Epstein Secrets

al Security Staff's senior director for the central region, EFTA00712787 which includes the Middle East, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Asia. The bulk of Ross's career, however, has been dedicated to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and his work on this front remains highly controv

of the Islamic one. Cairo wishes to regain its political weight in the region, from North Africa to the border with Iraq, without being a number in Ankara's or Tehran's credit. In addition, President Mohamed Morsi does not need lessons from the Islamic Republic, as he belongs to a movement which was

inked to Dawood Ibrahim, the reputed kingpin of the Mumbai underworld "D- company," who is believed to have links with jihadist groups operating in South Asia and the Persian Gulf. However, Ibrahim has never targeted Mumbai's merchants, and he has been outside of Mumbai for years. The Indian Mujahideen, a

s to be Lebanon's reluctance to annoy Turkey, which believes it has a crucial interest in the island's decisions. This belief dates from 1974, when Ankara ordered the invasion of Cyprus in order to protect the Turkish- speaking minority. Several thousand Turkish soldiers still occupy positions in the

pprochement between Iran and the U.S. will have to acknowledge Iran's centrality in its region -- just as the U.S. eventually recognized India's in South Asia after a series of futile alliances with Pakistan. But the U.S. has never been further away from this possibility, as Republican candidates line up

her rallied Syrian Kurds behind him by arming the Kurdish rebellion movement in Turkey. But that assistance subsided with warming relations between Ankara EFTA_R1_00225768 EFTA01840712 and Damascus in recent years. In the meantime, the region is looking much less hospitable to Turkey than it did t

, a former State Department and National Security Council official, was a special assistant to President Obama for the Middle East, Afghanistan and South Asia from 2009 to 2011. Ankle 2. Los Angeles Times On Iran, a stark choice Benny Morris February 14, 2012 -- Most people in the Arab world, accordin

, 2012 -- Hardly a day goes by that an Iranian official doesn't threaten Turkey. Take for instance Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi's recent warning to Ankara: "Turkey must radically rethink its policies on Syria, the NATO missile shield and promoting Muslim secularism in the Arab world, or face trouble

ether when its own security interests were at stake, but otherwise indifferent to Pakistan's domestic challenges. But recognizing that the fates of South Asia and, ultimately, U.S. security are inextricably linked with Pakistan's stability and prosperity, Obama signed into law the Enhanced Partnership for

ility into its calculations from the start, then, the feeling is, it did little to show it was taking the matter seriously. The appearance is of an Ankara that was so fixed on Bashar al-Assad's departure that other matters were never considered properly. The sad fact in all this that Turkey is nowher

ction between Palestine and Peshawar. "So much of what we aspire to achieve and what we need to do globally — what we need to do in the Maghreb and South Asia, South Central Asia, throughout the Gulf— all of this is tied to what can or doesn't happen with respect to Israel-Palestine," Kerry said at his c

ing Afghanistan and Iraq and for killing and wounding over a million people." Conversations with senior Turkish political operatives familiar with Ankara's political culture and negotiating style suggest a three-part explanation: frustration with the long EU accession process, bluffing, and the need

inks to many of the jihadists in the syndicate, as described by Shahzad in his book "Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11." A South Asia war would ease the pressure on Al-Qaeda's core team in Pakistan and vastly complicate, if not imperil, NATO's logistics in Afghanistan, benefiting

to break the Gaza blockade, Turkey has vowed to ensure "freedom of navigation." It says its navy will protect any future aid flotillas to Gaza. But Ankara's actions speak louder than words. Learning from the disastrous 2010 experience, it stopped its pro-Islamic charities from attempting to sail to Ga