panel, jim, about the huge debate we're having underway about democracy, which we need to have for sure. it's the critical issue of this election. the other critical issue of this election is we've got two active wars underway here in which we're trying to keep the united states forces out of direct combat. >> yeah. no question about it. whether or not the u.s., the biden administration, keep a lid on both of those wars. keep them contained. that is a huge, looming issue this year. to that point, the secretary of state is back in the region with a key focus on stopping that from occurring. what do you think? what are the stakes here? >> well, the stakes are high and i would have to say that while secretary blinken is on this sort of multicity, multicountry trip, the biggest factors about whether the u.s. will be able to