Free Republic

US president puts tactical pressure on Venezuela in a drug war.There is nothing like a US aircraft carrier strike group on your doorstep to get your attention. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has noticed. The Venezuelan leader has sent several messages, both official and unofficial, indicating a willingness to talk and seeking to reduce the tension between the United States and Venezuela. One of President Donald Trump’s first diplomatic efforts was to send Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell to Caracas on Jan. 31 to negotiate the return of Venezuelans in this country illegally.US Naval Presence a Message to MaduroSince late...

A cautionary tale from the New York governor's office.A big part of the Biden ‘autopen’ scandal is that we don’t really know who’s making decisions in parts of the government. A signature doesn’t really mean much these days and government has gotten so big and chaotic that there are really complicated chains of authority, yet a lot of the actual work, including even the signing, is down by junior personnelAs you read this story about events in the New York State governor’s office, consider it in line of the Biden administration, and how easy it would be for a foreign...

This address was delivered to the European Parliament in Brussels on November 11, 2025. Europe is in deep trouble today, mainly because of the Ukraine war, which has played a key role in undermining what had been a largely peaceful region. Unfortunately, the situation is not likely to improve in the years ahead. In fact, Europe is likely to be less stable moving forward than it is today. The present situation in Europe stands in marked contrast to the unprecedented stability that Europe enjoyed during the unipolar moment, which ran from roughly 1992, after the Soviet Union collapsed, until 2017,...

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) called on Monday for targeted assassinations of Palestinian Authority officials, whom he called “terrorists,” if the United Nations Security Council approved the US-proposed Gaza international stabilization force resolution in its current form. Opposition MKs also slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the resolution’s potential advancement. The political storm among right-wing and left-wing ministers and MKs alike was centered around the fact that the resolution mentions a “path to Palestinian statehood.” Ben-Gvir said that if the resolution was advanced, “targeted assassinations of senior Palestinian Authority officials, who are terrorists for all intents and purposes,...

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Hamas rejected the United Nations Security Council passing a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, saying it fails to meet Palestinians' rights and demands and seeks to impose an international trusteeship on the enclave that Palestinians and resistance factions oppose. "Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation," the group added.

A short time ago the UN Security Council voted to adopt President Trump's peace plan for Gaza. This is being seen as a big win for the Trump administration.The United Nations Security Council on Monday approved President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, a breakthrough that provides a legal U.N. mandate for the administration’s vision of how to move past the cease-fire and rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip after two years of war.The Council’s vote was also a major diplomatic victory for the Trump administration. For the past two years, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas has raged, the United...

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged countries at United Nations climate talks to take “concrete actions” to stop climate change that is threatening the planet, telling them humans are failing in their response to global warming and that God’s creation “is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat.” In a video message played for religious leaders gathered in Belem, Leo said nations had made progress, “but not enough.” “One in three people live in great vulnerability because of these climate changes,” Leo said. “To them, climate change is not a distant threat, and to...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza won strong approval at the United Nations on Monday, a crucial step that provides international support for U.S. efforts to move the devastated territory toward peace following two years of war. The U.S. resolution that passed the U.N. Security Council authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security in Gaza, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state. “This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the History of the...

Mass migration is leading to the loss of Europe. We cannot ignore this any longer The Islamisation of Germany is on full view in the city of Hanau, birthplace of the Brothers Grimm who gave the world their fairy tales of Rotkäppchen – Little Red Riding Hood – Rapunzel, Hänsel und Gretel and many more. In the central square stands an impressive bronze statue of the two brothers in long dress coats looking over one of the manuscripts in which they put down their enchanting tales drawn from Germanic folklore, culture and history.Dominating the streets leading off from the...

Latin America’s most market-friendly country veers right as surging crime and illegal immigration rattle voters Chileans rallied behind hard-line conservatives in elections Sunday as rising anger over crime and immigration pushes the mineral-rich country to the right, setting the stage for a possible alignment with President Trump.In the first round of a presidential vote, some 70% of voters backed the four leading right-wing candidates. José Antonio Kast, a 59-year-old ultraconservative former congressman, secured 24% of the vote, earning a spot in the Dec. 14 runoff vote.Jeannette Jara of the Communist Party, allied with President Gabriel Boric’s leftist government, placed first...

Four suspected illegal migrants drowned late Friday night when a smuggling vessel capsized in rough waters near Imperial Beach, California. The U.S. Coast Guard recovered the bodies and rescued several others after a “panga-style” boat overturned near Seacoast Drive, triggering a multi-agency search and rescue operation. Four survivors were hospitalized, and one individual was transferred to Border Patrol custody. According to a United States Coast Guard press release, the incident began close to midnight on Friday when the Border Patrol in Imperial Beach, a city just south of downtown San Diego, notified the Coast Guard that a “panga-style” boat had...

MEXICO CITY (Worthy News) – Clashes broke out in Mexico City on Sunday as thousands of mostly younger protesters rallied against “organized crime, corruption and impunity” following the assassination of a local mayor. At least 120 people were injured, authorities said. Smoke rose near the presidential palace as part of the crowd broke through fencing around the historic compound and fought with riot police, who responded with tear gas. Mexico City’s public-safety secretary said “100 police officers were hurt — including 40 requiring hospitalization — while around 20 civilians were also injured.” Authorities reported 20 arrests and 20 “administrative detentions.”...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday publicly questioned whether Israel or another country is pressuring President Trump to conceal the files on late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. “I think it’s a question that many Americans are asking, especially when we saw information recently come out in these emails that the Oversight Committee that I serve on has released, and we saw Jeffrey Epstein with ties to Ehud Barak,” Greene told CNN of her X post. “…Was Jeffrey Epstein working for Israel? And I’m proud to say I don’t take money from AIPAC. I don’t take money from any special group...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Sunday that the Cartel de los Soles, a criminal enterprise titularly led by Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro, will be labeled as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). .@StateDept intends to designate Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Headed by the illegitimate Nicolás Maduro, the group has corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela and is responsible for terrorist violence conducted by and with other…— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) November 16, 2025@StateDept intends to designate Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Headed by the illegitimate Nicolás Maduro, the...

Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy walk together. Photograph: Marco M Mantovani/PA London and Moscow’s rivalry stretches back to the imperial era, but the Ukraine war has brought relations to a new lowIn recent years, Britain has become the villain of choice in Moscow’s eyes. It has been accused of plotting drone strikes on Russian airfields, blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline, directing “terrorist” raids inside Russia, and even abetting last year’s gruesome Islamic State concert attack in Moscow. This week, a new charge was added to the pile: Russian authorities claimed that British intelligence had tried and failed to lure...

Cudde quotes 'Spider-Man,' says SSNs could counter China beyond North Korea U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Cudde stated that if South Korea proceeds with constructing a nuclear-powered submarine (SSN), “it is a natural prediction that the submarine will be utilized to deter China.” In an interview with domestic and foreign journalists held in Seoul on the 14th, Admiral Cudde responded to the question, “Do you believe South Korea’s SSN will play a role in deterring China?” by saying, “The U.S. defines China as a ‘pacing threat’ and expects to collaborate with allies to achieve common goals related...

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday the U.S. “may be having some discussions” with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a potential diplomatic avenue as the U.S. further builds up its military presence near the South American country with the arrival of its most advanced aircraft carrier. Trump didn’t offer details about the possible discussions with Maduro, but he said “Venezuela would like to talk.”The U.S. military has been carrying out a series of strikes against vessels suspected of transporting drugs. The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships, announced by the Navy in...

A Russian victory in Pokrovsk will have a negligible impact on frontline dynamics but a far-reaching impact in Zelensky’s nation After nearly 17 months of attritional combat, Russia is on the verge of capturing the Donetsk battleground of Pokrovsk. By leveraging the dense fog engulfing the city, the Ukrainian military estimates that between 300-500 Russian troops have entered Pokrovsk. Even more ominously, Russia is creating a troop “cauldron” to militarily encircle Pokrovsk and the neighbouring city of Myrnohrad.As Russia inches towards this much-anticipated battlefield success, the mood in Kyiv is sombre. President Volodymyr Zelensky recently conceded that the situation in...

The world’s biggest aircraft carrier and largest warship ever built entered the Caribbean Sea on Nov. 16. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford to the region as an effort to carry out the Trump administration’s plan to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and dismantle criminal networks that “exploit our shared borders and maritime domains,” according to a Navy statement. The carrier’s arrival is considered to be an escalating pressure tactic against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who the United States does not recognize as the legitimate Venezuelan leader based on evidence that he stole last year’s...

As corporation awaits possible action by president’s lawyers, US news organisations offer different lessons about whether to fight or fold At best, the video editing is sloppy. At worst the cuts are a deliberate attempt to harm Donald Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 election.A legal complaint in a US court followed, in tandem with a demand for a massive payout to make matters right.This scenario will be painfully familiar to the BBC but it actually played out months ago at CBS, its sister network in the US. The broadcaster eventually agreed to pay $16m (£12.1m) to make its Trump...