That tradition is carried forward today with the release of two new studies on the impact of unilateral economic sanctions. I commend Dr. Weintraub and Doug Johnston for their work and for bringing us together today. Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world today remains difficult and dangerous, in many ways more dangerous than during the height of the Cold War. We see growing fundamentalism and terrorism continue to pose a threat to stability, particularly the Middle East. Tribalism still haunts the Balkans, threatening to spill beyond defined borders into a full-blown and uncontrolled regional conflict.
Deep poverty persists in many parts of the world.
The scourge of disease continues to ravage many parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Despite the progress we've made in defining a new relationship with the former Soviet Union, the threat of nuclear and chemical proliferation is not far from the surface. And even though these events take place far from our shores, there is no question that they affect each of us. But with the public, and in Congress, our perception of the world has changed in a very different way. Many of the most senior and global-oriented legislators have retired.