Free Republic

Turkish policy in Syria, where Ankara stands accused of aiding militants like the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) group, is likely to change under a new government, the co-chair of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) said. The comments by Selahattin Demirtas follow a stunning upset in Sunday’s general elections in Turkey, where the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 13 years and is mulling the idea of a coalition government. "Coalition governments will not be able to continue to support groups like ISIL and other extremist groups in Syria," he said in...

Faison will unveil a $40 million campaign Tuesday “through 2016 to persuade moderates and conservatives to join the fight against climate change,” according to Politico. He is also spending $10 million to create a campaigning arm similar to President Barack Obama’s Organizing for Action or Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS. “There’s a lot of center-right Republicans that feel like they don’t have a voice in this issue, and surveys would say they’re eager to share this information to bring other people along with them,” Faison said. “Even in small percentages, that’s in the millions.”

Five of the world’s seven richest countries have increased their coal use in the last five years despite demanding that poor countries slash their carbon emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change, new research shows. Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and France together burned 16% more coal in 2013 than 2009 and are planning to further increase construction of coal-fired power stations. Only the US and Canada of the G7 countries meeting on Monday in Berlin have reduced coal consumption since the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009. The US has reduced its coal consumption by 8% largely because of fracking for shale...

Barack Obama has used the close of the G7 summit in Germany to deliver his strongest criticism yet of Vladimir Putin, lambasting the Russian president’s isolationist approach as the seven leaders signalled their readiness to tighten sanctions against Russia if the conflict in Ukraine escalates. “Does he continue to wreck his country’s economy and continue Russia’s isolation in pursuit of a wrong-headed desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet empire? Or does he recognise that Russia’s greatness does not depend on violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries?” the US president said at the close of the...

Bonn (AFP) - Calls by the Group of Seven (G7) Monday to slash world carbon emissions did little to boost UN climate talks in Bonn, where frustration mounted over the snail-like progress. Groups of countries pleaded for greater efforts to streamline a draft text for a climate pact due to be adopted at a conference in Paris in just over six months. "We are very concerned about the pace of negotiations," said Amjad Abdulla of the Maldives, speaking for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) which are deeply exposed to climate change. "We have not made the big jump...

President Barack Obama said on Monday that he never told his G7 meeting counterparts that the strong U.S. dollar posed a 'problem' for the United States. Having a strong currency typically weighs on the competitiveness of a country's industries and exports. Speaking to reporters after the G7 summit, Obama denied a report by an unidentified French official that he had voiced concern about the strength of the dollar during a discussion of the world economy. 'First of all,' he said, 'don't believe unnamed quotes. I did not say that. And I make a practice of not commenting on the daily...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the Group of Seven wealthy democracies have agreed that the world should phase out the use of fossil fuels by the end of this century. Merkel said Monday that the G-7 leaders committed themselves to the need to “decarbonize the global economy in the course of this century.” That is a technical term for ending the use of oil, gas and coal – but not nuclear power – and replacing them with alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar power.

Live FoxNews Video Presser.

One is the plight of Greece, with the nation's leftist government and its creditors engaged in the latest round of brinksmanship over its debt. Greece is running out of cash, but international creditors are refusing to release bailout money unless the government makes concessions. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, elected on a platform of fighting back against European-imposed austerity, has refused to budge. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, had expected to have a proposal from Tsipras several days ago, but he was "visibly angry," according to The Guardian... A Greek exit would pose a challenge to a beleaguered...

Germany wants to promote structural economic, financial market and tax reform when it takes over the presidency of the G7 club of rich nations next week, German media reported on Sunday. Member states must “join forces to support an even stronger economic recovery”, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and central bank chief Jens Weidmann said in a written message to other G7 members, the Handelsblatt business daily said. […] Germany—the Eurozone’s largest economy—also called for progress to address “the remaining gaps in financial market regulation”, including shadow banks, and on the automatic exchange of tax information. Schäuble also wants to promote...

AbstractOn February 28, Russian troops, aided by pro-Russian local militia, occupied important sites across the Crimean Peninsula under the pretext of “protecting Russian people.” Now Crimea is under Moscow’s de facto control and the Russian parliament has voted to annex the region into the Russian Federation. The failure of the Obama Administration’s Russian “reset,” the unilateral disarming of Europe, and the U.S. reduction of forces and disengagement from Europe have led Russia to calculate that the West will not respond in any significant way. The Administration can demonstrate America’s commitment to its NATO allies and support for the Ukrainian...

Today, the G8 minus 1 met in the Hague and, rather than kick out Russia outright, simply reformed as the G7, thereby punishing (in their minds) Russia for annexing part of the sovereign nation of Ukraine. ("Countries of the G7 end their membership in the G8," read the headline of the Soviet-era wire agency ITAR-TASS.)Really, though, it was the organization--and Russia--returning to a more natural state: The G8 just went back to being the organization it was until 1998, when Bill Clinton invited Russia in, hammering what he hoped would be the final nail in the Cold War coffin. Since then, Russia underwent...

The Group of 7 Nations (G7), formerly Group of 8 (G8) has suspended Russia from the alliance of leading industrialised nations, said the Whitehouse on Monday. This in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, formerly part of Ukraine. Leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom on Monday met at the Hague in the Netherlands where the group expressed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty. “We remind Russia of its international obligations, and its responsibilities including those for the world economy. Russia has a clear choice to make,” said the group in a statement on...

The G7 club of wealthy nations has canceled a summit with Russia over its annexation of Crimea, but emerging economies have protested against its exclusion from a G20 meeting. […] For its part, US ally Australia had indicated Russia might also be excluded from a G20 summit in Brisbane in November. But Brazil, China, India, and South Africa rejected the idea. They said, together with Russia, also at The Hague, where almost 60 countries had sent VIPs to a Nuclear Security Summit, that “the escalation of hostile language, sanctions and counter-sanctions … does not contribute to a sustainable and peaceful...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–Nev.) is facing a revolt among Republicans for adding controversial language to an aid package for Ukraine.The Senate is expected to vote on the Ukraine measure next week. The controversial provisions, which have support of the Obama administration and liberals from both parties, would increase U.S. financial support to the International Monetary Fund.A growing number of Republicans warn that attaching the IMF language would reduce U.S. power while expanding Russia’s influence on the global stage in the wake of its annexation of Crimea.>>> Q&A: Why Do Conservatives Oppose the IMF Reform Package?Yesterday, Sen. Ted Cruz...

Vladimir Putin running rampant in Ukraine showcases how the Obama administration's abdication of global leadership is making the world a more dangerous place. Instead of providing clarity to our nation and our allies, the Obama administration offers tortured semantics. "Kinetic action" glamorizes the failed policy of leading from behind in Libya. A "spontaneous protest" explains the coordinated al Qaeda attack on American officials in Benghazi. The interim agreement over Iran's nuclear program -- described by one of our closest allies as a "historic mistake" -- is in this universe referred to as a display of "international unity." And on Friday,...

President Obama promised Friday there would be “costs” if Russia moved troops into Ukraine, but he didn’t specify what those costs might be. Sen. John McCain has several suggestions for Obama, including the sanctioning of high-level Russian officials; restarting missile defense plans in Eastern Europe; and bringing Georgia, a former Soviet republic, into NATO. McCain said he plans to push from the Congressional side, he told The Daily Beast in an exclusive interview Saturday evening. McCain wants the administration to expand its threat to pull out of the G8 Summit in Sochi scheduled for June. That limited move is unlikely...

Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) preferred plan for Ukraine: let the market fix it. The Texas Republican wouldn’t commit to voting for aid for the country fending off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army — or say whether there would need to be a financial offset to get his support — but argued that neither this nor conservative calls for military exercises are the right approach. Instead, Cruz argued for immediately passing a new free trade treaty with Ukraine and “looking at existing treaties between the United States and Russia, and considering abrogating those treaties.” “More important than aid is expanding economic...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared the G8 to be dead, thanks to Russia’s take over of the Crimea: German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared the Group of Eight leading nations defunct given the current crisis in Ukraine, in a clear message to Russia that the world’s seven other major industrialized countries consider its actions in Ukraine unacceptable. “As long as there is no political environment for such an important political format as the G-8, the G-8 doesn’t exist anymore, not the summit nor the format,” said Ms. Merkel, in Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag. “Russia is widely isolated in all international...