On July 17th, a civilian airliner flying over Ukraine crashed into a field about 30 miles from the Russian border. All 298 people aboard tragically lost their lives. Today, before we do anything else, let us make it clear that we all extend our sympathy to the families of those victims of that crash. There are 298 families at least who are now in deep mourning and suffering, and they have our sympathy and our thoughts and prayers today. Our world today seems overwhelmed with such turmoil. On each continent there are various groups battling each other who are willing to use force and kill...
On July 17th, a civilian airliner flying over Ukraine crashed into a field about 30 miles from the Russian border. All 298 people aboard tragically lo...
Today's hearing is particularly relevant, given the geographic proximity of Europe to the conflict zone. Social networking, the internet, the propaganda have become the premier recruitment tools for terrorist gangs expanding their reach far into Europe and to the United States. These tools are cheap and effective. Even for the group like ISIL, who seems to have plentiful resources, they are being used. For this reason, I think that the nexus of our counterterrorism strategy should focus on various facets of their recruitment and communication strategy. This has been the root of the problem...
Today's hearing is particularly relevant, given the geographic proximity of Europe to the conflict zone. Social networking, the internet, the propagan...
The natural resources of our planet, including water, are gifts that we can use to improve the lives of all the people of the world. But it is a scare resource and dividing scarce resources is never easy. When done well both the environment and the people involved can prosper from the sharing and management of water across international borders. When done poorly or not at all, it can be a cause of conflict. But when nations come into conflict over such resources what you also end up with is a waste of those resources, a waste of energy and perhaps conflict that could have a great cost for...
The natural resources of our planet, including water, are gifts that we can use to improve the lives of all the people of the world. But it is a scare...
The U.S. relationship with Azerbaijan is normally described as being comprised of three parts: Energy, security, and human rights. Azerbaijan is rich in oil and natural gas. Since the 1990s, it has grown into a notable exporter of oil, which is making Azerbaijan a relatively and notably wealthy country. Now, with the construction of the Southern Gas Corridor, Azerbaijan has the potential to play a key role in helping to provide the European Union with sources of natural gas that is not controlled by Russia. The Azerbaijani Government has been a source of irreplaceable support for the United...
The U.S. relationship with Azerbaijan is normally described as being comprised of three parts: Energy, security, and human rights. Azerbaijan is rich ...
From a relatively modest idea in the early 1950s for six countries to form a common market for steel and coal production, the supranational organization that we now know as the European Union was created. Five and a half decades on, the European Union has expanded to include 28 national governments and represents over 500 million people. Taken together, the GDP of the EU is over $18 trillion, one of the largest global economies. The historical forces which promoted the European integration after World War II helped to make that continent more peaceful and more prosperous. The European Union...
From a relatively modest idea in the early 1950s for six countries to form a common market for steel and coal production, the supranational organizati...
Access to clean water is absolutely essential to each and every human being. It is estimated that potentially billions of people in the coming decades will be living in water-stressed areas of the world. Without access to water and the implications that it holds for personal hygiene, agriculture, industry, far too many people will be forced to accept lower standards of living. This dynamic may spark conflicts over natural resources or destabilize very fragile governments. This is not only a question for the future. It is a problem of today. Every year, hundreds of thousands of children...
Access to clean water is absolutely essential to each and every human being. It is estimated that potentially billions of people in the coming decades...
The massive and increasing tide of asylum seekers, stateless persons, and displaced people who have been and continue to enter Europe have been an issue of humanitarian concern for several years, but a wave of immigration erupted into a tsunami, when the German Government announced it would ignore the Dublin rules and accept all Syrian refugees that made it to the German border. That announcement opened the gates for a flow of people to move from North Africa, the Middle East, and even Asia to transit through Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, and northward into Europe. While individual stories of...
The massive and increasing tide of asylum seekers, stateless persons, and displaced people who have been and continue to enter Europe have been an iss...
