mr. karim haggag, who is a career egyptian diplomat spending this year as a visiting faculty member at the near east south asia center of the national defense university here in washington, d.c., where he is focusing on the implications of the arab revolutions. prior to this, he was at the egyptian press information office in washington, d.c., from 2007 to 2011. from 2002 to 2007 he served in the office of the presidency in cairo, responsible for u.s./egyptian relations and economic policy coordination. he did a previous stint in washington at the egyptian embassy where he was responsible for political military affairs and arab/israeli issues. he holds a bachelor's degree in international politics from the american university of cairo and a masters degree in war studies from kings college in london. thank you for being here. to my far right is mr. thomas groguissian, who has been a journalist and writer for the past 30 years and has written extensively about egyptian politics and u.s. policy. he has written for a number of egyptian arab publications. in addition, he has appeared frequently