Free Republic

The majority of Russians remain dissatisfied with the progress of democratization in Russia, a new poll has found. The Moscow Times reports that 62 percent of people recently polled in an All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre survey answered that they are “dissatisfied with the development of democracy in Russia.” This number, however, is down marginally from the 73 percent who were dissatisfied with domestic conditions twenty years ago. Meanwhile, those who believe the country is showing progress are largely supporters of the ruling "United Russia" party, are under 45 years of age, and generally active Internet users. [Editors’ Note: Given...

BEIRUT — Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr Wednesday said he would reject any American military assistance to the Lebanese army if it comes with conditions that the weapons not be used against Israel. Murr was commenting on the decision by a US congressman to suspend $100 million of military aid to Lebanon over concerns the weapons could be turned on Israel and that Hezbollah may have influence over the Lebanese army. He stated that those who want to help the Lebanese army but place conditions on how their funds or weapons are used, should keep the money. The defense minister's...

The EU has become lax in reiterating the three conditions Hamas has to meet before gaining international legitimacy, a top Foreign Ministry official said Monday, adding that he would not “bet his life” that some in the EU are not looking for a “back-channel” contact with Hamas. Naor Gilon, the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for Western Europe, made his comments at a symposium in Jerusalem sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Gilon’s words come just days after Hamas officials said they wanted direct contact with the US administration, and a couple of weeks after...

The Democrats have been very fond of touting one particular "benefit" of their health care system takeover legislation. Namely, they claim that the mandate which prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions will be wildly popular with the American public. What exactly is a preexisting condition? Unless you happen to be in absolutely perfect health, you probably have a preexisting condition from the perspective of the health care system. If you are overweight, if you consume alcohol or use tobacco, if you wear corrective lenses, dentures, or a hearing aid, you have a preexisting condition. If you are...

President Obama and his Democratic machine has spent the last few months forcing their idea of health care reform through the legislative process. Two of the major selling points used again and again were coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and the guarantee that sick children would be covered almost immediately by the new law. Just two days after the president signed his monstrous health care overhaul into law, we find out he was not even telling the truth about that.

One of the things on most people's health care reform to-do list is fix the pre-existing condition problem. In real life, this problem is a lot smaller than it used to be. For the most part, so long as an individual has continuous health care coverage, he or she can change insurers and have any pre-existing conditions covered. The problem comes when the individual stops paying for health insurance and then develops a health problem. For obvious reasons, insurance companies aren't going to just start covering a person who is already sick or injured. That's like providing auto insurance after...

Nurses Plan Strike Over Swine Flu Conditions At Hospitals October 19, 2009 More than 16,000 registered nurses are locked in a contract dispute with officials at 37 Catholic hospitals statewide and plan to strike Oct. 30 out of concern that the hospitals’ lax safety standards put them at risk of catching H1N1 flu. The California Nurses Assn., which is in bargaining talks with San Francisco-based Catholic Healthcare West hospitals, announced the strike this morning. Local hospitals expected to be affected include California Hospital Medical Center, St. Vincent Medical Center, Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center, St. Mary Medical Center in...

The Acceptable Conditions? The present conditions produce unacceptable problems which are finding greater acceptance. We are living in an ever-expanding mental, moral and social swamp. We are working from a faulty foundation consisting of evolution (man is a meaningless accident of nature, evolved from what?), communism (man is matter in motion and nothing more) and psycho-babble (man is told over and over again that he is not to be blamed for his actions; that he is not responsible). The ever-expanding swamp is further encouraged by needles for drugs, condoms for sex, counseling for irresponsibility, abortion for eliminating the unwanted, euthanasia...

Some time ago many in the Church of Global Warming abandoned the exclusive use of the term "global warming" to describe current climate trends. "Climate change" is the preferred term now, since many weather events in recent years do not appear to fit the perception of what we would see on an unnaturally warming planet. I will continue to use "Anthropogenic Global Warming" (AGW) to describe this ideology. Although atmospheric CO2 concentrations continue to increase, global temperatures have more or less plateaued in the past decade. Since the plateau occurred at a warm average temperature, we've been treated to innumerable...

BAGHDAD, Feb. 13, 2008 – Abas Rashed lives in Arab Jabour, 20 miles southeast of the Iraqi capital, and is a member of the local “Sons of Iraq” security group made up of local residents. He patrols the streets of his community and watches for insurgent activities, he said, because he knows the damage insurgents can do firsthand. Yassen Kodaier Hussein (left), a Sunni living in Arab Jabour, Iraq, and Abas Rashed (center), a member of the local “Sons of Iraq” citizen security group, talk with Alex, an interpreter from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment,...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2008 – The number of troops needed in Iraq, the length of the tours for those troops, the kinds of troops they need to be, and other such decisions rely on the conditions on the ground in Iraq, Defense Department officials said today. Officials in Iraq, at U.S. Central Command and at the Joint Staff are working to assess conditions in Iraq and to plan troop deployments and redeployments for the future, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said at a news conference here. This time last year, conditions in Iraq were terrible. Al Qaeda was growing,...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 3, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here today on a fact-finding mission to get a face-to-face assessment from commanders about conditions on the ground, particularly in the volatile southern region. The situation in the area will be the focus of a meeting the secretary is to attend next week in Scotland. Gates, on his third trip here as defense secretary, told reporters he also plans get input from President Hamid Karzai and Defense Minister Abdul Raheem Wardak, following up his and Wardak’s recent Pentagon visit. The secretary last visited Afghanistan in June. He acknowledged...

CAIRO — Conditions in the US detention facility in Guantanamo are worsening with the sweeping majority of detainees being held in cruel isolation, Amnesty International said in a new reported issued on Thursday, April 5.

BASRA, Iraq, Jan. 19, 2007 – Positive developments in southeastern Iraq may enable British leaders to reduce their troop strength in that region, a spokesman for Multinational Division Southeast said here today. “Our political leaders are saying that if the conditions here continue to improve, we will have a reduction in force in the spring,” said British army Maj. Chris Ormond-King. British officials were among the coalition military leaders who briefed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates here today. Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force Iraq, met the secretary at the airport here, and British army...

Pelosi: 'Permitting Indefinite Detention Under Conditions that Cannot be Challenged in Court is Contrary to Our History and Values'Wed Sep 27, 3:45 PM ET To: National Desk Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor this afternoon in strong opposition to H.R. 6054 -- Military Commissions Act. Three major amendments offered by Democratic Members were rejected by the Rules Committee. Below are Pelosi's remarks: "It's been five years since 9/11, yet not one person who has been directly...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2006 – The activities in the Hezbollah-Hamas battlespace are being manipulated by Iran, directed by Syria and executed by Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon, a senior U.S. military official, speaking on background, said today. The official also spoke about conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said three major movements are coursing through the Middle East. The first is Iran’s posturing for leadership in the region. Iran’s prominence in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, the official said, points to the problem a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the region and world. Iran’s sponsorship of Hezbollah and its moves...

FOB KALSU, Iraq (Army News Service, July 17, 2006) – Living conditions at Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq, continue to improve with the work of Soldiers from Company C, 62nd Engineer Battalion and 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Under construction are a brigade tactical operations center, two battalion headquarters and four additional buildings capable of holding up to 16 companies. The structures will provide workspace for more than 2,500 Soldiers moving to the FOB from Najaf’s Forward Operating Base Duke this fall. “These new work spaces are cost efficient compared to the tents and old buildings we have...

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has imposed three conditions for a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has been waging a deadly three-day assault, a Government spokeswoman says. "The Prime Minister is prepared to finish our operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah releases our two soldiers, stops its rocket fire and if the Lebanese Government decides to implement UN Security Council resolution 1559," spokeswoman Miri Eisin told AFP. The resolution calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the Shiite movement based in Lebanon that abducted two Israeli soldiers on Wednesday. "If these conditions are met, we are ready to cooperate with a delegation from...

CAMP ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq – The lucky soldiers live in air-conditioned "cans" surrounded by concrete blast walls. The less fortunate get hot, moldy tents. They drink rivers of Red Bull and Mountain Dew. On Sunday nights they might eat steak and crab legs. For entertainment, they can buy bootleg DVDs of The Dukes of Hazzard for only $3. Inside the gate, absent the occasional mortar attack, soldiers are relatively safe. But they never go "outside the wire" unless fully armed. Such is life in the American military's forward operating bases, which represent a new approach to war.

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2006 – One day after Iraq's unity government was sworn in, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it's too soon to try to project when major U.S. troop withdrawals might occur. Speaking today on NBC's "Meet the Press," Rice said conditions on the ground and consultations with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government would play the question out over time. "We are going to sit with the new Iraqi prime minister and his team and look at the security situation both in terms of what remains to be done and who should do it," Rice said. The secretary...