drop a flower and drop a prayer and really start to begin to process the shock and the horror in a
country that is completely unused to gun crimes, especially when it comes to concerns their high profile political leaders.
As far as the investigation, police are zeroing in more on the timeline, and the motivation of 41 year old Tetsuya Yamagami. He's the person who is
in custody, he is the prime suspect.
As far as the timeline, law enforcement is telling us that he was able to build these homemade pistols by looking at videos on YouTube that he
planned all of this and that he even prepared for it by heading into mountainous areas and practicing firing these homemade guns as far as the
motivation. He had told law enforcement that he was angry.
We did not know exactly which group he was angry at law enforcement would not confirm that to CNN. But we are now hearing in a press conference held
by the Japan branch of the Unification Church. That the Church believes that they probably are the group they said that they were very confused
because the suspect was not a member that Abe did not have connections to them.
They did confirm though, that the suspect's mother was a member and that they had become aware that she had gone bankrupt in 2002, Julia. So all of
this little pieces starting to come together as the country is becoming is starting to gather together to try to remember this leader, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, the mourning process and the investigation continue. Kyung Lah, great to have you with us, thank you for joining us back from Tokyo.
Now from Japan to China where a peaceful protest was crushed by violent means authorities clashing with demonstrators who were demanding their life
savings back from banks in the City of Zhengzhou.
LAH: You bet.
[09:05:00]
CHATTERLEY: Deposits worth millions of dollars have been frozen since April.
Selina Wang joins us now. Selina, these were people that were protesting because, as I mentioned there, they feared that their life savings were
lost in some of these rural banks.
I noticed and we can show some of the pictures I believe, are people waving national flags as the message I think being that this wasn't about the
central government. This is about local government. But what's the response been to the crackdown?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Julia, we've reached out to the local authorities no response yet. But what we saw on Sunday that was one of the
largest protests seen in Chinese since the start of the pandemic. And as you say it is part of this month long dispute that has sparked nationwide
outrage.
Chinese authorities you'll see in those pictures on Sunday, they violently suppressed a large scale peaceful protest by people who were demanding that
authorities give them access to their life savings that are currently frozen in several banks. So since April, several small banks in China's
central Hunan province have frozen deposits impacting as many as 400,000 banking customers that is according to state media.
Now, it is rare to see protests in authoritarian China but in the past two months, there have been multiple these depositors are desperate. This
threatens the very livelihood of people in an economy that's already been battered by COVID lockdowns I have spoken to migrant workers and business
people whose decades of hard earned money are in the banks and they say they are struggling to survive now.
And you see that video the police violently quashing these protesters, security guards in some of those videos; they are dragging the protesters
down the stairs. Witnesses tell CNN that they were beating anyone who resisted, including women and the elderly.
In fact, I spoke to a man who was there; he said he was also dragged violently from the crowd. He says his entire family's life savings isn't
one of the banks. He has in fact traveled to Clinton several times to protest because of the anguish and the terrifying fear that his family's
future is destroyed if he cannot get access to those deposits.
And from those videos you saw from those clashes on Sunday, some of those protesters were left injured, bloodied and bruised. Depositors also tell me
that authorities have been trying to suppress them for a while now; many have said local officials abuse the COVID Health app to prevent them from
traveling to protest.
In fact, several local officials have since been punished after the health code allegations sparked nationwide backlash because people just saw it as
a very blatant example of COVID controls being used for political control.
So the latest is that police are investigating the banks and have blamed fraudulent management practices for the crisis. But experts worry that this
is really just the tip of the iceberg with much bigger financial problems to come in other provinces because of skyrocketing local government debt
that's been made worse by economic damage from the pandemic.
And of course, this social unrest comes at a politically sensitive time from the Communist Party. We are just months away from the party congress
when Xi Jinping is expected to seek an unprecedented third term, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, politically incredibly sensitive time and to your point as well, as we've talked about on the show before the economic restrictions
that we're seeing in their credit conditions, particularly for small businesses all playing into this as well as far as the banks are concerned.
We'll continue to watch it Selina, thank you. OK, next up and extraordinary palatial Sinhala in Sri Lanka.
Some incredible scenes inside the Presidential mansion where protesters stormed over the weekend, they took control of the official residence of
the President and set fire to the Prime Minister's home posing for pictures in what appeared to be a presidential pool party.
Take a look at that they planned to remain there until the president and Prime Minister resigned over an economic crisis which has crippled the
country.
And there's a chance they may have got their wishes. Will Ripley joins us. Well, I mean, we can sort of make light hearted of a presidential pool
party. But these people were desperate, astonishing events over the weekend but unsurprising in light of the challenges that ordinary people face. And
the disparity in living standards, I think very clear there for the people to see too.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is absolutely the bottom line, Julia. Yes, you know you see these images;
they're swimming in the presidential pool. They're working out in the gym. But this was a crowd of more than 100,000 people who had gathered outside
the president's house because they're furious after the worst financial crisis that's for Monica has seen since World War II more than 70 years,
has left them unable to get the basics of survival, food, fuel, even access to cash from the banks, medicine.
None of it right now is available or at least very, very difficult to combine Sri Lanka and people are growing desperate and yet you have the
ruling elite.
[09:10:00]
RIPLEY: And of course President Rajapaksa kind of the symbol of that the Prime Minister Wickremasinghe, as well, you know, these two men living in
absolute posh luxury, and the crowds are struggling just to feed their families and to give medicine to their sick loved ones. And so people are
angling there.
And this is a way for them to let off some steam. Certainly, there was no violence oppression, unlike what we saw in China with the bank protests. It
has been peaceful, peaceful at least in terms of the government response; they've been on television asking the protesters to respectfully disperse.
Because the President has said that he will resign on Wednesday, the Prime Minister says he's going to resign as soon as a new all party government is
formed, that if the Prime Minister were to step down, the speaker of parliament would be the acting president for the next 30 days maximum, and
the Parliament would elect a new president.
So there's still a lot here that could go wrong with this, because if the President doesn't resign, as he said he would if the Prime Minister sticks
around longer, or if the new leadership Julia, doesn't, you know, start to do something to help people get have better daily conditions, these types
of unrest, these protests, these violent, that could continue. I mean, the Prime Minister's residence being set on fire, he wasn't there.
His family wasn't there; they've been taken to a secure location. But there have been people injured in these demonstrations. There have been violent
clashes. And of course, when you have that many people, there's always a risk, there's always a danger, that something could go horribly wrong.
So we have to watch really closely in the coming days, Julia to see what's going to happen, whether or not the protesters who continue to by the way
to occupy the president's house, they say they're not going anywhere, until the President and Prime Minister are officially out. Will they disperse
peacefully? Or will further actions be taken that could escalate the situation for longer even further?
CHATTERLEY: It was what I was going to ask you actually, I mean, the president's family has been in power for what the best part of two decades,
I was going to ask you how that the transfer of power even slays here, and it comes at a critical time when the country was trying to negotiate a
bailout package with the International Monetary Fund, you're not doing that if there's no one to negotiate whether you're in an interim government fee.
So it sort of adds to the, to the challenges of the economic crisis that now they've got to lose time with negotiating that too.
RIPLEY: A crisis that is being blamed by analysts largely on the Rajapaksa dynasty, if you will, because it was - Julia, as you know, the President
and Prime Minister were brothers and they have actually traded places in terms of being president and Prime Minister. So you have this Rajapaksa
family that has been running, you know, steering the ship for a long time now.
And is now being accused of staring right into the right into the ground, essentially, because this current crisis is the result they the analysts
say of financial mismanagement, bad financial decisions, and in all fairness, we've covered the other crisis that have hit Sri Lanka. Going
back to 2019, the Easter bombings that took a huge toll on their tourism industry, right as it were starting to stabilize.
Then you had COVID-19, which of course shut everything down. Just as they were starting to come back from COVID-19 There was a cargo ship that caught
fire off the coast, and it spewed plastic pellets on their gorgeous beaches. Yet another blow to Sri Lanka is not only tourism industry, that
people you know, resorts that rely on the beaches, but also to the fishing industry as well. So it has been a series of misfortune for Sri Lanka.
And now you have this unrest. These you know, people who have been suffering and struggling for a long time. And by the way, protesting for
many months before they acted the way they did on Saturday, where the violence really kind of boiled over the protests really boiled over. This
has been a long time coming for sure.
CHATTERLEY: Swift transfer power is in the best interest of the country and the people the question is does it happen? Will, thank you, Will Ripley.
OK, from Ironman to Terminator Twitter share set to tumble after Elon Musk's Hasta la vista baby moment on Friday, Musk pulling his $44 billion
bid for the social media giant in his ongoing battle over real life bots.
Rahel Solomon joins me now the head budding over bots could be over, but not quite yet because Twitter is turning around and saying, look, we're
still committed to this deal and we want it at the elevated let's call it that price that it was originally agreed at Elon Musk whoa, not sounding
worried.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not at all! And this is certainly far from over Julia, from the very beginning. This has been a spectacle with a
lot of it playing out on Twitter. It appears this will end however in a Delaware civil courtroom. So at issue here, as you pointed out, is the
number of bots or spam accounts on the site.
Elon Musk apparently believing that the board has not been honest with him about that Elon Musk's lawyer saying that Twitter is in material breach of
multiple provisions, Elon Musk putting it differently on Twitter where else saying they said I couldn't buy Twitter, then they wouldn't disclose bot
info. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter and court I think we can pull this up for you.
[09:15:00]
SOLOMEN: Now they have to disclose bot info and court one person not laughing, one group not laughing Julia is the board of Twitter the Chairman
posting the Twitter board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon adding we will prevail in the Delaware Court of
Chancery look, this is creating quite an overhang for Twitter. Dan Ives, a strategist who follows his company very closely posting in a note this
morning that for Twitter, this is a fiasco. It's a nightmare scenario outlining some of the challenges for the company now and its employees
include employee turnover morale, advertising headwinds, and, of course, investor credibility around the fake bot and account issue.
Shares have been on a wild ride from the very beginning of this year, of course, tech shares in general and social media shares in general have had
a very tough year but Twitter share started off at around 43.22. At the start of this year, they're now closer to 36.86. Look Julia, for people who
work at Twitter, this is going to stretch into 2023.
Imagine working there, this sort of playing out on Twitter, playing out on the news really creates a lot of sort of tension and anxiety you can
imagine for Twitter employees. But this is expected to play out supposed to be a lengthy court battle.
The Delaware Court of Chancery, by the way, considered one of the most sophisticated civil courts in the country in terms of this type of
corporate civil litigation, so unclear if the Twitter back and forth will mean anything to the judges. But this is likely going to be quite some time
before we know how this all settles.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and I'll tell you someone else who's not smiling all the investors in Twitter and arguably Tesla, too because that's come under some
pressure as well. I mean, he offered it $54.20. It was trading at $50.98. I was looking at it this morning when he actually made the offer. And as you
pointed out, we're trading what around $36.80 here so there's a significant drop off in price. Rahel, very quickly do you think he's just angling for a
lower price? Or do you think he's done?
SOLOMEN: I mean, I think at this point, it's hard to say he's still negotiating, because if in fact this does head to a courtroom, I don't know
that it still becomes his decision, right? I mean, if he's already made an obligation to purchase it, and it goes to a courtroom, it may be out of his
hands. And by the way, Julia, this is very same court. We have seen them and force companies and sort of force companies to go through with deals
we've seen it before. So at this point, it might be out of his hands, but it's Elon Musk, you never really know Julia will be talking about it for
quite some time. I'm sure.
CHATTERLEY: Me too, I agree with you on that point. But the bottom of this is the bot count, and that matters to everybody here. So if it does get
disclosed in court to Elon Musk's point, its vital knowledge that I think we will be interested in seeing. Rahel, great to see you, thank you Rahel
Solomon there. OK, straight ahead on "First Move".
The CEO of Suntory Holdings joins us to assess Japan's future driven by the legacy of Abenomics plus high stake talks. What's to be gained from
President Biden's upcoming trip to the Middle East Ian Bremmer guides us through the geopolitics and more?
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move" and a return to one of our top stories this hour. Japan remains mourning following the assassination of
former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week. His wake took place today ahead of his funeral on Tuesday.
On Sunday, just days after the attack the country also went to the polls and handed Abe's party a resounding victory. Japan's leaders had been
urging people to vote denouncing the killing as an attack on democracy. And joining us now is Tak Niinami. He's a former senior economic adviser to
Shinzo Abe when he was Japanese Prime Minister Minami is the CEO of Japanese beverages giant Suntory Holdings. And he joins us now from Tokyo.
Tak, great to have you on the show! I wish it were in the better circumstances an incredibly sad moment. I think for all those who knew and
ungloved Shinzo Abe.
TAK NIINAMI, CEO, SUNTORY HOLDINGS: Yes, the entire country, including myself is deeply shocked by this violence. Former Prime Minister Abe it has
led to so many economic loss legacies, including creating a positive momentum after long years of dark period in Japan. He has remained
influential, even after stepping down from markets in Japan still needed him to move the remaining agenda forward.
CHATTERLEY: Do you think his legacy to your point and it's not just about economic policy, which I know you were closely involved in to but also
security policy? Do you believe that legacy will continue and will be pushed further?
NIINAMI: Definitely peace and the security legislation, which former Prime Minister brought to us. A guy named to Japan to expand his rights to
exercise a collective self-defense without actually amending the Constitution. This allowed Japan to play a more proactive role in the peace
and stability of the region emitted China's growing military assertiveness. So Prime Minister Kishida will leverage it in terms of geopolitics, in
terms of geo-economics.
CHATTERLEY: What we saw at the weekend, and I've already mentioned it is what we appear to see is the LDP party now having enough of a majority to
enact constitutional change, should it choose to do you think that Japan is ready, whether it's the people or the government to move on beyond the sort
of pacifist post war period to your point and formally change the constitution now and beef up that security presence and presence on the
global stage too.
NIINAMI: I think we need to discuss furthermore, all four Amendment of the Constitution, especially which part because of the legacy left by the
former Prime Minister are there. We don't have to amend the Constitution to do the self-defense because he made a great job already. So which part we
should amend, such as what to do with the governance over the government, diet, what to do with the power to be given at the time of crisis to the
Prime Minister. So what kind of constitutional amendments we need religion we need that should be discussed among the general public. So we need to
still discussion.
CHATTERLEY: And the conversations will continue. I want to get back to Abenomics. Because there are parts of Abenomics that worked, and I think it
Shinzo Abe himself would acknowledge that there were also huge challenges reform in particular is incredibly difficult, particularly when there are
other populist or more populist leaders perhaps around the world taking easier choices and making bigger promises.
What do you think he would hope results from his loss if there's one thing that he didn't achieve that he would like the country on an economic basis
to achieve? What do you think he hopes that the current Prime Minister will push more for?
NIINAMI: Definitely wage increases Abenomics changes the landscape so that the people earns more in terms of the household level.
[09:25:00]
NIINAMI: So Prime Minister Kishida demonstrate needs to inherit the passion for increasing wages and in our country to fight the inflation, which is
now underway. Definitely, we have to increase wages that started from former Prime Minister Abe. That is a key issue for Kishida administration.
CHATTERLEY: Here, it's fascinating because you and I have talked about wage increases in the past. And I do feel like after so much time without
inflation, and this was something that the former Prime Minister really tried to create. And it's difficult after so long without inflation, for
people to understand it and to accept it. It's understandable that people are very uncomfortable at this moment, whether it's business or consumers?
NIINAMI: Consumers are concerned about the future, because inflation is a gigantic power to ruin the future hopes. So I think consumers are not ready
yet to accept the end, you know huge increases of prices. In the meantime, corporate is so much suffered from the price increases that have to come
out of the supply chain challenge all over the world.
So 8 to 9 percent of increase of the cost increases, that is hurting the bottom line of the corporate. And the corporate can't pass every cost
increases to consumers yet. So we'll have bear, serious issues, because of the inflation and to the corporate and to the consumers. But the key thing
is corporate can't pass all the cost increases. That means corporate is unable to increase wages so easily because we cooperate absorbs the
difference.
CHATTERLEY: How do you manage that?
NIINAMI: That's a good question. There will be we need more jobs, quality job and a high paying job. So that absorbs the mobility of laborers, and
then that will create the momentum to order the increases of wages.
But at that new Serbia, lots of investments from the government, as well as the private sector or mainly private sector should invest you some new
frontiers like green ovation, healthcare, and dx. Those will create a lot of jobs, high pink and equality jobs that will create a positive momentum
towards the wage increases.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, much of that the earlier point was the ambition of a former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. So we hope he sees that for the country
in the future. Tak, great to have you with us and I'm sorry, on behalf of the country for the country's loss. Thank you, the CEO of Suntory holdings
there.
OK, coming up on "First Move" from the shocking assassination of Shinzo Abe to Joe Biden's controversial trip to Saudi Arabia. Eurasia group's Ian
Bremmer will join us next to discuss the geopolitical implications.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move" and a bit of a Monday malaise on Wall Street. Tech pulling back from one month highs and falling for the
first time in six sessions. As you can see early on - down some 1 percent of risk of day as investors await important U.S. inflationary data later
this week.
As well as the kickoff to U.S. earnings season what impact of course on corporate? So many fears that profit estimates for corporate America are
way too high still given the inflationary environment. The Federal Reserve's tightening path and the resulting fears of recession.
Friday's solid U.S. jobs report though not helping quiet global recessionary fears global bonds are softer and a safe haven U.S. dollar
continues to strengthen.
The U.S. currency ever closer to reaching parity with the euro the first time that's happened in some 20 years the Euro falling as European
manufacturers take a hit from uncertainty over future energy supplies from Russia, that's ongoing uncertainty Germany, in fact posting its first
monthly trade deficit in more than 30 years.
Meanwhile, President Biden defending his controversial visit to Saudi Arabia this week saying it's critical to the security of the United States
in a Washington Post op-ed, he said we have to counter Russia's aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to out compete China and work
for greater stability in a consequential region of the world. To do these things, we have to engage directly with countries that can impact those
outcomes.
Joining us now is Ian Bremmer; he's the President and founder of Eurasia group and G Zero Media. He's also the Author of the book, "The Power of
crisis: How three threats and our response will change the world" among other books. Ian always great to have you on the show! It's a domestic
diplomatic dance, but it's the right decision in your mind?
IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER OF EURASIA GROUP: It's clearly the right decision. And let's keep in mind that Biden's the one that was dragging his
feet for the last six months. I accept that the first country first continent that the American President should be going to is not the Middle
East, not Saudi Arabia, the way that President Trump had.
The Europeans matter a lot more as American allies, Japan, South Korea, Australia matter a lot more as American allies, Canada, Mexico. But you
know he should be going to the Middle East.
And if he's going to the Middle East, he should be going to Saudi Arabia, not first and foremost, because of their energy production but because
they're the largest arms purchaser of the United States in the world because there's an enormous amount of intelligence cooperation,
coordination between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
And because the Saudis are working increasingly closely behind the scenes with Israel, America's top ally in the region. So to go to the Middle East
and not to go to Saudi Arabia would be crazy. And you know, yes, he's taking backlash, because when he was running for president he said he was
going to make Mohammed Bin Salman into an international pariah.
Well, it's a little hard to walk that back. And in this OPED that he wrote over the weekend is a part of that dance.
CHATTERLEY: You could argue it was never credible at the time. And this proves that we didn't need an energy crisis for it. You think this could at
least be the beginnings perhaps of a future formal opening of diplomatic relations between the Saudis and the Israelis, which would also be an
extension of the Abraham Accords signed under Trump? I mean, that would be huge Ian?
BREMMER: There's already a significant and high level engagement between Israel and Saudi Arabia and the Saudis have told President Biden directly
that they are - they'd like to hear what suggestions he has for that's not going to happen on this trip. But they're absolutely willing to move in
that direction.
[09:35:00]
BREMMER: And I agree it's obviously a positive for everyone except for, say, Iran. And that's not a particular concern to the United States right
now.
CHATTERLEY: And probability that he can push the Saudis to release more oil and even convinced them that Russia needs to be ousted from OPEC Plus,
you're not discounting the possibility
BREMMER: On OPEC Plus, no, the Russians aren't going to be kicked out. That's not going to happen. On the Saudis releasing more oil, they've said
that they would. They have an extra roughly 1 million barrels a day of spare capacity that they can release.
And they don't want to go by themselves. They've been coordinating with the Emiratis and with other OPEC nations, so that as the Saudis moved, they're
not - it's not just the Saudis giving Biden support, but it's meant to be longer term more strategic.
And keep in mind, oil prices have been coming down over the last several weeks. There is not a shortage of oil on the market concerns that the
Russian oil to not just Europe, but everywhere else is going to be cut off because of a boycott.
That's very different from you need to actually change the supply demand equation. In fact, the bigger concerns in the marketplace over the coming
months are actually the concerns about a global recession.
A China slowdown, a U.S. slowdown, a European slowdown, so you can make a case that we should be in the next few months in a bearish energy market as
opposed to a bullish one. The Saudis will certainly make that case.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And also, Biden's less desperate heading there as well, which is perhaps, more comfortable than it might have been, if it had been
a couple of months ago in particular too. I want to talk about Japan, you knew the Former Prime Minister Abe, while you know him for over a decade I
believe, you said you'll miss him. You also called it Japan's JFK moment.
BREMMER: Well, I mean, it's shocking. I mean, I was in Tokyo last week. And you know, this may sound like a different story. But it's the same, I mean,
80 percent of the population, we're wearing masks outside in 100 degree weather, everyone takes care of each other.
Even if you feel uncomfortable, you do it because you want to make sure that the community stays strong. This is so stunning for Japan. Gun
violence is virtually unheard of in that country.
Last year, the entire year, one person killed with a violent gun attack. That's it.
And so the idea that Abe would be stumping for the upcoming elections and killed in broad daylight by a crazy person with a homemade rifle. It's hard
for the Japanese to even process it. And this was the longest standing Prime Minister in Japanese history very popular internally. And this is a
country that is almost a single party democracy, the Liberal Democratic Party that Abe they used to run.
You know, wins election after election after election, just as they did just yesterday. So it's stunning for Japan, it will bring the country
together. But the trauma that they will experience in the coming weeks and months as a consequence, I think is very hard for those outside of Japan to
even process.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I was about to say that and I think everybody's shocked and still stunned by it as well. It ties to the broader question over
security, though, in a move away from Japan's pacifist paths. We just spoke to one of his economic advisors when he was the Prime Minister Takeshi
Niinami there the CEO of Suntory Holdings.
And he said, look, as far as constitutional changes still need to be discussed. We're already moving in a more secure, aware on the world stage
direction. The question over constitutional changes is perhaps a separate one. Do you think it leads that down that path?
BREMMER: Not necessarily, but I understand that from the Japanese perspective, what Abe most wanted to do was improve relations with Russia.
He didn't like the idea that Japan was surrounded by antagonists.
And you've got China, North Korea and Russia all nuclear armed states that the Russian government - that the Japanese government does not trust at
all. And the Russia relationship has just completely imploded as a consequence of the Russian invasion into Ukraine.
The Japanese were trying to negotiate over these contested territories in the north. They are now increasingly on a cold war footing with Russia and
the Russians has said that they're changing the nature of the most important investment that the Japanese have into the Sakhalin Energy
Complex.
So if you're Japan, you look at North Korea you look at China you look at Russia you feel like you are a small series of islands with a population
that shrinking with no economic growth, surrounded by antagonists.
[09:40:00]
BREMMER: That's a deeply uncomfortable position for Japan to be in. It makes them more interested in improving relations with South Korea. It also
makes them feel like the architecture of the Quad, and of the relationship with the United States is so fundamentally important for them.
CHATTERLEY: I was got to say, the chord relationship now or the more pivotal, all of this very much tied to what we saw in Sri Lanka over the
weekend and the war in Ukraine too exacerbating an economic crisis that already existed in Sri Lanka.
And now it looks perhaps like the President, the Prime Minister going to leave this week. I was asking on the show earlier, what does the transition
of power even look like in Sri Lanka? And, of course, what does it mean for IMF negotiations as well, as an extension of them?
BREMMER: I think that the IMF clearly understands that this is a nation in parallel that doesn't have energy that doesn't have food. They will want to
provide support once a new government comes in.
I assume that no matter what the flavor of that government is, no matter how transitional it is, whether its opposition led, or whether it's former
advisors to the President and Prime Minister, you will have active engagement with the IMF.
But Sri Lanka is not happening in a vacuum. There are other countries around the world that are facing increasingly desperate situations for
their own population, because of massive inflation. Because interest rates are going up, they're having a hard time borrowing.
A lot of them are very debt stressed, especially after the last two plus years of the pandemic. And now the Russian invasion makes life more
challenging for them from a global supply chain perspective.
So I mean, if you think that Sri Lanka is, you know, it looks dramatic to you, there will be other countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America and
the Middle East in Sub Saharan Africa that are going to experience these sorts of economic stresses going forward.
CHATTERLEY: Even closer to home the UK we didn't even get to mention that Ian, but it all sort of ties the political upheaval the economic challenges
crisis in certain parts of the world.
10 years, since you've been talking about G Zero, this sort of leadership vacuum or recession that we're facing. You have to answer quickly because
I'm going to get yelled at but my fear is what next?
BREMMER: What next is not the United States or China, either by themselves or together leading the world? And so it's a more fragmented series of
global orders. We'll be talking about that a lot going forward, Julian?
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Wow! That was that was quicker than I expected. You're the best Ian; great to chat to you we'll reconvene. Ian Bremmer, thank you as
always. Coming up after the break the catastrophic human toll of Russia's war on Ukraine we're at the scene of an apartment building hit by Russian
weapons that's next stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:45:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move" 29 people have died in a rocket attack on an apartment building in Donetsk, Ukraine. And in Kharkiv Russia
carried out several strikes overnight six people lost their lives 31 others injured as CNN's Alex Marquardt has the details.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It has been a very loud few hours and really few days here in Kharkiv, with Russian
strikes all across the city, including right here in the center overnight, at least three Russian strikes that woke us up in the middle of the night.
Those air raid sirens going off and then this morning when we are out on the streets of Kharkiv shooting a story another barrage of Russian rockets
across the city killing at least three people and wounding almost 30 residents of Kharkiv but I want to show you the location of one of those
overnight strikes.
This was a missile attack on a residential building about 3.30 in the morning. This is a six storey building you can see that the strike
collapsed the roof and every single floor below it the belongings in those apartments cascading down to the street level.
There's a huge crater here at the bottom there where you see those city workers. There are two businesses on the ground floor of this building, the
force of that blast blowing out windows on either side of the streets, both in that business and a residential building here.
And this is the second time in fact that we've been on this city block in the past 48 hours. There was another strike on Saturday morning, just over
there on a residential area. It does appear that the Russians are trying to target this area, what they're targeting.
We're not sure whether they believe there's some kind of Ukrainian military presence that is unclear but that is a reason that we are not going to stay
here in central Kharkiv on this block for too long.
But as there is this uptick on strikes here in Kharkiv, at the same time, the Russians pushing farther west into the Donbas into the Donetsk region.
In Donetsk, on Saturday, there was a vicious Russian missile strike on an apartment building that left at least 20 dead we now understand. According
to local officials, more than two dozen people have been trapped beneath the rubble.
Emergency workers working feverishly to try to get them out from under that rubble and as we brace for another Russian offensive in the Eastern Donbas
region. When you see what's happening here there's also a sense that Russia may soon try to renew their push on Kharkiv not just one of the biggest
Ukrainian cities closest to Russia's border, but the second biggest city in the country and therefore a major prize for Russia. Alex Marquardt, CNN in
Kharkiv.
CAHTTERLEY: And the war in Ukraine and the restriction on grain exports fueling food price inflation around the world embracing famine fears that's
especially true in North Africa and in a region still feeling the after effects of the Arab Spring. There's a risk soaring prices could lead to
further unrest. CNN's David McKenzie has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Racing to feed the nation in the closing days of Tennessee's summer harvest. Russia's cynical ploy to
hold hostage more than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain is leading to a food crisis here in Tunisia and much of North Africa.
MCKENZIE (on camera): Are you worried it will have a long term impact on Tunisia?
HABIB MRABET, REGIONAL DELEGATE, TUNISIAN AGRICUKTURE MINISTRYR: The war has really impacted both the consumer and our agricultural productions.
Right now, every country must become self reliant. If that's not possible, things are going to get very difficult.
MCKENZIE (voice over): They're scrambling to increase that production and change consumer habits. In sun baked, Tunisia farmers grow hard wheat to
make pasta and couscous.
MCKENZIE (on camera): That was soft wheat, the wheat that makes bread Tunisia gets around 60 percent of it from Ukraine, and Russia. And an
official told me that they will never be able to make up that number here. Not in five years, not even in 10.
MCKENZIE (voice over): That spells trouble says - we can only sell what the government gives us he says. The baguettes are subsidized by a government
heavily in debt. Tunisia, can barely afford imported flour from outside of Ukraine. It's about daily survival, and the people are hungry they rebel he
says. Here they are just recovering from a crushing COVID pandemic and a decade of political uncertainty.
[09:50:00]
MCKENZIE (voice over): The impact of the war in Ukraine could not have come at a worst time. Even retired professionals like Houria Bousad and her
husband can only afford a few luxuries
HOURIA BOUSAD, RETIRED TEACHER: The prices are going up.
MCKENZIE (on camera): And what does that mean for you and your family?
BOUSAD: Young people they cannot marry now. They don't have enough money to live they cannot have a family.
MCKENZIE (voice over): I've sold nothing today says - to mommy absolutely nothing. This place should be jam packed before the Eid holiday he says,
but nobody can afford meat. On the roadside farmers like - are struggling to sell their sheep for Eid celebrations.
The sheep don't seem to mind. Animal feed prices are doubled because of Ukraine. It's a chain reaction that's bad enough now he says. But the
effect of the war is rarely going to be felt next year. David McKenzie, CNN, Tunisia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: OK, coming up here on "First Move", it's time to go deep, deep into the universe and some sparkly images of space that's getting
stargazers very excited indeed. Stay with us.
(COMEMRCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Changing the way we see the universe. As space fans are eagerly waiting to see new images from NASA's James Webb Telescope due to come out
on Tuesday. A sneak peek revealed high resolution images of a quality never seen before as CNN's Kristin Fisher reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIN FISHER, SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN (voice over): Six months after the most powerful telescope ever made launched into space
center for the team inside the Webb Space Telescopes Flight Control Room is preparing to reveal what astronomers all over the world have been waiting
for decades.
The telescopes' first full color images, which are expected to be light- years more impressive than the test images released last month and will include the deepest image of our universe that's ever been taken.
KEN SEMBACH, DIRECTOR, SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE: Our view of the universe is definitely going to change on July 12th.
FISHER (voice over): Ken Sembach runs the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, home to Webb's Mission Control, and he predicts the
day that web's first images are released will be on par with the day that Galileo became the first person to ever point a telescope to the sky.
SEMBACH: There'll be a universe we knew before Webb and a universe we know after Webb, I really mean that I think our perspective will change.
FISHER (voice over): NASA says some of the images released on July 12th still needs to be taken. Others have already been captured and are being
kept secret. But NASA's leadership has gotten a sneak peek.
PAM MELROY, DEPUTY NASA ADMINISTRATOR: What I have seen just moved me as a scientist, as an engineer, and as a human being.
THOMAS ZURBUCHEN, ASSOCAITE NASA ADMINISTRATOR: A sense of awe and, frankly, got emotional.
FISHER (voice over): But getting emotional about the telescope is something Lee Feinberg has learn to bury after working on Webb for more than two
decades.
[09:55:00]
FISHER (voice over): The telescope's most recent brush with death took place just a few weeks ago, when a micro meteoroid struck one of the
telescope's massive golden mirrors, which are critical for its operation.
LEE FEINBERG, WEBB'S OPTICAL TELESCOPE ELEMENT MANAGER: Earlier in my career, it might have been punched in the gut. But what I've learned about
working on a big project like this is things are never as bad as they first seem, are never as good as they first seem.
FISHER (voice over): He was right, the telescope survived the strike. And NASA is now on the verge of handing this $10 billion telescope over to the
scientists whose research proposals have been selected for the first year of observations.
FEINBERG: It is just doing as well as we could have ever hoped if not better. And so I think the scientists are just going to be extremely - to
use it. And we're going to be excited to see what gets you know what comes out of it.
FISHER (voice over): Kristen Fisher, CNN, Baltimore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: So exciting. That's tomorrow. And that's it for the show. If you've missed any of our interviews, today, they'll be on my Twitter and
Instagram pages you can search for @jchatterleycnn as always. And "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson is up next I'll see you tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
END
