Epstein Secrets

independence, internal tension and imperial ambition. Israeli Geography and Borderlands At its height, under King David, Israel extended from the Sinai to the Euphrates, encompassing Damascus. It occupied some, but relatively little, of the coastal region, an area beginning at what today is Haifa

eft the southern flank exposed. Therefore, by holding the Levant, an eastern power protected itself against attacks from Mediterranean powers. The Levant was also important to any empire originating to the north or south of Israel. If Egypt decided to move beyond the Nile Basin and North Africa eastw

y over nearly 3,000 years. For convenience, we will use the term "Israel" to connote all of the Hebrew and Jewish entities that have existed in the Levant since the invasion of the region as chronicled in the Book of Joshua. As always, geopolitics requires a consideration of three dimensions: the int

fundamental change in Israel's strategic calculus. The loss of a faraway strategic partner and the gain of a EFTA00659893 new one just across the Sinai desert gave rise to a new doctrine, most clearly enunciated by Israel's second great strategic thinker, Yitzhak Rabin. A hawkish dove, Rabin believ

Russia's power and influence in the Middle East and Mediterranean. Israel shares the U.S. interest in cutting off Iran and Russia's reach into the Levant. However, security considerations surrounding the unknown variables of a post-Assad Syria appear to have created a divide between U.S. and Israeli

f emergency when it expires later this month. The United States and Egypt share many important interests, including peace with Israel, security in Sinai, the free flow of traffic through the Suez Canal and cooperation against terrorism. It is important for both nations to keep trying to work togethe

in power. Having no other major clients for its arms-export industry since the fall of Muammar Qadhafi, no other port of access for its navy in the Levant, and an affinity for a secular regime—however brutal—that bills itself as a bulwark against Sunni Arab religious extremism, Russia has deftly kept

al controversies, and major and minor events in the capital, up and down the Nile from Alexandria to Aswan, and along the fringes of the country, in Sinai, Al-Wadi Al-Gadid and Marsa Matrouh. The chaos, aggravated by mounting polarisations between the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the Mu

the rationale for the U.S.-Israel security relationship during the Cold War remain valid today. Israel is a bulwark against radical Islamism in the Levant, as embodied by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and a quiet but effective ally of Jordan. U.S. military support helps bolster Israeli deterren

nquished) had warned days in advance that they were planning the attack. Two days before, Islamist gunmen killed four Egyptian policemen in northern Sinai—an indicator that the insurgency the state has struggled against there since 2011 is far from extinguished. Meanwhile, recent diplomatic gestures i

hborhoods and an attack on Lebanese soldiers carrying out a raid in a Sunni neighborhood in Tripoli. It seems that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which recently renamed itself the Islamic State (IS), and/or its allies have turned their sights on Lebanon. This recent flurry of attacks

blish its video display of the data. • It detailed the spread of operations in Iraq, East Asia (Philippines), Khorasan (Afghanistan and Pakistan), Sinai, Somalia, Syria, West Africa (Nigeria), and Yemen. 9. At least 60 dead in Boko Haram attack: report [FOX News] • At least 60 people have been kill

d be immediately handed over to the judicial authorities. • "These individuals voluntarily joined a terrorist organization that is fighting in the Levant, has committed attacks in France and is continuing to pose a threat to us." • The French government wouldn't confirm how many people may be repatr

ll seek assurances from Egypt not only about llamas stopping all fire out of Gaza but also about Egypt preventing the smuggling of arms through the Sinai into Gaza. Is Egypt up to or even willing to play this role? Much will depend on what matters most to Egypt's new leaders: their ideology or the c

ties to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to achieve political legitimacy. When unrest spread into Syria and began to threaten Iran's position in the Levant, Hamas made a strategic decision to move away from the Iran-Syria axis, now on the decline, and to latch itself onto the new apparent regional tren

ident Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood appear firmly in control . Morsi seized on the killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers in the EFTA00712943 Sinai early this month — an embarrassment for the military and particularly the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces ( SCAF ) — to remove the most senior

ping into the EFTA00712951 disillusionment and disorder of transitions. A new Salafi Crescent, radiating from the Persian Gulf sheikdoms into the Levant and North Africa, is one of the most underappreciated and disturbing byproducts of the Arab revolts. In varying degrees, these populist puritans ar

icy over nearly 3,000 years. For convenience, we will use the term "Israel" to connote all of the Hebrew and Jewish entities that have existed in the Levant since the invasion of the region as chronicled in the Book of Joshua. As always, geopolitics requires a consideration of three dimensions: the intern

ong independence, internal tension and imperial ambition. Israeli Geography and Borderlands At its height, under King David, Israel extended from the Sinai to the Euphrates, encompassing Damascus. It occupied some, but relatively little, of the coastal region, an area beginning at what today is Haifa and

the region. Last week's attack on the Eilat road should be understood in this context. Some are hypothesizing that new Islamist groups forming in the Sinai or Palestinian groups in Gaza operating outside Hamas' control carried out the attack. But while such organizations might formally be separate from H

rned with the fall of the Syrian regime. Syria has been Iran's one significant ally, one strategically positioned to enhance Iranian influence in the Levant. Its fall would be a strategic setback for Iran at a time when Tehran is looking to enhance its position with the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Iran, wh