Epstein Secrets

the recent $3 billion dollar loan given to its armed forces by the Saudi Arabian government. Iraq: A significant number of jihadists with links to al-Qaida and fighters in Syria—in particular, members of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)—have moved into Fallujah and Ramadi in Anb

e Egypt, which will have witnessed three constitutional referendums since Mubarak's overthrow, this is the first such process since the overthrow of Ben Ali. The national assembly will vote on the document article by article. To be adopted, the draft must be approved by at least two thirds of the 217 ele

the US and UK, western strategy towards the country lies in tatters. Washington and London were forced to act after Islamist rebels, including the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, took over the headquarters and warehouses of the western-backed FSA and reportedly seized anti-air

There are disagreements in the party on what decisions to make and compromises to give. In the party congress, I wasn't elected by 99 percent, like Ben Ali. Seventy percent voted for me. Maybe this 70 percent has gone down a bit because of the compromises we had to give, but I think the majority of the

Kenneth M. Pollack February 27, 2011 -- On Feb. 11, 1979, Islamic revolutionaries took power in Tehran. On Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorists launched their attacks on New York and Washington, killing nearly 3,000 Americans. On Feb. 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarak resigned as president

there was now the cult of the rulers, the unbounded power of Saddam Hussein and Muammar el-Qaddafi and Hafez al-Assad in Syria and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia. The traditional restraints on power had been swept away, and no new social contract between ruler and ruled had emerged. Fear was now

out commitment." That observation stands. It explains the Obama administration's enthusiasm for a massive, drone-led assassination campaign against al-Oaeda terrorists. And it applies with particular force to a prospective, U.S.-led attack on the Syrian government in response to its use of chemical wea

ab Spring still an appropriate moniker for describing the series of uprisings that started with the overthrow of Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and then spread eastward to engulf Libya, Egypt, Syria and Yemen? Or given how the region has evolved over the past couple of EFTA_R1_00441474 EF

ully ousted the Ansar Sharia fighters (an Al Qaeda affiliated group) from the cities of Zinjibar and Ja'ar in the Abyan province that had been under Al Qaeda control since May 2011. The army is now pursuing al-Qaeda terrorists in other parts of the province. The Security Council is considering sanctions a

apparent by royal decree. • In Tunisia, the new government, led by the Ennanda Party, is being challenged by the entrenched interests of the former Ben Ali government and by Salafist activists. Judges went on strike after the Justice Minister fired 81 judges on suspicion of corruption. Clashes between

Kenneth M. Pollack February 27, 2011 -- On Feb. 11, 1979, Islamic revolutionaries took power in Tehran. On Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorists launched their attacks on New York and Washington, killing nearly 3,000 Americans. On Feb. 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarak resigned as president

there was now the cult of the rulers, the unbounded power of Saddam Hussein and Muammar el-Qaddafi and Hafez al-Assad in Syria and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia. The traditional restraints on power had been swept away, and no new social contract between ruler and ruled had emerged. Fear was now

owed. Yemen's protests were galvanised by the drama in Cairo's Tahrir Square but they also involved tribalism, elite rivalry and a small but alarming al-Qaida presence against a background of resource depletion and fear of state HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018086 --- PAGE BREAK --- 3 failure. Sectarian tensions wer

nder of the defeat of jihadi ideology in an Arab world being transformed by people power. Another variable has been the response: French support for Ben Ali was embarrassing; the US was praising Mubarak days before he departed. Muammar Gaddafi had no friends - and the Arab League was crucial in providing

taboo in Islam against the taking of one’s own life. He also introduced the propaganda ploy of the martyrdom video, which would become a signature of Al Qaeda. Bin Laden needed Zawahiri, not least because of his physical ailments. Although bin Laden did not have kidney disease, as was widely thought, he was

The New Yorker Zawahiri at the Helm Lawrence Wright June 16, 2011 -- Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon, has come into his inheritance—A1] Qaeda—at a time when the organization is at its nadir. Osama bin Laden, its charismatic founder, is dead, and after some internal debate his No. 2 man, Zaw

billion and suffering several hundred allied deaths annually — 500 Americans dead last year, thousands more injured. All this to deal with 100 or so Al Qaeda fighters now in Afghanistan; and prevent the Afghan Taliban from controlling the Pashtun Afghan homeland- which was not the reason we went there afte

st. It's over: Enough of the nameless graves that whisper of horror, enough of the 20th-century police states in the 21st-century. Yes, it's over for Ben Ali and for Mubarak. It's over for Qaddafi, yes it is. How far it's over for the other Arab despots and autocrats, whether of the oxymoronic "republics"

s. Take your pick of scary scenarios: HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_030075 --- PAGE BREAK --- 17 civil war, a Sunni fundamentalist takeover, or a new base for al Qaeda. Of course, there would also be an upside to Assad's demise. A brutal regime would have fallen; Iran would be denied an Arab patron and a critical wi

demonstrations sparked by the self-immolation of a twenty-six-year-old man who had been reduced to scratching out a living as a humble street vendor. Ben Ali, along with his hated wife and family, chose to go into exile before a single shot had been fired. In Egypt, if press reports are to be believed, the