the inheritance we had when we came in to office in this administration, we had an overwhelming imperative to restore american leadership. it was in question, and it was in part because of political decisions that had been made prior to the obama administration, but also because of the economic crisis and the feeling that somehow america had caused this, and so part of the responsibility i had was to go out, fly the flag, restore that confidence, make it clear that our leadership was intact, to set the table for the pivot to asia, to dealing with the arab revolution, to restoring really close relationships with our partners in europe, looking to enhance the neighborhood in latin america, and on so many issues, whether it was putting together international coalitions with iran and north korea, figuring out what to do with libya that would bring an
it is a necessary struggle. we can not permit northern mali to become a safe haven. people say to me all the time, aqim hasn t attacked the united states. well before 9/11, 2001, we hadn t been attacked on our homeland since i guess the war of 1812 and pearl harbor. so you can t say because they haven t done something they re not going to do it. this is not only a terrorist syndicate, it is a criminal enterprise. so make no mistake about it, we ve got to have a better strategy. and i would hope we would have not only a strategy that understands, you know, making it possible for these governments to defend themselves better, for to understand and agree with us that these terrorists are not in any way representative of their values but that we can bolster democracy and try to give these arab revolution as real chance to succeed. thank you.
together in large numbers, and syria because that is the worst conflict but egypt is the heart of the arab word. jonathan s point was outstanding when he underscored two things about the protests that are very interesting and push in different directions. you summarized it well saying the glass is half full/half empty. they are occurring in so many places that it feels like all the sole media and so forth that led to the arab revolution are coming back to haunt us and work against us. these are obviously interconnected and, obviously, many ways, amplified by the video you have referred to. on the other hand, they are fairly small. that is huge news. that is not just a footnote. i am very glad that jonathan emphasized it and i am hopeful that today being prayer day will have been the culmination of this. i don t expect this to get worse over the weekend of the trace: michael, we are looking at live video from
when tunisian mohammed aziz city set himself on fire just a year and a half ago, launching the arab revolution, also called arab spring, he wasn t thinking about the olympics he and the others who would drive the protests in egypt, libya, bahrain and syria and other middle eastern nations wanted freedom from repressive dictatorial governments. but the fruits of revolution are both large and small. so athletes from the middle east will be in london, benefitting from the london spring and showing the true spirit of the olympic games. in the past these athletes had dictators who didn t allow them to participate, or they participated, thus spreading the glory of leaders they despised. in london they ll be free from the double consciousness of loving their country while hating their leader. for these athletes, medaling is less important than participation. that s the true olympic spirit. so many middle eastern athletes were part of the arab spring
lefty. but we re immune from international law in the u.s. as the world s most powerful nation, we re immune and can do whatever we want. but there s a shift. the shift has happened in the middle east. the shift has happened, that the people want stability, they want to have a normal life, they want to have jobs. that s everything about the arab revolution. and as you said, everything about what the iranians want. america has to make the shift. america is still engaging in the old narrative of war and military engagement and all of that. i m not saying the american administration wanted to elevate development. he wanted to make development equal to diplomacy and defense. and this administration has put more emphasis on trying to engage women and young people completely. this is where we have to go. absolutely. and i m talking about the republican i m talking about america as a whole. overseas, america is not seen as democrats and republican, it has