first of all, i want to introduce philipp ackermann, someone i have gotten to know quite well in the brief time he has been in the united states. he is sitting just to the left of kathleen newland, who i will introduce in a moment. he is the minister and deputy at the germanon embassy in washington, d c, basically the number two german diplomat in the united states. you may be surprised to learn that he has a phd in our history from bonn university, which is great training, i suspect, for being a diplomat. the other thing i want to headedht about him, he to afghanistan and pakistan. he has a deep involvement in southeast asia. among other things, he worked as the speechwriter for two foreign ministers, and he oversaw the political department of the german embassy in new delhi. so, a lot of experience in south asia. secondly, i want to introduce the gentleman just to his left, charles gati. the planning on staff of the u.s. department of ,tate, published many books including "failed illusions: moscow, washington, budapest" and also "hungary and the soviet bloc." he will have something