Epstein Secrets

arian ally in the Middle East. Russians retort that U.S. policy toward Syria is all about changing the regime in Damascus, because it's allied with Tehran, and that the U.S. never tried to make Annan's peace initiative work. Each accuses the other of allowing violence in pursuit of larger geopolitical

tical and economic support. And the search for water is already one of the driving forces of the wave of deals by some major emerging economies and Arab Gulf states to secure land for agricultural production overseas. Meanwhile, new producers are seeking to restrict the market in key resources in order

Mohammad Javad Zarifs verbal commitments to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in support of the Geneva Communique as a basis for settlement. Perhaps Tehran is concerned that if it accepts the communique, Washington would then highlight the other reason why Iran's presence at the Syria talks is inappro

e's competition, perhaps suspicion, but not an active or proxy warfare." This vision isn't going to mollify the suspicions of those concerned about Arab Gulf security. In December, Lpeculated that a "plausible, but still from an Arab point of view alarming, scenario is that the US is seeking to create a

s rife, but there is little discussion about whether diplomacy can still succeed, precluding the need for military action. Many experts doubt that Tehran would ever accept a deal that uses intrusive inspections and denies or limits uranium enrichment to halt any advances toward a nuclear weapons cap

ort, despite the dispute over the Assad regime. If the Gaza leadership is to mount an effective pushback against this new initiative, which enjoys Arab Gulf backing, it is going to require significant support from Iran. The Iranians might have incentives to continue to fund Hamas in Gaza to try to sabot

Some have predicted that the talks might collapse altogether after next week's meetings, given Iran's behavior in Baghdad and since. Is this just Tehran's way of stringing along the talks, while it continues to push ahead with enrichment of uranium that could eventually be used to make a bomb? That'

te debt. Desperate for cash, the government issued "diaspora bonds" last March in an attempt to tap into the savings of the Egyptian expats in the Arab Gulf region. Though no official figures have been released, proceeds from the sales so far seem to fall very short of the $2 billion the government had

Mohammad Javad Zarifs verbal commitments to UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon in support of the Geneva Communique as a basis for settlement. Perhaps Tehran is concerned that if it accepts the communique, Washington would then highlight the other reason why Iran's presence at the Syria talks is inappro

's competition, perhaps suspicion, but not an active or proxy warfare." This vision isn't going to mollify the suspicions of those concerned about Arab Gulf security. In December, I speculated that a "plausible, but still from an Arab point of view alarming, scenario is that the US is seeking to create

n the region at the same time as they supported it in backroom dealings, quietly authorizing facilities support and air, land, and sea access. But if Arab Gulf states were quietly supportive in the past, their opposition to American military force is likely to grow in the future. They read the aftermath of t

ed explosive devices (IEDs) against U.S. troops in Iraq. Gulf states will no doubt judge that if the United States was unable and unwilling to attack Tehran under these circumstances, then it is certainly not going to attack Iran in the future, when it will be able to retaliate with nuclear weapons. HOUSE