when i'm speaking about eurasia go down all the way to oceana and that all the way to western europe now italy of course plays a massive part in all of this this is a focus on infrastructures of focus on manufacturing materials construction railways and so there's a lot being done here we're talking about a trillion plus dollars in investment on the behalf of china to make this happen so break it down to italy itself and this is why the good thing for them right now they have two main goals here and when you have a group like this side while you're basically killing these two birds with one stone they want the deficit between trade with them in china to be lowered which means they could export more to china which is a huge one and also they want some infrastructure help so that would be the chinese bank the big one beijing based asian infrastructure investment bank so they're giving money towards these types of projects and these types of projects will be happening in italy in that great rundown. alex and we can see why what the angles are for italy why they would want to be part of

this budget prioritizes countering russian malign influence in europe, eurasia, and central asia. as we speak, the people of venezuela continue to fight for their freedom in the face of tyrannical and corrupt leader who refuses to step down. the fiscal year 2020 budget request includes funding to support democracy in venezuela and provides the flexibility to make more funds available to support a democratic transition, including up to $500 million in transfer authority. in the past year, the united states has been out front in global efforts to help persecuted religious and ethnic minorities in the middle east and elsewhere. on a trip to iraq last fall, i experienced firsthand the positive impact of this kind of assistance and what it has done in these devastated communities. working with local actors and community leaders, our assistance programs clear the explosive remnants of war to help keep families safe, restore access to services like health and education, improve economic opportunities, and more. but there's much more work that needs to be done. the fiscal year 2020 budget

in the coming weeks, we will help counter malign criminal influence, especially in europe and eurasia and central asia and this budget supports that work. our efforts in this regard will be made easier as the new development finance corporation is stood up later in the year. it will also be made more clear as the trump administration accelerates our partnerships in the indo-pacific. i firmly agree with the deputy secretary that our security and prosperity at home is closely tied to a stable and free indo-pacific region. working with state and others, our strategic investments will promote open, transparent, and citizen response of governance across that indo-pacific region. a third way we will be able to sharply contrast our approach is through the administration's efforts to promote inclusive economic growth. especially as it relates to full economic participation by women around the world. the national security strategy clearly identifies women's empowerment as a priority integral to economic prosperity and global stability. last month, the president signed a presidential security m

to me that you wanted out there i look at it and then look at it by selling it on the whole eurasia we have many of. the very thought that we have been u.s. army that he only wanted a lover that when he was young fellow for his dream britain and thirty three this morning the humanitarian aid was officially handed over to one why don't the interim president of venezuela. got at this moment he's in colombia giving a press conference together with the presidents of park y. and columbia and the secretary general of the organization of american states luis . de lorean they're calling on the venezuelan military to stop the violence and allow. humanitarian aid into the country but i'd say fill out your name say that meeting and give her a little money but. by letting the aid in the military would be sending a clear message that it recognizes why don't as interim leader by stopping the supplies at the border it would show it remains loyal to mudra so there's far more at stake here than just aid it's about the power of images and a showdown between two men who both claim to be venezuela's legit

sea and they are always been there for you there will be a new link in the same great continent of eurasia and i don't see the damage. on the spines and this. has been an exciting couple of days in football champions league title holders real madrid crushed out and choose things well whedon's they saw porto monk chester united qualify for the quarterfinals all three teams have one thing in common they were all want managed by joe same radio all our team with a new show on the touchline. to put the needle in the wall when things go wrong. everybody goes into the direction of the guilty man there's a. much lesser and i think results from the all results eventis man city barcelona to take the last political i would go with the cover photo. and everybody speculates about where you're going next can you give us any hints now i'm going home. i hope to be working in the in the summer i promise if one day there is unsing to say i relax you know. and you can watch the full first episode on you head to the sports section on our website. india pakistan relations in focus next lawmakers on influential

continue responding to sea of and cycling eurasia we've us on nato basie's to prevent russia but also china to emerge as the creditor strategic your rival or us against the power of the united states saw the your black sea is a very strategic region because your eats also. knows united states to to stop for russia to have access to warm seas to the south and to me the least we've his own ships and again in that testimony we heard the nato supreme allied commander saying that russia doesn't like it if nato has a presence in the black sea which prompted a smile from the senator who is questioning him they seem quite pleased about that do you think that's part of it are they trying to provoke russia or in some way. yes varies. from the side of uk toss was willing to. continue an arms race we have russia and china a notice or two were. to have been you were called a wall. too to promote to uni poor our system in the war they they used strategy communicate. with the sort of proposition two were. to have to eat upside. to two to make fix war some two were to provoke russia nor to russia we

trenchant through there some of the west wrongly you eurasian continent to use the nature of resources of eurasia in europe is madness it you know we're going to but i'm going to push back a little back down to me here is there is a logic to all of this it is madness and it went away but from a political perspective again it seems to me. that there in this neo con faction in power in the united states see the seas america's you know polar moment closing this is why they're getting so aggressive because their ability to influence events around the world while meaningful now is with every passing day diminishing. that power and they know it and they're reacting to it i think are rarely in venezuela are perfect examples go ahead i think you're absolutely right and this is this is what gives this whole thing its frantic quality so we see more and more threats now against the germans to cancel north stream too because of course germany doesn't build the pipeline and that supposed at least going to cause germany to drift away from the united states so we're abusing the dollar system now to threaten our

dollars that some would spend on preventing the kremlin from spreading its influence across europe and eurasia investigative journalist dave lindorff from this company happening dot net told us that the idea of restraining russia comes from neoconservatives in power. always looking for more ways to get the u.s. involved in wars and who also backed this idea of strategic dominance so there's this long running thing that's been going on of trying to and i think it's getting stepped up again it kind of feed it a little after the collapse of the soviet union but during the soviet union and now back with dealing with russia there's this attitude of well we need to get is a strategic dominance where the u.s. can consider realistically having a first strike on the the russians and whether or not they mean to wipe out russia as a rival or whether they envision being able to present the russians with a threat that the u.s. could do that without destroying russia's ability to retaliate would cause russia to cave in and various important issues. open question it won't be accepted as as it's presented whi

in coming weeks, we will unveil a framework that will help counter influence especially in europe, eurasia, and central asia and this budget should supports that work. this will be made easier as the finance corporation is stood up later in the year. it will also be made more clear as a trump administration accelerates our partnerships. i firmly agree with the with the secretary that are prosperity at home is closely tied to a stable and free indo pacific region. working with state and others, our strategic investments will promote open, transparent, insidious and responsive governance across the indo pacific region. a third way that we will be able to sharply contrast our approach is with the efforts to promote exclusive growth. especially as it relates to full economic participation by women around the world. the national security strategy clearly identifies women's empowerment as a priority integral to prosperity and security. last month the president signed a security memorandum linking the ability of women to participate fully and freely in the economy with greater peace and prosperit

is the senior analyst for latin america for the eurasia group.g major an ounce from your perspective? >> thank you. abouts the announcement is anothere, there step announced. president trump has announced his support. this is something the brazilian government has been aiming for. brazil still has a lot of homework to do when it comes to recovering investment-grade status, but joining the oecd would help. this has been a priority for the current administration. judging by trump's remarks, it looks like they will move forward. comments frome the present president was that he said for the first time in a long time brazil has a pro-u.s. government, advertising the change in stance from brazil. what else does the present president hope for? announced an agreement for u.s. space companies to use a brazil space station. to make someants progress when it comes to trade, the status ons bilateral relationships to boost trade. negotiating a free-trade agreement with the u.s., which sounds very ambitious today with trump as president. the beginning of conve

and the founder and president of the eurasia group, a global risk consultancy. let me start with the big picture on new zealand. and donald trump was trying to suggest something. i want to ask you, ian, whether it's true, which is, this is not a big deal in the sense that it is not a global phenomenon. i think that, again, he was implying it's not like islamic terrorism which is, you know, a widespread phenomenon with many centers, states that have promoted it over the years. these are one-off events, and while they're terrible and tragic, i think that's what trump was trying to get at. is that a fair point? >> it's not a fair point if you look at the united states itself in the last ten years, if you want to look at all of the extremist violence in the u.s. 70% of those attacks have been carried out by white supremacists on the right. there is still of course a danger of islamic terrorism in the united states. globally the numbers are much more tilted towards islamic terrorism. most of that violence, a staggering, overwhelming number is muslim terrorism on othe

our eurasia partnership program has established youth banks in georgia to provide a community project management and leadership training as well as financial resources to help them implement the most innovative and exciting ideas. and before i conclude, i want to take the opportunity to introduce julie graham, who i know is over there on that side of the room. we recently named her to serve as usaid's be best champion. julie is a senior coordinator of the u.s. international basic education assistance initiative she will continue to promote the be best campaign at usaid and identify opportunities for greater alignment between the initiative and our everyday programming. i look forward to our continued work with you at usaid. i hope to get you back out to africa soon. i look forward to ensuring that the administration's investments in young people continue changing lives for the better in line with your vision. thank you. >> i thank you very much, administrator green. thank you julie for what you do, both of you, and your team. i would like to ask if anybody has any comments on any sugg

walter: let's flip from one end of eurasia to the other for a minute and ask about russia. where do you see the democratic discussion of russia going, geopolitically and also in terms of its threat to democracy in the west? jake: i think this debate is going to be highly inflicted by politics. it is going to be much more about the interference question then the more structural, strategic issues of what russia represents. it will happen, i think, at a fair level of superficiality through the campaign, but it will be tough. the rhetoric around russia will be negative. it will be kind of persistent in the view that this is a country that does not share america's values and, with its military modernization and use of these information operations to disrupt and undermine democracy in the west, is a threat, a serious threat that has to be taken seriously. but i predict to you that if a democrat is elected in 2020, they will be pulled by the same temptation that basically every president has been pulled by going back to bill clinton, george w. bush, barack obama, donald trump, tha

result, what is the state department doing to counter the malign influence of russia in europe and eurasia including support to civil society, human rights, and the rule of law. does the state department have a counter kremlin strategy similar to that of usa -- usaid. they have a budget of about 800 million if i'm correct, 260 million is for voice of america, we just watch the change in europe and the anti- american, anti-u.s., clearly observations, or is there something that we are doing to counter this? >> a handful of questions there. let me just talk about what we are doing, and you can guide me to what you would prefer i talk about. the threat you identify as real. it is the case that russia has interfered in elections here in the united states. they will try to interfere with one in the ukraine. in a week and a half, the weeks that are left before the government formation, but they are not the only countries, there are lots of countries trying to do similar things, around has done similar things as well. with respect to russia, i think that we have demonstrated our commitment, and i

joining us is the president and founder of the eurasia group and author of "us versus them."ver seen as much paralysis as we are seeing in london. the inability to move forward in a reasonable way on brexit is stunning. >> i have never seen a prime minister say they would leave if they succeeded on a vote. >> yeah. >> i like brexit because it makes us feel more functional as the u.s. >> yeah. >> this has been going on for over 1,000 days at this point. they still have nothing close to consensus on a deal. that's because there have been no consequences for any individual members of parliament or members of cabinet to say, no, we don't like that. . they don't want to become prime minister until the brexit is agreed on. who else would want that poison chalice? that's why we are where we are. >> they have come up with many plans, none of which they like. is it possible they just don't like brexit? is there a way to be done with it? >> a second referendum. theresa may will not support one. it would break up the conservative party. she's more loyal to that party than the brexit con

let's bring in ian bremer, the president and founder of the eurasia group and author of "us versus theme failure of globalism." so ian, this -- president trump has been on the record with how much he likes kim jong-un, how great their personal chemistry is. how they had a love affair or fell in love. maub i'm misstating it. now there's evidence kim jong-un is behaving badly. so now what? >> he's also historically on the record saying that he would unleash fire and fury against the north koreans. we've come full circle. it is -- even if they still engage, the fact is that that meeting was not baked. there was no agreement that was going to come out of it unless trump fully accepted, you know, getting rid of sanctions for very little in return. now the one thing that trump has been trumpeting for quite awhile now which is that the north koreans have stopped their testing of nukes and stopped the testing of ballistic missiles. he'll no longer be able to announce as an accomplishment. that's going to really put a damper on the bilateral relationship. but we do now have real relations betwee

and china do two fundamental things, we want to move forces into theater, advance our national -- eurasia or in the pacific. and then we say we want to be able to operate freely across all domains, sea, air, land, space and cyber space. so i think we actually have a third degree of analytic rigor in looking at the challenges currently posed by china and russia. to our ability to project power and achieve superiority in any of those domains in space we are choosing to accomplish our mission, benchmark against campaign outcomes against those two peer competitors. so i would be happy to come up with and spend more time talking to you about it, we have a clear target that we are shooting on, we have a very clear assessment where we are today relative to where we need to be, we'll refine the path along which we will maintain our competitive advantage in the future i think we get a pretty clear sight picture where we need to go the next 5 to 7 years, defined by war gaming and so forth. we have a clear vision now, the cardinal direction that we need to go on to do the things we anticipate needin

yesterday, i had a hearing here in our subcommittee on europe and eurasia and as part of that hearing, we dealt with the historic 70-year alliance that we had with europe, one of the most successful alliances in the modern history, if not history of europe itself. and one of the things that came across to me in a recent trip there about 3 1/2 weeks ago was the concern with the officials there. let me give you one example that really was difficult for me to address when i was asked. the e.u. officials that we met with, they use words like "painful" and "hurtful" and they meant it sincerely when they were talking about how they felt from actions of the united states. and one thing they said in particular was that the emergency security powers we use to assess tariffs that were there struck them because they asked the question, you're using emergency security powers to create tariffs on our closest allies and they were asking us, and maybe you could help us with this -- when did they become a security risk to the united states? sec. pompeo: i will tell you, i don't know with whom you wer

for example it includes $662 , million to counter russia's malign influence in europe and eurasia. this vital assistance will support our allies, like ukraine, to help enhance their cybers ecurity infrastructure, to counter russian attacks and their propaganda and disinformation campaigns. in regards to ukraine's upcoming elections, i will closely watch, and i know you will as well how , the russians interfere. it may be a precursor to what we'll see here in 2020. the president's budget proposal also contains much-needed reforms. however, i agree with the chairman. i believe that certain cuts have unintended consequences that cost us more in the long term. this is especially true of cuts to critical humanitarian and developmental assistance programs that promote democracy, support economic growth, and provide life-saving resources to bolster stability in areas of -- and areas at risk of terrorism and extremist ideologies. as former secretary of defense jim mattis once said if you don't fund the state department fully, i need to buy more ammunition. on terrorism, a few years ago you

forces into the theater to meet the commitment and advance the national interest whether it is in eurasia or the pacific and be able to operate across all domains and cyberspace. they are choosing to accomplish the mission so missions of this is very much based and benchmarked against campaign outcomes and those competitors across all domains in the context of meeting the commitments by the national security, so i would be happy to come up with and spend our time, but i think we have a very clear target we are shooting on and i think we have a very clear assessment of where we are today relative to where we need to be and although where we find the path with which we will maintain in the future we have a clearer look at where we need to go to the next five to seven years and will be refined by the exercises and so forth that we have a pretty clear vision now where we need to go to be able to do the kind of things we anticipate we need to do. >> i would like to take you up on that offer to come up and breathe a little more on that. we get testimony from the advancements and supercomputing.

jeffrey sachs and managing director of the eurasia group. dr. city. >> it's not usa? >> it's just again finland, second year in a row followed by denmark, norway and iceland. what are you doing? >> sweden comes in seventh. so it is the northern european countries. they're doing good things. we fall again another year, another decline in the united states. there is unhappiness. >> switzerland, sweden, northern europe. what have they got that we don't? >> they have maternity, paternity leave. >> they take care of each other. everybody has health care. everybody has vacation time. everybody has. >> everyone's pretty and looks happy. >> they are happy and they have lots of vacation time and they have a good work life balance. it's good. and we should learn something interesting that because we keep going down in the rankings. we had another decline. you can see it's been down, down, down. and this is not good for us. >> so dr. sachs, do you agree though, these are great countries, small countries. it would be difficult to scale what they're doing to

heather conley is a senior vice president for europe, eurasia, the author of the kremlin playbook. thank you all for joining us today. i now yield to the ranking member for any opening remarks he'd like to make. >> thank you, mr. chairman, today we will hear from a panel on russian oligarchs, challenges will be a abiding topic of this community for many years. under the obama administration committee republicans repeatedly warned the administration privately and publicly that more resources and better intelligence were needed to counter numerous threats, our advice was not heeded, misspelled reset buttons, direct promises, the scrapping of missile defense plans in poland and the czech republic at russia's behest and the ridicule of then candidate mitt romney for identifying russia as our primary geopolitical foe. all under a administration that watched helplessly while russia marched into ukraine and annexed crimea. the ic has resources and authorities needed to protect the united states. we should not be used as a platform to spread false information and bizarre conspiracies. we h

yesterday, i had a hearing, here in subcommittee on europe, eurasia, and as part of that hearing, we dealt with the historic 70-year alliance that we had with europe. one of the most successful alliances in the modern history, if not the history of europe itself. and one of the things that came across to me in a recent trip there, about three and a half weeks ago, was the concern with the officials there. let me give you within are one example that real was difficult for me to address when i was asked. the eu officials that we met with, they used words like painful and hurtful, and they meant it sincerely, when they were talking about how they felt from actions of the united states, and one thing they said in particular, was that the emergency security powers that we use to assess the tariffs that were there, struck them, because they asked the question, you're using emergency security powers to create tariffs on our closest allies, and they were asking us, and maybe you could help us with this, when did they become a security risk to the united states? >> i will tell you, i don't kn