Epstein Secrets

ighting hard for support from Jewish voters. He attacked Mr. Obama for "shabby treatment" of Israel. Relations between Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are obviously tense. But the administration has backed Israel in almost every way, and Israeli leaders have publicly acknowledged that. Mr. Romney

ns between Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are obviously tense. But the administration has

a disturbing signal of prospects for stability after Assad goes. Western and Arab powers have spent more than a year trying to turn the exile-based Syrian National Council into a legitimate alternative national leadership, to no avail. It remains divided and EFTA00701760 ineffectual, and lacks legitimacy among popul

irst signaled his outreach to Iran: "We seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." EFTA00660250 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played his expected role in this choreography, criticizing the negotiators for agreeing to another round of talks on May 23 in Baghdad without gett

o another round of talks on May 23 in Baghdad without getting concessions in return. "My initial impression is that Iran has been given a freebie," Netanyahu said. "It has got five weeks to continue enrichment without any limitation, any inhibition." A perfect rebuff— just scornful enough to keep the Ira

atrocities carried out by Bashar al-Assad and his aides, who belong to all religious sects." According to Monzer Makhouz, an Alawite member of the Syrian National Council, a leading opposition group, Alawites are joining protests in the coastal cities of the Alawite territory. And in recent weeks, evidence has emerge

ast week that is exactly what we have seen. First came the Thomas Friedman column in the New York Times: "I sure hope that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics. That ovation was bought and paid for by the Israel lo

sure hope that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in

's current strategic position in the region that is the fruit of two decades of hard work and billions of dollars. Burhan Galyoun, the head of the Syrian National Council that groups all main opposition forces has already stated that the first order of business for the nex government of a Syria after Assad will be to

d the pain of the existing sanctions on Iran; a new government coalition in Israel has strengthened the hand of its hawkish leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and Americans believe that recent blustery statements from Iranian officials are laying the groundwork for concessions by Tehran. None of this gu

r breakthrough from the meeting on Wednesday, which will include Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, in addition to the United States. Mr. Netanyahu on Friday repeated his skepticism that there would be any progress. But American officials said that at a minimum, the Baghdad meeting should be

and supported creating buffer zones and humanitarian corridors between Turkey and Syria. Turkey also houses one of the biggest opposition groups, Syrian National Council, as well as the FSA. Although Saudi Arabia and Turkey share a common goal in Syria, there are some tensions between their positions. First, for T

considerations surrounding the unknown variables of a post-Assad Syria appear to have created a divide between U.S. and Israeli strategies, as the Netanyahu government has not followed Obama's course EFTA00659881 on Syria. The Israeli concerns surrounding the collapse of Syria's Ba'athist party are le

vously identified as the "Shia crescent." Washington is assuming that the Muslim Brotherhood, the most influential party within the Istanbul-based Syrian National Council, would end the Iran-Syria alliance if it came to power. The organization's deputy secretary, Mohammed Faruk Tayfur, told The Washington Times on Ja

appointment that the issue of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine did not figure prominently in the March 5 meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama in Washington, D.C. The lack of any concrete proposals coming out of the discussions of the Middle East Quartet at the United N

erce battles between the Assad Government and the mobilized popular opposition EFTA_R1_00225443 EFTA01840548 forces. Politically, the opposition Syrian National Council operating outside of the country remains divided and is marked by serious internal dissent; in contrast, the internal opposition groups seem more o