Free Republic

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Tuesday called for the Trump administration to launch a new U.S. military deterrence initiative in the Asia-Pacific region, similar to what is already being done in Europe, as a counterweight to China. The administration could chart a new course with an initiative that includes new military funding to realign U.S. forces in the region, increase combat power, improve bases and add more exercises, McCain said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "I believe there is strong merit for an Asia-Pacific stability initiative which is similar to the European deterrence initiative we've pursued over the...

Yes, until World War II, the Medz Yeghern of 1915 was unprecedented not only in the history of our people, but in the entirety of humankind. An entire people, an entire nation coming from the depths of millennia was killed, was dying.We condemn genocide [genotsid] or zhoghovrtasbanutiun with all our heart and soul.There is and there cannot be either juridical justification or any motion of prescription for genocide.Genocide, be it the horrifying slaughter of Armenians in Der or in the banks of the Euphrates in 1915, or the torturing death by massacre of the other peoples during World War II...

A Greek appeals court ruled on Tuesday against Ankara’s request to extradite three of eight Turkish soldiers who fled across the border to Greece after last year’s failed coup attempt.In January, Greece’s top court had blocked the extradition of all eight men, who Turkey alleges were involved in efforts to overthrow the government. Ankara then filed a second extradition request.The court is expected to rule in the coming weeks on the five cases remaining from the second requestThe three majors, three captains and two sergeant-majors landed a helicopter in Greece on July 16 and sought asylum, saying they feared for...

Obama’s Iran Deal Was Much Worse Than We SuspectedBarack Obama didn’t just undermine our allies with the Iran deal—he undermined his own Justice Department. What if Donald Trump had unilaterally shut down every investigation into Russian espionage, released over 20 suspected Russian spies, struck a deal to get rid of sanctions against Russia—in return for honoring deals that had been signed years before—and then lied to the American people about the entire episode? That’s the Obama Administration’s Iran deal. It might have been the first time the United States has offered extensive concessions to a nation that has continued to...

An Islamic State flag in Gaziantep on the Turkish-Syrian border. An Islamic State (IS) suspect has said he met regularly with former Justice and Development Party (AKP) minister and current Gaziantep mayor, Fatma Sahin, during the height of the jihadist group’s assault on Kobani in 2014.According to a report in the Turkish daily Evrensel, Bahaa Alden Najeep, who is accused of involvement in the Gaziantep wedding attack killing 57 civilians, told police that he had set up the Association for Educating and Developing Syrian Youth in border city Gaziantep upon the request of Free Syrian Army (FSA) officials and that his responsibility was to transfer...

While Democrats and Republicans go for each other’s throats on domestic problems, the nation's defense is one thing they absolutely have to get together on and allocate whatever funds it will take to recruit the best and the brightest, and bring defensive hardware up to and past anything any other nation on the planet has in their arsenal.

Turkish airstrikes on Tuesday morning targeted Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq killing dozens of fighters and civilians according to first reports.Fighter jets hit Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) positions in northeaster Syria’s Derik city (Al-Malikiyah) and Kurdish Yazidi positions in northern Iraq’s Shingal (Sinjar) at around 02:00am local time, according to reports.Information gained by Kom News suggests at least eighteen YPG members were killed in an airstrike on the group’s headquarters in Derik, which is on the border with Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.A radio station and villages were also hit, however the number of civilian casualties has not been confirmed. Turkish warplanes...

PYD co-leader Salih Muslim Democratic Union Party (PYD) co-leader Salih Muslim condemned Turkish airstrikes targeting Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq on Tuesday morning and said coalition forces should not to remain silent on the matter.Speaking to Europe based News Channel, the leader of the largest Syrian Kurdish party said the attack was expected due to the heavy military deployment at the Turkey-Syria border.“There is a tense situation. There were already aerial attacks at the border and reconnaissance flights [by Turkey]. We were expecting this, it is not a surprise. They cannot scare the people of Kurdistan with these attacks. The people of...

NYT: N. Korea's Nuclear Arsenal to Hit 50 by the End of Trump's Term The New York Times says the Trump administration’s urgency in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis reflects concerns about the rapid advances in the North’s weapons programs. The Times report Monday pointed to expert studies and classified intelligence reports that conclude Pyongyang is capable of producing a nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks. UN investigators reportedly found evidence that the North’s factories had succeeded in producing lithium 6, a rare ingredient needed for Pyongyang's push to make a hydrogen bomb. The report says that...

US President Donald Trump (File photo). Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has slammed comments made by US President Donald Trump on the 102. anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, saying it contained “misinformation and false definitions”.Speaking at a commemoration event on Monday, Donald Trump, using the Armenian term – Meds Yeghern – for the genocide said it was “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.”“We must remember atrocities to prevent them from occurring again. We welcome the efforts of Turks and Armenians to acknowledge and reckon with painful history, which is a critical step toward building a foundation for a...

Japan gets real: what to do when the 10-minute missile warning comes BY ERIC JOHNSTON STAFF WRITER APR 24, 2017 OSAKA – With fears growing that North Korea could hold a nuclear or missile test as early as Tuesday, municipalities and prefectures nationwide are responding to a government request to provide information on what to do in the event Japan is targeted. The moves come as the Cabinet Secretariat Civil Protection Portal Site on what to do in case of a North Korean missile attack has seen a surge to about 2.6 million views this month from 450,000 in March,...

YPG commanders and US-led coalition representatives visited the site of Turkish airstrikes in Karakoch, northeastern Syria on Tuesday (Photo: ANF) Airstrikes by the Turkish military on Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq on Tuesday has put the operation to capture the Islamic State (IS) stronghold Raqqa in danger, according to statements from Syrian Kurdish leaders.Turkish airstrikes targeted the positions of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main group in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is spearheading the assault on Raqqa, killing at least 18 early Tuesday morning, Reuters reported.Syrian Kurdish officials of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northern...

Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, says he has instructed his own attorney to investigate legal action against BuzzFeed, which posted an opposition research “dossier” that accused Mr. Cohen without proof of a conspiracy with Russian agents. Mr. Cohen told The Washington Times that he also is considering a lawsuit against former British spy Christopher Steele, who wrote the gossipy 35-page dossier that the liberal news website posted on Jan. 10. Mr. Steele was paid by a Hillary Clinton supporter, via the Democratic Party-linked firm Fusion GPS, to gather dirt on candidate Trump last summer and fall. GPS circulated...

An anti-Donald Trump “dossier” created by a former British spy and financed by Democratic-linked money has significant detractors: the people accused of crimes in a supposed Trump-Russia conspiracy. Three men — Mr. Trump’s attorney, a campaign volunteer and a tech company CEO — have publicly said that the parts about them in the dossier are fiction. A fourth figure — a Russian diplomat whom Londoner Christopher Steele accused of lawbreaking — said via Russia’s Foreign Ministry that the dossier is fantasy. And there is evidence to back him up. The 35-page dossier by Mr. Steele has taken on critical importance in...

BERLIN — Ivanka Trump is joining Chancellor Angela Merkel and others in Berlin on Tuesday for talks on encouraging women’s economic empowerment on her first international outing as a White House adviser.

The U.S. Treasury announced on Monday that it is putting into place 271 new sanctions in Syria following a chemical weapons attack on April 4 that killed dozens of people, including many children. Treasury said in a press release that the sanctions are “in response to the attack on innocent civilians in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, by the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad,” calling the move one of the largest blocks of sanctions in the history of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

THE US has laid out its red lines to North Korea - and warned it will attack if Kim Jong-un crosses them. America will launch a pre-emptive strike against the Hermit Kingdom if it attacks a military base or gets anywhere near developing a missile capable of reaching the US mainland, Donald Trump's UN ambassador has revealed. The US also warned Crazy Kim's trigger-happy regime against testing any other missiles, any nuclear weapons - or taking any other provocative action.

Open letter signed by likes of Ken Loach, Roger Waters and Young Fathers urges band to join cultural boycottHigh-profile figures from the arts world, including Ken Loach to Roger Waters, have called on Radiohead to cancel an upcoming gig in Israel as part of a cultural boycott. An open letter also signed by the South African archbishop Desmond Tutu and the actors Maxine Peake, Ricky Tomlinson, Miriam Margolyes and Juliet Stephenson asks the band to reconsider performing in a country “where a system of apartheid has been imposed on the Palestinian people”. Also among the 47 signatories are the Wolf...

The head of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan said on Monday he was "not refuting" reports that Russia was providing support, including weapons, to the Taliban. General John Nicholson was speaking in Kabul during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. For some time, American officials have complained of what Nicholson once called "malign influence" by Russia in Afghanistan, but Monday's comments are among the strongest suggestions yet that Moscow is providing arms to the Taliban. Asked about reports that Russia was providing a range of help, including weapons, to the Taliban, who control large areas of Afghanistan,...

Uber Technologies, Inc. has filed 986 labor condition applications for H1B visa and 167 labor certifications for green card from fiscal year 2014 to 2016. Uber Technologies was ranked 124 among all visa sponsors. Please note that 23 LCA for H1B Visa and 3 LC for green card have been denied or withdrawn during the same period.