Epstein Secrets

ons. For realists and idealists alike, such independence holds tremendous value as the country contends with a fragmenting Middle East, an unstable North Africa, and a contentious Russia, among other challenges. EFTA00707205 Since 1973, OPEC's "oil weapon" has dangled ominously over the U.S. While Americ

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

write the president's speech in a way that would have protected us from criticism," said Philip H. Gordon, the coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council. "We were trying to be honest and realistic." Mr. Gordon took part in the Saturday sessions, along with two of Ms.

ntagon, the State Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Ms. Rice said she briefed Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel over weekly lunches. Some priorities were clear. The election of Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran presents the West with perhaps its last good c

tt/=011/02/24/AB9dIXN_page.html> February 10,2013 -= As President Obama ponders his second-term foreign policy, he faces jihad=sts spreading across North Africa, Syria dissolving into chaos, Israelis a=d Palestinians further apart than ever, Ira= trending toward civil war <http://www.washingtonpost.com/world

Petraeus-Clinton proposal speaks well of Mr. Obama's first=term security team but also raises more alarm about his second-term choice=. John Kerry, Chuck Hagel and John Brennan all lack the independent standing of Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Panetta and former =eneral Petraeus. They aren't likely to challenge Mr. Oba

means what it says. Only a year after troops withdrew from Iraq, that country is not talked about in Washington, like an embarrassing relative. In North Africa, the US EFTA00683486 military has taken a back seat while the work of toppling Colonel Muammar Qaddafi and driving back the jihadists in Mali has

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

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

t means what it says. Only a year after troops withdrew from Iraq, that country is not talked about in Washington, like an embarrassing relative. In North Africa, the US military has taken a back seat while the work of toppling Colonel Muammar Qaddafi and driving back the jihadists in Mali has been left to Fra

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

it means what it says. Only a year after troops withdrew from Iraq, that country is not talked about in Washington, like an embarrassing relative. In North Africa, the US military has taken a back seat while the work of toppling Colonel Muammar Qaddafi and driving back the jihadists in Mali has been left to Fra