Free Republic

Mexico’s foreign secretary is planning an all-out legal assault on any future construction of a border wall by the U.S., to include filing suits in U.S. and international courts over possible environmental, human rights and international treaty violations. Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray told congressional leaders here that Mexico will neither pay for nor cooperate with the wall proposed by the Trump administration, under any circumstances. He called the wall proposal a “profoundly unfriendly” and “hostile” act. “We won’t contribute in any manner, directly or indirectly or financially or in any other form to the continuation of a construction of a...

14-year-old Siviyan Casim was killed in the Turkish airstrike on 25 April 2017 on Shingal, Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. A 14-year-old boy who was killed in Turkish airstrikes on Shingal (Sinjar), in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, has been laid to rest.Siviyan Casim was killed as at least 8 airstrikes, which Turkey said targeted Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases, struck the Yazidi homeland on Tuesday morning.Mother kidnapped by ISAccording to Kurdish Roj News agency, the boy’s father and brother joined the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS), affiliated to the PKK, after the Islamic State (IS) kidnapped the boy’s mother in the onslaught...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday a major conflict with North Korea is possible in the standoff over its nuclear and missile programs, but he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute. "There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely," Trump told Reuters in an Oval Office interview ahead of his 100th day in office on Saturday. Nonetheless, Trump said he wanted to peacefully resolve a crisis that has bedeviled multiple U.S. presidents, a path that he and his administration are emphasizing by preparing a variety of new...

Advice for Trump: Revise U.S. Military Manuals Corrupted by Obama’s Pentagon One of President Donald James Trump’s and Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis’ primary endeavors should be to rollback the damage done to the Pentagon’s military manuals, curricula for training of officers and enlisted men, and the other material compromised by eight-years of political correctness seeping into the military. As part of former President Barack Obama’s mission to “win the hearts and minds” of people who despise the United States of America, including those who live in the U.S., the Pentagon released new military manuals that pleased groups...

Ahead of a meeting of the 27 remaining European Union nations in Brussels on Saturday, Chancellor Angela Merkel briefed the German parliament, the Bundestag, about Germany’s strategy vis-à-vis Brexit. But at least in part, her message was aimed across the English Channel. The chancellor warned London not to expect a deal that would privilege the UK. “A third-party state cannot enjoy the same advantages or be better positioned than an EU member state,” Merkel said. “I have the feeling that some people in Britain maintain illusions in this regard. They’re wasting their time.” That line drew applause from members of...

The United States issued about 40 percent fewer temporary visas in March to citizens of seven countries covered by President Donald Trump's temporary travel bans than it did in an average month last year, according to a Reuters analysis of preliminary government data released on Thursday. At the same time, the data showed that the total of U.S. non-immigrant visas issued to people from all countries was up by nearly 5 percent in March compared to the 2016 monthly average. Citizens of the seven Muslim-majority nations under the bans - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - received...

A Patriot missile intercepted a Syrian drone that entered Israeli airspace on Thursday evening, the army said. According to the IDF, the missile successfully downed the unmanned aerial vehicle over the Golan Heights. “The IDF will not allow any breach of Israel’s airspace and will act against any attempt of infiltration,” the army said in a statement. According to the IDF, the Syrian UAV was under “full [Israeli Air Force] surveillance” while it was in Israeli airspace. It was not initially clear if the aircraft was Russian or Syrian, but the army later confirmed that it was Syrian. The army...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered a stinging speech in the European Parliament Wednesday, asserting Hungary’s right to self-governance and defending its actions regarding immigration and against American financial speculator George Soros. “Despite ruining the lives of millions of European with his financial speculations, being penalized in Hungary for speculations, and who is an openly admitted enemy of the euro, he is so highly praised that he is received by the EU’s top leaders,” he said. Through his organisations in Hungary, and hidden from the public gaze, Orbán said, “George Soros is spending endless amounts of money to support illegal...

Full title: Liberal Austrian President Says Day Will Come When All Women Must Wear Headscarf – In Solidarity With Muslims ”A day will come where we will have to ask all women to wear the headscarf”. Alexander Van der Bellen, the Green Party backed Austrian president, is a politician most people will not have heard of since last December. The former economist made international headlines and allowed the global establishment to breathe a sigh of relief when he prevented ‘far right’ nationalist candidate, Norbert Hofer, of Austria’s Freedom Party, from winning the presidency. Mr. Van der Bellen is again making...

Donald Trump’s former national security adviser is under formal investigation by the Pentagon for his apparently undisclosed paid speaking engagements in Russia, it emerged on Thursday. Retired army lieutenant general Mike Flynn, a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) chief, has attracted the official scrutiny for potentially failing “to obtain required approval” for a Moscow speech to RT, a state-controlled news channel that US intelligence considers an arm of Kremlin propaganda. Acting Pentagon inspector general Glenn Fine disclosed the inquiry in an 11 April letter to the House oversight committee, which is also investigating Flynn. The committee released Fine’s letter on...

A Russian navy ship has sunk after it collided with a Togo-flagged vessel off the Turkish coast on Thursday, shipping agent GAC said. The Turkish coast guard said that all 78 personnel in the Russian intelligence vessel named Liman have been rescued.

PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) Executive Council released a statement regarding the Turkish airstrikes on Rojava and Shengal. The statement by PKK said: “After facing a 'No' from Turkey's peoples in April 16's referendum, the AKP-MHP fascist dictatorship conducted airstrikes on our people's sacred place Shengal and Rojava Kurdistan -the vanguard and fortress of resistance against ISIS fascism- at April 24 night, and struck the positions of YBŞ and HPG and the YPG-YPJ headquarters with warplanes. To begin with, we commemorate with respect all those martyred in this savage fascist attack, and state that they will be avenged and the...

AFRIN- Turkish occupation army has extended its attacks on Afrin canton and is bombarding Mullah Khalil and Çeqela Jorin in Shia district.Meanwhile, the Turkish occupation army is bombarding Çeqela Jorin and Mullah Khalil villages, coinciding with this is the Turkish bombardment on Firfirk and Qerebaba villages in Rajo district which also extended to Maydan Akbis village in the same district.People Protection Units have repelled the attack and responded amid reports of deaths among the Turkish occupation army’s ranks in Shia and Rajo districts.The Turkish bombardment is ongoing.

Two members of the U.S. military were killed in an operation on an ISIS target in Afghanistan, NBC News reported. Another was wounded. More information on the soldiers, including what service they were in, wasn't immediately available, pending notification of their next of kin, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said in a statement Thursday. Trump Tax Plan Slashes Individual and Corporate Rates The operation took place in the Achin area, where the military dropped a massive, non-nuclear bomb called the "mother of all bombs" on an ISIS target in Afghanistan two weeks ago, the weapon's first-ever use in combat. Another...

President Donald Trump's border wall may not be going anywhere right now and one of Mexico's leading candidates in the presidential elections told NBC News she wants to make sure the "useless" wall stays that way. "It's a false solution to a false problem," Margarita Zavala said of the wall through a translator in a phone interview Wednesday. "The wall does not help in any way the relationship between the two countries. The wall is pulling us apart." Zavala, a former member of Congress and ex-first lady (she is married to Felipe Calderon, a former president), is expected to be...

North Korea tells Donald Trump: We will never stop nuclear tests if you don't back off Nick Reilly Yahoo News UKApril 26, 2017 North Korea has said it won’t stop nuclear tests while the US continues with what it perceives as acts of aggression. In a retaliation to a White House statement outlining how the US will apply economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme, a Pyongyang official said the country would not be influenced by outside events. “As long as America continues its hostile acts of aggression, we will never stop nuclear and...

In my case, reporters for prominent national publications have gone after me as a way of attacking Donald Trump and his senior subordinates. Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times, Eli Lake of Bloomberg, Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post and most recently Peter Beinart of the Atlantic have largely ignored the substance of lengthy interviews I have given them, in order to vilify me and the work we do at the Center for Security Policy. In each case, it’s clear these journalists don’t approve of our research and the fact that first Candidate Trump and President Trump have arrived...

Turkey-backed FSA members in Syria as part of the Euphrates Shield Operation. According to a claim made in Turkish media on Wednesday, Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups sold Turkish armoured vehicles to the Islamic State (IS) group, during the Euphrates Shield Operation.A report in the Birgun daily based on military sources said FSA groups given eight tanks and armoured vehicles to enter al-Bab in northern Syria sold or handed over some of these vehicles to the jihadist group.The Turkish Chief of Staff launched an investigation into the matter but no results were gained as the file remains open, the...

It’s unanimous! 7.5 billion to zero! No one in the entire world likes Donald Trump! That would be the conclusion you’d have to draw if you watched the segment NBC’s Richard Engel prepared for today’s Morning Joe on international reaction to Trump’s first 100 days. From the UK to South Korea, the West Bank to Germany, there was amazing consensus against Trump. Among people Engel aired, the best anyone had to say about Trump was British news anchor Alistair Stewart’s observation that at least we’ve literally survived his first 100 days. Said Stewart: there isn’t “all-out nuclear conflict—although it is...

The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering a range of military actions against North Korea, says Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz made the remarks on Wednesday night, after attending a "long and detailed" private meeting at the White House, where all 100 members of the Senate were invited to discuss tensions with North Korea. "The military is obviously planning for a number of options, as they should - minimal military action to more significant action," said Cruz, who ran a failed presidential campaign against Trump last year.