Epstein Secrets

as Rwanda, but in a strategically more important place. Already it is late, perhaps too late, to prevent Syria from becoming the new Afghanistan or Yemen, home to rabidly anti- Western jihadis. A critical firebreak, the use of chemical weapons on a large scale, has been breached. EFTA_R1_00441459 EF

ing democracy; the so- called Deauville Partnership never got much beyond the stage of rhetoric. I'm told a more ambitious proposal for a concerted Arab Spring initiative was debated within the Obama administration in 2012 but was rejected because it might have been a distraction from President Obama's all

olitical reconciliation and economic growth. There was a halfhearted effort led by France in 2011 to create a sort of collective support system for Arab Spring democracy; the so- called Deauville Partnership never got much beyond the stage of rhetoric. I'm told a more ambitious proposal for a concerted Ara

longest-serving rulers (known at FP as the committee to destroy the world). Not only did angry publics force out aging strongmen in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya -- who had ruled for a combined 116 years -- but a surprising number of dictators from all over the world have kicked the bucket since O

to the 2011 UNAIDS report, both infections and deaths are on the wane. EFTA00700222 Dictator Demographics The jury is still out on the so-called Arab Spring, but the last four years have been an unmitigated disaster for some of the world's worst and longest-serving rulers (known at FP as the committee t

homeini. Why has the Arab awakening produced so few new leaders? Partly because the electoral process is still playing out in places like Egypt and Yemen, and partly because it hasn't even begun in places like Libya and Syria. But these are technical explanations. There are deeper factors at work. O

on has taken. Said Sadek, a political sociologist who participated in the protests that brought down Mubarak last year, says in retrospect, Egypt's Arab Spring was "a mix of a popular revolution and a military coup." "Egypt is in the surgery room at the moment, and in surgery you see ugly things," said Sa

hom? The obvious answer is Iran, Saudi's great regional rival, or one of the three states that the Saudis are most concerned about — Syria, Iraq or Yemen. And it will not have escaped Tehran's notice that the CSS-2 ballistic missiles that Riyadh paraded for the first time last week can easily reach

. Despite those military feats, the foundations of Israeli security have cracked and crumbled rapidly since 2011 and the onslaught of the so-called Arab Spring. Notwithstanding Israel's military prowess, the country's security is growing more precarious on a numerous fronts, and the Israelis are gravely co

vote "showed that there remains strong and bipartisan congressional support for holding Saudi Arabia accountable for its disastrous intervention in Yemen, as well as for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi." The Post says the vote sends "a strong message that the murder of Khashoggi and Saudi wa

is held. The AP cautions that "Essebsi's death while still in office could lead to new power struggles in the only country to emerge from the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings with a functioning democracy and relative stability." Concerns Rise About Potential Chinese Military Response To Hong Kong Protests. The

ountry is going through a transitional period after the revolution. Compare our situation to other countries in a similar situation — Libya, Syria, Yemen, Egypt and other Arab Spring countries. Tunisia is obviously faring much better. It is the last candle still shining in the Arab Spring despite all

a transitional period after the revolution. Compare our situation to other countries in a similar situation — Libya, Syria, Yemen, Egypt and other Arab Spring countries. Tunisia is obviously faring much better. It is the last candle still shining in the Arab Spring despite all the winds that are blowing a

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 itself relevant to the conversation in a changing Arab world -- no small achievement, despite how far short it falls of hopes both

es that neoconservatives were right all along Elliott Abrams EFTA00660812 January 23, 2012 -- There is a sour mood nowadays about the so-called Arab Spring. Armed gangs roam in Libya, Salafists win votes in Egypt, and minorities like the Egyptian Copts live in fear -- as does the Shiite majority in Bah

ng a managed transition, where the existing rulers might agree to an orderly handover of power, a scenario that guided U.S. policy most closely in Yemen, where the long-standing president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, handed over power to his vice-president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, in late-2011. For a time,

py about the current state of affairs. U.S. credibility and its image in the Middle East have taken a real beating. And our policy on the so-called Arab Spring, or what's left of it, is pretty much at sea, largely because we can't shape the internal dynamics of these societies. Still, on many things that