Free Republic

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister says his country could block land transport to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad if Russia maintains its opposition to stronger trade ties between Ukraine and the European Union. "As you know, the Kaliningrad region is isolated, geographically isolated, so we could apply some measures also to cut something," the Reuters news agency quoted Linas Linkevicius as saying on Wednesday. "Transport, we could cut off trains, but not only trains, also the supply of goods, whatever. It is theoretically possible," the official added. The reporters raised the topic as Lithuania, which currently holds the rotating presidency in...

Azerbaijan seen as new front in Mideast conflict Hezbollah fighters hold a ceremony in Lebanon for Imad Mughniyah after his assassination in 2008 in Syria. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for his killing and anti-terrorism officials say the alleged plot in Azerbaijan was in retaliation for Mughniyah's killing. Officials say they foiled a plot by Hezbollah and Iran to bomb the Israeli Embassy in revenge for the 2008 slaying of Imad Mughniyah. Anti-terrorism officials fear a new militant hub.

Turkey will take all necessary measures to prevent activities in connection with the 100th anniversary of the so-called 'Armenian genocide' to be held by Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ismail Alper Joshgun told media today. He was commenting on the activities that Armenia might hold in 2015 in connection with 100th anniversary of the so-called 'Armenian genocide'. "Earlier, Armenians voiced far-fetched claims and such claims can be expected in the future," the ambassador added. "Turkey will celebrate the centenary of the Battle of Canakkale in two years," he said. He stressed that Armenia's state ideology is...

SNIPPET: "I rarely attend trials, but this one is special. On July 24, 2013, the main hearing in the case of German businessman Rudolf M. and Iranian-Germans Gholamali K., Kianzad K., and Hamid Kh. opened at Hamburg’s Higher Regional Court. The defendants are charged with exporting 92 German-produced specialized valves for use in Iran’s Arak plutonium reactor and arranging the shipment of 856 nuclear-usable valves from India to Iran in 2010 and 2011. The reasons why the UN Security Council has ordered Iran to halt the construction of the Arak reactor are compelling. If this nuclear plant comes online in...

Azerbaijan intends to purchase $3 billion modern weapons and military vehicles from South Korea Baku. Viktoria Dementyeva-APA. Azerbaijan intends to purchase modern weapons from South Korea, said a source in the South Korean parliament, APA reports quoting Hankook Ilbo publication. According to the source, the intention to purchase modern military vehicles was expressed during the visit of South Korean parliamentary delegation to Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani side has expressed wish to purchase from South Korea two submarine boats, mine vessel, transport ship, T-50 training planes, K-9 self-propelled artillery vehicle, drones worth $3 billion. These proposals have been given to the government...

Azerbaijan has reportedly expressed an interest in buying $3 billion worth of weaponry from South Korea, including several items for its nascent navy. That's according to a Korean newspaper report citing South Korean lawmakers and passed on by Azerbaijan news agency APA. Azerbaijan's shopping list reportedly includes two submarine boats, naval destroyers, transport ships, T-50 training planes, attack helicopters, K-9 self-propelled artillery vehicle, drones, and fire control systems. The Azerbaijanis reportedly made clear their intentions during a visit of South Korean parliamentarians to Baku in May. But the Korean story points out two reservations that Seoul has about such a...

An independent Kurdistan is now more feasible than ever. The United States should seize this historic opportunity to support a strong ally in the Middle East – and one of the world’s most prominent stateless peoples. Recent events inside Iraq and Syria have made the moral and strategic case for an independent Kurdistan stronger than ever. Likewise, circumstances have shifted such that Turkish acceptance of a peaceful Kurdish state is increasingly evident. The United States would be wise to seize this historic opportunity and lend its diplomatic weight to the Kurdish cause. As Iraq heads toward an uncertain future, potentially...

Turkey has been dealing with Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region as though it were an independent state, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a statement released on Saturday. Turkey is "dealing with the (Kurdistan) region as an independent state, and this is rejected by us," Maliki said in a soon-to-be broadcast interview with a Turkish television channel, according to the statement on his website. If Turkey "wants to establish good relations, its relations with the region must be built through the gate of Iraq," Maliki said. His remarks come after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited Kurdistan and made a...

ANKARA, Turkey - Top Iraqi Kurdish leaders arrived for talks with Turkish and U.S. officials Sunday on Turkey's plan to send troops into northern Iraq (news - web sites) in the event of a U.S.-led war. With U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) declaring at a summit in the Azores that Monday would be a "moment of truth" on Iraq, Washington has urged Turkey not to unilaterally send its forces across the border if the United States attacks. Kurdish officials warn a Turkish incursion could lead to clashes with their forces in northern Iraq, while U.S. officials...

Turkey has historical interests in north Iraq — defence minister ANKARA (AFP) — Turkey has historical interests in northern Iraq and will not tolerate the establishment of an independent Kurdish state there, the mass-circulation Milliyet on Thursday cited Defence Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu as saying. Northern Iraq “was forcibly separated (from Turkey) ... by manipulating (its) condition at the time,” Cakmakoglu was quoted as saying, referring to the early 1900s when the Ottoman Empire collapsed and Allied Western powers took over swathes of its territories in the Middle East. His statement came in response to a question about alleged plans by...

Iraq's Christian population has been the target of violence for several years.The Christian community in Iraq has suffered great loss in the decade since the U.S. invasion of 2003. Is there a ray of hope now that Iraq's Assyrian, Chaldean, Armenian, and other Christians can find a secure future in the Kurdistan region? This was the possibility contemplated at a December 5 conference sponsored by Catholic University in Washington, DC. Since 2003, Iraqi Christian homes, businesses, and churches have been targets of repeated violent attacks-bombings, shootings, kidnappings, arsons-perpetrated by militias aligned with other religious and ethnic groups. The central government...

Sherkoh Abbas, President of the Kurdistan National Assembly Syria (KNA-S) was the guest speaker at an Interfaith Taskforce for America and Israel (ITAI) luncheon on Wednesday, August 29, 2007, at Philadelphia’s Union League. ITAI’s chairman Charles Kahn Jr. introduced Mr. Abbas and greeted the roomful of participants, which included a number of Protestant clergymen. Rev. William Sutter delivered the invocation. A native of Western Kurdistan (Syria), Sherkoh Abbas is a longtime Kurdish-American activist who has successfully united the Syrian Kurdish movement, and created a coalition of Syrian opposition groups (Kurdish and Arab), whose aim is to bring freedom and democracy...

Thousands of demonstrators massed on streets surrounding Istanbul's central Taksim Square, long a venue for political unrest, while protests erupted in the capital Ankara and the Aegean coastal city of Izmir. Broken glass and rocks were strewn across a main shopping street near Taksim. Primary school children ran crying from the clouds of tear gas while tourists caught by surprise scurried to get back to luxury hotels lining the square. The unrest reflects growing disquiet at the authoritarianism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). Riot police clashed with tens of thousands of May...

ISTANBUL — Police officers attacked a group of peaceful demonstrators on Friday in Istanbul’s Taksim Square with water cannons and tear gas, sending scores of people, protesters and tourists alike, scurrying into shops and luxury hotels and turning the center of this city into a battle zone at the height of tourist season.

Venezuela Receives 13 Russian Armored Vehicles MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) – Armed forces in Venezuela have received a new batch of Russian amphibious combat vehicles, the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Global Arms Trade said on Thursday. Thirteen BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles were delivered by sea to the port of Puerto Cabello, the center said. This marks the first report of an arms delivery by sea to Venezuela since the death of President Hugo Chavez in March. Venezuela ordered a total of 123 BMP-3 vehicles in 2009, with the first delivery made in 2011, the center said. It is...

-excerpt- As far as the Islamic Republic is concerned, anti-Americanism may be even more important than professing Islam. This is why Tehran has forged close ties with the handful of regimes across the globe that, each for a reason of its own, shares that visceral hatred of the US. -exceprt- In the dispute over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, Iran supported Christian Armenia against Shia Muslim Azerbaijan. The reason was Armenia's close ties with Russia, while Azerbaijan had become an ally of the US and established full diplomatic ties with Israel. What mattered for the Khomeinist regime was not Islam but...

"IRAN SPY NETWORK 30,000 STRONG Pentagon report: Iranian intelligence linked to spying, terror attacks" SNIPPET: "Iran’s intelligence service includes 30,000 people who are engaged in covert and clandestine activities that range from spying to stealing technology to terrorist bombings and assassination, according to a Pentagon report." SNIPPET: "“MOIS provides financial, material, technological, or other support services to Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), all designated terrorist organizations under U.S. Executive Order 13224,” the report said. The spy service operates in all areas where Iran has interests, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Central Asia, Africa, Austria, Azerbaijan, Croatia, France,...

The Bashar al-Assad rule in Syria has come under heavy fire from people who believe that the regime must quit over its atrocities. But any attempt by the US-led West to impose a replacement will backfire soon India’s oil-rich western neighbourhood, extending from the Arabian Sea to the Bosporus, is engulfed in conflicts arising from sectarian and civilisational rivalries, aggravated by the meddling of external powers. With an arsenal of over 100 nuclear weapons, Pakistan is today witnessing a period of internal strife, largely arising from the pernicious role of its military establishment and tensions across its disputed borders with...

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev meets with President Obama at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in April 2010. (AP Photo/File) (CNSNews.com) – When American voters go to the polls next month, among those observing the election will be monitors from four countries judged by the veteran democracy watchdog Freedom House as “not free” and another six it regards as “partly free.”The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observers will “assess these elections for compliance with international obligations and standards for democratic elections.”They will also look into voter-identification and other laws which critics have labeled “racially discriminatory.”In a...

BAKU, Azerbaijan — The latest weapon in this country’s ideological war with Iran arrived late last month in an armada of jets from California, accompanied by a private security force, dazzling pyrotechnics and a wardrobe that consisted of sequins and not much else. A crowd of nearly 30,000 gathered to watch as the leader of this mini-invasion pranced onto a stage built on the edge of the Caspian Sea. With a shout of “Hello, lovers!” Jennifer Lopez wiggled out of her skirt and launched into a throbbing disco anthem, delighting her Azerbaijani fans and — it was hoped — infuriating...