[inaudible conversation] [applause] hello, everyone. , a at least for in our. This is the story of two decades of reporting in the middle east garden with cairo where he went after he graduated college with two suitcases and 2,000 a they reject comedienne to become a Foreign Correspondent. We learn about his education , freelancing for radio while reporting for a Major News Network that in one case led to his kidnapping in syria. This book is much more is a Current Situation of the middle east as he said this morning i have never seen it worse this is his personal account a lucid alarming over real and where it is headed before i ask you to help me welcome richard not surprisingly he has the plane to catch at the end of the event so we will cut q a just a little short to move everybody through to get their books signed. [applause] personal and is now split pleasure to be here cannot remember have seen so many people in the bookstore. [laughter] that is encouraging on so many different levels. By all the books keep this but keep the industry going. So as you heard this book is about the middle east i moved 20 years ago i graduated college engaged in 96 the had the idea was to go to a place i thought would be a lot of news of the least seem like a good choice i would become a great Foreign Correspondent so i moved to cairo i really looked at the map of the middle east in front of me Saddam Husseins iraq not to many options syria not much going on in jerusalem yes lots going on but probably over saturated market to cover the israelipalestinian conflict so i thought it is egypt even it does ever got im still egypt which is great. So i packed a couple of suitcases hanson savings i arrived in rented an apartment had an incredibly rich experience people were welcoming they wanted me to convert to islam constantly. They would bring me to their homes, a feed me, i was never alone. And while that can be tiresome it is a great way to have to become familiar with the culture and learn the language in a matter of months i was having incorrect the basic conversations and arabic because i had no choice with you live with an apartment where everything is broken you have to communicate there is no water with 1 million degrees you have to learn to talk to people. And Drew International radio and to be doing that ever since. I have been during that 20 years now. I still live in the region. Is still to back a couple times have. And i am back in the states in frequently. I have been living there 20 years is there is the thesis having looked at the region is a model it is flawed, you can pick holes or find reasons why i think of as a way to understand the of the least. The model that i chose that it is based around it in my mind is a row of houses. Think of those on the coast somewhere beautiful on vlsi the look like they have been there for ever but they are rocks inside. Nobody opens the windows, nobody takes care of them coming in node dehumidifier it is just crumbling in the middle east was like that. Stock mubarak, assad, it was established in and locked in place. That like these old row houses it was a lot of appearances in on the inside it was tremendous rocked ignorance, i nepotism corruption religious tensions kept at bay by strongman activities like Saddam Hussein and in the old houses you have the locks but if you dont open the doors they will make it worse. That is a situation that is very fragile you could put your finger through the wall instead United States put its shoulder through though wall of iraq is started a sequence of events so eight years of direct military action began to unleash all of the demons that are pentup then with the eight years of the above administration supporting the revolution in egypt ended days later not in bahrain to support the uprising militarily but then not in syria. Then zigzagged through the middle east. So the combined effect of military action very soon to be zigzag unleashed and that the lease their right to is broken. It is a period of chaos. It is a physical embodiment id if you continue this model you can speculate where it goes from here than what we will see next is a series of strong mid reemerging in egypt is probably the first example in there will be more to come. The people of the region will embrace this it should be careful because after a period of chaos hot, with people embrace strongman id dictators bad things happen. That is what is coming for strongman. We will see how it goes. It doesnt have to be chaos but after that we will reach back. If there are people who have influence maybe they could find a third path into reply responsible governments. That is the framework of the book. I tell of the characters i have met along the way they tell that these this over to madrid to six pages of the anecdotes. When you get to follow along in this journey. And then moving along in a process of watching all hell broke loose. Event was told to ask to approach a microphone. So thanks very much for coming in and reading books that i wrote five other journalists and authors. [applause] over those two decades those young men and women born in the early 90s looking entire generation so what hope do you see for their turmoil led what can be done globally . A. The reason we worry is the new generation lived for the last 15 years in a period of terrible strife been living the era of a persian the conflict the kurdish conflict so give me all your rights and i will make all that goal a. What is interesting is but there is a belief that is spreading in the middle east that the United States is responsible for all of this. We didnt kill them purpose of this was 1,000 years before the declaration of independence. We did not help to create this. The memories of what some of hussein was like of that divide is daily. As we remember that beginning. You can see how they make that Mental Association even though chronologically that doesnt make any sense. Thanks for being here. So one of the potential strongman . The reassertion of the of the sphere of influence. Got it. Just for the sake of time because with turkey we could do all whole week discussing turkey. It is one of the most interesting conflicts or dynamics. You also see the old empire trying to reemerge. When there is a breakdown of order russia tries to reestablish his head in the way to do that is to keep on the lines. Russia wants to spread its wings. He wants to reestablish the ottoman influence. And has been trying to do that with mixed success when a Peace Process was going well. To establish a new world order so theyre still trying to do that but he picked a fight with russia it cannot stand behind him. He is still pushing the project but with limited success. Stick there is no way we get through this whole line but solidarity. [laughter] who has had. Thanks for being here. I dont recognize you without your a bulletproof vest. But much of what we go comes from you. By watching your interviews on nbc nightly news. If you think of all the countries you have been to we have lost much resources by going into iraq and afghanistan. As you may not what we to go. The two buildings were hit. There is a lot more that we question the everett. About the 9 11 attacks . No. I know the aftermath of the attacks but the answers you seem to be looking for i am not the person who has those. I have lived in the middle east to dealing with the aftermath i was not in new york or washington a lot but dash washington on that terrible day. I honestly did not know your name before this weekend. I wanted to know about the kidnapping of the nbc news tv in yourself in 2012. It was retracted is this a false flag that a group wants to make another group . So if so for those at this time to fund the Free Syrian Army what is that for a of kidnapping and. To make it a little more clear and three years ago i was in syria with a team with Close Friends and colleagues and a fortune of the we were kidnapped held by a masked gunman loaded into the back of a truck going from place to place. All of us including several arabic speakers believed they were richie loyalist and that there were people that they were shechem militia. By what they were acting in telling us. It is a very credible. , we get out of this horrible experience a lot of. Then we moved on and. Then a couple of years later we got it ted because there may have been more there those people look again. So we spent two months to dig back in try and find out in all likelihood of how complicated the situation is. Where loyalties are not where they seem. In all likelihood i think they were thugs or people who wanted grants of. Posing as a regime loyalist in case we did get out we would go who there were. To do a thing it was a conspiracy with the u. S. Politics involved i dont think so. I may current defense reporter in his teams with your career if you were in a region long before others arrived. Where would you go if i were you . [laughter] get out of this town. If you want to be a Foreign Correspondent by definition you have to be foreign. [laughter] i would look at the world evinces what ito other journalists, think about what the world will look like if the middle east was boring i wear padded and interesting career nobody would buy the book. If that was 1986 and probably would not have gone to the middle east and would employ into poland toward moscow. I was looking at the map in thinking the middle east will probably be the story of my generation so go home and think about it for a couple of days what is the story of the next 20 years . Maybe it isnt the middle east may be the is the environments you should go to the place rethink the environment is most impacted so put yourself in a place go to where the puck will be the weirdest go. Think of where they will be over the next 20 years then go there. Africa . I do think that it interesting. The collision of an irish did urbanization will define the next generation. You may have missed it. And his in the last 10 or 50 years there were two major american ground wars in the middle east what of which should not go particularly well and hundreds of thousands of troops cycling through as a Foreign Correspondent will you get more action than that . Probably not. I felt the whip and the First Airborne Division will ever be deployed in mass again in our lifetime i could be wrong i dont anticipate another iraq style more. War. Liggett the mapping of the pieces and where you want to be. Environmental, or africa or other horrible mutations in beecher like zika. Maybe that is the story. I dont know. But it is a fun experiment. [laughter] wine helps. [laughter] but then when you think about it it comes to this vision, more wine helps. I bet you several years ago in afghanistan and i would like to say im happy to be standing here for a debut stateside safe. I appreciate your service you are the unsung hero Steve Bechtel i have to take you for yours. [laughter] with the strategic tools of power, we generally go to military every time the military steps up. We did well easing the economic power with iran so what can we do better diplomatically . To not engage for the leaders . Thank you very much for your service. That was one of the most dangerous frigid is beautiful parts of afghanistan. Where we ought there together with the vehicle broke down . I was not there for that but you utilized. Weve also become a bit. [laughter] to which probably is not allowed but the akio. [laughter] civic i hope we return to that to you. But this is a problem with the eric his diplomacy is the u. S. Continues to retreat and go deeper and deeper with those diplomatic enclaves. It is not the diplomats and that is a problem with losing contact so you lose the texture. So the former u. S. Consulate the house is rented of forprofit so you can come in to take italian language classs with parties and festivals . This seems like every night. As they get put on line so the need to ring gauge more because staying in the capitals of serve our national interest. I dont know why we all have a bigger Cultural Outreach Program has but dont really exist. To give in to u. S. Diplomatic facilities have to wait on line did you cannot even approach a. If somebody goes for example, to the Cultural Center and they watch a couple of itel in movies with peat said the rate, something simple. A couple of kids of the neighborhood can change your impression. Did lawrence of arabia influence your career that began the myth of movie legend . [laughter] yes. Ive moved up to the middle east. In 13 years old. And reread a glamorous hotel in the sitting of the steps. My mother comes out welldressed and with the jewelry and clothes from another era. And i was waiting there in for a degree in hotel in the center of marrakesh. My mother came down the steps it says you should work there one day based in paris okay there is. I will be in paris in my office with a typewriter and i will write the next great novel though it was felt full voyeuristic he tells of being in the exotic place it has a list of the romantic but i still like the concept pager mother fayette of greta garbo . I will have to ask her. [laughter] but yes there is a flair. If you have no fun doing it. You spoke a strong bid dictators coming added some of these revolutionary situations and another option might be the installation. Rigo win to find ourselves to bring democracy to the area. Road rabil attempts . Every strong man is a working progress is their democracy in the middle east dealt so. The think that is hard to have such every said dramatic experience for democracy. But we cannot build up for them for. And adds another layer of rejection. I have been getting news it from you for a long time the word you get your news from . Or would you recommend . Spicule lot like the answer because there is no one place you have to read a lot am looking at social media in newspapers and books had to read. I read a lot of books of the crusades. And to read bizarre and antiquated books. Is interesting and eliminating. There is no block gore tweet or no amalgamation and. The more you can read a on any subject that you want to know about. I unplugging the bookstore. [laughter] you may think that the book called the anatomy of revolution so what will be hard to have democratic reforms. So part of that revolution there was no middleclass. Over time you need education and to have money in their pocket if youre desperate you dont have a lot of choice. With no knowledge because you have then is educated. But it is education. Iran is an interesting case right now. It then i went there to see about the implementation about the deal that is agreed to there was the implementation day that these they certified that iran that the obligations of the venetian start flowing into should be lifted in the process is under way. I was talking to people who were very excited about achieved a young woman at the Stock Exchange not really bigger than this room. Some push button phones in this young energetics stockbroker is riding to work in the morning she is that excited she cannot wait to get to work because she thinks the market will go through the roof and things will change you have a lot of people like her in the market talking have there will be tourists in baking in put their goods online and sell them on the bay. So they were very excited about entering the World Economic community but then you have the regime which has a vested interest in was to have perestroika without class most open in a political changes that possible . You have a society betting it is not in the state open the door a little bit you cannot close again. Others say we will open a little bit in major doesnt open any more. Who wins . I have no idea is that is what assassinating ideological and points of tension and. Just to convict you said education in economics to have a real democracy to work if you live heat to melt with a gun to your head you have a choice. That is Bernie Sanders message. [laughter] [applause] luckily it down after deal with any domestic politics. And has been a mecca want to ask about the future of islam if he believed whether the of moderates will try to empower them. This short a answer is yes. Is fairly short strategy, it is so popular is a day virus within islam. If you have a cold sore. If you are weak it will manifest itself. That is like isis. Is a domestic itself because of the body a rounded is weak it eventually will become stronger and that is in the Dark Recesses that it doesnt want to read knowledge. There have been moments of fanaticism and a generally history moves on. But they have a physical place with so much chaos that allows them to have that space to unified policy and and fill the void. How much more odious kid you get the and isis . We cant agree on anything but we could destroy on that but the world can . Its tough those cittern year to isis are afraid of that but it is the russian agenda of the turkish agenda and the read the agenda of the americans of a confused and consistent policy the iraq war. There are so many Different Reasons to explain why there is a black hole in the region. Sorry to bring up a cold sore. [laughter] cpac i may be the last thing. It in that history in a somalian libya so we dont end up in the place where there is a dictator it the nonstate actors. This is the last question. Also thanks to all of you first. But it has been surrounded europe it is relatively new in the middle east. It is in an empire system. The Ottoman Empire and the caliphate like the roman empire that were run from the center but really in the provinces you ran your own affairs the modern state system of quarters did uniforms and National Anthems was carved out so in the region it is relatively new. Have the state system hasnt worked very well for the region. I think that is why if you look at the state system you have the mandates for a brief period after world war i and a few decades mostly ruled by the u. K. And france that after the European Countries decided even after world war i was not enough they had to commit suicide again the United States stepped in and two became the overlord for a few more decades but then the