Yeah, for the 14th time Trinidad and Tobago Red Force are champions of 50 over cricket in the Caribbean. The achievement came after a victory against the Leone Islands Hurricanes in the final on Saturday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy. The Red Force comfortably chased the Duckworth-Lewis revised target of 138, scoring 141 for 3 in just 23.4 overs after dismissing the Hurricanes for 135, the match reduced to 43 overs per side. In his final time in Listay Cricket, Sunil Narain, the missed Spinner, took 3-4-17, indeed he was a mystery to earn the Man of the Match Award. Let's now hear from the losing captain, Alzarra Joseph. I couldn't ask for anything but except for winning the trophy, but the boys really bring the hard work. I can't ask for anything better from the boys. They've all chipped in really, but the new signings in particular, Graves, O'Shaen Thomas have made a real difference this year. Yeah, I mean we are not the quality that they bring to the team and we saw it this season so I just think I and R, we had a good season, but it's just an unfortunate win. Alright now joining us via Zoom is Trinidad and Tobago Red Force captain Darren Bravo. Darren Bravo, it's a pleasure to have you on the Sportsmax Zone. First of all, congratulations and how are you doing a couple days after your triumphant performance? Thank you very much for having me and as you rightly said a couple days, I got a couple days to relax after the finals so I'm just chilling at the moment. Yeah, sounds good. First of all, Darren, describe the experience of captaining this star-studded Trinidad and Tobago Red Force set-up. I think it was an easy one for me, each and every single member of our Red Force team. But before the start of the tournament, we identified each player role and responsibility so it was just a matter of each player going out there and playing their role, executing their role. I think I was able to achieve that which was the most satisfying thing apart from winning. How enjoyable was it, the captaincy role for you? Well, to be quite honest, for me just trying to lead from the front as much as possible. As you rightly said, we had a couple of international players on our set-up, they in their own right are leaders, so it was easy. It was a sort of help for me as well, having the likes of Sunarang, Nicholas Puran, Jason Momin, those guys who have been there, done that in the past, so it was easy for me and I'm really happy that I was able to lead on those guys' shoulders for some advice each and every time when I think I was under some sort of pressure or anything like that. Let's talk about the final on Saturday because in the preliminary round, the Leeward Islands Hurricanes pushed you all the way, it was a pretty close match and on Saturday you absolutely smashed them. What was the difference you think in the final compared to when you met earlier in the tournament? I just think it was a matter of basically executing our plan. I think in the first game, you know, they sort of hit us the first punch and the way Kyren Powell and Justin Greaves opened the button, Powell was very aggressive. We didn't really expect something like that from him and there's other putters on the back foot, but we know the quality of our spinners. We know the wickets are conducive to spin and the lives of Sunarang and Yanikari and Akiho signing in the middle of the endings and definitely going to propel them back. So we knew that going into the final, if we control the power play, it's going to be difficult for them to basically, you know, get the whole of us and we were able to do that and at the end of the day, the result speaks for itself. Right. And the results speak for themselves and your performance also spoke for itself. How good was it to finish this tournament? One is captain, but as the leading run scorer for the TNT Red Force and the entire competition? Yeah, it's a great feeling indeed. I've been put in a lot of work, but my main goal and my main goal in this entire tournament or whenever I was given the captaincy of the Red Force team or the lead from the front, take that level of responsibility each and every single time I get the opportunity and I think I was able to do that with flying colors. But at the end of the day, it was most important trying to have the other youngsters on the team, you know, understand their game and stuff like that. So all in all, I think it was a pleasing effort from myself. Yeah, Trini fans are very, very passionate about cricket and of course the Trinidad and Tobago players. So what really made me happy is when I saw that they could attend the matches free of charge. How was the turnout and how was the energy from the crowd, especially knowing that you all were winning and it was the last match that they would get to see Senna Narayan in the Red Force colors? Yeah, I think at the final it was Aizen on the kick and the fans really came out. Unfortunately, the reins sort of, you know, set us back a little bit, but having said that, I think it was a good initiative by the West Indies, the cricket West Indies that allowed the fans to come in at the stadium for free. As you all know, Trini likes free-ness. Anybody likes free-ness, come on. So all in all, I think it was a very, very good initiative and especially Senna Narayan playing his last game for Trinidad and Tobago. And it was a bit of a sweet moment because he knew he's young. He have a lot of us at the West Indies cricket, but he had made up his mind. He would have contributed tremendously to both Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies cricket. So all in all, as a team, we wish him all the best. And as a team as well, we made a conscious effort actually when this one frame, so it basically can't go out on a high. So we're happy that we're able to do that and we really actually wish him all the best in his future endeavors. Yeah, Lance has expressed that he has a lot of time for Terence Hines, Terro, as we call him. I had the opportunity to be around him when he played for Musai Sports Club. So that's quite some time. But talk to me about, you know, Terence Hines and how he has elevated his game from those Musai days to now representing the TNT Red Force and becoming a household name. Yeah, very, very cool customer. Someone that basically do what it's necessary to be able to perform the Trinidad and Tobago. As we all know, he's known as a win boy cricketer. So that natural ability, that natural skill to basically play the game of cricket is there and he's hungry. He won success and each and every single time as a captain, I call upon him to come and do the goods or come and basically or go in and give us something special. He is quite capable of doing that. So as a captain, I'm really happy that he was part of the setup. He sort of gave me that assurance that when he's back here, we don't have much to worry about. So all in all, you know, very, very good tournament and hopefully he can see the light at the end of the tournament sometime in the future where being on better things that can soon. Yeah, Darren, it was a significant, the strong team effort by Trinidad and Tobago throughout the tournament, yourself as the top batsman and Sunil Narain with the most wickets. But there was also Kieron Ottley and Kariah who were, well Kariah and Narain were two of the top three bowlers in the statistics and yourself and Ottley were two of the top three batsmen in the statistics. So as far as the contribution is concerned, you got good efforts from a lot of your other teammates. Yeah, that was the most important thing we tried to identify as the team. The good thing about our setup is the situation where we do have to rely on each and every single player as I mentioned previously, have had an important role to play. And I believe each and every member of the team will keep doing that. Everybody put up, someone put up there and at some point in time, it was no matter if Darren Bravo don't score and Red Force going to lose or Sunil Narain didn't take wickets, Red Force is going to lose. So I believe and honestly believe it was a total team effort. The guys gave it their all. I think the relationship we have with the coaching, the management staff and stuff like that. Play the integral part as well. The coach allowed us to go out and express ourselves. The manager allowed us to make sure each player is comfortable and stuff like that. We basically introduced Omar Khan who was also part of the Red Force set up back in the days with Kairan Paula and Edwin Brack. I was like, it was there. So he came back to learn the experience as well. So that is a play the important part. And all in all it was a collective team effort. And at the end of the day, we went out and did it for our country and that was the most pleasing thing. Can we shift the discussion now to Darren Bravo, Darren? Because when the selectors had named the ODI team to face the Indians back in the summer, there were some West Indies cricket fans who felt that your name should have been there. There are some ODI cricket coming up soon. Do you have any aspirations to return to international cricket? Yeah, always. That's the reason why we play the game. We always want to represent the West Indies and I've never received any call or anything like that. So I'm just thinking one day at a time, continue doing what I have to do. And I guess whenever that call comes or if it comes, obviously I would go. Yeah, West Indies cricket has struggled now for a very, very long time, Darren. And you are seen by most experts as one of the most gifted batsmen to come out of this region in a long time. But your appearances in international cricket have been limited for whatever reason. You are still young enough to contribute significantly. How confident are you that you will get a call for the England series coming up? I'm not really focused on that to be quite honest. As a player, I just need to continue to put in on my game. As I said, if the calls come, then we see how things go. Surprisingly said, I'm a bit young. I'm someone that always looking at social media and reading comments and stuff like that. And sometimes they say a lot of good food stuff when you generally know that you care about West Indies cricket and all those type of things. So when you see fans basically lashing out on you and saying a lot of bad stuff about you, they definitely hear it. And it gives you that sense of we really actually make sense actually, you know, they are trying to represent the people of the Caribbean. But at the end of the day, I have to do what I have to do. And I always say haters have to hate. And winners have to win. Everyone have a job to do. So for me, it just doesn't matter focusing on what I have to do. And that's how things go from there. Yeah, you know, Darren, if I had spoken to you, let's say about 13 or 14 years ago, I would advise you to stay off social media and stay away from viewing a lot of those comments because I can tell you it can be quite depressing. And it's quite easy for individuals who are not in the spotlight to hide behind their computers and their phones and type whatever they feel to type. And it's quite OK, but clearly it's too late for me to give you that advice now. I do want to know, though, if you did not get selected for the England ODI series coming up in December, would you be disappointed? And exactly how disappointed would you be? Just keep a smile on my face to be honest, man. I believe that time when I supposed to get picked, I didn't get picked. At that time, when I probably got selected, I probably was not my best. So at the end of the day, sometimes you up, sometimes you don't. So I don't really want to say if I don't get picked, I'm going to be disappointed. Yes, obviously when you do well, you want to be rewarded. But at the end of the day, I think for me, I just continue doing what I have to do. If there's a situation, I have to probably make more runs next year or something like that. I'll try my best to do that. So for me, I just trying to stay humble, trying to stay calm, trying to enjoy helping the other youngsters in trying to be able to set up and they're trying to be a role model as much as possible. Yeah, so let's look at it this way then. Without thinking about West Indie selection, it may or may not happen. What, I mean, what does the next three or four months look like for Darren Bravo? Well, I believe there's a regional four that start in January. January or February, I'm not sure the exact date. But as of now, that is where my mind is. I want to start preparing for that tournament as soon as possible and see how I can improve on certain aspects of my game and stuff like that. So at the end of the day, it don't stop as a professional cricket that you always have. There's always room for improvement and stuff like that. So, yeah, but there's going to continue taking it one day at a time. And I guess it's like that I have a job to do and I also have a job to do, so you sell things. Yeah, Ricardo asked you about the next few months. And then I saw your hat and I remember that you also have a brand just like your brother that, you know, you pushed and you do business as well. So you're not only reliant on the cricket for income and to live, you have your own business going on. So can you tell us a bit about that? Because we know your brother is producing music studio, but your business?  We're in for the West Indies and everywhere I go. So for me, it's just trying to basically promote that brand as much as possible. And that's trying to basically, you know, sell myself in the best possible way. I always try to, you know, be the best rule model that I can be for the youngsters at a Queen's Park or a Chanted Bego setup and stuff like that. So they all look up to me and, yeah, as you rightly said, at the end of the day, we have to sort of, you know, try different ways and means to bring an income to support their family and stuff. I'm getting a lot of support from the 46 brands. So hopefully, you know, it can continue now, now when they enter the shade sort of avenue, I'm going to be doing, you know, t-shirts, sneakers and things very soon. So hopefully it can propel into something big and special in the future. All right, tell you what, send some to the Sports Bank Zone and we'll rip them one of these Fridays for you. I do have to ask you this though, Darren, do you have any DJing or singing talent? No, actually, when Dwayne writes a song and he's going to the studio and singing songs, he send it to me, it's to me to give him the okay. Okay, so you're the boss. Before it can reach on the media and the airways. I have to give him a sign-off on it first. But you don't sing it though? No, I don't sing it, I don't sing it. So whenever you hear a song on the media, know that Darren Bravo basically sign off. So we know where to come if we're not enjoying it. If you're not enjoying it, you can quietly contact me and it was like, Darren was one man. Oh, Darren, congratulations. Tell you what, it's been a pleasure talking to you today, man. And great performances in the Super 50, by the way, with real consistency. And I think that was what was really impressive about what you delivered with the extra pressure.  And hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more from you. Thank you very much, thank you very much for having me. Yeah, Darren Bravo. You know, Lance and Mariah, quickly, I think I've said it on the show before, that it's a travesty that Darren's career took the trajectory that it did, because I think West Indies cricket has been robbed of someone who I think could genuinely have been one of the great West Indies batsmen. And I have said this before, that this is the first time in the history of West Indies cricket, especially in the test format where we lack a truly genuine world-class batsman, no other period in the history of West Indies cricket, I think we've been without a world-class batsman and had things been different, Darren Bravo would have been that.  And I do hope, I really do hope, he gets back into the West Indies setup and we can see from him what I think the entire region knows he is capable of. I agree with everything you just said, Ricardo, and the fact is he's just 34 years old and based on... You say just lands, I love how you say just 34. Because I am saying it's in the context of what we have available to us at the moment, and the fact that he's 34 years old, which you would generally regard as getting old, given West Indies cricket and the landscape that we are now looking at, a 34-year-old Bravo, in my opinion, can contribute significantly to this team. He has eight test hundreds, about four ODI hundreds, and he has not played a lot of cricket, certainly a lot less than some others who have not done as well or not had as impressed with statistics as he has. So I'm hopeful that his international career isn't finished because I'd like to see him on the front stage again. And I just want to judge on the form that we've seen from him right now. 34 means nothing, there is no stopping him, he has been really consistent for the TNT Red Force. And let's just say a lot of the people playing in the TNT Red Force, Seymour, some of most of them are members of the West Indies team, so it was top-class quality cricket and I think he still has what it takes. Yeah, let's see, I would all turn it up, we take a break, we'll be back with more on the Sports Mac Zone.


Pretty exciting finish in the White Sox Royals game. Gerard Dyson out in left field. They just acquired him to be defensive replacement. Pinched runner. He's pretty fast. They got a speedy outfield now in Chicago. I like it. One out, two outs away from winning the game. They walk him. They pinched run for him. Tying run is on first base. Next batter up, Franco. He sends that into the gap. Robert cuts it off, keeps the runners at third and first. Speedy outfield. Oh, Michael thought he could get to second.  He dives for the base. Look at this play. So close. Whenever we watch replays like this, kind of blows my mind. Like this, that close, that changes. It's a huge change in the game. Anyway, he's safe. He doesn't touch him. As soon as the Breyhu comes down, he tumbles, he fires to home to keep the runner at third. Grant Dahl's not lying, attention at all. And the tying run just gets to run home. Pretty wild scene. Meanwhile, he gets the third. Good base running here. So what happened? You can see Grant Dahl's looking down at third base and he sees the runner just casually there. He's not coming. So he changes his mind and he gets preoccupied with the replay. I'm gonna replay this. We're gonna challenge this coach. Then he's gonna turn to the umpire and say, yeah, we're gonna challenge that play. Meanwhile, a Breyhu, he goes tumbling. While he's tumbling, that runner could have taken off. He has no idea. And it's smart of him to not check and just fire home, keep that guy at third. Yeah, as Monty can't turn his back to the play like that. Cause I think a Breyhu should be coming up like that. You don't wanna hold on to the ball while you're rolling around. Anyway, they ask for a review. The umpires go underneath the hood. They say, yeah, we got it right. Go us. He's safe. He's safe. He scored. We're all good.  And then he comes up in the next inning and boom, smashes the walk-off home run off of Ian Kennedy, just a bomb rounds the bases, shouts out the bullpen, I think. I'm guessing, says what up to the coach.  Hop party going on, no Gatorade. What's going on? It's right there on the ground over there. Oh, it was full with water bottles. So that's a bummer.


The Appalachian Wireless, 30th anniversary holiday sale is going on now from now until the end of the year. Visit us in store or reserve online for an unbelievable sale and give away. We know what you want for the holidays because we are you. We are Appalachian Wireless. The Belfrey High School swim team hosted a swim meet this past weekend in the new Aquatics facility at the Pockeville area YMCA. With eight schools from different regions throughout our state taking part in the event, officials said there were over 100 swimmers in the water which made for some fierce competition. The event was the first of its kind to be held in our area this year. Following the final race of the day, we spoke with Mindy Thompson, head coach of the Belfrey swim team. Thompson said that she was incredibly appreciative for all the athletes and spectators that were able to be in attendance. As this was their first official meet of the year, Thompson said that she couldn't have been happier with how well everything went. Thompson added that her team had a blast and that she was very proud of the effort they put forth. As the Belfrey swim program is still fairly new to the area, they are looking forward to continuing with competitions as the year proceeds. The Belfrey swim program was only established earlier this year thanks to the efforts of Coach Thompson as well as her husband Kyle. Thompson said she also wanted to express her appreciation for both the facilities and the staff of the Pockeville area YMCA, without which she says this event would not have been possible. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joshua Sloan.


But gratitude has been a predominant attitude in Tampa's Christian circles as it looks like the city will escape much of Isaac's wrath. Reverend Justin Peters is part of an effort to cover the party conventions in prayer and she says there's been plenty of prayer about Isaac in the last few days. We have had lots and lots of people praying around the clock that it would move and if you watch from the very beginning where they were saying it was coming and now where they're saying it's going then it has really moved out of the way for us and we appreciate God doing that and moving it for us. Let me be clear, we're going to have a zero tolerance for lawlessness during this emergency and to make sure that this city is secure. In that regard, we are going to join with Jefferson Parish that just decided to institute a curfew now that this storm is going to be with us for some time and is going to begin to stress the system. We have to make sure that the streets are clear and safe and so today it's going to begin.


That if I could go back and say to my younger self that success Orbits around your happiness do not let your happiness ever wait for or be dependent on your success


Okay, picture this.  Not too suspicious, right?  And I'm almost certain he didn't know how to breakdance. So how does this video exist? Because it basically looks hyper realistic. Well, if by chance you actually do find a video like this in the future, it was probably created using open AI's new Sora AI, which basically lets you make hyper realistic AI videos using nothing but a description of the video that you gave it. Now I basically saw like, I think I saw one of these videos. The one that I saw was of a cat and a chick just laying in bed, just chilling in bed. And buddy, I couldn't tell the difference. That looked like a genuine video to me. Well, let's just go ahead and let's take a look at a couple of these, dude. I don't wanna freak you guys out, but remember that these were only created using prompts. New York City submerged like Atlantis. A Chinese lunar year celebration. Dude, that's scary realistic ones. Borneo wildlife on the, I'm not even gonna try and pronounce that, but damn. Those look like real birds. This is the video that I saw. This is the cat and the girl in the bed. There's no way that's so insane, dude. A flock of paper airplanes. You gotta be shitting me. I think you guys pretty much understand the gist of this. A large orange octopus is seen resting on the bottom of the ocean floor. Damn, that is descriptive.  Reflections on the window of a train traveling. Dude, it has the reflections and everything is so correct, the lighting. This one's really scary, dude. That's terrifying because I have a feeling that the CGI community is gonna be pressing this Sora AI super hard, dude. They're either gonna try and regulate it or we're just gonna have a full on frenzy in the industry and there are a lot of people that are about to get really good at riding prompts. This actually poses a pretty big threat when it comes to 3D generalists, animators, the whole nine yards, dude. Everybody involved in the whole CGI pipeline, they're probably worrying right now because of this Sora AI. They make up such a large portion of production for films, video games, TV, and essentially what's happening right now is we got an AI that can do every single person's job in that pipeline with just one person riding a prompt. Now, obviously it's not to that extent yet. I don't think that this AI is that good, but like holy shit, it literally created a hyper realistic video of a chick in Tokyo riding the train and you can see her and other passengers in the reflection of the window. It is just mind-boggling to me that this AI can do that. And let's not even talk about that cat, bro. You could literally see every strand of hair on that cat. And not only is this a scary thing for people involved in CGI and pretty much any type of video creation as it pertains to content. I'm not sure if you guys heard the other day but there was an extremely controversial thing in the news about T-Swift and some AI generated images. If you thought that those images were bad, all right, and that was controversial, this Sora AI stuff could be 100 times worse. Imagine that Taylor Swift controversy, but instead of images, it was videos, hyper realistic ones.  I don't know about you guys, but AI is progressing so fast.  It could honestly, it could go even further than that. People could start using this for propaganda reasons. If you wanna create a video that's gonna stir some things up politically and you post that online, I feel like controversies could pop up pretty frequently if regular, everyday people get a hold of this video generation AI. No. Stuff's getting real, my guys. The future is upon us.   It is extremely cool. All right, don't get me wrong. But in my opinion, this poses a massive risk. A lot more risk than good currently. This may not turn out to be that huge of a deal. I have a feeling that in a way, even if AI does absolutely blow up and kind of replace content creators, I'm ultimately not that worried because I think that content created by an actual person who thought about how to make it every step of the way definitely trumps something that a machine created in like one second. So I think there's going to continue to be a market for content that's made by actual people. Anyways, boys, that's the end of the video. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Have an amazing weekend and I will see you guys on the next one.


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.