ambassador edward walker will be focusing on egypt where he served as ambassador from 1994 to 1997. he was just there several weeks ago. he served as ambassador to israel and the united arab emirates. he too knows to asia, having been hosted there. -- p. to nose and tunisia, having been posted there. -- he too knows tunisia, having been posted there. we will begin by ambac -- inviting ambassador goulty to the podium. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much for that generous introduction. the claim to experience may not be visible. who would have thought that events in tunisia would attract such a large crowd? [laughter] who would have thought that all of this activity and activism would be sparked by a revolution in tunisia set off by the suicide of a poor man? why did we not see it coming? perhaps you did see it coming. let's have a quick show of hands of a 2, last november, force all a revolution in tunisia -- foresaw a revolution in tunisia. it took my wife about six weeks to ask, "when is this place going to blow?" it is not a question of "f." -- question of "if." we see th

ambassador edward walker will be focusing on egypt where he served as ambassador from 1994 to 1997. he was just there several weeks ago. he served as ambassador to israel and the united arab emirates. he too knows tunisia, having been posted there. we will begin by inviting ambassador goulty to the podium. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much for that generous introduction. the claim to experience may not be visible. who would have thought that events in tunisia would attract such a large crowd? [laughter] who would have thought that all of this activity and activism would be sparked by a revolution in tunisia set off by the suicide of a poor man? why did we not see it coming? perhaps you did see it coming. let's have a quick show of hands of a 2, last november, force all a revolution in tunisia -- foresaw a revolution in tunisia. mine is not up. but i will say that when we arrived in tunis in 2004 it took my wife about six weeks to ask, "when is this place going to blow?" it is not a question of "if." people had the analysis. we see the poverty. we could see the unemploymen

edward walker will be focusing on egypt where he served as ambassador from 1994-1997. he has also served as ambassador to israel and the united arab emirates. i should know that he knows it tunisia. he was also president of the middle east institute and teaches global politics ed hamilton college. it is an honor to have both of you with us today. it is going to be a very interesting program. we will leave a lot of room and time for questions. we will begin by inviting the embassador goulty to the podium. >> thank you very much for that generous introduction. i am only sorry that i left my frame behind so that the it shared experience would not be visible. who would have thought that events in tunisia would have attracted such a large crowd? who would have thought that all of this activity and activism which sparked by it -- would be sparked by a revolution in tunisia a dent -- from the suicide of a man in a small town. why did we not see it coming? perhaps you did see it coming. let's see a quick show of hands who last november sought a revolution coming in tunisia. mi