Epstein Secrets

d its allies worried that it would succeed. For a time it looked like it might. There were large demonstrations and purported antigovernment plots in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, which has a large population of Shiite Muslim Arabs, and in Bahrain, where Shiites are a distinct majority and Iran had claimed sov

thousands times, boiled over in a month of demonstrations against Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. To the amazement of the Arab world, Mr. Ben Ali fled the country when the military declined to back him by brutally putting down the demonstrations. Spurred on by televised images and YouTube vide

was with his ally King Hamad bin Isa al- Khalifa of Bahrain to discuss the turmoil in his tiny nation. Sunni- ruled Bahrain, less than 20 miles from Saudi Arabia's oil- and Shiite- rich Eastern Province, has been a longtime recipient of Saudi aid. It has also been a focus of Iranian interests. The meeting was a

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

MPs. S=nni-Shia tensions were also reflected in ongoing violence, including a dea=ly suicide attack on a Shiia religious office on June 4.=/Ii> • Saudi Arabia's Crown Prin=e and Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud died in Geneva on June=16. As expected, Defense Minister Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz

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

mproved in recent years. Historically, the two nations have not been friendly, with economic relations only developing in the 1970s. Turkey needed Saudi Arabia's oil. For its part, Saudi Arabia needed Turkey's huge construction sector to build its modern cities. In the 1990s, the arms-length relationship gr

Saudi Arabia was uneasy with 2011's outpouring of people power from the start, lest it flow into the kingdom as well. First, when Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled Tunisia, he and his family were welcomed in Saudi Arabia. Then, Riyadh worked EFTA_R1_02205167 EFTA02721247 to prevent the toppling of the

Iraqi MPs. Sunni-Shia tensions were also reflected in ongoing violence, including a deadly suicide attack on a Shiia religious office on June 4. • Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud died in Geneva on June 16. As expected, Defense Minister Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz

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

ica's 5th Fleet uses the country as a base. The Saudis may also fear that protests by Bahrain's Shia population could spill over their own borders. Saudi Arabia's eastern provinces are home to both its oil industry and most of its Shias, who may also have cause for grievance with their Sunni rulers. The king

nt was authoritarian but also determinedly secular and pro- Western. The cracks, however, were larger than anyone thought: President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali had carefully hidden the extent to which illness had weakened his control of the government; his ties with other centers of power, such as the mili

was with his ally King Hamad bin Isa al- Khalifa of Bahrain to discuss the turmoil in his tiny nation. Sunni- ruled Bahrain, less than 20 miles from Saudi Arabia's oil- and Shiite- rich Eastern Province, has been a longtime recipient of Saudi aid. It has also been a focus of Iranian interests. The meeting was a

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