Tension and change. Tose issues are from form dispassionate view and we are fortunate to have an experienced group of panelists today. They affect the approach to saudi arabia, its relationship and future. Before i turn to todays program, i want to say a few words about the council. The council was established in 1981 for the purpose of promoting dialogue and education. We have three flagship programs. Our quarterly, capitol hill conference, a quarterly journal, middle east policy which jesses wrong reputation and can be found in 15 dozen libraries worldwide. Our education outreach program. It provides Educational Resources in the middle east, targeted to students and teachers. Visit us on our website. At teacheach program mideast. Org. Todays event. To this program is being live streamed on a website. I welcome all of you who have joined us on mine. Proceedings will be posted on video and transcript form will be posted. An edited transcript will be published in the next issue of our j
Climate change. That is the major challenge of the 21st century. Time is past where humankind thought it could selfishly draw on inexhaustible resources. We know now the world is not a commodity, it is not a source of revenue. It is a common good, it is our heritage. The consequences of Climate Change are fully known now. Were not talking about theories anymore. Were talking about certainties. If nothing is done, then we are talking about increasing temperatures for degrees by the end of the century. A need to stay below the threshold of two degrees. We are also fully aware of the consequences. It would mean we would certainly see the disappearance of many island states in the indian ocean and the pacific, and huge damage to the coastlines of all continents. The 25 cities that in 2015 had more than 10 million inhabitants 19 are located on the coastline. A huge number of individuals are directly threatened by the consequences of global warming. You can imagine the huge consequences that
Operation enduring freedom. We are now past 13 years in that enduring fight and that resolution, of course was also the basis for the justification of our actions in somalia in yemen and the administration is saying quite clearly that they oppose the repeal of that and that the operations that are going on right now to my in fact, are consistent with that 2001 resolution. Now, that causes great problems to me and many members of the community because even in the absence of the passage of a knew aumf the administration is maintaining that they have the authority to continue as they have for 13 years under Operation Enduring freedom. So that obviously is a problem for us because it sits there as an underlying authority for the next president , democrat or republican who is sworn in on january 20 2017. Most of us we will be sitting here then as your successor is sitting here and perhaps not with the same interpretation of the word enduring. So my questions and then go to, is this going to
Im pleased to have mike morell back at this table. Mike its always great to be here. Charlie why title it the great war of our time . Mike this challenge we face against islamic extremism is in some ways akin to the cold war. I call it the great war for that reason and because of the timeframe we are talking about here. I believe my childrens generation and my grandchildrens generation will still be fighting this thing. Charlie what is our goal . Contain them . Mike i think its to get to a place where its no longer a military problem more paramilitary problem, but a Law Enforcement problem. When we move from the military phase to the Law Enforcement phase we can say victory. Charlie how do we get there . Mike we get there in two ways. One way we have talked about at this table before is one of the real resins learned in dealing with terrorism is that you have to keep the pressure on them. When you have the pressure on them you make it difficult for them to plan, train, raise money and
Im pleased to have mike morell back at this table. Mike its always great to be here. Charlie why title it the great war of our time . Mike this challenge we face against islamic extremism is in some ways akin to the cold war. I call it the great war for that reason and because of the timeframe we are talking about here. I believe my childrens generation and my grandchildrens generation will still be fighting this thing. Charlie what is our goal . Contain them . Mike i think its to get to a place where its no longer a military problem more paramilitary problem, but a Law Enforcement problem. When we move from the military phase to the Law Enforcement phase we can say victory. Charlie how do we get there . Mike we get there in two ways. One way we have talked about at this table before is one of the real resins learned in dealing with terrorism is that you have to keep the pressure on them. When you have the pressure on them, you make it difficult for them to plan, train, raise money and