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Hala Gorani Tonight
World Watches Russia-Ukraine Crisis; Ukraine President Zelensky Calls on West Not to Stir "Panic" with Talk of War; COVID Cases Rise in Beijing Ahead of Olympics; As Ukraine-Russia Tensions Simmer, Civilians Suffer; Bridge Collapses Hours Before Biden Due To Visit; U.S. Racing To Recover F-35 Before China Does. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired January 28, 2022 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
HALA GORANI, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone, live from CNN in London on this Friday, I'm HALA GORANI TONIGHT. All eyes still very much on Russia amid
tensions at its border with Ukraine as the Ukrainian president urges calm. I'll bring you the latest from our correspondents on the ground. Then just
days ahead of the Beijing Olympics, yet more COVID cases reported. We'll look at how the Olympic Committee is handling this outbreak.
Plus, we take a look at what's called the "Davos Man" and global wealth inequality with a man who has literally written a book about it. Now, while
the world waits to see what Russia will do next, the president of Ukraine is making clear he is frustrated by all the talk of war. Volodymyr Zelensky
spoke to reporters in Kyiv today urging the west not to stir panic.
He said the worst threat to Ukraine is destabilization from within, but he also called on Russia to prove its statement that it has no plans to
invade. Mr. Zelensky also had pointed remarks about the United States a day after his call with President Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I am the president of Ukraine, I am based here, and I think I know the details deeper than any other
president. The question is not about the U.S. president, because well, we do understand what the risks are, and which of those risks are a priority
risks. And we've discussed lots of questions and would like to explain this a little bit. It's important that the president should know the situation
from me, not from the intermediaries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, also today, we're hearing the first reaction from Vladimir Putin, the man at the center of all of this. His reaction to the U.S. and
NATO responses to the country's security demands as they're calling them. The Kremlin says Mr. Putin told the French President Emmanuel Macron that
the documents do not address Moscow's main concerns. He says he's still studying the responses. Russia's foreign minister had this blunt
assessment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, FOREIGN MINISTER, RUSSIA (through translator): That position is based on false arguments direct to misinterpretation of the facts, and
our position is based on something everybody signed up to. So I don't see any room for compromise here. It is up to the Russian federation, there
won't be no war. We don't want a war, but we will not allow our interests to be trampled on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Just a short time ago, top officials at the Pentagon said the situation on Ukraine's borders is changing rapidly. But reiterated that
conflict is not inevitable. We'll get to Kaitlan Collins in Washington in a moment. But let's begin this hour with Nic Robertson in Moscow. Sergey
Lavrov is saying Russia does not want war. What should we make of that statement?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's a bit of a place- holder statement, really, because everything depends on President Putin, and he says his department is putting together proposals for President
Putin. He doesn't know what the outcome is going to be. He says he can't say that diplomacy is dead, but he's sort of playing for time there as well
because he's saying look, it took them -- United States and NATO, almost a month to get back with their written answers.
So, again, it feels very much like place-holder -- he's trying to play off, you know, NATO and United States as well by saying, you know, United States
reply was almost sort of gold-plated polite diplomacy whereas he said he felt sorry for the person who had written the response from NATO that he
found very sort of isolationist and insular and very not open at all. So -- you know, he's leaving it open for the president.
I mean, it seems very clear, and it's an open question how much influence the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the foreign minister can actually have
determining the path forward for President Putin, because he's not -- he's not creating one avenue one way or one another.
But he is leaving open some space for diplomacy, because he's indicated there are areas like arms control, like troop deployments, that can be
addressed going forward. So I don't think he's not shutting the door either. But it could go either way.
[14:05:00]
GORANI: Right. Kaitlan Collins is in Washington. What's the U.S. perspective here? Because even the Ukrainian president is signaling that he
wasn't entirely happy with the way the U.S. framed the potential imminence of a Russian invasion.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that he's not happy with them framing it as imminent, but that has been the
assessment that the U.S. Intelligence community has stood by, saying that yes, that they believe -- just now, you heard top brass at the Pentagon
saying that Vladimir Putin does have the capability to invade Ukraine. Now, they don't know that he's decided to do that, they don't know if that's
going to happen.
But they say he certainly has the possibility to do so. And so, they seem to be saying it as it should just be prepared for as a possibility. And
they say that what President Biden told President Zelensky when they were speaking yesterday was that they believe that if it's going to happen, it
likely would happen in February. Not saying that it is going to happen according to a national security official who was briefed on the call, but
saying that there is a possibility it could happen.
And I think what you heard from chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, General Mark Milley just a few moments ago as he was saying look at
what Russia has prepared, it's not just that they have 100,000 troops -- over 100,000 troops. He was saying look at what's in those forces and the
capability they have of ground forces, of air forces, of cyber. Talking about how that looks different than the military exercise drills you've
seen from Russia in the past.
GORANI: And Nic, a quick one on "Reuters" reporting that the Russians are sending blood supplies to their troops near the Ukraine border. In other
words, that they're sending medical capabilities to treat potential combat casualties. What do you know about that? If it's the case, what does that
tell us about what they're preparing here and how quickly?
ROBERTSON: Yes, I mean, this would run counter again to everything that every Russian official has said, that they have no intention of invading.
Because when you send blood supplies, it's because you think people are going to be injured and need blood. And that's exactly one of the things
that General Milley and his analysts will be looking for, to see if there's an advance about to happen. A large repository of blood supply close to the
frontline is exactly what medical units there need when an offensive happens.
So, again, this is -- this is an indicator, if fully correct, and fully checked out, that is going to worry everyone --
GORANI: Yes --
ROBERTSON: And it's a sort of thing that, you know, President Zelensky is also going to look at and factor into his calculations if he believes the
evidence that comes from that source.
GORANI: All right, our senior diplomatic correspondent Nic Robertson and our chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Thanks to both of you.
Let's go now to Ukraine, and our Sam Kiley is live in Kyiv with more on that. Let's talk a little bit -- yes, Sam, can you hear me?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I thought that would be sensible. Hi --
GORANI: Sam, yes, hi there, you're live. Can you hear me, Sam? This is Hala --
KILEY: Oh, sorry, Hala, yes, got you live --
GORANI: Yes, hello!
KILEY: Hello again --
GORANI: Hello --
KILEY: The joys --
GORANI: Well, listen --
KILEY: Of live television.
(LAUGHTER)
GORANI: There you go, at least, everyone knows we're live now. Talk to me about reaction. I know it's later in the evening there, but reaction to
what we're hearing from the United States. Because we know the Ukrainian president over the last few days has signaled that he's not necessarily
happy with how the U.S. has framed the potential imminent nature of a Russian invasion.
KILEY: Yes, and he gave a press conference which I think you've been talking about with Nic, which the -- this is the Ukrainian President
Zelensky saying that he knew his country better than the U.S. president, and that he didn't think that war was imminent, but at the same time,
obviously, asking for more help if it were to come.
I think the really important point to make is that -- and this did come out in the press conferences with Secretary Austin and General Milley, and
that is about hybrid warfare. The reason the Ukrainians are anxious about the way this is characterized in the United States is it affects the
economy here. It affects the markets. If you talk about an imminent war, there's going to be a run on the local currency. There's disinvestment.
There's capital flight. Just coming at the end of a year in which he said that they'd actually had $6.5 billion worth of inward investment.
So, it's a blow to the economy, and that plays into the Kremlin's hands. And on top of that, of course, they are concerned about continued
cyberattacks. They've already seen them. This hybrid warfare that ultimately if the economy starts to struggle, then they could see political
instability, and once again, that is a relatively successful outcome from the Russian perspective for a small investment. And that's really why they
will be rattled by what they've heard from Secretary Austin and General Milley.
Whilst they might not in private necessarily disagree with very much more than the time scale in terms of an actual invasion. Hala.
GORANI: We reported a lot on the preparations that Russia is making the troop movements that Russia is making as well.
[14:10:00]
What inside of Ukraine are you able to report in terms of preparations for a potential invasion? What are they doing?
KILEY: Well, it's quite striking here in Kyiv. The capital city, the windows are not being taped up. There aren't bunkers being built or
sandbags being put in windows. What there are is now they're opening up Soviet-era bunkers. Some of them built in the 1950s, that were built to
protect civilians in the event of a nuclear strike by NATO during the cold war. Somewhat ironic that now they're being used as protection against a
potential attack by what the former ally, former boss country if you like of Russia.
So, there's that going on. There are people joining and volunteering for the citizen's militias, the National Guard, home guard type operations.
There's weekend training programs going on for that. Some citizens are arming themselves, being encouraged to do so. But this is not a kind of
mass mobilization. You would not if you wandered the street of Kyiv here, think that the country was -- thought itself on the brink of war. It
clearly doesn't partly because they already have a war, Hala, and they in the east of the country.
So they're kind of used to a steady state of tension that might be very new in any other country.
GORANI: All right, Sam Kiley, thanks very much, reporting live from Kyiv. All right, the latest on COVID now. Some European countries are lifting
restrictions even if they're dealing with a surge in daily case numbers. Instead of trying to do away with the virus, it seems as though many
countries are now just trying to live with it. As CNN's Kim Brunhuber reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): In Dutch, this blackboard reads "we're back open", welcoming diners for the first time in 2022. Restaurant
staff are resuming their usual duties this week as the Netherlands relaxes COVID restrictions. Business owners hope, this time, it's for good.
FRANK TOERING, RESTAURANT OWNER: So, I hope this is the last time, and we have the freedom to work and to undertake fun things. So, yes, I really
hope this is the last time.
BRUNHUBER: The Netherlands is among several European nations now easing rules imposed to control the spread of the Omicron variant. Mask
requirements and limited business hours will soon be lifted in Denmark as the country aims to end remaining COVID measures by next week after they
were initially loosened two weeks ago.
In Austria, a so-called lockdown on the unvaccinated is coming to an end.
KARL NEHAMMER, CHANCELLOR, AUSTRIA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BRUNHUBER: On Wednesday, the country's chancellor said the pressure on hospitals has eased, and he promised an end to all restrictions if
infection rates remain stable. In England, an end to most coronavirus measures began Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Omicron appears
less severe than previous variants and encouraged booster shots and the use of antiviral drugs over restrictions to fight the virus.
Still COVID numbers remain high throughout Europe. Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria are all seeing rising infections which may only increase as
restrictions relax. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland all reporting record daily new cases this week That's also the case in Germany where
parliament is set to debate proposals to require some residents get vaccinated.
Russia also reporting record-number this week, but hospital officials say patients seem to be exhibiting less severe symptoms as the variant spreads
at record speed, restrictions are lifting in what may be a pandemic first. Officials and residents across Europe, perhaps, choosing to carry on with
COVID-19. Kim Brunhuber, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, what about China? It is taking the opposite approach. It is doubling down on its zero COVID strategy. Even though the highly contagious
Omicron variant seems harder to manage. Border closures are a big part of this strategy, but they have a bad track record of keeping the virus out.
Our Kristie Lu Stout explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): When Omicron first emerged last year, governments across the region turned to a trusted strategy.
Tough border restrictions. But that has not stopped the variant. Late last year, Japan sealed its borders to foreigners including international
students. It's now gripped by a record wave of infections. And China remains closed off with its zero COVID policy, but Omicron has managed to
sneak in.
It's been detected in at least 11 cities across the country. And with its fate tied to China, Hong Kong continues to pursue zero COVID with tough
measures, and now the city is grappling with prolonged isolation and a growing Omicron outbreak. Singapore, another Asian financial hub is taking
a -- living with COVID approach and eased its border controls. Cases are on the rise there.
[14:15:00]
And with strict health measures in place, the Singapore Air Show, Asia's biggest aviation event, will take place during the pandemic again, but at a
smaller scale. Tourism-dependent Indonesia has reopened two islands to Singaporean tourists as it manages the virus and Thailand will relax
quarantine rules next week for international arrivals as it sees slowing COVID-19 infections. But Australia is seeing a surge of COVID-19 deaths as
Omicron burns through the country.
Just over a month after it reopened its borders to some fully vaccinated noncitizens. Infections also hit a record high this month in the
Philippines, and this comes just weeks after temporarily barred travelers from some countries where Omicron had been detected. South Korea is also
setting new records. In fact, this week posting the highest number of daily new cases since the pandemic began. Now, most international travelers to
South Korea are subject to a mandatory ten-day quarantine.
Many borders across Asia remain heavily restricted, taking a toll on business and on tourism, and the W.H.O. has made an appeal to, quote, "lift
or ease international traffic bans as they do not provide added value and continue to contribute to the economic and social stress experienced by
state's parties." In this third year of COVID-19, much of the region remains cut off from the world. The cost of isolation is rising and Omicron
continues to spread. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, we'll have more on China's attempt to contain COVID ahead. We'll take a closer look at the outbreaks there with the Winter Olympics
kicking off in just a week. Plus, more uncertainty over the long-awaited report into those alleged lockdown parties at 10 Downing Street. We'll tell
you why after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: The Beijing Winter Olympics are just days away now with Chinese officials racing to get a handle on multiple COVID outbreaks. Organizers
are reporting 12 new cases, so they are small, but they are outbreaks. And two of them were already inside the Olympic bubble. CNN's Ivan Watson takes
a closer look at what's being done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Here we are in the countdown. One week to the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics. And the COVID case-
count just continues to rise. China maintains this zero COVID approach to the pandemic.
[14:20:00]
But look at the uphill battle that the authorities are facing. This map shows you confirmed cases of the Omicron variant all across China. And the
capital Beijing is not excluded from this. We are seeing the daily number of cases rising both within the Olympic bubble, this so-called closed loop
of thousands of athletes and coaches and organizers and journalists, and also in the general public in Beijing, which is supposed to be walled off
from the rest of the Olympics.
There, the health authorities are struggling to extinguish outbreaks of both the Omicron and the Delta variant. And going to extreme measures to
try to stop it. Things like having millions of people do COVID tests. Locking down entire neighborhoods and apartment buildings, and one new
measure is if anybody tries to buy over-the-counter fever or cold medicine in a pharmacy, they have to get a zero COVID test, and they have to
register this with the government app that is being used to kind of flag potential COVID cases to the authorities.
As for the athletes, the risk of contracting COVID just adds to the already existing pressure going into the games. And CNN has spoken with several
other Olympic athletes, and they're describing their paranoia in their home countries. The lengths they're going to try to avoid contracting the virus,
not seeing their parents before they leave. One U.S. Olympic mogul skier saying that she wears an N95 mask under her neck warmer even when she's out
on the slopes.
And the concern, of course, is that if you test positive going into to the Olympics, you are likely to be put in isolation for at least several days.
There were at least two dozen Olympic athletes who as a result of testing positive, had to withdraw and missed competing in last Summer's Tokyo
Summer Olympics. And that, of course, would be the worst case scenario. Years of training and preparing and it all goes down the tubes when you get
to Beijing to finally compete.
To give you a sense of some of the extreme measures that people are going to, we've been sent this video by a Hong Kong athlete, a speed-skater, and
it shows him on the plane that was chartered for him and other athletes on the way to Beijing. He says there are just two or three passengers on the
entire plane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's only two people.
WATSON: All part of an effort to avoid possibly contracting the virus in these crucial final days running up to the Olympics. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong
Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: In the U.K., there's more uncertainty on when the report into alleged lockdown parties at Downing Street will be published. You'll
remember we expected it a few days ago. It didn't come. London's police says that it has asked for, quote, "minimal" reference to be made to the
events that it's investigating at Number 10, which raises the question of whether the report led by Sue Gray will paint the full picture of what
happened.
Let's bring in Bianca Nobilo who is in London here with more. So, it's the police asking Sue Gray not to reference the events they themselves are
investigating. What does that tell us about when the report will be released and what it will contain?
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It adds further confusion. Obviously, the cabinet office which is where Sue Gray has been working on her report and
the Met have been in touch throughout. In fact, the Met only undergoing this investigation because of the information they received from Sue Gray
in the process of her report. But what's made many people raise an eyebrow is the Met is investigating, quote, "the most serious and flagrant
potential breaches of COVID restrictions."
So, to remove them or make minimal reference to them in a report is sort of like making a movie about "Titanic", but not mentioning the iceberg. That
is the most salient point. So, now this could all be above board. It could be also partly because of disorganization and a bit of a shambles between
the cabinet office, Downing Street, and the Met.
However, opposition party leaders, politicians, and people are raising questions about the timing of all this, given the prime minister a
reprieve, some indicating that there's something conspiratorial about it. And the problem is that's likely not to be the case. But the fact that this
government has so many issues when it comes to perceived accountability, transparency and telling the truth, it just makes a very fertile breeding
ground when you have these further delays and obfuscation.
[14:25:00]
It makes people very suspicious, and in terms of what this means for the prime minister, you have his allies saying that the prime minister just
wants to get all of this done and dusted. Drawing this out further doesn't help him at all. But realistically, that's only the case if whatever is in
the report is set to exonerate the prime minister to a large degree, and we don't know if that's the case.
So having this time is killing a bit of the momentum building up against the prime minister. Also allowing his allies to consolidate those that are
on their side that are supportive of Boris Johnson and try and talk -- waiver off the ledge and make sure that they don't send those letters to
the committee.
GORANI: Right, so if the report doesn't contain any detailed investigation into some of the potentially most code-breaking gatherings, what will it --
what will be in it, and what will be the point of it?
NOBILO: Well, only Sue Gray knows that at this point. Obviously, they are trying to create a picture of the extent of the rule-breaking that occurred
in Downing Street in government at the time of lockdown in the country. So we'll be expecting details on that. We know that there -- well, we
understand that people will be named at most levels of this investigation. And there's been a lot of consternation and concern over the extent to
which perhaps junior staff members might be implicated because of the decisions of people higher up the food chain.
So, we would expect to learn roughly who was involved, more details about the party. We understand that Sue Gray has been interviewing many people
who were present at the time, including Dominic Cummings; the prime minister's former right-hand man-turned adversary. We can pretty much
guarantee that he's given some fairly explosive testimony to Sue Gray of his recent testimonies, anything to go by.
So, it will be flashing out the details of those parties and crucially trying to paint a picture of who knew what and when? How premeditated these
events were. Whether or not the prime minister or those closest to him were fully aware that these parties were breaking the rules which of course the
government set itself.
GORANI: All right --
NOBILO: And even now, we're getting various contradictory reports about the extent to which these events like the prime minister's birthday gatherings
were premeditated. Initially, people saying there was a cake there, and that's since been retracted. So, it will give us a clearer picture of
exactly what was going on. Now, the prime minister's allies and supporters are trying to pursue this narrative at the moment that it really isn't
commensurate with the seriousness of an offense to get rid of a prime minister.
That's what they're saying. However, now that the Metropolitan Police are investigating these allegations, it makes that argument a little harder to
make. But their point being that when Theresa May was deposed as party leader, that long campaign to get rid of her by her own MPs, that was
because she was unable to pass her key mission, her key policy --
GORANI: Yes --
NOBILO: For the party, which was, of course, Brexit. Whereas Boris Johnson's allies are arguing that this is not the same. That he's still
managing to conduct government business and get on with things, but of course --
GORANI: Sure --
NOBILO: It's a very different moment. This is about his moral authority.
GORANI: Yes --
NOBILO: And whether or not he has the integrity or the trust of people in his party to continue.
GORANI: Thank you very much, Bianca, we'll be speaking later as well and hearing from you later on this and other stories. Still to come tonight, as
the political wrangling and diplomatic discussions continue over Ukraine, what is it actually like for people who live there? We'll have more on that
shortly. Plus, a new book tackles an economic system where the ultra rich thrive even during global pandemics, and everyone else survives on what's
left over.
I'll talk to the author of "Davos Man", we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to simmer, but what about the people who are having to live through those tensions and the
violence that it could come with in their everyday lives? What you're about to hear is just a snapshot of what life is like close to the Russian
border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We aren't living anymore. We're just existing. Whatever God decides, here today, gone tomorrow, you are no
longer afraid to be honest. It's too difficult on our elders to keep going downstairs to seek shelter. When they start bombing, everyone will just
remain at home whatever happens.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They are telling us to get out while we can. Run. But we won't. We are going to sit right here. This is
our land, and we are going to stay right here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, for some who live in these areas, this is the only life they've ever known.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): She doesn't know what a peaceful life is like. I mean, she's heard about the concept but I have two other
kids and they are already grown and they know what a peaceful life is like. But this one, since she was born, has never experienced that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: A snapshot of what's happening on the ground. Now for -- this is on Earth. But for years, the U.S. and Russia have worked together up in space
regardless of the political situation back on our planet. But now, with the crisis over Ukraine heating up, former NASA astronauts worry that those
tensions could bleed into orbit. One told CNN he fears for the future of the International Space Station. CNN's Space and Defense Correspondent
Kristin Fisher tells us why.
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: The International Space Station has largely remained quite insulated from any geopolitical
tensions between the U.S. and Russia during its 20 plus years in orbit. The last time that Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2014, I spoke with two of the
NASA astronauts that were onboard the space station at that time and they say at no point did anyone in Mission Control in Houston or in Moscow ever
even mentioned the ongoing tensions that were taking place about 250 miles below them.
But I also spoke with about a half dozen former NASA astronauts who say they are very worried that this time could be different. Garrett Reisman,
who spent about 95 days up on the Space Station, told me that he's scared that if this becomes a shooting war that the space station might not
survive.
But NASA Administrator, Bill Nelson, is confident that whatever happens politically between these two countries that the partnership in space and
at the space station will continue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Isn't that something that when our politics on terra firma are causing us to be at odds with each other? That
the fact that us, earthlings, can overcome that around a common civilian space program and cooperate so beautifully in a friendly manner and this
not just be recently, but ever since 1975?
[14:35:04]
It is truly one of the remarkable, remarkable stories of our time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISHER: Now NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is also quite confident because the Biden administration just announced in December that it supports
extending the International Space Station six years to 2030.
Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, still, though, has not explicitly committed to that. Talks are still ongoing. And, you know, if Russia were
to try to pull out of the Space Station prematurely, it would be very difficult, if not impossible to do that, because things up there are so
interconnected. The U.S. astronauts and the Russian cosmonauts share everything, from food, exercise, equipment, electricity, propulsion, even
their urine. U.S. astronauts will actually take some of the Russian cosmonauts' urine and then recycle it and drink it. As one astronaut put it
to me, if that doesn't transcend politics, I don't know what does. Kristin Fisher, CNN, Washington.
GORANI: I really don't know either. Thanks for that report.
The World Economic Forum was supposed to be held in Davos, Switzerland the last week, but it was postponed because of COVID. Before him it's simply
known as Davos, pretty much everyone knows what it is. It's a glittering consortium of the world's elite in business and politics, mingling,
chatting.
According to a new book, there's one very specific type of person who attends and demonstrates the world's economic inequality. It's the so-
called Davos man, a billionaire who plays hard with the world's wealth while everyone else survives on scraps and his presence or her presence,
but most often it's his presence, at the forum illustrates the huge gulf between the mega rich and the rest of us.
Peter Goodman joins me now. He's the author of that book, "Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World." He's also the Global Economic
Correspondent for The New York Times and he joins me now from Starkville, Mississippi. Hi, Peter.
PETER GOODMAN, AUTHOR, "DAVOS MAN: HOW THE BILLIONAIRES DEVOURED THE WORLD": All right. Yes.
GORANI: So define Davos man for us.
GOODMAN: So, you know, there's a term that Samuel Huntington, the political scientist, coined back in 2004, largely to refer to people that go to the
World Economic Forum, these are billionaires, these are heads of state, I use it to refer to this uber-rich class that isn't simply content to end up
with all the money, they position themselves as the saviors.
They have very systematically and effectively convinced policymakers and major economies that if we organize our economies around sending more
wealth to people who already have most of it, the benefits will magically trickle down to everyone else, something that has in reality happened to
zero times but that's been used to sell a lot of huge tax cuts for wealthy people, lift any trust enforcement.
GORANI: Yes, go ahead, Peter.
GOODMAN: Yes. So, you know, so this refers to this group of people that is really predatory. I mean, I'm giving you a kind of taxonomy of Davos man,
and this is a predator that carefully state -- takes the guise of our friend. And, you know, take, for example, last year at Davos, the CEO of
Salesforce, this big Silicon Valley Tech company, Marc Benioff, who actually said "CEOs are the real heroes of the pandemic."
You know, not frontline medical workers, not parents dealing with kids stuck home distance learning, essential workers, CEOs, and he was talking
about, you know, giving us vaccines, he was talking about credit unleashed by finance companies that have staved off bankruptcies. This really,
though, reflects his worldview.
GORANI: But -- we get that, but here's the thing, these billionaires are enabled by our global economic system. They are enabled by the tax code.
They pay less tax than salaried employees. I mean, PayPal and Venmo now have to send 1099-K forms to anyone making more than $600 a year. This is
gig workers. This is like the kid who mows your lawn and the kid who babysits your kids, but then the billionaire's can go through these
accounting gymnastics with their highly paid accountants and pay much less than we do as a percentage of income. This is a system that's in place.
GOODMAN: Yes, I mean it's -- right. I mean, it's unfortunate. They're actually writing the tax code. I mean, these are people who, you know, hire
lobbyists by the dozen. Amazon now has 100 lobbyists in Washington, DC alone, they're writing the laws. And they're selling us on this idea that
we're all benefiting, when, in fact, the billionaires are benefiting at the direct expense of the rest of us.
You know, take a look at the fact that we're in this global public health catastrophe and, you know, we've got COVID vaccines, and thank goodness for
that, produced by companies like Pfizer and Moderna, we should be grateful for the research, but let's remember that they are capitalizing on
publicly-financed research and they're monopolizing the gains by selling their vaccines to the highest bidder around the world.
[14:40:09]
I mean, the W.H.O. tells us there are now 10 million doses of vaccines that have gone into human arms. Well, you know, 90 percent of those were in
wealthy countries such that in parts of Africa, in South Asia, you have frontline medical workers, treating COVID patients who don't have any
vaccine protection. And that's how we got Omicron. So the rest of us --
GORANI: So how do we --
GOODMAN: -- are subsidized of the monopoly profits for Davos man through our shuttered schools, and the continued pandemic and hits to livelihood.
GORANI: So how do we fix the system? Obviously, there's inequality during the pandemic, the mega rich have added billions of dollars to their wealth,
while the poor people have become poorer. How do we fix it?
GOODMAN: Well, that part's not very complicated. It's tough to execute, but we know what we have to do, we need a return of progressive taxation so you
don't have a situation where people like Steve Schwarzman, the world's wealthiest private equity magnate worth $35 billion, is effectively paying
less of his income to the government than the people who are scrubbing the toilets at the residences that he owns the way most of us own socks.
We need to increase labor power, so laborer can actually receive the gains of capitalism. Capitalism's a great system, it's enriching, gives us
innovation. We need to set it up so that the gains are spread more equitably. And we need to enforce any trust law, which, in the States,
hasn't been enforced since the '80s. And in much of the world, the ideas taken route and not by accident, through the lobbying of Davos man, that
scale its efficiency and efficiency delivers gains for consumers, when in reality, most of the gains are vacuumed up by a handful of people.
GORANI: All right, Peter Goodman, the author of the new book, "Davos Man," thanks so much for joining us.
GOODMAN: Thank you, Hala.
GORANI: Thank you. And good luck with the book.
Still to come tonight the race to recover, that U.S. stealth fighter that crashed into the South China Sea, and why it matters. Plus, Ethiopia's war-
torn Tigray region is desperate for food. And we're getting our first real sense of how deep the need is, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: U.S. President Joe Biden is promoting his Infrastructure Law talking about the importance of improving the country's bridges, roads, and
other critical infrastructure.
[14:40:04]
As if to prove his point, a bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania collapsed just hours before the President was scheduled to visit the city. Officials
say several people were injured. No fatalities thankfully have been reported. Mr. Biden visited the collapsed site and thanked first
responders.
The U.S. military is scrambling to recover an F-35 stealth fighter that crashed into the ocean near the Philippines Monday. It is the most
sophisticated warplane that the U.S. has, and the U.S. is worried that China might try to reach the wreckage first. Ivan Watson has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The final approach of an F-35C stealth fighter jets seconds before it crash lands into the flight
deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier. Images circulated on social media confirmed by the U.S. Navy show the plane moments later in the ocean,
canopy open after its pilot escaped.
The cause of the crash, which injured the pilot and six sailors, still under investigation. The Navy now has the difficult task of recovering the
wreckage of the hundred million jet from the bottom of the ocean to make sure, defense experts say, that its classified technology doesn't fall into
the wrong hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER LAYTON, MILITARY AVIATION EXPERT, GRIFFITHS UNIVERSITY: The Chinese have a long history of being able to borrow something from overseas and
reverse engineer it so that this would certainly be a goldmine as far as that goes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: The crash occurred here in the South China Sea, a heavily trafficked body of water that Beijing claims almost all for itself. And
this is where two American aircraft carriers are currently operating, accompanied by more than 100 warplanes and at least 10 other warships, an
unmistakable demonstration of U.S. naval power to both allies and rivals in Asia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALESSIO PATALANO, PROFESSOR OF WAR & STRATEGY IN EAST ASIA, KING'S COLLEGE LONDON: That is a powerful reminder that the Indo-Pacific is a central
strategic importance to the Biden administration. It's about signaling to other competitors in the region, most notably China, that the United
States' credibility should not be taken lightly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: The Chinese Foreign Ministry says it's not interested in the crashed plane. A spokesman urged the U.S. to contribute more to regional
peace rather than flexing force at every return.
But Chinese state media did some gloating, saying the crash exposed U.S. exhaustion at containing China. It's not the first time the U.S. Navy has
had an accident while asserting what Washington says is its right to conduct freedom of navigation operations in these contested waters.
Last October, a U.S. Navy attack submarine crashed into an undersea mountain in the South China Sea, prompting the firing of its commanding
officers.
Meanwhile, the versatile F-35 war plane, developed years behind schedule and way over budget, has had its own setbacks of late. A British F-35
crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in November. In 2019, a Japanese F-35 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing the pilot. The jet impacted at such
high speed that salvage teams never recovered most of the aircraft.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAYTON: Flying from aircraft carriers is a high risk business and occasionally, problems will have happened. While it's unfortunate, it is to
be expected when you start flying hundreds of sorties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Experts predict it will take several weeks for the U.S. Navy to recover this expensive wreck from the bottom of the sea. Ivan Watson, CNN,
Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: And the U.N.'s World Food Programme is sounding the alarm about hunger in Ethiopia's Tigray gray region. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMSON PHIRI, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME SPOKESPERSON: Severe hunger is tightening its grip on Northern Ethiopia. After 15 months of conflict,
almost 40 percent of Tigrayans are suffering in extreme lack of food.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: The report says around nine million people need food and across Tigray and neighboring regions affected by the war. It's the first major
assessment the WFP has made since the conflict began. Tigray has seen more than a year of war now and that's left thousands of people dead, millions
displaced, and aid groups struggling to reach some areas. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:52:07]
GORANI: So if this happens, it would be absolutely wonderful because scientists are working to develop a Pan-Coronavirus vaccine. It seems like
a holy grail. It would be a vaccine that's effective against past, present, and future variants as well as COVID diseases including the common cold.
Here's CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right now, it's a race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be variants for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: The virus against the vaccines and the boosters, and possibly more boosters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The company is forging ahead with omicron-specific vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: But scientists have been working on what could be a better solution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The urgent need of a universal Coronavirus vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: It's just what it sounds like, a vaccine that covers the circulating virus, yes, but also future variants we haven't even seen yet and
potentially other types of Coronaviruses as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN SAUNDERS, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, DUKE HUMAN VACCINE INSTITUTE: That means not only targeting SARS-like viruses, but then targeting MERS-like
viruses, are then also targeting cold viruses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Kevin Saunders is the Director of Research here at the Duke HUMAN VACCINE INSTITUTE, one of the many groups racing to create a universal
vaccine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAUNDERS: What we try to do is really target a specific part of the virus, for instance, that we know is its Achilles heel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Now remember, viruses mutate all the time. So the trick is to find a stable part of the virus, a part that doesn't really change from one
variant to the next, a common denominator. Saunders calls it a conserved site. Creating antibodies to that is one path to a universal vaccine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAUNDERS: So typically, that's a place where the virus is binding to specific protein on the host cell that it's targeting. And if it changes
that site, then it's no longer able to infect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: A big clue came from someone who was infected with SARS, all the way back in 2003.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: What is DH1047?
SAUNDERS: The antibody DH1047 is an antibody that we found from a SARS-CoV- 1 infected individual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTTA: Seventeen years later, in 2020, in the midst of the current outbreak, they found DH1047 was also protective against COVID, protective
against a virus that didn't even exist when these antibodies were first made.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAUNDERS: And so we took that antibody as a template to say there must be some site that's common between SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 and let's figure
that out, then we would know that needs to be in the vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: There are a number of Pan-Coronavirus vaccine strategies in the works. But unlike the mRNA vaccines we've come to know, at Duke, they're
working on something called a nanoparticle vaccine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAUNDERS: There's multiple fights that can be recognized by antibodies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Think of it like a soccer ball with tiny proteins stuck to the surface, each resembling a key conserved site of the virus's spike protein.
[14:55:08]
So far in primates, the vaccine appears to work. And now a similar vaccine developed by military scientists has already made it into early human
trials. But as exciting as this science is, it's going to take time and patience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: I don't want anyone to think that Pan-Coronavirus vaccines are literally around the corner in a month or two, it's going to take years to
develop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Much of the work being done today on COVID is built on the back of similar research on other viruses, influenza, HIV.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BARTON HAYNES, DIRECTOR, DUKE HUMAN VACCINE INSTITUTE: We've been working on an HIV vaccine now for almost 30 years here at Duke and HIV is
one of the most rapidly evolving life forms on Earth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: That's because HIV mutates much faster. And that's one reason why Dr. Barton Haynes thinks developing a universal vaccine for Coronaviruses
may be easier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAYNES: Developing that platform for HIV over the last five years allowed this to happen when the need arose very quickly.
SAUNDERS: The most challenging part is that the virus is always changing. How do you predict what's coming in the future so that your vaccine can be
effective against it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: And he's not just talking about Coronaviruses that are infecting humans right now, but also novel ones that could still spill over from
animals, ones we don't even know about yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAUNDERS: That's the type of vaccines we're going to need in order to prevent the next pandemic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Let's hope.
Australia has pledged $700 million to protect the Great Barrier Reef. The announcement comes months after the reef was almost placed on a U.N. danger
list due to the threat of climate change. Australia's Prime Minister says the funds will go toward climate adaptation technology, water quality
programs and protecting some key species but critics say more needs to be done.
And the cat is finally out of the bag, the Bidens have a new family pet. The first lady says she saw the gray Tabby at a campaign stop in 2020 after
it jumped on stage and the two shared an immediate bond. The feline's name is Willow. It even refers to Joe Biden's hometown in Pennsylvania. Willow
now lives with Commander, a purebred German Shepherd puppy that the Bidens adopted in December last year, and hopefully the White House will be big
enough for the two of them.
My dog hates cats. So I don't know how that's going to go down. Thanks for watching tonight. Do stay with CNN after a quick break. QUEST MEANS
BUSINESS is coming your way.
END
