thegoodfellas/blogset-br huggingface dataset:
on the Syria question, Im going to have to defer that. Im I dont have the latest on the specific issue that youre raising, so well have to get back to you on that. The situation in Brazil is an internal situation there. Our areas of cooperation, as outlined during President Rousseffs visit to the United States in June, continue to move forward. Were and we are working closely to re-establish a lot of the working groups that were called for coming out of that meeting, irrespective of the situation on the ground there.QUESTION: Vasili Sushko, Sputnik News again. There have been reports over the past maybe year or so that Cuban-Russian relations theres been talks of possibly opening up some military facilities in Cuba. Moving forward now that it seems that Cuban-American relations are thawing, is it being considered, current Russian-Cuban relations, when implementing policy regarding American-Cuban relations? Perhaps these future facilities, whether they will be established, whether they wont is that being considered moving forward when developing these new relations between Cuba and America?MR PALMIERI: We expect that Cuba will continue to maintain its own foreign policy objectives and goals and relations, as it has during the period of the last 50 years. What I think President Obamas December 17th announcement has paved the way for is for a new normal relationship between the United States and Cuba. And as we move forward on that effort, we will be focused on those issues that are between our two countries and ways that we can deepen and work toward a more normal and productive relationship with Cuba.MODERATOR: So were out of time. I want to thank the deputy assistant secretary very much for spending your afternoon with us on a rainy day in New York City. Thanks to all of the viewers watching online. The transcript will be posted at our website at fpc.state.gov when it is ready, and we encourage everyone who is watching today to follow the Foreign Press Center on Flickr and Facebook and through Twitter. Thank you so much.MR PALMIERI: Thank you.# # #FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015, 2:00 P.M. EDTNEW YORK FOREIGN PRESS CENTER, 799 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA, 10TH FLOOR
Good afternoon. Tom, thank you. As you all know, this past week, weve been in a series of meetings in hotel rooms. This is a marked improvement. But I have to tell you the Department of State is proud to call you our partner and to be working once again with one of the premier institutions in the world.I am particularly pleased that Director-General Bokova will be joining us. At a time when modern barbarians seek to turn back the clock on history, UNESCOs role as a guardian of our cultural heritage is needed now more than ever.Carving caverns of inhumanity in its wake, ISIL has murdered, raped, and enslaved its way into Syria and Iraqtowns, villages, cities. They have not only killed, but as you all know, they sought to erase the identity of those they have killed. To supplant centuries of culture and history with their own ideology of nihilism and terror.The Assyrian winged bulls in Nineveh. Historic lions in Raqqa. The great city of Palmrya.Each satellite image of scorched earth, each photo of barren land that shows what we have lost and lost potentially forever gnaws at our hearts.It was in this region, a cradle of civilization, that our roots first came togetherroots that bind us not only to our ancestors but also to each other. Without the enduring reminders of our past, the ground beneath our feet feels a little less certain and the world we will pass onto future generations becomes greatly impoverished.Each ancient artifactrich in memory, rich in meaningconjures a story that we can ill afford to loose. A story of survival through the millennia, through conquest and triumph, through floods and famines, until these precious treasures finally come under our generations stewardship and become our common responsibility.It is the story of a single ivory plaque carved by skilled craftspeople from an elephant tusk in the Kingdom of Assyria nearly 3000 years ago. When foreign invaders destroyed the royal arsenal at Nimrud around 614 BC, the ivory panel fell from the roof into a lower room.And there it lay. Encased in collapsed brick. Undisturbed, until the autumn of 1989when it was discovered, documented, and painstakingly restored.And then, after surviving 30 centuries, it was looted last year, as ISIL fighters overran the Mosul museum and took power tools to other priceless antiquities.But just as it was about to be lost forever, the ancient plaque was recovered deep in Syria and safely returned to Iraqi preservation experts.Unfortunately, as you know so well, for many, indeed most, antiquities, that story ends differently. What ISIL has not destroyed, it has looted and sold through a highly methodical, highly efficient excavation operation to finance its twisted ambitions.These ancient coins, stone, glass, and mosaic fragments travel organized routes through black markets in the Middle East, Europe, and the Persian Gulf. The profits return to line of the pockets of these extremistsfunding more savagery, more terror, and more devastation.This afternoon, youll hear from my colleagues as they offer details on ISILs ongoing destructionincluding some information that has not been made public until today.
In the face of this truly unprecedented crisis, it is vital that all of usgovernments, international organizations, museums, auction houses, and collectorstake concrete action to both reduce the demand on the world market and cut off the supply.Thats why the United States has developed Red Lists with the International Council of Museums to help law enforcement officials recognize looted objects.Its why we have stepped up our efforts through the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL to encourage greater action against the illicit trade.It is why the United States seeks reelection on the UNSECO Executive Board this November, so that we can continue to promote coordination and action at the highest levels.And that its why we are working so closely with international law enforcement agencies here in the United States and around the world.I think many of you know something called the Rewards for Justice program. It encourages people to provide information that prevents terrorist acts or helps put terrorists behind bars. Today, on behalf of Secretary of State Kerry, I am pleased to announce that the Rewards for Justice program will offerfor the first time everup to $5 million for information leading to the significant disruption of the sale and/or of the trade of antiquities by, for, or on behalf of ISIL.This is one more step in bringing the weight of justice down on those who seek to advance ISILs destructive agendaand in opening the eyes of the public to this unprecedented menace.In this effort, were grateful for the active involvement of two giants of the art market, Christies and eBay, which are both represented here today. Their determination to educate their clients and the general public can serve as an example for dealers and collectors around the world.We also welcome discussions among collectors, museums, auction houses, online marketplaces about collectively pledging to maintain the highest standards in handling antiquitiesespecially from regions in crisis like Iraq and Syria. Refusing to deal in conflict antiquities is both a moral imperative and a legal obligation.With such great need and urgent challenges in our world today, it is critical that we also hold fast to the fabric of our humanityto our gifts of reason and wisdom, our expressions of art and culture, and our universal values of civility, freedom, and dignity. These are exactly what ISIL seeks to destroyunwittingly unleashing the very forces that will be its destruction.Thank you very much.***************************New York CitySeptember 29, 2015
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR AFRICAN AFFAIRSMODERATOR: So welcome to the New York Foreign Press Center. Were really honored today to have Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield with us. This is a roundtable on-the-record discussion. Its also DVCed to Washington --ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Okay.MODERATOR: -- so if people have questions from Washington, well bring them in.ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Okay.MODERATOR: So I know that the assistant secretary is on a tight schedule, so well go ahead and get started. Shell give a few remarks and then well open it out to your questions. So thank you all for coming and Ill turn this over to Assistant Secretary Linda Thomas-Greenfield.ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Good. Good evening and let me thank all of you for being here and thank those who are joining us from Washington. This has been a very, very hectic period at UNGA this year. Being here with so many leaders from throughout the African continent has provided us a fantastic opportunity to have a series of bilateral meetings and provide us an opportunity to strengthen our relationships with African heads of state, and Im pleased that so many of them are here, and weve been able to discuss discrete ideas that allow us to collaborate on issues that weve worked on in the past, but also to advance our own goals of promoting democracy, peace, and prosperity on the continent. So Im very excited about the opportunities that Ive had. We refer to this in Washington as speed dating. Last year, I had I think, if I recall correctly 39 bilats during UNGA week. We have not counted yet. I started last week, Friday, and we have been going nonstop since then and it continues for me until Friday. Just to say there have been a number of very positive developments on the continent of Africa since last year. President Obamas trip to Kenya and to Ethiopia this summer was a historic trip for many reasons. He opened the Global Entrepreneurship Summit and that gave entrepreneurs from across the globe an opportunity to see Africa at its best, to see Kenya at its best, to seek opportunities to invest on the continent.The recent reauthorization of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act was a big success and it sent a very strong signal to investors and showed confidence in the possibilities of investing on the continent of Africa. As you know, we had the good fortune of the Gabonese Government hosting the AGOA Forum in Gabon at the end of August and it was quite successful. It was extraordinary that we had members of Congress participate in the forum, and that AGOA is a bipartisan, very widely supported initiative that we have on the continent, and we had several members of Congress at the forum to reflect that view.Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on the importance of strong democratic institutions and solid performance in the area of governance, which is essential, in our view, to security and prosperity across the continent of Africa. Many African countries will conduct parliamentary
elections and presidential elections over the coming months, and certainly quite a few are occurring in 2016. So we will be working with African countries to support on-time, free, peaceful, and fair elections. The Sustainable Development Goals under discussion here at UNGA remind us of the challenges the continent faces. Africa is the youngest and it is the fastest growing continent. Incomes are rising and the middle class is growing, but Africa will need to generate millions more jobs to sustain its momentum. So to help create these jobs, well continue to work with our partners to build up the investment and entrepreneurship climate and encourage more trade with Africa.All of our discussions here at UNGA have focused on taking advantage of the progress weve made to solve some of the hard problems we will face, and this is the core of our engagement with our African colleagues this week. Of course, there are a number of things happening on the continent right now that has keen interest for us. Ill look forward to taking your questions. I think in the question and answers well get to those difficult issues, and Ill be able to address those then. So thank you very much, and Im happy to take your questions.MODERATOR: Yes.QUESTION: Bingxin Li from Peoples Daily, based at the UN. I understand that President Obama initiated the Power Africa strategy several years ago. How is that going on?ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Its going quite well. The idea was to bring power to Africa. As you know, sometimes I refer to the fact that (inaudible) refer to as the dark continent. What that darkness means is the lack of electricity, and the idea of Power Africa was to bring power to more African homes and more African businesses. We tripled this to bring electricity to at least 60 million new households and businesses and to encourage more companies, as well as other governments, to look at power as a source of prosperity (inaudible) on the continent of Africa. So (inaudible) I was just meeting with European colleagues, and theyre looking at doing some similar investments on the continent of Africa. And we know that power or energy will be the engine of investment and growth on the continent.MODERATOR: Yes.QUESTION: I have half a dozen questions. ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Try one at a time. (Laughter.)MODERATOR: If everyone could introduce yourself say your name and news organization.QUESTION: Right. So Im Kevin Kelley. Im based here in New York. I cover the UN for the Nation Media Group in Kenya, which also publishes The East African weekly paper covering the eastern half of the continent. So my questions are mainly about that, not about Kenya per se. Ill choose the one about the DRC. At the Africa Summit, which is now 14 months ago President Obamas summit in Africa --ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Yes, a little over a year.QUESTION: Ambassador yeah, right. Ambassador Feingold was saying its urgent that there be action now against the FDLR. Then there was all these complications involving human rights questions and the
generals in command. Nothings happened as far as anybody can see. Whats the U.S.s view of what can and should be happening there now? ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Well, first of all, were very disappointed that nothing has happened. We think that the parties need to address the FDLR threat in DRC. Commitments were made to the Rwandan Government, as we worked to address the issues related to M23, that once we completed the actions against M23 we would turn to FDLR, and we are still committed to doing that. Were encouraging all of the parties, including the Government of DRC, MONUSCO, the FB forces, to bring their combined resources together to address the FDLR threat and we continue to push that. We have named a new special envoy, Tom Perriello, and he has been actively engaged on this issue since taking over his responsibilities about six weeks ago.QUESTION: Just to --MODERATOR: And hell be here at 4 oclock today.QUESTION: Yeah, hell be here. Just to follow up on that, can the United States bring pressure to bear on President Kabila? This is the issue. Its that the UN says we cant act because of these human rights violations that these generals are at least alleged to have committed. Its fairly simple, it seems, that if these generals werent in command, the UN, the FIB, could act. Is that too simple an analysis?ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: It probably is, but I would make those same arguments as well that it ought to be simple to deal with this issue. And it is one that, again, we are working very deliberately and very intensely on, because commitments were made that we would work to address this issue, and we need to get the parties to do it.QUESTION: Hi, Im Bukola Shonuga with the African View Network, and I also host a radio program called The African View and its a pleasure to meet you. So with reference to Nigeria within your Administration and in light of the issue of Boko Haram, I was just wondering are there any new efforts form the United States Government to partner with this new administration to combat Boko Haram? And with the 20-some 200-something girls still missing, so we dont think theyll ever find them, so I just wanted you to shed some light on that.ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I hope youre wrong. I know that their mothers, their parents are still hopeful that some of these girls will be found and brought back to their homes. And were not going to give up hope and working with the Nigerian Government and with the families to try to bring as many of them back as we can. We are working very closely with the Nigerian Government, as we were with the previous government. It is has been made somewhat easier with the current government to work more cooperatively on trying to address the Boko Haram threat. We have provided some assistance and funding to the multinational task force through the AU. They are working to pull together the Lake Chad
Basin countries so that they can coordinate their efforts in addressing Boko Haram. We still continue to cooperate with the Nigerian Government in terms of information sharing as well as training. Our AFRICOM team will be going to Nigeria later in the month to hold discussions on resuming the training that was stopped previously, and we hope to continue to work with the government in a much more positive and proactive way to address what is not just a Nigeria problem. It is a regional problem, and terrorism is a global problem. So we have to work with Nigeria. We cannot leave Nigeria to address this problem alone.QUESTION: Thank you.QUESTION: Frank Obimpeh from News Ghana. During your submission, you said that the U.S. is trying to build investment and climate of opportunities for Africans. Now lets come back to my country, Ghana, whereby while we have a lot of malls new malls going around, where we have foreign products in the malls. So there is whats called a tendency of our culture families losing bias or their products. What is the U.S. doing, because the investment are taking jobs from the African and then they becoming poor? What are you doing to overcome?ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Yeah. Well, I think investment can create jobs. So having greater investment in Ghana can create new job opportunities for people in areas that they may not have worked in in the past. But we dont want to see trade opportunities and business displace people who already have jobs. And it is important that government policies support their own local industry, encourage the local industries. But also the local industries have to be competitive. They have to be able to compete on a global market. They have to be able to compete with the products that are being sold in large department stores if they want to advance. People I remember working on a program in Liberia where people were making small products and making additional money, and we talked to them. And they said, oh we were making it before you came and supported our project. We were making about $50 a month, and now were making $80 a month. Well, theyre still poor. What we want to do is move people from being the working poor to being the working middle class, so that they can benefit from the investments that are coming from overseas, but also they can take their products and sell their products overseas so that they become part of the working middle class. So its not an easy the answer is not easy, but it is not about keeping new products from coming into your market. Its about making the products that are produced in your country more competitive. AGOA offers the opportunity for Ghanaians to import their products to the United States duty-free, and Ghana has taken advantage of that.QUESTION: Thank you, Ms. Ambassador. I just wanted to thank you for all your work. My name is Garry Iwele. Im a freelance from DRC. And my question is just about
the upcoming election. We know that eight of the eight of some of the African countries go into the election next year. And the president are trying to run again against the constitution. So we saw it in (inaudible) a bit already; its sending people to the referendum. And now there is a piece of legislation in DRC under the table trying to do the same thing. I mean, my question is this: What youre doing as U.S. Government? We know that you are the biggest partner in Africa. What are you doing to push those presidents to not try to run again ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Our policy yeah.QUESTION: -- when the constitution does not allow them?ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Yeah, our policy is very clear on that. We do not support countries changing their constitutions to change term limits to benefit the incumbent who is currently serving in office. People can change their constitutions; thats their right. But when the constitutions are changed just to support the incumbent, it sends a message that people dont want to leave power. And Africa has gone through many generations of presidents for life, and we believe in a true democracy, transitions actually work. We think transitions contribute to stability. There are a number of countries in Africa that have had elections and transitions, and theyve worked. Nigeria is our most recent example where it has worked. So we are engaging with these governments to discourage their efforts to change constitutions. We are working closely with the regional organizations, with the African Union, with ECOWAS, and other regional organizations, to gain their support in pushing for this. ECOWAS, for example, has been looking at an agreement that would limit terms to two terms in ECOWAS countries. And actually, they went quite far, except two countries declined to agree. But I think its something theyre still working on. People support democracy. Africans line up to vote like no other countries in that Ive seen in the world. And when they when African people are given the opportunity in their individual countries to express their will at the ballot box, they do it. They do it enthusiastically. And so we want to support those efforts, and we are very clear on our policy. No country gets a pass on this. We raise it with every country where we see there are issues. And we certainly have had that discussion with DRC, with Republic of Congo, with Rwanda, and with Burundi, even though they did succeed in pushing forward an election that we believe was not transparent, that led to the president being elected for a third term against their constitution.QUESTION: Hi, I just wanted to go back to the AGOA issue. I mean, in Africa, across the world, youth employment continues to be a major issue. And in Nigeria 60 percent of the youth are unemployed, according to the recent presentation by President Buhari. I was just wondering, how does AGOA translate into job gain for the youth in across Africa?ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Yeah. We believe, actually, AGOA