Epstein Secrets

an Outlook piece in the Washington Post, warns about the dangers of negotiating with bad guys. The other comes from ubiquitous Harvard know-it-all Niall Ferguson, who ponders Obama's failure to lead in the Wall Street Journal. Both men seize on Obama's inconsistency and inconstancy, implying— though neither

wakening, the current administration has taken successive positions on Egypt—all to little effect. And when the president of the United States says Assad "must go," but has no idea how to achieve this (and later does nothing when Assad crosses the chemical-weapons red line)—well, it does not inspire

s more valuable than the cash was the public show that Obama couldn't keep his allies in line and happy. Not Russia— EFTA00678196 Putin would back Bashar al-Assad till the very end which, given American impotence, virtually guaranteed Assad's survival. By the time Putin offered Obama a joint initiative to rid

nd the next day Saudi Arabia responded with a statement condemning Russia and stating, "[Vladimir] Putin has lost Arab hearts with his support for [Bashar al-]Assad." The fight spilled over into the Saudi Twittersphere the moment Russia moved into Crimea, with Saudi hashtags accusing Russia of moving

eller Article 3. The Wall Street Journal Russia's Stake in Syria and Iran Melik Kaylan Article 4. The Daily Beast China's Great Leap Backward Niall Ferguson Article 5. NYT To Save Israel, Boycott the Settlements Peter Beinart Article 6. The Economist Morocco's reforms Article 7. NYT Your Brain o

W. Bush's expansive doctrine, promoting freedom. Senator John McCain, demanding American air strikes to help rebels topple the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, adopts the Bush "freedom agenda" rationale: by halting suffering and helping overthrow tyranny, we earn some leverage with the victors, improving

cs who would not hesitate to use them. Syria, says Nagl, is another good place to think hard about collateral chaos: "The hard part is not toppling Assad, it's what comes afterwards. Everybody raise your hands if you're up for another occupation of an Islamic country." My first caveat is public opin

19 June, 2012 Article 1. NYT Egypt's Democracy Interrupted Editorial Article 2. The Daily Beast China Should Intervene in Syria, Not America Niall Ferguson Article 3. Usa Today Iranian nukes? No worries Kenneth Waltz Article 4. BBC Fears grow for fate of Syria's chemical weapons Jonathan Marcus

Spring has plunged Syria into a bloody civil war. Now, with allegations flying that the Russians are supplying helicopters to the odious regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, a familiar debate is underway. Should we intervene? There can be no morally credible argument against intervention—by someone. Leaving S

nt conflict, such as the Homs and Hama regions. The bases are said to be guarded by elite forces, but whether they would stay at their posts if the Assad regime collapses cannot be predicted." An additional concern is the manner in which the different kinds of chemical weapons are stored. EFTA006718

le 4. The Washington Post Amid the Arab Spring, a U.S.-Saudi split Nawaf Obaid Article 5. Article 6. Article 7. Newsweek Dr. K's Rx for China Niall Ferguson Hurriyet Daily News aria as Turkey's domestic issue Yusuf Kanli STRATFOR The Geopolitics of Israel: Biblical and Modern EFTA_R1_02029150 EFTA0

esponse has not grown grimmer or louder. As recently as May 6, Secretary of State Clinton was still talking about a "reform agenda" in Syria, as if Bashar al-Assad were a slightly misguided bureaucrat rather than the murderer of roughly 1,000 unarmed demonstrators. As for the president, though the White House

d giving the demonstrators moral support would immediately circulate over the Internet. American sanctions against Syria, meanwhile, have not named Assad, and there has been no call for him to step down. Why is the administration appearing to stick with Assad and refusing to call for his ouster? A k

eller Hrticle 3. The Wall Street Journal Russia's Stake in Syria and Iran Melik Kaylan Article 4. The Daily Beast China's Great Leap Backward Niall Ferguson Article 5. NYT EFTA_R1_00224911 EFTA01840318 To Save Israel, Boycott the Settlements Peter Beinart Article 6. The Economist Morocco's refor

. Bush's expansive doctrine, promoting freedom. Senator John McCain, demanding American air strikes to help rebels topple the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, adopts the Bush "freedom agenda" rationale: by halting suffering and helping overthrow tyranny, we earn some leverage with the victors, improving

cs who would not hesitate to use them. Syria, says Nagl, is another good place to think hard about collateral chaos: "The hard part is not toppling Assad, it's what comes afterwards. Everybody raise your hands if you're up for another occupation of an Islamic country." My first caveat is public opin

ing Syria crisis J. Michael Kennedy Article 4. The Daily Beast The British Prime Minister Is Coming to America EFTA_R1_00225754 EFTA01840698 Niall Ferguson Article 5 NYT What Greece Means Paul Krugman Article 6 The Moscow Times Jews in Russia Alexei Bayer Article I. Bloomberg Iran-Israel Histo

b Spring. Emboldened by the fall of the pro-American Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Tehran has subsequently watched with disquiet the isolation of Syria's Bashar al-Assad and the potential loss of llamas, not to mention the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Liberation Mythology Presumably, the Iranian regime can a

e. The harder they squeeze Syria, the more likely they are to anger the other non-Arab power with regional ambitions, Iran, which remains loyal to Assad. And Assad could retaliate by fomenting unrest within Turkey's borders. The result has been a diplomatic and public relations nightmare for Turkey

une, 2012 Article 1. The Washington Post Obama's Iran and Syria muddle Jackson Diehl The Daily Beast How Europe Could Cost Obama the Election Niall Ferguson Foreign Policy Processing Delay Elliott Abrams The New Yorker What would Obama do if reelected? Ryan Lizza Article 5. Ilhe New Republic E FT

on Diehl June 11 -- From one point of view the connection between our troubles with Syria and Iran is pretty straightforward. The Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad is Iran's closest ally, and its link to the Arab Middle East. Syria has provided the land bridge for the transport of Iranian weapons and militants

Israel, would be crippled. It follows that, as the U.S. Central Command chief Gen. James N. Mattis testified to Congress in March, the downfall of Assad would be "the biggest strategic setback for Iran in 25 years." EFTA_R1_02204138 EFTA02720609 Making it happen is not just a humanitarian imperat

Article 1. NYT Unity Deal Brings Risks for Abbas and Israel Ethan Bronner Article 2. The Daily Beast Israel and Iran on the Eve of Destruction Niall Ferguson Article 3. Wall Street Journal (How) Should Israel Bomb Iran? Bret Stephens Article 4. The Daily Beast Israel and Netanyahu, Pipe Down the Thr

rs the uprising in Syria to be, to some extent, the handiwork of the United States and its European allies. This perception is fundamentally wrong: Assad's is an oppressive, minority-Alawi regime. It came to power via a 1970 coup. In 1982, the current dictator's father, then president Hafez al- Assad

akes in Muslim Brotherhood, Salafi and even al-Qaeda- affiliated factions. Despite President Obama's "reset" policy, Russia continues to support [4] Bashar al-Assad's brutal regime. But in a rare admission of reality, a senior Middle East hand acknowledged that Russia must step back. Mikhail Margelov, chair of th

ting in Lyria. It's a policy that Niall Ferguson calls "one of the great fiascos of post- World War Two American foreign policy". (Mental note: send Niall Ferguson a book about the Vietnam War.) The charge isn't just being hurled in Washington. According to John McCain: "I travel all around the world and I hea

talks in Geneva aimed at resolving the £yrian civil war. This came only months after the threat of US military force against Damascus convinced the Assad regime to abandon its chemical weapons programme. In both the Far East and Europe, the Obama administration is pushing ambitious trade initiatives

lims in Syria and throughout the region feel that Assad's Syria has unduly favored the Alawites, a sect o

A government spokeswoman has hinted that coming reforms will include greater freedom for the press and the right to form political parties. President Bashar al-Assad is due to address the country in the next 48 hours. His speech is eagerly awaited, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to defuse the

llenged the fundamentals of Syria's security state, a harsh system of controls over every aspect of society, put in place by the late Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, who ruled for 30 years from 1970 to his death in 2000. By all accounts, the debate HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_030032 --- PAGE BREAK --- 4 about how

es been far from neutral, favoring one community over another in cynical power plays. Many Sunni Muslims in Syria and throughout the region feel that Assad's Syria has unduly favored the Alawites, a sect of Shiite Islam, who constitute some 12 percent of the population but control a vastly greater percen