Epstein Secrets

e moderate because they bore the brunt of economic boycotts and military clashes with Israel. Exiled Hamas bosses living in the relative comfort of Damascus, however, could afford to take a tougher stance. But the "Arab Spring" has turned the equation on its head, with longtime hard-liners who had resid

ming its most public fracture since its founding. The Gaza faction sees little reason to make concessions and is particularly skeptical about Hamas Politburo chief Khaled Meshaal's sudden embrace of Palestinian reconciliation with the West Bank-based rival Fatah party, fearing the move will end the group

purpose to his consistently regressive interference in world affairs. That nobody is surprised at his obdurate defense of the regimes in Tehran and Damascus speaks volumes. Dictators support dictators, don't they? At this point Mr. Putin apparently doesn't mind much that anyone should include him in th

he EFTA_R1_00224926 EFTA01840333 Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai, who was hoping for promotion to the all-powerful Standing Committee of the Politburo. The strange thing is that in 1966, Bo and his family were imprisoned for five years, after which they were placed in a labor camp for a further fi

g the Kurdish rebellion movement in Turkey. But that assistance subsided with warming relations between Ankara EFTA_R1_00225768 EFTA01840712 and Damascus in recent years. In the meantime, the region is looking much less hospitable to Turkey than it did two years ago. The Kurdish issue also comes int

Russia is ruled by the Jews. There used to be murky circles in the Soviet Union of my childhood in which it was held that Leonid Brezhnev and his Politburo were Jews. Today's nationalists, monarchists and other "real Russians" like to point out that Putin's entourage includes people with names like Abr

ore than a year, Mr. Assad's government has been committing crimes a=ainst humanity in Syria. As it fights for survival on the streets of Alepp= and Damascus, the risk of unrestrained reprisals against Mr. Assad's Al=wite sect and Syria's other religious minorities is growing every day. Following the ris

less substantial job. His pr=decessors, Jiang Zemin and the late Deng Xiaoping, both kept the military =ost for a couple of years after leaving the Politburo, ostensibly to ensur= a smooth transition. Not since Hua Guofeng took over on Mao's death hav= both jobs been transferred simultaneously. Hua turne