Epstein Secrets

tions." He said Iran must halt all uranium enrichment but did not EFTA00701770 say how he would enforce a demand often made by the United Nations Security Council. No one can predict if Mr. Obama's approach will yield a deal. He has had more success at rallying international support behind tougher sanctions —

ns that abut it suggest a process of ethnic cleansing to prepare the way. An Alawite coastal ministate that folds in the port cities of Latakia and Tartus, home to the Russian navy's key warmwater port, may not be viable in the long run, but that doesn't mean the regime's core won't try for one. Even

ident Bashar al-Assad to step down -- even if that formulation is ultimately edited out of the final draft of the resolution pending before the •. Security Council -- it is time to start making plans for the various contingencies that may erupt on "the day after." Most Western policymakers, at least in their p

tal areas around the city of Lattakia -- where, incidentally, the last remaining Russian military base outside the former Soviet Union, the port of Tartus, happens to be located - - are their strongholds. Indeed, during the French Mandate period, there was a separate Alawite state based on these territ

ns that are imposed on Iran may not go away soon. Iran has said they are willing to talk to the P5 +1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany) but nothing has happened yet. Is there any likelihood of any breakthrough? This is a two-way affair. The likelihood of a breakthro

ia's last opportunity to exert leverage in a region where, since the Cold War's end, almost every other country has turned to Washington for arms. Tartus, the second-largest port in Syria, has been the cornerstone of Russian-Syrian naval cooperation since the 1970s. In the past decade, the Russians h

The administration's priority is to hold together an international consensus against Russia, including even China, its longtime supporter on the UN Security Council. While Obama's long-term approach takes shape, though, a quiet debate has roiled his administration over how far to go in the short term. EFTA0068

ntrymen. Russia ignores European and American disapproval and does what's necessary to maintain its Mediterranean naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus, and pretends to continue as a rival to the power of the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. The conduct of the United States has been

ia will keep the Soviet-era naval base in Tartus on Syria's Mediterranean coast. While the disagreement on Libya led to Russia's abstention in the Security Council and was soon forgotten, the spat over Syria will poison Moscow's relationship with Washington, its European allies and Sunni Arab states. The Obam

he United States lacks after letting the Mubarak regime go down quickly. The real question is whether Russia will keep the Soviet-era naval base in Tartus on Syria's Mediterranean coast. While the disagreement on Libya led to Russia's abstention in the Security Council and was soon forgotten, the spa