Epstein Secrets

nd negotiate a transition with the opposition. The regime responded yesterday by blasting this "blatant interference in its internal affairs." The Kremlin's support makes it harder to ease Mr. Assad out peacefully in Damascus. But perhaps Mr. Putin's loyalty can be explained by the fact that he faces

es that neoconservatives were right all along Elliott Abrams EFTA00660812 January 23, 2012 -- There is a sour mood nowadays about the so-called Arab Spring. Armed gangs roam in Libya, Salafists win votes in Egypt, and minorities like the Egyptian Copts live in fear -- as does the Shiite majority in Bah

e all their territorial differences. Although the decisive round of border talks started before the formal disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin's unfamiliar weakness vis-a-vis Beijing helped to shape their outcome. Some western spats were removed from the table by the independence of the Ce

py about the current state of affairs. U.S. credibility and its image in the Middle East have taken a real beating. And our policy on the so-called Arab Spring, or what's left of it, is pretty much at sea, largely because we can't shape the internal dynamics of these societies. Still, on many things that

ome opponents of Vladimir Putin's decision to become president again, for possibly 12 more years, hung a huge yellow banner on a rooftop facing the Kremlin with Putin's face covered by a big X, next to the words "Putin Go Away" in Russian. The sheer brazenness of such protests and the anger at Prime

omes violence, and at best, will result in continuation of the revolution. In this way, one year after the Egyptian revolution, and the so- called Arab Spring, the state of affairs have changed in an unprecedented manner which is not likely to reoccur in the future. What we came to know is that the early

in Ukraine used different, but no less ominous, historical analogies. Some compared the arrival of Russian troops in Simferopol to the way that the Kremlin, in 2008, took advantage of Georgia's reckless bid to retake South Ossetia and then muscled its tiny neighbor, eventually waging a war that ended w

s and liberal interventionists of overseeing a dangerous retreat from the world at a time when American influence is needed most. The once-hopeful Arab Spring has staggered into civil war and military coup. China is stepping up territorial claims in the waters off East Asia. Longtime allies in Europe and