public sector organized labor, the give-aways are incredible. hello, everyone. i'm christiane amanpour in london. welcome to the amman pour hour in. the next 60 minutes we will take you around the world to ask the tough questions and tackle the big problems and let history be our guide. here is where we're headed this week. biden and xi re-established military ties and some cooperation. despite being on opposite sides of israel and ukraine. >> do i think world peace is going to break out and you're also going to start learning the words to kumbaya? no. but i think it this is the right step and a firm step in the right direction. >> white house insider and key diplomat rahm emanuel joins the show. to the war in ukraine. while the world has taken its eye off that ball, putin's nervous neighbors are taking matters into their own hands. >> madam president are you calling for lithuania, american, british, french, german boots on the ground? >> also ahead, a look back into my archive, 28 years after the u.n. charged the butcher of bosnia with genocide. and finally, humor, heartache and healing. >> all of the music, come home, this is what we're dealing with. >> multigrammy winning musician jon batiste and director matthew hideman on the new film "american symphony." welcome to the program. i'm christiane amanpour in london. this week, the u.s. came face to face with its greatest global competitor, china. president joe biden met chinese leader xi jinping for the first proper sitdown of his presidency. and xi's visit to the asia-pacific summit in san francisco was his first visit to the united states since 2017, it comes after six weeks after bloodshed in israel and gaza that has consumed much of the oxygen. expectations were low, but perhaps the meeting itself was the main success. and there was a big break-through, military to military communications between the two nations will resume. and both leaders talked up the vital need to keep talking. >> i value our conversation, because i think it is paramount that you and i understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication. we have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict. and we also have to manage it responsibly. >> the china-u.s. relationship has never been smooth sailing over the past 50 years or more and it always faces problems one time or another, yet it has kept moving forward amid twists and turns. for two large countries like china and the united states, turning their back on each other is not an option. >> as u.s. ambassador to japan, rahm emanuel is one of biden's sharpest pair of eyes in asia and he joined me from the summit to talk about supporting u.s. allies who are concerned about the chinese giant on their doorstep. as well as how biden is navigating the war in the middle east, all of this happening in the midst of a presidential election year. >> ambassador rahm emanuel, welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> so tell us, i mean has world peace broken out, was the summit and the meeting that significant? are we less or more worried about a war with taiwan? tell us what happens. >> i think the way to look at this, as you know, in foreign policy, and diplomacy, where deterrence ends and provocation begins, nobody really knows. so is it better to have a conversation, a dialogue, that meets eye to eye, understand where you agree, and also understand where you don't agree, and what your firm kind of bottom lines are? that's a better alternative. and yes, that was a step forward in the right way. especially in contrast to what you see with russia's invasion in ukraine. the conflict in gaza. here, having dialogue, here, having diplomacy, that stands in perfect contrast. i think world peace, do i think world peace is going to break out and you will start learning the words to kumbaya, no. do i think china will stop trying to intimidate philippines, an ally of ours? no. we will stand by our allies and be very firm a they have right as defined by the international court to their easing off the philippine coast. as an example. so do i think that all of a sudden, everybody is going to get along, and everything is going to return to some type of snapback to 2014 or 2015, i don't. but i think this is the right step, and a firm step in the right direction. and i think that's how both leaders and both countries see it. >> so importantly, the military to military communications were cut a while ago. have they been restored? and how important is that? >> well, i think, look, given what is going on in the region, and given what's happened, just take a look at what china has done to india, and to the philippines, and taiwan, and the islands off of japan, firing five missiles there, it is better to have a conversation knowing who you will call when a flashpoint occurs than not. i do want to take a step back, and i think it is kind of important, on one other part of the military to military, because i think it tells a really important story. one is right after the meeting, president xi had a dinner with a number of american ceos who gave him a standing ovation. president biden, immediately afterwards, had a reception with people here in the san francisco area, but also with a number of world leaders from the region, from the aipac conference, japan, the prime minister was there, the president of singapore was there, as was from the philippines, as was from indonesia, as examples. i think it is a telling sign, because one of the big strengths for america is our diplomacy. we have allies. we have friends. the people, the countries, the leaders in that region want america to stay permanent pacific presence and power, and they welcomed them with a reception in the united states. that is not the situation with xi, because president xi is desperate for american investments in that area because of what is happening in china. and i think what followed the meet was an important story that underscored where each other's countries strengths are, and where the vulnerabilities are. >> can i ask you, because you have been in the room where it happened, so to speak, how under the obama administration, when you had to deal with, let's call it a recalcitrant, noncooperative benjamin netanyahu. now, president biden has embraced him. he's israel's very good friend. israel is being obviously, you know, supported in self-defense, et cetera. but things are getting tricky. the level of death in gaza is causing huge discombobulation on the streets of the united states, here in europe, not to mention the arab world. i'm wondering what you think the u.s. needs to do to both support israel and to cut down on this, what's becoming an intolerable death toll in gaza. >> well, as you know, as a representative of the united states, i support policy of the president, i have some, obviously my own feelings about certain things. one is i would like to remind everybody, those calling for a cease-fire, we're for the cease-fire, there was a cease-fire october 6th. it got violated. that all got evaporated. literally. now, that said, i think the president's doing exactly the right thing. which is the idea of self-defense for the state of israel. and supporting israel in its own self-defense. but part of that self-defense, and part of our whole definition of going all the way back to when i worked with president clinton, on the two-state solution of the oslo accords, the wide plantation agreement, the efforts at camp david in the final days of his presidency, the two-state solution were a palestinian state exists side by side with israel, it is in israel's self interest, that is exactly where president biden is, that is exactly as he said the other day, pushing for a two-state solution, because it has always been in israel's self interest, which is why a lot a part of the national security of the state of israel has advocated for exactly that time of policy. to be able to have a firm, clear, credible deterrence, pursue its interests as it relates to fighting terrorism, and the security that is necessary, but do not underestimate that a two-state political solution is also part of their own deterrence and their own security. that has been advocated by many israeli prime ministers, and the security establishment of the state of israel. and president biden has been absolutely clear, as recently as the other day, at the press conference, in, here in san francisco, about the importance of a two-state solution, and the final resolution, and not only for the palestinian people, which is valuable, but for the security of the state of israel and its own future of its own people. >> ambassador emanuel, you know that benjamin netanyahu has never wanted to implement that. endless, endless, real-life examples, you had to deal with it, the clinton administration has had to deal with it, and now the biden administration. prime minister netanyahu is going over the head of the president, talking directly to the american media, talking about potential, this is my word, occupation, but whatever it is, a military encirclement, a security supplement of gaza, the president doesn't want that, america doesn't want that. he's not saying a thing about the day after in his reaching out to, i guess american public opinion. is that troubling? >> don't underestimate, on one other point, which i think it has been covered by cnn and by yourself many times, president biden is also quite popular with the israeli people. using and establishing the friendship that the president was very clear on, on the day, on opctober 8th forward, has given him a tremendous amount of political credibility with the israeli people when it comes to making some hard decisions. and i don't want to speak for the israeli government, my guess is they are very aware how popular the president is, because he stood by israel in its hour of need. >> sand by, ambassador when we return, "politico" says they know how bide condition win. by calling back rahm emanuel. we'll discuss that after the break. welcome back to the program. we are still with ambassador emanuel who is in california, around the aipac summit. so what does president biden have to do, apart from the foreign policy that we've been talking about, to convince the american people that he is the best man, the best person, on the economy, for instance, on keeping america safe, on building and supporting democracy around the world, because the polls are very worrying, suggesting that more americans think trump is better on the economy, and on national security? >> well, as you probably know, and i know you know this, as a diplomat, you're apolitical, now that's very hard for me, since it's in my bone, and i have a big bubble above my head with a lot of thoughts, let me just say this, i think joe biden has, when i was chief of staff, our offices were right next to each other, we go all the way back to 1994, he is infamous for his statement that don't judge me against the almighty, judge me against the alternative and i think at the end of the day, elections are about a choice, and there's going to be a clear stark choice. one that is about the future, and one that is about the past. that is all i can say without going over the violation of what an ambassador can say about politics. >> so let me ask you, as an ambassador, and a diplomat, what do you think america's allies, and its adversaries -- >> doesn't that just roll off the tongue, ambassador rahm emanuel? >> there you go. >> what are america's friends and adversaries are going to think about a trump, another trump presidency? you know, people are already really worried in very important parts of the world where everything is at stake, let's say ukraine fighting off russia. >> let me say 24 this from the region. and i can't go past the water's edge on politics, but i can say firsthand, things i have been intimately involved in the camp david principles, where the president brought the prime minister of japan and the president -- they sat there and showed that diplomacy and dialogue was a better alternative to what president putin is doing with the war in ukraine, what hamas has done with terrorism. that in a place where conflict, war, terrorism, it has no place where you can have an alternative dialogue and diplomacy. that was achieved because of president biden's credibility with the two lead evers, the credibility of the united states, and the leadership of the united states with diplomacy and dialogue. and that stood in direct contrast with the examples of what was happening in the region before, when we made our allies uncertain. >> can i try one more question about why -- >> go ahead. >> i want to ask you -- >> give it another shot. >> the old college try. >> i will give it one more college try. president biden seems to be in a spat with david axelrod, another of your former colleagues. how do you feel about actual democrats dividing the president for his age and the rest of it? >> again, you know what i'm allowed to say and i will go back to what i said earlier, there is going to be an election that will be very clear as we get closer and closer to election day about a choice, president biden has outlined as he repeatedly said a philosophy and to me that is what i believe to be true, and that is all i can say in generic term, otherwise i will go over the line of what i am allowed to say, but i do think he has not only a credible case of what he is going to say, what he has done in the past, it is the foundation most importantly to the future. and do we want a future where america's leadership is respected? do we want a future where we're building a future for all americans to benefit. and to me, that is going to be clearer and clearer each day, as you get closer to whom should be the leader. i can't say more. although i would really like to. [ laughter ] >> let me ask you one more thing that you might like to answer because i teased it. "politico" says he needs to call rahm emanuel back. so if summoned, would you serve? >> that's a hypothetical and i'm not answering hypotheticals. it's not the appropriate thing to do. i can say this. i fally enjoy what i'm doing as an u.s. ambassador i'm honored that president biden asked me to do it and i'm enjoying the work and i find it very intellectually stimulating and this crucial time, as a number one ally of the united states, not only in the region but of the world. >> rahm emanuel, ambassador, thank you so much indeed for joining us. >> thanks for letting me dodge every one of your questions. [ laughter ] >> that's not good for my career. with the biden administration, dealing with politics at lome, and geo strategically stretched abroad, is ukraine's fight to survival slipping out of focus? russia's neighbors are raising the alarm. next, the iron lady of the baltics warns us not to take our eye off the putin ball. in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities. welcome back. so what about the big global picture? can the united states confront all of these wars and challenging relationships at the same time? few comments have aged as badly. >> in the middle east region, it is quieter today than it has been in two decades. >> biden's national security adviser jake sullivan, and a catastrophic misread of the region eight days before the hamas attack on israel plunged the middle east into war. now, of course, it has the administration's full attention. but while the u.s. and its allies are focused there -- what does that mean for ukraine, now worried about being left behind? >> if russia will kill all of us, they will attack nato countries and you will send your sons and daughters and i'm sorry, but the price will be higher. >> with aid for kyiv locked up by skeptical republicans in congress, democrats are pushing back. >> we are at risk of failing, of handing putin a victory, right when he is on the verge of defeat. >> with the prospect of donald trump becoming the republican presidential nominee, who has openly laid down this gauntlet. >> i will remember the head of the country stood up, and said does that mean if russia attacks my country, you will not be there? that's right. that's what it means. i will not protect you. >> putin's nervous neighbors aren't banking on a white knight from the west to save them. once bitten by a soviet invasion, these baltics states are twice shy. >> leaders like lithuania's former president dubbed the steel magnolia, she is telling me what is happening in the world right now is creating a perfect storm for president putin to exploit. >> madam president, do you feel that putin is potentially thinking he can take advantage of this. recently, you said putin is a survival threat for lithuania. >> yes, of course. it is a difficult situation. he is in the shadow. he is one who will probably behave more aggressively and that's what we will expect, and in the future from him. and for him, yes, it is a very inconvenient situation. >> what is lithuania doing about it? >> we're starting from the nato level, from the defense plans, and also looking to the bottom, to the bottom of our people, with civil preparations. it is part of our social and civil resilience. we're not only trying to fight the informational war, the lies around the war, but we also try to increase our own resilience because we have been living on the border, we know our unfriendful neighbor and we can say even enemy and rival, and we try not only to help ourselves, to understand the situation, but reuniting our neighbors, uniting our neighbors to explain, and to bring all of us together, for this upcoming possible increase of threats and aggression from the russia side. >> i wonder what you make about the so far blocking of ukraine aid from congress, and also, president trump has suddenly come up again and said, you know, back then, when i was president, one of the heads of state asked me, would i defend them if russia attacked, and he said no, i told them i will not protect you if russia attacks, do you recall that time? >> yes, i recall that time. and i was in the meeting of nato in brussels, the first visit of president trump's visit in brussels, where the threat of withdrawing the u.s. from flnat which was very much hanging in the air. the mistakes, i say mistakes now, with the leadership of the republican party is doing, will turn very much, and very fast against u.s. itself. >> are you saying that nato has still not stepped up enough? >> not at all. not at all. not at all. that is a problem that we are talking about, where we're discussing about, where we're giving assistance, for ukraine, it is not to sink, and not to die, but we're not giving them enough to win, and it is not for ukrainians to win, it is for us, all of us to win against an aggressor. this two years show it is our witnesses, why ukraine is still in this kind of bloodshed and battle against this aggressor. >> what would you say right now nato should do differently? >> nato is supposed to do differently from the beginning and not to allow only ukrainians to fight against this aggression. we still try to buy our consciousness with support for ukraine. but that's a conceptual mistake. it is not supposed to be support for ukraine, to defend themselves. they're defending us, all of us. all democracies. all the rest of the countries. all peace around the world. and in europe. and we are not involved ourselves in this. we are allowing ukraine to do this instead of us. that's a conceptual mistake. >> so madam president, are you calling for lithuanian, american, british, french, german, boots on the ground? >> from the very beginning two years ago, i said that russia could be, and should be defeated on the field. not by discussions. not by plans. not by conferences. but on the ground. on the battlefield. a we're not doing this. we're not only thinking that someone else, ukraine is, will do it. sooner or later, sure. especially in this new geopolitical environment, where there is a lot of opportunities here and again opening. he will confront us. and we will be under pressure to that seriously. not as it is now. >> finally, you know the americans have always said that they don't want to get into world war three with putin, and yet you think that actually there needs to be nato boots on the ground. >> i think that we are involved over there. and putin and other aggressors are already bringing us in. we see this on the ukrainian land. we're seeing this in israel. and gaza. we're seeing the behavior of iran and other proxies. so we are falling into this global conflict. and we're not stopping it. we're not tipping the glass. we're just watching how we're all falling into this problem. >> madam president, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. a stern warning indeed. up next, a accountability and international law. from the archive, 28 years after he was charged with genocide, my conversation with the butcher of bosnia, and how america helped end the worst atrocities on european soil since world war ii. respect international law. that is what israel's friends are urging in its war against hamas. with more gazams killed in any preert conflict combined, warnings of alleged war crimes are growing louder. hamas is also accused of committing war crimes against civilians in israel, on october 7th. so i've gone to my archive, to remember how for the first time since the nuremberg trials put nazis in the dark, the world created the first international try buem for the former yugoslavia in 1993. and in 1994, 28 years ago this week, it charged the bosnian serb leader ratko mladic with genocide and crimes against humanity for slaughtering civilians in sarajevo and srebenica. tens of thousands of men and women and children were killed in a brutal way. as young reporter witnessing and learning about the most heinous crimes under international law, i interviewed them many times. mladic could barely conceal his dis tain for the victim, bosnia's population. >> translator: it is good to have them around but a smaller concentration. >> chilling words from the man they call butcher of bosnia, general ratko mladic, the snide humor masked his killer instinct and it defined mladic and made him an uncomfortable man to confront. we saw his smile again and again as the war unfolded and the bosnian government said, i had been covering the bosnian war for more than a year by the time i met him, living in the shell-sniped besieged city of sar yeah vo -- >> what is the lady's name? >> christiane amanpour. >> christina? >> it won't be difficult for her to understand, because when i saw her first reports from sarajevo, i was very angry. >> mladic was commanding the bosnian serb military mission to carve out their own ethnically pure republic and join it to a greater serbia. this was a daily occurrence, dodging bullets, as we covered the unfolding tragedy. >> for the bosnians, the villain was clear. >> you know, your own people, and your soldiers, to them, you're a great man, you're a lowe, to your enemies, you're somebody to be feared and somebody to be hated. how do you feel about that? >> translator: >> translator: very interesting question. the first things you say are correct. >> prosecutors say what mladic believed to be his greatness was in fact ethnic cleansing and genocide. it would reach its climax with the massacre at srebenica, july 11th, 1995, more than three years into this brightle war. it was meant to be a next protected zone, when mladic's forces overran u.n. positions and invaded the tiny enclave, they handed out candy, and general mladic promised the townspeople they would be safe. don't panic. let the small children and women pass, he said. don't be afraid. no one will do you any harm. his soldiers slaughtered more than 7,000 men and boys who tried to flee. this is one who plas miraculously survived the massacre, i tracked him down in the bosnian town, four months later. >> the serbs said let's look around, and then i heard a lot of shooting and people around me and on topme. >> he sought mladic one last time. >> he stood there and waited when they killed them, when he killed them, he got back in his car and left. >> he said he will testify if mladic ever comes to trial. after that massacre, the u.s. led a bombing campaign against bosnian serb military positions, and peace negotiations that eventually ended the fighting. mladic became a wanted man, and soon went into hiding. i never knew if i would see him again. a plan with whom i had stood on the bosnian hilltop at the height of the war. but it was with deep satisfaction that i watched mladic stands in the dark at the hague to finally face the justice he so brutally denied others. america has called him a war criminal. and under any kind of u.n. tribunal, he may have to be prosecuted. what does he think about that? >> translator: >> translator: it's a tough question, he's a tough man, he can answer it. >> yes, i can take it. i've taken more rough ones. i can take those, too. i defended my people. and only my people can judge me. and there's no greater honor than defending your people. >> but the world judged him. indeed, the testimony helped convict convict mladic in 2017, and found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. in a statement at the time, the tribunal judge discussed the evidence of the atrocities as quote screens of hell written on the darkest days of human history. the path to justice is long but it can be reached. coming up next on the show -- >> one of the biggest prizes in music. come back. she's in the hospital. this is what we're dealing with. >> the grammy-winning artist jon batiste talked to me about triumph, tragedy and music in the new film. >> it is really a toy that i made into morere. how's the chicken? the prawns are delicious. oh, i have a shellfish allergy. one prawn. very good. did i say chicken wrong? tired of people not listening to what you want? it's truffle season! ah that's okay... never enough truffles. how much are they? it's a lot. oh okay - i'm good, that - it's like a priceless piece of art. enjoy. or when they sell you what they want? yeah. the more we understand you, the better we can help you. that's what u.s. bank is for. huge relief. yeah... ♪ (♪♪) (♪♪) (♪♪) get exclusive offers on select new volvo models. contact your volvo retailer to learn more. welcome back. we turn now to a story of tragedy, triumph, and love. musician jon batiste rose to fame as stephen colbert's late show musical director. and he's now a powerhouse in his own right. in 2022, he was nominated for 11 grammy awards. but that very same day, his wife was told that her cancer had returned, after a decade in remission. she is better now. and their story is being told in a new film "american symphony." here's a clip from the trailer. >> coming from life experiences. >> we've both had so many good things happening. >> and the grammy goes to -- >> jon batiste! >> and so many incredibly hard things. >> with the remission, will it come back, we don't know. >> i honestly don't know how to hold it together. >> you have to confront the brutal reality. but at the same time, have completely unwavering faith. >> jon batiste has been nominated for another six grammys this year, and we spoke about all of life's highs and lows when he was here in london this week, along with director matthew hineman. jon batiste, matthew, welcome to the program. "american symphony," i think jon, it was designed to be a different beast than it turned out to be. >> yes. >> tell me about what you intended, even though you aren't the film maker, and what it turned out to be. >> one is to look at the tradition of the symphony and create something that had never been done before, and push my several to create something that was a vision of how i see music. expansive. marching band musicians with american musicians with modular synthesizers, with classical musicians, jazz musicians, venezuelian musicians, all creating a new age orchestra. and i wanted to document that process. my good friend matt and i, we sat down, we talked about, that we talked about wanting to make a process film that documented this incredible new grounds-breaking symphony. and guess what? the next month, the same week as we found out that the leukemia came back, the same week i was nominated for 11 grammys, literally a month after deciding we were going to film, this occurred, and we had to make the decision, do we film, do we continue to keep filming? >> so life essentially intervened in a way that was a real body blow. >> everything changed. as a family, any family going through tragedy, any family going through this kind of thing knows, everything shifts. priorities life comes into a way. >> what was it like for you as a filmmaker, because which was almost more personal, perhaps the most personal thing you've ever done? >> for me, this is in line with everything i've done. i try to make films about people that fascinate me, people that challenge me, people that inspire me. i think my goal with everything is to try to get as intimate and close to my subjects as possible. we were filming 16, 18 hours a day, seven days a week for seven months. >> that's a lot. one could call that intrusive. >> one could call it intrusive. it was really a decision we had to constantly reassess as a family, do we keep filming. the next morning, we see in the bedroom in the sloan kettering cancer ward or on stage at carnegie hall, inches away from my face with the steadycam. there's so much. ♪ >> how are you doing right now? >> i have faith that everything can change. >> i first came across you when you were the musical director of stephen colbert's "late show," right? >> yes. >> you've become a phenomenon on your own. what was that journey like? a young boy growing up in new orleans, a black musician, what was it like, that journey? was it difficult? >> very difficult. think about every step of the way being misunderstood, and also having great support and having great success based upon that misperception. people see the misperception and think, oh, amazing, you've peaked, this is you, you're doing great. in your mind you're like, i haven't even got started yet. in your mind you're like, huh, this is all you expect of me? that's the biggest hurdle of an artist that's about bringing people together and uplifting people and being excellent. you've got to transcend so many misperceptions. >> there's a mini piano on the floor. what is that? >> it's a harmonica and keyboard put together. >> this is what you first learned? >> this is one of my earliest instruments. my dad brought it home from japan. i guess in japan they would learn this in schools as like part of the music education. it's really a toy that i've made into more. ♪ ♪ >> the only reason i'm laughing is because i read that your toucher at juliard just could not get a grip and basically sent you to the psychiatrist because you wouldn't put the instrument down. >> that's true. i'm laughing now, because the way things turn, the turn of events. now i'm on the board of juliard, so we're changing that. >> this is your first musical film, matthew. >> i think the way jon lives his life is so improvisational. you never know every day i was constantly surprised and obviously in his music that's inherent in the way he approaches music, but i had to match that themithemematical. we all share this idea that magic can exist behind every door. you just have to open it. it's a really fun way to live life and a great way to make a film. >> math thew, jon, thank you so much. welcome back. in our complicated world, clarity is more important than ever. that's why i'm taking some of your questions about the events today which shape tomorrow. let's find out what's on your mind this week. >> hi. can i ask you what scares you the most in this world? thank you. bye-bye. >> well, you know, i think what scares me the most, especially at this time, is the weaponization of words and what some people call post truth, that they feel they don't know what's true, what's false, what's opinion, what's made up. so especially in these times, i would urge everybody to really be careful where you look for what's going on and to seek credible legacy media that a has real integrity and real history. that's all we have time for. i'll have more of your questions and my answers next week. if you want to ask my a question scan the qr code on your screen or e-mail me at ask amanpour at cnn.com. i'm christiane amanpour in london. thank you for watching. "cnn newsroom" with fredericka witfield starts right now. ♪ ♪