Epstein Secrets

ting much in the way of access, trade or aid with Europe. But let's not persist in believing that Moscow's moves have been strategically brilliant. Vladimir Putin must have watched with extreme frustration in February as a pro-Russian government was toppled and Ukraine was slipping from his grasp. After the

was slipping from his grasp. After the Olympics ended, he acted swiftly, sending his forces into Crimea. It was a blunder. In taking over Crimea, Putin has lost Ukraine. Since 1991, Russia has influenced Ukraine through pro-Russian politicians who were bribed by Moscow to listen to its diktats. Tha

oscow's moves have been strategically brilliant. Vladimir Putin must have watched with extreme frustration

f of Egypt's General Intelligence Directorate, Salah Nasr, was convinced that the American Embassy in Cairo was behind the jokes going around about Nasser, by then the president. The directorate assigned dozens of offices throughout Egypt to collect the jokes and study their meaning. These were writte

was overshadowed by news that Russian president Vladimir Putin called Obama in his Riyadh hotel to discus

rences, and this meeting didn't solve them," he says. President Obama's meeting with King Abdullah was overshadowed by news that Russian president Vladimir Putin called Obama in his Riyadh hotel to discuss the Ukraine crisis. What do we know about the two-hour meeting that was held at the king's palace outsi

till couldn't find Ukraine on a map. Said Vladimir Putin, `Soon nobody will." For self-reinforcement, the op-ed pages are full of the argument that Putin's seizure of Crimea signals a return of either traditional 19th-century power politics or the Cold War — and anyone who thought globalization had

The Saudis had a pretty good relationship with the Brotherhood back when they had a common enemy in Arab nationalism and socialism under President Nasser in Egypt. Lots of the Egyptian Brothers came, lived, and worked in Saudi Arabia [during that time]. But this changed during the first Gulf War, whe

for it, Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian civil war— particularly the White House's inept and improvisational response to it—has accidentally transformed Putin into a major power- broker for the post-Arab Spring Middle East. (This is no small feat considering that Sunni Muslim antipathy toward Russia is at

ing in Cairo as a direct result of EFTA00706389 its government's support for the still-popular military regime: "The positive stance of President Vladimir Putin towards the June revolution was behind the rise in his popularity." Portraits of Putin today hang alongside those of Sisi in Cairo. The Russian-Eg

litary regime: "The positive stance of President Vladimir Putin towards the June revolution was behind the

ourselves with the Soviet Union... We are ready to offer facilities to the Soviet fleet from Port Said to Salloum and from al-Arish to Gaza." With Nasser's death in September 1970, and the inauguration of Anwar Sadat as Egyptian President, the Soviet-Egyptian relationship quickly deteriorated. The KG

utin Goes to War David Remnick March 1, 2014 -- Vladimir Putin, the Russian President and autocrat, had a

costs, and recent history has shown that when it considers its interests at stake, Russia has been willing to pay the price. Even before President Vladimir V. Putin on Saturday publicly declared his intent to send Russian troops into the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, Mr. Obama and his team were already discuss

ent Russian news site, how the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, in 1979, under the pretext of helping a "fraternal" ally in Kabul; to Parkhomenko, Putin's decision to couch his military action as the "protection" of Russians living in Crimea is an equally transparent pretext. The same goes for the d

fered Sisi $2 billion in arms - just what a country like Egypt, where half the women can't read, needs. The whole meeting struck me as so 1960s, so Nasser meets Khrushchev — two strongmen bucking each other up in the age of strong people and superempowered individuals. Rather than discuss arms sales,

g with Iraq, the Palestinian issue, Iran and now Syria. What to do? Albright and 15 other former foreign ministers just sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin saying they were "gravely disappointed" by Russia's failure to support the U.N. mission and pleading for action to stop the war in Syria. Albright'

nisters just sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin saying they were "gravely disappointed" by Russi

oreign ministers just sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin saying they were "gravely disappointed" by

A. Cook is Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square. He blogs at From the Potomac to the Euphrates. Asharq Al-Awsat Gaza tunnel trade: Matter of life and death for Hamas Kifah Zabo