Epstein Secrets

1. American Interest The Middle East Mess Part One: Over There Walter Russell Mead Article 2. Washington Post Next up in the Middle East mess? Saudi Arabia's succession fight Karen Elliott House Article 3. Los Angeles Times In an Islamist Egypt, can diversity survive? Michael Wahid Hanna and Elijah Z

ork. Libya looks even more like a planned operation. There, radicals apparently allied to Al-Qaeda in some vague way and possibly cooperating with Qaddafi loyalists made what appears at this point to be a well planned, coordinated military strike against the consulate in Benghazi. Here the timing seem

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

ck in Libya, the counterrevolution made its stand, and a despot bereft of mercy declared war against his own people. In the calendar of Muammar el- Qaddafi's republic of fear and terror, Sept. 1 marks the coming to power, in 1969, of the officers and conspirators who upended a feeble but tolerant monar

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

hrain. It was only Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi's downfall that Saudi Arabia welcomed. Saudi-Syrian relations had been quite problematic under Qaddafi, who was once even accused of trying to assassinate Saudi King Abdullah. Turkey, of course, took the opposite tack, supporting all the uprisings,

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

hose domestic systems of governance we may dislike, aiming to encourage them over time to change their behavior. Indeed, in the case of Libya, the Qaddafi regime was brought in from the cold when, among other things, it abandoned its quest for weapons of mass destruction. Might Qaddafi have been broug

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

ck in Libya, the counterrevolution made its stand, and a despot bereft of mercy declared war against his own people. In the calendar of Muammar el- Qaddafi's republic of fear and terror, Sept. 1 marks the coming to power, in 1969, of the officers and conspirators who upended a feeble but tolerant monar