Epstein Secrets

since 2007, Carl Levin leads Senate oversight of the Pentagon and is at the forefront of the raging debate over the defense budget. Levin and Sen. John McCain, the committee's ranking member, agree that the $600 billion in military cuts set to take effect next year unless a new budget passes would be, in

passes would be, in Levin's words, "a train wreck." (Defense Secretary Panetta has preferred the more apocalyptic "doomsday mechanism.") But while McCain has proposed protecting the defense budget by reducing federal spending elsewhere, Levin has argued, "We should do something intelligent, which mea

of the Islamic one. Cairo wishes to regain its political weight in the region, from North Africa to the border with Iraq, without being a number in Ankara's or Tehran's credit. In addition, President Mohamed Morsi does not need lessons from the Islamic Republic, as he belongs to a movement which was

lity of radical Syrian Islamists with an anti-Western agenda rising to power would undermine U.S. interests in the Middle East. Two U.S. senators, John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), visited the Syrian-Turkish border during April 2012 and demanded that the United States take military action ag

comes could be expected if U.S. military action is taken against Assad. Obama would be wise to follow Israel's lead on Syria, and not the advice of McCain and Lieberman. Instead of heeding the advice of these two hawkish senators, the Obama administration should pursue a more realist foreign policy vi

nseless people." If the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood removed Syria from Moscow and Tehran's spheres of influence and aligned Damascus with Washington, Ankara, Riyadh, and Doha, the regional balance of power would shift in favor of the United States. Israel's Interests Israel would welcome the decline of

-- On Tuesday, when Secretary of State John Kerry appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the questioning from his former colleague John McCain was surprisingly mocking. Kerry EFTA00662852 and McCain are both Vietnam veterans (and failed Presidential candidates), and had been known to be

re the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the questioning from his former colleague John McCain was surprisingly mocking. Kerry EFTA00662852 and McCain are both Vietnam veterans (and failed Presidential candidates), and had been known to be friendly. But McCain said he was "gravely concerned about

e's Party (known as CHP, for its Turkish initials), polling 26 percent nationwide. CHP was unable to wrest control of Istanbul from AKP and even in Ankara, where the incumbent AKP mayor appeared weak, the two parties' candidates just about tied, and votes are still being contested. Having scored a str

y between president and people, a mutually reinforcing feedback loop. This, too, is not surprising. Obama ran and defeated both Hillary Clinton and John McCain as the anti-Iraq candidate. He then made rolling back the "tide of war" the core of his identity as president. The explicit rationale for most of h

a ran and defeated both Hillary Clinton and John McCain as the anti-Iraq candidate. He then made rolling

li nuclear weapon. As for the Sunni-Shiite arms race, the critical reaction to an international agreement would be not in Washington but in Cairo, Ankara and Riyadh. Even if the Western powers express confidence in Iran's commitment and pledge a vigorous economic and military response to any Iranian

ger than advertised, but it has apparently done the job, quickly and with far smaller loss of life (including zero U.S. deaths) than if we'd followed John McCain and Lindsey Graham's advice and gone in with ground troops. One of the best things an American administration can do when big changes are afoot somew

ding zero U.S. deaths) than if we'd followed John McCain and Lindsey Graham's advice and gone in with grou

point when she said that peace in the Middle East would only be possible "when Arabs love their children more than they hate us." Burak Bekdil is an Ankara-based freelance journalist. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031940