Epstein Secrets

n Egypt: They were the prime intellectual authors and organizers of the January 2011 demonstrations that brought down the military-backed regime of Hosni Mubarak. They are leftist, secular intellectuals who have devoted their adult lives to fighting for human rights as the West conceives of them: free speech

ance with such democratic dissidents. When I saw him last week, he was despairing about the disastrous results of Obama's decision to embrace first Mubarak, then Morsi and now Sissi. "Today in Egypt people believe that America is on the side of freedom even less than they did in the time of Mubarak," S

not long after Kerry proclaimed that "the road map" to democracy "is being carried out to the best of our perception." On Dec. 22, Maher, Adel and Douma were sentenced to three years of imprisonment. Their real crime is known to everyone in Egypt: They were the prime intellectual authors and organi

here is more instability and America is less supported by the Egyptian people." EFTA00684512 Why not make it a U.S. priority to free Maher, Adel, Douma and Abdel Fattah and to help them and people like them organize a genuinely democratic mass movement? That used to be dismissed as unrealistic; Eg

broad, where everyone obtains a share of power and wealth. Perhaps the reformists' aims were too ambitious. For example, in Egypt, after many years Mubarak finally agreed to the idea of amending the constitution; however, by the time the amendments were done, little had changed. The conservatives had

h Abu Ismail, others described a broader reason for the protests: a rising fear that the military council which has ruled Egypt since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak more than a year ago will refuse to cede power to civilian leaders next month. The council, known by its acronym SCAF (Supreme Council of Armed Fo

ures by pro-Assad hit squads, U.S. officials said. Anti-government activists reported renewed shelling by government tanks on Friday in the city of Douma, near Damascus, as well as snipers firing at protesters from rooftops. Intelligence assessments, meanwhile, show scant progress by Assad toward im

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

Middle East Update March 28-April 12, 2011 Syria Last Friday, Syria witnessed widespread demonstrations. Protests took place in Dara'a, Qamishli, Douma, Hasaka, Banias, Homs, Harasta, and Hama. The security forces reacted with brutal force. Estimates of fatalities range from 37 to 42, most of them

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

the opposition didn't succeed in organizing a major march in the capital. But a crowd of no more than 600 marched from Damascus to the nearby town of Douma, where security forces have killed at least 30 demonstrators in the past two weeks. Yesterday was a success for the opposition. It managed to defy t