Epstein Secrets

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

ade accord with South Korea. They also modernized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with summit agreements on a new strategic concept

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

In addition, various political figures and commentators have praised or come to the defense of despotic rulers including Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Bashar al-Assad. 6. Modem authoritarians can be expected to dou- ble down on their drive to neuter civil society as an incubator of reformist ideas and political

o defend embattled allies like Syria's 8ashar al-Assad. There is also growing replica- tion of what migh

fluence over the relevant country. Moscow applies these tactics according to its objec- tives for a particular country or region. For nearby EU and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mem- ber states, the goal is to remind local political leaders that Russia can play a disruptive role, and to inject a measure of fear into

er Russian aggression in the region, the heads of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO} member countries agreed, at a summit in Wa

ce with respect to the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and a stabilizing force with respect to keeping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in place in the absence of any attractive alternatives. Syria would not have made as much progress in pushing back ISIL and the rebels without Russia