muslim christian understanding at georgetown university in paris we go to john laughlin of the institute of democracy in cooperation and another member of our crosstalk team on the hunger all right.

muslim christian understanding at georgetown university in paris we go to john laughlin of the institute of democracy in cooperation and another member of our crosstalk team on the hunger all right folks cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want to comment on what i've said or other panel members of said all right i'd like to go to you first shereen it's about fifteen a little over fifteen know a little less than fifteen years since huntington's thesis came out how valid is that today because since the cold war we see a lot of conflicts and many people would say it's more or less culture not ideology not philosophy that is driving not all but many of these conflicts. well i frankly disagree with that then i disagree very early on with some huntington when he first raised this issue in his foreign affairs journal in one thousand nine hundred three i think that first of all one of the reasons why we are emphasizing culture distaste is that for almost couple of hundred years the role of culture was not really paid enough attention to although it was influential even at that

of citizens and n.g.o.'s and institutions within countries in the region to decide the form of democracy they want, that i think that would be a very important soft power impact that the united states could have in the region. it is a good focus but not to impose, to support forces to arrive at that. >> in light about are you consoled about what you see going on in iraq today? or are you skeptical or cynical? what is your feeling? >> i'm an ob stin stance by nature like king hussain was. i look at what is taking place in iraq today -- i don't speak as a jordanian official or any kind of government official. i speak on the basis of my experience over the last almost 30 years inn the region. i think this is a process that will take some time to clarify. at this moment in time again it is so important to amplify the voices of the moderates, of those who understand it through an inclusive process. all paris being a part of the system of governments in that country and feeling they have a stake in it so they will defend and support a system that is more inherently democratic than elsewhere. that is where we need to

really cool functional democracy and more because of its fact it's equally true for the u.k. a similar tone of qatar the country eighty percent of our laws now come from the institutions of the which is not democratic so how can we be a democracy and that's as you know i've been involved in things like the integration of the legal systems and european arrest warrants we're losing our most basic protections under the law or against unjust imprisonment and arrest all kinds of things are happening now which are totally insupportable in my view and the european union has to seem to become a super state to rival united states and i think it's in a very wrong road for us to go down and britain should leave as soon as possible and we are living in a globalised world there is it possible for the u.k. to just step out at the but what does that mean. what are the global laws world means in the early nineteenth century we actually exported more goods around the world than we do to die there was international trade then that's nothing new that's always been going on it's much easier to get on an airplane now and go anywhere you like very quickly which is one of the reasons we hav

ask you what's the what's the attitude of the orthodox church towards that and is the orthodox church. compatible with democracy it's not very democratic institution is it well first of all i don't think that there are so many people who. are for the monarchy and who would call for restoration of the monarchy. secondly i would like to say that tradition and the past the are two different things. when we speak about the past it is something which we should not normally repeat when we speak of tradition for the. religious people it's a very important notion and it is what i would say a tradition with a capital t. which means continued c. which means unbroken line of. experience of spiritual experience of moral values which are transmitted from one generation to another and this is. in their way is a foundation on which the church stands and it is also the foundation on which human life. existed for centuries and for millenia. therefore the church is always traditional which doesn't mean that it should be looking at the past. the in traditional means being rooted in the experience of previous generations of our fathers and mothers of our grandparents

victors will go on punished all right john law and from the institute for democracy and cooperation thank you. residents in the u.s. state of louisiana are fighting for their right to defend themselves police confiscated their guns after hurricane katrina struck five years ago it was an attempt to keep order amid the looting and violence which followed brought has prio shrewder has been finding out many in the state are still angry over what they believe was a violation of the constitution. it's a sunday afternoon in louisiana i just came on here to shoot practice. thanks and guns are a blazing at this shooting range. thanks so our forty percent thank you believe everybody should have the right to defend themselves at any cost in this part of the united states the right to bear arms is part of everyday life i believe person has a right to sue for ask questions later. been robbed at gunpoint before and i know what it's like i believe that it was. living in america maybe it's that we should be able to carry a handgun but that wasn't always the case so what do you know so we take any weapons. richard stiring and his friend way

insurgent violence last week alone dozens of iraqi citizens died in a wave of terror attacks john walker lindh from the institute for democracy and cooperation says the war in iraq is far from over. there's no real withdrawal at all on the contrary fifty thousand troops are going to remain in iraq so what we're dealing with here is a political package it's an administrative change the troops who are already in iraq will stay there the name of the mission changes but they will still be combat troops they will still be engaged in combat operations after all an american soldier died again only on sunday so this is indeed all about presenting or rather creating a reality which in fact does not exist the collapse of state power in iraq and the fact that it is effectively an occupied country means that it doesn't have self-determination. i think that people who argue in favor of this war say that the achievement of democracy at least on paper made it worth it i'm not sure of course whether the many hundreds of thousands of people who've been killed would agree with that but even if one can say that the situation has in some respect

founders who are interested in democracy, civic engagement, such as open society institute, community foundations. they are supporting a similar project in san diego. so the pool of the founders and donors has expanded. >> some good news on the first row. [laughter] craig aaron, i saw you cringe a little bit when we said the most we support government funding. so what do you support? >> i think the government has a role to play. i do not think they are the only answer. whatever we do, the government will be part of the answer. we need to end this myth that the government is not already involved. usc just did a study that we spend $1 billion a year in placing public notices and various tax breaks, the public airwaves that bring us our television stations. that is owned by the public. when we dig up our city streets to drop the internet lines, government and policy is involved every step of the way. where i do think we need to start talking seriously about what the government needs to, the only question that matters is who are they going to benefit? for a long time, we have been telling journalists that they have no real role to play. maybe they should not be invol

democracy anymore because of this it's equally true for the u.k. similar target qatar the country eighty percent of our laws now come from the institutions of the e.u. which is not democratic and the european union has this ambition to become a super state to rival united states and i think it's a very wrong road for us to go down and britain should leave as soon as possible and we are living in a globalized world there is it possible for the u.k. to just step out of the but what does that mean what are the global laws will means it's much easier to get on an airplane now and go anywhere you like very quickly which is one of the reasons we have such a problem with uncontrolled immigration that kind of globalisation it's a reality that doesn't mean to side that you have to sacrifice your independence and so government governance in the modern world in fact quite the opposite i think the problem with the modern world is that people are losing their control over their elected representatives and their governments and we're becoming less than mccracken i think necessarily bad things you have said in the past that the e.u. is in a legal state can you ex

of our democracy, to my mind. i think it is a great topic for a serious institution like wilson. i am glad we're here discussing it, and i look forward to what comes out of a program like this one during -- like this one. >> i like to add my gratitude to the wilson institute and to george washington university, and to everyone who has worked so hard and been so patient with the panel, and thus making a collective decision as to whether we would use power point or not. i guess you can figure out what we decided. one thing about the military job coalition for education i want to talk about. some of the things we're learning from our perspective, but in our research and in the field, and also we were asked to think about some of the gaps the we saw out there as a team. military child education coalition has spent around for 14 years. the name tells you what our mission is. we're focused on children from birth through college age whose parents serve in active duty forces, the national guard and the reserves. we actually have filled days, programs, at 2 under and 35 schools with both m

democracies in europe as well. nonetheless, it is time to move on with this. once the government is instituted, first of all the whole process of forming a government to some degree is the job of government in iraq to bring in the various groups and ensure that everyone feels that they have a share, to be as inclusive as process -- as possible for that as part of the message of the whole project. and that has been done before you actually sealed the deal on the government. once we have a government in place, there are certain priorities that the iraqis have set up that this as say -- that they say president obama laid out in his speeches. first to move forward on the oil front, to try to deal with these very difficult internal borders, to work on whole rule o'clock in the legal system complex, to encourage the private sector of non-oil and non-agricultural economic development, perhaps work on the food subsidies system which is very extensive, and there several other major projects out there that the iraqis themselves are looking out and that we agree -- we have programs and advisers and support with th

institutions. i wish to express our continued support to the government of pakistan's determination to combat and stop the militants and its efforts to strengthen democracy, reach out to those governments across the country, not least in the areas such as south waziristan. we look to the pakistani government to provide the leadership, courage, and mission. often dealing with an immediate situation and urgent needs, and also when facing the challenge of strengthening the social contract between the people of pakistan and the democratically elected government. mr. president, we must act now. the danish government has at the outset already approved 11 million u.s. dollars in immediate humanitarian aid, and that this batch of needed technical experts to pakistan. we are closely following the situation and constantly reviewing the need for further danish support, whether in the form of further funding, logistical support, or technical assistance. implementation is already under way, and relief is being provided as we speak. our engagement builds on longstanding ties between danish humanitarian organizations and local pakistani organizations on the ground. in