I am deeply honored today to appear as president obamas nominee to be the United States ambassador to the republic of barack. I am grateful to the president and secretary for their confidence in me. If confirmed, i will work closely with you to advance u. S. Goals in iraq. Alec four to building an excellent work of my predecessor and friend who is with us today. I am also delighted to share this battle with dana smith, a valued colleague of many years. With your permission, i would like to introduce my daughter, a rising sophomore at duke university. Seagram chief of love from atlanta to be here with me today my wife barbara and two sons are and iman. I am grateful that my family has been game for every new posting. I am humbled and thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as chief of mission at the American Embassy baghdad. One of our largest and most complex Diplomatic Missions. I have served and iraq twice, as you mentioned, and as director for Iraqi Affairs and the National Securi
Think is very interesting study, john f. Kennedy and the missile gap also in 2004. And finally we have Michael Cohen who is a fellow at the century foundation. He has been a columnist at the guardian. A blogger for the new york daily news. Hes the author of life on the campaign trail which is about notable 20th Century Campaign speeches of consequence and he is also published widely in wall street journal, new york times, l. A. Times, politico, et cetera. So john, over to you, sir. Good. Im supposed to speak here. You can all hear me. I thought the subject of this panel and of this conference had something to do with realism so im going to playoff that theme and ill get around to pl ticks at the very end. Theres a narrow version of realism. Im not talking about the academic theory of realism or the diplomatic theory that resinate with Public Opinion. Thats the idea that america should only deal with threats that directly concern us but in places like syria, the middle east and ukraine
Its in some ways the most ambitious project that existed to try to remake, you know, National Identities into something larger. You know, sort of european identity of the notion that theres not just greeks or italians or spaniards but this european identity. If you take a look at the most parliamentary elections you discovered the exact opposite occurred. Essentially you have actors on the far left and far right. Both of which are within europes boards and outside of europes boarders doing relatively well. And, in fact, the only place where that didnt happen is germany and thats because germanys mildly insane policies that they instituted across the rest of the euro zone served them well and no one else well. So i think unfortunately youre still operating in a world where National Identities or sub National Identities trump any sense of cosmopolitanism. Just quickly. Just from a political perspective, the American People are in a particular place right now, very skeptical as foreign in
President step down after 27 years in office. And fears for thousands of migrants as italy scales down its search and rescue operations in the mediterranean. Hello. Well the iraqi army says it is making important gains in the fight against isil. The armed group has captured large swathes of territory in the north and certain central parts of the country. Vital to both sides is a oil refinery in the area. The iraqi army controls parts of the facility, but its goal is to force isil out all together. Imran khan reports. Reporter this is what most of the fighting against isil now looks like. Streettostreet in deserted neighborhoods. Isil fighters are just a few hundred meters up the road. This is less than 20 kilometers south of one of iraqs largest oil refineries, and a city which is an isil command center. This special forces unit of the iraqi army has made gains and the commander says he is confident. Translator as we advance we have managed to fully clear the town. After securing these
To make way. And residents forced the president to scrap a plan to extend his 27year term in office. Sweden has officially recognized the state of palestine. The news is hailed by the palestinian president , but condemned by israel, which summoned the swedish ambassador. Reporter for decades, palestinians have argued that the government has denied them recognition of their territory and people and government. But now sweden has added its support by officially recognizing the state of palestine. Two days ago, sweden has decided to recognize the state of palestine. We have decided to do so on the basis of the fact that the criteria of International Law are fulfilled. The territory, the people and the government. Not to recognize palestine because of the occupation would be against the principle of International Law about no fruits of addressing. Remember that more than 130 countries already recognize palestine, and we would be number one 135. As she pointed out, swedens decision does not