xfdls PBS-NEWSHOUR-00
<Show: PBS NEWSHOUR>
<Date: July 30, 2012>
<Time: 18:00:00>
<Tran: 073000cb.112>
<Type: SHOW>
<Head: PBS NewsHour For July 30, 2012 – Part 2>
<Sect: News; International>
<Byline: John Ray, Margaret Warner, Steve Scott, Judy Woodruff, Ray Suarez,
Gwen Ifill, Jeffrey Brown, Kwame Holman>
<Guest: James Foley, Noah Pollak, Jeremy Ben-Ami, James Alan Fox, Dave
Cullen, Laura Sydell, Peter Banda>
<High: James Holmes now faces 142 criminal charges in the shooting rampage
inside a Colorado movie theater, including 24 counts of murder. Mitt
Romney woos the Jewish vote and angers Palestinians during a weekend trip
to Israel. As violence continues in the Syrian city of Aleppo, refugees
flee by the thousands. Jeffrey Brown profiles the man who helped launch
Brazil`s economic boom, former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
recently honored at the Library of Congress. Ray Suarez examines a legal
battle between two tech giants, Apple and Samsung, squaring off in federal
court over patent infringements.>
<Spec: Elections; Politics; Government; Mitt Romney; Republican Party;
Barack Obama; Israel; Iran; Colorado; Murder; Crime; Syria; Bashar al-
Assad; Violence; Brazil; Fernando Henrique Cardoso; Apple; Samsung;
Business>
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, given that, how do you — why do you believe it`s something he can stick to?
NOAH POLLAK: Because there`s a very easy way out of this, which is that Jerusalem — the capital of Israel is in Jerusalem. The Palestinian capital is not in Jerusalem.
And the various buildings and institutions that make up Israel`s capital like the Knesset, and the court, and the prime minister`s office, and the Foreign Ministry, are all in western Jerusalem, which was part of Israel even before 1967.
And it would be very easy actually I think for a new administration to make a policy change on that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: How do you respond?
(r)MDNM_JEREMY BEN-AMI: Well, I think it would be very easy to do that. And that would, of course, then blow up the possibility of the United States playing a useful leadership role in resolving the conflict as an intermediary and mediator between the sides, which is the role that we need.
In order to be pro-Israel, a president of the United States needs to help to facilitate a two-state solution of this conflict. Prejudging the outcome on one of the critical issues is not helpful.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Noah Pollak, what about the other statement that got a lot of attention, Governor Romney saying that the difference between the Israelis and the Palestinians — it was, the Israelis` economic success was due to their culture, and the Palestinians have taken great offense at that.
NOAH POLLAK: Romney actually understated the difference in the levels of success.
And Romney was right. When Yasser Arafat died a few years ago, it was discovered that he had hundreds of millions of dollars in money that he siphoned off. The Palestinian economy is largely based on Western aid. It has endemic corruption problems. And he was right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, why would that be a problem?
JEREMY BEN-AMI: Well, I think that it sort of turns a blind eye to the critical fact that the Palestinians are under Israeli occupation, which is a slight barrier to economic development. There`s no free movement of goods. There`s no free economy as long as you`re an occupied…
JUDY WOODRUFF: You`re being facetious. You mean it`s a serious barrier.
JEREMY BEN-AMI: It`s a very serious barrier. And I think to underestimate that and to put the difference down to culture is really showing a lack of sensitivity to the entire history of this conflict in this region.
NOAH POLLAK: It also happens to be true, though.
The reality is, is that after 1967, after Israel seized those territories, Gaza and the West Bank, there was actually an economic boom in those territories, because the Palestinian economy became more closely integrated with the Israeli economy.
And if you look at the actual numbers from the late `60s, `70s and `80s, there was double-digit GDP growth. And there was a dramatic improvement in all sorts of measures of Palestinian quality of life because they became closer to Israel in a number of these ways.
And so just as a simple matter of economics, it`s pretty difficult to refute the fact that the occupation, if you want to call it that, of the West Bank and Gaza has actually been good for the Palestinian economy.
JEREMY BEN-AMI: Well, I would challenge Noah to find one Palestinian, one anywhere in the world, whether on the West Bank and Gaza or anywhere, who would say that the occupation has been good for the Palestinian people or the Palestinian economy.
I don`t think they view it that way. I don`t think that the Arab world views it that way, the rest of the world or most objective human beings who would view it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Jeremy Ben-Ami, what about the comment that we heard from a voter, a Jewish voter in South Florida, who said she was disappointed that President Obama had not visited Israel during his presidency?
JEREMY BEN-AMI: Well, I think that, again, you have to look at the actual relationship between the United States and Israel under this president, rather than symbolic gestures like a visit.
Just today, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the security relationship between the United States and Israel is tighter and closer today than it`s ever been under any U.S. administration. And it`s really actions that speak louder than travel.
JUDY WOODRUFF: What about that comment?
NOAH POLLAK: I thought — I greatly sympathized with the sentiments she expressed — no relation, by the way, despite having similar last names.
The fact of the matter is that there`s a reason why Obama didn`t visit Israel. Obama traveled to the Middle East in his first term on several occasions. He did town hall meetings in Turkey. He accepted an award from the Saudis. He gave a big speech in Cairo. And he chose to skip Israel every time. And it was because he pursued a policy, as he told a group of Jewish leaders at the White House, of daylight between America and Israel as a way of trying to gain credibility with the Arabs.
And it`s a policy that — there was a front-page Story in The Washington Post two weeks ago all about what a failure this policy has been. And I think anyone looking at the objective facts of Obama`s inability to forge peace in the Middle East can see that his policy of being tough on Israel and snubbing Israel in this way has not been a success.
JUDY WOODRUFF: You want to respond?
JEREMY BEN-AMI: Well, I certainly wish that The president had visited Israel as well. And we have called on him to do that.
But we have to remember that most American presidents have not visited Israel, including, again, Ronald Reagan, George Bush until the end of his term. Presidents don`t all visit Israel. And there were many, many other priorities in his term. The bottom line is results, and the bottom line is the close relationship that this country has with the state of Israel and the security guarantees that it continues to provide.
JUDY WOODRUFF: How do you think this trip, Noah Pollak, will affect Governor Romney`s standing with Jewish voters in this country?
NOAH POLLAK: This is something that I think Republicans always chase after and I think it`s something they shouldn`t worry too much about.
I think Jewish voters, like all voters, make their voting decisions on the basis of a wide range of issues. I think probably Jewish voters pay more attention to Israel than others do. And probably there is a lot more complaints among Jewish voters about Obama`s record on this. And it could be influential in a state like Florida.
JUDY WOODRUFF: What do you think?
JEREMY BEN-AMI: Well, I`m glad to agree with Noah on a few things here.
I think Jews not a single-issue constituency and they don`t vote just based on Israel. And I think there has been a short of case after the Holy Grail, which is the wrong religion but the right metaphor, in trying to get change in the Jewish vote based on the Israel issue. Jews vote on the economy, education, environment. And they vote traditionally Democratic.
And they average 70 percent support for the Democratic president for – – candidate, and I believe they will hit that mark again this time.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And just quickly, the two of you, how determinative do you believe the Jewish vote will be in the outcome of this election? You mentioned Florida.
NOAH POLLAK: You could imagine a scenario in which Florida came down to a closeness like it did in 2000, in the year 2000, when, you know, it was decided by a few hundred or a few thousand votes, and that, you know, you could imagine after the election people parsing all the numbers and determining that Obama`s decline in support among the Jewish vote cost him Florida, which cost him the election.
But that`s probably not going to happen.
JEREMY BEN-AMI: The only problem — the only problem that the president has with the Jewish vote is that there aren`t more Jews.
When you get 70 percent of the vote in one particular constituency, the only thing you want is more of them.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, we hear you. and gentlemen, we thank you both for being here.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, Noah Pollak, thank you.
NOAH POLLAK: Thanks.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And on our Web site, we want you to know we will have more on the Jewish vote and Governor Romney`s international journey in tomorrow`s Morning Line.
GWEN IFILL: Now to Syria, with two reports from inside Aleppo, as the nation`s largest city endures its 10th day of fierce battle between government troops and rebels.
The fighting there has centered in the southwestern neighborhood of Salahuddin. The United Nations reports that 200,000 of the city`s 2.5 million residents have already fled.
We begin with John Ray of Independent Television News.
JOHN RAY: The battle for these streets could yet decide fate of all Syria. So, rebels fight hard to retain a foothold at the heart of the city, while state TV shows Assad`s soldiers hunting them down.
If this scene looks slightly staged, in the past few days, we have witnessed the awesome reality of the regime`s firepower. On the outskirts of Aleppo, we come under a barrage of shell and rocket attacks, a bombardment that last several hours.
At dawn, thick smoke fills the air. And terrified, the few remaining residents are packing up to leave, joining an exodus the U.N. says is 200,000 strong.
The streets around me here are now almost entirely deserted, except for a few Free Syrian Army fighters. That`s a suburb of 30,000 people that has emptied out as the fighting has intensified in the city below. And about a kilometer from here, dug in, a detachment of Syrian army tanks.
Today, a fierce firefight said to be at a checkpoint to the north of the city, rebels claim victory here, looting weapons and ammunition, celebrating on top of a captured tank. The regime cannot afford to lose Aleppo. It says it`s purging Syria`s second city of terrorists, so much disputed, only one certainty: more bloodshed and more names to carve on gravestones, though, in this town, we`re told, the stone mason has already run for his life.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And to a second report from Aleppo.
Margaret Warner spoke to James Foley from our partner GlobalPost. They talked via Skype earlier today.
MARGARET WARNER: James Foley, thanks for speaking with us.
So what`s the state of the conflict right now between the rebels, who came in about 10 days ago, and the government forces now mounting this assault?
JAMES FOLEY, GlobalPost: We hear a lot about the battle for Aleppo as being one of the critical battles.
And it seems like the Syrian army is trying to really demoralize the rebels by using Syrian fighter jets. We saw MiG fighter jets yesterday swooping down, firing missiles and rockets, followed by of course helicopters that they have used for a while now. So this is a terrifying tactic.
They have also made tank probes into places like Salahuddin. A lot of activists speculate that the real battle hasn`t started yet, they`re just testing the area. It would seem that, if Assad loses Aleppo, surely this is a huge blow for him, and he wouldn`t be able to tolerate that, Aleppo being the industrial capital.
MARGARET WARNER: Assad used to enjoy support from the business community in Aleppo. What can you tell about how the population feels now, where their sympathies lie?
JAMES FOLEY: We were here weeks before fighting broke out. And it was very interesting, because there`s wealthiest neighborhoods in Aleppo that look like Amman or Beirut untouched by fighting, untouched by protests, wealthier shops, and, of course, very nice homes.
And the question is, have these people gone, fled to Lebanon? Have they fled to Turkey? Or are they just staying in their houses for now to see what happens? There`s still power in these parts of the city. They`re not being shelled. And there are still army positions. The places that are shelled, as I said, are beginning to look like the worst war zones in Syria now.
MARGARET WARNER: Well, James Foley, thanks so much for doing this. And stay safe.
JAMES FOLEY: Thanks. I appreciate you guys.
GWEN IFILL: There was another high-level defection from the Syrian government today. The top diplomat in London said he would no longer represent the Assad regime.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Next: charting the rise of Brazil as a new and growing power on the global stage.
Jeffrey Brown profiles one of the men who helped build it.
JEFFREY BROWN: Yes, Brazil is still a soccer power. And, yes, it`s still famous for its music and Carnival.
But, today, Brazil is something much more. A nation of 200 million, it`s now the world`s sixth largest economy, an energy giant with a booming manufacturing sector and growing middle class, in short, an economic and democratic power very much on the rise, and decidedly not the nation Fernando Henrique Cardoso was born into.
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO, Former Brazilian President: When I was born in 1931, Brazil had only one paved route linking Rio with one of the province…
(CROSSTALK)
JEFFREY BROWN: One paved route?
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO: One, just one. Brazil was quite apart from the world. It was quite isolated from the core. As you said, we were considered at the periphery, the pure periphery of the world.
JEFFREY BROWN: Cardoso, now 81, would become one of the chief architects of Brazil`s rise, as both as a scholar — he was first a leading thinker on issues of race and development and has authored or co-written more than 30 books — and then as a political figure serving as the country`s finance minister and then as president for two terms from 1995 to 2002.
He oversaw the elimination of runaway inflation, opened up markets and instituted social programs that helped launch the country on its present path.
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO: Why should we condemned to be stagnant, underdeveloped country? I think this is not realistic. It will be possible to promote policies to implement a better economy and to move up the Brazilian economy and to become much more part of the global system.
JAMES BILLINGTON, Librarian of Congress: Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
JEFFREY BROWN: It was this rare combination of scholar and politician that the U.S. library of Congress cited recently in awarding Cardoso the prestigious Kluge Prize, which the Library likens to a Nobel for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
And, indeed Cardoso, says he started out as a young sociologist in the 1960s with ambitious goals.
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO: I would like to change the world, or if not the world, at least to improve the Brazilian situation.
JEFFREY BROWN: His early research helped explode myths on a subject as thorny in Brazil as it in the U.S.: race.
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO: The idea was officially that Brazil could be qualified as a racial democracy.
Well, it was a myth. We had racial prejudice. We never had, by law, segregation, but Brazil imported 10 times more slaves than America. So we have an enormous population of black people. But the idea of democracy, racial democracy, was simultaneously a myth and an aspiration. Brazil society, they would have a more democratic kind of relationship between blacks and whites.
And step by step, we are building up a more open society, a more flexible and more — also more democratic with respect to race relations.
JEFFREY BROWN: The other part of your scholarship that gained you so much was challenging this idea that Brazil would always be a dependent nation, it would always be on the outside.
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO: Yes.
JEFFREY BROWN: What did you see that made you want to challenge that idea?
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO: To me, it was clear that there is an enormous difference within the periphery.
And countries like Brazil or Argentina or Mexico, we`re already become industrialized. And they were establishing ties with global markets. You see, I had no idea. This was in the `60s. I had no idea of what was really occurring, the globalization process. We have no words.
JEFFREY BROWN: So the issue is how does a country like Brazil find its way in this globalizing market?
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO: Yes. That`s right. That`s right.
That was the main question, how to keep going democracy, more freedom, capacity of people to organize and also to respect contracts, to increase investment, to have good governance.
JEFFREY BROWN: Brazil`s lack of democracy, in fact, led to the turning point in Cardoso`s life. Military dictatorships forced him first into exile and then returning to Brazil to lose his academic position.
By the 1970s, he had grown more politically active, eventually becoming what he likes to term an accidental president. Cardoso left the presidency in 2002, prevented by law from seeking a third term. Victory by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva marked an important moment for Brazilian democracy, the first time in more than 40 years that one elected civilian president passed power to another.
Lula, though leading a rival and more leftist party, kept many of Cardoso`s policies and reforms in place, as has his successor, the current president, Dilma Rousseff. Today, Cardoso sees continuing challenges and problems for his country, but also much progress.
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO: If I look back when I remember I was a child in Rio, on Copacabana Beach, with (INAUDIBLE) in Rio, but also a very backward country.
And now I can see a much more dynamic society in Brazil. And now we have democracy. Now we have people asking for more. Now we have protests. Now we have the free press. Now we have universities. Now we have contacts across the globe. My God, it was an enormous progress.
JEFFREY BROWN: Fernando Henrique Cardoso, thank you for talking to us.
FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO: Well, thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And another symbol of Brazil`s progress, it is scheduled to host the soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016.
GWEN IFILL: Finally tonight: A pair of major tech companies square off in federal court over the big stakes surrounding small devices.
Ray Suarez has the story.
RAY SUAREZ: The trial that began today in California is ostensibly about patents related to software. But Apple and Samsung are locked in a much bigger showdown over dominance in a $200 billion-plus market.
Apple claims Samsung has illegally copied an operating system it says it pioneered in iPhones and iPads. It`s seeking $2.5 billion in damages. Samsung counters that, if anything, Apple has copied key parts of the iPhone from mobile phones of the past. Also implicated in the fight is another tech giant. Apple is upset over the Google Android phone operating system used by Samsung and other manufacturers.
Before he died last year, Apple founder Steve Jobs told his biographer: “I will spend every penny of Apple`s $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong. I`m going to destroy Android. I`m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
Laura Sydell is covering this story for NPR, and joins me now.
And what is it exactly that Apple says Samsung did, Laura? A copy? A theft? A lift? What do they say happened?
LAURA SYDELL, NPR: Well, it comes down to a few patents, actually.
So, for example, if you look at the shape of the iPhone, which we`re all familiar with now, you have that nice glass face. And you have this rectangular shape with rounded corners. Apple says they patented that design and that, if you look at Samsung phones before the iPhone came out in 2007, they had keyboards. They had sharp square edges and that, as soon as the iPhone came out, they changed the design, and so they were copying Apple.
Now, Samsung is countering that, in fact, they did make phones like that. They just weren`t as popular. And so while Apple can show you patents that it has for these sorts of things, the Patent Office actually isn`t always right. Sometimes, they grant patents that they shouldn`t have granted.
And I think you`re going to see Samsung making that case in court over the next month.
RAY SUAREZ: Each company is demanding billions of dollars from the other. Where does that rank in patent cases, in spats between companies over products?
LAURA SYDELL: Apple wants over $2.5 billion in damages. They say that Samsung has stolen sales from them. That is — that would be the largest patent verdict in history if they actually got it.
So in terms of patent cases, this one is huge. And the other thing you have to realize is, this is the first jury trial on this. But this battle has gone all over the world. I read I think it`s up to 50 countries that this has gone into, where you have Samsung and Apple going at each other over this.
And there have been some successes for Apple. The E.U. banned the Galaxy Tab (r)MD-BO_7.7 in all of Europe. Though, in this instance, it`s actually an older tablet computer, so it`s not going to matter so much. But this is really quite an epic battle between these giants.
RAY SUAREZ: Jury selection was today. Opening arguments are tomorrow, but they have already been in court a while. Hasn`t Apple already won some interesting concessions from the judge in this case?
LAURA SYDELL: Well, actually, the judge issued an injunction against two Samsung devices, a tablet and the Galaxy Nexus phone.
The Galaxy Nexus phone, which is actually for sale directly from Google — and I think you mentioned this, that in some ways this is a war against Google, because this is Google`s Android operating system in these phones.
So the judge issued an injunction on that phone, but then it was stayed by a higher court. So for the moment, you can still buy that phone. And, again, this isn`t the first time there has been an injunction against some Samsung products.
But on the other hand, Samsung is throwing some patents back at Apple. That`s what happens with some of these big giants. You have these huge companies. They each have basically satchels filled with thousands of patents. So, Samsung has some essential patents that are important to all phones.
Apple is saying, you have to license them to us, which is true. They do. And you have to license them to us at a fair price. And they`re saying Samsung is asking too much. So, you`re seeing them throw these patents back and forth at each other.
RAY SUAREZ: Help me understand this animus towards Google a little bit.
When the late Steve Jobs talked about thermonuclear war, every device needs an operating system. Why is Steve Jobs so angry about Android in a Samsung product?
LAURA SYDELL: Well, he says that Android, the way Android works copied all kinds of things from Apple`s operating system.
So, for example, if you look at an Apple phone and you scroll through your contacts, you will notice when you get to the very end, say, A., it bounces back, right? And there is this little bounce.
And that same kind of bounce was put into the Android operating system, although now, in a concession to Apple, they have taken it out of the Samsung phone. So that`s the kind of thing they`re fighting over, these little things that I guess to Apple — Apple feels like these are the kinds of things that make their products really elegant.
And, indeed, Apple makes really elegant products. But just because Apple put things together beautifully doesn`t necessarily mean they`re entitled to protection from the patent system. Many of these things may have already been out there. People may have been doing them. They just didn`t do them as well as Apple.
RAY SUAREZ: Well, the judge in this case is a former patent attorney herself. But the 12 jurors aren`t. Isn`t this going to be a fairly demanding technical argument for a lay jury?
LAURA SYDELL: It is. And I should say there will be 10 jurors in this case, not 12.
RAY SUAREZ: Ah.
LAURA SYDELL: It will.
But, remember, this is taking place in Silicon Valley. And actually, today, in selecting a jury, the trouble they were having is how many of the jurors in one way or another had professional connections to one of these companies. I mean, you`re talking about Silicon Valley. Everybody works for the tech world. It`s a one-company town.
So I think actually you`re likely to get a jury that really understands it. There`s also, I think, if you find — in Silicon Valley, it is my experience there is some animus towards the patent system.
So I think there are some people who may not be so sympathetic to Apple in this case. Again, you`re talking about often very incremental patents. And there`s a general feeling among many people — in fact, recently Judge Richard Posner, a very famous jurist, threw out a case between Apple and Motorola, saying that he thought the whole patent system had just become ridiculous.
So it`s possible you`re going to have people in the jury pool who will lean that way. There are other people who are going to love Apple and realize that Apple changed, undeniably, the smartphone market and that they should be entitled to some reward for changing the smartphone market.
Apple created the iPad. And there had been tablet computers before that, but there`s no doubt that the iPad opened that market up in a new way. And shortly thereafter, Samsung came out with tablets that looked a lot more like iPads.
RAY SUAREZ: NPR`s Laura Sydell, thanks for joining us.
LAURA SYDELL: You`re welcome.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Again, the major developments of the day.
James Holmes was formally charged in the mass killing at a Colorado movie theater, including 24 counts of murder. And the Syrian military escalated its assault on rebels in Aleppo, as U.N. officials reported 200,000 people have fled the city.
Online, some tips for navigating the Social Security system.
Kwame Holman tells us more.
KWAME HOLMAN: For those befuddled by the rules or wondering when to draw their benefits, economist Laurence Kotlikoff offers nearly three dozen Social Security secrets he thinks everyone should know. That`s on our Making Sense page.
Plus, on Art Beat, Jeff talks to the director of the new documentary “The Queen of Versailles.” It follows a very wealthy couple as they build the largest house in America just as the financial crisis hits.
That and more is on our Web site, NewsHour.PBS.org.
GWEN IFILL: And again we turn to our honor roll of American service personnel killed in the Afghanistan conflict. We add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. Here, in silence, are eight more.
And that`s the “NewsHour” for tonight.
On Tuesday, we will look at the nation`s largest immigrant group, Asian-Americans, and the political clout they may wield in one key state.
I`m Gwen Ifill.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And I`m Judy Woodruff.