The Evening Session of Day 2 of the Conference

October 22nd 2009

Since the last post was getting pretty long between the two panels that I attended I figured I talk about Wednesday Evening's Session in a different post. The title of this session was "Turning Crisis into Opportunity"
The people who spoke were
Moderator-Dr. Jacques Attali- From France, Commissioner for French Economic Growth.
Susan Rice- United States Ambassador to the UN

Susan Rice

Jose Maria Anzar- Former Prime Minister of Spain
Vaclav Klaus- President of the Czech Republic
Leonid Kuchma- Former President of the Ukraine
Stejpan Mesi- President of the Republic of Croatia
Ivanov Gjorgie- President of the Republic of Macedonia
Shimon Peres- Host of the Conference and President of the State of Israel

Susan Rice was just supposed to give opening remarks, but she ended up talking for quite a while. She mainly talked about the United States and their stance on everything, but it was interesting nonetheless and Susan Rice was an extraordinary speaker. Here are the highlights:
The United States remains fully committed to Peace of the State of Israel, This is forever and non-negotiable. (This statement caused a long lasting applause in the audience). In order to achieve change risks must be taken and strategic cooperative solutions must be attained. If this does not happen then violence, and crime, genocide, nuclear power attainment, and environmental disasters will continue to plague our world. She said that the whole world needs to work together to ensure that Iran and North Korea do not achieve nuclear power, and if they do, that they will be prosecuted to the extent of International Law. No more empty threats! On the part of the United Nations, as well as countries around the world. If something is said, then it needs to be followed through. Empty threats do not incite fear. She made mention of many other things, such as the war in Iraq, and how the United States is committed to achieving a democracy there, and how Al Queda needs to be stopped, and no country, anywhere should provide them with a safe haven. Her last line was "Change is begun by those on the field and not on the side lines."

The other speakers, from the other countries did not say anything all that interesting.
Stejpan Mesi from Croatia talked about how the middle east can benefit from cooperation, and how close Croatia is to the Middle East, and his experience in Croatia with conflict. His favorite line was "any crisis provides opportunity" and you cannot let the opportunity go to waste.
Ivanov Gjorgie from Macedonia spoke about how English is becoming the universal method of communication, and the internet enables people to feel more connected with the world. (For his speech as well as Mesi's I had to listen to a translator. Thus some of the meaning may have been lost because the translators were not very good).
I have no idea what Leonid Kuchma from the Ukraine spoke about because the voice of the translator gave me a headache.
Jose Maria Anzar from Spain talked mostly about how he is optimistic about the survival of the State of Israel, and how a Nuclear Iran is a BAD idea.
Then Peres spoke. His speech tonight was in English and was absolutely amazing. The only reason we stayed and listened to these other people talk was to hear him speak. He opened his speech with a critique to all of those who are criticizing the fact that Obama won a Nobel Prize. Peres said "Obama without a doubt should have been awarded a Nobel Prize. Nobel Prizes are always awarded to those who have done stuff in the past. Obama is doing things for the future." Pretty strong way to start of his speech, huh?
He also said that the greatest accomplishment that can be attained is to enfranchise women and to treat them equally. He shared a brief anecdote as well. Peres is 87 and is questioned often about how good he looks for his age
Other person: Why do you look so good?
Peres: Why do you look so bad?
He closed his speech with this thought: The more we learn the more we realize we don't know, thus the more to learn.
This session listening to all of the people talk was absolutely fantastic. I may not have known the most about the political situation in Israel/Everywhere beforehand, but being right there when all of these incredibly accomplished World Leaders were talking was an experience like no other.
and Thursday night's conference was ten times better...