Epstein Secrets

of his broader reform effort. That's still said to be on Assad's agenda. EFTA00708200 The Assad clan also has military power that could obstruct Bashar's reformist moves. His brother Maher, for example, commands a tough unit of Syrian special forces, and his brother-in-law Assaf Shaukat has been a s

Syrian special forces, and his brother-in-law Assaf Shaukat has been a senior intelligence official. It's anyone's guess, at this point, whether the Assads will remain united behind Bashar or fall into a bloody internal fued, but so far Bashar has proved the master of the situation. Syria had been rela

in recent months have said they believe he's a reformer." Thus did Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton respond to a question on Sunday about Bashar al-Assad, the latest Arab dictator to respond with fusillades to calls by his people for democratic change. At the time she spoke, more than 60 Syrians had a

vor aggressive action by the United States to bring the violence in Syria before the UN Security Council or seek sanctions, as was done when Libya's Moammar Gaddafi began attacking his people last month. "I think it's premature," Kerry said. "You have to see what develops in the next hours. It could reach that

rael's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and AIPAC supporters in Washington remained nearly silent for weeks, even EFTA00678420 after evidence of Bashar al-Assad's murderous chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians outside Damascus. And they remained quiet even after Obama indicated that he was preparing a

t followed the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and EFTA00678416 Moammar Gaddafi in Libya; and preventing the future use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime in a desperate last stand. These issues are crucial, so they're worth special attention. "I don't anticipate revenge killing," said Fand, ad

ble elements of the Syrian army to maintain order and prevent the kind of chaos that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and EFTA00678416 Moammar Gaddafi in Libya; and preventing the future use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime in a desperate last stand. These issues are crucial, so they're wor

n Koranic quotations. But he also has shown a deft hand in outflanking the military, courage in standing EFTA00700342 up in Tehran and denouncing Assad's murderous Syrian regime, and — to the Western officials who deal with him — a strong sense of the need for inclusiveness. That instinct faces its

ood deal of suffering and incredible physical damage, the usual ruins of war. All of this, by bipartisan agreement, can continue until the dictator Bashar al-Assad realizes that life can be so much better on the French Riviera. This, though, will take some time. In his major foreign policy address, a tour de

hen he should have also been organizing an air campaign. That's what did the job in Bosnia, Kosovo and even Libya, where the objective was to oust Moammar Gaddafi and head off a bloodbath. It worked. Just keeping Assad's airplanes on the ground would have shown the Syrian military that it was saluting the wro

Sticks to His Guns Patrick Seale 21 Jun 2011 -- All those dreaming of -- and working for -- `regime change' in Syria will be outraged by President Bashar al-Asad's speech last Monday, 20 June. They want him out, together with the hate figures around him who have been conducting the brutal repression of the pr

esent evidence, a bloody stalemate that further destabilizes the region. It's distasteful to contemplate dialogue with leaders such as Gaddafi and Assad who, to put it bluntly, have blood on their hands. But this approach is worth exploring if it can foster a transition to a democratic government —

nd Syria. In both cases, the insurgents are seen in the West as the "good guys," battling corrupt, autocratic leaders. Personally, I wish that both Moammar Gaddafi and Bashar al-Assad would give up power tomorrow. But that doesn't seem in the cards: Both leaders have shown they're willing to kill thousands of

bate is taking place in the Iranian establishment over whether its regional policies—backing Shi'a and Shi'a-friendly forces like Hezbollah and the Assad and Maliki governments to the hilt in brutal civil wars-is working. According to The Wall Street Journal, Iranian doves are pointing to the recent

Bye, Bye, Sykes-Picot." In other words, they are out to bring down not only the Syrian and Iraqi regimes but also the Arab system itself. President Bashar Al-Assad had said, in an interview with a Lebanese paper two weeks ago, that Damascus has received messages from Western governments lately. The Saudi roy

f international terrorism. In response, the U.S.-sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much-has gone to war or at least gone after the likes of Moammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Slobodan Milosevic, Ho Chi Minh, Manuel Noriega, Kim II- sung, and the Taliban. Like it or not, only the United St

ther than avoiding war, it's hard to know what Obama wants. I know what he says, but actions always speak louder than words. For instance, he wanted Bashar al- Assad to cease using chemical weapons. His language was strong, nearly warlike: "Assad's government gassed to death over a thousand people, incl

t said, it's unlikely that Mr. Maliki will have the stomach to retake the Sunni- majority areas of western Iraq anytime soon. The rump Iraq, like the Assad regime in Syria, will be ever more in thrall to Iran, and committed to domestic policies that make the reconstitution of the country via a politica

m behind," was justified by "R2P" — the "o_sponsibility protect" Libyans, especially in Benghazi, from the supposed threat of genocide inflicted by Moammar Gaddafi. This humanitarian imperialism quickly became an exercise in regime change. But the prolonged attempt to assassinate Gaddafi from the air made no p