GLOBAL SECURITY CHALLENGES- Ambassador. Carla Sands

Thank you all for being here and thank you Congressman Pittenger, Lucas Rojas, and all the team at the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Forum. We can turn the lights up if you want to. I want to thank you parliamentarians who are here because you care. And I want to thank the U.S. Senate for welcoming us to this historic room in the Dirksen building. And as my esteemed friends, the Congressman and John, have so eloquently expressed, there's no shortage of security threats facing us today. There are dozens of countries represented in this room, each with their own unique strategic challenges, but some challenges are universal. And as we gather here, I want to emphasize not only some of the common threats we face, but also put forth a common vision that we can all embrace to strengthen our nations in an increasingly dangerous world. Put simply, the world is hungry for a prosperous and better future. And I think strong, beneficial American leadership, much like Ronald Reagan's famous saying, peace through strength. I believe we seek a positive path forward and this path is not only possible, but necessary. It seems today's challenges are endless. We face an increasingly aggressive Chairman Xi and the Chinese Communist Party as it looks to expand its influence on all fronts, from military buildup and strategic dominance of mineral supply chains, to the Belt and Road Initiative that threatens to trap developing countries in insurmountable debt, along with the military that follows the projects. We're experiencing unparalleled propaganda, bribery of our elected leaders, spying and theft, abuse of our open legal systems, and meanwhile Taiwan sits on the precipice. North Korea increases its military testing, and at the same time, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has served as a sobering wake-up call about the geopolitical weakness of the West. And the attack on Israel and the aggression of Iran only serve to further cement the precarious times in which we live. And these adversarial nations have created strategic partnerships and weaponized our international institutions like the UN and WHO, and we won't eat the bugs. And meanwhile, our U.S. borders are wide open and it seems like parliamentarians across the globe aren't interested in championing the interests of the people they represent. Today, as the elites gather in Dubai for COP28 and pontificate on the climate agenda once again, it's abundantly clear that many leaders are failing their citizens. Take the purposeful U.S. energy disarmament of the current administration, and more broadly, the West's embrace of the anti-energy agenda. This weakens our global security. It impoverishes our citizens. And it weakens our influence and empowers the aggression of nations like Russia and Iran. It increases their control over energy supplies and raises oil prices. Our weakened global leadership means developing nations may look to China as a partner, in part because Western nations refuse to finance fossil fuel projects. It's telling that even the president of COP28 noted that the push for the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels would be unrealistic unless you want to take the world back into the caves. It's no wonder that developing nations are rejecting this model. Just look at the recent unprecedented pressure on farmers in the Netherlands and the election of Geert Wilders. Policies that promote scarcity are furthering the mass migration of people, mostly young men, driven by a search for a better life. It's disrupting cultures, economies, and security in the developed world and robbing their home countries of talent and growth. Yet at the same time, those who partner with totalitarian communist nations like China do so not only to the detriment of Western democracy, democratic influence, but at their own peril. Fortunately, these policy failures have a clear remedy. Put simply, we must advance a pro-human agenda. This begins by putting forward pro-growth agendas and common-sense principles that put our citizens first. This means refusing to embrace ideologies that reject basic principles that we all understand. We know that energy security is economic security, and economic security is national security. This is at the heart of human flourishing, and it drives the prosperity that underpins innovation and environmental progress, and we must secure this for our citizens. The radical climate agenda has become a rallying cry for anti-human de-growth policies. It's an America last agenda, but even more than that, it's a mankind last agenda. International institutions are promoting this agenda that's encroaching into national sovereignty to promote poverty instead of prosperity, and control instead of freedom. As King Charles recently said, the age of convenience is over. How rich. Sounds like something from the early Middle Ages. We're already seeing its consequences. However, the fortunate truth is, we have an alternate path if we only embrace it. We have the opportunity to be true representatives of the interests of our people. The United States is blessed with incredible resources, and it's uniquely positioned to be a global leader and support our partners and allies. Though our current leadership is faltering, the democratic spirit of the American people will embrace American strength again on all fronts of the unrestricted threats we face today without exporting unwelcome ideologies to our trading partners. Nations across the globe should commit to contributing to a brighter future where human beings flourish, and this must include stopping the anti-energy agenda that outsources energy security to our adversaries. Instead, we drill, we mine, and refine our resources where we already have the highest labor and environmental standards, and we export energy security to our allies. We promote all kinds of energy, especially cheap, reliable, and sustainable energy, including nuclear energy, and we promote pro-human policies across the board. We reject the idea that we have to emulate PRC-style command-and-control economy to succeed against China, and we reject a zero-sum game in favor of policies that promote prosperity for all. The U.S. knows that pro-human values include our God-given right to liberty are not only in harmony with, but necessary to our long-term security. One of America's founders, Benjamin Franklin, famously said, those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. All nations can learn from this. We can start with a common embrace of economic freedom and energy freedom that will liberate our world from poverty, strengthen our nations, and build a better life for future generations. And together, we can create freedom, prosperity, and security in a dangerous world. Thank you. I'm happy to take any questions.