Epstein Secrets

ian differences. Even in the one corner of the Middle East where there is a regional body, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC - comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), there are fresh challenges. Formed in 1981 as Britain withdrew from the Gulf, the GCC has

and [their right] to form their political system." EFTA00662933 The source conceded that the turn in regional events following former President Mohammed Morsi's ouster in Egypt has hastened the progress of Iran-Hamas ties. Improvement in ties between Qatar, which is home to Meshaal, and Iran is also a key

— particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — is extremely probable. Since the July 3 military intervention, these states along with Kuwait have lavished Egypt's new government with $12 billion in aid and have fully backed the military's clampdown against the Muslim Brotherhood, a grou

ggling tunnels that serve as Hamas' economic lifeline. The regime has also repudiated Qatar's role in supporting the government of former President Mohammed Morsi, returning $2 billion worth of Qatari aid and forcibly closing the Cairo offices of Qatar-based Al Jazeera. Increasingly, therefore, the military v

ating its commitment to Saudi Arabia's security in 1990 deployed 500,000 US troops to the kingdom to expel Saddam Hussein's forces from neighboring Kuwait. In the eyes of Saudis, that war not only proved unrivaled primacy of the United States on the international stage, it also demonstrated loyalty to

Egypt, where Obama stuck too long with Hosni Mubarak as the Arab Spring arrived, and then with the Army, and then the Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi, and now is embracing the Army again." Let's break this down for a minute. It was the policy of several administrations to maintain close relations

nean city for the first time since 1991, when Iraq's Saddam Hussein lobbed scud missiles at Israel during Gulf War precipitated by his invasion of Kuwait. And in the late afternoon, the first air raid sirens in memory were reported to be going off in Jerusalem. EFTA_R1_00463833 EFTA01977331 Hamas

ion Pillar of Defense" the prime minister traveled to the region to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas. A further reason Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi -- a former Muslim Brotherhood leader -- dispatched the prime EFTA_R1_00463817 EFTA01977315 minister to Gaza was to show solidarity with the Pa

nes of 50 percent or more. The sharpest drops were in Iran, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Libya, Albania, Qatar and Kuwait, which all recorded declines of 60 percent or more over three decades. EFTA00683491 Fertility in Iran declined an astonishing 70 percent over the

mmentators that the visit of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Egypt - complete with red carpet and kiss on both cheeks from President Mohammed Morsi - does not amount to a breakthrough. The view of US think-tanks is that it does not amount to very much at all, and certainly not worth getting anx

o the 84-year-old Muslim Brotherhood. Salafis are a growing influence in £yria's rebellion. And they have parties or factions in Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Yemen and among Palestinians. Salafis are only one slice of a rapidly evolving Islamist spectrum. The variety of Islamists in the early 21s

. He is a Muslim Brotherhood adherent who rose to the rank of general in Egypt's military — the armed forces he has just been tapped to command by Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood eminence who was elected president of Egypt a few weeks back. My column was prompted by the Wall Street Journal's coverage