Free Republic

identify Beijing, the Chinese regime loomed large as the two sides emphasized a commitment to work together on issues from defense to COVID-19 vaccine distribution. “I welcome President Biden’s strong commitment to strengthen the India-U.S. Strategic Partnership, which is anchored in our shared democratic values and is a force for global good,” Modi wrote in a tweet following his meeting with Blinken.Amrita Jash, research fellow at Indian think tank Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) and author of “The Concept of Active Defence in China’s Military Strategy,” said that solidarity against intensifying threats from authoritarian China is a “cause which...

The United States and China must find ways to cooperate even if there is no full trust between them because if relations continue to plummet, the possibility of military conflict would have dire consequences for the rest of the world, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said. Speaking during an interview at the inaugural Global Forum on Economic Recovery, hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Lee said if the two countries clashed, "everything is to be lost". "You are going to have a state of tension - anxiety at the very least and conflict possibly -...

When Charlene Warner walks her dog each morning in her neighborhood in upscale Seal Beach, California, she’s terrified she’ll be attacked—not by muggers or gangs, but by coyotes. “They are killing our animals. They are scaring us. I go out every morning with rocks in my pockets, tennis shoes on, mace on my neck, a whistle on my neckand a foghorn on my leash, and I still don’t feel safe,” Ms. Warner said last week in comments before the Seal Beach City Council. She has reason to be nervous. Stories abound in nearby Orange County of dogs and cats snatched...

Some of Russia’s Muslims Seeking to Define a Place between ‘Dar ul-Islam’ and ‘Dar ul-Harb’ 20 April 2009By Paul Goble / Special to The Moscow Times Muslim theorists traditionally have divided the geography of the world between the dar ul-Islam, or “abode of peace,” in which Muslim governments rule over Muslim peoples, and the dar ul-harb, or “abode of war,” in which Muslims find themselves in places with non-Muslim governments and are urged to practice jihad to change that. But some Muslim writers now argue that Muslims living in non-Muslim areas must make a distinction between countries where Muslims can...

* The Islamic view is that Islam came to the world to replace Judaism and Christianity, and all of a sudden a religious Christian president occupies Iraq, the beating heart of Arab history. So when Bush left office, this was viewed as a victory for Allah over the modern Crusaders. * The core question is to whom does this country belong? According to Arab narrative, this has been an Arab Islamic state since the days of Omar, the caliph who conquered the country in the seventh century. According to Islamic tradition, he declared that the country between the Mediterranean Sea...

NEW YORK - NBC News has managed to achieve the near-impossible this election season in getting Hillary Rodham Clinton and George Bush to agree on something. That something, however, is antipathy toward NBC News. Through its unusual public criticism of NBC's handling of Richard Engel's interview with the president, the Bush administration struck at the soft white underbelly of the news division's co-existence with the opinionated personalities of MSNBC. "I'm sure you don't want people to conclude that there is really no distinction between the `news' as reported on NBC and the `opinion' as reported on MSNBC, despite the increasing...

Reformist Writer Dr. Kamel Al-Najjar: "If the Muslims are Serious About Presenting the Radiant Face of Islam… They Must… Acknowledge Their Dark Past" In January 2006, the Austrian-Iraqi Association for Development held its first conference on extremism and terrorism around the world, in Vienna. The conference was attended by Arab, Muslim and European researchers, intellectuals and diplomats. In the closing statement, the participants made the following recommendations: to present the humane and rational side of Islam which calls for co-existence and acceptance of the other; to condemn all forms of violence and terrorism; to promote dialogue and cooperation among all...

A new group of American Muslims has declared itself committed to moderation, patriotism, and peaceful coexistence with non-Muslims. It's called the Center for Islamic Pluralism, an organization made up of both American-born and immigrant Muslims, lifelong Muslims and converts. If this organization succeeds in being what it has set out to be, it will fill a vacuum many Americans have felt keenly since 9/11: it will be a real counterweight in the Islamic community to jihadist radicalism and fanaticism. In its inaugural press release the CIP declared its intention to "promote moderate Islam in the U.S. and globally; educate the...

<p>Recently I had a disturbing encounter with an anti-Zionist. I'll present the discussion as well as I can, both in hopes that I can respond to anyone else who thinks the same way, and so that I can organize some of the thoughts I was not able to articulate during the discussion itself. I also welcome corrections to my limited understanding of mideast history. I know that my point of view may be different from those who are religious, but please keep in mind that the conclusions are the same -- as long as your world view does not call for the destruction of Israel due to prophecy.</p>

Coexistence is easy when `there are no tanks and no curfews' Thousands of religious Muslims are moving to New York's Haredi neighborhoods. The reason - both communities are religious, family-oriented, modest and shun pork By Shlomo Shamir The Jews of Boro Park and Flatbush in Brooklyn are proud of their neighborhood reputations as right-wing strongholds of Jewish America. Unlike the openly anti-Zionist Satmars of Williamsburg, the religious Jews of Flatbush and Boro Park are overwhelmingly supportive of Israel - and of its right wing. "The Likud and Ariel Sharon would win 98 percent of the vote here," said one community...