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

s; he sent an underling—former EFTA00684183 Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano—to represent the United States as the Winter Olympics in Sochi and a delegation headed by gay athletes to protest a recent Russian law banning gay "propaganda." Obama's sending Napolitano was a gratuitous snub

ia Thomas L. Friedman Article 3. The Washington Institute Avoiding Assad's Forced Solution to the Syria Crisis Andrew J. Tabler Article 4. Now Lebanon Does the US seek an Arab-Iranian "equilibrium?" Hussein Ibish Article 5. The Christian Science Monitor As Egypt squeezes Gaza, Hamas looks incre

te-led Iran as well EFTA00651249 as Russia, which is fighting extremists in the Caucasus and worrying about attacks during the Winter Olympics in Sochi next month. Mr. Zarif acknowledged this problem generally, asserting that "the continuation of this tragedy in Syria can only provide the best bree

Daily Star, and Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, in Beirut, Lebanon. Article 3 Project-Syndicate Middle East Frenemies Bernard Haykel & Daniel Kurtzer Dec 13, 2013 -- Princeton — The recent interim nuclear agreem

also gain more leverage with the Kremlin as time goes on and as America's footprint disappears in the Middle East. When Netanyahu met with Putin in Sochi last May, he prevailed upon him not to deliver S- 300 missiles to Assad. At the time, Putin reportedly refused to comply, citing an outstanding cont

hakeeb al-Jabri, a Syrian antigovernment activist in Beirut, said on Twitter. Mark Landler reported from Washington, and Anne Barnard from Beirut, Lebanon. EFTA00659673 Article 2. The New Republic How Ukraine will Shape the Future of the Middle East Dennis Ross March 2, 2014 -- Vladimir Putin ha

. No one is going to war over the Crimea, including the Ukraine. But there should be a political and economic price. Not going to the G-8 Summit in Sochi will not impress Putin. He will say he is protecting ethnic Russians and if President Obama and European leaders choose not to go, he will be defia

a Thomas L. Friedman Article 3. The Washington Institute Avoiding Assad's Forced Solution to the Syria Crisis Andrew J. Tabler Article 4. Now Lebanon Does the US seek an Arab-Iranian "equilibrium?" Hussein Ibish Articles. The Christian Science Monitor As Egypt squeezes Gaza, Hamas looks incre

threat to Shiite-led Iran as well as Russia, which is fighting extremists in the Caucasus and worrying about attacks during the Winter Olympics in Sochi next month. Mr. Zarif acknowledged this problem generally, asserting that "the continuation of this tragedy in Syria can only provide the best bre

rgely because Hamas's patron, Iran, has ordered that they lie fallow. So while Hezbollah and Hamas are managing to keep Israeli gas out of Gaza and Lebanon, at least for now, Israel is opting instead to pump to the West Bank. Noble already signed a 20-year contract to supply the Palestine Power Company

en muscled its tiny neighbor, eventually waging a war that ended with Russia taking control of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In a recent Letter from Sochi, I tried to describe Putin's motivations: his resentment of Western triumphalism and American power, after 1991; his paranoia that Washington is so

n the West, but no one in the Middle East buys Iran's projection of pacifism. Indeed, Tehran's direct involvement in Sunni-Shiite carnage in Syria, Lebanon and has sharpened its image. Iran's breakout capability will be pivotal in regional assessments, with most governments likely to conclude that if

a's Aim in Ukraine? Ed t o r a 1 EFTA00684250 Feb. 28, 2014 -- President Vladimir Putin of Russia played the genial host at the Olympic Games in Sochi, but his dangerous approach to geopolitics could be his true legacy. On Friday, Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Yuriy Sergeyev, said t

11, 2014 -- The unrest in Syria has quickly spiraled beyond a sectarian civil war and into a regional crisis. Two million refugees have poured into Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey at a rate surpassing several thousand a day, with more than 6.5 million displaced overall. Iran and Saudi Arabia are doin

rity Service and Foreign Intelligence Service have been collecting files on Ukrainians for a long time. We would expect that after the Olympics in Sochi, the Russians could play their trump cards. On the other hand, even if the play fails, the United States will have demonstrated that it is back in

cumbency, even if only over half a country that will emerge from the war deeply wounded and polarised. Iran's relations with Syria and Hizbullah in Lebanon are the most tangible and lasting regional successes of the Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah in 1979. A strong political relationship wi

in when he travelled to the republic in 2012. The emergence of ethnic Russian jihadists poses a threat to not only the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, but also to Russia as a whole. The jihadist movement spread from the borders of the North Caucasus republics and expanded into Russia proper long

d pose a deep threat. The country is insecure, ideological and meddles in its neighbours' affairs. Both Iran and its proxies—including Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza—might act even more brazenly than they do now. The danger is keenly felt by Israel, surrounded by threats and especially vulnera

s expansionist ambitions; and the rise of political Islam across the Arab world. These were among the topics vigorously debated at a conference at Sochi on Russia's Black Sea coast, held on 17-18 February in the grandiose marble halls of a 22-hectare resort -- with its own elevator to the beach belo