, defence ministry or indeedin foreign office, defence ministry or indeed in the treasury.big jobs have already been taken up, but, as yet, we await to see if there is going to be a reshuffle elsewhere. some quite well—known names have just locked into downing street. ellie price, thank you very much. we will be back at westminster. right now it is time for click. think robots and maybe you'll picture something like this. or this. but what about robotic muscle and smart materials that could act as human skin, all clothes that rehabilitate you as you wear them? well, that is part of what's called soft robotics and this team at bristol robotics lab are bioengineering technologies to do all of that and more. i went to take a peek at their labs. this is a bucket of alien saliva, right? yeah, this is the same stuff that drips out of the alien mouth. so ridley scottjust used a whole bunch of that. though, in this case, it is to simulate blood. this soft robot mimics how some bacteria move through our bodies. in the future, it is thought that nano robots will take a similar trip t

the home office, foreign office, treasury and david davis as the brexit secretary, and michael fallone secretary. we are getting a sense of her cabinet now. how important is this for theresa may as she attempts to show the world that it is business as usual? i think you have another arrival there. business as usual? i think you have another arrival therei business as usual? i think you have another arrival there. i think that is david livingstone who is the leader of the house. are you keeping yourjob? no word from him, funny that. not a lot of talking as people go into downing street. sometimes they are more keen to talk on their way back out. you are asking how important matters for theresa may. obviously, she has faced some real challenges, that is there to say, in the past few days. of course, her majority has fallen away and now she must form a government with the help of the dup. i think there was a sense that she may have wa nted have wanted a change of cabin is rather more had she had a stronger hand and moore street and a stronger majority —— more seats. there will bea majori

the foreign office said it would not comment on jack letts' foreign office said it would not commentstood officials have been trying to locate him. neither the bbc nor his parents have heard from him for 12 days. daniel sandford, bbc news. on friday, it will be exactly a year since the murder of the labour mpjo cox. she was stabbed and shot in her constituency by a man who supported the extreme right. her family have since spoken about their wish for her to be remembered for what she achieved in life, and this weekend, they're encouraging people to join together with neighbours, friends and their community at events in her memory. our correspondent catherine burns has been speaking tojo cox's sister and parents about their daughter's legacy. i still miss the sound of her coming down the drive... gordon and jean leadbeater say they're private people, but as the anniversary of their daughter's death approaches, they've agreed to talk to us. what were you doing when you got that call? we'd just sat down about five minutes. and then the phone rang, and it was dan, one ofjo's aides. and h

1000 mps, 7000 employees apparently, and 1000 in the foreign 0ffice apparently, and 1000 in the foreign officee has been on notice to try to do something about it at it was interesting that it has been proven fromjames it was interesting that it has been proven from james comey, you know, in the us, the fbi chap who lost his job, the russians are at large and we need to understand this. cyber protection i think, this is a fantastic how can i put it illustration to do something about it before the whole world in terms of security is destroyed. reflect, what would you say your weaknesses are inajob what would you say your weaknesses are in a job interview? i am a glutton. a glutton? very good. i'm a perfectionist. that's all from us right now. we willjoin you again in a moment. well, it has certainly freshened up right across the uk. here'sjust a reminder of the heatwave we had on wednesday. the peak 35, nearly, degrees celsius across the south—east. come thursday, almost a ten degree drop as these fresher atlantic conditions are setting in. but some spectacular weather as well. this is a pictur

they have been professional from the career civil servants to foreign officers on down. in terms of ambassadorship and appointees, i want to address that. i know a lot of you have questions about that. we have both career noncareer candidates have been identified under going to the clearance process. many of you have not been through the clearance process before. i went through a smaller version of the clearance process. it takes months. ambassadors have to go through even more. then he not just their intron security clearances, they need their full security clearances. it is going to take longer. financial betting they have to go through. this takes time, that is a matter of fact. plenty people in the pipeline, not just for ambassadorship but also throughout an acronym, pa, the presidential association of prospects. >> we have to move on. >> i think i answered that. there are lots of people in the pipeline right now. we will expect morning's coming forward. >> i just -- should we respect more resignation to follow suit for the same reason to the withdrawing on the paris

the foreign office said it wouldn't comment onjack letts' case, saying only that it can't provide consularto locate him. neither the bbc nor his parents have heard from him for 12 days. daniel sandford, bbc news. spanish prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against the portugual and real madrid football star cristiano ronaldo, accusing him of tax fraud worth £13 million pounds. the case relates to non—payment of money linked to image rights. he has denied the claims. it's one of the biggest events of the year in the gaming calendar. in a few hours' time, thousands of video game fans will get the chance to try out the latest titles and technology at a conference in los angeles. our north america technology reporter, dave lee, takes a closer look at an industry that is now worth billions. and now everyone, please, enjoy the ride. it looks and sounds like a hollywood premier, but this is the launch of spider—man, the latest blockbuster game for the sony playstation, it was unveiled in front of thousands of fans ahead of e3, the biggest gaming event in the calendar. there was no new hardware from

as we look forward, we know we have got to continue to replenish our foreign service officer corps. so we are still interviewing people and as we look ahead, we will probably be looking at a one to three kind of replacement. the foreign service, if we look further out, i think we have said this publicly, by the end of fiscal 18, we think we will be down about 8% overall on permanent state department, foreign service, civil service. foreign service is only going to be down about 4%. civil servants are going to be down about 12%. it is being managed in a deliver way, but being very mindful of not diminishing the strength of our foreign service officers. >> i don't want to see you get to a position where we had a brain drain we couldn't make up for. these people are important to the visibility of america overseas. sec. tillerson: indeed. >> secondly, was there a freeze on relatives of employees of the state department? sec. tillerson: employee state department family members that are eligible to be hired in mission, we have a waiver process in place for that. i have approved a number of

seno >> we are up about 50 foreign service officers about half a percentage. the effect would come later. what we are doing is just aligning the normal attrition to bring the numbers down. and as we look forward, we know we've got to continue to replenish the foreign service officer corps. so, we are still interviewing people. and as we look ahead, we will probably be looking at a one per three kind of replacement. but the service if we lookki further out, i think we have said this publicly by the end of the fiscal 18, we think that we will be down about 8% overall on the permanent state department. the foreign service in the civin service, the service is actually going to be down about 4%. civil service will be down about 12. succumb it is being managed in a deliberate way, but very mindful of not diminishing the strength of the foreign service officers. i don't want us to get the position that we couldn't makepe up for it down the line because these people were in the addition of bringing america overseas.. >> was there a freeze in the state department? >> t

friday that the big beasts are staying put, amber rudd at the home office, boris johnson at the foreign officeilip hammond in the treasury and michael fallon as defence secretary and david davis as brexit secretary. not a huge amount of movement, certainly in the upper echelons, but today we have seen a subtle around. we are waiting five —— as shuffle around. we are waiting for more news. sajid javid, communities secretary, has gone in, we haven't heard what he's got. justin greening the education secretary has gone into. they have all gone in and have come out yet. ten cabinet ministers trooping out downing street and an interesting reshuffle of the pack. thanks for now and we will be back to you very soon. let's take a look at weather prospects. we'll start with the latest satellite sequence which shows it was a lovely day. we have sunshine, heavy rain in northern ireland and western scotland. it will stay wet in western scotland in the early hours and further showers another man, scattered showers for western england and well. try further east and across major towns and cities have 13 degre

the foreign office says the uk advises against all travel to syria and parts of iraq.ongst others to defeat them. as a result, their territory has shrunk dramatically. now, three years to the day since the ‘caliphate' was first declared, one of the largest cities held by is — mosul in iraq — might be about to finally fall to the iraqi security forces. although i do feel like we have been saying that for a few weeks now. what could this mean for the future of the so called islamic state? karen von hippel is the head of the think tank the royal united services institute. patrick has written extensively on the caliphate. and in baghdad, we have bruno, the unhcr representative in iraq. welcome to all of you. why have islamic state been so successful, patrick, in holding territory in recent years? well, they are monsters of cruelty. they are extremely fanatical, but they are also, unfortunately, militarily pretty expert and experienced. so, they fight very hard. and they have fought very hard for mosul. this siege has gone on for mosul. this siege has gone on for 254 days.

. >> it did ensure, and aware of the recommendation for the foreign office. if we look at what happened, and the identification of the issues in a number of blocks so far. there are various issues that lead to concern about fire safety. if we look at what happened in camden where one was considered to be habitable but four of the five were not considered habitable, that was not just because of the clouding but other issues in relation for the gas riser. all of these issues raise wider questions, they raise wider questions about the inspections that have taken place, wider questions about residence complaints, being heard. that was raised in grenville tower and camden. this is a much wider question, terrible tragedy took place, should never have lost their lives. it led to this position and that is what we are going to do. >> two coroner's report, building legislations have not been overhauled, and act upon them to have their budgets cut by 40% during the same period. under her predecessor, under her predecessor, five safety audits and inspections were cut by

philip hammond stays where he is, boris johnson stays in the foreign office, michael fallon stays inthe whole office, the big jobs are staying where they are. it is continuity. there will have to bea it is continuity. there will have to be a reshuffle in the lower ranks because eight ministers lost their seats last night so there will have to be changes made. but this was a reshuffle that changes pretty much nothing and as i said, demonstrates that she does not have the political capital to do anything dramatic at the moment. when are we likely to get any further announcement on appointments? the expectation is over the weekend, clive. it would be today, we don't think. theresa may hasjust left number ten out the back. not sure where she has gone, but she didn't go through the front gate and so she didn't see the relatively... well, large protest at the bottom of the downing street on white hole with cha nts downing street on white hole with chants of "vote jeromy downing street on white hole with chants of "votejeromy keogan" wafting up here. there is a buzz among the jeromy keogan

office and collection of artifacts. with paul sparrow, the museum's director. >> this library opened in june 1941. he was still president of the united states so this became essentially the foreign oval office. fdr had an

i think i can handle stalin better than your foreign office or my state department, roosevelt wrote to churchill early on before we were formally at war. properly handled a dictator might be the key to victory in the postwar world. wasn't a sure thing. it was a proposition to be tested. tehran was to be the first test. similarly the chronology, the back story sketched in, if we are to find meaning in the place he made in his crowded life, lucy rutherford, lucy mercer, in his last months. the drama inherent in the fact that it was lucy who was with him when he was felled by a hemorrhage on the brain in warm springs, as eleanor discovered, only that evening to her bitter and lasting chagrin. beyond that, 17 months packed with history with h involving this president. the d-day landings in germany, the largest amphibious assault likely to remain so. the decision to proceed with building the atomic bomb, fdr's long postponed decision to stand again for fourth term in the election of 1944, still the maneuvers to drop his starry eyed vice president, henry wallace after whom the center is name

the foreign service officers who are in charge of trying to figure out who to let in and who not to,e criteria they use is, do you have a reason to go back to your home country. do have you somebody else you are supposed to care for? do you have financial responsibility at home country. that is not only thing we should look for, we have to reform this process, taking this pause is rational. charles: let me ask, shifting gears. critic have panned this as racist, no one talking about attorney general jeff sessions and his war going, to fighting against hate speech and race crimes. >> trump administration and department of justice are commitd to reducing violent crimes and hate crimes and making america safe. as you know hate crimes are often precursors to violent crimes are or violence crimes, no person should have to pee fear being attacked because of who they are, what they believe or how they worship, i pledge you to as long as i'm attorney general of this department of the justice, we will continue to protect civil rights of all americans. charles: rick. we never hear about this in

office and collection of artifacts. with paul sparrow, the museum's director. >> this library opened in june 1941. he was still president of the united states so this became essentially the foreign oval office. fdr had an incredibly inquisitive mind. 9,014 books in this room alone. every book was selected by fdr to be in this room. this room is almost identical to the way it was on the day fdr has died. >> watch q&a from the franklin d. roosevelt presidential library and museum in hyde park, new york, sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >>> next a conversation on the nation's tax code. and potential changes for low and middle income households. participants debated potential

constitution banned it officially in 1861 the british envoy to washington washington would beef the foreign office saying don't pay any attention to that. that is just something they are saying for now to change the -- that is something they are saying for now and something that they will change course on immediately when under your independent if that happens. every time the crown came close to backing of the confederacy, and there were those times certainly in 1861 and 1862 the question of the slave trade came up and every time the south gave the wrong answer to the british cabinet. so what is it that drove them to do all this? alternate -- ultimately even though he was no master spy, in keen respects he was a little bit like george smiley. he was a professional representing the interest of the government as best he could. a pro, whose job involved excursions into the mystery of human behavior disciplined by government as best he could.thes own deductions. [laughter] i think some of my colleagues of the washington post will find a familiar approach to the job. thanks to the man in charleston the

admitting the right of search by foreign officers of our vessels upon the time of peace, that would be making -- slaves of ourselves. 10 years later, he stash she has ramped it up. we went over this ground again as we have often done before, competing in both sides of the argument. he particularly repeated to many persons in this country -- conceding this right of search and alleged that two successive reports of the committees of house of representatives, i merely said there were other views upon which those reports could be accounted for. don't miss around in our politics. i finally desired -- with his parliamentary paper, which i would take to the president, to whom i promise to make a full report of this. he goes on later. i told him they had no right to carry away private property are emancipated slaves. he said bantering late -- but this is still about the war of 1812, and getting payment for slaves that the british had -- supposedly carried away during the war. canning said bantering late, if he were to emancipate every slave he could find, i would never make peace with you. but

the british foreign office, when ordered the british national football or soccer team when they played in berlin, to give the nazi salute. we forget how much britain was kind of cozying up, especially the ruling party, and the american ambassador to london, joseph kennedy, thought that exactly the right thing to do, and in fact, he writes a letter to franklin roosevelt, september 11, 1939, advising roosevelt to make peace with germany because the british were going to lose. that very same day, by the way, f dr. opens up the famous back channel to churchill in response to his distrust of joseph kennedy. where was i getting with all of this? >> host: class. >> guest: so they're both attuned to class issues. ore well, of course, sees the world through a bit of a class prism but churchill notes something interest. the pilots of the royal air force are not the aristocracy. he asked how many pie lets win to private schools and the find a very small number. the 5,000 pilots who win the battle of britain and help stave off the german invasion that everybody expected in 1940, they were middle c

embassies in asia, africa and europe there is real concern among the rank and file and career foreign service officers. people make services. if the budget this year and next year contain cuts of that and we continue fighting over cuts of that magnitude it will send a signal overseas that we are not serious about engaging. it will discourage promising young diplomats and secretary mattis himself has previously testifies it creates curt risks. it puzzles me how we can have a stated strategy of engagement through our diplomats the put pressure on north korea how can you cut it by a third? i don't understand that. i have said in some settings that one unexpected outcome of the trump administration may be to make the senate great again to write a budget we think reflec reflects. >> i will say in closin closing dedicate themselves, whose staff dedicate themselves, to ad advocating who recollects has made us safe, strong and free. i want to thank you for a lifetime of leadership. >> thank you for everything you do. i think it's a great forum. i do believe in bipartisanship and i have testify until front of

while we have great foreign service officers out there in the field. ere there would be a politically appointed ambassador, that is not sustainable. it's from them you get the policy kbiens that the foreign governments reline on. this could become a much bigger problem. >> but admiral, getting ambassadors, is that something that rex tillerson would normally do? a lot of them are political patronage. >> you're right. but the secretary of state does have a role to play but there are political appointees a it the state department that are key to leadership and management of the department and to developing the kind of policy guidance that foreign governments and frankly our career foreign diplomats out in the field need. that suspect happening right now. and that is a concern. >> just in terms of staffing choices shouldn't the secretary of state be able to pick who he wants to fill these positions? >> he certainly wanted to do that and that is true for any secretary of state. but, clearly, we don't know, yet, from the reporting whether he has put forward p

this is china's foreign office spokesperson. >> the people you mentioned work summoned and investigatedn suspicion of interfering with the company's normal operations and production activities. public security officials found they were in illegal possession of and under suspicion of using wiretapping or other for vestal surveillance equipment. they were detained in accordance with the law. the case remains under investigation. amy: the ivanka trump brand has declined to comment on the case. the arrest came just weeks after ivanka trump secured three new exclusive trademarks in china -- the very same day she and her father, president trump, had dinner with chinese president xi jinping at trump's private resort in florida. ivanka has also recently filed numerous additional chinese trademark applications. according to the "wall street journal," 14 applications were filed by her business on 28 march, a day before she was named a white house adviser. her company has said the applications were filed to prevent others from profiting from her name rather than as an attempt to boost sales in chi

that kind of happens between nations, it prompts diplomatic protests and i guess at its height, foreign officersrom another country. since we don't have any diplomatic relations with north korea, there is not much we can do other than express our outrage. jeffrey: it strikes me that you are not surprised by what has happened in this instance. i wonder if that comes from your knowledge of this regime? mark: i think it does. north korea has been a dangerous player for a long time. a south korean ship a few years ago killed seven or more of the killers on board. island, theyn practically leveled it and killed a lot of people. have never a knowledge or don't believe that the korean war has ended. they view the united states and south korea as active competence in a contempt -- continuing war. i think people get lulled by time into thinking these hostilities do not still exist. barack obama told donald trump that this is your most in solvable -- unsolvable conflict. do you agree? mark: it is deftly the most dangerous place in the world. jeffrey: talk to me about this, as you pointed out, we have been

the chancellor only gave money to the foreign office, apart from that, just treating those two new departmentsit, thousands of civil servants, having no additional resources. that inevitably means for paul cox, on top of the 20% on average efficiencies that they are expected to deliver this parliament. let's face it. your members have unique access to these people making the decisions. talking to politicians and the prime minister every day. not some sort of silent lobbying? of course, the civil service is making the case to government about what it needs. but thatis government about what it needs. but that is a decision for government, ministers. until now, that has been falling on deaf ears, no additional resources. the government have got to decide what they are going to do, it is going to be one physical event in the autumn, the budget, and hopefully the spending round. that is what we have called for. it is simply madness to suggest that the decisions taken in 2015, about resources would not be changed after the referendum result and the challenges that the civil service is going to be fa

between nations that prompts diplomatic protests and, you know, i guess at its height withdrawing foreign officersr country. since we don't have any diplomatic relations with north korea there is really not much we can do except express our outrage. >> goldberg: it strikes me you're not surprised by what has happened in this instance. i'm wondering if that lack of surprise comes from your knowledge of this regime as the knowledge that you showed in this atlantic cover story. >> well, i think it does. north korea has been a very dangerous player for a long time and, you know, they've sunk a ship -- a south korean ship a few years ago, killed 70 or more of the sailors on board. they shelled an island, a south korean island and practically leveled it and killed a lot of people. you know, they are -- they've never acknowledged or don't believe that the korean war has ended and they view the united states and south korea as active combatants in a continuing war. i think people get lulled by time into thinking these hostilities don't still exist. >> goldberg: barack obama told donald trump, this is your

service officers and they can be in the foreign service up that 30 years so when they reach out to new business but they themselves are diplomats. and with those nonprofits going in and out. those people would bring their network with them why don't we have deeper contacts and in many of these countries or those who were more sympathetic we have relations with the in lung negative egyptian government and they did not want us connecting. so it goes back to the point of sovereignty with this additional world of interactions we are sovereign with very formal relations and retried to return to society but often we don't have the same range of contacts as a society so not only to have better information but to engage with a crisis to protect americans in interest. >> with those iranian elections. so what was referred to at the time as the green movement. so criticizing the outcome of the government. at the time reelected president of the dennis died. a debate publicly and in the government how deeply the united states should involve its

one area where the roles have been filled by high level foreign service officers are the assistant secretariesing the regional bureaus and those are the people who are the points of contact for embassies around the world for foreign governments. they really do the day-to-day work of the state department. so that is not about political patronage. that's not about campaign donors. that's about either not selecting people, not nominating them, not moving the process forward and that is really paralyzing the state department, even just those positions. >> in fairness to the white house, it's not unheard of for the white house to block some picks. the obama white house told secretary clinton they didn't want sydney blumenthal to join her at the state department. >> that is true. that does happen. in my position, the personnel office is drunk with power too. that may be happening here as well, i don't know. but what i was trying to get at is there are a number of people who are not controversial who could be elevated to positions, who have been in government, been in foreign service, been public ser

or foreign service officers and many are sururb. they came up through the civ civilwer or groups. i can imagine northern evers where yuld are going in and ow. or who work in mon profts. po poem why tid n he have deepb n father-in-law or with peer people woo were pore semp advertiseic. we have hispanics with the aaikz gm and they didn't wnt us to cufecking pharmaceutical. if knows back about sovereignty. we are sovereignty. we have very formal relagtiorel and try to reach out to society. we loont had the havesurge rage as yearnple ist and we need peter information and better ability to if gij with tees tip inentss fum >> host: so from that end, another example weare beth involve in. elynnian elections in 2020 #. i think the green movement rose up crittedicizing the con doth of the fwment. -- criticizet when at the time reflected the president there was a debate public dwms there was a possession fblgs hufuch headache the relationships between the united states and iran which was covered by the experience since the revolution there in 19969 and the on' feg if we have had 'the enem t

who resigns in protest any think during vietnam there were some brave foreign service officers. i think of my good friend, robert white, the ambassador in el salvador when the children women were raped and murdered and alexander haig, the secretary of state we don't want you investigating it, and bob white being the kind of person he was, did not let it good. i think of cyrus vans, the secretary of state for jimmy carter after the debacle of the iran hostage riecks who told the president i'm opposed to what you're doing, whether it succeeded or fails i'm going to resign because i think you're wrong and i'm not going to call attention it to until the operation takes place. of course it was failure. how many people like that act on principle or protect morality or honor their moral compass? the sad a thing is -- i'll throw this out as a warning, if anyone things he is going to be a whistleblower -- you know who you are, dent expect when you turn around the end of the day that you'll have a big gathering, some platoon in back of you. you're going to have very little supportment mos

senators up here who are on either foreign relations, intelligence, or armed services, conversations with officers of other governments or ambassadors or what have you are everyday

they are very young foreign service officers. they are being checked by superiors but they are young and we want to make sure we allow them the time to make sure we have proper information. >> real quickly, you say this is not the total policy but one of many. your last thoughts. >> i think you have to see what president trump said. he said this is the extra step and he's talking about a more consistent court fight that he will push. i think when you look at all of the policies, intel gathering, all of things trump wants to do to make sure where vigilant, all of this makes sense when you look at what's happening in europe. >> thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. >> former fbi director james comey is set to testify on capitol hill. after being grilled for hours, what more will he say? he could weigh in on accusations of russian election meddling and the investigation into michael flynn. constipated? trust #1 doctor recommended dulcolax. use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. suppositories for relief in

got it, and office of network engagement, thought about how to build networks in new zealand, but what you didn't have, the middle east is very well chosen, at the ambassadorial level, foreign service officers don't -- many of them are superb but coming up to 30 years, that means even when they reach out to business, to religious groups, they themselves are diplomats. i can imagine a foreign service where you would have business people going in and out of any level or people who work in nonprofits going in and out, we do that at the top level. those people would bring their networks with them. to be very precise, why didn't we have deeper contact, say, with entities that were fusing religion and politics in many of these countries or with other people who were more sympathetic? we had relations with the government, say egypt, the egyptian government, the chessboard world and the egyptian government didn't want us connecting to lots of these other people and we were not set up to do that. it goes back to sovereignty, the traditional world of chessboard interaction is we are sovereign, we have an embassy in another sovereign country, we have very formal relations and we try t

you had that at the ambassadorial level, but often our foreign service officers, and many of them are superb. but they are career. they come up through the foreign service for up to 30 years. that means even when they reached out to business or the civil society groups or to religious groups, they themselves are diplomats. i can imagine a foreign service where you would have business people going in and out at any level or people of oregon nonprofits going in and out. we argue that at the top level. those people would bring their networks with them. and to be very precise, why didn't we have deeper contacts, say, with entities that were using religion and politics,, islamists in many of these countries, or with other people who are more sympathetic? we didn't because we had relations with the government, take egypt. we had relations with the egyptian government. that's the chessboard world. and the egyptian government didn't want us connecting to lots of these other people, and we were not really set up to do that. so it goes back to point about sovereignty. the traditional world of c

he announced that there wouldn't be any incoming foreign service officers for the next two years.o i understand secretary tillerson's frustration with the white house, but i also understand the people inside the state department's frustration with secretary tillerson. in addition, lawrence, he's about to go off to a meeting with vladimir putin. he's having a meeting tomorrow with moon jae-in. he's going to be meeting with angela merkel. all of these leaders, all of the policies around this take a team, and we don't have anybody in place. there is no ambassador in poland. there is no ambassador in germany. there is no ambassador in france. >> there's a controversy also between jared kushner and rex tillerson about qatar and the president accusing qatar of basically being a terrorist oriented government. tillerson trying to make peace there. and tillerson believes that it was a foreign ambassador that actually wrote words that the president spoke about qatar. >> well, indeed we know that there are some ambassadors who have a very strong relationship with jared kushner. that's been r

officer. he was a lieutenant colonel. he was trained by the army as a china foreign area officer, which is one of the military branch experts of the region he served on the joint staff. he was in the defense intelligence agency, so he has an intelligence background. he was a senior china analyst and deputy director of current intelligence with the u.s. civic -- pacific command, he served with the army pacific command. he is steeped in asian and china relations. he has a masters degree in east asian languages and cultures and a doctorate in history from k.u. there's nobody better to walk us through one of the world's thorniest political relationships. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome geoff babb. [applause] geoff: hi, great to be here tonight. i have been working china since 1979. it has been an adventure. i will start off by saying anybody who says they are an expert on china is a fool. i'm going to run you through the history and then you can make up your mind whether my take on it is the one that you believe in or not. i started off with john k. fairbank who was the foremost , american historian on china. he and his wi