Epstein Secrets

e missiles, followed by self- congratulation and an attempt to change the topic. It would not work here. A minority regime fighting for its life, as Bashar al- Assad's is, can weather a couple of dozen big bangs. More important, no one — friends, enemies or neutrals — would be fooled. As weak as the Un

put his credibility on the line irrevocably and inescapably; second, he now must take direct military action to punish the government of President Bashar al-Assad, though not in a manner that commits him to further use of force; and third, he needs to combine whatever force he uses now with dramatic and dipl

opposition to doing so (60 percent) among polled Americans, and a growing and potent consensus among foreign policy experts and politicians to give Assad a hard punch. Most administration officials and most Americans just can't see any lasting benefits from any form of direct U.S. military involveme

te with the alarming rise of extremist attacks in Sinai. "It's not as if aid gets cut off and Egypt says, `We're going to war with Israel,' " said Nathan Brown, a Middle East scholar at George Washington University and the Carnegie Endowment. "Egypt's attitude toward Islamic terrorism — right now, they're

oyed no such support. Mubarak's Egypt, Bashar al Assad's Syria, Jordan under the Hashemites and the Gul

anon's political mainstream. Hezbollah benefited from a strong patron in Iran. Hamas, on the other hand, enjoyed no such support. Mubarak's Egypt, Bashar al Assad's Syria, Jordan under the Hashemites and the Gulf monarchies under the influence of the House of Saud all shared a deep interest in keeping Hamas box

n Sent Tue 11/20/2012 11:50:03 PM Subject: November 20 update 20 November, 2012 Article 1. The New Republic The Long Road to a Moderate Hamas Nathan Brown Foreign Policy How Hamas Won the War Aaron David Miller Article 3 New York Daily News The Fuel for The Flames Dennis Ross Article 4. Article

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

st hurrah for the west Gideon Rachman Article 4. NYT President Obama on Libya Editorial Article 5. The Daily Star Egypt's new Constitution: an update Nathan Brown Article 6. NYT Arabs Will Be Free Roger Cohen Article 7. The Daily Star The West still beats the rest, but it may no longer be best Robert Skidelsky

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