Epstein Secrets

confirmed by intelligence. But what of the President's other Syria `marker'—his August 18, 2011 declaration that "the time has come for President Assad to step aside"? That declaration, although repeated as recently as October 14 by Secretary Kerry, shows no sign of being pursued, EFTA00707181 mu

tary tools of influence that would offer a credible prospect of rescuing what remains of Syria's largely defenseless population from the ravages of Bashar al-Assad's conventional forces. With well over 110,000 killed and an estimated seven million displaced, one third of them overflowing refugee camps in neighbo

orcement powers? Not only that — the fact that even if it had enforcement powers, it would only remove the chemical weapons. But [Syrian President] Bashar al- Assad can continue to kill his people using aircraft, artillery, Scud missiles and other lethal means. This also followed the Chinese and Russia

r differences, especially on what the word democracy means. Mr. Kerry has muddied the waters. Antcle 4. The Washington Post Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki: `American policy has been wrong' Lally Weymouth EFTA00707195 Nov. 4, 2013 -- The Post's Lally Weymouth spoke this week with Saudi Arabia's Pri

rael-Lebanon war, when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad castigated his fellow Arab leaders as "half-men"

"half-men" for their failure to support Hezbollah. Another more recent example of Saudi willingness to play in Syrian politics was the welcome that Bashar's uncle, Rifaat, received in Riyadh when coming to pay his respects last month after Nayef's death. Rifaat has lived in Paris since 1984, having tr

gh Abdullah is often depicted as a Syriaphile, the monarch changed his attitude, especially after the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad castigated his fellow Arab leaders as "half-men" for their failure to support Hezbollah. Another more recent example of Saudi willingness to play i

l riches . . . bothered some of his rivals in the royal family. They felt the Saudi intelligence department had become a financial black hole. . . . Turki's rivals clamored for accountability at the [General Intelligence Department)." Both Muqrin and Nawaf, the men who served as Saudi intelligence chi

ot an ounce of Bedouin charm. Still, I was unprepared for the opinion column he published in Sunday's Post. It read like a declaration of war. Prince Turki is not now in the government. Yet he is a member of the Saudi royal family and was once the kingdom's intelligence chief and its former ambassador to

Bush's support of Middle Eastern democracy and cultivate our relations with regional despots like Hosni Mubarak, the Iranian mullahs and the younger Assad have been sent back to the benches in disgrace. Their counsel is now seen as both morally dubious and pragmatically unwise; the 'realists' would have