Epstein Secrets

n struggles across the Arab world, including in Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen. Most of all, Riyadh sees Iran's open support for Syrian President Bashar al- Assad in fighting a rebellion backed by Gulf states as a foreign occupation of Arab lands. Two Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders have been

across the Arab world, including in Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen. Most of all, Riyadh sees Iran's open support for Syrian President Bashar al- Assad in fighting a rebellion backed by Gulf states as a foreign occupation of Arab lands. Two Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders have been killed in

he jihadists' ideological mindset would make them absolutely certain that any Israeli action indicated some kind of a plot to help Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and hurt them. Jabhat al-Nusra/ Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham would become all the more attractive for Sunni foreign fighters, and these groups

ving contentious with the Obama administration insisting on the deal's merits and congressional critics highlighting its concessions. House Speaker John Boehner (R- Ohio), for instance, rged that the agreement be met "with healthy skepticism," while Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that it "does not seem pr

nterviews with Syrians I met in Jordan or who talked with me from inside Syria by phone. My Syrian contacts described a bitter stalemate: President Bashar al-Assad holds on to power, but he has lost control of major parts of the country. The rebels fight bravely, but they lack the organization and heavy weapon

al-Qaeda extremists fester in the shadows. The opposition remains so fragmented that some rebels frankly admit they aren't ready to govern, even if Assad should fall. EFTA00718098 "We still need to find a leader," conceded one rebel commander. "We are headless inside the country." Rebel fighters s

l rules didn't apply. In particular, this was no time to worry about budget deficits and cut spending, which would only deepen the depression. When John Boehner, then the House minority leader, declared in early 2009 that since American families were having to tighten their belts, the government should tigh

onale for taking military action now — "a shot across the bow" to halt future chemical attacks, he told PBS — pose risks of their own. If President Bashar al-Assad emerges from a few days of Tomahawk missile barrages relatively unscathed, he will be able to claim that he faced down not only his domestic oppone

arged is the secret hand behind the uprising. In the words of one recently departed senior adviser to Mr. Obama, "the worst outcome would be making Assad look stronger." How did Mr. Obama find himself in this trap? Partly, it was an accident of history: in the early, heady days of the Arab uprisings,

n us the current budget crisis and almost no meaningful recent legislation will soon be coming to a foreign policy decision near you. Consider that John Boehner was instantly more clear about setting the timing for any potential action against Syria with his statement that Congress will not reconvene before

s," he insinuated. This is why Tehran reaches for the bomb? Syria, too, will remain a threat "as long as there is no regional peace agreement." The Assad regime is slaughtering its own people for the sake of Palestine? And unless Riyadh "saw the U.S. as moving in a serious manner" on Palestine, Mr.

ncluding cluster bombs, on the city of Misrata with no regard whatsoever for the safety and well being of women, children or the elderly. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad's snipers and soldiers have killed unarmed demonstrators, as well as those attending the funerals of those murdered, in various cities around the co

Middle East. According to American, Israeli, and Palestinian officials, the tales within counter tales begin with an invitation from House Speaker John Boehner to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on May 24. Boehner acts as if the idea of inviting "Bi

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

ach an agreement: the debt ceiling had to be raised by the end of the summer. The Cantor-Biden talks ended two months later, and Obama and Speaker John Boehner worked until July to reach a "grand bargain" of modest tax hikes, entitlement reforms, and spending cuts. A fourth group, consisting of three Repub

et be a presidential game changer of the kind that everyone knew would surely come. Still, these were chemical weapons launched by a repeat offender, Bashar al-Assad. In any other presidency, such an atrocity would command a considered and, ideally, skillful response. Obama’s consideration had in fact been less th

ying international law, had used chemical weapons. There was video documenting the attack and substantial agreement among intelligence agencies about Assad’s responsibility. The politics were right: Barack Obama failed to act when confronted with a Syrian chemical attack, and now Trump could. The downsid

he way Breitbart viewed Ryan and the way Trump viewed him. For Breitbart, the House rebellion and transformation that had driven the former Speaker, John Boehner, from office, and which, plausibly, was set to remake the House into the center of the new radical Republicanism had been halted by Ryan’s election a

American reliability among all =.S. allies in the region and beyond. That Iran has appea=ed far more determined to win in Syria, defined as keeping Assad in power,=than the United States has appeared in achieving its stated goal (that Ass=d must go) similarly shakes confidence in U.S. power and willpo

ant Mr Obama to do anything with American force. Thus the most senio= elected Republican in Washington, the Speaker of the House of Representat=ves John Boehner, criticised the president on June 12thfor watching terror=sts seize growing swathes of Iraq, adding: "And what is the president doing? Taking a nap