the united states is not a member of the e.u.o we can't dictate the terms in which any country enters into the -- i do think turkey is an enormously important ally in nato. they're helping us in afghanistan, in that critical effort. they have a growing entry and are interested in a further integration with europe and i would encourage that. so i said publicly, i think turkish membership in the e.u. would be important. now, president sarkozy, as an actual member of the e.u. has a different view, but i think it's very important to note he strongly supports the work that turkey is doing in nato. i believe he's interested in further economic integration and what the united states wants to do is just continue to encourage discussions and talks and a process whereby turkey can feel confident that it has a friendship with france, with the united states, with all of europe and that to the extent it's defining itself as part of europe, it has an opportunity to be a party. but again, that's something that's going to have to move forward no

compete with the e.u. and korea without an fta in end cra? -- india? >> i think that it is interesting to look at the evolution of india's ftas as claude was outlining, and the rubber is really hitting the road in the negotiations, india's negotiations with the e.u. because interestingly in india they can launch negotiations very quickly quite in contrast to what happens in the united states where we have to deal with fast track and congressional approval. i often looked with envy at how fast they can get things started. the question is what are they getting started, and what are they ending up with? with most of the negotiations to date they're very, very limited in scope and even with tariffs that wouldn't pass muster in the wto and certainly wouldn't be of the scale, anywhere of the scale we would be interested in. but what i hope is that we will build confidence and build building blocks for a much more ambitious relationship with india, and that is why we have really advocated starting with an investment agreement where progress can be made becaus

>> first, i understand that the e.u. is working to bring together 27 different countries and plan to implement solvency within a few years. i commend that effort. it's a significant achievement. as the state we have been working together kol lab

compete with the e.u. and korea without an fta in end cra? -- india?>> i think that it is interesting to look at the evolution of india's ftas as claude was outlining, and the rubber is really hitting the road in the negotiations, india's negotiations with the e.u. because interestingly in india they can

of course, the e.u. sla u.s. phase 1 open sky agreement does not guarantee heathrow slots, gates or other essential facilities. in fact public filings indicate continental paid $209 million for just four heathrow slot pairs, i.e., over 50 million per slot pair to support a single heathrow round trip flight. free access to heathrow? hardly. while european carriers provide a handful of slots to facilitate the few new flights last summer that supply of factual slots is not limb minimumless as they contend. in fact, that very small pool of slots is now exhausted. also, with j.f.k. recently joining the heathrow club as a closed airport, red flags should be flying high on both side of the atlantic. b.a. and a.a. argues that even if heathrow is full, competitors can operate from gatwick. well a stampede wishing to move to heathrow would not have occurred if financial returns were in any way comparable. heathrow has a clear premium as an airport. after all, why would its owner want to keep it yet agree to sell off gatwic

. >> the iranian opposition groups list the terrorist organizations the e.u. has removed them with the president considered doing the same? >> i don't have any information on that we can have somebody look that up for you. >> what the president has said i believe they would threaten to veto the defense appropriations bill because of the of 22 measures. the defense appropriations committee increase eight -- just increased funding does the press still stand? >> absolutely. secretary gates has outlined a very robust plan to change our defense procurement to invest in weapons systems and mouth -- manpower that make the most sense for the future. he and others have determined that is not the part of the program and secretary of defense advisers suggest they would recommend that the president vetoed the bill. >> another thing that may be presumptuous, but senator schumer speaking at georgetown on wednesday said they even of the immigration summit that a comprehensive immigration bill is what is in order and urged the president to go along those lines to plan to sell

madam president, that's why i am writing to ambassador john bruten urging the e.u. to show they are serious about ending any discussion or movement forward on the subsidies. the message sent by the u.s. government is very clear: on april 11 of 2005 this united states senate unanimously passed senate concurrent resolution 25 and that resolution called for european governments to reject launch aid for the a-350. launch aid for the a-350 or any other form of prefer usual financing for airbus is unacceptable. we will not tolerate another round of subsidies that kill our american jobs. map, in addition to the trace-distorting subsidies now being talked about in paris, there are other disportions showing up in the news accounts, as well. several weeks ago, i had the opportunity here in the senate to question air force secretary at our defense appropriations subcommittee. i asked him and told him about my concerns for the future of our domestic industrial base. and how i believe that the future capabilities of both our domestic workforce and our military must be taken into

what we're doing, we are consulting with the number of our allies, particularly with the e.u.and trying to develop a picture of exactly what happened. all if you are helping of course, when you report. there were very dramatic scenes being broadcast live on cnn and everyone else. a lot of what we have is based on what your report on as well. >> when you say you are concerned about reports come in your first view does this election appear to be credible or not? >> i am not prepared to make a statement right here from this podium about whether or not we can pronounced one way or the other, we are still assessing. >> does that mean if ahmadinejad is able to remain as president u.s. is prepared to go ahead and do with the questions of nuclear station with him at the helm of the government? >> as i said before this is a very serious issue of iran acquiring nuclear weapons as we go forward we will make our decision based on u.s. national interests, and of course, we are following the situation very closely. but as the vice president said yesterday, we have made the decision in to pu

this is why the european union during the e.u. africa summit established closed link -- established close links with african countries to shoulder their responsibility or helping them shoulder their responsibility, for example providing them with the necessary equipment but also through political discussions. i think due to the decisions we have made over the injuries, that we were able after the second world war to live together peacefully, we have an onl obligation to not only create peace within europe, because we have been able to do that, but to actually share with others the knowledge how we manage to get that to happen. dignity of man is invie labble. this is what is what is described in the german constitution. this goes not only for the germans but for every human being all over the world. we as germans after the second world war have made an experience that was not a matter of course. the allies extended a helping hand to us, to our neighbor france, the united kingdom, but also the united states of america. we need to sh

viewed way you are much more likely to live in the united states through cancer than in canada or the e.u. and we want to make sure that we do not harm that record because if you get a bad result from you're on colings and you're fighting cancer -- oncologist and you're fighting cancer you much more likely to live in the united states than those other countries which some folks have been looking at as a model from where the united states should go. >> good morning. i'm lynngenicens from the great state of kansas. health care is not just a policy issue for me. as a daughter of aging parents and a mother of two children i've spent a fair amount of time in doctor's offices and emergency rooms in recent years. and when it comes to health care for my loved ones, i want their doctor working with us to explain treatment options and helping us make important decisions, not a distant government bureaucrat or washington politician who doesn't know situation and doesn't know my family. we've got a health care crisis on our hands. it is definitely a crisis when a family is denied the ability to choos

and we had a lot of our allies including the foreign ministers of the e.u. today, have expressed our concerns about the allegations of election irregularities. we're concerned about some of the treatment of the demonstrators and we're calling for the irony in authorities to respect the right of people -- to the iranian authorities to respect the right of people to express themselves peacefully but we are, what we are focused on is on the unfolding of events. and will also continue to focus on the need to get iran to adhere to its international obligations. >> what message does it send to pro-democracy dissidents around the world when the united states very clearly indicates that regardless of the election results in iran and regardless of how much. forces used to suppress the demonstrations going on in it tehran right now the u.s. will pursue its policy of engagement with one ever broke regime turns up in tehran? >> i don't think i said that, but what i said is that we have a -- we have concerns about what's going on on the ground in iran. we have concerns t

and e.u. working together to engage china and india on global climate change. the g20 bringing together key asian and european partners to address the global financial crisis. north korea -- i don't have to say much about the. security developments in the pacific such as the development of long-range ballistic missiles impact the debate on missiles in europe. i think this link has been apparent since the u.s. entered world war ii in europe after the attack in the pacific so, admiral, the atlantic council will continue to float its boat as well in the pacific. i now want to turn the podium over to the honorable walt slocombe the vice chair of the atlantic council and former undersecretary of defense for policy. he's going to#9 introduce our speaker and will later moderate the q & a session. walt, who's now with kaplan and drysdale is -- and this is not an overuse of the word, a pillar of the atlantic council. he provides me and the rest of our leadership strategic advice as well as sound legal advice. i am still free walking around and have not yet been incarcer

today new figures from the e.u.ave been published showing that we have the largest underlying deficit anywhere in europe. why doesn't he admit that balancing the nation's books will take long, difficult long-term decisions. nobody is fooled by his trick of dressing up cuts as investment. now, we are setting out what needs to happen unlike him and unlike him. untribed, on tax credits for high incomed families. there are some ideas. now, where are his? >> mr. speaker, given that there is no problem of inflation at the moment in the country and given that interest rates is low, it is right to help people to get people to work and take action to take 150 businesses as we're doing. it's right to move forward the housing program and to move forward our program of capital investment. these are the right things to do. i don't think the liberals with their proposals to cut public spending are doing the right thing at the moment at all. >> thank you very much and congratulations on your election, mr. speaker. can i ask my hon

cooperatively, but i would also say that three, four years ago if you had said that china, russia, the e.u., nato, malaysia, india, the united states, australia, canada, greece, turkey would all be working together, that's a pretty, pretty interesting mix of countries. but that's what we're doing because there is a common concern that we all have, and i think we are making some good progress there. but it's also an international effort. for example, we created a task force, task force 151, to be a coordinating element for piracy, and right now that task force is being commanded by a turkish admiral on a united states ship. >> other questions? >> why don't we -- i'll call, i'll spot here. okay, there you go. >> got it? hi. >> hi, john, how are you? >> john donnelly, congressional quarterly, good morning. there's been some talk lately about getting rid of, basically, the idea or the goal of being able to fight two major conventional wars at about the same time in different theaters. the chief staff of the army, the joint chiefs have each basically said it's time to revisit this idea. wonderi