finally, steven hideman, the senior adviser for middle east initiatives at the u.s. institute for peace. he previously directed the center of democracy at georgetown university, taught at columbia university and is the author of the book, "authoritarianism in syria." and recently the author of "a policy brief from the brookings institution called upgrading authoritarianism" which i think to this day is the single best resource in understanding how arab regimes have responded to challenge these faced from below. i asked each of our speakers to speak about ten minutes and i'll ask them questions from the podium and we'll have some dialogue back and forth for a while. i might have a few remarks of my own to contribute, i usually do. and then we'll open it up to questions from the audience. for now, hassam, the floor is yours. could you come to the podium. >> always. >> we're standing up? >> yes, it's easier. >>> thank you all for coming, thanks, mark for putting this together. an inviting us to this discussion. i'm hoping the best part of the discussion will be actually