Epstein Secrets

ublic in 1949. Beginning in the 1850s, Russians seized advantage of Chinese disarray to pressure the Qing's northern frontier, from restive Muslim Xinjiang in the west to the Amur River in the east. Two "unequal treaties" in 1858 and 1860 gave Russia more land than it had conceded to the Manchus two hu

EFTA01964448 It could serve to strengthen President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and his more moderate Fatah faction that dominates the West Bank just as Washington-orchestrated peace talks get under way. It also adds another volatile element to the rapidly changing landscape across the regio

ng seized and has never relinquished Aksai Chin —"the desert of white stone"—a strategic corridor that links Tibet to the western Chinese region of Xinjiang. "The India-China war took place through a complex series of actions misunderstandings," says Kishan S. Rana, a former Indian diplomat and honorary

, including three roads, a hospital and a new town that will bring thousands of jobs to the impoverished territory. Hamas' Palestinian opponents in the West Bank were watching the emir's plans with some concern. They fear that any gestures that strengthen Hamas' hold on Gaza will make the Islamists less incl

uslim-populated former Soviet republics of Central Asia. China similarly worries that upheaval in Afghanistan could exacerbate Islamic extremism in Xinjiang; India thinks the same could happen in Kashmir. And Shiite Iran almost went to war with the Taliban, an extremist Sunni movement, in 1997; its lead

lem for Israel is achieving peace with the more than 5 million Palestinian refugees spread across refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli politicians are well aware that any concessions granted to the Palestinian negotiating delegation will not necessarily persuade the Palest

vate — in April last year, Erdogan broke protocol when he started his Chinese trip with a stopover in Urumqi, capital of historically Turkic Uighur Xinjiang. Eager to attract outside investment to encourage prosperity as a salve for ethnic tensions between Uighur and Han Chinese and historical underdev

ry's inaugural foreign trip as secretary of state will be to the Middle East, where he will lay the groundwork for a presidential visit to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan in mid-March. The administration is at pains to lower expectations for these trips. "The president is not prepared, at this point in ti

consent. From the Times: "With a million or more ethnic Uighurs and others from predominantly Muslim minority groups swept up in detentions across Xinjiang, officials in Tumxuk have gathered blood samples from hundreds of Uighurs — part of a mass DNA collection effort dogged by questions about consent

laib, speaking at times through tears, took a more personal approach, expressing remorse about not being able to visit her grandmother who lives in the West Bank. After Israel blocked their official visit, Tlaib (D-Mich.), a Palestinian American, made an appeal to Israel officials to allow her to visit her r