practical terms. this is not a case of thus meeting and greeting, but this is a case of enabling common action, and this could be for the betterment of christians and muslims. >> i am asking my colleague -- thank you. i will ask them to ask some of the questions. >> what direction is most positive for the future economic success of jordan. much of the economy depends on services, and what is the combination that seems to be viable for the future, what about aquifers, all of the above? .

>> it is not worsen other parts maybe we just need to accept the

fact that we are a society in transition. we have much to be proud about. in jordan, as we have and other arab countries, a very vibrant private sector. when we look at ixt, we have two companies that have made headlines. one was sold for $200 million. it was a simple startup two years ago. the other one was similar to twittered. . it also made headlines for a humanitarian endeavor. this is demonstrative of the power of our youth to marshall in support of a particular idea. we have provided the opportunities for them to do so.

we nevertheless feel that notwithstanding the high rates of birth, up to 8%, for every year up until now, the global economic slowdown has affected us. our group was reduced to about 2.7%. we expected to grow closer to 5% economic activity continues to be active. we continue to see a lot of interest in investment in jordan. that fills us with hope. >> how should the deep divide between fatah and hamas be dealt with? how can one reasonably expect meaningful, and during --

enduring success in the process to occur when one major party to the conflict is not dealt with? is this serious or not text is one to be inclusive or exclusive? in terms of dealing with all the partisan the conflict? >> my reaction to this sort of question and you hear often in washington -- washington is an amazing city because there are certain taboos subject the cannot be discussed. there are other subjects that are so popular. this is one of the bricken questions. how can the palestinians hope of -- this is one of the popular questions. how can the palestinians hope te?

even europe is divided on some of the crucial issues. the united states is divided on so many crucial issues. i think we have to be careful not to take a patronizing tone with them. they are a people who have a constellation of different views. the egyptian government must be praised for sparing no effort to try and bring to the two sides together. eventually, they may well succeed. we hope that they succeed in sorting out their differences. this is so exceptional that we must place it high on the issues that require urgent treatment. we, as a people more generally, when you look at this, one can

remark that if you took an international treaty negotiated in the aftermath of the second world war and tried to negotiate exactly those same terms today, you could not do it. you could not take the universal declaration of human rights and negotiate its terms today. you could not take the torture convention, the refugee convention and do it. what does that tell you? it tells you that we simply are unable to work together in the way that we once used to work together. we need to find a formula to make it work again. within society's and between societies, there is much work that needs to be done another question --

>> water supplies continued to dwindle. how will jordan deal with their vital need for water? can't new agreements be reached on water-sharing agreements? is the red sea-dead sea canal a possibility? what is going on with de-sali zation? >> the average per capita usage by an american is about 9000 cubic meters. the poverty standard is 1000 cubic meters per year. , per-capita. in jordan, argues it is 150 cubic meters per year. we are very vulnerable to fluctuations in the weather where water is concerned. we have bought large aquafier in

the south we are tapping. we need to work on de-sali nization. we need to redouble our efforts because it is a major concern to us. >> where does jordan see itself and its place in the middle east with regard to security, now and in the next two-five years, inclusive of its relationship to the united states, its relationship with israel, and its relationship to the issue regarding iran's nuclear development? >> it is very clear in my mind that what we can not anticipate trajectories, if you were in

europe and the late 1920's and early 1930's, you could sense that europe was in big trouble party did not know how it would unfold. in the middle east we believe that these prices could fall into something beyond our ability to control, if not checked. at the same time, we have to appreciate how difficult it is for us to read the script of all unfold in the event. we are simply unable to do this with a level of accuracy that inspires confidence. if we cannot understand the present, because you cannot marshall all the variables and you do not know which berryville will be the key variable at any moment in time -- you do not know which variable will the the key variable at anyone in time, we find it difficult to know the pres andent.

by extrapolation, we cannot understand where we will be an 5-10 years. i think we have to invest very much in pointing ourselves toward it future, realizing that like many other countries, we are affected by the same things that affect other countries. we are a detribalized country -- we are a triabal country, trying to de-tribalize. i would like to think that we have a petition. -- we have a vision. we are fortunate of having this extraordinary leadership on the part of his majesty.

we base our trust on their asper stations -- on their aspirations and the aspirations of the jordanian people about what role is jordan taking in helping the palestinians establish a fully functioning palestinian state ta? >> the most apparent role as training the police forces. by all measure, it has been a successful exercise. we are working very closely with president mahmoud abbas on that score. we are fully supportive of the efforts of the prime minister and i think we join the international community. it was refreshing to hear the

statement richard in russia recently where the international community fully supports the passion and the attempt by the palestinian authority to raise the standard and the infrastructure of their own economy as such but would-be in a position to exercise full responsibility as an independent state, when and if such a time arises. >> as the united states trust and its armed forces in neighboring iraq, where jordan's concerns and needs and assessments -- what are jordan's concerns and needs and assessments of this porn zealously -- foreign policy interests? >> how many people did you say are watching this tex? >> cspan is viewed by millions.

>> thank you very much. [laughter] this is one of the fundamental situations that place in the post-conflict situation. how do you extract the community of a situation which for a long time had depended on the material presents of that international effort? it has to be done judiciously. it has to be done carefully naturally, you want to see, we all want to see iraq free of foreign forces. some of these are pernicious influences from the outside. the iraqi government itself has a say in this. they should be heard if they believe more time is required. i think the u.s. would probably

be understanding of that. does a very delicate exercise and i think the bus bar, it has been handled very well. >> you mentioned the support for president obama support for reaching an accord in the middle east that you did not specifically support or say that you supported the saudi plan. settlement. can you comment on the saudi plan and whether it provides a basis for peace? >> we have been supporting the plan put forward by his majesty of saudi arabia in 2002 when he was the crown prince. it was known as the saudi peace initiative and became the arab peace initiative at the bay ridge summit. incidently, -- at the beirut summit.

within 48 hours, of the issuane of the arab peace initiative, we had passage of resolution 1397 in the security council which was presented by the united states and first mentioned the vision of two states living side by side in peace and security. we believe there is an intimate connection between that vision and with the arab world has offered israel. i think it is rather regrettable that the birth of the initiative, we had a series of events occurring in israel and then within the occupied territories that made it difficult for us to communicate the contents of the plan. i think the gesture was there. one only wonders what would have happened had the israeli government at the time returned

to us with some questions. we would hope they would ask about any future claims. the arab league would probably set up a committee to furnish some answers and make it clear to the israelis what we mean by this. unfortunately, there was no such dialogue that could be embroidered into something. we stand to be told we could have done better and there's a general understanding that we could have. having said that, no arab state has withdrawn from the promotion of the initiative. i think that must be appreciated. we hope that at some stage again that it is not too late, that the israeli public will appreciate the contents of it. one hears from, speaking to various israel is, that the public in israel is so blendebld

for the refugees are concerned that they miss the fact this was agreed to in text. in the final analysis, when you look at the final status talks or the talked to be held on final status issues, proximity or otherwise, what ever comes out of the discussion has to be survivable both in israel and palestine. this belief that people have that israel was left alone with the palestinians and you have the u.s. and europeans and all of us there, that somehow we would bludgeon israel into accepting positions it could not accept or conversely, if the palestinians were left alone with just the u.s. and israelis that they would be beaten into

accepting positions they could not accept. in actual fact, it cannot be either because the product of negotiation must either win passage in the knesset or referendum in israel and likewise in palestine. you have to come up with a win- win for both sides. does not impossible to do that. -- it is not impossible to do that. we hope it can happen and of course, we embroider the arab peace initiative into the larger tapestry and see peace between of 22 arab states and israel. >> three questions that touch on nuclear issues -- can you comment on jordan's assessments of the role of nuclear power and its future economic development including desalination of water

and address the implications of the scenario of israel attacking iran over the nuclear issue? what are the implications for jordan and the broader region, from your perspective? >> listening to your first question, i suspect it came from one of my staff at the embassy. [laughter] i will deal with them later. as many of you know, jordan is heavily dependent on the imports of petroleum products for it to meet its security. 96% of our energy is in the form of petroleum products imported from the outside. at the same time, we have discovered recently that we have about 118,000 tons of recoverable uranium in jordan,

some 2% was uranium reserves. it stands to make sense that as a country with no oil, effectively, and get the availability of uranium that we need to establish some sort of energy policy that builds on this as well as other renewable energy. in 2007, in terms of our usage per capita, i think it was 4,700 megawatts of electricity that we were using. this is likely to climb. we are looking to set up two reactors. one with the research reactor of about 100 megawatts and the -- and a larger one which would be

up to about 1,000 megawatts. this would provide 20% of our energy needs in combination with other technologies. we are in discussion with a great many countries all around the international community and with the iaea and we are confident this will move forward quite smoothly. the second question is completely unrelated to the purse. first. i cannot speak for what the israeli government thinks or will do. we have always supported the initiative put forward by president mubarak of egypt for a middle east free of weapons -- of nuclear-weapons but particular weapons of mass destruction.

clearly, it is a region that has the potential to be very unstable and we do not believe that weapons should exist in this region of that sort of fall. at all. we hope for a combination of measures that the perceived understanding on the part of many in the international community that iran has a desire to weaponize their nuclear capabilities is something that can be dealt with through measures short of violence. we simply cannot afford to have another round of hostilities in the region that is so under stress from everything that we have to deal with.

>> you played a major role in the founding of the international criminal court. how would you evaluate the effectiveness of the court in the early stages of what needs to be done to make the international criminal court more effective? >> the 20th century saw more people lose their lives through violence than in all previous centuries combined. were it not for this new institution, i do not see how we can possibly imagine that the next century will not be as bloody as the past century. when we look at the international criminal court, it is a court of last resort. it's it's in the background the court says to -- it sits in the background. with respect to crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression which we are negotiating the definition of,

you must confront all of that. if there's a national of your country that is suspected of involvement of these crimes and you as a government must take measures to investigate and it may be prosecuted. it's it's as a reminder to governments to do your job. there is no need for the court to be involved if you do your job. if you do not do your job, there a who cannot escape trial . one think that is not normally appreciate is that you have 111 countries now that is part of the court. but does that mean? -- what does that mean?

every single individual has put themselves under the jurisdiction of an international court. in other words, they have forfeited their sovereign right to sovereign immunity. there simply is no equivalent in history. we have such a voluntary surrender of rights to such a treaty. it is a step so enlightened that it has no parallel. it is often not remarked upon. i believe it is an inexorable advance that we will see it grow from strength to strength. the arguments that i make with many are that you should sit with your government and explain to them that it is better to join the court now than to wait until you are the last country

30 or 40 years from now. what possible advantage can be accrued from being outside the system and not assist in building it up? i think it is something that is very necessary. we are in a period of transition. we will feel the effects of what it means to have an international criminal court but i am very confident and i should say that i had the privilege of sharing the negotiations on the crime of aggression, the supreme international crime as identified in norma byrd. we have a religious ground -- in nuremberg. >> what are the pros and cons of the palestinians declaring a state at this time? why have they not done so until now? >> it is a good question. it is one that should be

directed to the ambassador who is the plo observer in washington. i am not in a position to make a qualified judgment of it. one assumes that when they believe the time is right to make a decision, they will do it. >> what interests and responsibilities does dorgan retail in the holy places of jerusalem? >> we have long held responsibilities regarding the holy city. this is recognized in the treaty that we also have with israel. whenever repairs were needed to parts of the area adjacent to the halom, jordanian engineers

were engaged. as of late, coordination with the israelis on these issues have proven to be quite difficult. we are trying to resolve them. both directly and by virtue of the assistance of the united states and other countries. >> could you addressed fsb further the issue of democratization in jordan and the prospects for the jordanian selecting their prime minister? >> yes, this is something that we have been grappling with for many years as you know, this was attempted in 1957 to move in that direction . it proved itself to be premature in our judgment.

we were a very poor country. we were prone to outside influence. president eisenhower was very firm. since then, we have been moving back into the direction of opening up the country to engage participation. we have a plan at the moment for the decentralization of jordan, to break up into federal units where the local units would have their own budgets and would be directly answerable to the people in terms of the provision of services. and then we also built up over time and expertise in the

enactment of legislation such that our parliament can be fully active in this regard. there was a great deal of concern, as the last parliament convened, that there were too many bills that were left on considered. -- un considered. to leave them unintended was something that raised a great deal of concern. we are moving in the right direction. we're confident about that. i am in constant touch with many of the democracy think tanks that are vigilant in this area. we have a very healthy discussion about this issue. >> how do you evaluate the role of china economically in the middle east? >> i wish i knew more about this. it is a part of the world that

has long excited interest by many a great power. china is a country with whom we do business. it is a country of growing stature in asia together with india and in both respects, i think we have a close and warm relationship with them. we believe it is important they engage. a few years ago, i was asked by the secretary general of the un to travel to the condo and undertake a study for the un. i traveled there and found to my delight and astonishment that there was a chinese battalion in the middle of the congo. they were doing exceedingly well obviously, china is more intent engaging in the rest of the world whether it is commercially or involved in

humanitarian affairs. i think that is largely to be welcomed them you made reference in your remarks >> demint remarks about characters in the bosnian crisis. what lessons were learned? what mistakes were made that would be applicable to resolving the arab-israeli conflict? >> the interesting thing about the bosnia crisis is there was a gentleman who, in april of 1995, announced that he would investigate. immediately, the un entered a state of disarray because that feeling was that we had the obtrusion -- intrusion of a

different element that threatened to derail what ever it was was inescapably bound up with the possibility of peace and that was it you could not talk to these people because there were going to be indicted, how could you possibly arrive at a piece? what this man did was by intruding into this, he forced us to change and adapt to his reality. we had to do that. we could not escape the trauma that was severnitsa. when you look at the international criminal court, it created a shortage of discomfort in many capitals because it is preventing itself as a check, latitude of behavior that

previously was thought to be possible by people all around the globe and now, i think, it is quickly being circumscribed by the court. in terms of the middle east, again, it is the belief that there is nothing that is impossible where peace is concerned. if the desire is there and the goodwill is evident then you hope that the combination of circumstance will bring us to this point. there is an element of luck involved. i have often remarked the countries do not negotiate treaties. it is individuals who so happen to represent those countries. you can take five countries, put them around the table, or ask them to send their representatives, and ask him to negotiate a document. you may find that they can agree on a single comma.

you can change those individuals and suddenly, within five minutes, everything has been negotiated and agreed to. you need an element of luck but there is so much of a role for the individual negotiator that if we have a gratuitous, they of people, i think we can do this quite quickly. >> would you comment on the status of role and women from an education, economic, and political standpoint in your country of jordan and the entire arab world? >> oh, deary me. >> [laughter] i had to put that in. >> we have seen jordan move forward. we have now a much greater awareness of the role of women.

like most societies, it is painfully obvious that when you look at the secondary score an examination result, of the top 20 students, the vast majority are women. the same can be said of our scores of universities. the highest scoring and the most gifted students are women. but then that does not translate itself into having a large percentage of women in our work force. we must better understand what this is not the case. some of its cultural and we must ensure that we can overcome this. we must also, i think, do more and that her majesty has been exceptional in this area. we must do more to understand the pressures on women. we have shelters for battered women, but her children. we have means by which we can understand the problems are occurring. more and more people in jordan

understand that what exists in a family should remain in the family but there are limits. if you are abusing your children the courts could intervene. all this is good. rocky speaking, -- broadly speaking, i was chairing a committee for the un development fund for women and i did this for three years. it was very sad for me to notice that in many of the forums where we discuss these issues -- discussed these issues, you noticed that by and large the delegates were women themselves. really, the target audience in any country are young men. we need more young men to take up the cause of women.

also, we need to ensure that gender equality is not something that is something that is trumpeted around the time of elections when those aspiring for office seek a women's the vote and say all kinds of things and and after the election, you see very little. i think we need to better appreciate all of this. i should just say that a few months ago, i met a very distinguished delegation from argentina, lady senators. we sat across the table and a very impressive lady said to me, "mr. ambassador, we come from a country that believes in gender equality." this was her opening line. i was wondering where she thought i come from.

i said," i must respectfully disagree because i come from a country that does not believe in gender equality." you could see the temperature in the room rising. i said, "i firmly believe in the superiority of women." [laughter] and we had a very pleasant conversation after that. [laughter] >> this question is with regard to the economic zones between jordan and israel that came after the peace agreement between the two countries. i believe your predecessor was fully involved in those dynamics. why does one not hear any further about them? what are the successes? what are the shortcomings? and how have they been affected

since the israeli invasion of gauze of 14 months ago? -- ofgaza 14 months ago. >> they have not made the news but they have given us firsthand knowledge about certain industries operate. the apparel industry quickly set up investment in jordan. the qiz's were fully active. we saw our exports jumped from something quite modest to something quite exceptional. as you alluded in your comments, this was a new experience for us. we were under the impression that the apparel industry would better monitor its own performances in respect of local laws where neighbor rights were

concerned but we realized this was not necessarily the case. we were rather ive naive in this. we reached out to friendly countries and i think with largely put our hearts and order. there's a large potential of factories and jordan have subscribed to this and this is

good. we will never removal complianccompliance but the waye dealt with it is to be commended. >> what was the reaction in jordan after the jordanian suicide bomber acted a few months ago? >> it is a very interesting question. if you talk to develop and specialists, they will say to us, what do we need to do to rein in an extremist thinking is we need to give people an opportunity. we need to create jobs or they don't exist. this is undeniably true. but as this particular case has shown, the bomber himself was a position. physician.

he received a scholarship to continue his studies in madison. he was married, he had two young girls. the material advantage has no bearing on his decisions to become affiliated to al qaeda. it raises the deeper question of -why -- the ideology of any individual can come from any region. i often think that we really don't understand ourselves the way we think we understand. when you look at the 20th century, it has done a disservice because it led us to think that we have concluded our we have answers to many of the

vexing, but for us. i would contend that many of the so-called conclusions are only congestion. in one example, soon after the terrible, dramatic events of 9/11, there was much discussion as to why it happened at who these people were and what they did it. but there was something in my mind that was missing here. it occurred to me that the actions of 9/11 or a distant cousin to the shooting at the columbine high school a couple of years earlier. the two disgruntled youths marched into the school on a suicide mission and there were certain people that want to murder and the rest were just murdered randomly before the killed themself. i have watched various programs and read various accounts of this. to me, it does not adequately

exploited why they did it. there is a pathology of humans which i do not really understand and i don't think we fully understand. we don't understand why we do these things, especially if they are not driven by fear. fear could turn up your sorry for functions in certain circumstances. i still have my doubts about this but in cases regarding the bomber, it is rather bewildering. i had a cousin who was lost in the bombing. it was a very gentle, kind man. you would never perceive that he could mean ill to anybody. i think he served his country nobly. we mourn his loss. >> this question asks that you

look in the rearview mirror as well as the front window. it has to do with the february, 1989 establishment of the arab cooperation council among jordan, iraq, yemen, and egypt. it was short-lived. where is this concept now? none of the four countries are part of this as they once were. there is a dynamism to the, a rational laws into it, is the idea still under consideration? if so, how and why it ended not, how and why? >> did anyone ever tell you you have a great radio voice? it is very deep. i enjoyed speaking after someone with a high voice because i have

a deep voice. i cannot do that with you. it is a great question but it was overcome by the events themselves. we had the case of the invasion of kuwait by iraq and the subsequent development and then we moved quickly into madrid and oslo and it did not really progressed beyond that then we have the application of economic sanctions on iraq and then it quickly perished as an idea. >> how would you assess the george mitchell's bill -- efforts to move along the peace process and what more can be done? >> i had a conversation with the

previous un special envoy and he had served in almost every conflict since 1971. he said that the toughest negotiations were always between the parties middle east. one cannot underestimate how difficult this has been for senator mitchell, notwithstanding his enormous credentials and qualifications which, of course, make him the perfect fit for this job. it is just so typical for anyone. we think he has laid the foundations for the launching of discussions on the final stages and i think that is something to be commended. >> in bringing this session to a

close, one factotum i did not mention in the introductory remarks and that is there are blocks of countries within the united nations and there is an arab block for various needs and purposes but prior to the most recent election of the current incumbent of united nations, secretary general, all 22 arab countries voted for this individual to be their representative and their candidate for the secretary general of united nations. [applause] i am in the eighth grade and i enjoyed the speech about peace. on behalf of this audience, we

could say that the rest of us are in kindergarten and we, too, enjoyed it. >> thank you so much per in [applause] -- thank you so much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> the carnegie endowment for international peace has a discussion about u.s. security relations with russia. the two countries recently negotiated a revised start treaty on reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles. our live coverage of this event begins at 10:00 a.m., eastern time, here on c-span. the pact between russia and the

u.s. is expected to be signed next week in prague and then awaits senate approval. >> the student cam competition this year asked students to create a video. here is a third-place winner. >> this is a regular day at work and you are working hard like you always do. suddenly, your boss calls you into his office which is weird because he never called you in. you walk into his office and he asks you to sit down. he begins to talk to you about your work and how tough things in -- are the office. and then he says the words," i am letting you go." and then it hit too hard and painful. and you feel like the whole world is falling on top of you.

[music] the state of being unemployed but available to work. >> the unemployment rate rose to 10.2%, the highest rate since april, 1983 and non-farm payrolls declined by 190,000. job losses at an average 180,000 for the past three months. the declines were much smaller and less widespread than they were last fall in the way -- and winter. over 5 million workers have been jobless for six months or more. among the unemployed, there were 9.3 million persons working part-time in october who were the preferred part-time work -- full-time work. >> in october, 2009, we lost

52,000 jobs spread construction job losses were focused on non- residential, especially trade. manufacturers lost 61,000 jobs. professional and business services shed 51,000 jobs. >> they are working hard. >> on a brighter note, healthcare added 29,000 jobs in october. have you been hiring lately? >> we have, in october of 2009, we added 15,000 people. >> not all businesses did. are you currently hiring here?

recognize any of these pictures? this is the great depression. in 1929, the on and on the great begin at 3.3%. in 1933, it went -- it jumped 29%. >> i don't need to remind you or any of them about the situation we found ourselves at the beginning of this year. the economy was in a freefall as a result of our financial crisis and folks could not access of affordable credit to run their businesses or take on all alone or student loan or in some cases pay their mortgages. home value is plummeting and we were hemorrhaging about 700,000 jobs per month. today, the economy is growing for the first time in more than one year. the november job report was the best we have had in nearly two years.

the fact is, even though we have stopped the rapid job losses we were seeing a few months ago, more than 7 million americans have lost their jobs in the two years since this recession began. unemployment still stands at 10% so we are not finished with our test. far from it. we have a lot of work to do. >> jobless is a scary thing but it does happen and it happens a lot fortunately, there are always ways to recover. find out if you are eligible for unemployment benefits. to determine how long your financial resources will last. find out if your health benefits are paid 5 -- by your employer, find out how to make in those benefits. cobra should be able to help you.

to determine whether a career chooses an order of layoffs are happening in your field, you may want to consider that you changed wakefield that is more stable. take this time to beef up your skills. i know what skills are most desirable for employers. begin your job search, write your resume, do your job interviews. realize that you are in a very stressful situation and be upset or angry is normal. take a little break to evaluate your situation but try not to wallow in self pity. unemployment may be a huge problem but president obama has a plan that will free us from this. >> this is the number one issue we need to confront in this country.

we cannot borrow our way out of this crisis, we need to earn our way out. the only way we can do this is to put america back to work again. his approach to get small businesses going again and the fact that banks are not making critical -- credit available to them is a critical problem. i think he is addressing that. >> i announced some more targeted steps to spur private sector hiring and give an added boost to small business by building on the tax cuts in recovery act and increasing access to the loans desperately needed for small businesses to grow. we will rebuild and modernize more are transportation and communication networks across the country and i called for the extension of emergency relief like compliments insurance, health benefits to help those who have lost their jobs while boosting consumer spending and promoting job growth. we also want to take some strategic surgical steps in areas that will generate the

greatest number of jobs while generating the greatest value for our economy. from the moment we took office, even as we took steps to deal with the financial crisis, we began investing in new work, a stronger foundation for lasting growth, one that would free us from the cycle of boom and bust that has been so painful, one that could create good jobs and opportunities for a growing middle class. that is at the heart of our efforts. [applause] >> many people were incredibly hard to support their families and earn a living. we will fight unemployment and we will win. it is time to turn the page and beginning new chapter. >> to see all the winning

entries in this year's student cam competition , visit student cam.org. this weekend, john dean is our guest. the former white house counsel to president nixon and author of 10 books will take your phone calls, e-mails and tweets sunday lot. ive. >> coming up today, "washington journal" is next with your phone calls. later, a discussion about the u.s.-russian security relationship and the new arms deal negotiated between the two nuclear powers. in about 45