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"A World Without Nuclear Weapons" was a speech made by US President Barack Obama on April 5, 2009 at Hradcany Square in Prague, Czech Republic, in which he spoke about the threat of nuclear weapons in the post–Cold War era, how to stop the spread of these weapons and laid out an agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.

Speech background
Barack Obama had as a U.S. Senator co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. In a speech in Berlin on July 24, 2008 Senator Obama noted: "This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons."

After his inauguration as U.S. president undertook in early April 2009 a journey to several European countries (See List of presidential trips made by Barack Obama during 2009). After Obama had attended 2009 G-20 London Summit and the 2009 Strasbourg–Kehl summit he arrived in Prague on the evening of April 4 from Strasbourg, where he attended NATO's 60th anniversary summit. President Obama visited the Czech Republic, then holding the rotating presidency of the European Council, to attend a US-EU-meeting. Obama hold his speech after conferring with Czech leaders. and before the US-EU-summit. After the speech and a round of private meetings with foreign leaders and former Czech President Václav Havel Obama continued his Europe journey to Turkey.

President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev - meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London - agreed to reopen negotiations about reducing nuclear warheads. They aimed to produce a new arms control treaty to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty I (START I) which expired in December 2009. During the NATO summit Obama noted although NATO's old Soviet-bloc enemy has long gone, the threat of nuclear catastrophe remained. "Even with the Cold War over, the spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet," Obama said at a U.S.-style town hall meeting in the French city of Strasbourg on April 3, 2009. "This weekend in Prague, I will lay out an agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons," he said, referring to the EU-U.S. summit in the Czech Republic on April 5, 2009 which followed the NATO gathering.

In the hours before Obama's speech the North Korean government had launched according to ABC News a Taepodong-2 missile in the late night of April 4, 2009. World leaders, including President Obama on April 3, 2009, had issued repeated warnings to North Korea that such an act would be considered a "provocative" act and would further isolate the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from the international community, but North Korea claimed its missile launch was merely a way to put a communications satellite into orbit. North Korea had notified the international community that the launch was coming and the route the rocket would take. North Korea had also warned that debris might fall off Japan's northern coast when the rocket's first stage fell away, so Tokyo positioned batteries of interceptor missiles on its coast and radar-equipped ships to monitor the launch. North Korea declared the missile launch a success. But the U.S. military said "no object entered orbit," with the first stage of the rocket falling into the waters between Korea and Japan, and the two other stages and its payload landing in the Pacific Ocean.

Confirmation of the launch by the Pentagon occurred at approximately 10:30 pm ET, 4:30 am in Prague. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs immediately woke up the president after receiving word of the confirmation. At an event at the Prague Castle with President Václav Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek of the Czech Republic on the morning of April 5, President Obama said that "North Korea made a launch this morning that defies U.N. Security Council resolutions, (and) that harms peace and stability for Northeast Asia." Obama referenced here the in October 2006 passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 which demanded that North Korea refrain from conducting any further tests of ballistic missiles.

A military band and honor guard greeted U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as they arrived at Prague's majestic medieval castle grounds early Sunday morning. After his meeting at Prague Castle with President Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek Obama spoke outside Prague Castle against the backdrop of a hazy Prague skyline.

According to NBC News The choice of Prague for a nuclear weapons disarmament speech carried strong symbolism which that Obama didn't miss. One of the few peaceful overthrows of communism in the Iron Curtain was the 1989 Velvet Revolution which originated in Prague and toppled decades of communism in Czechoslovakia. And the BBC's Mark Mardell noted with respect to Hradcany Square: "The backdrop was ideal for President Obama's initial message of a world that had changed beyond recognition. These were the gates through which Hitler drove to glory in his conquest of Czechoslovakia, this the castle in which Communist presidents used to receive like-minded leaders of the unfree world."

Speech
Speaking before an estimated crowd between of 20,000 and 30,000 people Obama played down the adulation which he received during his trip to Europe by stating "to paraphrase one of my predecessors, I am also proud to be the man who brought Michelle Obama to Prague." This was a reference to John F. Kennedy who stated during a 1961 trip to France: "I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris — and I have enjoyed it!"

After his opening remarks Obama spoke about the history of the Czech people in the 20th century by referencing the founder and first President of Czechoslovakia, Thomas Masaryk, the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution. Obama then called for cooperation in the face of common threads such as the 2008–2012 global recession and the changing climate. "Together, we must confront climate change by ending the world's dependence on fossil fuels, by tapping the power of new sources of energy like the wind and sun, and calling upon all nations to do their part." The next section of Obama's speech was devoted to NATO in which Obama's remarks stretched from NATO's founding over the Cold War years to NATO response to the 9/11 attacks and NATO's subsequent mission in Afghanistan. In his remarks Obama noted that the NATO memebers "must pursue constructive relations with Russia on issues of common concern."

Obama then adressed the thread posed by nuclear weapons in the post Cold War world:

The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the cold war. [...] Today, the cold war has disappeared but thousands of those weapons have not. In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up."

Barack Obama attributed this situation to the circumstances that more nations have acquired nuclear weapons, that nuclear testings continues, that the technology to build nuclear weapons has spread and that terrorists will do anything they can to get hold of nuclear material. He warned:

Our efforts to contain these dangers are centered on a global nonproliferation regime, but as more people and nations break the rules, we could reach the point where the center cannot hold. Now, understand, this matters to people everywhere. One nuclear weapon exploded in one city--be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague--could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival."

Obama then directly addressed those who think it’s likely too late to rid the world of nuclear weapons. “Some argue that the spread of these weapons cannot be checked – that we are destined to live in a world where more nations and more people possess the ultimate tools of destruction," he said. "This fatalism is a deadly adversary. For if we believe that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, then we are admitting to ourselves that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable."

After adressing the thread posed by nuclear weapons in the post Cold War world Obama laid out an agenda which was dubbed later by US officials like US Vice President Joe Biden and US National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon as the Prague Agenda.

Today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. This goal will not be reached quickly – perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change."

Obama said that the United States, with its huge arsenal and its history using two atomic bombs against Japan in 1945, had to lead the world and a "moral responsibility" to start taking steps now. . Reducing and eventually eliminating existing nuclear arsenals, halting proliferation of nuclear weapons to additional states, and preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons or materials are the goals of the Prague Agenda according the White House. The Prague Agenda includes the following items:

Prague Agenda Später löschen !!!!

 * Ending to cold war thinking by reducing the role of nuclear weapons in the U.S. national security strategy and urging others to do the same
 * Negotiating a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia with the intention of further reducing the two countries’ nuclear arsenals
 * U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
 * A new treaty to end the production of fissile materials used in nuclear weapons.
 * Strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by providing more resources and authority for international inspections and mandating "real and immediate consequences" for countries that violate the treaty
 * An international nuclear fuel bank that would supply and monitor enriched uranium for civil nuclear power generation and seek to avoid the risk of "rogue states" diverting material from peaceful to weapons programmes
 * A "new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years" by setting new standards, expanding cooperation with Russia and pursuing new partnerships to lock down nuclear material
 * Breaking up black markets in the trade in illicit weapons, detecting and intercepting nuclear materials in transit, and using financial tools to disrupt black market trade with nuclear material
 * Turning the Proliferation Security Initiative and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism into durable international institutions
 * A Global Summit on Nuclear Security that will be hosted by the United States within 2011

Obama's speech does not mean the US has immediate plans to get rid of all its nuclear weapons, because Obama noted in his speech that the United States will maintain a safe, secure and reliable nuclear capability to deter adversaries and reassure its allies. The US president also raised in his speech a sticky subject between the United States and Russia — the missile defense shield the U.S. government has discussed building in Poland and the Czech Republic, which Russian leaders have said is provocative. He told the Czech Republic and neighbouring Poland that they could still host US missile defence facilities provided the missile shield project was deemed to be "proven and cost-effective". During his speech Obama stated as long as Iran's nuclear programm and its missile activities pose a threat to Iran's neighbors, the United States allies and the United States itself, the United States will pursue its missile defense system in Europe. Obama also adressed the North Korea's programm of weapons of mass destruction by stating that North Korea’s missile test on April 5, 2009 illustrated “the need for action, not just this afternoon at the U.N. Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons.” The President underscored: "Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something. The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons. Now is the time for a strong international response, and North Korea must know that the path to the security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons."

Before closing his speech Obama adressed those who doubt that the Prague Agenda can be realized. He said:

Now, I know that there are some who will question whether we can act on such a broad agenda. There are those who doubt whether true international cooperation is possible, given inevitable differences among nations. And there are those who hear talk of a world without nuclear weapons and doubt whether it's worth setting a goal that seems impossible to achieve. But make no mistake: We know where that road leads. When nations and peoples allow themselves to be defined by their differences, the gulf between them widens. When we fail to pursue peace, then it stays forever beyond our grasp. We know the path when we choose fear over hope. To denounce or shrug off a call for cooperation is an easy but also a cowardly thing to do. That's how wars begin. That's where human progress ends."

Barack Obama noted that human destiny is what humans make of it and closed his speech in this context with a call for common action: "[L]et us honor our past by reaching for a better future. Let us bridge our divisions, build upon our hopes, accept our responsibility to leave this world more prosperous and more peaceful than we found it. Together we can do it."

Speech reactions
Al Jazeera's Prague correspondent Rob Reynolds noted that Obama is going to try to lead by example and rally international support for renewed anti-nuclear weapons steps. "More concretely he is going to, and has already begun engaging the Russians to restart nuclear arms reduction and limitation talks with a view towards having a treaty on that subject completed before the end of the year." The Guardian's Ian Traynor noted that Obama "put flesh on the bones of his utopian vision for ridding the world of nuclear weapons"

According Fox News few experts think it's possible to completely eradicate nuclear weapons, and many say it wouldn't be a good idea even if it could be done. Even backward nations such as North Korea have shown they can develop bombs, given enough time. But a program to drastically cut the world atomic arsenal carries support from scientists and lions of the foreign policy world. Local reactions in Prague reached from approval to dispointment. "I found the speech uplifting," said Prague resident Paul Allen. "He made a lot of concrete promises." Prague resident Svétlana Simonovská, originally from Macedonia, said she attended Obama's speech. "I was pretty disappointed. He sounded like Bush," she said. Former President Václav Havel offered some advice to the younger politician during their half-hour meeting following the EU-U.S. summit. Havel told the Czech News Agency that he warned Obama that people had enormous hopes pinned on him, and their enthusiasm could turn into disappointment if their hopes are not realized. "People may believe that he has cheated them, gave them more hope than what was justified," Havel said. Former french foreign minister Hubert Védrine welcomed the debate on reducing the nuclear arsenal in an interview with France Info television on Apr. 6, 2009, but called Obama’s vision “demagogic.” “No U.S. President has been able to reduce nuclear arms because they could never be sure of a world without conflict.” Vedrine believes that “in a world with fewer nuclear armaments there will be not less war, but more.” He argued that “in a world of nuclear weapons, they function as a means to dissuade war.”

One year after the speech and a New York Times report which cited some senior US aides as saying that President Obama plans to permanently reduce the American arsenal of nuclear warheads Key-young Son, an expert on international affairs in Japan, said with respect to six party talks on North Korea's nuclear program and a nuclear free Korean peninsula: "If the Obama Administration is moving to build trust in terms of nuclear issues, I think it will obviously help in the restart of nuclear talks and also it might change the attitude of North Korea in a more positive direction in the near future." "There are some 23,000 weapons all over the world. Out of this 22,000 are shared between US and Russia," says Retired Gen. Talat Masood, a security analyst in Islamabad. "The remaining one thousand are with other countries. So I don't think anyone should expect any change among other nuclear powers. The lead has to come from US, Russia, and then followed by other permanent UN members and India, Pakistan and Israel."

Post Speech Developments
Prior to North Korea's rocket launch, concern was raised by other nations, particularly the United States, South Korea and Japan, that the rocket was a Taepodong-2,, but according to the North Korean government it was an Unha-2 rocket. The launch of the rocket was sharply condemned by the United States and the European Union, while the People's Republic of China and Russia urged restraint. On 13 April 2009, the United Nations Security Council issued a Presidential Statement condemning the launch as a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 (2006). One day after, on 14 April 2009, North Korea called the Presidential Statement an infringement on a country's right for space exploration embodied in the Outer Space Treaty and withdrew from Six Party Talks.

On 17 September 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced with respect to the missile defense system in Europe that the planned deployment of long-range missile defence interceptors and equipment in Poland and the Czech Republic was not to go forward, and that a defence against short- and medium-range missiles using AEGIS warships would be deployed instead. For further information see NATO missile defence system.

On 24 September 2009 US President Obama chaired a United Nations Security Council Summit on Nonproliferation and Nuclear Disarmament in New York City whose participating members unanimously adopted United Nations Security Council Resolution 1887. The resolution commits UN member nations to work toward a world without nuclear weapons, and endorses a broad framework of actions to reduce global nuclear risks. It also urges states to join and comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT); refrain from testing nuclear weapons and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and ensure safeguards of nuclear material and prevent trafficking of this material.

In 2010 the IAEA Board of Governors has approved the creation of two separate fuel banks. The first, formally established by the IAEA and the Russian government in March 2010, is owned, operated, and paid for by the Russian Federation and located near the Siberian city of Angarsk. The reserve has been fully stocked and became operational on 1 December 2010. The Board of Governors approved a second fuel reserve in December 2010, which will be owned and operated by the IAEA itself, but this fuel bank is not yet operational. And on March 29, 2011 US National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon stated that for the purpose of "building a new international framework to support peaceful uses of nuclear energy without increasing the risk of proliferation" the United States are committed to develop "commercial concepts for nuclearfuel leasing, so all countries can benefit from nuclear energy without spreading dangerous technology and materials." For further information see Nuclear fuel bank.

The 2010 Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was held at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 3 to 28 May 2010. The final document of this summit supported the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, as well as the prompt negotiation of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, recognized the legitimate interest of non-nuclear weapon states to request nuclear weapon states to reduce operational status of their nuclear weapons. It also called to achieve total disarmament and then to maintain a world without nuclear weapons. For further information see 2010 Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

In early April 2010 the Obama administration released its Nuclear Posture Review. renounces development of any new nuclear weapons such as the bunker-busters proposed by the Bush Administration, and for the first time rules out a nuclear attack against non-nuclear-weapon states who are in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This rule pointedly excludes Iran and North Korea. With respect to these countries Thomas Donilon noted in 2011 that the Obama administration is working with the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure inspections and verifications, while tightening international sanctions against Iran and North Korea. For further information see Nuclear Posture Review.

A new nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague, and, after ratification, entered into force on 5 February 2011. US Acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said in June 2012 in this context: "Beyond responsibly reducing the number of nuclear weapons, the Obama Administration has been committed to reducing their role in our national security strategy as well. We are not developing new nuclear weapons; we are not pursuing new nuclear missions; we are working toward creating the conditions to make deterring nuclear use the sole purpose of our nuclear weapons; and we have clearly stated that it is in our interest and the interest of all other states that the more than 65-year record of nuclear non-use be extended forever." And in March 2011 Thomas Donilon, Barack Obama's national security advisor, stated the U.S. plans to negionate a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia which covers nondeployed and nonstrategic nuclear weapons. "A priority will be to address Russian tactical nuclear weapons. We will work with our NATO allies to shape an approach to reduce the role and number of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons, as Russia takes reciprocal measures to reduce its nonstrategic forces and relocates its nonstrategic forces away from NATO’s borders." He added that no previous arms control agreement has included provisions to limit and monitor non-deployed warheads or tactical warheads. For further information regarding the 2011 treaty see New START.

The "Global Summit on Nuclear Security" took place April 12–13, 2010. The summit was proposed by President Obama in Prague and was intended to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in conjunction with the Proliferation Security Initiative and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. The Summit focused on how to better safeguard weapons-grade plutonium and uranium to prevent nuclear terrorism. Forty seven states and three international organizations took part in the summit, which issued a communiqué and a work plan. According Thomas Donilon "the Washington summit built high level political support for nuclear security and created a concrete work plan to support a global effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years." He stated in March 2011 that since April 2009 thousands of kilograms of nuclear materials at over 20 sites around the world have either been removed or eliminated. "In locations where material elimination is not possible, we have worked with other governments to lock down materials through robust security enhancements. Countries are also beefing up transport security and response forces. But nuclear security is more than about protecting material with guards, guns, and gates. It also means addressing the human element by establishing a security culture and training programs for the personnel responsible for protecting nuclear materials." Therefore the United States signed with several countries like Japan, China, India, Italia or Algeria agreements to establish and work together at regional "Centers of Excellence" to provide training and education for nuclear security officials. Donilon also stated that the Obama Administration 1.) worked at home and around the world to convert research reactors so they no longer use Highly Enriched Uranium fuel and 2.) has committed an additional $10 billion to the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction to help countries pay for nuclear and biosecurity upgrades. The Global Partnership is a multilateral initiative to reduce the risk of WMD terrorism through cooperative capacity building on specific projects. It consists of 24 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For further information regarding the 2010 meeting see 2010 Nuclear Security Summit.

On March 26, 2012 during the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit President Obama delivered remarks at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul in which he discussed his Prague agenda to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and seek the peace and security of a world without them. In his remarks talked about the securing of vulnerable nuclear material, the nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea and further reductions in the United States nuclear weapons arsenal.

As of June 4, 2012 neither the US ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty has occured nor has been the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty be succesful. The United States is still committed to both projects realization according to Rose Gottemoeller, US Acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security and New START negotiator. US National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon stated in March 2011 three reasons for US ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. First he argued that by a US treaty ratification others would be induced also to ratify the treaty and thus the legal and political barriers to a resumption of nuclear testing would be strengthened. Second he noted that due the treaty's global monitoring system and strengthened US national capabilities the United states are in better position to verify the treaty. And third he said that the U.S. could maintain an effective and reliable nuclear arsenal without nuclear testing due to the US Stockpile stewardship programm.

As of August 4, 2015 the pursuit of a treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons wasn't crowned by success because has blocked moves to cut off such supplies in international talks that require unanimity. In Prague Barack Obama vowed to strengthen the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but the review conference failed to approve a consensus document in 2015.

=December=

7 December 2012: Morsi supporters and anti-Morsi demonstrators continued their protests in different cities including Cairo, Alexandria, and Assiut. Demonstrators in Assiut chanted "No Brotherhood, no Salafis, Egypt is a civic state." Dozens of protesters threw rocks and glass bottles at Morsi's home in Sharkia province and tried to push aside a police barrier. Advisers and Brotherhood leaders acknowledged that outside his core base of Islamist supporters President Morsi feels increasingly isolated in the political arena and even within his own government. Opposition leaders said in a statement that Morsi's December 6 dialogue offer failed to meet “the principles of real and serious negotiations” and displayed “the complete disregard” for the opposition’s demands. They said they would not negotiate with Morsi until he cancels his Nov. 22 decree and calls off the Dec. 15 referendum on the draft constitution. Opposition protesters marched on the presidential palace and breached a security perimeter built by the military’s elite Republican Guard — charged with protecting the palace — which withdrew behind the palace walls. The Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm also reported that individuals suspected of protesting against the Muslim Brotherhood were being tortured and beaten in a facility run by the Brotherhood in Heliopolis, a Cairo suburb.

8 December 2012: The Egyptian Army issued its first statement since the protests erupted, stating that it would protect public institutions and innocent people and not allow the events to become more serious. The Qandil Cabinet also authorized the army to help Egypt's police maintain security. Egypt state news media reported that Morsi was moving toward imposing a form of martial law to secure the streets and allow the vote on the draft charter constitutional referendum. Morsi annulled his decree which had expanded his presidential authority and removed judicial review of his decrees, an Islamist official said, but added that the effects of that declaration would stand. In addition the mostly annuled November 2012 constitutional declaration should be replaced by a modificated one. The new decree Morsi issued Saturday night said he retained the limited authority to issue “constitutional declarations” protecting the draft charter constitution that judges could not overturn. George Isaac of the Constitution Party said that Mursi’s declaration did not offer anything new, the National Salvation Front rejected it as an attempt save face, and the April 6 Movement and Gamal Fahmi of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate said the new declaration failed to address the “fundamental” problem of the nature of the assembly that was tasked with drafting the constitution.

9 December 2012: Confusion and disarray pervaded the ranks of Egypt’s opposition after Morsi rescinded his November 22 constitutional declaration a day earlier. Despite the declaration's annullment the general prosecutor, who was dismissed, will not be reinstated, and the retrial of the former regime officials will go ahead. Opposition leaders also called for more protests after Morsi refused to cancel the constitutional referendum in the wake of the declaration's annullment. In response, the Alliance of Islamist Forces, an umbrella group that includes Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, said it would hold rival demonstrations. The group said its rallies would support of the referendum and the president under the slogan "Yes to legitimacy".

On 10 December, the opposition group, the National Salvation Front, announced that it would organize a rally on 11 December.

Der Dom wurde am 15. Februar 2013 wiedereröffnet worden. An der 15-monatigen Renovierungsphase vom 7. 6. 2010 bis 15. 2. 2013 waren 15 Büros und 51 Handwerksbetriebe mit 350 Mitarbeitern beteiligt. Während dieser Zeit wurden 10.000 Quadratmeter Wand- und Gewölbeflächen aufgefrischt und 24 Kilomterkabel verlegt. Ein komplett neues, 5500 Quadratmeter umfassendes Kupferdach wurde während der ersten Sanierungsphase installiert. Decken, Wände und Kunstwerke im Dom wurden gesäubert und farblich neugefasst. Im Zuge der Erneuerung der Technik wurde eine energiesparende Erdwärmeheizung, eine moderne LED-Beleuchtung und eine neue Mikrofonanlage installiert. Die digitale Lautsprecheranlage wurde zudem neu konzipiert und auch für Hörgeschädigte auf den neuesten Stand gebracht. Am Portal zur astronomischen Uhr wurde ein behindertengerechter Zugang eingefügt. Der Glockenstuhl wurde aus Eichenholz neu gezimmert. Die Steuerung von Licht, Mikros und Glocken erfolg von einer Leitstelle in der Sakristei aus. Eine aus „Lichtspeiern“ (bei diesen handelt es sich um "kleine, aus der Wand ragende Messingarme, die wie Wasserspeier aussehen und ihr LED-Licht nach unten zu den Gläubigen und nach oben an Wand und Decke werfen, sodass der Dom mit seinem Gewölbe auch indirekt strahlt") und Strahlenkränzen bestehende Beleuchtung sorgt für helles Licht. Die Gesamtkosten all dieser Maßnahmen belaufen sich auf rund 14 Millionen Euro.

Due Process of Law gewährt prozeduralen und substantiellen Schutz. Beim sogenannten procedural due process (Deutsch: Angemessener prozeduraler Rechtsprozess) handelt es sich faire und unparteiische Rechtsverfahren, die anhand etablierter Regeln und Prinzipien funktionieren. Hier dem sogenannten substantive due process (Deutsch: Angemessener substantieller Rechtsprozess) verbirgt sich das Prinzip, dass Gesetze und Verordnungen nur den legitimen Regierungszwecken dürfen dienen und weder willkürlich noch unfair sein dürfen.

2013-06-18 Security handover from NATO to Afghan forces
On June 18, 2013 the handover of security from NATO to Afghan forces was completed. The International Security Assistance Force formally handed over control of the last 95 districts to Afghan forces at a ceremony attended by President Hamid Karzai and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at a military academy outside Kabul. Following the handover, Afghan forces will have the lead for security in all 403 districts of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Before the handover they were responsible for 312 districts nationwide, where 80 percent of Afghanistan's population of nearly 30 million lives. "Our security and defense forces will now be in the lead," Karzai said. "From here, all security responsibility and all security leadership will be taken by our brave forces. When people see security has been transferred to Afghans, they support the army and police more than before." Rasmussen said that by taking the lead in security on Tuesday, Afghan forces were completing a five-stage transition process that began in March 2011. "They are doing so with remarkable resolve," he said. "Ten years ago, there were no Afghan national security forces... now you have 350,000 Afghan troops and police, a formidable force." he security transition signaled an important shift. The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force is slated to end its mission by the end of 2014, and coalition forces are in the process of closing bases and shipping out equipment. Rasmussen stated that the focus of ISAF forces will shift fom combat to support and that by the end of 2014 Afghanistan will be fully secured by Afghans. After the handover, 100,000 NATO forces will play a supporting and training role, as Afghan soldiers and police take the lead in the fight against armed groups. "We will continue to help Afghan troops in operations if needed, but we will no longer plan, execute or lead those operations, and by the end of 2014 our combat mission will be completed," Rasmussen added.

=Kennedy Inaugural Speech Quotes - NEVER DELETE!!! - NICHT LÖSCHEN!!!=

 * "Wir feiern heute nicht den Sieg einer Partei, sondern ein Fest der Freiheit – als Symbol für einen Endpunkt und einen Neuanfang – als Zeichen der Neubelebung und des Wandels. Denn ich habe vor euch und dem allmächtigen Gott denselben feierlichen Eid geschworen, den unsere Vorfahren verordnet haben, vor fast eindreiviertel Jahrhunderten." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "[w]e observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning--signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago." - en.wikisource)

 * "Die Welt hat sich inzwischen dramatisch verändert. Denn der Mensch hält in seinen vergänglichen Händen die Macht zur endgültigen Beseitigung aller Formen menschlicher Armut und aller Formen menschlichen Lebens. Und eben derselbe revolutionäre Glaube, für den unsere Vorfahren gefochten haben, ist noch immer Mittelpunkt unversöhnlicher Konfrontation überall auf dieser Welt – der Glaube, dass die Rechte des Menschen nicht großzügig vom Staat gewährt werden, sondern aus der Hand Gottes gegeben sind." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God." - en.wikisource)

 * "Wir dürfen keinesfalls vergessen, dass wir die Erben jener ersten Revolution sind. Von diesem Ort und dieser Stunde soll an Freund und Feind gleichermaßen die Kunde ausgehen, dass die Fackel weitergereicht wurde an eine neue Generation von Amerikanern – geboren in diesem Jahrhundert, gehärtet durch Krieg, diszipliniert durch einen harten und bitteren Frieden, stolz auf das Vermächtnis unserer Vorfahren – und nicht bereit, tatenlos einer schleichenden Aushöhlung jener Menschenrechte zuzusehen, denen diese Nation immer verpflichtet war, und denen wir auch heute verpflichtet sind, in unserem eigenen Land und auf der ganzen Welt." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world." - en.wikisource)

 * "Jede Nation, sei sie uns gut oder böse gesinnt, soll wissen, dass wir jeden Preis zahlen, jede Last und Not ertragen, jede Entbehrung auf uns nehmen, jeden Freund unterstützen und jedem Feind entgegentreten werden, um das Überleben und den Sieg der Freiheit zu sichern." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - en.wikisource)

 * "Unseren alten Verbündeten, deren kulturelle und geistige Wurzeln wir teilen, geloben wir die Loyalität treuer Freunde. Solange wir zusammenstehen, gibt es wenig, was wir nicht schaffen können in einem ganzen Heer gemeinsamer Wagnisse. Sind wir aber gespalten, bleibt nur noch wenig zu tun – denn keiner mächtigen Herausforderung könnten wir uneins und entzweit entgegentreten." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder." - en.wikisource)

 * "Jenen neuen Staaten, die wir in den Reihen der Freien willkommen heißen, geloben wir, dafür zu bürgen, dass die eine Form kolonialer Herrschaft nicht überwunden sein wird, um lediglich durch eine noch härtere Tyrannei ersetzt zu werden. Wir erwarten nicht, dass wir sie alle als Unterstützer unserer Weltsicht erleben werden. Aber wir hoffen zu erleben, dass sie alle willensstark ihrem eigenen Weg vertrauen – und sich daran erinnern, dass in der Vergangenheit jene, die in ihrem Streben nach Macht töricht auf dem Rücken des Tigers reiten wollten, in seinem Bauch endeten." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside." - en.wikisource)

 * "Den Menschen in den Hütten und Dörfern auf der halben Welt, die darum ringen, die Fesseln des Massenelends zu sprengen, geloben wir, die bestmögliche Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe zu leisten, so lange wie dies auch immer nötig sein sollte – nicht, weil es sonst vielleicht die Kommunisten tun würden, und nicht, weil wir ihre Zustimmung erheischen möchten, sondern weil es richtig ist. Wenn eine freie Gesellschaft den vielen nicht helfen kann, die arm sind, kann sie die wenigen nicht retten, die reich sind." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required — not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." - en.wikisource)

 * "Und an jene Nationen schließlich, die unsere Gegner sein wollen, richten wir kein Gelöbnis, sondern einen Aufruf: dass sich beide Seiten erneut der Suche nach Frieden zuwenden, bevor die dunklen Mächte der Zerstörung, die von der Wissenschaft entfesselt wurden, alle menschliche Existenz auslöschen in geplanter oder versehentlicher Selbstvernichtung. Wir dürfen es nicht wagen, sie durch Schwäche in Versuchung zu führen. Denn nur wenn es über die Wirksamkeit unserer Waffen keinen Zweifel geben kann, können wir ohne Zweifel sicher sein, dass sie niemals eingesetzt werden." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed." - en.wikisource)

 * "Deshalb wollen wir einen Neuanfang – und beide Seiten daran erinnern, dass Umgangsformen kein Zeichen von Schwäche sind und dass Aufrichtigkeit sich stets bewähren muss. Wir sollten niemals aus Furcht verhandeln. Aber wir sollten Verhandlungen auch niemals fürchten. Wir wollen, dass beide Seiten erkennen, welche Probleme uns verbinden, statt auf den Problemen herumzureiten, die uns trennen. [...] Wir wollen, dass beide Seiten danach streben, die Wunder der Wissenschaft zu erwecken, statt ihrer Schrecken. Wir wollen gemeinsam die Sterne erkunden, die Wüsten erobern, Krankheit ausrotten, die Tiefen der Ozeane erschließen und die Künste und den Handel beleben. Wir wollen, dass beide Seiten in allen Winkeln dieser Erde den Aufruf des Jesaja beherzigen, "die schweren Bürden hinwegzunehmen ... und den Unterdrückten Freiheit zu geben"." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "So let us begin anew — remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. [...] Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce. Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah--to "undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the oppressed go free."" - en.wikisource)

 * "Und wenn es mit einem Brückenkopf der Verständigung gelingt, den Dschungel des Misstrauens zurückzudrängen, wollen wir, dass sich beide Seiten gemeinsam ein neues Ziel setzen, nicht ein neues Gleichgewicht der Macht, sondern eine neue Weltordnung des Rechts, in der die Starken gerecht und die Schwachen geschützt sind und der Frieden gesichert bleibt. Dies alles wird nicht in den ersten hundert Tagen vollbracht sein. Und es wird auch nicht in den ersten tausend Tagen vollbracht sein, nicht während der Amtszeit dieser Regierung und vielleicht nicht einmal zu unseren Lebzeiten auf diesem Planeten. Aber wir wollen beginnen." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "If a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved. All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin." - en.wikisource)

 * "In euren Händen, meine Mitbürger, mehr als in meinen wird es liegen, ob unsere Politik letztendlich erfolgreich sein oder scheitern wird. Seit diese Nation gegründet wurde, war jede Generation von Amerikanern aufgerufen, Zeugnis der Treue zu ihrer Nation abzulegen. Die Gräber junger Amerikaner, die diesem Ruf folgten, sind auf dem gesamten Erdball verstreut." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe." - en.wikisource)

 * "Und wieder ruft uns jetzt das Trompetensignal – es ruft nicht zu den Waffen, obwohl wir Waffen brauchen – es ruft nicht zur Schlacht, obwohl wir zur Schlacht gerüstet sind – sondern es ruft, die Bürde eines langen Kampfes in der Dämmerung auf uns zu nehmen, Jahr für Jahr, "fröhlich in der Hoffnung, geduldig in Bedrängnis" – eines Kampfes gegen die gemeinsamen Feinde aller Menschen: Tyrannei, Armut, Krankheit und den Krieg selbst. Kann es uns gegen diese Feinde gelingen, eine große und weltumspannende Allianz zu schmieden, von Nord und Süd, Ost und West, die der gesamten Menschheit ein erfüllteres Leben sichern kann? Werdet ihr an dieser historischen Kraftanstrengung mitwirken?" - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are--but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself. Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?" - en.wikisource)

 * "In der langen Geschichte der Welt ist nur wenigen Generationen die Rolle übertragen worden, die Freiheit zu verteidigen in der Stunde ihrer größten Gefahr. Ich schrecke vor dieser Verantwortung nicht zurück – ich heiße sie willkommen. Ich glaube nicht, dass auch nur ein einziger von uns mit einem anderen Volk oder einer anderen Generation tauschen möchte. Die Energie, der Glaube, die Hingabe, die wir diesem Unterfangen widmen, werden leuchten in unserem Land und in allen, die ihm dienen – und der Schein dieses Feuers kann wahrhaftig ein Licht sein für die Welt. Und deshalb, meine amerikanischen Mitbürger: Fragt nicht, was euer Land für euch tun kann - fragt, was ihr für euer Land tun könnt. Meine Mitbürger in der ganzen Welt: Fragt nicht, was Amerika für euch tun wird, sondern fragt, was wir gemeinsam tun können für die Freiheit des Menschen." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility — I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it — and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." - en.wikisource)

 * "Und schließlich, Bürger Amerikas und Bürger der Welt, fordert von uns hier dasselbe hohe Maß an Standhaftigkeit und Opfer, das wir von euch verlangen. Mit einem guten Gewissen als unserem einzigen sicheren Lohn, mit der Geschichte als letzter Richterin unserer Taten wollen wir die Aufgabe in Angriff nehmen, das Land zu führen, das wir lieben, und Seinen Segen und Seine Hilfe erbitten, wohl wissend, dass Gottes Werk hier auf Erden wahrhaft unser eigenes sein muss." - ''Antrittsrede, 20. Januar 1961, jfklibrary.org
 * (Original engl.: "Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own." - en.wikisource)

=Foreign Intelligence Surveillance= In United States v. U.S. District Court (1972) the U.S. Supreme Court expressly disavowed a “domestic security surveillance” exception to the Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment by holding that government officials were obligated to obtain a warrant before beginning electronic surveillance even if domestic security issues were involved. The Court however left open the possibility for a foreign intelligence surveillance (FIS) exception to the Fourth Amendment’s Warrant Clause. Following the USCC's ruling three U.S. Federal Circuit Courts recognized a foreign intelligence surveillance exception to the Warrant Clause, but tied them to certain requirements. In United States of America v. Truong Dinh Hung the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said that “this foreign intelligence exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement must be carefully limited to those situations in which the interests of the executive branch of government are paramount.” In particular the Truong court required that the object of the search or surveillance be “a foreign power, its agent or collaborators,” and that ”the executive should be excused from securing a warrant only when the surveillance is conducted ‘primarily’ for foreign intelligence reasons.” Finally the existence of the FIS exception was squarely tied to the “practical difficulties of obtaining a warrant for foreign intelligence surveillance. . . at the time [the underlying] surveillance was conducted,” which the courts described as “particularly acute” prior to the enactment of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. According to law professor Steve Vladeck "part of the justification for the FIS exception was the absence of a FISA-like procedure that balanced the need for secrecy with the need to secure ex ante judicial approval before conducting foreign intelligence surveillance."

With Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act enactment in 1978 the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) was established in the same year. As part of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 the U.S. Congress eliminated the second prong of Truong i.e. the requirement that the “primary purpose” of the search be the gathering of foreign intelligence surveillance (as opposed to law enforcement evidence). In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001 the FISCR upheld 2002 the elimination of the primary purpose test without specifically endorsing a categorical foreign intelligence surveillance exception. Given the language of FISA at the time, there was no real need to reach that issue because "virtually of the surveillance undertaken pursuant to FISA was with a (FISA) warrant." This changed with the 2008 In re Directivesref name="Seyla20080822"> of the FISCR with which the FISCR formally rcognized for the first time a “foreign intelligence surveillance” exception to the Fourth Amendment. The FISCR hold that “a foreign intelligence exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement exists when surveillance is conducted to obtain foreign intelligence for national security purposes and is directed against foreign powers or agents of foreign powers reasonably believed to be located outside the United States.”

In a press conference on August 9, 2013 President Obama annouced four steps to reform U.S. intelligence gathering measures, to increase transparency and restore public trust in surveillance by NSA, but made no indication to alter the NSA's ongoing mass collection of phone data and surveillance of internet communications in the short term. . These four steps are:
 * 1) Reform Section 215 of the Patriot Act which allows the National Security Agency to collect telephone data from millions of communications without a warrant.
 * 2) More transparency: Declassification of the legal rationale for the US government's phone-data collection,   release of NSA information that details its mission, authorities, and oversight, installation of a "civil liberties and privacy officer" at the National Security and a website created by the American intelligence community to inform Americans and the world what the intelligence community does and what it doesn’t do, how it carries out its mission, and why it does so.
 * 3) More balance between security and privacy at the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court by appointing an adversarial voice — such as a lawyer assigned to advocate privacy rights - to argue against the US government to ensure to make sure civil liberties concerns have an independent voice in appropriate cases.
 * 4) Review of all US government intelligence and communications technologies by a group of external experts (composed of former intelligence officials, civil liberties and privacy advocates, and others) which shall provide an interim report in 60 days and a final report by the end of 2014 outlining how the US government can maintain the trust of the people, how it can make sure that there absolutely is no abuse in terms of how surveillance technologies are used and how surveillance impacts US foreign policy. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper has been directed on August 13, 2013 to form and review the new Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, which is to brief Obama on its interim findings within 60 days of the establishment of the group. A final report and recommendations are to be submitted through Clapper to the president no later than December 15, 2013.   The groups purpose is to assess whether the US "employs its technical collection capabilities in a manner that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations, such as the risk of unauthorized disclosure and our need to maintain the public trust."

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance exception
In United States v. U.S. District Court (1972), the U.S. Supreme Court expressly disavowed a “domestic security surveillance” exception to the Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment by holding that government officials were obligated to obtain a warrant before beginning electronic surveillance even if domestic security issues were involved. The Court however left open the possibility for a foreign intelligence surveillance (FIS) exception to the Fourth Amendment’s Warrant Clause. Following the Supreme Court's ruling, three United States Courts of Appeals recognized a foreign intelligence surveillance exception to the Warrant Clause, but tied them to certain requirements. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit In United States of America v. Truong Dinh Hung for example hold For the first time a foreign intelligence surveillance exception to the Fourth Amendment was recognized by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review recognized in its 2008 In re Directives decision. The court hold that “a foreign intelligence exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement exists when surveillance is conducted to obtain foreign intelligence for national security purposes and is directed against foreign powers or agents of foreign powers reasonably believed to be located outside the United States.”
 * 1) that the exception “must be carefully limited to those situations in which the interests of the executive branch of government are paramount” ,
 * 2) that the object of the search or surveillance be “a foreign power, its agent or collaborators,” and
 * 3) that ”the executive should be excused from securing a warrant only when the surveillance is conducted ‘primarily’ for foreign intelligence reasons.”

, nachdem der Forschers Jeffrey T. Richelson vom Nationalen Sicherheitsarchiv der George Washington Universität einen Freedom of Information Act stellte. Laut einem von der CIA freigegebenen Dokument sei der Militärstandort rund 200 Kilometer nordwestlich der Casino-Metropole Las Vegas bloß ein Testgelände für die Spionageflugzeuge U-2 und Lockheed A-12 Oxcart etwa während des Kalten Krieges gewesen. Es handelt sich um ein 407 Seiten starkes Dokument, in dem Spionage-Flüge der US-Streitkräfte in den Jahren 1954 bis 1974 festgehalten wurden. Niemand, sei es nun Piloten und Passagiere kommerzieller Flüge oder ob Beobachter auf der Erde, konnten sich rasend schnelle, blitzhelle Lichterscheinungen am Himmel erklären. Die Erklärung der CIA: Mitte der fünfziger Jahre flogen Passagierflugzeuge in Höhen zwischen drei und sechs Kilometern, militärische Flugzeuge wie Bomber der Typen B-47 und B-57 blieben unter zwölf Kilometern. Die Spionageflugzeuge warem dagegen eigens dafür konstruiert, enorme Höhen zu erreichen. Als sie begannen höher als 18 Kilometer zu fliegen, bekamen die Fluglotsen steigende Zahlen an Ufo-Meldungen. Da die Spionageflugzeuge in rund 20 Kilometer Höhe in der Stratosphäre verkehrten, wurden von ihren Flügeln Sonnenstrahlen auch dann noch reflektiert, wenn es in tieferen Schichten der Atmosphäre längst dunkel geworden war. Das erweckte den Anschein, als seien Ufos im Anflug. Hunderte Ufo-Sichtungen sind nun aufgeklärt.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai annouced on October 12, 2013 that they reached an agreement on a set of core elements of the biltareral security. Both however didn't reach an agreement on immunity from prosecution under Afghan law for American troops who remain in Afghanistan after 2014. This issue along with the entire agremment will be decided first by a traditional gathering of elders and other powerful people known as a loya jirga and then by the Afghan Parliament. The agreement provides a legal framework for continued U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, including the leasing of Afghan bases. Karzai said the draft framework agreement included his demands for the protection of Afghan sovereignty and rules on how military operations are to be carried out on Afghan territory. "Tonight we reached some sort of agreement," Karzai told reporters. U.S. forces "will no longer conduct operations by themselves. We have been provided written guarantee of the safety of the Afghan people. And a clear definition of 'invasion' was provided." "The one issue that is outstanding is the issue of jurisdiction," Kerry added. "We need to say that if the issue of jurisdiction cannot be resolved, unfortunately there cannot be a bilateral security agreement."

Neither Kerry nor Karzai provided details of what exactly had been agreed to, and it was not clear how they had forged a compromise on an Afghan demand that the United States guarantee Afghanistan’s security as it would if the country were a NATO ally. That could compel the United States to send troops on raids into America's nuclear-armed power ally Pakistan. Afghan officials had said that demand was crucial to the country’s sovereignty and must be met. The Obama administration had said it would not consider making any such guarantee. According to the BBC's David Loyn saidPresident Karzai failed to win security guarantees so that Afghanistan would be protected by US troops from external attack. Loyn added the US will not grant that as it could mire them in a war with Pakistan. On the other main sticking point, the outlines of a compromise seemed clearer. Karzai had refused to allow American forces to hunt for operatives of Al Qaeda here on their own. Instead, he wanted any intelligence gathered by the United States handed over to Afghan forces, who could then conduct the raids. Karzai said on October 12, 2013 he had been assured that American forces would not conduct any unilateral operations in Afghanistan after 2014, leaving open the possibility that raids against Al Qaeda would be conducted jointly with Afghan forces.

Rediscovering Lost Values (1954)

 * Rediscovering Lost Values, Sermon delivered at Detroit's Second Baptist Church (28 February 1954).

 * There is something wrong with our world, something fundamentally and basically wrong. I don't think we have to look too far to see that. I'm sure that most of you would agree with me in making that assertion. And when we stop to analyze the cause of our world's ills, many things come to mind. We begin to wonder if it is due to the fact that we don't know enough. But it can't be that. Because in terms of accumulated knowledge we know more today than men have known in any period of human history. We have the facts at our disposal. We know more about mathematics, about science, about social science, and philosophy than we've ever known in any period of the world's history. So it can't be because we don't know enough.And then we wonder if it is due to the fact that our scientific genius lags behind. That is, if we have not made enough progress scientifically. Well then, it can't be that. For our scientific progress over the past years has been amazing. Man through his scientific genius has been able to dwarf distance and place time in chains, so that today it's possible to eat breakfast in New York City and supper in London, England. Back in about 1753 it took a letter three days to go from New York City to Washington, and today you can go from here to China in less time than that. It can't be because man is stagnant in his scientific progress. Man's scientific genius has been amazing. I think we have to look much deeper than that if we are to find the real cause of man's problems and the real cause of the world's ills today. If we are to really find it I think we will have to look in the hearts and souls of men.

 * The trouble isn't so much that we don't know enough, but it's as if we aren't good enough. The trouble isn't so much that our scientific genius lags behind, but our moral genius lags behind. The great problem facing modern man is that, that the means by which we live have outdistanced the spiritual ends for which we live. So we find ourselves caught in a messed-up world. The problem is with man himself and man's soul. We haven't learned how to be just and honest and kind and true and loving. And that is the basis of our problem. The real problem is that through our scientific genius we've made of the world a neighborhood, but through our moral and spiritual genius we've failed to make of it a brotherhood.  And the great danger facing us today is not so much the atomic bomb that was created by physical science. Not so much that atomic bomb that you can put in an aeroplane and drop on the heads of hundreds and thousands of people—as dangerous as that is. But the real danger confronting civilization today is that atomic bomb which lies in the hearts and souls of men, capable of exploding into the vilest of hate and into the most damaging selfishness—that's the atomic bomb that we've got to fear today. Problem is with the men. Within the heart and the souls of men. That is the real basis of our problem.

 * My friends, all I'm trying to say is that if we are to go forward today, we've got to go back and rediscover some mighty precious values that we've left behind. That's the only way that we would be able to make of our world a better world, and to make of this world what God wants it to be and the real purpose and meaning of it.

 * Sometimes, you know, it's necessary to go backward in order to go forward. That's an analogy of life. I remember the other day I was driving out of New York City into Boston, and I stopped off in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to visit some friends. And I went out of New York on a highway that’s known as the Merritt Parkway, it leads into Boston, a very fine parkway. And I stopped in Bridgeport, and after being there for two or three hours I decided to go on to Boston, and I wanted to get back on the Merritt Parkway. And I went out thinking that I was going toward the Merritt Parkway. I started out, and I rode, and I kept riding, and I looked up and I saw a sign saying two miles to a little town that I knew I was to bypass—I wasn't to pass through that particular town. So I thought I was on the wrong road. I stopped and I asked a gentleman on the road which way would I get to the Merritt Parkway. And he said, "The Merritt Parkway is about twelve or fifteen miles back that way. You've got to turn around and go back to the Merritt Parkway; you are out of the way now." In other words, before I could go forward to Boston, I had to go back about twelve or fifteen miles to get to the Merritt Parkway. May it not be that modern man has gotten on the wrong parkway? And if he is to go forward to the city of salvation, he's got to go back and get on the right parkway. [...] Now that's what we've got to do in our world today. We've left a lot of precious values behind; we've lost a lot of precious values. And if we are to go forward, if we are to make this a better world in which to live, we've got to go back. We've got to rediscover these precious values that we've left behind.

 * I want to deal with one or two of these mighty precious values that we've left behind, that if we're to go forward and to make this a better world, we must rediscover. The first is this—the first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws. I'm not so sure we all believe that. We never doubt that there are physical laws of the universe that we must obey. We never doubt that. And so we just don't jump out of airplanes or jump off of high buildings for the fun of it—we don't do that. Because we unconsciously know that there is a final law of gravitation, and if you disobey it you'll suffer the consequences—we know that. Even if we don't know it in its Newtonian formulation, we know it intuitively, and so we just don't jump off the highest building in Detroit for the fun of it—we don't do that. Because we know that there is a law of gravitation which is final in the universe. (Lord) If we disobey it we'll suffer the consequences. But I'm not so sure if we know that there are moral laws just as abiding as the physical law. I'm not so sure about that. I'm not so sure if we really believe that there is a law of love in this universe, and that if you disobey it you'll suffer the consequences.

 * The first thing is that we have adopted in the modern world a sort of a relativistic ethic. [...] Most people can't stand up for their convictions, because the majority of people might not be doing it. See, everybody's not doing it, so it must be wrong. And since everybody is doing it, it must be right. So a sort of numerical interpretation of what's right. But I'm here to say to you this morning that some things are right and some things are wrong. Eternally so, absolutely so. It's wrong to hate. It always has been wrong and it always will be wrong. It's wrong in America, it's wrong in Germany, it's wrong in Russia, it's wrong in China. It was wrong in 2000 B.C., and it's wrong in 1954 A.D. It always has been wrong, and it always will be wrong. It's wrong to throw our lives away in riotous living. No matter if everybody in Detroit is doing it, it's wrong. It always will be wrong, and it always has been wrong. It's wrong in every age and it's wrong in every nation. Some things are right and some things are wrong, no matter if everybody is doing the contrary. Some things in this universe are absolute. The God of the universe has made it so. And so long as we adopt this relative attitude toward right and wrong, we're revolting against the very laws of God himself.

 * Now that isn't the only thing that convinces me that we've strayed away from this attitude, this principle. The other thing is that we have adopted a sort of a pragmatic test for right and wrong—whatever works is right. If it works, it's all right. Nothing is wrong but that which does not work. If you don't get caught, it's right. [laughter] That's the attitude, isn't it? It's all right to disobey the Ten Commandments, but just don't disobey the eleventh, "Thou shall not get caught." [laughter] That's the attitude. That's the prevailing attitude in our culture. No matter what you do, just do it with a bit of finesse. You know, a sort of attitude of the survival of the slickest. Not the Darwinian survival of the fittest, but the survival of the slickest—whoever can be the slickest is the one who right. It's all right to lie, but lie with dignity. [laughter] It's all right to steal and to rob and extort, but do it with a bit of finesse. It's even all right to hate, but just dress your hate up in the garments of love and make it appear that you are loving when you are actually hating. Just get by! That's the thing that's right according to this new ethic. My friends, that attitude is destroying the soul of our culture. It's destroying our nation.

 * The thing that we need in the world today is a group of men and women who will stand up for right and to be opposed to wrong, wherever it is. A group of people who have come to see that some things are wrong, whether they're never caught up with. And some things are right, whether nobody sees you doing them or not.

 * All I'm trying to say to you is that our world hinges on moral foundations. God has made it so. God has made the universe to be based on a moral law. So long as man disobeys it he is revolting against God. That's what we need in the world today: people who will stand for right and goodness. It's not enough to know the intricacies of zoology and biology, but we must know the intricacies of law. It is not enough to know that two and two makes four, but we've got to know somehow that it's right to be honest and just with our brothers. It's not enough to know all about our philosophical and mathematical disciplines, but we've got to know the simple disciplines of being honest and loving and just with all humanity. If we don't learn it, we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own powers.

 * There is something in this universe that justifies the biblical writer in saying, "You shall reap what you sow." This is a law-abiding universe. This is a moral universe. It hinges on moral foundations. If we are to make of this a better world, we've got to go back and rediscover that precious value that we've left behind.

 * And then there is a second thing, a second principle that we've got to go back and rediscover. And that is that all reality has spiritual control. In other words, we've got to go back and rediscover the principle that there is a God behind the process. Well this you say, "Why is it that you raise that as a point in your sermon, in a church? The mere fact we are at church, we believe in God, we don't need to go back and rediscover that. The mere fact that we are here, and the mere fact that we sing and pray, and come to church—we believe in God." Well, there's some truth in that. But we must remember that it's possible to affirm the existence of God with your lips and deny his existence with your life. The most dangerous type of atheism is not theoretical atheism, but practical atheism [...]. And the world, even the church, is filled up with people who pay lip service to God and not life service. And there is always a danger that we will make it appear externally that we believe in God when internally we don't. We say with our mouths that we believe in him, but we live with our lives like he never existed. That is the ever-present danger confronting religion. That's a dangerous type of atheism.

 * And I think, my friends, that that is the thing that has happened in America. That we have unconsciously left God behind. Now, we haven't consciously done it; we have unconsciously done it. You see, the text, you remember the text said that Jesus' parents went a whole day's journey not knowing that he wasn't with them. They didn't consciously leave him behind. It was unconscious; went a whole day and didn't even know it. It wasn't a conscious process. You see, we didn't grow up and say, "Now, goodbye God, we're going to leave you now." The materialism in America has been an unconscious thing. Since the rise of the Industrial Revolution in England, and then the invention of all of our gadgets and contrivances and all of the things and modern conveniences—we unconsciously left God behind. We didn't mean to do it. We just became so involved in getting our big bank accounts that we unconsciously forgot about God—we didn't mean to do it. We became so involved in getting our nice luxurious cars, and they're very nice, but we became so involved in it that it became much more convenient to ride out to the beach on Sunday afternoon than to come to church that morning. (Yes) It was an unconscious thing—we didn't mean to do it. We became so involved and fascinated by the intricacies of television that we found it a little more convenient to stay at home than to come to church. It was an unconscious thing—we didn't mean to do it. We didn't just go up and say, "Now God, we’re gone." We had gone a whole day's journey and then we came to see that we had unconsciously ushered God out of the universe. A whole day's journey—didn't mean to do it. We just became so involved in things that we forgot about God. And that is the danger confronting us, my friends: that in a nation as ours where we stress mass production, and that's mighty important, where we have so many conveniences and luxuries and all of that, there is the danger that we will unconsciously forget about God. I'm not saying that these things aren't important; we need them, we need cars, we need money; all of that's important to live. But whenever they become substitutes for God, they become injurious. And may I say to you this morning, that none of these things can ever be real substitutes for God. Automobiles and subways, televisions and radios, dollars and cents can never be substitutes for God. For long before any of these came into existence, we needed God. And long after they will have passed away, we will still need God.

 * And I say to you this morning in conclusion that I'm not going to put my ultimate faith in things. I'm not going to put my ultimate faith in gadgets and contrivances. As a young man with most of my life ahead of me, I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow, but to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Not in the little gods that can be with us in a few moments of prosperity, but in the God who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death, and causes us to fear no evil. That's the God. Not in the god that can give us a few Cadillac cars and Buick convertibles, as nice as they are, that are in style today and out of style three years from now, but the God who threw up the stars to bedeck the heavens like swinging lanterns of eternity. Not in the god that can throw up a few skyscraping buildings, but the God who threw up the gigantic mountains, kissing the sky, as if to bathe their peaks in the lofty blues. Not in the god that can give us a few televisions and radios, but the God who threw up that great cosmic light that gets up early in the morning in the eastern horizon, ( who paints its technicolor across the blue —something that man could never make. I'm not going to put my ultimate faith in the little gods that can be destroyed in an atomic age, but the God who has been our help in ages past, and our hope for years to come, and our shelter in the time of storm, and our eternal home. That's the God that I'm putting my ultimate faith in.

 * Go out and be assured that that God is going to last forever. Storms might come and go. Our great skyscraping buildings will come and go. Our beautiful automobiles will come and go, but God will be here. Plants may wither, the flowers may fade away, but the word of our God shall stand forever and nothing can ever stop him. All of the P-38s in the world can never reach God. All of our atomic bombs can never reach him. The God that I'm talking about this morning is the God of the universe and the God that will last through the ages. If we are to go forward this morning, we've got to go back and find that God. That is the God that demands and commands our ultimate allegiance.

 * If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover these precious values: that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

Conquering Self-centeredness (1957)

 * Sermon Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama (11 August 1957) - Transcript of speech with notes

 * I want to continue the series of sermons this morning that I started several weeks ago. The series dealing with problems of personality integration. This morning our subject is: “Conquering Self-centeredness.” […] I at least want to suggest certain ways to conquer self-centeredness and at least place the subject before you. So that you can go out and add the meat and try, in some way, to make it meaningful and practical in your everyday lives.

 * An individual has not begun to live until he can rise above the narrow horizons of his particular individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. And this is one of the big problems of life, that so many people never quite get to the point of rising above self. And so they end up the tragic victims of selfcenteredness. They end up the victims of distorted and disrupted personality.

 * Life has its beginning and its maturity comes into being when an individual rises above self to something greater. Few individuals learn this, and so they go through life merely existing and never living. Now you see signs all along in your everyday life with individuals who are the victims of self-centeredness. They are the people who live an eternal “I.” They do not have the capacity to project the “I” into the “Thou." They do not have the mental equipment for an eternal, dangerous and sometimes costly altruism. They live a life of perpetual egotism. And they are the victims all around of the egocentric predicament. They start out, the minute you talk with them, talking about what they can do, what they have done. They’re the people who will tell you, before you talk with them five minutes, where they have been and who they know. They’re the people who can tell you in a few seconds, how many degrees they have and where they went to school and how much money they have. We meet these people every day. And so this is not a foreign subject. It is not something far off. It is a problem that meets us in everyday life. We meet it in ourselves, we meet in other selves: the problem of selfcenteredness.

 * Now, we can say to a certain extent that persons in this situation are persons who have really never grown up. They are still children, at a point. For you see, a child is inevitably, necessarily egocentric. He is a bundle of his own sensations, clamoring to be cared for. And, to be sure, he has his own social context. He belongs to his mother, but he cares for her only because he wants to be fed and protected. He does not care for his mother for her sake but he cares for his mother for his own sake. And so a child is inevitably egocentric, inevitably self-centered. And that is why Dr. Burnham says that during the first six or seven years of development, the ego is dominant within the child. And both in behavior and in attitudes, a child is a victim of self-centeredness. This is a part of the early development of a little child. When people become mature, they are to rise above this.

 * I look at my little daughter every day and she wants certain things and when she wants them, she wants them. And she almost cries out, “I want what I want when I want it.” She is not concerned about what I think about it or what Mrs. King thinks about it. She wants it. She’s a child and that’s very natural and normal for a child. She is inevitably self-centered because she’s a child. But when one matures, when one rises above the early years of childhood, he begins to love people for their own sake. He turns himself to higher loyalties. He gives himself to something outside of himself. He gives himself to causes that he lives for and sometimes will even die for. He comes to the point that now he can rise above his individualistic concerns, and he understands then what Jesus meant when he says, “He who finds his life shall lose it; he who loses his life for my sake, shall find it.”’ In other words, he who finds his ego shall lose his ego, but he who loseth his ego for my sake, shall find it. And so you see people who are apparently selfish; it isn’t merely an ethical issue but it is a psychological issue. They are the victims of arrested development, and they are still children. They haven’t grown up. And like a modern novelist says about one of his characters, “Edith is a little country, bounded on the east and the west, on the north and the south, by Edith.” And so many people are little countries, bounded all around by themselves and they never quite get out of themselves. And these are the persons who are victimized with arrested development.

 * Now the consequences, the disruptive effects of such self-centeredness, such egocentric desires, are tragic. And we see these every day. At first, it leads to frustration and disillusionment and unhappiness at many points. For usually when people are self-centered, they are self-centered because they are seeking attention, they want to be admired and this is the way they set out to do it. But in the process, because of their self-centeredness, they are not admired; they are mawkish and people don’t want to be bothered with them. And so the very thing they seek, they never get. And they end up frustrated and unhappy and disillusioned.

 * I’m sure you have seen people in life who are so desirous of gaining attention that if they cannot have and gain attention through normal channels, through normal social channels, they will gain it through anti-social means. […] They are so selfcentered that they must gain attention and they must be seen in order to survive. They want to be admired and in their quest for admiration, they don’t gain it and in their failure to gain it, they become frustrated and bewildered and disillusioned. Also, it leads to extreme sensitiveness.

 * The individual who is self-centered, the individual who is egocentric ends up being very sensitive, a very touchy person. And that is one of the tragic effects of a self-centered attitude, that it leads to a very sensitive and touchy response toward the universe. These are the people you have to handle with kid gloves because they are touchy, they are sensitive. And they are sensitive because they are self-centered. They are too absorbed in self and anything gets them off, anything makes them angry. Anything makes them feel that people are looking over them because of a tragic self-centeredness. That even leads to the point that the individual is not capable of facing trouble and the hard moments of life. One can become so self-centered, so egocentric that when the hard and difficult moments of life come, he cannot face them because he’s too centered in himself. These are the people who cannot face disappointments. These are the people who cannot face being defeated. These are the people who cannot face being criticized. These are the people who cannot face these many experiences of life which inevitably come because they are too centered in themselves. In time, somebody criticizes them, time somebody says something about them that they don’t like too well, time they are disappointed, time they are defeated, even in a little game, they end up broken-hearted. They can’t stand up under it because they are centered in self.

 * Then, finally, it can become so morbid that it rises to ominous proportions and leads to a tragic sense of persecution. There are persons who come to the point that they are so self-centered that they end up with a persecution complex and the end result is insanity. They end up thinking that the universe stands against them, that everybody is against them. They are turning around within themselves. They are little solar systems within themselves and they can’t see beyond that. And as a result of their failure to get out of self, they end up with a persecution complex and sometimes madness and insanity. These are some of the effects of selfcenteredness.

 * Now one will inevitably raise the question: How then do we conquer self-centeredness? How do we get away from this thing that we call self-centeredness? How can we live in this universe with a balance and with a type of perspective that keeps us going smoothly and we are not too absorbed in self? How do we do it?

 * I think one of the best ways to face this problem of self-centeredness is to discover some cause and some purpose, some loyalty outside of yourself and give yourself to that something. The best way to handle it is not to suppress the ego but to extend the ego into objectively meaningful channels. And so many people are unhappy because they aren’t doing anything. They’re self-centered because they aren’t doing anything. They haven’t given themselves to anything and they just move around in their little circles. One of the ways to rise above this self-centeredness is to move away from self and objectify yourself in something outside of yourself. Find some great cause and some great purpose, some loyalty to which you can give yourself and become so absorbed in that something that you give your life to it. Men and women have done this throughout all of the generations. And they have found that necessary ego satisfaction that life presents and that one desires through projecting self in something outside of self. As I said, you don’t solve the problem by trying to trample over the ego altogether. That doesn’t solve the problem. For you will always have the ego and the ego has certain desires, certain desires for significance. The three great psychoanalysts of this age, of this century, pointed out that there are certain basic desires that human beings have and that they long for and that they seek at any cost. And so for Freud the basic desire was to be loved. Jung would say that the basic desire is to be secure. But then Adler comes along and says the basic desire of human nature is to feel important and a sense of significance. And I think of all of those, probably- certainly all are significant but the one that Adler mentions is probably even more significant than any: that all human beings have a desire to belong and to feel significant and important. And the way to solve this problem is not to drown out the ego but to find your sense of importance in something outside of the self. And you are then able to live because you have given your life to something outside and something that is meaningful, objectified. You rise above this self-absorption to something outside. This is the way to go through life with a balance, with the proper perspective because you’ve given yourself to something greater than self. Sometimes it’s friends, sometimes it’s family, sometimes it’s a great cause, it’s a great loyalty, but give yourself to that something and life becomes meaningful.

 * I’ve seen people who discovered a great meaning in their jobs and they became so absorbed in that that they didn’t have time to become self-centered. They loved their job. And the great prayer that anyone could pray at that point is: “O God, help me to love my job as this individual loves his or hers. O God, help me to give my self to my work and to my job and to my allegiance as this individual does.” And this is the way out. And I think this is what [Ralph Waldo] Emerson meant when he said: “O, see how the masses of men worry themselves into nameless graves, while here and there, some great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality.” And this becomes a point of balance when you can forget yourself into immortality. You’re not so absorbed in self, but you are absorbed in something beyond self.

 * And there is another way to rise above self-centeredness and that is by having the proper inner attitude toward your position or toward your status in life or whatever it is. You conquer self-centeredness by coming to the point of seeing that you are where you are today because somebody helped you to get there. And so many people, you see, live a self-centered, egocentric life because they have the attitude that they are responsible for everything and for their position in life. For everything they do in life, they feel, somehow, that they are responsible and solely responsible for it.

 * An individual gets away from this type of self-centeredness when he pauses enough to see that no matter what he does in life, he does that because somebody helped him to do it. And he then gains the type of perspective and the type of balance which keeps him from becoming self-centered. He comes to see that somebody stands in the background, often doing a little job in a big way, making it possible for him to do what he’s doing.

 * [N]o matter where you stand, no matter how much popularity you have, no matter how much education you have, no matter how much money you have, you have it because somebody in this universe helped you to get it. And when you see that, you can’t be arrogant, you can’t be supercilious. You discover that you have your position because of the events of history and because of individuals in the background making it possible for you to stand there.

 * One of the problems that I have to face and even fight every day is this problem of self-centeredness, this tendency that can so easily come to my life now that I’m something special, that I’m something important. Living over the past year, I can hardly go into any city or any town in this nation where I’m not lavished with hospitality by peoples of all races and of all creeds. I can hardly go anywhere to speak in this nation where hundreds and thousands of people are not turned away because of lack of space. And then after speaking, I often have to be rushed out to get away from the crowd rushing for autographs. I can hardly walk the street in any city of this nation where I’m not confronted with people running up the street, “Isn’t this Reverend King of Alabama?” Living under this it’s easy, it’s a dangerous tendency that I will come to feel that I’m something special, that I stand somewhere in this universe because of my ingenuity and that I’m important, that I can walk around life with a type of arrogance because of an importance that I have. And one of the prayers that I pray to God everyday is: “O God, help me to see myself in my true perspective. Help me, O God, to see that I’m just a symbol of a movement. Help me to see that I’m the victim of what the Germans call a Zeitgeist and that something was getting ready to happen in history; history was ready for it. And that a boycott would have taken place in Montgomery, Alabama, if I had never come to Alabama. Help me to realize that I’m where I am because of the forces of history and because of the fifty thousand Negroes of Alabama who will never get their names in the papers and in the headline. O God, help me to see that where I stand today, I stand because others helped me to stand there and because the forces of history projected me there. And this moment would have come in history even if M. L. King had never been born.” And when we come to see that, we stand with a humility. This is the prayer I pray to God every day, “Lord help me to see M. L. King as M. L. King in his true perspective.” Because if I don’t see that, I will become the biggest fool in America.

 * We never get anywhere in this world without the forces of history and individual persons in the background helping us to get there. If you have the privilege of a fine education, well, you have it because somebody made it possible. If you have the privilege to gain wealth and a bit of the world’s goods, well, you have it because somebody made it possible. So don’t boast, don’t be arrogant. You, at that moment, rise out of your self-centeredness to the type of living that makes you an integrated personality.

 * Finally, the proper religious faith gives you this type of balance and this type of perspective that I’m talking about. This, you see, is something of the genius of great religion, that on the one hand, it gives man a sense of belonging and on the other hand, it gives him a sense of dependence on something higher. So he realizes that there is something beyond in which he lives and moves and even moves and gains his being. This is what great religion does for him.

 * And there needs to be something in your life of a goddess of Nemesis which pulls you down when you get too high and pulls you up when you feel the sense of inadequacy and that is what religion at its best does. It keeps you to the point that you don’t feel like you are too low and you don’t feel like you are too high but you’ll maintain that type of balance. And you come to see that you’re an adjective, not a noun. It is only God that is a noun, you are a dependent clause not an independent clause. You come to see through great religion, somehow, there is only one being in this universe that can say “I am” unconditionally. We turn over to Genesis and we read of God saying, “I am that I am,” and that’s the only being that can say that. But man is a child of God and he must always say, “I am, because of.” And when you come to see that, you see that your existence is adjectival; it is dependent on something else. Your existence is dependent on the existence of a higher power and you can’t walk around the universe with arrogance. You can’t walk about the universe with a haughty spirit because you know that there is a God in this universe that you are dependent on.

 * For a long time, man felt that he was the center of the universe and all of his science had given him that. All of the days in the past he came up under what was known as the geocentric theory: the earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around the earth. Then came Copernicus and Galileo and others, said that the sun is the center, the heliocentric theory came into being. And that reminded us somehow that we are dependent on something. We are not just at the center of this universe. We are only at the center to the extent that we give ourselves and our allegiance to God Almighty. And I’m so glad that the new science came into being to dampen our arrogance. It says to us that our earthly planet is a dependent planet; it is a small planet in the orbits of this universe. The sun is the center of this universe, that man must look beyond himself to discover his significance. And that does something to each of us so that we can see when we have faith in God that we have nothing to boast about, we have nothing to be arrogant about but we live with a humility that keeps us going.

 * As I look at drunkard men walking the streets of Montgomery and of other cities every day, I find myself saying, “But by the grace of God, you too would be a drunkard.” As I look at those who have lost balance of themselves and those who are giving their lives to a tragic life of pleasure and throwing away everything they have in riotous living, I find myself saying, “But by the grace of God, I too would be here.” And when you see that point, you cannot be arrogant. But you walk through life with a humility that takes away the self-centeredness that makes you a disintegrated personality.

 * [Y]ou are what you are because of somebody else. You are what you are because of the grace of the Almighty God. He who seeks to find his ego will lose it. But he who loses his ego in some great cause, some great purpose, some great ideal, some great loyalty, he who discovers, somehow, that he stands where he stands because of the forces of history and because of other individuals; he who discovers that he stands where he stands because of the grace of God, finds himself. He loses himself in that something but later finds himself. And this is the way, it seems to me, to the integrated personality.

Remarks at Clinton Global Initiative (September 2012)

 * Remarks by the President to the Clinton Global Initiative at Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in New York City, New York on September 25, 2012

 * As Bill mentioned, I’ve come to CGI every year that I’ve been President, and I’ve talked with you about how we need to sustain the economic recovery, how we need to create more jobs. I’ve talked about the importance of development -- from global health to our fight against HIV/AIDS to the growth that lifts nations to prosperity. We've talked about development and how it has to include women and girls -- because by every benchmark, nations that educate their women and girls end up being more successful. And today, I want to discuss an issue that relates to each of these challenges. It ought to concern every person, because it is a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at our social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets.  It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name -- modern slavery.

 * Now, I do not use that word, "slavery" lightly. It evokes obviously one of the most painful chapters in our nation’s history. But around the world, there’s no denying the awful reality. When a man, desperate for work, finds himself in a factory or on a fishing boat or in a field, working, toiling, for little or no pay, and beaten if he tries to escape -- that is slavery. When a woman is locked in a sweatshop, or trapped in a home as a domestic servant, alone and abused and incapable of leaving -- that’s slavery. When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier, forced to kill or be killed -- that’s slavery. When a little girl is sold by her impoverished family -- girls my daughters’ age -- runs away from home, or is lured by the false promises of a better life, and then imprisoned in a brothel and tortured if she resists -- that’s slavery. It is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world.

 * Our people and our children are not for sale. But for all the progress that we’ve made, the bitter truth is that trafficking also goes on right here, in the United States. It’s the migrant worker unable to pay off the debt to his trafficker. The man, lured here with the promise of a job, his documents then taken, and forced to work endless hours in a kitchen. The teenage girl, beaten, forced to walk the streets. This should not be happening in the United States of America.

 * Of course, no government, no nation, can meet this challenge alone. Everybody has a responsibility. Every nation can take action. Modern anti-trafficking laws must be passed and enforced and justice systems must be strengthened. Victims must be cared for. [...] And more broadly, as nations, let’s recommit to addressing the underlying forces that push so many into bondage in the first place. With development and economic growth that creates legitimate jobs, there’s less likelihood of indentured servitude around the globe. A sense of justice that says no child should ever be exploited, that has to be burned into the cultures of every country.

 * Human trafficking is not a business model, it is a crime, and we are going to stop it.

 * And every business can take action. All the business leaders who are here and our global economy companies have a responsibility to make sure that their supply chains, stretching into the far corners of the globe, are free of forced labor. [...] Every faith community can take action as well, by educating their congregations, by joining in coalitions that are bound by a love of God and a concern for the oppressed. And like that Good Samaritan on the road to Jericho, we can’t just pass by, indifferent.  We’ve got to be moved by compassion.  We’ve got to bind up the wounds. Let’s come together around a simple truth -- that we are our brother’s keepers and we are our sister’s keepers. And finally, every citizen can take action: by learning more; by going to the website that we helped create -- SlaveryFootprint.org; by speaking up and insisting that the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the products we buy are made free of forced labor; by standing up against the degradation and abuse of women.

Keep Moving From This Mountain (1965)

 * Sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood (25 February 1965) - Online text and audio

 * I would like to take your minds back many, many centuries into a familiar experience so significantly recorded in the sacred Scriptures. The Children of Israel had been reduced into the bondage of physical slavery... three groups of people emerged. One group said in substance that "We would rather go back to Egypt." They preferred the flush parts of Egypt to the challenges of the Promised Land. A second group that abhorred the idea of going back to Egypt, and yet they abhorred the idea of facing the difficulties of moving ahead to the Promised Land and they somehow wanted to remain stationary and choose the line of least resistance. There was a third group, probably influenced by Caleb and Joshua who had gone over to spy a bit and who admitted that there were giants in the land but who said, "We can possess the land." This group said in substance that "We will go on in spite of...," that "We will not allow anything to stop us," that "We will move on amid the difficulties, amid the trials, amid the tribulations."

 * Now certainly, one could almost preach a sermon from either of these groups. This evening I want to deal mainly with the second group: those individuals that chose the line of least resistance, those individuals who didn’t want to go back to Egypt but who did not quite have the strength to move on to the Promised Land. These are probably the people who wanted to remain stationary. These are the people who probably wanted to stop at a particular point and remain right there in the wilderness. God speaks through Moses to these people. The first chapter of the book of Deuteronomy said, “Ye have been in this mountain long enough. Turn you and take your journey and go to the mount of the Amorites.” In other words, God was saying through Moses that you must not allow yourself to get bogged down with unattained goals. You must not allow yourself to get caught up in impeding mountains. Whenever God speaks, he says, "Go forward." Whenever God speaks, he says, "Move on from mountains of stagnant complacency and deadening pacifity." So this is the great challenge that always stands before men.

 * In every age and every generation, men have envisioned a promised land. Some may have envisioned it with the wrong ideology, with the wrong philosophical presupposition. But men in every generation thought in terms of some promised land. [...] Whenever men have thought seriously of life, they have dreamed of a promised land, and so in a sense we are all moving toward some promised land.

 * Each of us lives in two realms, the "within" and the "without." The within of our lives is somehow found in the realm of ends, the without in the realm of means. The within of our [lives], the bottom — that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion for which at best we live. The without of our lives is that realm of instrumentalities, techniques, mechanisms by which we live. Now the great temptation of life and the great tragedy of life is that so often we allow the without of our lives to absorb the within of our lives. The great tragedy of life is that too often we allow the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live.

 * We have allowed our civilization to outrun our culture; we have allowed our technology to outdistance our theology and for this reason we find ourselves caught up with many problems. Through our scientific genius we made of the world a neighborhood, but we failed through moral commitment to make of it a brotherhood, and so we’ve ended up with guided missiles and misguided men. And the great challenge is to move out of the mountain of practical materialism and move on to another and higher mountain which recognizes somehow that we must live by and toward the basic ends of life. We must move on to that mountain which says in substance, "What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world of means — airplanes, televisions, electric lights — and lose the end: the soul?"'''

 * And now it is time for us to move on to that great and noble realm of justice and brotherhood. That is the great struggle taking place in our nation today. It isn’t a struggle just based on a lot of noise; it is a struggle to save the soul of our nation for no nation can rise to its full moral maturity so long as it subjects a segment of its citizenry on the basis of race or color. And somehow we must come to see more than ever before that racial injustice is a cancer in the body politic which must be removed before our moral health can be realized. Racial segregation must be seen for what it is — and that is an evil system, a new form of slavery covered up with certain niceties of complexity. [...] Segregation is evil because it relegates persons to the status of things. [...] And segregation is evil because it stigmatizes the segregated as an untouchable in a caste system. We’ve been in the mountain of segregation long enough and it is time for all men of goodwill to say now, “We are through with segregation now, henceforth, and forever more.”

 * A great nation is a compassionate nation. Who are the least of these? The least of these are those who still find themselves smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in an affluent society. Who are the least of these? They are the thousands of individuals who see life as a long and desolate corridor with no exit sign. Who are the least of these? They are the little boys and little girls who grow up with clouds of inferiority floating in their little mental skies because they know that they are caught in conditions of economic depravation. Who are the least of these? They are the individuals who are caught in the fatigue of despair. And somehow if we are to be a great nation, we must be concerned about the least of these, our brothers.

 * And we’ve been in the mountain of indifference too long and ultimately we must be concerned about the least of these; we must be concerned about the poverty-stricken because our destinies are tied together. And somehow in the final analysis, as long as there is poverty in the world, nobody can be totally rich. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. And what affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms, “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” And he goes on toward the end to say, “Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never sin to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” And when we see this, we will move out of the mountain of indifference concerning poverty.

 * I’m more convinced than ever before that violence can not solve the problems of the world. Violence is both impractical and immoral. This is why I’ve tried in my little way to teach it in our struggle for racial justice that I’ve come to see and I believe with all my heart that we can not make the great moral contribution to our nation that we should make, and we can not win the battle for justice if we stoop to the point of using violence in our struggle.

 * Love is basic for the very survival of mankind. I’m convinced that love is the only absolute ultimately; love is the highest good. He who loves has somehow discovered the meaning of ultimate reality. He who hates does not know God; he who hates has no knowledge of God. Love is the supreme unifying principle of life. Psychiatrists are telling us now that many of the strange things that happen in the [subconscious], many of the inner conflicts are rooted in hate, and they are now saying “Love or perish.” Oh, how basic this is. It rings down across the centuries: Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. We’ve been in the mountain of violence and hatred too long.

 * We’ve got to move on to the point of seeing that on the international scale, war is obsolete -- that it must somehow be cast into unending limbo. But in a day when Sputniks and Explorers are dashing through outer space and guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death through the stratosphere, no nation can win a war. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence; it is either nonviolence or nonexistence. And the alternative to disarmament, the alternative to a greater suspension of nuclear tests, the alternative to strengthening the United Nations and thereby disarming the whole world may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation. And so we must rise up and beat our swords into plowshares, and our spears into pruning hooks and nations must not rise up against nations, neither must they study war anymore.

 * We’ve been in the mountain of war. We’ve been in the mountain of violence. We’ve been in the mountain of hatred long enough. It is necessary to move on now, but only by moving out of this mountain can we move to the promised land of justice and brotherhood and the Kingdom of God. It all boils down to the fact that we must never allow ourselves to become satisfied with unattained goals. We must always maintain a kind of divine discontent.

 * Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word in psychology. It is the word "maladjusted." Certainly we all want to live the well adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities. But I must honestly say to you tonight my friends that there are some things in our world, there are some things in our nation to which I’m proud to be maladjusted, to which I call upon all men of goodwill to be maladjusted until the good society is realized. I must honestly say to you that I never intend to adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism and the self defeating effects of physical violence.

 * If physical death is the price that some must pay to free their children and their white brothers from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.

 * And I believe it because somehow the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. We shall overcome because Carlyle is right: “No lie can live forever.” We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.” We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right: “Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne. Yet, that scaffold sways the future and behind the dim unknown standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.” With this faith we will be able to hue out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to speed up the day. And in the words of prophecy, “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain and the crooked places straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” This will be a great day. This will be a marvelous hour. And at that moment, figuratively speaking in biblical words: “the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy.”

The United States and Afghanistan reached an agreement on the final language of the bilateral security agreement, which according State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki wasn't the final document and which U.S. officials were still reviewing it, on November 20, 2013. A letter written by U.S. President Obama said U.S. forces will be “cooperating in training, advising, and assisting” Afghan forces “in a targeted, smaller, counterterrorism mission.” There is no limit on how long U.S. forces would remain in Afghanistan The accord also has no expiration date. The agreement says that “unless mutually agreed, United States forces shall not conduct combat operations in Afghanistan.” It states the parties’ “intention of protecting U.S. and Afghan national interests without U.S. military counter-terrorism operations” but does not specifically prohibit such operations. United States Special Operations forces will retain leeway to conduct antiterrorism raids on private Afghan homes American counterterrorism operations will be intended to “complement and support” Afghan missions and that US forces will not conduct military operations in Afghanistan "unless mutually agreed" the text says. . It underscores that Afghan forces will be in the lead and that any American military operations will be carried out “with full respect for Afghan sovereignty and full regard for the safety and security of the Afghan people, including in their homes.” It also notes that “U.S. forces shall not target Afghan civilians, including in their homes, consistent with Afghan law and United States forces’ rules of engagement.” U.S. President Barack Obama wrote in a letter to his Afghan counterpart: "US forces shall not enter Afghan homes for the purposes of military operations, except under extraordinary circumstances involving urgent risk to life and limb of US nationals. We will continue to make every effort to respect the sanctity and dignity of Afghans in their homes and in their daily lives, just as we do for our own citizens."

The agreement does not spell out the number of U.S. forces who will remain, but Afghan President Karzai said on November 21, 2013 that he envisions up to 15,000 NATO troops being based in the country. According to several estimates, the United States plans to maintain a force of no more than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014. The draft agreement allows an indefinite U.S. presence, but Karzai said on November 21, 2013 it would be in place for 10 years. The agreement also includes language on the U.S. government's continued funding for Afghan security forces, funneling such contributions through the Kabul-based government.

The agreement text grants the United States full legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops and Defense Department civilians working in Afghanistan. On troop immunity, it says that Afghanistan agrees “that the United States shall have the exclusive right to exercise jurisdiction” over members of the force and its civilian component “in respect of any criminal or civil offenses committed in the territory of Afghanistan.”, and that "Afghanistan authorises the United States to hold [civil and criminal] trial in such cases, or take other disciplinary action, as appropriate, in the territory of Afghanistan.", but Afghan authorities can ask that anyone be taken out of the country. Afghan authorities are prohibited from detaining American troops or U.S. civilians working with them. In the event that happens “for any reason,” however, those personnel “shall be immediately handed over to United States forces authorities.” The agreement also specifies that American troops and civilians cannot be surrendered to any “international tribunal or any other entity or state” without express U.S. consent. Afghanistan, it says, retains legal jurisdiction over civilian contractors, and contractors are prohibited from wearing military uniforms and “may only carry weapons in accordance with Afghan laws and regulations.”

The document has a clause committing the United States to consulting with the Afghan government in the event of external threats, but not the sort of NATO-style mutual defense pact the Afghans originally wanted. “The United States shall regard with grave concern any external aggression or threat of external aggression against the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Afghanistan,” the proposed agreement states. There is a later clause saying they would “consult urgently” in the event of such aggression. U.S. President Obama added in a letter to his Afghan counterpart: "The US commitment to Afghanistan's independence, territorial integrity, and national unity, as enshrined in our Strategic Partnership Agreement, is enduring, as is our respect for Afghan sovereignty."

In a preamble, the draft specifies that “the United States does not seek permanent military facilities in Afghanistan, or a presence that is a threat to Afghanistan’s neighbors, and has pledged not to use Afghan territory or facilities as a launching point for attacks on other countries.” It says that “unless otherwise mutually agreed, United States forces shall not conduct combat operations in Afghanistan” and makes no promise of U.S. military support in the event of an attack or other security threat to Afghanistan. If there is such a threat, it says, the United States will regard it with “grave concern,” consult and “shall urgently determine support it is prepared to provide.” But the United States stated the U.S. will regard any external aggression with "grave concern" and will "strongly oppose" military threats or force against Afghanistan after 2014.

The draft agreement says that U.S. military and Defense Department civilian personnel are exempt from visa requirements and taxation. Afghan taxes and other fees will not be imposed on the entry or exit of goods specifically for the use of U.S. forces. An annex to the draft lists locations where Afghanistan agrees to provide facilities for U.S. forces, including Kabul; Bagram, north of the capital, where the United States has its largest current base; Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan; Herat in the west; Kandahar in the south; Shindand in Herat province; Sharab in Helmand province; Gardez, south of Kabul; and Jalalabad, to the east. The draft document gives the U.S. the right to deploy American forces on nine bases, including the two biggest, the airfields in Bagram and Kandahar. It also allows U.S. military planes to fly in and out of Afghanistan from seven air bases, including Kabul International Airport. U.S. forces would be permitted under the document to transport supplies from five border crossings, described along with the air bases as "official points of embarkation and debarkation." All bases in Afghanistan would revert to Afghan ownership and sovereignty after 2014, according to the draft.

The draft of the agreement was finalized early on November 19, 2013 after Obama wrote Karzai a letter assuring him that U.S. forces will continue to respect the “sanctity and dignity of the Afghan people.” The agreement must as of November 21, 2013 be ratified by an Afghan grand council of elders and by ratified by the parliaments of Afghnistan and the United States. The agreement ,according to the draft wording, takes effect Jan. 1, 2015 and then “it shall remain in force until the end of 2024 and beyond“ unless terminated with two years’ advance notice. Afghan President Karzai said that the agreement would not be signed until after 2014 elections in Afghanistan, but U.S. officials have said unequivocally that the agreement must be signed by the end of the year 2013, if not sooner, to allow the Pentagon to prepare for its role after the American combat mission ends.

Nach Recherchen des NDR und der Süddeutschen Zeitung werden Aussagen von Asylbewerbern über die Sicherheitslage in ihren Heimatländern von deutschen Geheimdienstlern der "Hauptstelle für Befragungswesen" (HBW) (eine Einrichtung, die eng mit dem Bundesnachrichtendienst zusammenarbeitet und direkt dem Kanzleramt unterstellt ist) gesammelt und dann vom BND an die Militärgeheimdienste der USA und Großbritanniens weitergegeben. Dort fließen sie auch in die Zielerfassung für US-Tötungsaktionen mit Kampfdrohnen in Krisengebieten wie Somalia oder Irak ein.

Karzai, who earlier stated he would sign what he had agreed to sign, stated later, after the annoucement of the Bilatereal Security Agreement (BSA) draft textthat, he wouldn’t sign it until 2014, after a presidential election to choose his successor, but before he leaves office. Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for Karzai, stated that Karzai wanted to wait until after the election in April 2013 to test further conditions: whether American forces would stop raids on Afghan homes, whether the Obama Administration will help stabilize security in Afghanistan, help promote peace talks and not interfere in the election. Officials of the Obama Administration consider the signing date to be nonnegotiable, citing the need for at least a year to plan future deployments and to allow coalition partners, including Germany and Italy, to plan for a residual troop presence that they have offered.

The text of the BSA was approved by the delegates at the Loya Jirga on November 24, 2013 and must now be signed by the Afghanistan president, who rejected the final recommendation of the Loya Jirga promptly to sign the BSA with the United States, and sent to the parliament for final ratification. If approved, the agreement would allow the U.S. to deploy military advisors to train and equip Afghan security forces, along with U.S. special-operations troops for anti-terrorism missions against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. President Obama will determine the size of the force. The jirga set a few conditions before expressing approval for the agreement among them a 10-year time limit on the post-2014 troop presence and reparations for damages caused by U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan. It also voted attach a letter of U.S. President Obama; pledging that U.S. troops would enter Afghan homes only in "extraordinary" circumstances and only if American lives were at direct risk, to the BSA. The elder assembly also demanded the release of 19 Afghans from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay and a stronger U.S. pledge to defend Afghanistan from any incursion from it neighbors, particularly Pakistan. The loya jirga also voted to request that the U.S. military add a base to the nine bases that would be occupied by U.S. troops under the proposed security pact after combat forces depart Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The base is in Bamian Province in central Afghanistan, where the NATO-led military coalition has maintained a presence. Bamian is a population center for Hazaras, a Shiite minority whose members were massacred by the Taliban prior to the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the militant group. Afghan analysts said Hazara delegates proposed the additional base. At least five of the 50 jirga committees raised objections to the article addressing “status of personnel” which “authorises the United States to hold [civil and criminal] trial … or take other disciplinary action, as appropriate, in the territory of Afghanistan” when a US soldier is accused of criminal activity. Spokespeople from at least two committees directly stated that Afghanistan should have jurisdiction over any US soldiers accused of crimes on Afghan soil. Several committees also stated that if trials are held in the United States, families of victims should have access to and presence in US-held trials at the expense of Washington.

Sixth State of the Union Address (2014)

 * Sixth State of the Union Address delivered on January 28, 2014 during a joint session of the United States Congress

 * Tonight this chamber speaks with one voice to the people we represent: It is you, our citizens, who make the state of our union strong.

 * And in the coming months, let's see where else we can make progress together. Let's make this a year of action. That's what most Americans want, for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations. And what I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all, the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead in America.

 * The point is, there are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments and are moving this country forward. They believe, and I believe, that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams.

 * This year let's all come together, Congress, the White House, businesses from Wall Street to Main Street, to give every woman the opportunity she deserves, because I believe when women succeed, America succeeds.

 * Now, women hold a majority of lower-wage jobs, but they're not the only ones stifled by stagnant wages. Americans understand that some people will earn more money than others, and we don't resent those who, by virtue of their efforts, achieve incredible success. That's what America's all about. But Americans overwhelmingly agree that no one who works full-time should ever have to raise a family in poverty.

 * That's why tonight I ask every American who knows someone without health insurance to help them get covered by March 31st. Help them get covered. Moms, get on your kids to sign up. Kids, call your mom and walk her through the application. It'll give her some peace of mind, and plus, she'll appreciate hearing from you. After all, that -- that's the spirit that has always moved this nation forward. It's the spirit of citizenship, the recognition that through hard work and responsibility, we can pursue our individual dreams, but still come together as one American family to make sure the next generation can pursue its dreams as well.

 * Citizenship means standing up for everyone's right to vote. Last year, part of the Voting Rights Act was weakened, but conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are working together to strengthen it. And the bipartisan commission I appointed, chaired by my campaign lawyer and Governor Romney's campaign lawyer, came together and have offered reforms so that no one has to wait more than a half hour to vote. Let's support these efforts. It should be the power of our vote, not the size of our bank account, that drives our democracy.

 * Citizenship demands a sense of common purpose; participation in the hard work of self-government; an obligation to serve to our communities.

 * For while our relationship with Afghanistan will change, one thing will not: our resolve that terrorists do not launch attacks against our country. [...] We have to remain vigilant. But I strongly believe our leadership and our security cannot depend on our outstanding military alone. As commander in chief, I have used force when needed to protect the American people, and I will never hesitate to do so as long as I hold this office. But I will not send our troops into harm's way unless it is truly necessary, nor will I allow our sons and daughters to be mired in open-ended conflicts. We must fight the battles that need to be fought, not those that terrorists prefer from us -- large-scale deployments that drain our strength and may ultimately feed extremism. So even as we actively and aggressively pursue terrorist networks, through more targeted efforts and by building the capacity of our foreign partners, America must move off a permanent war footing. That's why I've imposed prudent limits on the use of drones, for we will not be safer if people abroad believe we strike within their countries without regard for the consequence.

 * And with the Afghan war ending, this needs to be the year Congress lifts the remaining restrictions on detainee transfers and we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military action but by remaining true to our constitutional ideals and setting an example for the rest of the world.

 * If John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could negotiate with the Soviet Union, then surely a strong and confident America can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today.

 * And finally, let's remember that our leadership is defined not just by our defense against threats but by the enormous opportunities to do good and promote understanding around the globe, to forge greater cooperation, to expand new markets, to free people from fear and want. And no one is better positioned to take advantage of those opportunities than America. Our alliance with Europe remains the strongest the world has ever known. From Tunisia to Burma, we're supporting those who are willing to do the hard work of building democracy. In Ukraine, we stand for the principle that all people have the right to express themselves freely and peacefully and to have a say in their country's future. [...] We do these things because they help promote our long-term security. And we do them because we believe in the inherent dignity and equality of every human being, regardless of race or religion, creed or sexual orientation. [...] My fellow Americans, no other country in the world does what we do. On every issue, the world turns to us, not simply because of the size of our economy or our military might but because of the ideals we stand for and the burdens we bear to advance them.

 * America has never come easy. Our freedom, our democracy, has never been easy. Sometimes we stumble; we make mistakes; we get frustrated or discouraged. But for more than two hundred years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress: to create and build and expand the possibilities of individual achievement; to free other nations from tyranny and fear; to promote justice and fairness and equality under the law, so that the words set to paper by our founders are made real for every citizen. The America we want for our kids -- a rising America where honest work is plentiful and communities are strong; where prosperity is widely shared and opportunity for all lets us go as far as our dreams and toil will take us -- none of it is easy. But if we work together; if we summon what is best in us [...], with our feet planted firmly in today but our eyes cast towards tomorrow, I know it's within our reach. Believe it.

Grundrecht aller Bürger auf Belastungsgleichheit bei Beiträgen zur Sozialversicherungs

Address to European Youth (2014)

 * Address to European Youth delivered on March 26, 2014 at Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Belgium

 * Throughout human history, societies have grappled with fundamental questions of how to organize themselves, the proper relationship between the individual and the state, the best means to resolve inevitable conflicts between states. And it was here in Europe, through centuries of struggle -- through war and Enlightenment, repression and revolution -- that a particular set of ideals began to emerge: The belief that through conscience and free will, each of us has the right to live as we choose. The belief that power is derived from the consent of the governed, and that laws and institutions should be established to protect that understanding.  And those ideas eventually inspired a band of colonialists across an ocean, and they wrote them into the founding documents that still guide America today, including the simple truth that all men -- and women -- are created equal. But those ideals have also been tested -- here in Europe and around the world.  Those ideals have often been threatened by an older, more traditional view of power.  This alternative vision argues that ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs, that order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign. Often, this alternative vision roots itself in the notion that by virtue of race or faith or ethnicity, some are inherently superior to others, and that individual identity must be defined by “us” versus “them,” or that national greatness must flow not by what a people stand for, but by what they are against. In many ways, the history of Europe in the 20th century represented the ongoing clash of these two sets of ideas, both within nations and among nations.  The advance of industry and technology outpaced our ability to resolve our differences peacefully, and even among the most civilized of societies, on the surface we saw a descent into barbarism.

 * This morning at Flanders Field, I was reminded of how war between peoples sent a generation to their deaths in the trenches and gas of the First World War. And just two decades later, extreme nationalism plunged this continent into war once again -- with populations enslaved, and great cities reduced to rubble, and tens of millions slaughtered, including those lost in the Holocaust. It is in response to this tragic history that, in the aftermath of World War II, America joined with Europe to reject the darker forces of the past and build a new architecture of peace.  Workers and engineers gave life to the Marshall Plan. Sentinels stood vigilant in a NATO Alliance that would become the strongest the world has ever known.  And across the Atlantic, we embraced a shared vision of Europe -- a vision based on representative democracy, individual rights, and a belief that nations can meet the interests of their citizens through trade and open markets; a social safety net and respect for those of different faiths and backgrounds.

 * For decades, this vision stood in sharp contrast to life on the other side of an Iron Curtain. For decades, a contest was waged, and ultimately that contest was won -- not by tanks or missiles, but because our ideals stirred the hearts of Hungarians who sparked a revolution; Poles in their shipyards who stood in Solidarity; Czechs who waged a Velvet Revolution without firing a shot; and East Berliners who marched past the guards and finally tore down that wall. Today, what would have seemed impossible in the trenches of Flanders, the rubble of Berlin, or a dissident’s prison cell -- that reality is taken for granted. A Germany unified.  The nations of Central and Eastern Europe welcomed into the family of democracies.  Here in this country, once the battleground of Europe, we meet in the hub of a Union that brings together age-old adversaries in peace and cooperation. The people of Europe, hundreds of millions of citizens -- east, west, north, south -- are more secure and more prosperous because we stood together for the ideals we share. And this story of human progress was by no means limited to Europe.  Indeed, the ideals that came to define our alliance also inspired movements across the globe among those very people, ironically, who had too often been denied their full rights by Western powers. After the Second World War, people from Africa to India threw off the yoke of colonialism to secure their independence. In the United States, citizens took freedom rides and endured beatings to put an end to segregation and to secure their civil rights.  As the Iron Curtain fell here in Europe, the iron fist of apartheid was unclenched, and Nelson Mandela emerged upright, proud, from prison to lead a multiracial democracy.  Latin American nations rejected dictatorship and built new democracies, and Asian nations showed that development and democracy could go hand in hand.

 * Young people in the audience today, young people like Laura, were born in a place and a time where there is less conflict, more prosperity and more freedom than any time in human history. But that’s not because man’s darkest impulses have vanished. Even here, in Europe, we’ve seen ethnic cleansing in the Balkans that shocked the conscience. The difficulties of integration and globalization, recently amplified by the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, strained the European project and stirred the rise of a politics that too often targets immigrants or gays or those who seem somehow different. While technology has opened up vast opportunities for trade and innovation and cultural understanding, it’s also allowed terrorists to kill on a horrifying scale. Around the world, sectarian warfare and ethnic conflicts continue to claim thousands of lives.  And once again, we are confronted with the belief among some that bigger nations can bully smaller ones to get their way -- that recycled maxim that might somehow makes right. So I come here today to insist that we must never take for granted the progress that has been won here in Europe and advanced around the world, because the contest of ideas continues for your generation.  And that’s what’s at stake in Ukraine today.  Russia’s leadership is challenging truths that only a few weeks ago seemed self-evident -- that in the 21st century, the borders of Europe cannot be redrawn with force, that international law matters, that people and nations can make their own decisions about their future.

 * None of us can know for certain what the coming days will bring in Ukraine, but I am confident that eventually those voices -- those voices for human dignity and opportunity and individual rights and rule of law -- those voices ultimately will triumph. I believe that over the long haul, as nations that are free, as free people, the future is ours.  I believe this not because I’m naïve, and I believe this not because of the strength of our arms or the size of our economies, I believe this because these ideals that we affirm are true; these ideals are universal.

 * Yes, we believe in democracy -- with elections that are free and fair; and independent judiciaries and opposition parties; civil society and uncensored information so that individuals can make their own choices. Yes, we believe in open economies based on free markets and innovation, and individual initiative and entrepreneurship, and trade and investment that creates a broader prosperity.  And, yes, we believe in human dignity -- that every person is created equal, no matter who you are, or what you look like, or who you love, or where you come from.  That is what we believe.  That’s what makes us strong. And our enduring strength is also reflected in our respect for an international system that protects the rights of both nations and people -- a United Nations and a Universal Declaration of Human Rights; international law and the means to enforce those laws.  But we also know that those rules are not self-executing; they depend on people and nations of goodwill continually affirming them.

 * Of course, neither the United States nor Europe are perfect in adherence to our ideals, nor do we claim to be the sole arbiter of what is right or wrong in the world. We are human, after all, and we face difficult choices about how to exercise our power.  But part of what makes us different is that we welcome criticism, just as we welcome the responsibilities that come with global leadership.

 * No amount of propaganda can make right something that the world knows is wrong.

 * There will always be voices who say that what happens in the wider world is not our concern, nor our responsibility. But we must never forget that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. Our democracy, our individual opportunity only exists because those who came before us had the wisdom and the courage to recognize that our ideals will only endure if we see our self-interest in the success of other peoples and other nations.

 * And it is you, the young people of Europe, young people like Laura, who will help decide which way the currents of our history will flow. Do not think for a moment that your own freedom, your own prosperity, that your own moral imagination is bound by the limits of your community, your ethnicity, or even your country. You’re bigger than that.  You can help us to choose a better history.  That’s what Europe tells us.  That’s what the American experience is all about.

 * In the end, the success of our ideals comes down to us -- including the example of our own lives, our own societies. We know that there will always be intolerance. But instead of fearing the immigrant, we can welcome him. We can insist on policies that benefit the many, not just the few; that an age of globalization and dizzying change opens the door of opportunity to the marginalized, and not just a privileged few. Instead of targeting our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, we can use our laws to protect their rights. Instead of defining ourselves in opposition to others, we can affirm the aspirations that we hold in common. That’s what will make America strong.  That’s what will make Europe strong. That’s what makes us who we are. And just as we meet our responsibilities as individuals, we must be prepared to meet them as nations. Because we live in a world in which our ideals are going to be challenged again and again by forces that would drag us back into conflict or corruption. We can’t count on others to rise to meet those tests.

 * And that’s the question we all must answer -- what kind of Europe, what kind of America, what kind of world will we leave behind. And I believe that if we hold firm to our principles, and are willing to back our beliefs with courage and resolve, then hope will ultimately overcome fear, and freedom will continue to triumph over tyranny -- because that is what forever stirs in the human heart.

People are intellectual disabled and thus uneligble for the death penalty if these three conditions are met the Aktins court :“subaverage intellectual functioning,” meaning low I.Q. scores; a lack of fundamental social and practical skills; and the presence of both conditions before age 18. The Aktins court also stated I.Q. scores under “approximately 70” typically indicate disability, but the court let it the states determine who is mentally disabled and thus can't be executed. The court prohibited states in borderline cases from relying only on intelligence test scores to determine whether a death row inmate is eligible to be executed. States must look beyond IQ scores when inmates test in the range of 70 to 75. IQ tests have a margin of error, and those inmates whose scores fall within the margin must be allowed to present other evidence of mental disability, Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his majority opinion.

In a 5 to 4 decision authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy the Hall court held that the tates may not use a "rigid rule" that denies leniency to defendants with severe mental disabilities simply because they score 70 or above on an IQ test. “Florida seeks to execute a man because he scored a 71 instead of 70 on an I.Q. test,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority. "This rigid rule, the court now holds, creates an unacceptable risk that persons with an intellectual disability will be executed, and thus is unconstitutional," Kennedy said. If an individual claiming intellectual incapacity has an IQ score that falls somewhere between 70 and 75, then that individual’s lawyers must be allowed to offer additional clinical evidence of intellectual deficit, including, most importantly, the inability to learn basic skills and adapt how to react to changing circumstances. The court also modified its 2002 Aktkins decision by adopting the term "intellectually disabled" to replace "mentally retarded," which had been used in prior opinions. Intellectually disabled refers to people of limited intellectual and adaptive capabilities, according to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and the term is preferred by the medical profession.

25th Anniversary of Polish Freedom Day Speech

 * Remarks by President Obama at 25th Anniversary of Polsih Freedom Day delivered on June 4, 2014 at Castle Square, Warsaw, Poland

 * Poland reminds us that sometimes the smallest steps, however imperfect, can ultimately tear down walls, can ultimately transform the world.

 * For democracy is more than just elections. True democracy, real prosperity, lasting security -- these are neither simply given, nor imposed from the outside. They must be earned and built from within. They must be earned and built from within.  And in that age-old contest of ideas -- between freedom and authoritarianism, between liberty and oppression, between solidarity and intolerance -- Poland’s progress shows the enduring strength of the ideals that we cherish as a free people. Here we see the strength of democracy:  Citizens raising their voices, free from fear.  Here we see political parties competing in open and honest elections.  Here we see an independent judiciary working to uphold the rule of law.  Here in Poland we see a vibrant press and a growing civil society that holds leaders accountable -- because governments exist to lift up their people, not to hold them down.

 * Poland understands as few other nations do that every nation must be free to chart its own course, to forge its own partnerships, to choose its own allies.

 * It’s a wonderful story, but the story of this nation reminds us that freedom is not guaranteed. And history cautions us to never take progress for granted. On the same day 25 years ago that Poles were voting here, tanks were crushing peaceful democracy protests in Tiananmen Square on the other side of the world. The blessings of liberty must be earned and renewed by every generation -- including our own.

 * Our democracies must be defined not by what or who we’re against, but by a politics of inclusion and tolerance that welcomes all our citizens. Our economies must deliver a broader prosperity that creates more opportunity -- across Europe and across the world -- especially for young people. Leaders must uphold the public trust and stand against corruption, not steal from the pockets of their own people. Our societies must embrace a greater justice that recognizes the inherent dignity of every human being. And as we’ve been reminded by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, our free nations cannot be complacent in pursuit of the vision we share -- a Europe that is whole and free and at peace. We have to work for that. We have to stand with those who seek freedom.

 * We stand together because we believe that people and nations have the right to determine their own destiny. And that includes the people of Ukraine. Robbed by a corrupt regime, Ukrainians demanded a government that served them. Beaten and bloodied, they refused to yield. Threatened and harassed, they lined up to vote; they elected a new President in a free election -- because a leader’s legitimacy can only come from the consent of the people.

 * We stand together because we believe that upholding peace and security is the responsibility of every nation. The days of empire and spheres of influence are over. Bigger nations must not be allowed to bully the small, or impose their will at the barrel of a gun or with masked men taking over buildings. And the stroke of a pen can never legitimize the theft of a neighbor’s land. So we will not accept Russia’s occupation of Crimea or its violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. Our free nations will stand united so that further Russian provocations will only mean more isolation and costs for Russia. Because after investing so much blood and treasure to bring Europe together, how can we allow the dark tactics of the 20th century to define this new century?

 * Thank you, Poland -- thank you for your courage. Thank you for reminding the world that no matter how brutal the crackdown, no matter how long the night, the yearning for liberty and dignity does not fade away. It will never go away. Thank you, Poland, for your iron will and for showing that, yes, ordinary citizens can grab the reins of history, and that freedom will prevail -- because, in the end, tanks and troops are no match for the force of our ideals.

 * There is no change without risk, and no progress without sacrifice, and no freedom without solidarity.

Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Town Hall Speech

 * Remarks by President Obama at Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Town Hall delivered on November 14, 2014 at Yangon University, Rangoon, Burma

 * Whenever I travel the world, from Europe to Africa, South America to Southeast Asia, one of the things I most enjoy doing is meeting young men and women like you. It’s more fun than being in a conference room. And it’s also more important -- because you are the young leaders who will determine the future of this country and this region. So I’m going to keep my remarks short at the top, because I want to take as many questions and comments from you.

 * So progress is not inevitable. History does not always march forward. History can travel sideways and sometimes backwards. Building trust after years of conflict takes time. Being able to look past the scars of violence takes courage. Securing the gains of freedom and democracy requires good faith and strength of will, and tolerance and respect for diversity, and it requires vigilance from all citizens. The American people know well that rights and freedoms are not given; they have to be won through struggle and through discipline, and persistence and faith. And it’s often young people who have led these struggles; who have compelled us to slowly but surely perfect our own union in America over time.

 * We see young leaders who embrace the diversity of this region not as a weakness, but as a strength, and who realize that even though we are all individually different and come from different traditions and different communities, we're stronger when we work together.

 * So the future of this region, your region, is not going to be determined by dictators or by armies, it's going to be determined by entrepreneurs and inventors and dreamers and people who are doing things in the community. And you're going to be the leaders who make that happen. Your generation has greater potential to shape society than any generation that's come before because you have the power to get knowledge from everywhere, and you have more sophistication and experiences than your parents or your grandparents. And you have now the chance to share knowledge and experiences with other young people all across this region and around the world. And that wasn't true 20 years ago or 50 years ago.

 * You have the power to remind us all that human dignity is not just a universal aspiration, but a human right.

 * There is no example of a country that is successful if its people are divided based on religion or ethnicity. If you look at the Middle East right now and the chaos that’s taking place in a place like Syria, so much of that is based on religious differences. Even though they’re all Muslim, Shia and Sunni are fighting each other. If you look in Northern Ireland, then Catholics and Protestants fought for decades and only now have arrived at peace. So in this globalized world where people of different faiths and cultures and races are going to meet each other inevitably -- because nobody just lives in a village anymore; people are constantly getting information from different places and new ideas and meeting people who are different from them –- it is critical for any country to abide by the basic principle that all people are equal, all people are deserving of respect, all people are equal under the law, all people can participate in the life of their country, all people should be able to express their views without fear of

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