Epstein Secrets

e worried that he might position himself as another Gen. Omar Suleiman, the charismatic intelligence chief who was the closest adviser to President Hosni Mubarak and ran some of the country's harshest counterterrorism programs. But the ruling Muslim Brotherhood didn't appear to have that fear — at least not

s, among others. Hamas and its allies in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood furiously condemned the attack, but in a throwback to the paranoid style of the Mubarak era, blamed it on the Israelis themselves, claiming a dark plot to sow discord between Cairo and Gaza. The discrepancy between those statements ob

actor with an agenda independent of the mainstream Syrian opposition, given the growing reports of the emergence on the battlefield of various al- Qaeda affiliated jihadist groups. Syria's borders with Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq have become increasingly porous — Sunni insurgents and jihadists once en

risis last year, portraying it as kowto=ing to Israel. In fact, Morsi is under fire from both the left and the right for up=olding former President Hosni Mubarak's obliging approach to Israel, as =ell as for reasserting Mubarak's authoritarian bargain — diplomatic an= financial support in exchange for "stabili

s under fire from both the left and the right for up=olding former President Hosni Mubarak's obliging approach to Israel, as =ell as for reasserting Mubarak's authoritarian bargain — diplomatic an= financial support in exchange for "stability" — with the United States. Faced with a collapsing economy and

th of Iran's involvement in the fig=ting. It is entirely conceivable, in other words, that a post-Assad regime in Syria would be explicitly pro=96a1 Qaeda or even more openly pro-Iran. Either result would be unacceptab=e to Israel. Of course, an extended civil wa= in Syria does not serve Israel's inte

In Egypt, every day it becomes clearer that the Army has used the Tahrir uprising to get rid of its main long- term rival for succession — President Hosni Mubarak's more reform-minded son, Gamal. Now, having gotten rid of both father and son, the Army is showing its real hand by prosecuting American, Europea

ning some very complex and challenging societies to want war with Israel — even if they're not going to help Israel throttle or pound Gaza the way Mubarak had done. The price of joining the Brotherhood mainstream for Hamas may be embracing its terms, seeking political rather than military strategies

out of Syria. Particular attention should be paid to preventing them from being transferred to Hezbollah and Iran or falling into the hands of al- Qaeda. Washington should also develop contingency plans with these countries and the Syrian opposition to prepare a disaster response plan for the possib

regime the country now lives under. Egypt exists in a strange, unpredictable netherworld between military dictatorship and liberal democracy. Since Hosni Mubark's regime was overthrown in February, free media, political parties and civil society groups have flourished; there are daily strikes and street de

overthrown in February, free media, political parties and civil society groups have flourished; there are daily strikes and street demonstrations; Mubarak himself is on trial. But thousands have been summarily sentenced to prison by military courts. Bloggers who criticize the army have been harassed,

erers. It aspires to change global history again by provoking more conflict to set the stage for its new caliphate. The strategy is insane, but Al- Qaeda is determined to pursue it. The 9/11 attacks cost about a half-million dollars to organize and execute, according to the U.S. 9/11 Commission repor

assimilate Sinai's society into national structures. The second factor was the spread of extremist thought in a religious guise during the Sadat and Mubarak eras. Almost intrinsically hostile to many domestic and foreign policy orientations, that type of thought inevitably spread to Sinai. As the situat

-2009 war in Gaza reinforced negative attitudes against the United States in many Arab states. Likwise, U.S. support for Israel has been used by al- Qaeda as a central theme in its propaganda. Apart from these cases, however, the impact of American support for Israel on U.S. interests has been quite l

ed. The baseline analysis about the Egyptian revolution that many foreign analysts have accepted runs something like this. The effort by President Mubarak to convert Egypt into a dynastic state angered and alarmed virtually everyone in the country. The military, which did not welcome the prospect of a

Pakistan." But is anyone still listening? As Sept. 11 approached in Washington, Republicans and Democrats were talking about the wars against al- Qaeda and the Taliban as an enterprise in need of rapid closure — if not a monumental folly. "Ten years later, we look at the situation, and we say, we h