the point here is that there might be international sanction or international mandate for some sort of regulatory regime to impose these charges, and that is a concern. if companies want to enter into contracts in a competitive market i'm all for that, but we don't need an international body distorting the marketplace to anyone's disadvantage. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i yield back my time. >> the chair now recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. shimkus who i think is our last one to ask questions of this panel. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and i apologize for obviously keeping us longer, but it's very important. it's a very important subject. and it's very important if you've been involved, as i've been fortunately been involved with democracy and freedom movements, at least in the former captive nations, eastern european countries. i pulled up with great technology, the cyber attack on estonia in 2007. just returned from the nato parliamentary assembly meetings in estonia just over the break. i've watched the crackdown on dissidents in belarus and commissioner mcdowel

the rules of the road for centuries were determined by customary international law. the challenge was as we went from sale to steam and vessels approached each other more quickly, everyone had their own version of customary international law and collisions occurred. all countries agreed at a certain point to rags which standardized things to sea. there's stability and continuity and predictability in those rules which sailors depend upon. that's a perfect analogy for us that we continue under customary international law and it changes and everyone has a different view of it. we negotiated ourselves in a position where this is most favorable to us like having a lottery ticket, a winning lottery ticket you don't cash in and you can't use the proceeds. >> i would respectfully submit that the series of exchanges that we've had with china where they have insisted on only bilateral solutions is perhaps the strongest argument for us proceeding forward in this sort of way where we can continue to encourage multilateral solutions. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senato

we expect full support in this fight from the international community in line with their international obligations. distinguished guests, usually the middle east is regarded as synonymous with tensions, conflicts, and underdevelopment. but our region has been the center of civilization for millenia, leading to strong traditions of political order in which multicultural environments flourish. in addition to this heritage, we have sufficient economic resources today to make our region a global center of gravity. it's now time to make historic reassessment in order to transform our region into one of stability, freedom, prosperity, cultural survival and peaceful co-existence. in this new regional order, there should be hess violence and fewer barriers between countries, societies, regions, ethnicities and sects. the road ahead is full of major challenges. therefore, the international community must do its utmost in helping the people achieve their democratic aspirations. this will make a hugely positive impact at global levels in political, economic, and security terms. it will also requi

international law is developed by relevant national and international institutions. let's talk about missile defense when we interviewed our military officials to logic their us partners have used the warned us of a first strike they see the european missile shield could be used as a source for a strike against russia or what did what are we still afraid of preemptive strike by the west but i think that today this threat is rather overplayed but even it up us the spirit of that action is that it's the military that bears the bulk of the responsibility for the national security so i don't think the time in a position to argue with them but i was two points but in order to avoid having such a threat. with your beloved by threats of a first strike we need first of all you might understand under what circumstances when the first strike can be launched in second place you need to have some preliminary guarantees take some preventive measures that would rule out the possibility of one party catching the other off guard but i spoke to them because it's fair to assume just a

authority in international body? >> i would say that's correct, yes, sir. >> and also one in which we were able to establish those international standards and international norms which have helped facilitate maritime traffic without subjecting the united states to lawsuits without a tribunal that would be weighted by many instances from what would likely be the arbitrator being chosen by the secretary-general of the united states. >> i can't comment on that, sir, and i would be delighted to bring my lawyers to discuss that and i'm looking from a commander's point of view where i would like to negotiate agreements on the broad range of things the coast guard does in ensuring safe, sure and environmentally safe commerce out of the country through our waters and concluding agreements in the arctic which we are constrained because we are not a party to the convention. >> thank you all very much for your testimony. in closing, to wrap up, i just want to comment that i respect your judgment greatly and if there is a need t

to me would kill those people international hospital then carried them. and give them to the opposition does exist why men have all under possibility to show them we see there on the story or you end up sort of a. man we don't know who they are i am dog position there's many strengths each one of those factions are working independently it's why it's very difficult to then you would say i had residents of a palestinian village have contacted the guinness book of world records to register their village has been denied demolished by israel thirty eight times jeff helper co-founder and executive director of the israeli committee against house demolitions thinks it's a last ditch attempt to attract attention to their plight. i think this is an act of desperation they've turned to these radio courts for years and years and years israeli activists have gone down to try to resist the demolitions there's been international campaigns against a jewish national fund which is behind the demolitions of these homes and nothing has helped israel comes back common time a

international concern. the third thing sadly is often glossed over by western counterparts than we do cash who will be in power in syria after ice crisis at the rookies. cannot allow the libyans where after a violent overthrow of its leader the country was left there seems to be to its own devices to take place in syria so will a portion of us while the libyan crisis is a domestic a pharisee with the situation in syria may trigger an explosion of course the whole middle east was that of your emotions that are with two outs of evolution of us the king thank you thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest on the show today was a good piano former russian foreign minister and the president of the russian international efforts the spotlight will be back with more first hand comment on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take. that. i.

dimensions in the international situation will of course have a direct impact on the outcome i believe that there is going to be protracted conflict i think the syrian government is fighting to the finish and their allies russia in this case recognize that if they were to be overthrown the united states would create in syria a proxy client regime as they have in iraq and as they have in libya ok if i go to you and i ask the question who would be the winners and losers when considering what we just heard here only the syrian people lose. i guess the loser of the syrian people and this is very upset because there are international dimensions of the crisis but all of the more than more than ten thousand people killed so this is. to see. is the name. but in my view the civil war all of this started unfortunately and people are dying . for four or four months and then i look from the from from a regional perspective i am afraid that implored internally explode because there are countries related to the syrian crisis in the first member. lebanon which is already experienced terrible civil wa

the idea of paying a royalty to any international body tends to imbue that international body with adegree of sovereignty. that by itself raises significant concerns in my mind. now, of course, the primary reason why the six of you are before this committee today is to talk about our maritime interests, our navigational rights as a country. and i understand that. but i do have to ask the question, happy to ask it to any or all of you who are willing to answer this question, why is it necessary -- let's assume for purposes of this discussion that you may be right, that it would be a good thing to protect our navigational, our maritime rights through some kind of a treaty -- why is it necessary to join that together with a separate part of the same treaty that also deals with exploy take of the seabed with extending beyond our outer continental shelf? general jacoby, you're closest to me, why don't you take a stab at that. >> i'd be happy to, senator. my area of operations, my concern about the law of the sea treaty, my support is generated by the opening of the arctic. for whatever re

of of the international conference. as air beginning as a sig sign that russian position may change. so many syrian citizens. and many people in the arab and the muslim world would like to see if there is a need ground for these kinds of rumors. well like i said in my opening remarks there is no ground whatsoever for russia to change its stance if you think that our initiative on organizing this conference is a sign that we are going to change our stance you've misunderstood this our position is not just to veto anything our position is constructive and positive we are looking for ways to make progress that's why list august we suggested. a statement. of for the un security council and was actually adopted that we were the first for the council to get involved in the syrian situation this was less september than. a little later again we suggested to draft the resolutions in the uk are you must you are based on the need to influence all the parties involved but western countries did not support those resolutions and then

international lines. the record will remain open for 10 days. he may get additional questions. if you can reply to those. if they come, we may appreciate that. we appreciate your time. this meeting is now adjourned. > [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> earlier, the supreme court heard challenges to the health care law. friday, politico posted a discussion on how states are implementing exchanges. this is live friday and c-span2. >> saturday, we will bring the part of this year's cable and telecommunications association convention. we discussed the future of cable news and innovation in the industry as long as the 2012 presidential campaign. chris matthews is joined by john king appeared that this saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c- span. >> the congressional directory is a complete guide to the one hand and told congress, with each member of the house and senate. you also find cabinet members and the nation's governors.

policy and customary international law, u.s. persons and corporations have the right to explore and exploit the deep seabed regardless of whether or not the united states is a part. these are the facts. collectively they indicate there are real costs and foreseeable risks that the u.s. will undertake if it joins the convention. proponents claim there are no costs whatsoever. the u.s. will only enjoy benefits for membership. if only the u.s. would join the convention, everything would work out just fine. in light of the facts, i believe it's the proponents claims that are based in methodology and blind faith. thank you again for inviting me to testify today. i look forward to any questions that you have. >> thank you very much. i really appreciate it. that's a good articulate position of the summary. i'm thrilled to be able to tell you i am very happy it's between republicans. i'm going to look to you to thrash it through. it's interesting to me that they are working hard to get something done which president nixon concede of and

well at the end of the day you know international law is for the most part actually good here to most countries want to be viewed by its partners in the world critically in the areas of trade or the environment or otherwise is actually. being good partners who would be able to be viewed as abiding by their own obligations human rights of course is a different and more complicated set of questions and and so in my experience and i think it's fair to say and most people working on international human rights matters the law itself is usually not sufficient to bring about the kind of results that one wants and oftentimes you need to combine these international treaties with the political and the public relations pressure that help ensure that results actually out here to what the treaties claim that they are guaranteeing to citizens of these countries are you concerned about ethnocentrism in the us i mean one of the one of the knocks that china makes. about the united states lecturing them about human rights is that we've got more prisoners than they do and they've got three times as many

they do not want to take on syria without the backing of the international community. the native guarantee was assessed today. if there is going to be an international community intervention, turkey does not want to be out there alone. it wants a large international coalition, especially with the support of the united states which as unique capabilities. >> and there are genuine fears of sectarian violence? >> i think that is somewhat true. there is the fear of sectarian violence as you saw in iraq. but we have seen syria descend into chaos and violence already. i think you can make the strong argument of what we're seeing now would be worse than what would happen if the international community intervened earlier. now you are really seeing strong divisions in syria, without much international community intervention. >> ok. thank you very much for joining me again. similar issues keep popping up over syria. >> in the. >> the russian president vladimir putin has played mahmoud a boss -- abbas for what he calls his modest position regarding israel. he is on a two-trip to

the syrian people and this is very upset because there are international dimensions of the crisis but all of the more than. ten thousand people killed so this is enough to see to asian is the name. but in my view of the war all of this started unfortunately and people are dying there for four or four months and then i look from the from from a you know post back to i am afraid that implode internally and explode because there are countries related to the syrian crisis the first member. to lebanon which is already had experienced terrible civil war which can repeat again because sectarian well it looks like it looks i'm going to fire for the entire region joshua if i can go to you it seems to me that it's very simplistic in western media if assad goes it's all over without overt a civil war that will end the civil war just because assad leaves and i don't think he will go ahead no it won't no it's not going to end the civil war what we're seeing is is a is a sectarian civil war that twelve percent alawite at the top of syrian society the sixty five percent arab sunni at the bottom ther

and international officials have recognized that the reason a third force operating here in syria and it's not just clear who exactly is behind what it contains and carved into hard is and they recognize it finally just to remind you it's been also a very difficult and sensitive issue in this conflict because since the beginning of the uprising the syrian government has been. accused many times and on assad has been accused many times of suppressing unarmed innocent civilians while the fischel . the official opinion of damascus was that they've they are fighting against armed groups and against terry so let's not listen to what russian envoy to the u.n. has to say about this about this third force operation in syria. the truth of the matter is as you know is that armed opposition groups only. do not only failed to comply to the government plan but they've been clear that it is their intention not to do so which is a very dangerous development a very counterproductive development. while coffin and the fate of the syrian president bashar assad has to be decided by syrian people and this

internally explode because there are countries related to the syrian crisis in the first. a member can come to lebanon which is only the experience. which can repeat again because. it looks like look i'm going to fire for the entire region joshua if i can go to you it seems to me that it's very simplistic in western media if assad goes it's all over without overt a civil war that will end the civil war just because assad leaves and i don't think he will go ahead no it won't no it's not going to end the civil war what we're seeing is is a sectarian civil war that twelve percent alawite at the top of syrian society the sixty five percent arab sunni at the bottom there not the bottom they're wealthy but they haven't had power and they're going to overthrow this alawite regime i believe and we've seen the same thing happen when the colonial powers france and britain left the region in the second world war they left minorities in charge in all the eleven thousand states and what's happened in the post colonial era is that the minorities have been thrown out of power the maronit

it prompted huge international aid effort. we report. >> pakistan still bears the scars of last year's floods. vast areas of crops were destroyed. tens of thousands of livestock drowned. over 8 million people were affected. one town, people are trying to move on. the horrors of what happened last year are hard to forget. the place was inundated with several meters of flood water. the heaviest rains ever recorded. on a rescue mission, we found this family, stranded. they had lost their home, their animals, they had only managed to save a couple of chickens. we managed to trace them out to find out how they have recovered. the news was bad. since we last saw them, the mother had died. >> we stayed in a camp for three months. we ate the stale bread they give us. she got a very weak. when they close the camp, we came back here. she was getting worse. then she died. >> nine months after they were flooded, some areas are still under water. we soon found out why. this is supposed to be a drainage channel four or 5 feet deep. you can

around the clock around the world international news and comment live from moscow. moscow says it will not let the u.n. security council sanction military action in syria foreign minister sergei lavrov has said external players are provoking the syrian opposition to continue fighting despite kofi annan peace plan with the country now on the brink of a full scale civil war artes as the details russia wants to see a peaceful solution chiefs through negotiations to. in syria. said this russia wouldn't accept any measures to the united nations that could leave will be interpreted to allow any kind of outside military intervention so beloved of saying that kofi annan six point peace plan was still the only viable option for the government must in syria mustn't be blamed totally for toppling in the country.

communications program at american university school of international service also in washington we have ivan eland he is a senior fellow and director of the center on peace and liberty at the independent institute and in london we crossed to jonathan mcclory he is a strategy adviser edwin creative all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want anyone if i go to you first in washington what is the state of america's soft power today ok a lot of people think it would be us took a real battering under the bush years and now we've had four years of obama what is this what is america's brand value well i think america has a lot of brand value but i don't think it comes from. funding democratic forces and other countries i mean i don't think this rule works very well since one thousand nine hundred we've tried to impose democracy using military power fifteen times in eleven times it's failed two times it's still out of four times it succeeded so it doesn't have a very success rate even when you force it on people so i think letting it bubble up

what constitutes a quorum of international legitimacy. there were times during the first bush administration where united states thought that acting alone or with a coalition of the willing itself constituted a quorum of international legitimacy. i posit that that was proven insufficient. does nato as an organization itself constitute a quorum of international legitimacy. if nato decides to act by consensus and by invitation of a regional organization, the arab league, someplace else, does that constitute a quorum of international legitimacy. how much weight do you give to the chinese and russian security council? i'm not here to suggest an answer. but the issue of international legitimacy for these kinds of actions is an unsolved question and much debated. would we really have been happy with the consequences of not doing what we did in kosovo? we reversed ethnic cleansing. but -- >> dan is 100% right. it's been a torturing problem. if you're a strict constructionist for the u.n. charter, then you're stuck with the veto. the veto in case

executive director of the international energy agency who's joining us live from st peters. who is a dutch politician from the conservative christian democratic party. at the beginning of the ninety's as you know. during the last decade she served as the minister of education culture and science and most recently the minister of economic affairs in that position. this wonder who even has worked a lot with the energy sector in september of last year she was elected executive director of the international and that's. how mrs won the moon and thank you for being with us welcome to the show. and well first of all i wanted to ask you about what's happening today on the forum as we know president putin chose to address the leaders of the energy industry at the st petersburg forum you were also present at the session so what impression did putin speech have on the international audience. well i can only give you my own ideas on that of course and. i think what's what president putin said was very importantly as we all know it's important that some reforms are going to be done in th

human rights and international humanitarian law. so we do look for near-term progress benchmarks to be met, particularly on setting a date for the provincial elections in the north, specifically demilitarization in the north. and if confirm i can commit to you and your colleagues that human rights protections of civil society in the media to do their job will be on the top of my agenda. i do believe that we can have constructive engagement at the same time, principled engagement that keeps human rights protections rule of law at the forefront. >> and look, i know this has been a priority. but when people see almost no progress on the implementation or recommendations, this question of an international investigation is going to present itself continually. and i realize it's sensitive. it's a difficult question for the administration. but i'd say two things. number one, it's not going to go away until they see -- until the world sees results. so the question won't go away. and number two, i'd urge you upon confirmation to use every bi

i'll be back with the headlines now ahead of crucial international talks in moscow on iran's nuclear program r g hears from the country's top negotiator so you judy. thank you. another round of talks on the iranian nuclear issue is about to begin in moscow is it likely to produce any tangible results while to discuss that we are now joined by iran's chief nuclear negotiator say jelly thank you very much for your time sir we've seen so many rounds that produce so little results and the expectations at this moment a pretty low what do you think should be done in order for these new round of talks to be a success or. in the name of the most gracious the most merciful we have always said that in our actions we are guarded by a clear logic we do welcome dialogue we have always been open to corporation and talks with different countries on a wide range of issues including corporation in nuclear energy but there needs to be a certain strategy if we stick to the same strategy to the same approach then the prospects for the talks are promising iranian nuclear facilities have been targeted by

who is the executive director of the international energy agency. as far as i know the e.u. foreign ministers have agreed on an oil embargo against iran which consequences may such a measure have on the oil market. well of course we have to to wait and see what happens when the sanctions will be in full swing and of course one of the interesting things is what's countries like china. korea japan are going to do are they really going to thirty to bring the their impulse from me down from around down that's what they promised to do and the self important thing is who is going to get a waiver from the united states because they are in this as well but if given these assumptions then we consider it likely that about a million barrels a day of iranian crude would have to look for other buyers. answering one of my previous questions you mentioned that the use reserves in the european countries and especially in the in the united states are full that they are full that they have ever been which which makes me smile because something being full of the info they were about is fun but

the international issue the issue of international treaties which he said that he would be. honoring or respecting would definitely assure the u.s. and ensure him the support of the us and the financial support of the u.s. and particular. internally there is a great deal of trouble in the arab world and in egypt itself and this sectarian division between sunni and shia and iran and so on so on is has a very divisive. effect so when he says i would normalize relations with iran he is saying that i would probably play a positive role in because the unity of society is very very important and he said he the unity of egypt is high on his list then he has to give assurances to so many minorities especially the christian minorities in egypt and he has a constitution that will be rewritten in a sense and in that constitution there would be a lot of contradictions that would have to be dealt with on the one hand he has to adhere to the islamic sharia or the basic of oddities that the muslim brothers. have as constitution in a sense is that i think that guardian talk about reconsider

community into serious internal affair. and international affairs and defense analyst lose the circumstances of the killings of suspicious. over seventy were killed. by these by belong to a group that was settled in so they could cycle called the baby but with the support of the government they certainly received they were water. they were protected he is so. happy with the relations we feel. i cut it for sure. mr gage and i suspect paid by happy killed by papers of the rebels the opposition played me to. try to speak or. they were a separate group it would have been. because they could make group provoke an international alteration topic. but it is case this is quite striking in the east like. it what they or what it just before the about specific to syria. a. massacre happened so it seems to me that there are limits your pussy sure who are patriots group bait washable if you were simply shooting. at thirty people here. and so they are recurrent police. on the theory that the timing of the latest reported massacre in syria

six point peace plan to stop the violence in syria remains at the center of the international community's efforts clearly nobody has calling this plan a failure and at this point nobody is indorsing any type of military intervention into syria the most important thing right now according to the secretary general is to keep syria from going from a tipping point to a breaking point joint special envoy for the u.n. arab league mr kofi annan also has said to the media that what needs to be done now is for the security council to under stand and to come up with a plan in the best way to implement his six point peace plan and that is up to the security council to work out and decide while the security council unanimously recommitted its board or the kofi annan six point peace plan washington is still blaming syria for all of the ongoing violence u.s. ambassador to the united nations susan rice says that is the assad government that has been acting outside of its responsibilities and indeed it is not succeeding because the government of syria is not fulfilling its obligations under the annan pla

allow a military intervention with both sides to blame for the violence russia has proposed an international conference trees solve the conflict of. demonstrators breaking the law and now face higher fines than russia bats as analysts claim the protest movement support and numbers are dwindling. and are eastern europe correspondent investigates why as strongly as security police blacklisted him after a series of reports about some of the country's policies. a lot of be it from me but now where is the biggest threat to nuclear nonproliferation coming from the answer is and spotlight with all that's next on our. welcome to spotlight. on arts i'm. were filming the program in berlin. in june this year the german capital ousting the anniversary conference of the luxembourg forum on preventing new clear contrast leaving x x leaders and politicians from around the globe have gathered here to evaluate the actual threat to nuclear nonproliferation that trying to name the regions of the countries where such a threat may be coming they also discuss such issues as the possibility of a compromise between

with the international law. that is with the role and un security council resolutions. that this a counter in a previous interview for our program you described a look some work for him as the voice of civil society on the issues of nonproliferation. this one has remained but i'm still unclear as to who your target audience is whom are you addressing in the first place is it public opinion is it grassroots initiative is it political decision makers or is what you do a form of lobbying and. when no alexander. i can tell you the expert community doesn't lobby anyone's interests like i said we pave the way to the future who we dress everyone we send our reports to decision makers in all the leading powers over the world and to all official international institutions and n.g.o.s board it on top of that but even if you look at today's session it he will find our colleagues from similar initiatives such as the poland wash conferences among the staff of the luxembourg for. what they publish people are really lobbyist and they know. they aren't i don't know only publish confere

the international telecommunication union upcoming world conference on international telecommunication has rightfully drawn heightened attention from the global community. some i.t. member states -- that could have far reaching implications for the internet. while the internet society has no voting role in the it process, we do participate as what is called a sector member. in that capacity, with have raced significant concerns that rather than enhancing global interomit rehabilitate the outcome could undermine the security, stability and innovate i have security of networkings world. the internet society understands why some of the member states are focus on the intesht and the infrastructure. the internet has fundamentally changed the nature of communications floablly and many nations view those changes as falling of the the under utu. -- sphrem the very real economic pressures that developing nations face. as a seek update the national policy frameworks to allow them to engage fully in the global was in economy. we're not convinced that the international treaty making process repres

you new york what's been the international reaction to the reports. well the international reaction so far has been pretty much blaming the syrian government for the most recent massacre in hama there was a meeting that is still continuing right now at the general assembly at the united nations where people representatives of countries took to the podium giving their take on the crisis in syria the secretary general of the u.n. bonn ki-moon condemned the latest massacre and said that president assad has lost all his legitimacy in addition to that we have heard comments coming from u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton and the british prime minister david cameron who are meeting in a separate meeting and instead instable in turkey. hillary clinton saying that syria will not retain or have any peace until president assad goes prime minister cameron are also said that he is calling for the international community to increase its pressure on syria and now western powers have been for months pushing for regime change in syria and as of late pushing and c

time for some other international news in brief the u.n. nuclear watchdog urges for a deal that would allow its inspectors to visit a military complex where its suspected nuclear weapons research has taken place the meeting is scheduled for later today in vienna however the islamic republic is not expected to make any major statements before talks at the end of next week in moscow a number of western powers fear iran has been attempting to create nuclear arms. program was set up for peaceful purposes. have been killed after government troops clash with. the militants were fought by armed civilians and soldiers after storming a town north of jaar the battle left at least twenty dead and three others were killed when warplanes bombed a vehicle in the south believed. forces yemeni troops are attempting to reclaim town seized by militants last year during the uprising against former president salih. the u.n. human rights chief says u.s. drone attacks in pakistan are quote legally problematic and not comply with international law and suggested t