Epstein Secrets

ay not be especially reassuring. "The connections between the opposition and the Free Syrian Army are still tenuous, but they're getting better," a State Department official told McClatchy. "If we can get Assad and his cronies out, that will at least create an atmosphere to have a dialogue. That can't happen no

ve, the regime could endure. Although they continue to function, neither appears intact any longer; their control of key areas such as Damascus and Aleppo is in doubt, and the reliability of their personnel, given defections, is no longer certain. We had thought that there was a reasonable chance of t

expected to press Moscow and Beijing to increase pressure on Assad by backing an arms embargo and other punitive measures. Mona Yacoubian, a former State Department official and consultant on the Middle East, said Russia is key to any strategy for punishing an Assad regime that until now has had few incentives

ts, the officials said. That effort in recent days has included quietly rounding up hundreds of university students in the country's largest city, Aleppo, and the stabbing deaths of several suspected opposition figures by pro-Assad hit squads, U.S. officials said. Anti-government activists reported r

nctions, the proper environment now exists for diplomacy to work. The next few months will determine whether it succeeds. Dennis B. Ross, a former State Department and National Security Council official, was a special assistant to President Obama for the Middle East, Afghanistan and South Asia from 2009 to 20

lawite minority — begin. As a result, most Alawites are rallying to Assad, as are some Sunnis who have benefitted from his regime, particularly in Aleppo and Damascus, the capital. These pro-regime Alawites and Sunnis see the chaos and soccer riots in Egypt and say to themselves: "Assad or chaos? We'

an Assange, began posting thousands of classified State Department cables online. Candid descriptions of foreign lea

March 2009. A political and economic alliance was forged with Turkey (and visas abolished), which allowed trade to grow along that border, benefiting Aleppo. The Old City of Damascus was revitalised, ancient courtyard houses restored and hotels and restaurants opened to cater for the growing number of tou

lity must eventually give way to the more mundane realities of running the department. She is midway through a five-year plan to increase the size of the State Department’s foreign- service staff by 25 percent and double USAID. And she’s taken a leaf from the Pentagon playbook and launched a “Q.D.D.R.”— Quadrennial Diplo

ld of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, the State Department poured hundreds of millions into a new public- di

oms and Latakia for some time. Elaraby: When I flew to Syria 10 days after taking office, they also tried to tell me that there had been no riots in Aleppo or Damascus. I was told that gun battles had only occurred in a few towns near the border, because rebels had fired on security forces there. HOUSE_