good evening, everybody. i m bradley graham, co-owner of politics and prose along with my wife, lissa muscatine, and on behalf of her but here welcome your think you very much for coming. we are very y pleased to have pl richter with us here this evening. paul and i crossed paths a lot when i was a journalist with the washington post covering the pentagon and he was reporting for the los angeles times based in washington. over several decades paul wrote about national security and foreign policyy on both the pentagon and then the state department beat come and heal other important assignments for the times before leaving the paper about four years ago. paul was seen as one of the journalistic prose of reporting in this city on national security affairs and in his new book, the ambassadors , he applies his extensive knowledge of america s national security establishment to highlighting the valuable roles played by some veteran diplomats. he singles out four in particular,
computer science and phd in biology from cambridge university. doctor robert is founder, chairman and ceo, he is an accomplished surgeon, biomedical scientist and aviator. doctors is a graduate of columbia college and columbia university school of engineering and applied science. he also earned his md and earned his phd degrees from cornell university. doctor cynthia help pioneer the aging. she spent many years on the you cfs faculty from my molecular biologist and phd from mit of filmmaker and author of immortality inc. renegade science, and the quest to live forever. chip was one of the original employees at cnn and served as bureau chief in san francisco. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming doctor aubrey, doctor robert, doctor cynthia, and chip walter. the be joining me on stage shortly. [applause] tonight, we have the honor of specialists in the field but we only have about 15 minutes to explore the science and quest for longevity. i would like to keep us
members , robbie and selfless funder of middle east programs here at the atlantic council john diblasio. and finally we welcome us governmentofficials , private companies and nonprofits. i did a rich substantive question and answer session following the discussion on the state. open to everyone read this richness of the discussion will be enhanced by the absolutely superlative interviewer who will draw the kernels of wisdom out of no real today. tom friedman needs no introduction but simply for fun i will remind you you can read tom s analysis of foreign affairs in the new york times and analysis for which he has rice won the pulitzer prize. tom is the author of several books , several focus on the middle east and one of which from beirut to jerusalem was a textbook in my middle east coursework as an undergraduate area calms full bio is available and is printed out here. now let us turn to our man of the hour doctor nabeel khoury, a senior fellow at the center for the middle
socialism sucks, is more irreverent than most public policy books we usually organize events around here at cato but i can assure you the authors we are featuring today are serious accomplished economists with decades of scholarly work. .. inevitably, , they have drinksn their hand, probably because we chat at receptions, hotel bars and the like. but the conversation is always interesting, informative, and fun. that s also true of this new book. this is a light book about a heavy topic. so it s fortunate, fortuitous rather, that we are featuring today on the birthday of the late milton friedman, one of the greatest economist of the 20th century and the champion of economic and overall human freedom. we were lucky to have known him, or some of us to have worked with him to a limited degree. i m sure he, too, would agree with the title of the book, though i i can t really recallm ever putting his opposition to socialism in quite those terms. today, , socialism has gained an a
the scheduling of this book and panel is certainly timely given the rising crisis with iran. will get to the subject eventually, but the point of the book entitled transeven and the discussion is to look more broadly and more deeply of the drivers entitled seven pillars. from yemen to syria iraq and now with iran, the region more than ever seems in a permanent state of turmoil. it s become a land of endless wars. and tragically, despite decades of intense and often well-meaning american attention and expenditure of billions of dollars, u.s. policy has more often than not been a failure. maybe the caveat more often than not is too kind. it s been absolute failure. the basic aim was to foster stability and a better life for the people of the region. of course the ones ultimately responsible for a country success or failure of the people who live there. but the catastrophe of today s middle east raises a lot of questions about whether the united states should continue to be