Free Republic

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly survived what European press are calling an assassination attempt Thursday afternoon as she was visiting the Czech Republic. Merkel was leaving the airport in Prague when a man with weapons "attempted to join the motorcade" in a Mercedes and began to "run down police" while doing so, the Sun reported. "He is suspected of attempting to cause a crime — specifically, an attempt to use violence against an official," Josef Bocan, a spokesman for the Czech police, told Express. "He tried to join the procession at all costs, cutting off a police vehicle that was...

Paul Wolfowitz, a top official in the George W. Bush administration referred to as the architect of the Iraq war, said he will likely vote for Hillary Clinton in November. Wolfowitz is part of a growing list of GOP national security and foreign policy officials who have announced their intention to support the Democratic presidential nominee. But though Clinton has proudly announced the backing of other Republicans, it’s less likely she will roll out a news release touting the support from Wolfowitz. As deputy secretary of Defense under Bush, Wolfowitz was among the earliest and biggest cheerleaders for invading...

Rebels backed by Turkey made major gains Sunday in northern Syria, expelling Kurdish-led forces from towns and villages as part of a determined campaign by Ankara to push the militants east of the Euphrates River. At least 35 civilians were killed, according to activists. The dramatic escalation of Turkey's involvement in the Syrian civil war last week aimed to help the Syrian rebels drive the Islamic State group out of the border town of Jarablus. But it also is aimed at U.S.-allied Kurdish forces that have gained control in recent months of most of the territory along the Turkey-Syria border....

Why would a country with the world's largest Jewish population, outside of Israel, admit large numbers of immigrants from countries where hatred of Jews has been taught to their people from earliest childhood? This question is ultimately not about Muslims and Jews. It is about discussing immigrants in the abstract, rather than in terms of the specific concrete realities of particular immigrants in particular circumstances at a particular time and place — that time being now and that place being the United States of America. A hundred years ago, when immigration from other parts of the world was a major...

At approximately 5:30 AM local time on August 24, 2016, North Korea conducted what appears to be a successful test of a Bukkeukseong-1 (Polaris-1, KN-11) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). The missile was launched from the country’s sole GORAE-class experimental ballistic missile submarine that was submerged off the port city of Sinpo and reportedly flew approximately 500 km before impacting the East Sea (Sea of Japan)—within Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). This was the third test of the KN-11 this year alone and the most successful test to date.

Chinese news source is reporting that President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will announce as early as this week that both nations have "ratified" the climate change treaty inked in Paris last year. The most asked question during the Obama years: "How can he do that without congressional approval?"

Scary. Dangerous. Insane. Those are the words critics, including some key conservatives, use to describe Donald Trump's informal courtship of Russian President Vladimir Putin. For the vast majority of America's establishment, Trump's remarks are simply unthinkable. But what if Trump is on the right track? What if the experts are missing what's truly at stake for long-term U.S. national security? The recent announcement that Beijing and Moscow plan to hold joint naval exercises in the South China Sea next month is alarming given growing tensions in the region. While analysts doubt the detente will result in a formal alliance between...

A group of soccer hooligans in Poland torched effigies representing Jews and displayed banners calling for Jews to be burned in a shocking display during a match last Friday, according to local media reports and a global anti-Semitism watchdog. The incident occurred when dozens of fans supporting the Widzew Łódź side rallied against the town rival ŁKS Łódź, which is often derided as "Jewish" by opposing teams' fans, in a similar fashion that the British team Tottenham Hotspur is regarded.

Hillary Clinton’s rendezvous with scandals during her tenure as Secretary of State has refused to subside yet again – this time linking her and the Clinton Foundation to a donor who allegedly has ties to Hezbollah. When the latest batch of emails sent and received from Clinton’s private email server were released this month, the Democratic presidential nominee faced backlash as they were compared with the portions of her daily schedules released from her time as Secretary of State. A report from the Associated Press found that more than half of Clinton’s meetings or phone calls with government outsiders were...

Critics have been questioning the German Foreign Minister’s recent series of comments about working closer with Russia, with some labeling the diplomat a “Russia sympathizer”. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier continued to push his ideas for détente towards Russia on Monday, arguing for better relations between the two countries at a conference in Berlin. “We cannot simply wish away a Russia that has become immensely more difficult,” he said, calling for Germany and Russia to go from “a phase of confrontation and growing tensions, back to a reliable understanding of common security”. His comments followed an opinion piece he wrote...

The United States does not have the capability to engage Iran in a war on land, air or sea, a top Iranian Navy commander charged Saturday night boasting of his nation's military prowess. "The US doesn't enjoy the power to confront Iran militarily," Iranian media quoted Revolutionary Guards Navy Admiral Ali Fadavi as stating. The remarks downplaying US power came days after an uptick in tensions between Washington and Tehran due to multiple instances of Iranian vessels encountering US warships in the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz. Actions by Iranian vessels in several encounters with US warships in the Gulf...

Attackers rammed a car through the gates of Belgium's crime institute early Monday and set fire to a lab containing crime scene samples, apparently in an effort to destroy evidence, Brussels prosecutors said. As the blaze in the north Brussels suburb erupted, residents heard at least one explosion and Belgian media reported a bomb attack, but investigators said the noise was probably materials going up in flames.

Full Title: Pictures Have Surfaced Of The Real Damage Caused By Ryan Lochte. Photos have finally been released of the alleged damage caused by American hero Ryan Lochte and his teammates. ESPN reporter Darren Rovell tweeted out a picture of the sign torn off the outside of the gas station in Rio. Rovell also clarified that the sign was given to the gas station for free.

Iran has deployed Russian-made S-300 long-range missiles in its Fordow nuclear facility, Tehran Times and other Iranian state-run media reported Sunday. State TV showed the missiles and other counter-strike weapons being transported to Fordow. The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) is a uranium enrichment facility located 20 miles northeast of the city of Qom. The site is the second Iranian uranium enrichment facility, the other one is in Natanz. In January 2012 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that Iran had started producing uranium enriched up to 20%. Earlier on Sunday, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a...

Tehran has deployed a recently delivered Russian-made long-range missile system to central Iran to protect its Fordo nuclear facility, state television said Sunday. Protecting nuclear facilities is paramount "in all circumstances" General Farzad Esmaili, the commander of Iran's air defences, told the IRIB channel. "Today, Iran's sky is one of the most secure in the region," he added. A video showed an S-300 carrier truck in Fordo, raising its missile launchers toward the sky, next to other counter-strike weaponry. The images were aired hours after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a speech to air force commanders, including Esmaili, in...

Full Title: You MUST deliver Brexit: Civil servants are warned by May after former chief sparks fury by saying that leaving EU is not inevitable -Theresa May has ordered all Europhile civil servants to embrace Brexit -She said it was their job to implement the decisions made by ministers -Came after a top mandarin said that leaving the EU was 'not inevitable' -Gus O'Donnell made the comments saying the UK could remain 'aligned' to the EU Theresa May has ordered Europhile civil servants to embrace Brexit after a former top mandarin sparked fury by saying leaving the EU was not...

President Obama is prepared to enter into the Paris climate accord as early as this week even though Republicans have insisted that the pact must be ratified by the Senate, according to a report out of China. The South China Morning Post reported that Mr. Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are “set to jointly announce their ratification” of the ambitious international climate-change pact on Friday, two days before the start of the 11th G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang... Myron Ebell, director of the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, described the report as “curious because ratifying...

The sun shone brightly one morning in Surabaya Port, East Java, setting a-shimmer a sea lined with muted, grey warships docked along the vast harbor. To the side stood one giant crimson-colored vessel, probed and prodded by dozens of men all across its surface still unfinished. "This is a work in progress of the second strategic sealift vessel [SSV] warship to be delivered to the Philippines,” a man dressed in cerulean uniform and white hard hat said proudly. The man, M. Firmansyah Arifin, is the president director of state-owned shipbuilder PT. PAL Indonesia (PAL). He recently took thejakartapost.com team across...

America's terrorist shortage may be reaching an end. If Orlando didn't satisfy you and San Bernardino left you wanting more. If you thought, why can't we have more Boston Marathon bombings, Obama has your back, and your front and any other directions that a pressure cooker full of nails can hit you from. This week the land of Washington, Jefferson and Mohammed Atta will reach a new milestone by taking in Syrian refugee number 10,000. It’s unknown if the TSA will shower him with balloons and confetti once he passes the gate while clutching a Koran and a copy of...

Americans these days are not in a charitable mood when it comes to trade, it seems. The August IBD/TIPP Poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly favor placing restrictions on imports ... Generally speaking, do you think the U.S. trade policy should have restrictions on imported goods to protect American jobs or have no restrictions on imported goods to enable American consumers to have more choices and the lowest prices?