steves: a selection of ferries make the 50-mile crossing between helsinki and tallinn nearly hourly. because of the ease of this delightful two-hour cruise and the variety a quick trip over to estonia adds to your nordic travels, pairing helsinki and tallinn is a natural. stepping off the boat in tallinn, the capital of estonia, you feel you've traveled a long way culturally from finland. its a mix of east and west. tallinn's nordic lutheran culture and language connect it with stockholm and helsinki, but two centuries of czarist russian rule and nearly 50 years as part of the soviet union have blended in a distinctly russian flavor. fins and estonians share a similar history. first, swedish domination, then russian. then independence after world war i. until 1940, the estonians were about as affluent as the fins, but then estonia was gobbled up by an expanding soviet empire and spent the decades after world war ii under communism. when the ussr fell, estonia regained its freedom, and in 2004, it joined the european union. tallinn has modernized at an astounding rate since the fall o

went from there to finland, and not only did we meet in hell helsinki and we also met with a permanent observer in the arctic council. and then we finished our trip to moscow. a very productive meeting. the first senior level meeting of u.s.a. representative in moscow since the imposition of the sanctions. so it was a significant event, not just for the council but for the united states as well, and i'd be happy to entertain questions on that when we get into it. so there's been an awful lot of listening going on, and what i would say is it's broken down into a couple of themes. the first theme being this theme of balance, find finding -- finding the sweet spot and i've spoken to an awful lot of groups similar to this, diverse groups brookings tend to have a very balanced view of things more centrist, so perhaps this program resonates. we have tried to make it a balanced program to try to reflect all the needs going on up there. but the second comment that i get most constantly when i brief this to groups to the press and in particular to the other seven countries, is almost the immedi

merkel made the comments in helsinki where she's holding talks with the finnish president. >> there werean be variation as far as which measures the government opts for, but in the end the over all framework must add up. we saw this in ireland when a new government changed parts of the program. but in the end of the country must be restored. >> and britain's prime minister david cameron has formerly asked queen elizabeth to dissolve parliament before the general election on may 7th. they have been setting the tone for the campaign to come. >> you can dues an economy that grows, that creates jobs, that generates the money to insure a properly funded and improving national health service, a government that will tut cut taxes, and a country that is safe and secure. >> david cameron used to campaign to save europe: now he keeps quiet about treaties in europe. >> and sport is next in al jazeera. we'll tell you how tunisia will be able to compete in the africa cup of nations. we'll have all the details. >> as promised here is raul with sport. >> cricket first many of the players who won the wo

helsinki index goes from 20% to 2%. argentina shrinks -- only saudi arabia's index is unchanged. focus this week is looking at parity. is at the next stop? scarlet: that is the target. several banks have said the same. one analyst says the euro bear market is only half hour be as -- half over because there's a lost incentive to hold onto the euros. you have the week euro and low interest environment prompting u.s. companies to issue more euro denominated that. mark: scarlet, thanks. that will do it for this edition of "bottom line. "street smart" is up next. ♪ alix: welcome to the most important power of the session. 60 minutes left until the closing bell. i'm alix steel. cheers based outside the u.s. are you sit -- are losing appeal as the advances to multi-year highs. is this going to prevent earnings growth? and we are counting down to earnings from box and shake shack. less, will bring you the fed's stress tests on thanks. and i will be joined with the man behind the report -- the new york state comptroller. "street smart" starts now.

given the way russia is behaving with regard to breaching the helsinki agreements and other international agreements they signed up to? >> it is more difficult but we've made a clear decision that our approach would be to engage with russia where our vital national interest requires us to engage on a case-by-case basis, and many of the examples you've given are such cases where our national interest requires us to engage. and the russians have given clear signals that they want to compartmentalize and treat the dispute that we have over their behavior in ukraine as separate from the not necessarily terribly deep relations we have over things like syria on the one hand and the actual quite sensible working relationship we have, for example, in the iran nuclear negotiations. and i think it suits both side to maintain practical working relationships where it suits both sides. >> do you think it's a fair summary to say the militants or iranian aligned shia militias are one of the main forces in the country -- territory? >> particularly -- >> trying to recapture -- >> okay. i think iranian ali

but again, it is important to keep in mind, congress, for example, did not get involved in the helsinki accords which recognized soviet control over eastern europe in return for opening up. so congress doesn't get involved. it is not just the u.s. deal. i think this is important. it is the international community is involved here because all of those countries negotiating there, with us, they all have sanctions themselves. david: all right. from a distance it looks like a mess but i'm encouraged to hear your optimistic assessment. lawrence korb, thank you very much. i appreciate you coming on. >> nice to be with you. liz: a famous rocker is taking on food giant kraft, taking on folders, taking on starbucks, with hills own line of coffee and soon his own cafe. we have the drummer for aerosmith and founder of rockin' and rose inch. he is doing that straight ahead. with joey cramer. david: been with them since 1970. trying to save money it is pretty much a losing battle unless you're in the market. former fed chairman bernanke said it was a choice he had between the savers and economy. ess

went from there to finland and not only did we meet in helsinki with the full range of activities but we also traveled north to meet with the parliament to meet with one of our permanent observers in the arctic council. then most importantly we finished up that trip by going to moscow. i'll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment but very productive meeting. it was the first senior level meeting of a u.s. representative in moscow since the imposition of the sanctions it was a cig nif event for the united states as well. i would be happy to entertain questions on that when we get into it. so, there's been an awful lot of listening that's gone on. and what i would say is it's broken down into a couple of themes. the first theme being this theme of balance finding the sweet spot. as i've said i've spoken to an awful lot of groups similar to this diverse groups, brookings tends to have a very balanced view of things more centrist so perhaps this program resonates. we've tried to make it a balanced program, to try to reflect all the needs that are going on up there. but the seco

given the way russia is behaving with regard to breaching the helsinki agreements and other international agreements they signed up to? >> it is more difficult but we've made a clear decision that our approach would be to engage with russia where our vital national interest requires us to engage on a case-by-case basis, and many of the examples you've given are such cases where our national interest requires us to engage. and the russians have given clear signals that they want to compartmentalize and treat the dispute that we have over their behavior in ukraine as separate from the not necessarily terribly deep relations we have over things like syria on the one hand and the actual quite sensible working relationship we have, for example, in the iran nuclear negotiations. and i think it suits both side to maintain practical working relationships where it suits both sides. >> do you think it's a fair summary to say the militants or iranian aligned shia militias are one of the main forces in the country -- territory? >> particularly -- >> trying to recapture -- >> okay. i think iranian ali

in particular, for example, the failure to hold a conference in hel sink ki -- hell helsinki, one offavorite cities, for sure. and the weapons of mass destruction free zone. thank you. [inaudible] >> yes. we are having -- [inaudible] of course egypt is going to -- [inaudible] >> we want to have a conference to free the middle east from all kinds of weapons of mass destruction. unfortunately, this did not materialize. so ultimately, egypt as well as other countries, they are coming with the hope that we will have -- [inaudible] >> in order to have this conference as soon as possible, because we believe that it frees the middle east from all weapons of mass destruction is a priority and a necessity. it has to do also not only with faith but also with non-state -- referring to the state department which ambassador jenkins i refer to. thank you. >> anyone else? >> okay. please. one second. >> i'm from the center of egyptian-american religions. my question to the ambassador is how would you advise the administration to -- on egypt, after the coup, especially as we know that positions have

i'm the former chairman of the security of cooperation of europe signed in helsinki in august 1975. in that agreement the soviet union, the then-soviet union and 34 other nations signed a document which said that you could not change borders by other than peaceful means. vladimir putin has broken that agreement but he's also broken the agreement that in 1994 we entered into with ukraine in consideration of their giving up their nuclear weapons. vladimir putin has sent russian troops into another nation. he's tried to mask it. he's tried the pretense this is simply separatists who are active, but very frarningly those troops in ukraine have admitted to the press that they're from russia. vladimir putin's support for violent separatists has destabilized a large region in eastern ukraine and led to the illegal -- illegal russian occupation of crimea. and the world hasn't done much to discourage not only the actions of mr. putin but others who would learn the lessons of his actions. the sanctions that united states and allies have imposed against putin and his closest supporters as well

went from there to finland and not only did we meet in helsinki with the full range of activities but we also traveled north to meet with the parliament to meet with one of our permanent observers in the arctic council. then most importantly we finished up that trip by going to moscow. i'll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment but very productive meeting. it was the first senior level meeting of a u.s. representative in

and he has a ph.d in international relations from helsinki university in finland. >> thank you very much. let me start by thanking the potomac institute for organizing this important event, and, of course the special thanks to professor alexander whom i know has put a lot of effort into this event today. i think best way to discuss the issue of international cooperation to the combat terrorism is to try to start with a global image of terror u.s.es today. terrorists today. starting from africa, by all means i think boko haram, the terrorist organization in nigeria, is now deeply rooted in the nigerian society compared to four or five years ago. not only this, boko haram has gone through important transformation process. it started as a nigerian organization, and now it's a transnational organization working very effectively in other societies like cameroon, chad niger buy key that faso, south nigeria, of course. i very much recommend that a you read this excellent report professor yonah just mentioned about terrorism in north africa in 2014. clearly, the numbers here show that terrorism

i went from there to finland and not only did we meet in helsinki with a full range of activities, butalso traveled north to meet with the parliament to meet with one of and not only did we meet in our permanent observers in the arctic council. then, most importantly, we finished up by going to moscow. i will talk a little bit more about that in just a moment, but very productive meeting. it was the first senior-level meeting of a united states representative in moscow since the imposition of the sanctions, so it was a significant event, not just for the arctic council, but for the united states as well. i will be happy to answer questions on that when we get into it. so, there has been an awful lot of listening going on. what i would say is that it has been broken down into a couple of themes. the first theme being this theme of balance, finding the sweet spot. as i said, i have spoken to an awful lot of groups similar to this, diverse groups, brookings tends to have a very balanced view of things, more centrists. so perhaps this program resonates. we have tried to make it a balance p

i'm the former chairman of the security of cooperation of europe signed in helsinki in august 1975.at agreement the soviet union, the then-soviet union and 34 other nations signed a document which said that you could not change borders by other than peaceful means. vladimir putin has broken that agreement but he's also broken the agreement that in 1994 we entered into with ukraine in consideration of their giving up their nuclear weapons. vladimir putin has sent russian troops into another nation. he's tried to mask it. he's tried the pretense this is simply separatists who are active, but very frarningly those troops in ukraine have admitted to the press that they're from russia. vladimir putin's support for violent separatists has destabilized a large region in eastern ukraine and led to the illegal -- illegal russian occupation of crimea. and the world hasn't done much to discourage not only the actions of mr. putin but others who would learn the lessons of his actions. the sanctions that united states and allies have imposed against putin and his closest supporters as well as me

as former chairman of the helsinki commission in the final years of the cold war, i witnessed the yearnings of the russian people not to be bullied through fear and control by their leaders. vladimir putin and his heveragemen have created a culture of -- henchmen have created a culture of terror for those who oppose his rule and increasingly isolated russiaia from the world. congress and the -- russia from the world. congress and the american people must keep speaking out against the erosion of the basic freedoms the russian people achieved in the 1990's. this week mr. speaker, the thoughts and prayers of the american people are with the family of boris and millions of those whose hopes and dreams he fought for throughout his life. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will receive a message. messager: mr. speaker, a message from the speak -- president of the united states. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i'm directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. the speaker pro tempor