Free Republic

In 1981, Jimmy Carter said the world could never know West Germany’s role in the negotiations for the release of 52 hostages from the US Embassy in Tehran. New research sheds light on the important part the country played in ending the crisis. […] The details of the German contribution, however, remained unclear. Now historian Frank Bösch, the director of the Center for Contemporary History in Potsdam and Spiegel have conducted research in German archives and spoken with period witnesses. This has revealed that the West German government at the time had a “smooth intermediary role,” as Bösch puts it....

Brussels (AFP) - Greece and its creditors were involved in "intense talks" over the weekend to agree on a new bailout before the debt-ridden country must repay 3.4 billion euros ($3.7 billion) to the European Central Bank on August 20. European officials said sticking points still remain despite the progress being made, with a "generally positive reception... towards Greek readiness to vote on reforms this week. "It is ambitious but feasible to come to an agreement in the coming days, preferably by 20 August," an EU diplomat said Saturday.

It's quiet on the beach. Vacationers are still sleeping in their hotels, and the only sound to be heard is of a few dogs barking. Dawn is breaking over Kos. Rasib Ali drags his body out of the water with the last of his strength. His arms and legs are shaking, his lips are blue and his wet jeans and shirt cling to his body. The Greek island of Kos is only a few nautical miles from the Turkish coast. Ali, an 18-year-old migrant from Pakistan, left Turkey in a rubber boat the night before. He traveled alone, unable to...

Greece is on track to complete a draft deal with international creditors on a third bailout by next Tuesday with a possible first disbursement by Aug. 20, a source familiar with a conference call of senior EU finance officials on Friday said. Talks are proceeding smoothly and may be completed over the weekend, the source said. If a draft memorandum of understanding and an updated debt sustainability analysis are ready as planned on Tuesday, the Greek government and parliament would be expected to approve them by Thursday. Euro zone finance ministers could then meet or hold a teleconference on Friday...

In recent months, Germany’s government and intelligence agencies have gone after journalists and parliamentarians in an effort to keep classified information secret. Now, their efforts have resulted in a bona fide scandal for Berlin. […] In recent days, the chancellor, Justice Minister Heiko Maas and Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière have sanctimoniously thrown their support behind freedom of the press. But reality often looks different. In reality, senior government officials and intelligence agency heads in Germany have long been pursuing a policy of intimidating and deterring journalists and their sources. Leaks and whistleblowers are being hunted down and criminalized. Treason,...

Spiraling levels of violent crime perpetrated by immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans are turning parts of Duisburg, a key German industrial city, into “areas of lawlessness”—areas that are becoming de facto “no-go” zones for police, according to a confidential police report that was leaked to the German news magazine Der Spiegel. The report, produced by the police headquarters of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany (and also the state with the largest Muslim population in Germany), warns that the government is losing control over problem neighborhoods and that the ability of police to maintain public...

The RAF Tornado mission in Iraq, which was supposed to be disbanded last March, will be extended until "at least" March 2017. Why has this veteran Cold War combat jet proved so enduring? The cockpit of a supersonic Tornado attack bomber is a much more peaceful place than you might expect. "It's incredibly quiet," says Jas Hawker, a former RAF wing commander who flew the aircraft over Iraq and Kosovo. "The pilot and the navigator could drop their oxygen masks and talk to each other. It's not silent but it's a lot quieter than people think." It also has a...

On July 16, 1945, the United States Army detonated the world’s first nuclear weapon in New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto desert. The test, code-named “Trinity,” was a success, unleashing an explosion with the energy of about 20 kilotons of TNT and beginning the nuclear age. Since then, nearly 2,000 nuclear tests have been performed. Most of these took place during the 1960s and 1970s. When the technology was new, tests were frequent and often spectacular, and they led to the development of newer, more deadly weapons. Since the 1990s, there have been efforts to limit the testing of nuclear weapons,...

According to Germany’s most influential political magazine, Spiegel, Angela Merkel has decided to run for a fourth term in power and has already started talks on who will run her campaign. […] If Merkel were to be re-elected in 2017 and then serve a whole four-year term, she would have been chancellor for 16 years, thus tying Helmut Kohl (CDU), who was chancellor from 1982-1998, as the longest serving chancellor in the history of the Bundesrepublik (the post-1945 German state). …

'Joe Shute reveals how a son’s mission to honour his father uncovered one of the most dramatic - and touching - stories of the Second World War.'

History has shown that when a government wants to solidify its power, it has to turn its subjects into taxpayers. The Roman Empire demanded high tribute payments from every tribe it had newly conquered. And the United States developed from a commonwealth to a federal state when, in the 18th century, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton achieved uniform duties and taxes for the entire union, initially on whiskey, because it was so lucrative. Politicians in the eurozone are now seeking to emulate the historic model from the early years of the United States. The unnerving bargaining over the latest Greece bailout...

Four days ago, French President François Hollande declared his in-principle commitment to the creation of a “euro government, with the addition of a specific budget and a parliament to ensure democratic control.” This is more an opening gambit in a debate about the terms of putative federalization (a term Hollande was careful to avoid), than a statement of French commitment to it at all costs. If some form of federalization comes about, it will not be because the French especially desire it, but because the logic of the Euro ultimately demands it. […] Germany is also in a better position...

"Let me explain first of all — this is Europe's problem much more than ours, OK?" Trump told CNN during a trip to Scotland. "And Europe isn't complaining as much as we are. But this is more of a Europe problem," Trump continued. "And when Europe comes to us and says, 'We want your help, we want your help,' but they're not really doing that. They're dealing with Russia, they're taking in the gas, they're taking in the oil — they're not really doing that. And you know, we're making a big deal out of it." "But why isn't Germany...

When President Obama signed a law yesterday funding federal transportation projects for the next three months, he lamented that the United States did not have a five-year federal plan for transportation—and warned Congress that “big, powerful countries” like the Peoples Republic of China did not do it the way the U.S. is doing it now. “I guarantee you this is not how China, Germany, other countries around the world—other big, powerful countries around the world—handle their infrastructure,” Obama said. …

A German federal court has ruled that the country’s spy agency is under no obligation to divulge to the media a list of names compiled from search terms provided to it by the U.S. National Security Agency. A newspaper publisher sought an injunction forcing the Germany agency, the BND, to disclose information about what German companies and citizens were on the list after the spy agency refused to answer questions. …

The man's clothes were dirty and he was clearly exhausted. He slumped back in the plastic chair and began to cry. "My wife, my family, they're all dead. All killed," he said. "That's why I left Syria." I met Saba in a makeshift reception centre for refugees, in the town of Passau. He had been waiting for hours to be "processed". Little wonder - 200 refugees arrive at this centre every day. Across town, a municipal ice rink has been hastily converted into another reception centre. Germany receives more refugees than any other European county. In the first half of...

UPDATED: French farmers said on Monday they had blocked and turned back as many as 300 trucks importing food from Germany, the latest protest against a fall in food prices.Farmers set up checkpoints on six roads between Germany and France late on Sunday night and said they would continue their action until later Monday. "We've already held back between 200 and 300 lorries transporting products that are distorting competition for us," said Franck Sander, local head of the FNSEA farming union. "For example, we made a lorry carrying Babybel (cheese) turn back. Consumers think this is French but the cheese...

A 14-year-old Palestinian girl has garnered international attention recently after being brought to tears by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who told the young girl that her family may be deported because Germany "can't manage" everyone coming from refugee camps. And now she's back in the headlines after telling German paper Die Welt her feelings on Israel: My hope is that at some time, [Israel] is no longer there, but only Palestine. This country should no longer be called Israel, but Palestine. It is reported that Reem Sahwil, quoted above, was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon but currently...

The White House did not pursue the nuclear agreement with Iran as an international treaty, because getting U.S. Senate advice and consent for a treaty has “become physically impossible,” Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers on Tuesday. At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Kerry was asked about the administration’s approach of seeking a political accord between governments rather than an international treaty. Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wisc.) recalled Kerry saying earlier in the hearing that if Congress rejects the JCPOA, other countries will in the future not...

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