Epstein Secrets

slamist movements doesn't necessarily mean that they want to emulate Iran, but the messy politics in Egypt is better for Iran than former President Hosni Mubarak's opposition to Iran. The region is turbulent and preoccupied with Islamist concerns, and there is a political conflict with Saudi Arabia that is p

t is better for Iran than former President Hosni Mubarak's opposition to Iran. The region is turbulent and

unities in the cities. Between 1943 and 1957, Alawite migration tripled the population of Hama, and between 1957 and 1979 it quadrupled the size of Latakia. Many Alawites also joined the military. Since Ottoman times, Sunni Arabs had largely spurned army careers, but Alawites welcomed the opportunity

ect, which represents only 6 percent of Syria's population, would quickly lose power in a more democratic system. Most likely the dictator, like Mr. Mubarak before him, is seeking to deflect the demands for change with a mixture of violence and false promises. If that proves to be the case, the Obama adm

peech the public has been expecting. He is said to have waited because he didn't want to be caught in the same cycle as Egypt's desposed president, Hosni Mubarak, who made a series of speeches announcing modest concessions, each of which only fueled the demand for more. Assad appears to be holding his cards

is chief of security. Security forces opened fire on the demonstrators and some were killed. The protests then began to spread, most dangerously to Latakia, a city in the north with a mixed population of Sunni Muslims and Alawite Muslims, the latter a minority sect from which Assad and other members of

nows what it takes to make his people happy. Unlike in Egypt and Tunisia, Syrians see Assad as part of the solution in their country, and not, like Hosni Mubarak and Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali, as part of the problem. He is young, closer to their age than both presidents had been to young Egyptians and Tunisian

ago, in a long, thrilling interview with the Wall Street Journal, Assad spoke about the stability of his regime, in sharp contrast to the crumbling Mubarak regime. But in the end, the shockwaves of the "Arab Spring" also reached Syria. The opposition is nourished by the hatred the Sunni majority in Syr

owever, by bloody events that took place on Friday, March 25. Violent demonstrations broke out in the midland city of Horns, in the coastal city of Latakia, and in Sanamein, near Daraa, where 12 people were killed (10 of them from the Syrian security forces). Overall estimates put at least 61 people d

il to improve its effectiveness dramatically. 10. Keeping the United States relevant to the Arab Spring. By choosing to ease out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, play a key enabling role in the Libya intervention, and work hard if not so successfully behind the scenes in Bahrain and Yemen, Washington kept i

By choosing to ease out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, play a key enabling role in the Libya intervent

n my eyes, worth all the palaces in this world." He had pined to leave that poverty; he had come down from his mountain village to the port town of Latakia, on the Mediterranean, to get a secondary-school education; he had made it to the military academy, and the uniform had given him all that was now

EFTA_R1_02029339 EFTA02689714 7 the uprisings shaking the Arab world. Erdogan was one of the first world leaders to call on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down, yet one of the last to ask the same of Libya's Qaddafi. In Syria, meanwhile, the Turkish government remains unable to let go of Bash

world leaders to call on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down, yet one of the last to ask the sam

tarian war is one of the regime's preferred tactics. In March, Syrian friends have told me, its shabiha militia tried to spark social breakdown in Latakia by pretending to be a Sunni mob while it shot up Alawi areas and an Alawi mob as it terrorized Sunni neighborhoods. Syrians say the regime is armin

use their organizational skills to the disadvantage of other parties). Moreover, the Military Council announced it would not allow former President Mubarak or his family to leave Egypt, even for medical purposes, and prosecutors ordered the detention of the former President and his two sons, The Milita

a predominantly Sunni city, protesters have accused Iran and the Lebanese party Hizbullah of participating in the suppression of demonstrations. In Latakia, clashes have also erupted along sectarian lines. Lebanese and Iranian involvement, however, seems improbable; the rising tensions are likely an exp

Summit of Peacemakers Final Statement (13 March 1996) 454 Camp David Statement (25 July 2000) 456 Remarks by US President Bill Clinton and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in Delivery of Joint Statements at the Conclusion of the Middle East Peace Summit (17 October 2000) 458 Clinton Parameters (23 December 200

, establishing the Multilateral Force and Observers (MFO). 7 August 1981 Fahd Plan. 6 October 1981 Assassination of President Sadat. Vice President Mubarak succeeds him. 14 December 1981 The Israel Knesset passes a law annexing the Golan Heights. 17 December 1981 UN Security Council Resolution 497 (Gol

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Lebanon and Iraq. In addition, Gadhafi used heavy weapons from the start, but Assad hasn't. SPIEGEL: Yet tanks have been deployed in Hama, Homs and Latakia for some time. Elaraby: When I flew to Syria 10 days after taking office, they also tried to tell me that there had been no riots in Aleppo or Damas

e of authentic Islamic currents in the Middle East, and as locked in combat until the end with the west and its clients. These included Saudi Arabia, Hosni Mubarak's Egypt, and above all, Israel. However, the alliance always had a rather obvious flaw: while presenting itself as an inclusive, representative camp, i

d on them, the young Arabs instead criticized how America reacted to them. (President Obama’s failure to support Egyptian revolutionaries until after Mubarak was clearly a goner, and his inconsistency helping Libya’s rebels, but not Syria’s, were both widely criticized.) By taking control of their own fate

gents for the bloodshed -- anyone but its own forces. Civilian deaths at the hands of security forces there, and more recently in the coastal city of Latakia, have outraged opinion across the country, setting alight long pent-up anger at the denial of basic freedoms, the monopolistic rule of the Baath part

erious dent in further Turkish initiatives. Turkey's loss, however, may turn out to be Egypt's gain. Freed from the stagnant rule of former President Hosni Mubarak, Cairo is now expected to play a more active role in Arab affairs. Instead of continuing Mubarak's policy, conducted in complicity with Israel, of pu

eed from the stagnant rule of former President Hosni Mubarak, Cairo is now expected to play a more active role in Arab affairs. Instead of continuing Mubarak's policy, conducted in complicity with Israel, of punishing Gaza and isolating its Hamas government, Egypt is reported to be pushing for a reconcilia

istance between the Army and young democratic activists grew further on April 11, when a military court sentenced the first blogger since the fall of Mubarak to prison for criticizing the military. In the SCAF's March 30 "Constitutional Declaration," it became absolutely clear that, unlike Tunisia, the par

nd family, chose to go into exile before a single shot had been fired. In Egypt, if press reports are to be believed, the generals unseated President Hosni Mubarak after tank commanders refused his orders to fire on civilians. The Egyptian revolution, which has seen some resistance from the military and police,

ly occasions on which large numbers of people are permitted to assemble-have spread from Deraa to at least a dozen other cities including Baniyas and Latakia on the Mediterranean coast, as well as to the northern city of Homs and some suburbs of Damascus. * With the Alawi-dominated regime under threat, the