Free Republic

Washington (CNN) - Rand Paul has done something his father never did - top the list of potential Republican presidential candidates in a national poll. According to a new CNN/ORC International survey, 16% of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they would be likely to support the senator from Kentucky for the 2016 nomination. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, garnered 15%, with longtime Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who's considering another bid for the White House, at 11%. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate, is the only other...

Former United States congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul has called on the US to stay out of the intensifying Ukraine conflict, saying it was Western powers that initially stirred unrest there and which continue to incite the tense situation

KIEV, Ukraine, Jan. 16 - As protests here against a rigged presidential election overwhelmed the capital last fall, an alarm sounded at Interior Ministry bases outside the city. It was just after 10 p.m. on Nov. 28. More than 10,000 troops scrambled toward trucks. Most had helmets, shields and clubs. Three thousand carried guns. Many wore black masks. Within 45 minutes, according to their commander, Lt. Gen. Sergei Popkov, they had distributed ammunition and tear gas and were rushing out the gates. Kiev was tilting toward a terrible clash, a Soviet-style crackdown that could have brought civil war. And then,...

It's no secret that establishment Republicans are out to get Rand Paul, but the "darkest secret" on Wall Street, reports Politico, is that they'll happily vote Hillary in 2016 to do it. The Monday piece reveals that Wall Street Republicans won't think twice about voting for Hillary Clinton in a world where Jeb Bush and Chris Christie aren't running for president and Rand Paul holds the GOP nomination. "The bulk of the big money guys are either Big Boy [Christie] or Jeb," said a top GOP donor. "Rand Paul still is a grass-roots phenom and a boardroom horror show." The...

In a crass and ill-timed intervention, the unelected president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy has warned Vladimir Putin that the EU intends ultimately to control every country on the western flank of Russia. In an interview with De Standaard newspaper, Van Rompuy speaks about his “dreams” that all the Balkan states will join the EU. He calls it an “inspiring thought” that in the long term “the whole of European territory outside Russia” will be tied in some way to the EU. He admits he does not know if there is public support for such a move, “But we do...

The Kremlin has expanded a secret list of Americans banned from entry to Russia, and campaign bundlers tied to the LGBT community are on it. The Kremlin has expanded its secret “black list” of Americans banned from Russia to include Obama campaign fundraisers tied to the LGBT community and senior Congressmen, diplomatic sources tell The Daily Beast. Moscow’s list, these sources say, was expanded in retaliation to the Obama administration’s attack on the assets of key business associates of Vladimir Putin in March. The Russian government has been working for months to expand the list in response to the three...

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt held a press conference in Kiev on Tuesday, saying that Russian troop movements into Ukraine would constitute a serious escalation and, even further, the U.S. would respond immediately, UPI reports. He continued, as the Kyiv Post reported, saying that "such a scenario would lead to tragic consequences." At first glance, this sounds like tough talk. In essence, Pyatt seems to be telling Moscow, "if you invade, U.S. troops will stop you." And certainly, with 600 U.S. troops already moved into Poland and the Baltic states, things could get ugly.

TEHRAN - There is a valid possibility that CIA is playing a sinister role behind the scenes to exploit the current Iranian election protests to destabilise the country, observers said. The CIA secret programme involves playing the media (especially websites) as well as having secret agents on the ground in Iran, they add. In May 2007, ABC News reported that the CIA has received secret presidential (Bush) approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, citing officials in the intelligence community. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Bush has signed a "nonlethal...

The Blaze's Investigative Reporting Show "For the Record" has been investigating Benghazi for a year. The hour long special will air tonight on The Blaze TV. Today, on The Blaze Instagram, they have been dropping hints that John McCain may be involved somehow. Link 1 Link 2 Link 3 Link 4

As the Ukrainian crisis has unfolded over the past few weeks, it’s hard for Americans not to see Vladimir Putin as the big villain. But the history of the region is a history of competing villains vying against one another; and one school of villains—the Nazis—have a long history of engagement with the United States, mostly below the radar, but occasionally exposed, as they were by Russ Bellant in his book Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party (South End Press, 1991). Bellant's exposure of émigré Nazi leaders from Germany's World War II allies in the 1988 Bush presidential campaign...

The Times led its print edition Monday with an article based in part on photographs that the State Department said were evidence of Russian military presence in popular uprisings in Ukraine. The headline read: "Photos link masked men in East Ukraine to Russia." ... The Times has published a second article backing off from the original [link at URL] and airing questions about what the photographs are said to depict, but hardly addressing how the newspaper may have been misled. ...

A collection of photographs that Ukraine says shows the presence of Russian forces in the eastern part of the country, and which the United States cited as evidence of Russian involvement, has come under scrutiny. The photographs were submitted by Ukraine last week to the Organization for Security and Cooperation, an organization in Vienna that has been monitoring the situation in Ukraine. Some of the photographs were also provided by American officials to Secretary of State John Kerry so he could show them when he met in Geneva last Thursday with his counterparts from the European Union, Russia, and Ukraine....

<p>The Right Sector played a leading role in January's violent anti-Yanukovych protests in Kiev.</p> <p>The Right Sector is the most radical wing of Ukraine's Maidan protest movement that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February.</p> <p>Activists claiming to be Right Sector members were involved in Kiev's Maidan protests [link at URL] from late November but the group did not attract much attention until violent clashes with police in central Kiev on 19 January, in which it played a leading role.</p>

What if Washington politics were no longer defined by partisan gridlock but instead by a cross-party alliance that forged solutions? The alliance would be unstoppable. - snip - Ralph Nader contends that such a left-right alliance is not just the stuff of imagination but is actually emerging.

According to a statement by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, he is planning to propose a bill that would suspend the US government's aid to the Palestinians. The proposal is said to be a response to the reconciliation between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas-led Fatah and Hamas, which is the militant Islamist group that currently rules the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Haaretz said that the proposal also follows the warnings issued by key Congressional appropriators Nita Lowey and Kay Granger, who has voted to cut off financial aid to the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the Palestinians' warming to the militant...

Opinions about Obamacare are improving even in congressional districts held by Republicans, according to a new poll. But opponents of the Affordable Care Act in those districts still outnumber those in favor of the law. The poll may draw fire from Republicans since it was conducted by a Democratic firm, Democracy Corps. The firm did not comment about how Republicans might view the results, and a representative said there would be a call to discuss the poll Monday afternoon. But attitudes about President Barack Obama’s signature health law are changing, according to the poll, which was shared in advance with...

NEW YORK — The biggest parlor game on Wall Street and in corporate boardrooms these days is guessing whether former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will run for president and save the GOP’s old establishment base from its rising populist wing. The second most popular game is guessing what happens if Jeb says no. Two dozen interviews about the 2016 race with unaligned GOP donors, financial executives and their Washington lobbyists turned up a consistent — and unusual — consolation candidate if Bush demurs, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie doesn’t recover politically and no other establishment favorite gets nominated: Hillary Clinton....

The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly Thursday that the planned national unity government will recognize Israel. The Hamas-led Palestinian government that won elections in January has refused to recognize Israel, end violence, and honor past agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Abbas heads. Abbas told the assembly's annual ministerial meeting that he has recently sought to establish a government of national unity "that is consistent with international and Arab legitimacy and that responds to the demands of the key parties promoting Mideast peace _ recognition, ending violence and...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signaled on Saturday that he remains committed to troubled U.S.-backed peace talks, saying that any unity government agreed with the militant group Hamas would recognize Israel. Abbas’s comments appeared aimed at soothing U.S. concerns about the unity deal he reached on Wednesday with Hamas, an Islamist faction sworn to Israel’s destruction and designated by the West as a terrorist organization. […] Hamas’s opposition to Israel does not necessarily contradict Abbas’s position, as both sides have agreed that the unity government will not include Hamas members but be comprised of technocrats. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

Self-defence forces have managed to repel an attack on a checkpoint in Soledar city in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region after unknown assailants landed in a helicopter and attacked in a blitz operation. Over a dozen of gunmen descended from the helicopter and launched an attack on a defense squad guarding a checkpoint near Soledar. As the unknown men attacked, the militia, most of them reportedly unarmed, was forced to retreat. Following the shootout, the attackers have retreated as well, taking one of the defenders hostage, the local self-defense force told RT’s correspondent Paula Slier who is at the scene. There...