Epstein Secrets

f anything resembling a grand strategy, the Obama administration seemed, and still seems, primarily animated by a desire to reduce its footprint in the Middle East. It is in Syria that the puzzling absence of American leadership has served to confirm just how important the United States still is. Without U.S.

Netanyahu is trying to revive demands for international recognition of a "Jewish refugee problem." A few weeks ago,Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon held a meeting at the UN to discuss the so-called "plight of Jewish refugees from the Arab world." The meeting, publicised by the pro Israel media

st Ba=k cities of Ramallah or, as has been mooted, Jericho. The message will be =hat, for all the talk of a Washington foreign policy pivot to Asia, the Middle East is still a US priority and t=e Palestinian issue has not been forgotten. The prestige of a presidential=visit will strengthen those Palestinians who

ns with their most im=ediate neighbours. If that was indeed the motive, it may be paying off. Is=ael's outgoing deputy foreign minister, the hawkish Danny Ayalon, now says Israel should accept the UN's recent up=rade of the Palestinians' status — a move he and his government fiercely=rejected last November.

was amassing arms from countries other than the United States, which led to the 1955 "Czech arms deal" -- the largest transfer of weaponry to any Middle Eastern country at that time and signaled Nasser's drift into the Soviet orbit. Following Nasser's death, Anwar Sadat's consolidation of power and geo-str

idea of negotiating with Iran on the nuclear issue, and, at times, seems in a rush to end them altogether. On Sunday, the deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, told Israel Radio that the United States and the other major powers should simply "declare today that the talks have failed." Of course, it is di