Epstein Secrets

led dictatorship that was held together by an iron fist under Baathist ideology. And, for me, the lesson of Iraq is quite simple: You can't go from Saddam to Switzerland without getting stuck in Hobbes — a war of all against all — unless you have a well- armed external midwife, whom everyone on the gro

edded in President George W. Bush's administration were determined to reshape the region in Israel's and America's interest. Their first target was Saddam Hussein's Iraq, seen as a potential threat to Israel. Had the United States been successful in Iraq, Syria would have been next. Neither Iraq nor the United

America's interest. Their first target was Saddam Hussein's Iraq, seen as a potential threat to Israel. Ha

ages and towns that abut it suggest a process of ethnic cleansing to prepare the way. An Alawite coastal ministate that folds in the port cities of Latakia and Tartus, home to the Russian navy's key warmwater port, may not be viable in the long run, but that doesn't mean the regime's core won't try for

not based on anyone's consent but on coercion and domestic terror. The governing 12 percent minority of the Alawite sect is Syria's equivalent to Saddam Hussein's clan of Tikriti Sunnis, both having ruled cruelly and bloodily. Indeed, the Assads have nursed a particular grudge against the Palestinians, almost

ity of the Alawite sect is Syria's equivalent to Saddam Hussein's clan of Tikriti Sunnis, both having ru

the Alawite sect is Syria's equivalent to Saddam Hussein's clan of Tikriti Sunnis, both having ruled crue

owever, by bloody events that took place on Friday, March 25. Violent demonstrations broke out in the midland city of Horns, in the coastal city of Latakia, and in Sanamein, near Daraa, where 12 people were killed (10 of them from the Syrian security forces). Overall estimates put at least 61 people d

lk to the opposition. The second alternative was to continue like this, but that this would lead to the international community isolating him, like Saddam Hussein and Colonel ICaddafi were isolated. The Security Council was worried. Several members had been calling Turkey seeking their advice. So far, they had

the international community isolating him, like Saddam Hussein and Colonel ICaddafi were isolated. The S

ternational community isolating him, like Saddam Hussein and Colonel ICaddafi were isolated. The Security

led him to make a positive statement. However, since then, there had been reports of tanks being deployed to llama again, and of a new operation in Latakia that was even worse than the one in Hama. Secretary Clinton and President Obama had been in contact with the Turkish Government to inform them that

e prominent Alawite sheikhs, Mohib Nisafi, Yassin Hussein, and Mussa Mansour, issued a joint statement [2]

unities in the cities. Between 1943 and 1957, Alawite migration tripled the population of Hama, and between 1957 and 1979 it quadrupled the size of Latakia. Many Alawites also joined the military. Since Ottoman times, Sunni Arabs had largely spurned army careers, but Alawites welcomed the opportunity

icana. Despite Putin's well-known opposition to the Iraq War, he is also cultivating a strong military and energy-based relationship with the post- Saddam government in Baghdad. Gazprom and Rosneft have moved in to capitalize on Iraq's increased oil and gas outputs. Last summer, contracts were signed

recent meeting with Putin over the Iran negotiations in Geneva), nor has the Israeli Air Force's destruction of newly arrived Yakhont missiles in Latakia several months ago jeopardized Israeli-Russian relations. Another incentive for Israel to court the Kremlin is that it clearly admires Russia's app

Association notes that, "Even after crushing Iraq in the first Gulf War, the international coalition only imposed a 150-kilometer range ceiling on Saddam's ballistic missiles. A demand to eliminate all ballistic missiles would be unprecedented in the modern era-- removing any doubt among Iranians that

, banned since 1980. We frighten ourselves with phantoms of our own making. No one is asking or expecting the U.S. Marines to storm the shores of Latakia. This Syrian tyranny is merciless in its battles against the people of Horns and Zabadani, but its army is demoralized and riven with factionalism

ayel. 17 September 1982 UN Security Council Resolution 520 (Lebanon). 17 May 1983 Israel and Lebanon sign a peace agreement. 19 February 1986 King Hussein of Jordan severs ties with the PLO. 11 April 1987 London Agreement. 21 May 1987 Lebanon’s parliament abrogates the 1969 Cairo agreement with the PL

he PLO had been financially dependent on the states of the Arab Gulf and the Communist bloc. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Arafat’s support of Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War of 1991 resulted in the collapse of funding for the PLO and an end to remittances to Palestinian families in Gaza and the West Ba

lapse of the Soviet Union and Arafat’s support of Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War of 1991 resulted in t

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Lebanon and Iraq. In addition, Gadhafi used heavy weapons from the start, but Assad hasn't. SPIEGEL: Yet tanks have been deployed in Hama, Homs and Latakia for some time. Elaraby: When I flew to Syria 10 days after taking office, they also tried to tell me that there had been no riots in Aleppo or Damas

It was a blighted and miserable land at a safe distance. But the American war, and the sense of righteous violation, soon hit the Arab world itself. Saddam Hussein may not have been the Arab idol he was a decade earlier, but he was still a favored son of that Arab nation, its self-appointed defender. The topplin

hteous violation, soon hit the Arab world itself. Saddam Hussein may not have been the Arab idol he was a

violation, soon hit the Arab world itself. Saddam Hussein may not have been the Arab idol he was a decade e

four, and potentially five, chemical weapons production facilities in Syria. One or two are located near Damascus, the other three situated in Hama, Latakia, and al-Safira village, near the city of Aleppo. Hama is one of the hotbeds of the Syrian revolt, which Assad's tanks attacked in early August and wh

06. But a simple, strictly Middle East research will give you one million deaths in the all-Muslim Iran-Iraq war; 300,000 Muslim minorities killed by Saddam Hussein; 80,000 Iranians killed during the Islamic revolution; 25,000 deaths in 1970-71, the days of Black September, by the Jordanian government in its figh

-Israeli conflict. In another calculation ignoring "small" massacres like the one that goes on in Syria and other deaths during the Arab Spring, only Saddam's Iraq, Jordan, the elder al-Assad's Syria, Iran-Iraq war, the bin Laden campaign in Iraq, the Iranian Islamic revolution and the Turkish-Kurdish con

q war; 300,000 Muslim minorities killed by Saddam Hussein; 80,000 Iranians killed during the Islamic revolu