Epstein Secrets

ed the spectre of war in the Gulf and stabilised the volatile region. And it is now quarrelling with Moscow and reviving the Cold War by sabotaging Kofi Annan's peace plan for Syria. There can be no military solution to the Syrian crisis. The only way out of the current nightmare is a ceasefire imposed on b

cow and reviving the Cold War by sabotaging Kofi Annan's peace plan for Syria. There can be no military

ay not be especially reassuring. "The connections between the opposition and the Free Syrian Army are still tenuous, but they're getting better," a State Department official told McClatchy. "If we can get Assad and his cronies out, that will at least create an atmosphere to have a dialogue. That can't happen no

ing thus far." Carney's comments contrasted with a more positive assessment Friday by U.N. officials, who insisted that the peace plan developed by Kofi Annan, a former U.N. secretary general who is serving as the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy for Syria, remains on track. "A crisis that has been going on

.-Arab League envoy for Syria, remains on track. "A crisis that has been going on for over a year is not going to be resolved in a day or a week," Annan's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, told reporters in Geneva. He pointed to U.N. efforts to triple the number of truce monitors in the country, from about 50

expected to press Moscow and Beijing to increase pressure on Assad by backing an arms embargo and other punitive measures. Mona Yacoubian, a former State Department official and consultant on the Middle East, said Russia is key to any strategy for punishing an Assad regime that until now has had few incentives

he United Nations as a result of the genocide in Rwanda [1994]. That was one of the guiding principles and legacies of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. He believed that the United Nations should take the responsibility to protect the citizens of a country if their own government will not do that.

and legacies of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. He believed that the United Nations should take

nctions, the proper environment now exists for diplomacy to work. The next few months will determine whether it succeeds. Dennis B. Ross, a former State Department and National Security Council official, was a special assistant to President Obama for the Middle East, Afghanistan and South Asia from 2009 to 20

oked to the U.N. for answers. The latest: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked with the five permanent Security Council members and U.N. envoy Kofi Annan on a June 30 accord calling for Syrians to devise a political transition for their own country—and strangely suggesting that Assad's regime may coo

ent Security Council members and U.N. envoy Kofi Annan on a June 30 accord calling for Syrians to devise

authority, having seized further powers before the presidential election in June. After the meeting, which lasted a little over an hour, a senior State Department official said Field Marshal Tantawi and Mrs. Clinton had discussed the economy, regional security, "the political transition" and the military's "o

e change in Syria. Thus Ankara gave support to the Syrian National Council and harbored the Free Syrian Army. Even when former UN secretary-general Annan's plan for a political settlement was announced, the Turkish leadership made it clear that there could be no solution with Assad in power. With th

presumed to be an abuse of power — one intended to mask many other abuses. Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former director of policy planning in the U.S. State Department, is professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University. Foreign Policy Is relying on Saudi Arabia in times of war a smart t

shback from within the military, although initial responses suggest that there's considerable support even within the junta for kicking Tantawi and Annan upstairs, and none of the signals that the military could respond with a coup. Although reports suggest that the announcement came as a surprise t

paring the ground for this weekend's moves during the weeks where his administration appeared to be passive, floundering and ineffective." Indeed, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland confirmed on Monday that the U.S. had for some time been expecting a leadership change in Egypt's military although h