Epstein Secrets

ians do." The Syrian-Russian relationship was always rather complicated, full of mutual suspicion and attempts by Moscow to impose an ideology that Hafez al-Assad didn't much care for, in exchange for military and intelligence assistance that Syria couldn't do without. But Damascus isn't just a resurrected st

il as a rotating member (after two years of lobbying vigorously for the post), Riyadh tried an alternative method of advancing its interests in the Levant. It dispatched its intelligence chief and former U.S. bosom buddy Prince Bandar bin Sultan to Moscow in early August, weeks before the August 21 sa

d Islamic flag". But as developments began to unravel in Iran and Middle East, things changed between Tehran and the PLO. From the very beginning, Hafez al-Assad carefully watched the PLO courting of Khomaini's Iran. The B'ath regime kept a wide open eye on the extent of Iranian relations with Yasser Arafat,

an as well as the EFTA00630297 Lebanese resistance from a Syrian perspective. This is well understood in the light of the three decades of Iran's Levant policy and partnership with Syria. Thirty three years ago, after the fall of the Shah, Yasser Arafat was the first foreign leader who arrived to r

ck 2. The Daily Beast Syria: The Lost Bequest of Hafez Assad Fouad Ajami January 23, 2012 -- Bashar, son of Hafez Assad, has a son by the name of Hafez. But as the defiance and bloodletting in £yria would seem to suggest, Bashar needn't worry about training his son for future rulership. The house t

ountry for a quarter century. Urban/Sunni Syria never really took to the French. France was poor, and had been a protector of the Christians of the Levant. But for all its brevity, this French interlude helped shape post- independence Syria and indirectly gave rise to the rule of Hafez Assad. France re

rivacy of their homes. In the public space, 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

ieldy project. The true beneficiary of these uprisings in a historical and geographical sense is Turkey. Ottoman Turkey ruled North Africa and the Levant for hundreds of years in the modern era. While this EFTA_R1_02013864 EFTA02687047 4 rule was despotic, it was not so oppressive as to leave a la

d Islamic flag". But as developments began to unravel in Iran and Middle East, things changed between Tehran and the PLO. From the very beginning, Hafez al-Assad carefully watched the PLO courting of Khomaini's Iran. The B'ath regime kept a wide open eye on the extent of Iranian relations with Yasser Arafat,

h the Palestinian as well as the Lebanese resistance from a Syrian perspective. This is well understood in the light of the three decades of Iran's Levant policy and partnership with Syria. Thirty three years ago, after the fall of the Shah, Yasser Arafat was the first foreign leader who arrived to r

privacy of their homes. In the public space, 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

ieldy project. The true beneficiary of these uprisings in a historical and geographical sense is Turkey. Ottoman Turkey ruled North Africa and the Levant for hundreds of years in the modern era. While this EFTA00586527 4 rule was despotic, it was not so oppressive as to leave a lasting scar on tod

e Atlas Mountains and the Persian Gulf. Yet unlike the Muslim Brotherhood's rebellion in Hama, which shook the government of Bashar al-Assad's father Hafez in 1982, the Facebook rebellion seems curiously faceless. There are some signs of opposition violence with "plausible reports of security forces bein

, nationalism, and socialism. Ibn Khaldun's analysis was based on his native North Africa, but it can be adapted to the conditions of the Mashreq, or Levant-where similar historical conditions prevailed. As Albert Hourani explained in his magisterial History of the Arab Peoples (1991), 'asabiyya is a forc

rned with the fall of the Syrian regime. Syria has been Iran's one significant ally, one strategically positioned to enhance Iranian influence in the Levant. Its fall would be a strategic setback for Iran at a time when Tehran is looking to enhance its position with the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Iran, wh

s mustard gas -- to advanced nerve agents such as sarin and possibly persistent nerve agents, such as VX gas. In the hands of Assad -- and his father Hafez before him -- these weapons have been an ace-in-the-hole deterrent against Israel's nuclear capability. The Assad regime, however, has never openly b