Free Republic

US Sen Robert Menendez (Dim-NJ) is under DOJ investigation for his connections to Ecuadorian bankers who allegedly stole millions, and, as fugitives, absconded to the US, now living comfortably in Coral Gables, Fla. The US has refused to extradite the bankers to Ecuador. The brothers' role in the collapse of Ecuador's Filanbanco cost the country’s taxpayers millions. Menendez is under DOJ federal criminal investigation for efforts he made using his office to intervene to help William and Roberto Isaias stay in Florida after they were sentenced in absentia for according to NBC news....Menendez acted improperly by intervening with Homeland Security...

Upgrading military aircraft – fixed wing and rotary – is a common operation performed all over the world. You take an old platform, reinforce the fuselage and wings, install some new systems and it can fly for many more years. But what Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is currently doing with its old Kfir fighter aircraft is an exception. The Kfir (Lion Cub) fighter is a single-seat multitask fighter built by IAI. The aircraft was first built for the Israeli air force (IAF). The first Kfir was delivered to the IAF in 1975, and entered into service in 1976. The fighter...

LAREDO - One man from Mexico and another man from Ecuador have been charged with assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Mexican National Jose Luis Zavala-Rodrigue, 22, and Johnny Jose Redrovan-Pesantez, 23, of Ecuador are both in custody. Rodriquez is also charged with conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants for financial gain. Both men are expected to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott Hacker, Friday. The agent required medical attention but survived the attack. Each faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine. Zavala-Rodriguez further faces an additional 10-year possible sentence on each of...

Big Oil: So what happened to the $19 billion judgment against Chevron over rainforest pollution in Ecuador? Seems the leftist lawyer behind it all now finds himself in the dock on a RICO rap for a massive fraud. This has been going on for years, the oft-repeated meme that Chevron, through its Texaco acquisition, polluted the rainforest floor and poisoned its helpless villagers. Activist Bianca Jagger is emblematic of this disregard for fact. In the Huffington Post, she wrote that while she's no apologist for Chevron's accusers, the bottom line is: "Ecuadorian communities were the victims of exploitation by a...

IRGC and the spiritual vacuum of Latin American leftists The following is a glimpse of the kind of thing I often see while researching the activities of the IRGC (writ large) in Latin America. Communism fails to provide for the spiritual needs of leftwing political activists, and the Islamic Republic of Iran seems to have done a pretty good job of inserting themselves and the Khomeinist version of Shiism into that void. (Either that or the IRI is throwing lots of money around and the leftists are whores, which is certainly possible, but for the moment I'll take the more...

The older I get the more I fear that I will not be able to afford to live in the country I was born in and thought I would die in. We're basically left with the choice of burning through all of our savings until we end up living out our days on the dole or selling out and moving someplace with a low enough cost of living to allow my wife and I to live out our retirement in dignity. Right now we are looking at Ecuador based on the positive experiences of friends that successfully retired there and...

Michael Grunwald, Senior National Correspondent for TIME Magazine, spent much of last night trying to find the mythical delete from internet button that many before him have sought out so desperately. At 7:25 P.M. on Saturday, Grunwald offered his opinion on how the United States should solve the problem of Julian Assange and his antagonizing position toward the U.S. Here's the tweet:Looking beyond the fact that Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks and Australian citizen, has never been convicted (or charged) with a crime under United States law, Grunwald's use of the phrase "take out" more appropriately describes a Mafia-style hit...

IAI selling upgraded Kfir jets for $20m Israel Aerospace Industries promises very short delivery schedules for the renovated jets, which it claims are even better than fourth-generation jets. 6 August 13 17:45, Yuval Azulai Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) is trying to sell dozens of Kfir fighter jets to foreign air forces, offering a 40-year manufacturer's guarantee. The veteran jets are equipped with new avionics and powerful radars developed by IAI unit Elta Systems, diversified armaments, updated electronic warfare systems, and air-to-air refueling. IAI has told its sales reps to sell the Kfirs to Eastern European countries that...

America Discredited 06.08.2013 America Discredited. 50771.jpeg Paul Craig Roberts As Washington loses its grip on the world, defied by Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and now Russia, the US government resorts to public temper tantrums. The constant demonstration of childishness on the part of the White House and Congress embarrasses every American. Washington's latest outburst of childish behavior is a response to the Russian Immigration Service granting US whistleblower Edward Snowden asylum in Russia for one year while his request for permanent asylum is considered. Washington, having turned the US into a lawless state, no longer has any conception of legal procedure....

The self-described patriot hacker known as “The Jester” says he will carry out cyber attacks on countries considering granting asylum to Edward Snowden. Beginning early Monday, The Jester hacked into several government websites in Ecuador as reports circulated that Snowden, who divulged secrets on the National Security Agency’s spying programs, could be headed there. With Venezuela emerging as a possible landing spot for Snowden, The Jester told FoxNews.com he could turn his attention to that South American country. “These are enemies and I that's how I will be treating them, and anyone who facilitates them,” The Jester told FoxNews.com in...

EXCERPT ... Snowden said the United States was illegally persecuting him for revealing its electronic surveillance programme, PRISM. He also thanked Ecuador for helping him get to Russia and for examining his asylum request.

<p>San Francisco — Faced with a $19 billion fine for polluting Ecuador’s rainforest, Chevron Corp. has done a remarkable job of turning the tables on its foes.</p> <p>The lawyers who sued Chevron in Ecuador, winning that eye-popping judgment, have come under non-stop attack from the oil company. Chevron has hauled them into court in New York, accusing them of fraud and extortion. The company has gone after Ecuador’s judicial system as well, claiming judges there conspired with the other side.</p>

Tensions continue to simmer between Washington and Quito over the Edward Snowden affair. After the United States threatened to eliminate special trade benefits with Ecuador, the South American country unilaterally moved on Thursday to terminate a trade benefits deal with the country. A short time later, the US said it would also review trade advantages given to Ecuador. For Washington, the latest developments are a further setback in the diplomatic nightmare surrounding whistleblower Snowden, who has been on the run since leaking documents about colossal American and British Internet spying programs to Britain’s Guardian newspaper. Washington’s threatening gestures come at...

Government renounces Andean Trade Preference Act even as Snowden's prospects of reaching Ecuador from Moscow The Guardian, Thursday 27 June 2013 19.56 BST Jump to comments (1069) Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino (centre left). Snowden's asylum request has yet to be processed. Photograph: Edgar Su/Reuters Ecuador has ramped up its defiance of the US over Edward Snowden by waiving preferential trade rights with Washington even as the whistleblower's prospect of reaching Quito dimmed. President Rafael Correa's government said on Thursday it was renouncing the Andean Trade Preference Act to thwart US "blackmail" of Ecuador in the former NSA contractor's asylum...

Imagine how much worse U.S./Russian relations might be right now if we hadn’t had that “reset.” Does this mean Snowden really did get on a plane to Russia? Because if it turns out he didn’t and the whole Russia-to-Cuba-to-Ecuador thing was just a ruse, then we should dismantle the NSA on principle. If they can’t locate America’s most wanted man, who can’t bear to be apart from his computer, after he’s absconded with a treasure trove of intelligence, then they’re not so useful that we need to keep this eye in the sky afloat.

Edward Snowden, the former US intelligence contractor who leaked classified documents revealing US internet and phone surveillance, has asked Ecuador for asylum. The request was confirmed by Ecuador's foreign minister on Twitter. Mr Snowden had fled the US for Hong Kong but flew out on Sunday morning and is currently in Moscow.

HONG KONG — The Hong Kong government announced on Sunday afternoon that it had allowed the departure from its territory of Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has acknowledged disclosing classified documents about United States government surveillance of Internet and telephone communications around the world. snip The Aeroflot agent said that Mr. Snowden is traveling with one other person, with the surname Harrison, but the agent declined to release the other traveler’s first name, saying that she did not have the authorization to do so. The closest adviser to Julian Assange, who orchestrated the release of...

SNIPPET: "Authorities in Ecuador are officially treating the disappearance of an Oklahoma City valedictorian as a kidnapping case, according to family members searching for the teen." SNIPPET: "Classen SAS graduate August Reiger went missing Sunday from a mountain near his Baños resort where he had been staying for the last week." SNIPPET: "The U.S. Embassy says it is in close contact with the Reiger family while the State Department continues to warn of the dangers in the area." SNIPPET: "The family tells supporters in Oklahoma City that roughly 150 people searched for August on Tuesday. Those close to August say...

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange feels vindicated at the moment that his source, Bradley Manning, goes on trial for handing over hundreds of thousands of pages of sensitive material. The US government eschewed a plea bargain (and Manning’s guilty plea to lesser charges) in order to try Manning for “aiding the enemy.” The prosecution made its opening argument yesterday: In an hour-long opening statement for the prosecution on Monday, Captain Joe Morrow told the court martial that the US army private had been motivated by a craving for “notoriety” that had led him to disregard his extensive training and to...

The Jomon culture was mentioned in other news this month. The largest ever genetic study of native South Americans identified a sub-population in Ecuador with an unexpected link to eastern Asia. The study, published in PLOS Genetics, concluded that Asian genes had been introduced into South America sometime after 6,000 years ago -- the same time the Jomon culture was flourishing in Japan. Back in the 1960s, the renowned Smithsonian archaeologist Betty Meggers argued that similarities between the pottery of the contemporaneous Valdivia culture in Ecuador and Japan’s Jomon culture indicated that Japanese fishermen had “discovered” America about 5,000 years...