i am not a member of the eu. the united states is not a member of the eu, so we cannot dictate the terms in which any country enters into the eu. i do think turkey is an important ally in nato. they are helping us in afghanistan in that critical effort. they have a growing economy. they are interested in further integration with europe. i would encourage that, so i have said publicly i think turkish membership in the eu would be important. president sarkozy, as an actual member of the eu, has a different view, but i think it is important to note he strongly supports the work that turkey is doing in nato. i believe he is interested in further economic integration. and what the u.s. wants to do is to continue to encourage discussions and talks and a process whereby turkey can feel confident that it has a friendship with france, with the united states, with all of europe, and to the extent it is defining itself as part of europe, that it has an opportunity to be a partner. but again, that is something that will have

it is unlikely that the eu would find the current organized u.s. state based regulatory structure equivalent. this means the ability of our regulatory system to detect offshore risks will be weakened and also means that many of our u.s.-based institutions will be forced to shift significant operations overseas if they hope to continue to do business in the eu. certainly an office of insurance information would be a logical first step to address this. and to address other problems we face in the internaingsiale insurance market. however, oii would rely heavily on the various state insurance commissioners to implement the regulatory policies. without strong preemptive authority over the states, the ability of an oii to enact policies nationwide and consequently the ability of an oii to adequately represent the entire u.s. insurance market would be greatly weakened. i remain concerned that an oii will not go far enough. maintaining solvency regulation at the state level will limit the effectiveness of a potential systemic risk regulator as well as coo

has a far greater share of the eu u.s. market than any other eu hub. it is vital that regulators understand that this isn't just another alliance. it's an attempt to stitch up the most important loan routes from europe's most important airport. ba and aa together and are protected partners in one world would hold half of the total takeoff and landing slots in heathrow. in comparison, virgin atlantic is capped in just over 3%. a striking distance which shows that no one can replicate their scale. last time, we said ba and aa would hold the dominant share of heathrow. nothing has changed. these peak hour slots are essential for the competitiveness of transatlantic services. ba was gifted, many of them, but it was privatized. no other carrier could get anywhere close to competing. last time, we said that ba and aa would have an insurmountable lock on key heathrow u.s. airport pairs. nothing has changed. in fact, their market share has increased further since 2001. at the moment, they compete against each other on six key was from heathrow. getting it in un

there are 27 countries in the eu. there are many countries around the world who have similar systems. in terms of the preektive authority of the neic, its role is not to preempt the state. it's to supplement and support the state in regulation. so in that sense as it develops as internationally they're developed standards and that's the measure by which we'll determine equivalency, by the way is the development in compliance with international standards. so you support the standards and you educate the states, but ultimately you don't have the authority to comply in the same way that the neic for 140 years has tried to drive uniformity across the states domestically and has been unable to get the states to move forward towards agreement on standards as well. >> just quickly. a fair comment, there are differences among the states. i think as your colleagues have mentioned, for example, in illinois, we have a ratings system that works for our state. companies don't need prior approval on property and casualty rates in ou

so we look forward to working with the eu as they further develop their approach. one report mentioned earlier by mr. skinner is called the dela rosier report and what was interesting about that report is he commented on the need to reflect upon and report the capital standards. you might recall several years ago there was a clamor in washington to give our own banks. the capital freedom for the european institutions and for that reason, solvency, too, warrants serious scrutiny, but i think it's fair to say, if solvency 2 had been in place during the current crisis, the economic impact would have been worse for those in the united states. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. if i may also comment on the solvency 2 matter. if i could actually take a sentence out of mr. skinner's testimony, it seems to me this is the concern the re insurance market has about solvency 2 and the statement from mr. skinner's testimony, since it would have to be made at the country level, this would make it almost impossible to find the usa equivalent under solvency 2 unless changes

that is how the rest of the world, the eu, most of the rest of the world outside israel and the united states, israeli settlements are viewed by definition as illegal. i think president obama missed a real opportunity to put u.s. policy back on the right track on that important issue. host: we have one last call. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: fine. caller: we hear about iranian elections and stuff about that. i think they should have their own election. i'm sorry people got hurt over there. over here we lose jobs so much. the congress and the senate should be worried about getting more jobs over here and get americans more stable and get the american people on air feet. we're getting to be a weak nation. people are losing their jobs and the faith. we lose the jobs and they get shipped overseas. that is my question, i guess. guest: look, obviously this is the time of great hardship economically for a lot of americans. i would encourage you not to think of -- think of it as a choice between being involved in the world's or being prosperous at home. personally i think that

we have worked closely together at the g-20 summit in london, the nato summit, and the eu u.s. summit in prague. i admire her leadership and pragmatic approach to getting things done. she had the german people have welcomed me twice, during the day of summit, and again this month. i am pleased to return the hospitality today. the chancellor shows -- agrees with my belief that no nation can meet the challenges of today alone. the united states and germany will continue to play a leadership role across a range of challenges. we are building on the bold steps we took at the summit by aggressively confirming the global economic crisis. i underscored our commitment to strengthening financial regulations, and i welcome the chancellor's commitment. as we prepare for the summit in italy and look ahead to the g-20 summit in pittsburg, we agreed on the need to avoid protectionism and embrace collective action that creates a sustainable growth and shared prosperity. i reiterated america's commitment to stand with germany and the lead with confronting the energy and climate change crisis. i

i would also say that three or four years ago, if you had said that china, russia, the eu, nato, malaysia, india, the u.s., australia, canada, greece, turkey, would all be working together, that is a pretty interesting mix of countries but that is what we're doing because there is a common concern that we all have and i think we are making some good progress there. it is also an international effort. we created a task force, 151 to be a coordinating element for piracy and right now, the task force is being commanded by a turkish admiral, u.s. ship. >> other questions? >> i will spot here. >> has been some talk lately about getting rid of basically the idea or the goal of being able to fight two major conventional wars in different theaters. it is time to revisit the idea. i wonder what your take is on that and should we not retain the capability to fight, say, north korea and iran should they both flareup at the same time? >> i think that is one of the fundamental questions as we work through the quadrennial defense review is to determine what the needs and how do you put in place these f

we're focused on what is unfolding in iran and we and a lot of our allies including ministers at the eu have expressed our concerns about the allegations of election irregularities. we're concerned about the treatment of demonstrators and we're calling for the iranian authorities to respect the right of people to express themselves peacefully. we're focused on that, the unfolding events, and we are also continuing to focus on the need to get iran to adhere to its international obligations. >> what message does it send to pro-democracy with the united states very clearly indicates that, regardless of the election results of iran and how much resources used, the united states will simply pursue its policy of engagement with whatever regime turns up in tehran? >> i do not think i said that. what i said is that we have a very -- we have concerns about what is going on in iran. we have concerns about the rights of the iranian people to some expression really want to see that right, to express themselves peacefully, at being respected. we also have serious concerns about iranians -- iranian a

new american president obama we had a minute exchanges, will have the same, we had in asia summit, the eu meeting, we were two in the primer of the teetwenty and only a few days will need for the g8 and talk about climate change and in the autumn of this year we shall have, for example a.g. 20 meeting in pittsburgh. i believe that 2009 is a crucial year. a year that is crucial for how the world will coexist and turn out to be in the future. there are many challenges ahead for all of us in the senator hagel was right in saying, there is no country in the world that will be able to go alone. that will be able to solve the great challenges alone. this is what it's so important that we look after our relationships, that we nurture them and also from time to time take time out to wonder what is so special about the transatlantic partnership. what is special in these to me is we each share the same values, the same basic values. we don't need to talk a great length about what we understand with respect to human rights and human dignity. that is our common foundation if you like. and the fact th

you are much more likely to live in the united states through cancer than in canada or that you -- the eu. we do not want to harm the record, because if you get better results from your oncologist in your fighting cancer, then you're more likely to live in the united states than in other countries. other folks have been looking at it as a model for the united states could go. >> good morning, i'm lynn jenkins from the great state of kansas. health care is not just a policy issue for me. as a daughter of aging parents and a mother of two children, i have spent a fair amount of time in dr.'s offices and emergency rooms in recent years. when it comes to health care for my loved ones, i want their doctor working with us to explain treatment options and helping us make important decisions, not a distant government bureaucrat or a washington politician who does not know the situation and does not know my family. we have a healthcare crisis on our hands. it is definitely a crisis when a family is denied the ability to choose the doctor or hospital that is best for them. i am concerned with some

host:, nations in the eu and common people? guest: over 400 million people, 27 nations. but the original number was 7, i believe. 1957. there was discussion about growing the european union. some of the balkan states will probably be joining sometime soon. huge controversy in europe, of course, about whether they should admit turkey. turkey would like to join and in europe would not like them to join. host: any advantage to allow turkey? guest: i think the economic advantage in europe, and a sense it would increase competitiveness within the european union. very active, aggressive, competitive turkish companies which would press european companies to be -- a huge market of tens of millions of new consumers. by the same token, turkey is very, very poor. poorer than portugal would join the european union, porridge and greece when it joined. and one reason the european union worked so well is that the european union understood when it was creating conditions that they had to subsidize those countries initially to bring the standard of living up to a certain level. the cost o

review way is your much more likely to live in the united states through cancer than in canada or the euwe want to make sure that we do not harm that record because if you get a better results from your oncologist and you're fighting cancer, you're much more likely to live in the united states than those other countries. some folks have been looking at that as a model from where the united states to go. good morning. i am from kansas. health care is not just a policy issue for me. as a daughter of aging parents and the mother of two children, i have spent a fair amount of time in doctor offices, emergency rooms in recent years and in my comes to health care reform for my young ones, whether dr. working with us to explain treatment options and help us making important decisions not a distant government bureaucrat or a washington politician who does not know the situation and does not know my family. we have got a health care crisis on our hands. it is definitely a crisis when a family is denied the ability to choose the doctor or hospital that is best for them. i am concerned with some of

has a far greater share of the eu/u.s. market. it's vital regulators understand this is not just another al appliance. it is an attempt to stitch up the most important long haul routes from europe's most important eachs. ba and aa together with their protected partners in one world will hold half of the total takeoff and landing slots at heath row. in comparison, virgin atlantic is capped at just over 3%. yes, a striking difference which shows no one can replicate their scale. loose time we said b.a. and a.a. would hold the dominant share of peak hour slots at heath row. nothing has changed. these slots are essential to the competitiveness of transatlantic services. b.a. was gifted many of those when it was privatized. no other carrier can get anywhere close to competing. last time we said that b.a. and a.a. would have an insurmountable lock on key airport pairs, nothing has changed. in fact, their market share has increased further since 2001. at the moment, they compete against each other on six key routes from heathrow, giving t

the u.s. and eu working together to engage china and india on global climate change. the g-20 bringing together key asian and european partners to address the global on a crisis. if north korea, i do not have to say much about that. security developments in the pacific such as the developer of a long-range ballistic missiles and backed the debate on missiles in europe. i think this link has been apparent since the u.s. entered world war ii double in europe. the council will continue to flood of boat as well in the pacific. and now want to turn the podium over to the hon. walter slocombe, vice chair of the atlantic council and former undersecretary of defense for policy. he will introduce our speaker and later a moderate the q&a session. he's now with kaplan and was a pillar of the atlantic council. he provides me into the rest of our leadership strategic advice as well as sound legal advice and is still free walking around and have not yet been incarcerated. that is because of wall slocombe. i am grateful for your service, and we're delighted to have a distinguished fo

this is why the european union -- during the year-african summit -- eu-african summit tried to shoulder the responsibility and help them and shoulder the responsibility by providing them with resources. i think that due to the experience we have made over the years as european union members, we were able, after the second world war to live together peacefully. we have an obligation to not only create peace within europe, because we have been able to do that, but to shoot -- but to share with others how we were able to get that to happen. this is what is described in the german constitution. this goes for every human being all over the world. it means we can solve problems of this kind. we have made an experience that is certainly not a matter of coincidence. the allies extended a helping hand to us and to our neighbor, france. and also, the united states of america. we need to prevent further cases of tragedy occurring. we will always be at your side -- to the side of the americans. thank you very much. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copy

the effort. -- nato and eu and afghan partners to support the efforts. like you, i am keenly aware of the efforts on the part of the coalition, many of, sacrificed greatly and invested heavily to support afghanistan. if we are both confirmed, i will of the honor of working for my friend admiral stavridis, and might force one could nato partner nations -- might force will include made a part -- but would need a partner nations supporting afghanistan. i look forward to listening to, learning from, and leaving this team -- and a leading this team in our common a challenge. since 9/11, our forces have learned a valuable lessons regarding the treatment of detainees, and made mistakes along the way. when i took command in 2003, i found the treatment of detainees followed existing guidance, but needed improvement. our facilities are limited, our expertise and specialties were insignificant, and we lacked organizational experience at every level. in the months and years that followed, we invested considerable energy, developed expertise and experience, and appea

there are banks of the river through several miles as it goes into cuyahoga county. it ultimately flows into lake e r*eu e in the city of cleveland. when scientists began studying the fish population of the cuyahoga, they found only a few species were able to survive in the polluted waters. many of the fish who remained were deformed. after years of hard work by the cuyahoga by citizens, by industry leaders, by government agencies, more than 60 different fish species can now be found in the river. madam president, that tells you what the efforts of government can do. it took more than a few activists in the city of cleveland. it took more than the cleveland city health department. it took more than the cuyahoga county health department. it took a strong national government and the environmental protection agency created, if you remember, during the presidency of richard nixon with a democratic congress, that ultimately the creation of the environmental protection agency and the ability of the federal government to come in when necessary and mandate that local officials and local industry do what it need

are a variety of issues that can serve as road blocks, whether they will or not, only the future can say. a plausible euscenario, altho, there are many, perhaps, i think that the pace of progress will depend more on india than the united states. the u.s. government, whether it was under the bush administration or under the new obama administration, there's a bipartisan agreement that we want to deepen relations with india. i think that's the view in india as well. but there will be constraints on india and decision-makers and i think the u.s. probably will be prepared to go as fast as the indian government wants to go. on specific issues, i mentioned the end use monitoring agreement which is very important from a united states perspective. it's a requirement of the u.s. statute, the arms export control act that we have an end use monitoring agreement in place. in order to permit verification of sales to india. i think it's also in india's interest to complete it because it enables transfers that otherwise might be difficult to occur. there is a reason for this rule and i think the two governments are g

koh's transnational principles have seriously -- could have serious kpwhr*eu indications to the united states -- serious implications to the united states sovereignty in prosecution on the war on terror, gun rights, abortions and being, many other issues. koh believes a nation who goes to war should have, must have united nations security council authority, going as far as writing that the united states was part of an access -- axis of disobedience by invading iraq, or should we say by liberating iraq. in october of 2002, koh wrote -- and i'm quoting now. he said "i believe it would be a mistake for our country to attack iraq without explicit u.n. authorization, because such an attack would violate international law." additionally he supports ratification of the international criminal court which could subject our troops to prosecution in a foreign court. implementation of this interpretation of the international law raises a number of alarming questions. if the united states is required to gain u.n. authority for military action, what punitive actions might the united states be subjec

from the 15th century to the early 20th century, it was under control of a caliphate based in eus tan buell. during this time many jews trourpbd their ancestral homeland. the ottoman empire collapsed after world war i and there was a mandate over the area known as palestine. the league of nations endorse and clarified this mandate in 1922, requiring britain to reconstitute a jewish national home within the territory they control in accordance with the declaration made by british foreign secretary balfour in 1917 making the restoration of jewish communities in that area a matter of international law. by the time world war ii had ended, there were more than 600,000 jews living in the british mandate of palestine. in 1947 the united nations approved a plan to partition the territory into arab and jewish states. the jewish agency accepted the plan. the arabs did not. on may 14, 1948, the state of israel declared its independence. on may 15 five arab nations declared war. despite being surrounded on all sides, israel prevailed and expanded its borders, providing a small additional measure