Epstein Secrets

st December, it continues to expand its theater of operations beyond the familiar near-abroad stretching from Lebanon and Syria to Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. The long arm of the Islamic revolution Nearly two dozen incidents within the past eighteen months (including recent attempts in Azerbaijan, India

actor with an agenda independent of the mainstream Syrian opposition, given the growing reports of the emergence on the battlefield of various al- Qaeda affiliated jihadist groups. Syria's borders with Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq have become increasingly porous — Sunni insurgents and jihadists once en

however, the impact of American support for Israel on U.S. interests has been quite limited—and nowhere near as great as the costs of U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf. In fact, the historical record shows that in recent decades, U.S. support for Israel has not affected the substance of America's relationship with

-2009 war in Gaza reinforced negative attitudes against the United States in many Arab states. Likwise, U.S. support for Israel has been used by al- Qaeda as a central theme in its propaganda. Apart from these cases, however, the impact of American support for Israel on U.S. interests has been quite l

ployed elite units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to Iraq. The United States has sent an aircraft carrier and amphibious assault ship to the Persian Gulf and stepped up intelligence help for the Iraqi government. Although Washington is unlikely to use force directly against the rebels — in part becau

t against an independent Kurdish state within the next decade. Syria and Iraq are in a state of implosion; Middle Eastern borders are up for grabs. Qaeda affiliates have already done their grabbing. They control wide swathes of Syria and Iraq 13 years (and trillions of dollars) after the United States