Epstein Secrets

ma's foreign-policy circle say that when he is criticized for his reaction to situations like Iran's Green Revolution, in 2009, or the last days of Hosni Mubarak's regime, in 2011, he complains that people imagine him to have a "joystick" that allows him to manipulate precise outcomes. Obama told me that what

n Revolution, in 2009, or the last days of Hosni Mubarak's regime, in 2011, he complains that people imag

arrative of righteous struggle. He pledged "collective action" on economic fairness, and declared that the legacy of Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid does "not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great." Pfeiffer said, "His point was that Congress won

staff Sami Anan; and the heads of Egypt's army, navy and air force — as finally giving Egypt's revolution the chance to remove key remnants of the Mubarak regime and fulfill its promise. Others, particularly non-Islamists, are more prone to see recent actions as the Muslim Brotherhood removing any che

d Abbas. Early hopes that Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, might put the Hamas genie back in its bottle have subsided. Under his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, donors meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh in March 2009 committed $5 billion to repair damage from Israel's Gaza war in 2006 and promised to end the siege

t that is focused on the domestic economy. With Congress having a number of incumbents whose constituencies loathe the thought of cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans' benefits, and Social Security, taking greater risks in national security is a more tangible option. As the nation borrows over $1 trilli

nd YouTube videos from Tunisia, protests broke out across much of the rest of the Arab world. Within weeks, millions were on the streets in Egypt and Hosni Mubarak was gone, shown the door in part by his longtime backer, the U.S. government. The Obama administration was captivated by this spontaneous outbreak of

In Riyadh, Saudi officials watched with alarm. They became furious when the Obama administration betrayed, to Saudi thinking, a longtime ally in Mr. Mubarak and urged him to step down in the face of the street demonstrations. The Egyptian leader represented a key bulwark in what Riyadh perceives as a gre

e voting for tax increases, and there are Democrats who are willing to meaningfully scale back the benefits promised by Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. In the Senate, a group of Democrats and Republicans operating independently of party leaders is trying to come up with a plan that neither party wo