Epstein Secrets

ther and son), and Libya's Muammar al-Qaddafi. America sought to check and constrain their power, even removing one through invasion. But at times, the United States found common ground with them too. (See: cooperation with Saddam against the Iranian mullahs, and dancing with Assad on the peace process.) As pure

TA00660287 From Washington's vantage point, the Arab world wasn't so much divided into countries as it was broken down into personalities. Each of Americas' authoritarians had a role to play and a dramatic persona to accompany it. There was the good King Hussein, the wily but indispensable Arafat, the

ou. We became pretty chummy with all these guys. Traveling with secretaries of state, we always went to Cairo first to consult with our good friend Hosni. Successive CIA station chiefs had very close personal relationships with the king of Jordan. There was little need to delve deeper, and it was a r

ition diplomacy as the principal tool in addressing some of the most EFTA00707177 consequential international security challenges currently facing the United States. It is a big change. While Mrs. Clinton earned plaudits for her tireless travels, the sixty-seventh secretary will be remembered more for talking

main uncertain. Do you think part of the kingdom's anger with the United States went back to 2011, when the U.S. allowed former Egyptian president [Hosni] Mubarak to be ousted so quickly? I think there was some disappointment that the United States did not stand by someone who for 30 years was a ver

out against Ing and Syria. Iran, for its part, claims the number of casualties it might sustain will be tolerable. "Hawks on both sides, Israel and the United States, and Iran, want to underplay the level of casualties," says Ali Ansari, an Iran expert at Scotland's University of St. Andrews. "But both sides ar

Unlike U.S. ties with Israel, the bond between the U.S. and Egypt rests less on shared values and more on shared interests. Under Anwar Sadat and Hosni EFTA_R1_00482810 EFTA01990242 Mubarak, America cut a deal with each of these acquiescent authoritarians. We'll stay out of your internal affair

nts of their future state. In a June 2009 address in Cairo, a speech that asked for a "new beginning" with the Islamic world, Obama said: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." He also did not stop in Israel on that trip, instead visiting Saudi Arabia, Egypt a

l elements of their future state. In a June 2009 address in Cairo, a speech that asked for a "new beginning" with the Islamic world, Obama said: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." He also did not stop in Israel on that trip, instead visiting Saudi Arabia,

d Hamas joins the Palestinian Authority, Obama will be faced with an awkward decision on whether to meet with a government that includes members of a U.S.- designated terrorist movement. As he begins again in the region, Obama will be advised by new Secretary of State John F. Kerry. He has also named for

raq, having just ended a bitter eight-year war with Iran, would swing its battered forces south to invade Kuwait. So if it's conventional wisdom that the United States will not, or should not, intervene militarily in the Middle East or South Asia after it draws down forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's also likely d

nts of their future state. In a June 2009 address in Cairo, a speech that asked for a "new beginning" with the Islamic world, Obama said: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." He also did not stop in Israel on that trip, instead visiting Saudi Arabia, Egypt a

l elements of their future state. In a June 2009 address in Cairo, a speech that asked for a "new beginning" with the Islamic world, Obama said: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." He also did not stop in Israel on that trip, instead visiting Saudi Arabia,

d Hamas joins the Palestinian Authority, Obama will be faced with an awkward decision on whether to meet with a government that includes members of a U.S.- designated terrorist movement. As he begins again in the region, Obama will be advised by new Secretary of State John F. Kerry. He has also named for

raq, having just ended a bitter eight-year war with Iran, would swing its battered forces south to invade Kuwait. So if it's conventional wisdom that the United States will not, or should not, intervene militarily in the Middle East or South Asia after it draws down forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's also likely d

d like a giant game of whack-a-mole, with a new problem popping up daily, was inevitable. And so was the variety of U.S. responses. In Bahrain, where the United States had established the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, and in Yemen, where counterterrorism is king, interests trumped values. You didn't hea

neocons outside clamored for action. This group of realists includes the president, who knows his options on Syria aren't great. He's being told that American leverage isn't great and that if he calls for Assad's head and the Syrian despot survives, he'll have lost access to a key player in the region. And

pproach to the protests. Makhlouf, in turn, needed no authorization whatsoever. What Shaaban said was likely intended to be interpreted in the United States as a marginally soft statement by Bashar Assad. In contrast, Makhlouf offered the harsher alternative if the president's approach was rejected by the

ation approach to the protests. Makhlouf, in turn, needed no authorization whatsoever. What Shaaban said was likely intended to be interpreted in the United States as a marginally soft statement by Bashar Assad. In contrast, Makhlouf offered the harsher alternative if the president's approach was rejected

cored the shift in a speech last week that her aides later said was a deliberate warning to the military council, which assumed power after President Hosni Mubarak's ouster. The military had initially pledged to hand over control to civilians by September, but it now says that a presidential election wil

hatever government emerges will continue to support American policy, including maintaining ties with Israel and distance from Iran. At the same time, the United States' standing in public opinion in Egypt and around the region continues to suffer because of decades of support for undemocratic governments like the mil