Epstein Secrets

pinpricks," we appear hardly credible or formidable. Obama himself seems unable to fathom the fallout from the NSA's tapping of German chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone or from allowing Vladimir Putin to adjudicate the Syrian mess. It is unclear whether Obama has even appreciated the traditional U.S. r

om the NSA's tapping of German chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone or from allowing Vladimir Putin to

nt in a way that many assumed precluded any role for the Assad family, which has ruled Syria with an iron fist since President Assad's late father, Hafez, seized absolute power in 1970. There has been barely a flicker of agreement within Syria about its future since the country erupted in initially

rever kept on the margins of WEF events. Not anymore. The atmosphere surrounding this year's summit is perhaps the gloomiest yet. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will kick off proceedings with an address attempting to reckon with the eurozone's miserable year. A panel wringing its hands over the future of li

haps the gloomiest yet. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will kick off proceedings with an address attemp

ck 2. The Daily Beast Syria: The Lost Bequest of Hafez Assad Fouad Ajami January 23, 2012 -- Bashar, son of Hafez Assad, has a son by the name of Hafez. But as the defiance and bloodletting in £yria would seem to suggest, Bashar needn't worry about training his son for future rulership. The house t

loyed. And German leaders are wrong if they think their country will remain unscathed as its major trading partners and neighbors unravel. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has been talking a more pro- European line. But she is still insisting on growth-killing austerity as the price for European bailouts and

as the price for European bailouts and still blocking the European Central Bank from printing more euros and acting as a lender of last resort. Mrs. Merkel's advisers insist that she is doing what the German people want. That is not leadership. She needs to challenge her voters' simplistic stereotypes of

ast 34 soldiers killed. Yesterday, the FSA attacked the headquarters of the Air Force Intelligence Agency at Harasta near the capital Damascus. Since Hafez al-Assad, an air-force officer and Bashar's father, seized power in a coup in 1970, the AIA has been the nerve center of the regime's security system. Also th