so in the middle east, what's going to happen here? what are our predictions at the investigative project in terrorism for 2016, 2017, 2018? number of fatalities and attacks is going to go up because we don't have effective strategies. the second thing that we predict is that in the middle east, you know, with what's going on with syria, iraq, yemen, watch out what's going to happen with turkey. watch out what's going to happen with jordan. watch out what's going to happen with saudi. watch out what's going to happen in egypt. and watch out what's going to happen in israel. it is -- it's a rat's nest right now. and we don't have effective strategies to confront it and contain it. so it's going to grow and get more dangerous in the middle east. the second thing is, take a look at africa. nine of the countries now, there's, you know, back in 2000, one of the couldn't -- it was one or two countries dispersed widely. now there's 18 countries where terrorist activity is consen tritted. 18 countries in africa. that number is going to grow be

but, no, we are talking about the only democracy in the middle east, and the only democracy in the middle east has the right to do whatever it wants. and then to end up this virtual tour of those congressmen who would never come to listen to me, and will never let me take them around, i would end this tour like the israeli propaganda machinery would start it, in the holocaust memorial museum. i would have taken them because it all started there. because israel would have never been established without the holocaust, and it should be remembered, absolutely, but then i would ask my guests, who will never come, what this lesson of it? never again does israeli mean it, which means never again in any prize to jewish people, which give this jewish people the trying to do whatever they want after the holocaust, as the laid golda meier once phrased it, anything? or should the lessen be never again to any other people? [applause] i believe that most of the american legislators, at least big part of them, know the trouble. the know what is being done in their money. they know that the idea of which

of middle-class is steadily falling behind. i appreciate what this gentleman is saying that you have as your guest today but i think we can get our country back to where we want it to be and what it needs to be if we elect someone like hillary clinton for president. >> host: paul taylor? >> guest: it's not going to make any partisan comment. i did watch the debate last night and the '90s came up several times and hillary clinton i think was on the defensive on each of mass incarceration, perhaps on welfare reform, entrÉe packs and the rest. bernie sanders i think was very effective in raising those issues to a democratic audience. i think hillary was effective same look i really want to talk about the future but if you want to talk about the 1990s we did create 23 million jobs and thene middle-class in the '90s was still expanding. and i think the economic record supports the. the middle-class has been shrinking since about the year 2000.n the whole issue of income and wealth inequality was a global phenomena voters were in th

let me also acknowledge director of our middle east program at theanre barkey, director of our middle east program at the wilson center. the program continues to be a key forum in washington for serious discussion of middle east issues. we are also pleased and honored to be joined by the israel outstanding ambassador to the united states, who is here with us today. thank you, ron. and i would like to welcome and recognize major general aish who is here today accompanying the minister. sandra gerber, our former vice chairman of the wilson center board of trustees and member of our cabinet. never has the middle east region been as unstable and challenging as it is today. syria is in chaos. iran continues to assert its power in the region. the israeli-palestinian conflict continues with no end in sight. isis continues to expand beyond its border. and russia is now a new factor in the equation. we asked how does israel, a small yet powerful country that sits in the middle of this region, prioritize these challenges and more importantly, what is israel's current strategy for dealing with t

israel is the only democracy in the middle east with a slant dependable friends. the friends of israel are not fair weather it is a strategic hinge in the interest are tightly intertwined despite disagreements from time to time. we share these common interest in the middle east the unrelenting opposition to develop nuclear weapons. march 2015 when the prime minister spoke out i flew to washington insisted on the floor the first triad visited since we were in recession in 15 years and i did it to show my personal respect to the people of israel. [applause] and with the u.s. participation it reaction to the race to the ballistic missile test. [cheers and applause] these are both a violation the spirit of the nuclear deal in the publication that can no longer be ignored. israel must be exterminated in iowa is silly gather the world to reapply the sanctions if iran violates one thought of that deal limas put the sanctions back on to them as a world community together. [applause] let me also tell you no amount of money that was ever made a standing in the way of the se

they were actually attacking moore the middle -- more the middle -- we call them rebels -- the moderate opposition worthy target primarily in august 2013 -- were the target primarily in august 2013. fighting asarted you will see in 2014. they break their ties with isis. on august 14, the extremists the isis rebels out. out.sh the rebels hundreds die in a chemical attack. the discussion is happening around this point, we're not sure if the u.s. is going to come in. the u.s. is getting ready for a strike and we begin a push towards military action. august 29, the u.k. parliament rejects intervention. august 21, obama slows the timeline for syrian intervention, taking it over to congress, saying approval from congress will be needed. we never go in. from january 14 two july 14, geneva two is attempted. it fails. fighting is happening between isis and the other groups. al qaeda breaks off links with isis. mosul falls city of in iraq. this shows the interest. until 2014, obama authorizes a in syria. it turns into more of a retaliation against isis than the syrian regime. this is the first ti

i've seen them in the middle of the night. when a group comes in, look at their identification stuff and start trading. and pass them around and they ask, here's mine. really? you guys are passing all this stuff around. and i'm still -- i still get messages from our border patrolmen, all hours of the day and night, and what they're telling me now is that the drug cartels are very smart. they send a group across, and they know when two or three groups come across, that's going to take up all the resources, because the obama administration has lessened the number of border patrol that are actually out there standing at our borders. so when a group comes across, they have to move in, especially if they throw in some kids, and of course all our hearts break when you see a poor little kid that's been drug across mexico from central america, other places. so we got compassion. but wouldn't it be more compassionate to say, you're not coming across mexico. you're not dragging your daughter that may end up as a slave to sex cartels. we

the middle east, concentrated in the middle east and africa, nine countries in africa. that number is going to grow. because again they've got a base where they can train, prepare and attack other places. you're going to see africa get to be a bigger hot spot. if you've got the middle east and libya and northern africa. through turkey, last year diane and i were in budapest. we got on a train saturday morning and typical russian efficiency. you got in one line to go into another line to get into a line to buy your ticket. we took the train from budapest to prague. we got to prague the next morning and turned on tv. the station that we were in the day before was not surrounded by 5,000 to 10,000 refugees and migrants. you've got this getway. now you have these fighters going into europe. you've got the gateway from libya. why? because it's not that far. across the mediterranean. and you can get to the soft underbelly of europe. europe is at risk. i think that the security services in europe are going to be absolutely stressed with the new folks coming in with the folks t

and why was that time to could inside with john kerry in the middle east with $47 million in the middle east that would end up with hamas terrorists? when i asked that question, the state department was being asked, is this an economic boycott of israel. the state department said that is ridiculous and we refuse to answer. so i responded fine, i will place on hold every nominee to the state department. [applause] senator cruz: shortly thereafter, michael bloomberg demonstrated saying it was safe o fly to israel. and as a result of mayor bloomberg's efforts and my efforts and the heat and light and attention became too much on this administration and within 36 hours, the administration lifted its ban on civilian air flights to israel. [applause] senator cruz: looking forward, as president, i will lead very, very differently from the current administration. [cheers and applause] senator cruz: imagine just a few years ago if i had come to an aipac conference and suggested that the prime minister of israel was going to come to america and address a joint session of congress and would be boy

the middle east, concentrated in the middle east and africa, nine countries in africa. that number is going to grow because again they have a base where they can train, prepare and attack other places into africa. so you're going to see africa get to be a bigger hotspot. but what do you have if you have the middle east and if you've got libya and northern africa? you have entrÉe into europe. through turkey. last year diane and i were in budapest. we got on a train saturday morning. that's typical russian efficiency. you got in one line to go into another line to get into a line to buy your ticket, okay? big train station. there were 10 of us of there. we took the train from budapest to prague. we got to prague. the next morning we turn on tv. the station that we were in the day before was now surrounded by five to 10,000 refugees and migrants. germany has let in over 8 million. so you've got this gateway now of people refugees, fight and all these folks going into europe. you've got the gateway from libya. why? because it's not that far across the mediterranean, and yo

ais crisis is creating situation in the middle east. it is turning into a conflict across the whole region. russia is exploiting and strengthening its role in the mediterranean. whenever we need to do something, it is our european allies who come with us. we're seeing them put up orders in set the eu for the first time. chances of a british exit vote are going up. merkel, that is going down. it is really cracking right now. host: what is your prescription for dealing with this? kurt: dealing with isis in syria and iraq. i don't think the strategy of airstrikes and minimal support to opposition groups is sufficient. i think we have to have a robust u.s. military commitment to the crisis itself. to try to negotiate this. the russians are in their supporting president assad, that is just going to make the crisis bigger because they are the ones fighting these refugees out. putin sayse vladimir something, we don't have to believe it. russia fully intends to keep aces in syria. air bases and ground basis. what we're talking about is the amou

mom was a middle school teacher. dad owned a store. mohammed grew up, studied biochemistry at queens college. got trained as a paramedic and became a cadet with the nypd. he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew he wanted to help people. he was just 23 when terrorists flew planes into the world trade center. when he heard the news, he didn't hesitate. he grabbed his medical bag and headed straight to the site. like so many others, he died trying to save total strangers. body was buried deep under the rubble, neither his family nor the police department new what had happened to them. for months he was considered missing. some wondered at this young man with a muslim name and a background in science could have had anything to do with the attacks. he wasn't a terrorist. he was a hero. new york gave him a hero's funeral with full police honors. because, as his mother said -- [applause] as his mother said, this cadet and paramedic ran toward the burning towers as everyone else was running away. mohammed was an immigran

does not understand the middle class. she does not have any issues that she really believes in other than taking care of children. position based on the polls where as bernie been for thelways people, for the average person. he understands the problems very clearly and i think he explains what he wants to do very clearly. >> another call from california. supporting? i am supporting bernie sanders also. >> tell us why. all, i also of agree with the last caller. i am a teacher. i was very alarmed by her call for an education swat team. that sounds like a no child left behind nightmare. policies,beyond their i don't really understand what is going on with this administration of hillary having more experience. bernie sanders has had 25 years better than any other candidate on how to pass gridlock. that has drawn me towards bernie . he of all candidates will be able to make his proposals happen, at least to be more of a reality. >> what grade you teach? i teach esl to adults. group but i did go to public school during no child

the middle class is strong and america is strong. [cheers and applause] >> and don't forget the supreme court appointments will help determine what happens to so many issues and we cannot let america have a republican congress, a republican president, and a republican supreme court. [shouting] >> knocking down barriers means making sure all of our kids get the education they need to succeed in the 21st century economy. i believe our schools deserve more tlc, teaching, learning and community. [cheers and applause] >> and i've layed out a plan so all kids could benefit from a good teacher in a good school no matter what zip code they happen to live in. [cheers and applause] >> knocking down barriers means finally guarantying paid-family leave and equal pay. [cheers and applause] >> it was a sad day for ohio when john kasich defunded planned parenthood here. and make no mistake, if a republican win it is white house we will see that happen nationwide. i've spent my career fight to go even the odds for people who have had those odds stac

middle east respiratory syndrome , a new virus that came out of the middle east. new kinds of avian pathogens coming out of the middle east and the whole range of mosquito borne pathogens, dengue, chikungunya, and zika of course. so the question i wanted to ask is how do microbes turn into pandemic-causing pathogens. you think of an microbe is a little thing with no locomotion, but it can cause these huge amounts of death and destruction. the way that i wanted to look at that was a two-pronged approach. first i looked at the history of one of our most successful pandemic-causing pathogens. that is cholera. it has caused seven global pandemics since it first emerged. the latest one is still going on off the coast of florida and haiti. i couple that with reporting from places where new pathogens were coming up. i went to places like new china and -- south china and new delhi to try to see how cholera could shed light on where these new pathogens might be going. what i learned is that cholera emerged in many ways in the same way a lot of the new pathogens are coming

now it is wall street's turn to help the middle class. [applause] this campaign is listening to women. what women are saying is how does it happen that they sit in an office or factory and they and up making $.79 on the dollar compared to the guy in the other room? [applause] man in thisevery room will stand with women in the fight for pay equity for women workers. [applause] this campaign is listening to our brothers and sisters in the african-american community. what they are telling us is that we have a row can criminal justice system. [applause] which ends up having more people in jail then any other country on earth. shamefully, absurdly, we are spending $80 billion per year to lock up 2.2 million americans disproportionately african americans, latino, and native americans. that ishe reasons for that youth unemployment in this country is outrageously high. are high whites, 33% school graduates, latinos 36%, african-americans, 51%. you want to hear a radical idea? here's the radical idea. we will invest in education and jobs for our y

on in the going middle east, and he was doing what right or wrong. i will make two sobering observations. one is that our efforts to hit hard at i.s. and come to a settlement in syria, to take the pressure off the refugee issue from the other end have forced us, the u.s., but also europe, into bed with problematic partners, saudi arabia, turkey, and russia. we are making copper mice is with unpleasant people. that undermines our legitimacy. let there be no mistake. one of the reasons we are dealing with an increased return of so-called foreign fighters returning to europe is precisely the fact that the coalition has been successful in denying i.s. attempt to establish itself as a territorial state. so, what does this mean for relations between u.s. and europe? my final question. i read down a lot of points that i will spare you. i am aware of the passage of time. i will try to be short and sustained. ct.succint for any of you who read the piece in politico you are aware the u.s. has a -- less of a islamic problem in europe. for the sun will that amer

we will be firm and stand with our european allies and friends in the middle east. vic: any rebuttal? next question from andy to mr. van hollen. debate ofrecent whether apple should be forced to help the fbi a mock a iphone use a killer in san bernardino has reignited the debate between privacy and security. you think our laws set an appropriate balance? do you think they should be adjusted? rep. van hollen: you are right. we need to strike that balance in that debate, i come down on the side of protecting privacy in the broader debate. in respect to the situation with apple, the question is whether or not we can't find a way to simply go into that particular thece without compromising other apple devices around the world. i am looking for opportunities to, number one, get the information off that phone, if possible, without compromising others, but it is very important that we not have a system that essentially allows other actors around the world to break into all of our devices and all of our phones. this is important debate. so far, the courts have come down in

gentleman in the middle? please identify yourself. >> my name is jeremy pearson, former congressional fellow. question for everyone. there are many pathways to getting -- to making a nuclear bomb. another threat that has not received much attention is a dirty bomb. toquestion is with regard your comments with recycling and reprocessing. i understand, when you take high burnouts you, the isotopic ratios may not be as amenable to making an effective bomb. is that something we really should be concerned about? maybe thoughts on where we should be putting our attention? >> thank you for the question. it's almost conventional wisdom that -- it goes like this. there are two types of design for a simple weapon. the weapon that was used on sharokina, and an implosion that was used on nagasaki. -- hiroshima, and an implosion that was used on nagasaki. the first type is much easier to devise than the second type, the implosion type. the first proposition that comes from this conventional wisdom is that terrorists can o

the middle class of this country bailed out the crooks on wall street. now it is wall street's time to help the middle class of this country. all right. this campaign -- this campaign is listening -- heh. [cheers and applause] this campaign is listening to our brothers and sisters in the latino community. and what the latino community is telling me is that they are tired of 11 million people -- 11 million people in this country who are undocumented who are living in the shadows who are living in fear who are living with a great deal of exploitation. and what the latino community is telling me that now is the time for comprehensive immigration reform. and a path toward citizenship. now, in a democracy -- in a democracy, people can agree or disagree with immigration reform or anything else. but what people cannot do, what donald trump cannot do is engage in bigotry, engage in vicious insults against our mexican neighbors. that is not acceptable. and we will not tolerate it. and -- and if congress does not do its job i will use the executive office and the

ally in the middle east. this is 25 minutes. ♪ sen. cruz: god bless aipac. i am thrilled to be here with you today, and let me say at the outset, perhaps to the surprise of the previous speaker, palestine has not existed since 1948. [cheers and applause] sen. cruz: on wednesday night at cross the country at senate -- on wednesday night at synagogues across the world, jewish people will read the mcgill and. which tells the story of the miraculous rescue of the jewish people from the hands of a wicked persian king. when the evil-doer haman plots to kill the jews, tds grabs him as a nation that is scattered and spread out. the tell what it teaches that the jewish people at the time were divided amongst themselves. the lesson is when the forces of good are divided, evil can prevail. but, when we come together in unity, together, we can defeat tyrants. [applause] sen. cruz: today we are reliving history. facing a similar time of challenge for america and for israel. but today, i give you a word of hope. in the next few months, we will bring this country together.

. >> we make the middle east and intelligible. >> the photographer captured these images of the boys running for their lives in the neck of a target's? finigan only target the definite military targets. >> it is very carefully chosen to multiple layers. >> that they used for shelter and it was used by fire. >> at least 15 were killed including two children still neck there is no conflict between israel and palestine that is a single unitary state in the conquest carried out by the jewish state to have part of that 70 years of to consolidate the ethnic purity of the jewish state. >> more and more having difficulty dealing with half turning itself into the apartheid state. citizens is accepted by most politicians. >> democrats and republicans for your support year after year and decade after decade. >>. >> donald trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown. and tell the country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. >> ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] >> here is a question for you, how did we get that movie into the tv and -- tv networks? >> we have been turned do

so they have opportunities to become middle-class citizens. [applause] >> what can we do to make sure communities are investing in the future in this way, and that leads to the larger question, of how did we get to a situation where some of spending those were the elderly, and wires are not more for young people? politicalthe policy -- issues that need to be overcome? >> it started with very good intentions. i showed the chart in the mid-60's when medicaid and we spentwent on, nothing and those are great programs. social security is a great program, but if you want to get into the raw politics of it, there is an organization called the aarp which represents the elderly. when ied getting notices was 50. literally, every month. i can't wait until i am 65 to collect. strongn unbelievably lobby. to be frank, the elderly vote. children can't vote, but more importantly, the young don't vote. , the youngr reason have not focused on this issue, but the elderly are focused on it because it is directly affecting their pocketbook. druckenmiller: the youn

this deal is catastrophic for america, israel, and all of the middle east. [applause] the problem here is a fundamental. we have rewarded the leading state sponsor of terror with $150 billion and we have received absolutely nothing in return. [applause] i have studied this issue in great detail, a greater by far than anyone else. believe me. believe me. it is a bad deal. the biggest concern is not necessarily that iran will file a because as you know, , said it has the problem bigger by simply running out the clock for of course, they will keep the billions and billions of dollars that could deal does not even require iran into dissonant tone dash dismantle their nuclear capabilities. yes it places limits on the program for a certain number of years but with those restrictions expire they will have the industrial size nuclear capability ready to go no matter how bad their behavior is it is a terrible situation especially israel. it to focus on three things we will stand up to the aggressive perch -- pushed to dominate the region. ism i ran as a very big prob

so, that is why i am going to fight for a middle-class tax cut. i will stand up for fair overtime pay, a minimum wage increase. i will work to make sure women receive equal pay for equal work -- [applause] ted strickland: and that women can exercise control over their own bodies. [cheers and applause] ted strickland: and i will fight to expand pell grants and to make higher education affordable. [cheers and applause] and i will fight to reform the criminal justice system and be ever aware that throughout ohio and america, black lives do matter. [cheers and applause] ted strickland: and that is why i will protect the rights of workers to form a union and bargain for higher wages. [cheers and applause] but let me tell you what i will not do. i will never shirk my constitutional duties and insult the president of the united states by refusing to even consider a new supreme court justice when a vacancy occurs. [cheers and applause] but senatornd: portman, senator portman is putting the interests of the washington powerbrokers and his own political par

and then once we have this -- what we've called the second middle passage, which was this point after the foreign slave trade has ended and when slaves are being shipped from the seaboard south into the there are toward the mississippi valley, mississippi, louisiana, once you have that second middle passage slaves are being taken precisely from places like north carolina and moved to the west, and for the most part, i mean, not exclusively but i would say there's really a premium placed on moving young men for that second middle passage. and so it meant that in the seaboard south in places like north carolina there was a kind of predominance of women, children, and the elderly in the slave community. the other thing i would say about slavery in north carolina at this point is that even though there were not large plantations there were ways in which north carolina slaveholders were trying to make the system of slavery pay good dividends for them even though in a sense the kind of whole system of slavery was moving westward. in north carolina they were trying new tactics, letting slave

people in the middle, working people, poor people, everybody's other incomes go up. why did it stop? republicanhad a president. that is the easiest explanation. someone who took his eyes off of the financial markets and the mortgage markets and you know it what happened. we elected another new, young, dynamic president, barack obama. [cheers and applause] hillary clinton: and when he was elected we were losing 800,000 jobs each month. 9 million americans lost their jobs. 5 million homes were lost. and people say, why are some americans so angry? well, one of the nation is people really got knocked down so hard. and they don't think anyone was looking out for them, that anybody even care for them. the president elect obama shortly after the election. he said, it is so much worse than they told us. and it was. thei don't think he gets credit he deserves for making sure we don't fall into a great depression. [cheers and applause] hillary clinton: so i have been laying out what i would do to bring more jobs into increased incomes. i know we can do it. there are a lot of

africa command retired general william cape was joined by diplomats from the middle east earlier today. they had a discussion on combating terrorism and the also talked about strategies and lessons learned for fighting threats from groups such as isis, al qaeda and boko haram and the role of the international community hosted by potomac institute university center for terrorism studies at washington this is about two hours. >> ladies and gentlemen, i am michael swetnam for the policy studies and it is my honor and privilege to welcome you today to the seminar on terrorism in the middle east and africa. i'm sure many of you were most of you are aware of the international center for terrorism studies headed by the professor's pe levin alexander that for many decades has been looking into aspects of terrorism, its cause and how we can deal with it. for the last almost 20 years, the center has been at the potomac institute and its it's been our great privilege to host the seminars the international senator has produced at least one academic volume if not three or four per year. several rep

the ability in the middle east -- you can't stabilize the middle east. it was ridiculous in the past. it is ridiculous today. what is the linkage between the uprising in tunisia and israeli-palestine conflict? a counterrevolution in egypt. what is the connection between the ongoing civil war, almost half a million casualties, countless. this is because of israel, this is because of the israeli-palestinian conflict. the sectarian violence. so this is, that is a conflict between us and the palestinians. and the army misconceptions. first of all what was the cause of the problem, whether it is occupation since 67 or the reluctance to recognize our right to exist as a nation state of the jewish people. in any boundaries. and the second is the right analogous. [inaudible] rejected in the last seven years to sit at the table with us. otherwise talking about settlements and borders. why? not to give anything. let's talk about everything. and when he closed the door in front of both secretary of state february 2014 and president obama, 2014, he wasn't blamed. wh

we have destabilize the middle east. then you have obama and he made it worse. instead of slowly getting out when, you shouldn't have gone now with everybody. date, we arences a going to be leaving by such and such eight. the other side is saying, i can't believe he gave us a date. it must be some kind of a wiseguy move. they all just pulled back. do you remember about three months ago, we said we are sending 50 soldiers. why can't we be unpredictable in war? it's like these dishonest people back there, asking what do you want to do about isis? crapted to knock the out of the oil -- but i didn't want to say it. i want to surprise the enemy. unpredictability. general douglas macarthur, i had great respect for him. you know what they are doing right now? they are spinning in their graves as we announce every single move. we announced we are sending 50 soldiers. these are very elite talented people. they now have a target on their back because the announcement. why don't you send them in and let them mouth shut? do their jobs. let me go over a couple of things, joh

it has a government, middle-of-the-road. it has got a president, klaus johannis, who is an ethnic saxon german. the elected an incredibly repressed minority under the area of nicolae ceau?escu. even know he was underfunded and considered a dark horse, they elected him because of his message. and his message was, even closer relations with the west and moving forward to developing a government institution that is clean and transparent. brian: romania's relationship with nato? robert: their relationship is unambiguous. romania wants nato to be as strong as possible. they have been a member since 2000. there are two things here. one of the understated reasons we have never said openly why he was elected was because they had another experience with another german who ruled romania from 1866-1914. he built the modern romanian state. he built the institutions. he started them from scratch and romanians associate his role with a strong rule that built a modern apparatus and there was this vague hope that here we have another ethnic

we are in the middle of a heated presidential campaign. the concept of free trade is under attack from both parties right now, from donald trump on the right and bernie sanders on the left. there's a sense of a new kind of nationalism or a moment of economic nationalism here in the states. what does the new progressivism look like on canada's side? do you think there is also more of a political tide running against free trade as a principal, or is it just pragmatic? more i think we will hear about that this week. there was white house call this morning, and the suggestion was very much that this is obama's top priority. i think he will say -- he will push for trudeau to say something quite positive on it. the problem in canada is that on the left, they are opposed to free trade. have traditionally been the party of the middle and supported free trade agreements like nafta. i suspect they will support this again. there is a growing feeling that on pharmaceutical costs and even some of the automakers -- i think ford is against it -- that thi

it was the middle of the day here that was our assessment yesterday afternoon. that we did not think we were going to make the legislative mandate deadline of today. we wanted to be open, frank, and honest. we came out and talked about it. in the afternoon and into the evening hours, the staff kept working on this, the secretary kept working on this. we were able to get to a point where the secretary was comfortable making the announcement he made today. and happily we were able to meet the deadline. it was just an honest effort to and thee open with you american people about where we felt we were yesterday afternoon. direction withy members of congress? were they insisting on meeting the deadline? >> the pressure to work into the night was self-imposed. the secretary takes these deadlines seriously, obviously. been a former senator himself, and he wanted to do everything we could to make it on time. we did. on by not being spurred last-minute calls from members of congress. i did not need to be reminded that it was a real deadline and that we had an obligation

and how we do it is to go to working families and middle-class people. what has happened over the last 10 months has been absolutely amazing and mind blowing. we now have received 5 million individual campaign contributions. [applause] that is more individual campaign contributions than any candidate in the history of the united states of america. [applause] anybody here know what the average campaign contribution is? i love that. i love that. $27. to quote abraham lincoln at gettysburg, this is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. [applause] now, there is another issue that separates secretary clinton from myself. that is all of you are aware that in america today, our middle class is shrinking. almost all new income and wealth go to the top 1%. you are aware that many of the new jobs being created pay wages that are just too low. there are a lot of factors for that but one of the major reasons is that, for the last 30 years, we have had a series of disastrous trade policies written by corporate america. these trade policies whet

so, he sows instability in the middle east and in europe. then you have iran, governed by the ayatollah. he is not a king, he is a religious figure that believes his calling is to trigger an a apocalypse. that is what he believes his role in the world is. here's the problem. we just gave him $150 billion so he could buy or build a nuclear weapon monday. radical jihadists are spreading across the world. they are apocalyptic too. they are a sunni movement, but they are spreading everywhere. what has this president done in the face of all of this? he is getting our military -- he is gutting our military. i would have no problem with him golfing if he rebuilds our military. that is a strong word -- gutting our military. we will then have the smallest army since the end of world war ii. we will soon have the smallest navy we have had in 100 years. we will soon have the smallest airports we have ever had, ever. the smallest air force we have ever had. the average age of an air force plane is 27 years old, which means the people flying the planes a

in the middle term future -- i should say. five years. if a news story or a book makes you a bit less surprised about development in a given country 5-10 years out that is the best a journalist can do. brian: you told us to had been to 75 countries. how many more since then? robert: i have stopped counting, i have stopped counting but i never really covered latin america much. never really covered many of the pacific islands much. there are places i have never been. i have never been to st. petersburg. there are other places. there are holes. what you travel alone? brian: robert: you want to be face-to-face with the landscape you do not want your ideas and reactions condition by somebody with you. because once somebody is with you you will enter into a relationship with them and that will act as a block to the landscape your do you do not want to have your ideas and opinions conditioned by others however, you cannot completely travel alone. often you need a translator, someone to make arrangements for you especially as i get older. but th

in the middle. the red tie gentlemen. >> thank you. we are seeing that over the past few years russia's influence in the southeast europe or western b b balkens has been increasing. how do you see this trend over the next few years -- balkans? >> i take putin serious with his claims. the challenge to russia is that almost everything putin has done, from my perspective, are causing russia's downfall. but that is years away. as the saying has it in the long run we are all dead; right? and putin seems oblivious to the harm he is doing to russia in the longer run. he is fixed on the short run. i think the policies he has pursued will continue. he doesn't have the where with all and doesn't want to take the huge risks i hope. but i imagine he will push to get a seat at the table, try to assert his weight with respect to the former soviet sphere. if you talk to the chinese about central asia they just laugh at russia saying they have no capacity. >> in the back row, please. >> thank you, kevin barron with defense one. could you talk more abo

from europe, to the middle eas , asia and africa. those are lessons of the soldier over a 40 year career and we didn't know a whole lot about much other than getting to know people understanding what was important to them, addressing in some way, however modest so that they then took steps to help create stability in the regions because that is in our national interests. thank you very much. [applause] >> are there some questions? >> that you. >> thank you very much senator for your very profound insight and experiences, particularly working with the government. i'm sure we have many questions for you but if we may we would like to proceed with our colleague to make a brief statement about our own perspectives and then we have a few discussion. next russell, would youkindly go over there . yeah. ladies and gentlemen, first of all i'd like to take this opportunity to thank the organizers of this important event and thank you for hosting me to speak on this important subject to all of us that terrorism that has affected all of our live

strikes by fighter planes and special forces and intelligence in the middle east. that is politically so sensitive and for other middle eastern governments that ice expect you will not find a great deal in tel aviv for a nato operation is. went after there is aline is really good reason for nato to wouldexist the -- but it not be reasonable for it to solve all security problems. >> let's take questions from the audience. what is going to happen to all of these refugees that are scattered in some of the areas over europe? >> i sometimes wonder whether i isw what the current policy on that. it's a difficult to understand what is happening at that level. a number ofue european approaches have simply failed, such as an attempt to spearhead the germans to get every eu country to agree to wheren refugees particularly eastern european countries have said we are not going to do this and the polish government, which previously wemised to take in 600 said aren't doing that. any given moment, this is a bit of a kaleidoscope. it's a mixture of integrating people we can integra

they have of i vibrant middle class. they didn't have that 20 years ago. partly that could be attributable and they still have rule of law on this country and they have their challenges in mexico in that regard. the folks that are coming out of what a mama, the secretaries been down there and i've been down there, if we lived in those countries trying to raise our families, we might want to try to get them out into a safer place two. cyber security. i know we've talked a little bit about that over the last several years. we've talked about a lot. they provided greater hiring flexibility and the other piece is to try to reconcile the difference of the responsibilities with respect to protecting our.gov domain. we've done that in a thoughtful way. and we have a real-time system were actually able to respond in a real-time basis rather than a year after an intrusion. we have provided funding for all of that and you now have had an opportunity to begin hiring cyber warriors. how's it going. >> first well, thank you for taking on this complex subject and pushin

situation willan and somee middle east, other partsrests in of the middle east. we need more debate about this situation. our political journalists can probably comments better on that. i do want to say one thing before everybody leaves, and that is, if you talk about the rise of populism, it is on the left and on the right. with,r thing i am toying you have an avid socialist running and an avid capitalist running, and what do they have in common? what they have in common, is an attack on capital. it in terms about of physical capital or financial capital. intriguing,icularly is the young people's attitudes toward that. noonan, anggy adviser and speechwriter for president reagan, who basically adjustede young kids don't know anything about socialism or capitalism. and they need to be educated on the merits of both. on the other side, you have on the center-right, bill dalton, and advisor to bill clinton, expressing the same sort of concerns. and that is about basic economic education in this country. one thing for sure, it is not a boring time. i want to thank yo