nader hashemi. first-ever like to thank the department of middle eastern, the asian and african studies here at columbia university for sponsoring this event tonight. i would also like to thank the middle east institute at columbia university and the columbia university graduate school of journalism. cosponsoring. the publisher of the book, melville house. in particular i would like to express my appreciation for my friend, hamid dabasi, who made all of the arrangements for this evening's discussion possible. when this book was published it seems like of long time ago. actually published at the beginning of this month. this brother eventual and indeed one might say world historic month of february 2011. when the book was published at the outset of did you marry the world's eyes were, of course, what on egypt. and although iran figured in much of the discussion and analysis surrounding the a people with the iran 1979 revolution invoking something of a comparative specter. the green movement was by no

hashemi you plan to escalate the war in libya by sending ground attack helicopters? can you confirm that the united states will confirm that mission alex. >> we should be turning up the heat in libya. the pressure is on the regime. the rebels have successfully liberated him and cities. i believe we should have been turning up the pressure. he will be looking at all the options. >> the president stressed the limits of what they can be achieving. >> his regime needs to understand that there will not be a let up in the pressure that we are applying. once you rule out ground forces, then there are going to be some inherent limitations to our air strike operations. it means the opposition on the ground in libya will have to carry out its responsibilities. this will be a slow, steady process. >> he progressed to parliament to become the first ever u.s. president to speak in westminster hall where for hundreds of years, monarchs have been honored or lay in state. >> of the president of the united states of america, barack obama. >> they lined up to honor the man. >> we beli

hashemi, primarily. the recent disasters, this will be fairly quick. would like to invite members of the disaster council to engage in discussion. these events are so relatively early. having had the opportunity to be in washington with a lot of people that were directly involved, i wanted to convey some of the things that i've picked up. beginning with the new zealand experience, it so happened that one of the assistant illustrators was actually in new zealand representing the secretary of, and security at a meeting that happened to be there when the earthquake struck. i have the opportunity to talk to him a little bit. for the first time in a very long time, i am seeing seismic activity really register at the federal level. so often, they're focused on hurricanes and flooding. for now, seismic activity is really high on the radar. with that, there were lessons that he brought back that i thought were very interesting and insightful. it is not so much the number of directors scale that was the problem, it was the energy released in the shaking. this o