Madam President. over the past several months the worlds attention has been focused on the Russian invasion of Crimea and fighting in the eastern Ukraine. the explosion of violence in Gaza. the flood of migrant children from Central America. and the horrific death and destruction in Iraq and Syria. In each of these places vast numbers of innocent people have suffered terribly. and our own policies and capability to respond have been severely tested. Yet one of the most urgent. difficult. and frightening challenges facing the world today is not the result of armed conflict or ethnic or religious extremism.