do you believe it is appropriate to be paying taxpayers' dollars to a Russian company that is arming Assad and enabling his murder of over 8,000 civilians?

So crazy that nobody would ever do it.

I hope you could circle back with me on that.

To what extent will the length of the existing runway, size of the existing aircraft parking ramp, or presence of large existing jet fuel storage be taken into account in the basing criteria?

To what extent will the basing criteria take into account an installations proximity to other military installations that would provide cost-effective joint basing and efficiency opportunities?

Given the cargo capacity of the KC-46A, to what extent will the basing criteria consider an installation's proximity to deep water ports or major interstate highways?

Are you confident that the Bulgarian local police will work closely with us and with Israel in trying to get to the bottom of these attacks?

I think an environment of fear is a complex thing, and without having been there myself, I wouldn't want to ascribe the origins to it.

It is interesting to me that Azerbaijan has recently agreed to purchase 1.6 billion dollars' worth of Israeli-made weapons.

Is there a general acceptance now by the Kosovars that those monasteries are important historical and religious--I don't want to use the term 'artifacts'--religious symbols?

I think we are all concerned that it not become an opportunity for countries to contribute less than their fair share to NATO as well.

It is fair to say that you will commit to making commercial ties and business advocacy a top priority.

It was, I thought, a great opportunity for those countries who have participated in NATO to point out the continuing relevance of our alliance.

One of the things that was touted in Chicago and that is talked about to address those fiscal challenges is the new Smart Defense Initiative.

I cannot imagine any specific thing that could help create more stability within the whole Caucasus region than resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

I want to follow up on the economic question that you asked Mr. Pekala, to Mr. Levine.

We all thank you for taking on these very important jobs and look forward to hearing from you this afternoon.

I have been a friend of Serbia since I arrived here. I have shared the interest and seen it succeed and will continue to do everything that I can as chair of this subcommittee to support those efforts.