Epstein Secrets

ecretary Leon Panetta will remain low-key during this round. He doesn't want to alienate his new Pentagon home or undercut Obama. As for President Karzai of Afghanistan, his course is certain: Scream against large- scale withdrawals. One final piece of the July formula that remains to be developed is

he campaign trail, the AKP's senior members have consistently championed the party's foreign outlook. At a speech in April, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, "Our ideal is to make this country a pioneer in the world, like our predecessors who carried out their goal of order for the whole world." Er

join the European Union.In late May, on the eve of the coming elections and just before the first anniversary of the storming of the Mavi Marmara, Davutoglu dismissed pleas by the United Nations and others to prevent a new flotilla from departing for Gaza. (Fifteen ships, including the Mavi Marmara, are

ongressional committees on national television; and endless, painstaking parleys with prickly, unpredictable characters such as Nouri al-Maliki and Hamid Karzai. He's 62; he tried to retire once, after Iraq, but was coaxed back into service by Obama and Petraeus after U.S. relations with Karzai deteriorated

ki and Hamid Karzai. He's 62; he tried to retire once, after Iraq, but was coaxed back into service by Obama and Petraeus after U.S. relations with Karzai deteriorated to the breaking point. But Crocker has two simple points to make. First: Wanting the war against al-Qaeda to be over doesn't mean tha

ts have bombed separatist Kurdish guerrillas in the mountains of northern Iraq, killing an estimated 160 people, according to the Turkish military. Davutoglu has begun publicly calling for Syria's embattled dictator, Bashar al- Assad, to step down. And during a planned visit to Egypt this week, EFTA00586

essage to President Assad that ... he should step down," said Ben Rhodes, Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser. In a series of statements, Davutoglu has insisted it is "no longer possible to trust the Syrian government" ". Adding provocation to insult, he underscored Ankara's support for the prote

Afghanistan has achieved stability or that Hamid Karzai's government can stand on its own without U.S. as

operations raids have taken a harsh toll on al Qaeda, it may be difficult for Obama to make the case that Afghanistan has achieved stability or that Hamid Karzai's government can stand on its own without U.S. assistance. Relations with Pakistan have deteriorated significantly under Obama's tenure, particularly f