Free Republic

Politico has revealed the true price President Obama was willing to pay to secure the nuclear arms deal with Iran. In order to do so, Obama dropped charges against Amin Ravan, an arms smuggler responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq. Daily Mail has the details: Ravan, U.S. authorities believed, was involved with providing Iran with components of bombs that Shiite militias used over a long period of time.

Four RAF Typhoon pilots using the world's most advanced fighter helmet set off for Eastern Europe today as tensions with Russia mounted. Theresa May sanctioned the sending of British RAF resources to patrol the skies over the Black Sea alongside local jets to reassure Eastern European countries in the face of increased aggression from Vladimir Putin. The four Typhoons, from 3 (Fighter) Squadron will lead the deployment, which is part of the Nato southern air policing mission. Pilots are using the new £250,000 Striker II helmet, which boasts in-built digital night vision that identifies enemy targets by red and yellow...

General Motors' (GM.N) Venezuelan subsidiary has sent a message to almost 2,700 staff informing them that they are no longer employed by the company and had received severance pay in their bank accounts, according to two employees. A Venezuelan court last week ordered the seizure of the company's Valencia plant, ruling in favor of two dealers that had filed a case in 2000 against the subsidiary on grounds they had not complied with an agreed sale of 10,000 vehicles. Workers say that before the seizure was announced, GM had been dismantling the plant, which has not produced a car since...

Venezuela is no stranger to protests, but the recent uprisings have rocked the country and stirred questions about the nation’s future.This past week, the “mother of all protests” has seen upward of 2 million Venezuelans take to the streets demanding an end to the notoriously corrupt Maduro regime.Beginning on what would be the 207th anniversary of the country’s independence from Spain, frustrated Venezuelans have taken to the streets demanding change. So far, three Venezuelans have been killed in the marches, hundreds have been injured, and 500 have been arrested.In the span of just over 20 years, President Nicolás Maduro, his...

The Tabqa operation launched by the Democratic Syrian Forces has entered day 32. SDF is tightening the siege step by step, and the gangs are trapped inside. They attacked again to break the siege, but they were pushed back and 72 gang members were killed. At 05.00 yesterday, ISIS gangs carried out simultaneous attacks in Ayid Kebîr and Cub al-Abû Cabir villages to the south of Tabqa, the Military Airport and the surroundings of Icêl village to the southwest and SDF positions in Îbad, Safsafah and Sahil El Xesheb villages to the east with heavy weapons and suicide bombers. ISIS...

Amnesty International says a new decree in Venezuela that says the government can make any of its citizens farm the country's fields in order to combat its current, punishing food crisis "effectively amounts to forced labour." "The decree, officially published earlier this week, establishes that people working in public and private companies can be called upon to join state-sponsored organizations specialized in the production of food," Amnesty International reported. "They will be made to work in the new companies temporarily for a minimum of 60 days after which their 'contracts' will be automatically renewed for an extra 60-day period or...

This morning's strikes by Turkish warplanes on Qandil region of Medya Defense Zones also targeted the villages with civilian population, and the fields of the locals. This morning's strikes by Turkish warplanes on Qandil region of Medya Defense Zones also targeted the villages with civilian population, and the fields of the locals. Footage by ANF shows Turkish airstrikes openly targeting civilian areas.   What is the goal? The Turkish state is known to be after accomplishing its genocidal operations against the Kurds and the dirty policies it seeks to pursue mainly in Kurdistan territory. Turkish airstrikes targeting civilian areas in...

Ivanka Trump is set to make her debut on the world stage Tuesday with her first official foreign trip to attend the W20 Summit in Germany, where she will be received not only as first daughter –- but as one of the closest, most trusted advisers to the president of the United States. While President Trump's nationalist campaign rhetoric may have rattled Europe, his globalist and polished 35-year-old daughter may be able to smooth her father's image before his trip to Europe next month to attend the NATO and G-7 summits. "There is really no greater emissary than a family...

In a letter dated April 21 and addressed to the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region (ANCA-WR), Wyoming Governor Matthew H. Mead has recognized the Armenian Genocide and praised the work of Armenian American grassroots. “The atrocities of both the Armenian and Jewish Holocausts were unimaginable,” reads Governor Mead’s letter, “but it is important for all to remember—history must not repeat itself.” ... “I congratulate the Governor for his courageous stance on this moral issue amid lavish anti-Armenian lobbying in Wyoming, which has included all-inclusive junkets to the dictatorship of Azerbaijan by legislators across our nation, who should know...

Gire Sipi- 15 thousand of refugees from al-Raqqa people fled IS areas after the Democratic Syrian Forces(SDF) opened corridors for insuring their exiting from the areas of clashes. The escaped reached Ain Issa Camp in one batch. The western fronts of al-Raqqa especially in the axis of al-Tabqa city are witnessing a rapid progress of SDF on the account of IS mercenaries in al-Raqqa as the forces have achieved a notable advance in the recent days in al-Tabqa city that the fiercest battles between SDF and IS mercenaries are taking place.As SDF are progressing, the fighters are striving for liberating...

The National Council of Resistance in Iran, a group that wants to replace the current regime with a secular-democracy, publicly released detailed information about alleged covert nuclear activities in Iran. The accusation immediately followed the Trump Administration’s determination that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal. NCRI says that the newly-identified site is in the Parchin military base, the place that Iran has been most resistant to granting outside access to. It is known that Iran working on the high explosives necessary for a nuclear weapon’s “trigger” at Parchin. NCRI says that the effort was simply moved from one location...

A report in pro-government Turkish daily Karar, has claimed that the Turkish army will launch a new military operation to “break up the Kurdish corridor” in northern Syria, within a month.Based on military sources, the report on Monday said the foray will target Tel Abyad town, which is on the border with Akcakale on the Turkish side and held by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The operation will aim to sever the connection between Kobani and Jazirah cantons the report claimed.“Military sources in the region have refrained from sharing detailed information due to security and strategy issues, but the operation will target the PYD/YPG...

Obama's Iran deal was a boost for its weapons program. So why should any of his dirty deals with the Islamic terror state not be a vital part of the same treasonous agenda. When President Barack Obama announced the “one-time gesture” of releasing Iranian-born prisoners who “were not charged with terrorism or any violent offenses” last year, his administration presented the move as a modest trade-off for the greater good of the Iran nuclear agreement and Tehran’s pledge to free five Americans.

A Chinese Christian woman has been accused of belonging to a cult she has no association with and detained for nearly four months despite the pleas of her family. Persecution watchdog China Aid reports that in January, authorities detained Tu Yan and four other church goers. At the time, 2,400 pages of "evidence" were submitted by the prosecutors attempting to link her to a cult called the Three Grades of Servants despite her insistence that she had never participated in a cult. While the evidence was ruled insufficient, new evidence has just been filed against her. When her sister or...

Liberal activist and Hollywood director Rob Reiner slammed President Donald Trump on Monday and suggested that Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election was the "greatest attack" on American democracy since Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. "We've had the greatest attack of this democracy since 1941, and we have to understand that," Reiner said on MSNBC. Reiner also suggested that American society might collapse given the pressure Russia placed on democratic institutions in the country. Japan drew the United States into World War II after attacking its naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, killing...

Far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has announced that she is stepping aside as leader of the National Front (FN) party. The move comes just a day after she reached the second round of the French election, where she will face centrist Emmanuel Macron. Ms. Le Pen told French TV she needed to be above partisan considerations. She told France 2 that France was approaching a "decisive moment"..... Ms. Le Pen used her interview to launch a blistering attack on Mr. Macron, saying his policies would lead to savage globalization and massive immigration, and that he had not shown...

Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) publicly apologized for not properly acknowledging the Armenian Genocide during her tenure under the administration of U.S. resident Barack Obama. Almost every Armenian-American family was touched in some way by the genocide. Ongoing Turkish denial makes the genocide an open wound… I am very sorry that, during our time in office, we in the Obama administration did not recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Power said in a series of tweets. .... Power has faced much criticism for her silence on Obama’s failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and had refused to publicly...

BREAKING NEWS: French Far-right Presidential Candidate Marine Le Pen Steps Down as Head of National Front in Bid to Woo Moderate Voters o The Front National leader quit as she made it to the second round of voting o She will face off against centrist Emmanuel Macron in the final vote on May 7 o President Hollande told voters Le Pen would ruin the economy if she is elected French far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen has announced that she is temporarily stepping down as her party's leader. The Front National leader revealed she would be quitting her role in...

An Italian prosecutor says he has evidence some of the charities saving migrants in the Mediterranean Sea are colluding with people-smugglers... "We have evidence that there are direct contacts between certain NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and people traffickers in Libya"

The political and economic crisis in Venezuela is costing US companies dearly, as General Motors can attest following the unexpected nationalization of its plant there. The big auto-maker shut down its operations in Venezuela and laid off its 2,700 workers after the government on Wednesday seized the plant, which had been idle because of the chaotic market environment. The group had been operating in the South American country for 69 years. GM isn't the only US business to be walloped by Venezuela's crisis.