atlantic council. we wanted to establish flagship speakers to discuss current and future challenges. over the past 12 years this program has drawn an impressive audience across washington s policy community, including think tanks and government. this program has been particularly used for the defense industry in companies like saab who provides capabilities to all branched of the armed forces today and to understand challenges and priorities to direct us when it comes to research and development and how we can be better prepared to meet future military capability needs. we have previously had the pleasure to house many distinguished speakers, such as general lloyd austin, and mark esper and secretary of the army, and they moved on to secretary of defense, and it s a great career move to make a guest appearance of our series. today we have the great pleasure of having two distinguished guest with us, john whitley, and general james mcconville. i have vivid memories of how he k
bahrain, signing an agreement between arab countries and israel, the first in a quarter-century. donald trump will attend and that is really prime minister will sign with the foreign minister s. we have a lot to discuss in this half-hour. their connection to china, let s start with the middle east though you also have comments. my first question looking at the long-term implications for the us and the region of this court. how does this structure look longer-term, into the middle east. great to be with you. as soon as we wrap up we head to the white house for this historic opportunity for these three nations, that will recognize the reality. we begin with respect to the trump administration s approach to the middle east. i have prepared remarks. i will skip them for the sake of a good conversation. it began with the reality for decades, with respect to the middle east, the veto right that said they could prevent any arab nation from engaging with the most important democrac
[ applause [ applause ] mr. prime minister, we have a stand alone crowd. they re also out in the lobby, we got live streams in the lobby. i think there is a lot of interests in hearing what you have to say. good morning everyone, happy new year, i am frederick kempe, i am delighted that you can join us this year. i am honored to welcome our mr. prime minister a warm welcome, thank you to coming to atlantic council. we are delighted you start with our meeting here before you meet president trump at the white house. after you met with our international advisory board in september on the sideline of the u.n. general assembly. the prime minister joins us this morning as part of the future initiatives. in the series, we welcome head of state and ministers to discuss challenges facing the trans atlantic community and opportunities for deep enga engageme engagement. promoting leadership and strategy with shape and secure a strong atlantic alliance. it is sometimes considered an amer
next, president obama talks congressional action to fund the vaccines for the zika virus. nd a discussion on efforts to strengthen libyan security and fight against isis. president obama met with top health officials at the white house to talk about the zika virus. the centers for disease control and prevention released a new eport confirm ing that 157 pregnant women have tested positive for the virus. president obama called on congress to approve funding for treatment and finding a vaccine. both the house and senate have only approved a portion of what the administration has requested. minutes.bout 10 pres. obama: everybody all set? okay. i just had an opportunity to get a full briefing from secretary c.d.c. director, as n.i.a. tony kazi , from about the zika situation and i wanted to give the american eople a quick update on where we are. as has been explained i want to but reemphasize, zika is not like ebola. this is not a human to human transmission, but with one exceptio
youy pleasure to welcome today on the discussion of diplomacy in the future of european security. i would like to extend a special welcome to our esteemed speakers, first and foremost, the secretary general for security and cooperation in europe. the secretary general is joined by a member of the panel of eminent persons on european is a common project professor. he also served as president of the chicago council on global affairs, our partner organization for today s event. i would also like to welcome the distinguished guest we have today. forgive me if i don t have all of you in my notes. this discussion comes at a time of uncertainty in european history to say the very least. more than a quarter-century after the fall of the berlin wall, the strategic questions of political divergence is emerged. looking back, sometimes we forget the huge importance of the csc in getting us through the cold war and out the other side in as good a shape as we are in. turning back to europe