Resources, a lot of young people. It is a region that is increasingly connected to the it has a lot of wealth, entrepreneurship. Is a center of civilization between asia, africa, and europe, and by any measure it should have an attitude for greatness. It has been historically from the to the world old european civilizations to these civilizations abalone a of to the modern age. Part of the problem is the region faces many challenges challenges of underdevelopment, challenges of extremism, challenges of terrorism. Trying to find its identity in the sense that every owntry is looking for its identity. It has gone through tremendous up evils in the past two years beginning with the events in tunis, syria, yemen, and other places. The lies ofat terrorism the rise of religious extremism and of terrorism are challenges that we have to deal with. I do believe and i remain convinced and hopeful that in dealing with those challenges, our region will come out of it in a much better place than it was going into it. And i want to make this point and talk a little bit about saudi arabia. Saudi arabia is a nation of 30 million people, including noncitizens. It is a region with tremendous resources. A nation with tremendous financial resources. Infrastructure, a stable government, a geographic is the best in the world. It is a pragmatist in its internal and external policies. A model nation. We were able to transform our nation in a way that very few countries have been able to do. We have gone to the level of European Countries and one generation. Went from 95 ion and oneliteracy generation. I do not believe many countries in the world were able to do this. Today [indiscernible] it is unheard of. This issue is a cultural issue. And it is hoped that society will deal with it on its own terms in its own way. At if you look at the overall picture, we dynamic,ntry with a and i mentioned to you the oural and economic power of country. Our government is institutionalized. Institutions,ped 20 of ourve branch, counsel are women. We have developed civil rights organizations and Civil Societies organizations and that is just the beginning. To prevent usng from doing more. We have a country with no ambitions beyond its border. We have enough land, people, resources. We are a country focused on internal development and improving the lot of its people. We are a country that is seeking security, peace, and stability. That is the way out, and that is our policies what our policies aspire to. We have dealt with the challenges in our region this year. Vacuum, andre was a if nobody is willing to do something, then the kingdom of saudi arabia and has had to step in and do something. To prevent Company Countries from being taken over and buy has block, which was in possession of heavy weapons and an air force. To the requests of the legitimate government. We have no intention of seizing one and one inch of the emirate territory. E will preserve them. In syria, we are working to bring change, political change, if possible, with what is happening in syria, in order to remove a man who is responsible for the murder of three and a thousand people, the placement of 12 million 300,000 people, the displacement of 12 million. That is our objective. And we will achieve it. We are trying to work with other countries in the region, whether it is egypt, whether it is a rock, whether whether it is , whether it is sudan, whether it is countries in the netherlands to help them deal with their issues. We dohave no doubt not have an ideology we are wedded to. We have pragmatism that we adhere to. At thesehen we look ,ountries in the region today the two areas that stand out the are and yemen, and i want to say it looks a little bit like daesh. Daesh is a terrorist organization that has no religion and no morals. They attract others. They are a cult. They will be defeated. In order to defeat daesh, we have to deal with what i call the other two elephants in the room. Is bashar alassad. In syria defeat daesh situationanging the with bashar alassad. He is the man who hoped created, byllowing them to operate even trading with them. He allowed them to become what they are. In unless there is a change syria, they will not be defeated , period. The international coalition, of which my country is a member, has been bombing daesh for 15 months, and they are still there. The second elephant in the room is implementing the reforms that 2014agreed to in iraq in that would bring the Sunni Community to the four, that would create an equitable system between sunni, kurds, shia. That also will pull the rug out and allow thesh country and its allies to defeated. Everything else is putting scotts take on an open wound. Weve got to deal with the source of it. Everything else is putting scott tape on an open wound. Government of yemen is now in control of three quarters of the country. Humanitarian assistance is flown effectively, the humanitarian suffering that controlled areas is the consequence of starving the people in order to score political gains. It takes time. We will not stop until the job is finished, and our objective for yemen is a new yemen, a yemen, amen, a united yemen that will be open to reconstruction, development, a prosperous yemen. I think actually i will stop. Take some questions. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much mr. Minister. We are already in overtime. Maybe two short questions. Who is first . I see someone in the back. Could you identify yourself, please . It is hard to see because of the lights. , foreign minister [indiscernible] talked about daesh [indiscernible] attractedhave adventure seekers, but the religious streaks are far more prominent. [indiscernible] minister Adel Aljubeir every religion has perverts and psychopaths who tried to hijack it. Is as islamic as the kkk is christian. Dont they have a cross . Dont they do everything in the name of crust . They believe that christ compels to lynch africans . Can we say that they are christian . There are people like this also in the jewish faith. It has nothing to do with judaism. There are people like this in the hindu faith. It has nothing to do with hinduism. For anyone to argue that daesh is islamic is preposterous. You have your faith and i have my faith and you are free to practice your faith and i am free to practice mine. And greater tolerance acceptance do you have done this . ,e who kills an innocent soul it is as if he has killed all of humanity, and he who saves an innocent soul, it it is as if he has saved all of humanity . What greater compassion do we have than this . If you say it is in the scriptures, doesnt the Old Testament say an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth . Does it today, would you say they were christian or they were jewish . So, i caution people, because it seems to have become almost novel not novel, it has toome the flavor of the day attribute things to daesh that are not there. The islamic religion and the islamic civilization is the civilization that preserves the western civilization would not exist without the islamic arabs. The islamic civilization and the islamic arab civilization was a civilization that connected china with europe, so it was global. A point i made early on this is what i mean. So, daesh represent islam. Islam has connected eastern civilization with western civilization. We encourage all of you to be careful when we make generalizations or accepting generalizations that have no basis in fact. Thank you. [applause] question is annemarie slaughter. Ms. Slaughter annemarie slaughter. Thank you for addressing the issue of women in your country. I think you are right to speak because this is an issue that should be addressed openly. I just want to see if i heard you correctly. What i heard to say was there was nothing in your culture that prohibits or retards the advancement of women. Did i hear that right . Minister Adel Aljubeir what i was saying was in our faith, when it comes to issues like driving, it is not a religious issue. It is a societal issue. When it comes to things like education, this is not a religious issue. This is a society issue. Inwent from no schools women 1960 two universal education where today 55 of College Students are women. I could give you another statistic, but it would be embarrassing more than 60 of graduate students, some of our top doctors and engineers and lawyers and business people, are women. So, the opportunities are there. The issue is one that is evolving, just like it is evolving in other countries. America is one of the worlds. Reat democracies my mathematics is not a very good came to independence 250 years ago almost . Years before women were given the right to vote. It took another 100 years before a woman was elected speaker of the house. Im not saying it will take 200 years. I am saying be patient. When it comes to societal change, with every society, people tend to look at where they are, and than they think, everyone should be with us. America was independent in 1776. The republic was founded, what, 15 decades later . It took 100 years before the Civil Rights Movement and it took another three decades before you had real social equality in america. Things take time. You hope that in the modern world, with technology and communications, this process is accelerated, but it takes time. And we must accept this. You cannot expect to rush things overnight. Otherwise, we would not be where we are. Thank you so much, mr. Minister. Round ofve a applause to the foreign minister of saudi arabia. I certainly hope to be able to welcome you back next year. You should consider this a standing invitation. Thank you very much. [applause] today, we will show you last thets cbs debate with republican president ial candidates. It begins at 4 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. On friday, democratic president ial candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton spoke at the annual democratic fundraising dinner in st. Paul, minnesota. The dinner is just over an hour. [cheering] senator sanders thank you. [cheering] senator sanders it sounds like some of you are ready for a political revolution. [cheering] sanders all right. Let me thank you all very much for giving me this opportunity to say a few words. These teleprompters are not mine, i will look down. Let me begin by thanking all of you for doing what too few americans do. And that is because you love your state and your country, you are prepared to get involved in the political process. You understand that many men and women fought and died to preserve democracy and you are doing everything you can to make sure that we have a vibrant democracy. So thank you all very much. [applause] senator sanders and as we were driving here, my thoughts went to an old friend of mine, of he and his wifetone sheila. Paul and i were elected in 1990 at the same time. We became Close Friends and we worked together on a number of issues. I want to thank the democrats of minnesota for making sure that pauls work and more importantly his vision, is never forgotten. [applause] senator sanders everybody in this room understands that no president , not Bernie Sanders or anybody else, can alone address the crisis facing this country. The reason for that, which is not talked about very much in the media or congress, is the reality that bigmoney interests, wall street, corporate america, campaign donors, they have so much power, so much influence over the economy and of this country, that no president can do it alone. That is right. I could sit here for 10 hours and tell you all the things that have to be done, but i will be wasting your time, because nothing significant gets done unless millions of people come together, including working people who have given up on the political process, young people who are involved, africanamericans and whites and latinos and native american, asian americans, gay and straight, men and women, young and old unless we revitalize american democracy, so that we have one of the highest voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest. [applause] senator sanders when millions of people get involved in the political process and a look at washington and say, you know what . Our government belongs to all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. When that happens, we transform america. [applause] senator sanders our job, the easy part will be beating republicans, and that is easy, because when you look at what republicans stand for, it is a marginal position. Very few americans believe in the republican program. How many people do you know think that it makes sense to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top 2 10 of 1 , and then cut social security, medicaid and medicare . It is not that it is not right, very few people believe that. Republicans win elections when people become demoralized, when they give up on the political process, when they do not vote or get involved, and win big when big money buys elections. Republicans when one voter republicans win one voter turnout is low, democrats win win voter turnout is high. Our job is to create a high voter turnout. [applause] senator sanders this concept of involving people in the political process to make change, that is not a new idea. This has been going on forever. Just a few minutes ago, i had the privilege of talking to some of the leaders of the trade Union Movement in minnesota. And they understand, and you all understand, that when workers came together to demand to sit down and collectively bargain contracts, that did not happen because employers thought it was a great idea. [applause] senator sanders that happened, that happened because working people said, you know what, we are not beasts of burden. We have rights. We want leisure time. We want safety on the job. We want to be paid a decent wage. They stood up and they fought for unions and they fall for and they fought for those rights. Every worker in america owes the trade Worker Movement and an enormous amount. [applause] senator sanders and its not just the trade Union Movement. Does anybody here think that the Civil Rights Movement is simply about Lyndon Baines johnson signing the Voting Rights act . No sanders change comes from the bottom up. It comes when people stand up and say the status quo is no longer acceptable. So, for 100 and more years, people stood up and fought, sometimes they were lynched, sometimes their homes were bombed. I was in birmingham, alabama, a couple weeks ago. I went to the church where four beautiful children were killed because of a racist explosion. What i learned on that day, and i did not know this i should have. I didnt. There were 14 bombings in birmingham during that month. In other words, the city was s trying to by racist terrorize people fighting for civil rights. But the people of birmingham, allies, saidite , sorry, segregation and racism in america. In in america. End they stood together. They sat in. We made huge breakthroughs. But it happened not because of somebody on top. It happened because millions of people said enough is enough. What about the Womens Movement . 100, 150 years ago women said we are not going to be treated as third class citizens. We are going to do the work we want to do. [applause] senator sanders we are going to be able to vote, to run for political office. Huge struggles. But women as a result of those enormousade progress. The Environmental Movement didnt happen in washington because of some senator making a motion. It happened because people said what is going on on this planet of ours . You cant destroy it. We have to protect the planet. You think about gay rights. If we were sitting here 10 years and somebody ago, said, i think in 2015, gay marriage will be legal in 50 states in america, the person next to him would have said what are you smoking . [laughter] sanders which raises another issue. [laughter] [cheering] sanders but the point is, when people at the grassroots start moving, and when they say this is not right, in this country people should have the right to love anyone they want regardless of their gender [applause] tremendous changes took place. And now, you go and talk to young people, they shrug their shoulders and say what is the big deal . That is what a revolution is about. [cheers and applause] senator sanders if we were here 30, 40 years ago, somebody jumped up and said i think america is mature enough, it has gone far enough, overcoming racism, in 2008 we are going to elect an africanamerican as president of the United States, 40 years ago very few people would have believed that can happen. But it did happen. [applause] senator sanders and what happened then, it doesnt matter whether people like obama or whether they dont. They said were going to vote for somebody based on his ideas, not the color of his skin. A revolutionary breakthrough. [applause] senator sanders here we are in 2016. When every person in this room knows but apparently our republican friends do not know this country economically has come a long way under president obama and Vice President biden in the last seven years. [applause] now, shouldnt be too hard on our republican friends. They suffer from a serious illness called amnesia. They cant remember where we were seven years ago when we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. We were running up a recordbreaking deficit of 1. 4 trillion. When by the way, the worlds Financial System was on the verge of collapse. Other than that we were in good shape when bush left office. We have come a long way in seven years and we should be proud of the accomplishments of the obama and biden administration. [applause] senator sanders but we have got to be honest, and acknowledge we still have a long way to go to create the nation that i know all of us believe we can create. [applause] senator sanders i have been all over this country talking literally to hundreds of thousands of people. Nobody i know thinks that it is acceptable, that it is moral, thinks that it is sustainable that in the United States of america we have more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on earth, that it is worse here here today then an 1928. That is not acceptable. It is not acceptable to me the top 1 10 of 1 owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 . It is not acceptable the 20 wealthiest people in this country own more wealth than the bottom 150 million americans. It is not acceptable that one family the Walton Family of walmart owns more wealth than the bottom 40 of the american people. When we talk about the economy , its not just wealth. It is income. In my state, we have many people, millions throughout our country working not one job but two jobs and three jobs trying to cobble together the income they need and some health care. And yet, despite the hard work of the american people, and we are the hardest working people of any in the industrialized world. We work the longest hours. Despite all of that 58 of all , new income generated today goes to top 1 . My friends, this is not an american economy. It is not a fair economy. It is a rigged economy and together we are going to change that. [applause] its not only a rigged economy where the people on top are doing phenomenally well while the middle class continues to disappear and 47 million americans live in poverty. What you have accompanying the rigged economy is a corrupt Campaign Finance system that has undermined american democracy. [applause] senator sanders now i wish i could give you a gentler word, a less harsh word, but the word is corrupt. The word is corrupt because what we are seeing today is wall street and billionaires spending unlimited sums of money in super pacs, attempting to elect candidates who will represent their interests. Let me tell you as straightforwardly as i can. Number 1 i am proud that i am the only democratic candidate running for president who does not have a super pac. [applause] number two, our campaign has received and i never would have believed this to be possible, we have received 3. 5 million individual contributions, averaging 27 apiece. [applause] sanders this is a campaign, to paraphrase abraham lincoln, of the people, by the people, and for the people. [applause] senator sanders let me tell you something else. If anybody here does not understand the direct connection between a corrupt Campaign Finance system and the major issues facing our country, and what congress does or does not do does not understand anything about contemporary american politics. Let me be as straightforward as i can and tell you one of the first major priorities of the Sanders Administration will be to overturn this disastrous Citizens UnitedSupreme Court decision. [applause] senator sanders our campaign talks about the need to reform a corrupt Campaign Finance system. We talk about the need to end a rigged economy and create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1