Free Republic

Largely unbeknownst to the general public, executives and top journalists of almost all major US media outlets have long been members of the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).Established in 1921 as a private, bipartisan organization to “awaken America to its worldwide responsibilities”, the CFR and its close to 5000 elite members for decades have shaped US foreign policy and public discourse about it. As a well-known Council member famously explained, they transformed the American republic into a global empire, albeit a “bene­volent” one.Based on official membership rosters, the following illustration depicts for the first time the extensive media network...

(Translation) A delegation from the United States government arrived in Venezuela to deal with several items of a bilateral agenda and continue talks that began in March with Caracas, President Nicolás Maduro announced. According to the information, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez welcomed "an important delegation from the government of the United States that has arrived in Venezuela" and works "to give continuity to relations, to the bilateral agenda," Maduro announced on the state-run VTV [television] channel.

President-elect Joe Biden announced Tuesday he was nominating Samantha Power, a former Obama administration official and key unmasker of Trump campaign staffers, to a top position in his incoming administration. “Ambassador Samantha Power is a world-renowned voice of conscience and moral clarity — challenging and rallying the international community to stand up for the dignity and humanity of all people,” Biden said in a statement. “As USAID Administrator, she’ll be a powerful force for principled American engagement.”

This is getting embarrassing. Kamala Harris used a fake French accent yesterday when speaking with a group of French people. (video)

The Czech Republic has been plunged into uncertainty after President Milos Zeman was rushed to hospital a day after his ally, populist billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis, suffered a shock defeat in the country’s general election. The 77-year-old president, who plays a critical role in nominating any future prime minister, was taken to hospital by ambulance shortly after meeting Babis and appeared to be unconscious on arrival, with someone seen holding up his head.... ...while Babis has conceded that Together won more votes as a coalition, he is still hoping to hold on to power,...

AUSTRIA'S chancellor has been forced to quit after he was named as a prime suspect in a corruption probe just four years after becoming the world's youngest leader. Sebastian Kurz and nine of his associates have been accused of using public money to pay to manipulate polls and to secure friendly reports in the media... ...Kurz became the world's youngest leader when he was elected as chancellor at the age of 31 in 2017. Nicknamed "wunderwuzzi" or “wonderkid" at the time, Kurz topped the poll with over 31.5 per cent of the vote....

A senior US official visiting Islamabad has made clear to Pakistan that the Biden administration has downgraded the bilateral relationship. On the eve of her arrival, the deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, used a public event in Mumbai to lay out in blunt terms the new parameters of US-Pakistan relations, stressing there would be no equivalence with Washington’s deepening ties to India.... ...A planned meeting with the prime minister, Imran Khan, never materialised. Senior Pakistan government officials told the Guardian that there was diplomatic tension between the two countries that needed to be resolved and that Khan was angry...

FRANCE threatened to cut energy supplies to Britain and mocked the nation’s fuel ­crisis as the Brexit fishing row turned nasty. Europe minister Clement Beaune vowed to exploit the supply chaos to try to win more access to UK waters.... ...President Emmanuel Macron is angry that the UK and Jersey denied licences to most French boats that applied... ...No10, meanwhile, said it rejected licence applications only of boat owners with no records to show they fished UK waters before Brexit. Militant French fishermen have threatened to blockade Calais and stop the flow of goods to and from Britain in the...

Ministers are closing in on a deal that could kick China off a project to build a £20bn nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast and pump in tens of millions of pounds of taxpayer cash instead – a move that would heighten geopolitical tensions. The government could announce plans to take a stake in Sizewell C power station, alongside the French state-backed power giant EDF, as early as next month, ahead of the Cop26 climate summit. That would be likely to result in China General Nuclear (CGN), which currently has a 20% stake in Sizewell, being removed from the...

France on Saturday accused Australia and the United States of lying over a ruptured Australian contract to buy French submarines, warning a grave crisis was underway between the allies... ...Speaking to France 2 television, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian gave no indication Paris was prepared to let the crisis die down, using distinctly undiplomatic language towards Australia, the United States and Britain,...

Nancy Pelosi, America's third most powerful politician, warned today that a breakdown in the talks over the Northern Ireland Protocol would be 'problematic' for a post-Brexit UK-US trade deal. The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, who is currently visiting Britain, has been critical of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's approach to Northern Ireland following the UK's exit from the European Union. The pair discussed the issue in Downing Street yesterday and Mrs Pelosi today expanded on her views about the talks underway between the UK and Brussels to resolve issues ... ....Mrs Pelosi, 81, said she felt it would...

President Biden left the White House before noon Friday for a long weekend at his beach house and kept out of sight as the FDA rejected his push for COVID-19 vaccine “booster” shots, the Pentagon admitted it killed Afghan civilians and France recalled its ambassador. Biden didn’t speak with reporters about the trio of political debacles during the less than two-hour trip to his Rehoboth Beach, Del., mansion — or after he arrived. In a forever stain on Biden’s chaotic Afghanistan pullout, the Pentagon admitted it mistakenly killed 10 innocent civilians... ...Biden has made 21 trips to his homes in...

After 15 years of “Merkelism” the German chancellor’s neutral, consensus-building approach means many Europeans accept her country as the EU’s leader – but post-Angela Merkel Berlin will have to radically change tack, according to a study.... ...Even countries with very different policies, such as Spain (45%) and non-eurozone Hungary (50%), backed German economic leadership...Support for Berlin as a potential geopolitical leader, however, was markedly low. Only 25% of respondents felt Germany should handle the EU’s relationship with the US, for example, with support for Berlin taking the lead in the bloc’s dealings with Russia (20%) and China (17%) even lower....

Senior military figures said any move to offer the Taliban support would be strongly resisted by defence chiefs. It is understood that any potential training would take place outside Afghanistan A plan for British Special Forces to train the Taliban in counter-terrorism tactics to stop Afghanistan becoming a breeding ground for extremism has come under fire. Intelligence sources say it has been suggested training teams could be made to work with Taliban forces as part of a future Foreign Aid deal... ...But senior military figures said any move to offer the Taliban support would be catastrophic and strongly resisted by...

Foreign minister warns reviving site traditionally used for diplomacy with Palestinians could be ‘destabilising’ Israel has said a US plan to reopen its consulate in Jerusalem that was traditionally a base for diplomatic outreach to Palestinians is a “bad idea” and could destabilise the prime minister’s new government. The previous US administration of Donald Trump signalled support for Israel’s claim on Jerusalem as its capital by moving its embassy there from Tel Aviv and subsuming the consulate in that mission. It was among several moves that incensed the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as capital of a hoped-for, future state....

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his country can't help the United States with migrants "forever" and that there must be investments in "poor countries" such as in Central America where many migrants come from, the Associated Press reported. López Obrador's comments came after the reinstatement of the U.S. "Remain in Mexico" policy of sending asylum seekers back to Mexico, established under the Trump administration. ... ...The U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to block a lower court ruling ordering the administration of President Joe Biden to reinstate the Trump-era policy of forcing people to wait in Mexico for hearings...

"We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again. ... We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security." So said President Joe Biden at his inaugural address. To borrow from Shakespeare, "His jest will savor but of shallow wit, when thousands weep more than did laugh at it." ...the speed with which the Taliban have seized, retained, and expanded the strategic initiative is devastating. Not just for the Afghan people, but for Biden's credibility as an ally that can be trusted. The Baltic states on Russia's periphery (already betrayed by Biden's Nord...

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- At the start of June, St. Petersburg’s local administration stopped publishing information about how many COVID-19 patients had been hospitalized in the Russian city.... Throughout the pandemic, Russian authorities have been accused of massaging statistics to hide the real scale of the country’s COVID-19 impact. The Kremlin has repeatedly suggested that although it has been difficult, Russia has fared better than most other countries, even as it has neglected to impose tough lockdown measures.... But publicly available mortality statistics, as well as other data, show an ever growing, yawning gap between Russia’s official COVID-19 figures and...

President Joe Biden announced his first political ambassadorships Tuesday, tapping former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to be the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Biden also tapped Morgan Stanley Vice Chairman Tom Nides to be ambassador to Israel. For representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization, Biden selected C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, best known for landing a United Airlines flight on the Hudson River in 2009.... ...For the prestigious, ambassador-rank post of U.S. permanent representative to NATO, Biden has chosen Julianne Smith. A former deputy national security advisor to Biden when he was vice president, Smith also directed NATO policy at the Pentagon....

WITH its private beach and £1,500-a-night rooms, Cornwall’s Carbis Bay hotel will host the world’s leaders at next month’s G7 summit. But as Boris Johnson, Joe Biden, Angela Merkel and Co discuss cancelling Third World debt, they will be doing so in one of the poorest parts of Britain — where thousands struggle to feed their families or buy nappies for their babies... ...Operations manager Joyce Duffin, 47, from Camborne, added that many families face an “eat or heat” dilemma. She said: “They have to choose between paying the fuel meter or feeding their children. “I know someone that doesn’t...