Epstein Secrets

uch less fulfilled, notwithstanding administration pronouncements that the eleven-country "Geneva process" will effect a governmental transition in Damascus. The Atlantic Council's Fred Hof has posed asuestion that many Syrians are surely asking as well: has the US made Bashar al-Assad "an irreplaceabl

nk Prime Minister Netanyahu is legitimately concerned, as any prime minister of Israel has been, about the future security needs of their country," Hagel said. Netanyahu, he continued, "has got a history of being very clear on where he is on this." Hagel, now in his ninth month leading the Pentagon,

h many in the U.S. Senate, by the way), so on a visit to the Pentagon late last week, one of the first questions I put to the secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, was this: Is Netanyahu, in fact, using scare tactics in order to torpedo Iran negotiations? "I think Prime Minister Netanyahu is legitimately con

the US helped convene talks in Geneva aimed at resolving the £yrian civil war. This came only months after the threat of US military force against Damascus convinced the Assad regime to abandon its chemical weapons programme. In both the Far East and Europe, the Obama administration is pushing ambitio

d. They made a joint appearance before Congress in an attempt to persuade wary legislators that the administration had a policy on Syria. Kerry and Hagel should make this a habit. President Obama's foreign policy is suffering from the widespread perception that military force is not an option. Closer

them as accountable for producing results. Kerry has involved himself in none of those things. 3. Play team sports Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel made a joint appearance at the Munich Security Conference in an attempt to persuade the world that America was not withdrawing from the world. They

re was agreed. However, at that time our troops had not yet succeeded in surrounding Beirut. So Sharon broke the cease-fire to cut the vital Beirut-Damascus highway. The present crisis in the "peace process" was caused by the Israeli government's breaking its agreement to release Palestinian prisoners o

exchange with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who EFTA00718129 was in China earlier this month. Yet there were also signs of cooperation when Mr. Hagel was invited to tour the country's lone aircraft carrier and the two sides agreed to hold regular high-level talks on regional security and their ar

le, China's defense minister asserted "indisputable sovereignty" over disputed islands in the East China Sea, in an exchange with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who EFTA00718129 was in China earlier this month. Yet there were also signs of cooperation when Mr. Hagel was invited to tour the country's lone

my, urged in a telephone interview Wednesday that the United States and its allies attack six air bases and three rocket-launching batteries around Damascus. He said that if the United States takes out these targets, his 30,000 troops in the Damascus area "can launch attacks on the rest" of the regime's

questions that Americans have about President Obama's plans for missile strikes. Some answers from Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the plans were clear. In other instances, the answers were muddled; in st

wo attacks aimed at the group. On June 20, a suicide bomber detonated his payload at a checkpoint in Dahr al-Baidar, on the road between Beirut and Damascus, killing a 49-year-old Internal Security Forces officer and wounding 32 others, making it the first suicide bomb to hit Lebanon in twelve weeks. Th

ran and America still agree on keeping Mr. Maliki in power — largely for lack of better options. Despite rumblings in Congress, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has stated that "the question of whether Maliki should step down is an internal Iraqi matter." And President Obama didn't hesitate to send military

among the armed rebels has overshadowed the bigger fight against Assad, allowing his forces to gain the upper hand and make tactical gains in Homs, Damascus and even the rebel stronghold Aleppo. Emboldened, Assad and his henchmen, with the backing of Iran and Russia, have repeatedly reminded the opposit

epeatedly reminded the opposition they will not go to Geneva to hand over power to a transitional government. Last week, the US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, conceded that Washington's approach to Syria is in disarray. Even Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, called on the rebels to "avoid discord

ssion, as do reports that the White House blocked Pentagon and CIA plans to arm the opposition that's fighting to overthrow Iran's client regime in Damascus. An America that won't help proxies in a proxy war isn't likely to take the fight directly to Iran's nuclear facilities. In rejecting Mr. Biden's

one -- that Iran is a faithless, illegitimate terrorist state that will be deterred from building a bomb only by the threat of massive attack. Had Hagel been foolish enough to suggest that the United States offer to reduce sanctions in exchange for Iranian concessions, the White House would have had

ression, as do reports that the White House blocked Pentagon and CIA plans to arm the opposition that's fighting to overthrow Iran's client regime in Damascus. An America that won't help proxies in a proxy war isn't likely to take the fight directly to Iran's nuclear facilities. In rejecting Mr. Biden's of

Foreign Relations puts it, "Khamenei has created a politics where it's hard for him to compromise." But so has the United States. Anyone who watched Chuck Hagel's confirmation hearing knows that it is an article of faith in Congress -- and pretty much a bipartisan one -- that Iran is a faithless, illegitimate t

an one -- that Iran is a faithless, illegitimate terrorist state that will be deterred from building a bomb only by the threat of massive attack. Had Hagel been foolish enough to suggest that the United States offer to reduce sanctions in exchange for Iranian concessions, the White House would have had t

ression, as do reports that the White House blocked Pentagon and CIA plans to arm the opposition that's fighting to overthrow Iran's client regime in Damascus. An America that won't help proxies in a proxy war isn't likely to take the fight directly to Iran's nuclear facilities. In rejecting Mr. Biden's off

Foreign Relations puts it, "Khamenei has created a politics where it's hard for him to compromise." But so has the United States. Anyone who watched Chuck Hagel's confirmation hearing knows that it is an article of faith in Congress -- and pretty much a bipartisan one -- that Iran is a faithless, illegitimate t

an one -- that Iran is a faithless, illegitimate terrorist state that will be deterred from building a bomb only by the threat of massive attack. Had Hagel been foolish enough to suggest that the United States offer to reduce sanctions in exchange for Iranian concessions, the White House would have had t

address that stressed fixing America's broken house, not chasing around the world trying to fix everyone else's. The future of America isn't Cairo or Damascus; it's Chicago and Detroit. Aaron David Miller is a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Article 3. Agenc

array of pro-Israeli forces. They include Congressmen eager to defend Israeli interests at all costs (as was vividly illustrated by the recent Chuck Hagel confirmation hearings), powerful lobbies such as AIPAC, media barons, high-profile Jewish financiers like Sheldon Adelson, a phalanx of neo-con strat