Now. Lecturing in istanbul, the International Center for scholars, a special adviser to the turkish president in the snows. Named one of the most 100 powerful arab women last year, appears on u. S. Cable news channels quite often and the founder and chairman of the independent think tank beirut institute. Safeen, a member of the kurdistan democratic party. Hes also a member of the was a standingin member of the Iraqi Governing Council of the authority in 2004. He was exiled to the u. K. And returned to his homeland and is playing a very key role in its development in the kurdistan province. Lets make it a conversation, more oprah, fewer speeches, and hopefully everybody gets involved shortly. I want to begin by asking all the panelists to take a birds eye view first. How you see the flow happening in the region generally, in syria in particular, and where do you see some connections happening. Afra, would you like to begin . Hello, everyone. Good morning. Im replacing my colleague from
Im not obligated on the pledge. I was just elected. The only thing im honoring is the oath that i take that ive sworn in in january. That is the sound of cracks forming in Grover Norquists facade. Hes the guy who gets republicans to sign a pledge that they will never ever under any circumstances raise taxes. But with the fiscal cliff looming, theres a growing consensus that taxes may have to go up. Norquist said those who reneged would pay a price. Would you target some of them . We would certainly highlight who has kept their commitment and who hasnt. Fortunately for grover, but unfortunately for those who want everyone to contribute their fair share there are plenty of republicans caught in the pass, plenty who cant accept that president obama won reelection there are some republicans who recognize they did lose and that new revenue new tax revenue will have to be part of any deficit deal. I noticed Mitch Mcconnells talked about tax rates. Hes going to insist that tax rates not go an