Epstein Secrets

arouf is high-school graduate who served in a tank unit during his two-year mandatory service in the Syrian army and then worked in construction in Lebanon. Maarouf appears to have two qualities that have been missing among the moderate opposition. First, he has been a successful field commander. Seco

uld like to see happen. But Obama—again prodded, perhaps, by Republican critics—has inserted Putin into that pantheon of demonic foes that includes Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, Saddam Hussein, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. That has obscured past areas of cooperation, and made future cooperation much less likely. Ka

sands of scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs and others in the middle class left Venezuela, even as large numbers of immigrants from Haiti, China and Lebanon put down stakes here. The homicide rate soared under his rule, turning Caracas into one of the world's most dangerous cities. Armed gangs lorded o

curbing American influence. He breathed life into Cuba, the hemisphere's only Communist nation, with economic assistance; its revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, was not only an ally but also an inspiration. He forged a Bolivarian alliance with some of Latin America's energy-exporting nations, like Ecuador a

n meeting with the FSA for six months, why does it still not know who makes up the Syrian opposition? As Tony Badran explains in his column for NOW Lebanon today, "we've heard senior officials in the Obama administration, from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to UN Ambassador Susan Rice, say that ar

even more complex challenge for American policy makers than the Cuban missile crisis was. In 1962, only two players were allowed at the main table. Fidel Castro, the Cuban prime minister, sought to become the third, and had he succeeded, the crisis would have become significantly more dangerous. Precisely b

e was walking, talking and even work- ing a bit. It compared him to a resistant tropical See CASTRO. SA ► Hostilities escalate ahead of cease-fire Lebanon's Cabinet seems torn over Hezbollah disarmament. By HENRY CHU and BORIOU DARAGAHI Los Aviles news BEIRUT — By air and on land. Is- raeli forces an

directing a crew of Foreign Ministry officials as they worked in the fields to show their support for Castro on his birthday. In his statement. Fidel Castro said: "I feel very haft py. For all those who care about my health. I promise to fight for it," His stability has "considerably improved," he s

he doctor late Friday, saying it believed that the last time the state suspended Schreiber's license, he continued to oper- C Hostilities escalat Lebanon's Cabinet seems torn over Hezboi By HENRY CHU and BORZOU DARAGAHI Los Angeles Tinto BEIRUT- By air and on land, Is- raeli forces and Hezboliah. fi

, here are the key new items and capital jects in the $358 million dget. GARY CORMWO/Saft Phobeophet 1 the Cuban American Club, oast for Cuba's Fidel Castro. expressed similar senti- eating codfish fricassee and black beans, she Castro is either dead rt. See CUBAN CLUB, 48 l• OOLIONVU Kai Ma... w..