Epstein Secrets

ington should be doing more to buttress the anti-Assad forces in Syria and the military government in E

Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and other places that the Saudis are concerned about. So that's a major difference. The United States wants Syrian president Bashar al-Assad gone, but we put a much lower priority on it than the Saudis do. The other big issue on which there are differences is Egypt. While the United Stat

e year, which is more than in all of 2013." Putin didn't miss that. For reinforcement, I'd point to the very original take on this story offered by Michael Mandelbaum, the Johns Hopkins foreign policy expert whose new book, "The Road to Global Prosperity," argues that while global economics does not eliminate geo

stance itself to some extent from Washington. In some areas, notably in calls for the international community to offer substantive aid to the anti- Assad opposition in Syria, the Morsi government found itself in partial agreement with U.S. policy preferences. However, there were also troubling signs

this point, a prolonged stalemate is the only outcome that would not be damaging to American interests. Indeed, it would be disastrous if President Bashar al-Assad's regime were to emerge victorious after fully suppressing the EFTA_R1_00441201 EFTA01964453 rebellion and restoring its control over the entire c

. During the cold war, American foreign EFTA_R1_00441188 EFTA01964440 policy "was all about how we affect the external behavior of states," said Michael Mandelbaum, the Johns Hopkins University foreign affairs expert. We were ready to overlook the internal behavior of states, both because we needed them as al

ary 29, 2012 -- A popular Washington illusion once held that the right combination of incentives and punishments might "peel off" Syria's President Bashar al-Assad from Iran's "Axis of Resistance," but nobody would have predicted that the weak link in Iran's alliance of radicals would turn out to be the Pales

, democracy and reform." Iran, Hamas knows, is not amused. But that appears to be a diminishing concern for the movement. Hamas' relationship with Assad, Tehran's key Arab ally, began to sour last year when the Palestinian group resisted pressure to stage pro-regime events in refugee camps in Syria.

democratic institutions, traditions and examples much greater. "There is a saying that inside every fat man is a thin man dying to get out," notes Michael Mandelbaum, the foreign policy expert at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. "We also tend to believe that inside every autocracy is a de

e opposition in Syria began as a largely peaceful, grass- roots, pan-Syrian movement for democratic change. But it was deliberately met by President Bashar al-Assad with murder and sectarian venom. He wanted to make the conflict about his Alawite minority versus the country's Sunni Muslim majority as a way of d

m, democracy and reform." Iran, Hamas knows, is not amused. But that appears to be a diminishing concern for the movement. Hamas' relationship with Assad, Tehran's key Arab ally, began to sour last year when the Palestinian group resisted pressure to stage pro- regime events in refugee camps in Syria.

democratic institutions, traditions and examples much greater. "There is a saying that inside every fat man is a thin man dying to get out," notes Michael Mandelbaum, the foreign policy expert at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. "We also tend to believe that inside every autocracy is a dem