 Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Norwich University. Thank you so much for attending Norwich's Fourth Peace and War Summit in person or virtually. My name is Yang Mo-ku. I am Associate Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of the Peace and War Center at Norwich University. I am truly honored to serve as Executive Director for 2023 Summit on the Middle East. Since 2018, our center have addressed most significant global challenges, including North Korea's nuclear missile challenges in 2017 and 2018. And then 2020 and 21, we focused on the topics of U.S.-China strategic rivalry. And then last year, as we know, just one month after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we talked about Russia, Ukraine, the war in this summit. So this year, we are gonna talk about the lot of problems surrounding the Middle East region. So the one thing I wanna tell you is that about six to seven years ago, our Peace and War Center director Travis Morris and I had a vision to have this kind of summit as well as publication of Peace and War journals so that just from the scratch, we had this kind of envisaged summit so that we were able to hold this kind of important event and summit, which addressed many different significant challenges we are facing in this global society. I really express our thanks to the former president, Richard Snyder, and current Norwich president, Mark Anarumo. Also, I think the former associate provost for academic research, Dr. Karen Hinkel, and current associate provost, Dr. Tara Kulkani as well. Thank you so much for your support and with all other people's support. So I hope this year's Middle East Summit provides current national and international leaders with a precious insight for their policy making. For the future leaders and global citizens, I believe this summit can broaden and deepen their perspectives and understandings of the complexities in the Middle East region. So this helped them to grow as peacemakers and reconcilers as well as strategic thinkers. At this today's summit, two keynote speakers and nine scholars and policy experts and four students, two Norwich students, two Dartmouth College students will present their unique insights on Middle East related topics. Thank you again for participating in this Middle East Summit. At this time, I introduce Norwich University's provost, Dr. Karen Gaines for her welcome remarks. Dr. Karen Gaines has made a lot of significant accomplishment in her academic and policy related arenas, but due to time constraints, I will make a brief introduction. She has served as a provost and dean of the faculty at Norwich University since 2022. She oversees academic affairs and internal operations at Norwich. Dr. Gaines' PhD is in environmental toxicology from the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health. She is internationally recognized for her expertise in environmental and human toxicological risk assessment and worked for the department of energy prior to entering academia. Dr. Gaines is also certified wildlife biologist and has consulted for governmental institutions like NASA and U.S. Department of Defense. She continues to serve these agencies in various capacities. Now, I turn it over to provost Dr. Karen Hinkels. Let's give a round of applause. Actually, it's Karen Gaines. There's a lot of Karen's here, so that's okay. At any point where you don't make a Karen joke is actually okay by me. So, but thank you everyone for being here. I am the provost and it's my distinct pleasure to open this Peace and More Summit. This significant academic event is organized and hosted by our John and Mary Frances Patent Peace and More Center. It is our honor to welcome our distinguished guests who will advance our understanding of the Middle East over the next couple of days. Our current global community is confronted with complex challenges. Some of these include the Russo-Ukrainian War, the intensifying great power rivalry between the U.S. and China, North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations, climate change, natural disasters, economic instability, cyber warfare, rampant crime, civil wars, and refugee crisis across many nations. We know that that is every single day in the news that we look at. In a world defined by complexity, it's imperative that we pause to advance our understanding of the current situation in the Middle East. The focus of this two-day summit is to better understand how historical president shapes the current landscape. This understanding is critical if we are to explore what the future holds and how to move forward towards peace. Our nation's institutions of higher learning must support critical thinking across disciplines in order to prepare our students, our nation's future leaders, to successfully navigate 21st century challenges. This two-day peace and war Middle East summit does just that end. It is not an esoteric exercise of information. This summit takes place amidst real conflict where each day we read headlines of lives lost and hopes of peace. The 2023 summit will play an important role in fulfilling our educational mission while stimulating scholarly and policy debates. Distinguished guests, we appreciate your time and thank you in advance for the contribution that you will make to the summit. Enjoy Vermont's natural beauty and please let us know if there's anything we can do to make your time at Norwich more fruitful. And as we always say here, Norwich together, Norwich forever. All right, thank you so much. Wow, I made a big mistake. Thank you so much for your reckoning, Max, for most cat and gains. Now I am so pleased to introduce two keynote speakers for this summit. United Emirates Ambassador to the United States, Yusef Aotaiba and Colonel David Walker at US Central Command. Colonel Walker will first deliver his speech since UAE Ambassador Aotaiba will speak virtually. According to the ambassador's request, only in person summit attendees will be able to watch his speech. So we will stop live streaming around 9.35, right after Colonel Walker's keynote. Then the live streaming will resume at 10 a.m. At this time, let me briefly introduce our first keynote speaker, Colonel David Walker. His full bio will be found at the summit website. Colonel Walker currently serves as a chief of strategy and policy division at US Central Command in Tampa, Florida. He enlisted in Marine Corps in 1993 and commissioned in 1998 after graduating from Texas A&M University. He played many significant roles in Marine Corps, including strategic analyst for the commandant of the Marine Corps, special assistant to the chief of naval operations in the strategic actions group, and inspector, instructor of fourth combat engineer battalion. Colonel Walker's combat deployment include Mogadishu Somalia for Operation Restore Hope in 1994, providing security for US State Department Liaison Office. And in Baghdad, Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006 as the assistant team chief for national police transition team. Now I turn it over to Colonel Walker as a keynote for this year's summit. Let us give a round of applause. Good morning. Can everybody hear me okay? Great. So I'd like this to begin by saying thank you to Dr. Gaines, Norwich University Peace and War Center and the distinguished panelists and presenters here for the 2023 Peace and War Summit. As the birthplace of Reserve Officer Training Corps, Norwich University continues to produce military, political and community leaders who have a powerful impact on the world around them. I come from another small ROTC program at Texas A&M University. So aside from the weather, I'm pretty comfortable here. It's a distinct pleasure to stand here before you today. As I reflected on the subject of this conference, I was struck by how much my life and career has been shaped by the Middle East. Even before becoming a Marine as I neared high school graduation, I contemplated enlisting in the Marine Corps to serve in the Gulf War, which, to my mother's satisfaction, ended well before graduation. After a few years later, a serving in Mogadishu, Somalia, I saw firsthand the tragedy of civil war and state failure, a theme that unhappily exists in the Middle East today. After the tragedy of 9-11, I prepared recruits for service in Afghanistan and Iraq, later preparing my engineer company to run an airfield in Althacatum, Iraq, and then deploying to advise the Iraqi National Police in Baghdad and Balad. When I returned from that deployment, I served as a congressional fellow and legislative liaison officer on Capitol Hill during the many debates on US strategy and policy in the Middle East. After that assignment, I prepared Marine Reservists for Service in Afghanistan and Iraq. Then to the Pentagon advising the commandant and chief of naval operations on the tug of war between designing and developing capabilities for small wars and those for great power competition and conflict. Then back to training reservists to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq. Finally landing in Tampa at Central Command, leading a team advising the commander, the combatant commander, and his leadership team on strategy and policy for the Central region. My career in service has been shaped by the Middle East and I believe its promise or peril will shape all of yours. 10 years before my service began in 1983, the United States Central Command was formed to serve American interests in the Middle East, Levant, and Central Asia amid strategic competition with the Soviet Union and the expansionist goals of Iran. Casper Weinberger, the 15th Secretary of Defense and the official who oversaw the creation of US Central Command, said the central region is among the most important regions in the world as far as we're concerned and as far as the free world is concerned. The Senate Armed Services Committee's legislation authorizing the new command explained that US Central Command, alongside local and regional forces, will be America's security guarantor in the world's central region. Now 40 years later, even though much of the geopolitics and policy have transformed the security landscape of this part of the world remains largely unchanged and the region's most vexing problems have grown even more complex. Through it all, the central region retains its place as one of the most important regions in the world. Today, the region is home to almost 50% of the world's known oil reserves and more than 40% of the world's natural gas. In addition, more than a quarter of global oil transits the Strait of Hormuz while over a third of global container traffic transits through the Suez Canal. A disruption in any of the three maritime chokepoints flowing through the Middle East or the spread of instability throughout the region could threaten vital national interests and hold the global economy at risk. In 1979, revolutionary students overran the American embassy in Iran. Four decades later, Iran poses the largest and most diverse missile arsenal in the Middle East, possesses, excuse me, with thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles some capable of striking the entire Middle East and Levant. In addition, the Iran regime holds the largest and most capable unmanned area vehicle inventory in the region. The advancement of Iranian military capabilities over the past 40 years is unparalleled in the Middle East. Even more concerning, Iran has advanced its nuclear program to the point that Tehran can now produce sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon in less than 14 days. The region regime also invests heavily in information operations including broadcasting, coordinated inauthentic behavior, and cyber attacks. Alongside the state threat posed by Iran, violent extremist groups continue to threaten the security and stability of the region. For example, ISIS long past 2014 pinnacle of capability remains able to conduct operations within the region with a desire to strike beyond the Middle East. Though degraded, the group's vile ideology continues unconstrained. Meanwhile, strategic competition in the central region has grown more urgent over the past 40 years. The Soviet Union has been replaced by the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, both of whom seek to undermine American interest in the region. Russia looks to aggressively expand its foothold of influence in the US central command region, area of responsibility. Even as it conducts its war in Ukraine, Moscow leverages its military presence by propping up Syria to garner influence in the Middle East. Simultaneously, the People's Republic of China aggressively expands its diplomatic, informational, economic, and military outreach in this part of the world. They both seek a revision to the rules-based order, which though not perfect, has been the basis for prosperity and stability for billions of people. These challenges and complexities, combined with the opportunities offered by our partnerships in the region, form the basis of US central command's three strategic priorities. The first is to deter Iran. Deterring Iran is arguably more urgent than at any time in US central command's history, due to Iran's cutting-edge missile and UAV capability, as well as its uranium enrichment program. Iran remains the stabilizing actor in the region and is undeterred from its malign activities, which include conventional threats to its neighbors, support to violent proxy groups that spread chaos and instability, as well as support to Russia's war in Ukraine. Looking back to the early stages of the Iran-Iraq war, the regime realized its armed forces could never fully recover from the crippling losses suffered during that renaissance conflict. As a result, the regime invested in precision missiles with extended reach to develop an asymmetric advantage. It now commands an imposing measure of missile capability, which it uses to coerce, intimidate, and bully its neighbors. Iran has also manufactured increasingly sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles. Unmanned aerial vehicles. The regime commands an arsenal of drone systems ranging from small, short-range systems to modern, intelligent surveillance and reconnaissance systems to long-range, one-way attack platforms. They are building larger drones that can fly further with increasingly deadly payloads. Until the United States helped secure the Yemen troops, Iran was regularly using Yemen as a testing ground for these weapons, threatening both U.S. partners and tens of thousands of Americans in the region. Meanwhile, Tehran continues to furnish weapons, support, and direction to proxies across the region who engage in acts of terror and undermine local governments. The proxy forces are more emboldened and dangerous through the increased proliferation of these unmanned aerial vehicles, which allow them to target U.S. partner interests with increased speed, range, accuracy, and explosive capacity. Taking a step further, Iran's advanced weapons have recently been seen on the battlefield of Ukraine alongside their Russian partners. U.S. Central Command's second strategic priority is to counter violent extremist organizations. While Iran poses the most ominous threat to the central region, violent extremist organizations operating in the Middle East, Levant, and Central Asian states also represent a danger to security and stability. The Central Command area of responsibility serves as the epicenter of violent extremism. 19 of 21 top-tier terrorist groups operating across the region. ISIS and Al Qaeda are the principal Sunni violent extremist organizations in the Middle East and Levant. Both groups maintain numerous affiliates pursuing local, regional, and global objectives. We see ISIS in Iraq and Syria in three groups. The first is ISIS at large. This is the current generation of ISIS leaders and fighters found in Iraq and Syria today. While this group's capability has been significantly degraded, it retains the ability to inspire, direct, organize, and lead attacks in the region and abroad. This group offers the most straightforward solution for U.S. Central Command. Partner with Syrian Democratic Forces and advise, enable, and assist Iraqi security forces until ISIS at large is defeated. The two other groups represent far more complex problems. ISIS in detention. These are the roughly 10,000 ISIS fighters in detention facilities throughout Syria and approximately 20,000 in detention facilities in Iraq. We rely on the Syrian Democratic Forces and our Iraqi partners to secure these sites and keep the population off the battlefield. At present, the government of Iraq has sufficient infrastructure to keep the fighters in detention. The only long-term solution in Syria, however, is to transfer the Issa Tanees to the custody of their countries of origin. The third group is the potential next generation of ISIS. This is the most concerning group and includes the more than 30,000 children in the al-Hul camp for internally displaced persons and the more than 1,000 children in the al-Raj camp who are in danger of ISIS indoctrination on a daily basis. The al-Hul camp is a flashpoint of human suffering. With more than 51,000 residents, more than 90% of them women and children living in tents, these children have little meaningful education, no access to the outside world and few constructive outlets to develop their potential. They are at risk of becoming casualties to an ideological war within the camps. As with the second category of ISIS, there is no military solution for this group. The long-term goal must be the successful repatriation of rehabilitation and reintegration of the camp residents back into their countries of origin. US Central Command's third priority is to compete strategically with China and Russia. China's goal to serve as the world's leading superpower by 2049 puts the central region squarely in its crosshairs. The People's Republic of China is aggressively expanding its diplomatic economic outreach across the region. To secure energy resources, facilitate power projection and gain support for a vision of the rules-based order. The recent PRC-brokered re-establishment of relations between Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia underscores the emergence of China's diplomatic role in the region. While China currently imports more than half of its oil and over a third of its natural gas requirements from the region, it is also moving beyond energy-based investments to encompass physical and telecommunications infrastructure. Further, Beijing is encouraging greater military cooperation in the Middle East and Central Asia with the aim to challenge our standing and recognition as the partner of choice. The Belt and Road Initiative remains a strategic lever to supplant US leadership in the region under the guise of benign economic initiatives and broadening security relationships. Of the 21 countries comprising US Central Command area of responsibility, 19 have Belt and Road Initiative agreements with China. China's economic interest, transactional deals, and no-strings approach to internal and regional affairs will continue to provide the PRC with inroads in the region. On its current trajectory, the increased economic, technological, and military presence serves as a growing strategic challenge to our partnerships, access, forced presence, and security in the region. Strategic competition with Russia, 32 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's objectives are to weaken Western security structures in the Middle East and Central Asia, and continue to challenge US security interests and critical relationships in the region. Putin's interest in the Middle East includes energy transit, security relationships, and military sales. His overall strategy in the region remains largely unaffected by the war in Ukraine. Despite the recent damage to its reputation and influence, Russia continues a pace on several fronts to preserve its influence and access to the Middle East. This includes sustaining military support in Syria that is indispensable to the Assad regime and influential with Syria's neighbors. Russia has more than 2,500 Russian troops in Syria, which Putin views as a base from which to project power and influence throughout the region and into Europe and Africa. Just as SENTCOM was formed to serve as a security guarantor of the world's central region, Russia views itself as a security guarantor of the Central Asian states, also part of the US Central Command area of responsibility. However, as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, Central Asian states increasingly view Russia as a threat to their sovereignty. In support of these three priorities, deterring Iran, countering violent extremist organizations and competing strategically with China and Russia, the commander of US Central Command developed a strategic approach to guide the operations, activities, investments, and initiatives against the complex and confounding challenges in the central region. The strategic approach is best defined by three words, people, partners, and innovation. Throughout US Central Command's lifespan, its people have professionally served the region, our nation, and the command. Since its 1983 inception, US Central Command's people in uniform, in civilian service, across the US government inter-agency team, regional and global partners, industry, and academia. They have fought for and assisted the people, the citizens of the world's central region. Our people serve as a bedrock of everything we do and how we succeed against these strategic priorities. They underpin all aspects of how we stand up to the challenges and create opportunities. Partners. Partnerships are our nation's comparative advantage. As our partners continue to face existential threats from Iran and violent extremist organizations and suffer under transactional and predatory activities by the PRC and Russia, we cultivate deep abiding relationships with forces in the region so that we can stand together against regional threats, which include deterring Iran from its worst most destabilizing activities. For China and Russia, partnerships are transactional relationships. For US.com, our partnerships are based in our shared interests and commitment to the region. China views regional countries as possible customers and clients. We see partners and allies. Our values and commitments make us the partner of choice in the region and our efforts will demonstrate our focus on enabling our partners to meet the challenges they face. We are in a race to integrate our partners' capabilities before China and Russia can further penetrate the region. While US Central Command was originally established as a security guarantor of American interests in the world's central region, today we uphold that responsibility by serving as a security integrator. Integrating our partners into a framework of operations, activities, investments, and initiatives that will ensure sufficient regional security to protect our mutual national interests. A prime example is the recent realignment of Israel from US European Command to US Central Command, which has immediately and profoundly enhanced the nature and texture of many US.com partnerships. When the original boundaries for US.com were drawn, there were concerns that US Central Command leaders would be challenged to build enduring trust-based relationships with Arab military leaders while also partnering with the Israeli Defense Force. While that concern was well-founded at the time, US Central Command readily partners with Arab militaries and the Israeli Defense Force alike today. In fact, the inclusion of Israel presents many collaborative and constructive security opportunities. Our partners of four decades largely see the same threats and have common cause with Israel in defending against Iran's destabilizing activities. Innovation. Through innovation, we multiply the capability of our partners and strengthen our partnerships to deter Iran, counter VEOs, and compete with China and Russia. Innovation will strengthen our partnerships, assist our operations, and allow us to increase progress across all efforts. In doing so, it will allow us to better serve as that security integrator on behalf of regional security and stability. Innovation is not just about technology, although technology plays a large role. It is also about innovation of thought, innovation of concept, and innovation of process. We are building a culture of innovation, and our partners are with us on this journey. For example, across all domains, through the employment of systems on hand, along with newly acquired systems, we are building an interconnected mesh of sensors that transmit real-time data. When viewed together through data integration and artificial intelligence platforms, this real-time data builds a clearer picture of the operating environment. Across US Central Command, our formation use unmanned systems paired with artificial intelligence to give us better information faster. This allows us to employ our manned systems more efficiently and effectively, achieving the ability to decide and act before our adversaries. The use of innovative technologies, concepts, and processes is singularly focused on providing our people with the best tools, the most comprehensive, rapid situational awareness, and the fastest and most accurate decision-making capability. This in turn serves a great benefit to our partners and to the security and stability of the region. Innovation is about linking our people and our partners with ideas and capabilities that enhance all efforts to deter Iran, counter-violent extremist organizations, and compete strategically with China and Russia. By empowering our people, building out abiding partnerships, and embracing innovation, US Central Command enables the national defense strategy to manifest across the joint force. A flashpoint with Iran, a crisis in the region, a successful large-scale attack on a partner country, or an attack on the homeland by a violent extremist organization, all will likely require a response, drawing resources away from our national defense priorities. But frankly, success in Central Command allows the joint force to focus on competition with China and Russia wherever that competition occurs. People, partners, and innovation is how we will deter Iran, counter-violent extremist organizations, and compete strategically. Empowering us to meet the challenges posed by these threats, complexities, adversaries, and adversaries, and seize opportunities to ensure regional security and stability. We employ the strategic approach along a foundation of mutual understanding achieved through the efforts of American service members and our partners over the course of four decades. From the tanker war to the Gulf war to the global war on terrorism and many contingency and humanitarian assistance operations in between, US Central Command has fulfilled its original mission. US Central Command, alongside its local and regional forces, will be America's security guarantor in the world's central region. Today, we have evolved that mission to be America's security integrator, a partner to regional forces against the threats we face together. Many thanks, once again, to Dr. Gaines, the Norwich University, and the Peace and War Center for allowing me to speak before you today. I look forward to the discussions today and tomorrow from the panelists and presenters as we grapple with the challenges and opportunities in the Middle East. As one among many here who have been and will be shaped by the complex modern history and current events of the Middle East, I think we should all embrace the Norwich University motto, I will try. Together, we will try to better understand to create effective solutions and enable the people of the region to accomplish what has been impossible to date. Peace in the Middle East. Thank you. Colonel Walker, thank you so much for your insightful. I cannot. Now I will briefly introduce UAE Ambassador to US, Yusef R. Otaiba. First appointed to the position in 2008, Ambassador Otaiba has focused his diplomatic career on furthering UAE, US collaboration and partnerships. Thanks to his efforts, he was later promoted to Minister of State in 2017. Ambassador Otaiba's leadership has been the inspiration behind launching several programs at the UAE Embassy in DC such as UAE, USA United, a campaign designed to celebrate and strengthen the relationship between the two countries. He has also been thoroughly involved in philanthropic initiative as both Ambassador of UAE and the private citizens. The Ambassador facilitated bringing the Special Olympics World Games to the UAE capital in 2019, the first to be held in the Middle East and North Africa region and has since joined the Special Olympics Board of Directors. Additionally, Ambassador Otaiba has supported disaster recovery and humanitarian relief efforts such as after Hurricanes, Katrina and Sandy, as well as international public health initiatives. So right now, I will run the video, recorded video at this point. So, live streaming, right, stop. Thank you so much for attending the keynote session for the 2023 Peace and World Summit. So in 10 minutes at 10 a.m., we will just invite the Prime Minister scholars to address the Middle Eastern topics in more detail. So once again, Colonel Walker, thank you so much for your insightful comment and keynote. So see you in 10 minutes. Thank you.