it's true it's true that it is a gamble on the core of the brotherhood i mean egypt's egypt's economy is in dire straits there are. forty percent of egyptians live almost into dollars a day and a million and a half babies are born in egypt every year. there's a brotherhood have answers to these problems and i think it does on the other hand if if if you or i or the brotherhood and we waited eight decades to seize power i don't think we would like the chance of a way ok on i mean is it ok and it will achieve our i think is going a bit strong here we are talking about an election our way absolutely and one which should never lose sight of the fact that the muslim brotherhood has been fairly elected by the people in parliamentary elections to run the affairs of the state and i think the reason why the muslim brotherhood candidate or shot that seems to have good chances to win the election is that because he is a multimillionaire he's a fine and serious who's got extremely good grasp on the economy and traditionally islamic parties tend to could be emphasis on charitable work on philanthr

so i'll come to egypt at the end. but there were two more general questions which applied to everyone. one was the issue of education and the other was a question of how will you let out contracts candidly. so maybe i'll start where mondher on that. >> yes, the first question is easy to answer. infrastructure projects will be tendered through public tendering in a transparent fashion. whether you are a french, u.s., saudi firm, you have exactly the same chances as the any other firm. other u.s. firms have visited tunisia, and we have been talking to them and exposing to the different opportunities that exist and i think they have good chances to win. they don't need favored treatment. they have good technology, good know how and tunisia can benefit from that. the second question regarding education is a very important one. i talked about the program on job training, which is one important program destined to fix some of the problems we have of with our education problem. but you're right, one of the 13 projects i said

so i'll come to egypt at the end. but there were two more general questions which applied to everyone. one was the issue of education and the other was a question of how will you let out contracts candidly. so maybe i'll start where mondher on that. >> yes, the first question is easy to answer. infrastructure projects will be tendered through public tendering in a transparent fashion. whether you are a

in egypt. started. ok in the build we ended the first part of the program talking about the dire straits of the egyptian economy i mean i think all of us would agree they need a big change or the military has had their hands in the till for so very long backed up by the americans for so long give somebody else a chance i mean that's what it looks like they're asking people to do and i think all of us if you like them or not with gen when we genuinely agree that they are popular in egypt so give them a shot. yes very much so and you know we shouldn't forget that we're talking about a muslim majority country so we shouldn't be too surprised to see that the islamic altie he's doing well in that context the muslim brotherhood has also been stigmatized let's not forget especially in the wake of america's so-called war on terror which effectively put the muslim brotherhood push the muslim brotherhood underground and it can lead to the party being banned excepted and officially in the political landscape but n

it protects the future generations of egypt. i was there when the formation of the committee, that we voted on, on march 19th, gave the people's assembly and the accounts the right to elect 100 representatives of the egyptian society. there were many options, is to make the 100 from the people's assembly and the shore accounts. all from outside of both of them. or any compilation it was open for us. so we listened to everyone. we had certain parties that said, 100% from the peoples assembly. we had other parties that said, 100% out of the people's assembly. we came clue discussithrough di because we would like to keep this pluralistic alternative in egypt with a 50/50 arrangement. 50% from within. 50% from without, and we made this, and it was great moment in the egyptian history. i remember i was there when i spoke, and i said, this is an historic moment in egypt that we agree together as the representatives of egypt freely elected by all egyptians over 65% of egyptians participated in the election. so it was a historical momen

the nile river is egypt's lifeblood.eople here cling to its path through the desert and cluster in its broad delta. our case explores human modification of the environment as humans harness the mighty nile through projects like the aswan dam, lake nasser and the new toshka canal; the move from subsistence to commercial agriculture; and how an expanding population in the nile river delta is encroaching on the area's remaining precious farmland. from space, the earth can seem an abstract pattern of color and shape, but as we look closer, environmental processes come into view. here the rain of east-central africa collects in the giant lake victoria. its waters drain to the north, giving rise o of the world's great rirs, the nile descending from the african highlands, the nile winds through one of earth's most arid landscapes. coursing through the vast desert of northern africa, the waters of the nile nourish a ribbon of green across the sun-baked terrain. and 4,000 miles from its source, the nile puts forth its greatest gi

in egypt. imagine how narrow the base is, and they tell us we had to go to these 32 families. that was the system. otherwise you wouldn't do the business in egypt. how can you incriminate now after the fact the behavior that was more or less the rule? so what we would like to do is gradually stop it going forward, create all kinds of new measures of transparency, checks and balances and so on but try to ease these people into it, as well. there is no point in running them out of the country. and nothing will happen, nothing good will come out of it, by the way. the tourism industry, one of the first meetings we had as a party with the different industrial teams in egypt was with the owners of the tourism industry. we had like two huge town hall meetings, and they of course, came up with all these concerns. what are you going to do about people in swimming suits and beaches and liquor and stuff like that. and our answer to them was we actually would like not only to maintain the tourism industry

egypt is a country of institutions. egypt is not going to let go of its military, it is not going to give up its military establishment. it cares very much about its military establishment. its military plays an important role. the question is how the nuance or how to distinguish between the guardian of the country and the generals that are associated with [inaudible] and those who cannot associate with the military change. that is where the egyptians are dabbling. how to make sure they guard their military establishment. they need that in the future for their own sovereignty. at the same time, being able to move a young and put the generals back where they belong in the military offices and in the military bases. out of the economy and public life of the country. my sense is the military is on the defensive in such a way that it keeps -- it keeps explaining why it just needs -- the future just cannot guarantee freedom from prosecution, if they can keep some of the generals, not even the government is going to be part o

a long-term question for egypt, you know, ali came back from egypt i spent the last ten days in egypt, and as i was saying earlier i sat down for about an hour at the main islamist brotherhood and sat down with a number of leaders and with what i would like to think of as serious intellectuals and i sat down with the three hands on activists and so on and so forth, and my impression is egypt is going in the right direction. my impression is, and i keep telling them where pessimistic sometimes about how things are handled because of the way that the military council is dealing with the situation there was no evolution sometimes the certain islamist deal with the situation caliphate or not [inaudible] not a wise thing to say in egypt the general impression that i have is that there are many challenges egypt faces today that has to do with forces but are hardly space such as the generals to a lesser degree the paltrow conservative islamists. but i think they are on the defensive, and the people in general, and i would say the democrats in particular, the youth and i mean the ones who rea

no, egypt, i think, being serious, egypt is where things would happen. if egypt is successful, it's all the 350, 400 million arabs will be successful in the future. so egypt is going to play the role. it's not just the interest of egyptians. all the arabs have an interest in egypt to get it right. and to get it right you need to create jobs immediately. to create jobs, i don't think you're going to do it the way you put it forward because it's not going to happen. you need 20 million jobs in the next two to three years and you have to create momentum. the only way you're going to do that is infrastructure. you need to build big-time infrastructure in the next two to three years. it's not going to happen easy. i was happy that you guys are here to push u.s. egyptians to push here jobs, jobs, jobs. that's what you want. and this place here, they can help you. they cannot pay you, but there is only one place who can do that for you. we have the money in the gulf each year $200 to $300 billion. we thank the iranian problem and everything else, the oil price

a long-term question for egypt, you know, ali came back from egypt i spent the last ten days in egypt, and as i was saying earlier i sat down for about an hour at the main islamist brotherhood and sat down with a number of leaders and with what i would like to think of as serious intellectuals and i sat down with the three hands on activists and so on and so forth, and my impression is egypt is going in the right direction. my impression is, and i keep telling them where pessimistic sometimes about how things are handled because of the way that the military council is dealing with the situation there was no evolution sometimes the certain islamist deal with the situation caliphate or not [inaudible] not a wise thing to say in egypt the general impression that i have is that there are many challenges egypt faces today that has to do with forces but are hardly space such as the generals to a lesser degree the paltrow conservative islamists. but i think they are on the defensive, and the people in general, and i would say the democrats in particular, the youth and i mean the ones who rea

and this is surely how the americans view the situation in egypt . many in washington today as far as we understand regret the haste with which america helped. barak and his regime leave the scene but that is of course one water under the bridge in terms of the specific candidacies in the upcoming election i'm unaware that america has a specific candidate that it is promoting or whose victory it thinks can really lead the region in general and bilateral israeli egyptian relations in particular to greener pastures. and i want to live with us on the line from jerusalem a writer and journalist for the wall street journal thanks but i. thank you. and still had for you on the program popping happy pills to forget the horrors of war new concern for u.s. soldiers over a growing dependence on senators and antidepressants the details coming out for you on our team in just a few moments. the u.n. is beefing up its observer mission to syria as the violence there continues unabated political leaders of the rebellion against the mascots are calling for military i

egypt is not egypt of the president. egypt is of the egyptian people. no country should accept interference from any outside country. >> then there was the second part that had to do with the red sea. >> that was during the political complaint. how about people who are asking to come out to mubarak? what if the united states does not like the election result? the united states can do whatever it wants. it is an egyptian decision. if the united states likes it, we are happy. if you do not like it, recanting from the red sea or the white sea. we have to -- you can drink from the red sea or the white sea. we have two sees. we have to make use of them. >> in and egyptian activists. i was disappointed with your statements. i would like to ask you that the constitution cannot be written by the majority. mubarak is to do the majority rule. we should not use people from parliament from the constitution. >> thank you for asking. it is a valid question. it is very important to know that this represents more than 47%. in spite of this, we became underrepresented.

so the catholics of egypt and orthodox of egypt as well as the protestants of egypt being under pressure all the time, discriminated against because of their faith, their faith must mean something to them- they are willing to pay for it. and those who are willing to pay for it and not to convert to islam under the pressure of poverty or lack of promotion, they must have a personal relationship with god- sacrament first or agent first- there is that living experience. the coptic church always puts emphasis on repentance, and repentance is in your life- one turns his back to sin and his face to god. so i think that they have that beautiful link between a person and christ under the pressure, and with the teaching, even if it is not as clear as protestants bring up justification by faith. >> see, that's a very remarkable spin on being a minority in a country with a dominant religion. as our conversation went on, he was saying something along the lines of, "you americans who are christian, you don't appreciate your christianity because it comes so easy." here- and he went on and on about thi

but egypt, countries like egypt and persia are five, have 5,000-year-old histories. and, unfortunately, the passage of time does not necessarily mean positive progress. it doesn't mean that they will finally discover liberty. certain factors must exist for a society to have democracy and freedom. at the state level, it needs the right legal system to protect freedom of democracy. at the cultural level, it needs the right morals and values that will establish the foundation for and the example for people to behave and to be appreciative of freedom and democracy. at the individual level, it needs the personal character, the belief system and trust between members of society that works in harmony with the state, the legal system and the culture. all these factors don't exist in the middle east yet. unfortunately. before i proceed i want to emphasize that i'm not here to talk about people or groups. i'm not here to offend muslims or the good and peace-loving muslims. i'm here to speak about an ideology and a legal system that is the official law today in over 54 countrie

in egypt. please, any time you visit egypt, make sure you stop and see the square. we would like you to be able, and others, to walk in the shadow, whisper a prayer in the virgin mary church, which is across the street. this is the egypt we are having the dream for. we have a dream that egyptians, as others, will be able to feel connected to with 7000 years of human genius and creativity. that is the dream we have. we have a dream that is not limited to egypt, but that is open to the whole world, where we can honor the human dignity and respect our cultural differences that we consider as invincible conditions for world peace. thank you, thank you. [applause] >> to just do a brief introduction to the other people who will be joining in and responding to questions. hussein el-kazzaz is a businessman and adviser to the muslim brotherhood and the freedom of justice party on issues of national development, economic and business development and organizational performance. he has a ph.d. in organizat

and this is truly how the americans view the situation in egypt. many in washington today as far as we understand regret the haste with which america helped. barak and his regime leave the scene but that is of course going water under the bridge egypt turned itself from an emerging markets economy one where no foreign investor can assume with signs and written statement on the part of an egyptian interlocutor is worth more than that with which it is signed. also had for you this hour the war games held in a more than sensitive region as russia and china hold their first joint naval exercises in a yellow sea plane what their political plans are selling torts. and the second episode of whistleblower julian assange just hard hitting interview show airs here on tuesday a look ahead to what's in store in just a moment. but first quite a record increase in the use of prescribed antidepressants by u.s. soldiers military officers see no reason for panic seen as a way to help service personnel survive the brutality of war there's concern that drugs nearly m

imposing it on egypt is unfair.e also believe -- we are a little different from the tunisian experience. we are discussing another level of discourse. we're not interested in that. we would like to but islamist principles -- what does it mean? we look at what we call -- what is the implication of the sharia? that means democracy, freedom, the rule of law. that means the basic universal principles everywhere in the corner of this earth. i still have one minute. other challenges, there are many challenges. the military council is a challenge. the military -- we would like to avoid military conflict phenomenon. we liked -- have any military is like having a theocracy in a secular form. once we are settled with the parliament, the presidency, we need to be able to change the culture into a culture of freedom. all of us can agree and disagree. we need to be able to honor our human dignity, respect our differences, because we believe that these two principles are indispensable conditions for egyptian peace, for national p

let us close egypt to the egyptians and we will do everything egypt. the third alternative, which i personally represent and freedom and justice party represented from the science of muslim brotherhood them into existence. no. we do have this tradition that needs to be respected. but at the same time we cannot ignore the european development. because europe came out of the dark ages through islamists -- and europeans learned a lot from the muslim experience and say why can egyptians or arabs and muslims in this regard learn from the europeans, take from the europeans what we need, and leave what we don't. and since then the struggle went on. nazis came to power. the struggle went on. then came, the problem was not specific. mopar, the same thing on january 21. egyptians went millions in the streets of every city in egypt. they decided in one word -- we are not leaving. he has to leave. and him was not just a person. it was more of a system. thank god the system collapsed. but i think of the problem in egypt is not the problem of the day of the dictator

and this is surely how the americans view the situation in egypt. many in washington today as far as we understand regret the haste with which america. and his regime leave the scene but that is of course one water under the bridge in egypt turned itself from an emerging market to a high risk economy one where no foreign investor can assume signed and written statement on the part of an egyptian interlocutor is worth more than the ink with which it is signed. and the debut of julian assange as the t.v. show host on r.t.s. provoked strong reaction from around the world the next edition of the program is showing on tuesday and focuses on global problems for more now let's join our london correspondent laura smith laura it's almost a week since the program premiered right here on r t a lot of speculation over further additions i understand you have a little insight into what we can expect from our. i do yes so tomorrow the second episode is airing we did see a lot of backlash from the first episode which we'll talk about a little bit later but this new

and he's in egypt 100%. i don't think the the egyptian government will even acknowledge that he exists for there to extradite him. there are 500 reported matters annually in the muslim world reported. there are much more that were on reported, and the choice is also creeping in the west. again, the trend is expanding and not diminishing. it's not just what is happening in the muslim world now it is in the west and the we face an honored killing in america we say that sharia encourages it and they learn, but it was daily that it happened to kill apostates like me i have a death warrant on me if i go to the middle east, and who knows, maybe in muslim wants to follow to should be on the streets how can i dare speak out of law that condemns me to death and many others i am an islamophobia. it is a phobia in american not to speak against the law that condemns for muslims to death and that is why i created for muslims united .org because i want to expose this violation of the civil rights and human rights of the f

egypt is not egypt of the president. egypt is of the egyptian people. no country should accept interference from any outside country. >> then there was the second part that had to do with the red sea. >> that was during the political complaint. how about people who are asking to come out to mubarak? what if the united states does not like the election result? the united states can do whatever it wants. it is an egyptian decision. if the united states likes it, we are happy. if you do not like it, recanting from the red sea or the white sea. we have to -- you can drink from the red sea or the white sea. we have two sees. we have to make use of them. >> in and egyptian activists. i was disappointed with your statements. i would like to ask you that the constitution cannot be written by the majority. mubarak is to do the majority rule. we should not use people from parliament from the constitution. >> thank you for asking. it is a valid question. it is very important to know that this represents more than 47%. in spite of this, we became underrepresented.

egypt is changing dramatically washington policies are not for the last thirty years the u.s. has sent an annual aid package to the egyptian military this year it's one point three billion dollars it is absolutely essential that we do what we can to preserve a close strategic relationship with egypt because egypt is being major player in the region the egyptian military has been widely accused of cracking down on peaceful protesters and egyptians want to put an end to the overreaching power of their military but that seems to have had no effect on washington's decision to keep going with business as usual with their gypped business as usual seems to be a reality almost a decade ago unfortunately our leadership in the white house and in the state department have not caught up with that reality the new reality is it is not business as usual we are not buying loyalty but not even the egyptian military's loyalty may be enough to secure business as usual between washington and cairo the muslim brotherhood is the ruling power in egypt's parliament now and their candidate could well

in egypt to break away from a tree. the running mates banned such a side of charter almost a month well causing a lot of tensions on the ground so egyptians are receiving this blood there's a deep militarized state here for over sixty years the military has been ruling this country anyone from the political heads the governors the mayors they're all retired military generals this octopus depend because i have a strong grip over the country so it's not easy to those terms i remember when we were first in the square they said we're not here this is on the islamic revolution with years egyptians and once things settle down we'll definitely run for parliament and that we will not get over thirty five percent maximum of the parliament and this is this was more of a promise than just the statement what we've seen is that they actually began with seventy percent and then said it would be twenty five and then they said it will be thirty five what we've seen is that with the broader coalition of us. well if this is all the seven

and this is truly how the americans view the situation in egypt . many in washington today as far as we understand regret the haste with which america helped. barak and his regime leave the scene but that is of course going to water under the bridge. turned itself from an emerging markets to higher was the economy one where no foreign investor can assume with signs and written statement on the part of any gyptian interlocutor is worth more than the ink with which it is signed. now the u.s. could use its military in afghanistan for at least a decade after its withdrawal in twenty fourteen it's part of a new strategy agreed on sunday afghan officials say america will only be able to act with cobbles approval what the document was crimes as being to defend afghanistan but our washington course you can now joins us live with more than a this could see the u.s. in afghanistan in some way one way or another intil twenty twenty four over two decades in total. well and he said the u.s. and afghanistan have agreed on the terms of this new strategic pact whic

how big a development is this in this sort of path, egypt's path toward a democracy? >> that's a great question, margaret. i guess it depends on how you look at it. you remember right after mubarak was overthrown, there's a tremendous fear on the part of liberals and secularists in egypt and people observing egypt from the outside that once mubarak left, the void would be filled by islamists and specifically by the muslim brotherhood. initially the muslim brotherhood did things to calm those fears. they initially said that they wouldn't run for every seat in the parliamentary election. in the end they did. and now after having promised not to seek the presidency as you noted in your piece, they've reneged on that promise as well. so this creates a great deal of fear on the part of people, liberals and secularists, who thought that the islamists would seek dominion. so this is potentially very problematic for them. now i would say one thing. remember there's only one of four islamists candidates so it may very well be that what will happen is the islamist vote is divid

and this is truly how the americans view the situation in egypt. many in washington today as far as we understand regret the haste with which america helped. and his regime leave the scene but that is of course one water under the bridge. turned itself from an emerging market to higher was the economy one where no foreign investor can assume signed and written statement on the part of any gyptian interlocutor is worth more than the ink with which it is. in other news there is that tight fight for france's top job with president sarkozy now running losing in the first round to his socialist rival francois hollande they've now got two weeks to win over voters before the run off paul bargee says are silly it is across the election in paris. right now if you look at the numbers it is certainly neck and neck of the a difference between at the top two candidates is very small on the right now it's a one appointed differences so the question that people be asking is which way will the voters who have voted for the other candidates how will they vote in th

so now it's on r t israel warms its peace treaty with egypt is in danger now after cairo says it terminated the gas export deal over payments and prices latest on that just ahead. also the u.s. and afghanistan agree on a deal that could see washington providing military and economic help to kabul for another decade after the twenty fourth. the commitment is a reminder that while u.s. forces are drawing down in afghanistan over the next two years the mere military will remain active in the country long after that war and that in just a few minutes. because he slips the french president fails to convince enough voters not only losing to his socialist arch rival the current now go head to head in a second round live coming up but coming up to. hello and welcome this is kevin owen it's nine now you're a moscow when our top story middle east peace is taking another battering tonight this time as egypt terminates its twenty year gas export deal with israel both countries insists it's just business disputes but observers in israel warn it's putting their peace treaty on the line sara first in cair

while in egypt syria square one again filled with voices of discontent. disillusioned with the outcome of the revolution a protest against the current. french kind of its embrace it you wrote skepticism to win the hearts and minds just ahead of a presidential poll which could ultimately reshape the political landscape. in china turns its growing towards the arctic as beijing's bid for the vast untapped resources nations bordering the. world by. this is r t. the rule for all for formula one engines and this weekend will be mixed with the angry voices of and regime activists promising days of rage after a year of arab spring protests police have fired tear gas on stun grenades to disperse demonstrators in clashes just ahead of the sunday grand prix. reports like libya and syria this uprising has been well off the radar. it took a car fire ahead of a major sporting event for the world to notice the flames of discord and golf in a small island nation in the persian gulf stream a supplicating in the smoke of an ongoing struggle between protesters and police de

dardery from egypt. the big question now is aligning with the new power, the salafist party or the second party. will we have more allies in the government and big question, who would they align with? this would really determine the future of the direction of egypt and the organization of egypt. and my question to mr. al coffee from morocco. we heard a lot of abuses from the new constitution recently and the lawyers who are trying to make a case against the king himself for using the new constitution. do you have any comments about that and what is the government doing about this? thank you. >> who wants to take the first shot? >> economically, i think that this is the most important challenge of the government because answers to the youth problem our employment issues and real economic prosperity and real economic development. for this reason the government has put this issue -- aftergood government and fighting corruption. the main problem in our country is the lack of good governance. we presented alm

and, of course, he cites egypt as one of the classic examples. extractive institutions are ones that extract the resources, opportunities and so on of an economy for the interest of a very narrow group of people in a particular country. political institutions that support that kind of extraction have by definition to be oppressive to their people. the end result is the creation of albeit very rich and very capable but very, very tiny class of people who have enormous amount of power, enormous amount of money, enormous amount of wealth but at the end of the day when you look at an economy of 85 million people on the other hand, it creates a very, very low demand because the rest of the population is suffering. there is this awful statistic that i always suffer with because we say sometimes as economists in numbers, but you actually have to go to an egyptian village and spend the day there to feel it. you know, the number we always say that 30% of egyptians spend $2 a day or less. it's not just a statistic. if you actually go and spend the day in o

israel warns it's a peace deal with egypt is in jeopardy. export deal with its neighbor. and syrian rebels refuse to dance to a foreign insisting military intervention is no way to resolve the conflict. this is r.t. last from moscow welcome to the program because sarkozy and socialist challenger francois a moment will go head to head in the second round of the french presidential election in two weeks time and their final results from the first round. twenty eight point five percent of the vote against twenty seven it's the first time a french president seeking reelection has failed to win the first round century a correspondent there's also reports now from paris. well it will certainly be a connection to the results that we've seen putting a lot of good friday was as expected the polls have been predicting that the campaign will see them both coming very close to each other first of all there are a lot of variables of will come into play here but important thing i'd like to note is the exit polls of dva polling agency asking the voters after the first round who they wil

tonight israel warms its peace treaty with egypt is in danger after cairo says it's terminated a gas export deal over payment and prices. the u.s. and afghanistan agree on a deal that could see washington providing military and economic help to kabul power for another decade even after the twenty fourteenth by. the commitment is a reminder that while u.s. forces are drawing down in afghanistan over the next twenty years the merican military will with me active in the country long after that war and that in just a few minutes. and sarkozy slips in the french president fails to convince enough voters not only losing to his socialist rival no go head to head in a second round. hello if you just joined us a very good evening from moscow my name's kevin oh it's ten pm here now and this is our top story middle east peace is taking another battering tonight this time as egypt terminates its twenty year gas export deal with israel both countries insist is just a business dispute but observers in israel warn it's putting a peace treaty on the line sarah ferguson carro. well the head egypt sta

not by the religious affiliation. >> egypt's muslim brotherhood helped push out hosni mubarak in egyptte in the parliament at egypt. at the time they said they would not put a candidate up for president. now they have. now muslim brotherhood officials met with the mid-level white house officials about way forward in egypt. that meeting happening at the white house on tuesday. we're back with the panel. bill, is this a big deal, people who are critical of it. what about it. >> it is a big deal. the white house is engaged on the war on women. the muslim brotherhood, really? do you know what their position is on reproductive rights and women in the workplace? equal pay for equal work? they are letting them in the white house. mitt romney should have a press conference tomorrow to say this proves that the president mr. obama and mr. biden and mr. donnelan and lew, male heavy white house staff doesn't care about the issues of women. i'm kidding but i'm trying to say how ludicrous the war on women is. and this is a tough policy dealing with the situation they deal with. i don't, i think ulti

i want to follow up on some of senator sheehan's questions about egypt. in your fiscal year 2013 request, there's a request for a additional sum going up from $1.5 billion to $1.56 billion for egypt. i'm wondering what level of cooperation do you feel like we're getting out of egypt in exchange for that? and specifically, do you feel like egypt has shown a commitment to honoring its treaty obligations with israel? >> yes, i do. to that last question, we have no evidence or any intention expressed by different centers of power within egypt that any decision has been made not to. and we have no evidence that there is any concern there yet. we obviously consult closely with the egyptians and the israelis about the challenges they face. so at this time, senator, that is not yet a concern that we have to address. we also believe that they have carried out credible elections and that was no easy task given where they started. but we have to judge them on what they both say and what they do. and they don't yet have their government in place. so we're really unab