Epstein Secrets

's scapegoat for the Sinai attack David Ignatius August 10 -- In firing Egypt's chief of intelligence for his alleged failings in Sinai, President Mohamed Morsi sacked a general who has won high marks from U.S., Israeli and European intelligence officials — and who, ironically, has been one of the Egyptian

ai. EFTA_R1_00537930 EFTA02029049 This week's shuffle is bound to raise concerns among U.S. and Israeli officials about the security policies of Morsi's government and its seemingly mutual self-protection pact with the Egyptian generals who still hold considerable power through the Supreme Counci

ominated regime has lost control over significant territory, its co-optation strategy so far has headed off the rapid internal atrophy that brought Qaddafi to his knees last October (although it has not stopped recent high- level defections). However, the Damascus blast that killed Assad's defense mini

ly part of a local power struggle. Radical Salafists are in a power struggle with the Muslim Brotherhood; attacking the US embassy forces President Morsi (as the radical strategists presumably expected) to side with the US, however slowly or reluctantly. That's a win for the radicals, who want to tar

ing to plan — a big "if' in Egypt — Egyptians who believe in a democratic, civil state theoretically have the remainder of EFTA00657289 President Mohamed Morsi's term of office to get their collective act together. But practically speaking, the short-term political calendar will not allow them such a leng

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

fication was a possibility, the organization nominated a second candidate, Muhammad Morsi. A longtime member of the Brotherhood's leadership ranks, Morsi emerged as one of the public faces of the organization after the revolution as head of the Freedom and Justice Party. While he doesn't have nearly

There was the good King Hussein, the wily but indispensable Arafat, the enigmatic yet much-courted Assad, the cruel Saddam, the crazy (like a fox) Qaddafi, and the plodding but reliable Mubarak. The United States built its policies on these men and their regimes without much regard to broader politica

imilar showing and result is expected. The low level of turnout and small margin of support reflects the current political mood in Egypt. President Morsi's November 21st decree and subsequent actions, which effectively accelerated the finalization of the draft constitution and forced a quick popular v

whose appointment was delayed until an appeals court cleared him of the Integrity Commission's finding that he had been closely associated with the Qaddafi government, took his oath in front the Libyan General National Congress (GNC). His appointment comes at a critical time for Libyan national security

economy. A currency crisis at the beginning of 2013 that left the Egyptian pound at a record low against the US dollar appears to have prompted the Morsi government to resume talks with the IMF on January 7th for a $4.8 billion loan. Securing the loan has become a top priority for the government give

January 6th comprising a national reconciliation conference and a new government. His appearance and tone on national television was reminiscent of Qaddafi's last ditch efforts at restoring order in war-torn Libya in the middle of 2011. Assad's rare appearance and proposal contrasted with the facts on t

y takeover as a coup, security officials said. Police abuses and politicized prosecutions are hardly new in Egypt, and they did not stop under Mr. Morsi. But since the military takeover last month, some rights activists say, the authorities are acting with a sense of impunity exceeding even the per

e ownership of that process in an inclusive manner and thereby make it self-sustaining. Ditto Libya, where President Obama removed Col. Muammar el- Qaddafi's top-down, iron-fisted regime, but he declined to put U.S. troops on the ground to midwife a new social contract. The result: Libya today is no mo