Free Republic

Behind the rise of ISIS, the Libyan Civil War, the unrest in Egypt, Yemen and across the region may be a single classified document.That document is Presidential Study Directive 11.You can download Presidential Study Directive 10 on “Preventing Mass Atrocities” from the White House website, but as of yet no one has been able to properly pry number 11 out of Obama Inc.Presidential Study Directive 10, in which Obama asked for non-military options for stopping genocide, proved to be a miserable failure. The Atrocities Prevention Board’s only use was as a fig leaf for a policy that had caused the...

Scientists say the rat is part of an "amazing group of rodents" only found in a remote part of Sulawesi Island in Indonesia.A new species of rat has been discovered on an island in Indonesia. The previously unknown hog-nosed shrew rat (Hyorhinomys stuempkei) was found in a remote and mountainous region of Sulawesi Island located about two days' hike from the closest village. Scientists consider the rat so exceptional that they have described it not only as a new species but a new genus - a step up from the "new species" label. The rat was discovered by an international...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Two suspected lesbians detained earlier this week by Islamic Shariah police in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province will undergo what an official described Saturday as "rehabilitation," and won't be charged with a crime. The women, 18 and 19 years old, were taken in for questioning Monday night by Sharia police officers who saw them sitting and hugging each other in Ulee Lheue, a coastal neighborhood in the capital, Banda Aceh, according to the law enforcement Shariah police chief, Evendi Latief. "They later confessed to be a lesbian couple and that was supported by pictures found on...

When Venezuelan Oil Minister Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso resigned in 1963, he blasted the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, at the time torn by internal rivalries, for failing to produce any benefits for his country. Half a century later, OPEC is still split and Venezuela is again unhappy, this time at the unwillingness of the organization’s top producer, Saudi Arabia, to rescue oil prices from a six-year low that’s dragging the battered Venezuelan economy into an even deeper crisis. On Sept. 10, Venezuela’s oil minister, Eulogio del Pino, tweeted appeals for OPEC and non-OPEC countries “to have a discussion on...

Chris Matthews reported back on December 18th, 2007 that 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama was born in Indonesia and has an Islamic background. Video at link

“The fallacy that President Obama is a Muslim has tripped up many a politician,” said NPR’s Jessica Taylor hopefully on Friday, “and on Thursday night, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump was its latest victim.” Trump’s presumed faux pas was his failure to correct a questioner who asserted that Barack Obama was a Muslim. Taylor’s real error as a reporter, like that of all her mainstream colleagues, was to dismiss the questioner’s assertion as a “fallacy” without providing any evidence to the contrary. Strange but true, reporters pride themselves on knowing nothing about Obama’s roots. Last month, for instance, Catherine Thompson...

Jakarta. Several members of Indonesia's House of Representives say they will report the speaker and a deputy speaker to the House's Ethics Council over a controversial appearance the two made at a campaign event for US billionaire Donald Trump. House Speaker Setya Novanto and Fadli Zon, one of his deputies, appeared at a press conference in New York last week held by Trump, who wants to run for president of the United States. Charles Honoris, a member of Commission I, which deals with foreign affairs among other issues, said he and several colleagues would formally report the House leaders on...

Jakarta. Indonesia’s parliamentary speaker and one of his deputies made a surprise appearance at a campaign event by US presidential candidate Donald Trump in New York on Thursday, in a stunt both the House and the Foreign Ministry said they were not aware of. Both Setya Novanto, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and Fadli Zon, a deputy speaker, were seen standing in a group of people behind Trump as he spoke at the Trump Tower. Business Insider reported that after he finished speaking, Trump walked away from the podium only to return with Setya, whom he introduced to...

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Defense Ministry has decided to replace a squadron of aging American-made F-5 E/F Tiger jet fighters with Russian-made Sukhoi SU-35 aircraft. "We have agreed to buy a squadron of Sukhoi SU-35s from Russia to replace the F-5 Tiger jet fighters," Defense Minister, Ryamizard Ryacudu, said after conducting an impromptu inspection of weapons owned by the Army in Jakarta on Wednesday. Ryacudu explained that the reason for purchasing the Sukhoi jets was that the Indonesian Air Force's (TNI AUs) pilots were more accustomed to operating the Russia-made jet fighters. "Now we have jet fighters made by...

In a bid to reign in fraternization between young men and women, authorities in the picturesque state of West Java in Indonesia have decided to impose an early curfew of 9pm. If any couple is caught dating after the curfew, they will be punished by being forced to marry each other. This unconventional law will be implemented from September 2. Local government in Purwakarta decided that instead of throwing teenagers into jail, or extracting a fine from them, it was better that they learn the harsher truths of life early on. Moreover, such teens may get what they ultimately desire;...

At the peak of the 1965 war with Pakistan, India had asked the United States to covertly provide experts to work with Indian military officials to tackle the Chinese threat. This request was made to the US Embassy in Delhi by L K Jha, principal secretary to prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, on September 18, 1965, after India detected Chinese movements in battalion strength on the eastern border of Ladakh and in Chumbi Valley. Worried by indications that China was getting ready for military action against India to relieve the pressure on Pakistan, Jha stressed to the embassy that providing...

An aircraft with 54 people on board crashed in Indonesia's remote and mountainous region of Papua on Sunday, a government official said, the latest in a string of aviation disasters in the Southeast Asian nation. "The latest information is that the Trigana aircraft that lost contact has been found at Camp 3, Ok Bape district in the Bintang Mountains regency," Air Transportation Director General Suprasetyo told reporters. "Residents provided information that the aircraft crashed into Tangok mountain." There was no immediate word on whether anyone survived.

An Indonesian twin-turboprop aircraft carrying 54 people lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday in the remote, forested eastern Papua region, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said, with search efforts hampered by failing light as night falls. "We can't confirm it has crashed. We can say contact has been lost with the plane," BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelystyo told Reuters by telephone. "It's a Trigana airline plane carrying 54 people including five crew. We are working to get more details."

Jakarta: An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 54 people lost contact with air traffic control Sunday during a flight in the rugged easternmost province of Papua, officials said. The Trigana Air ATR 42 turboprop plane lost contact just before 3:00 pm (0600 GMT) after taking off from Sentani airport in Papua`s capital Jayapura on a flight to Oksibil, the search and rescue agency said on Twitter.

Initial models of where potential debris from a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet might first wash up had incorrectly identified Indonesia as the most likely location, the Australian body leading the search said on Wednesday. Flight MH370 disappeared without a trace in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board and search efforts have focused on a broad expanse of the southern Indian Ocean off Western Australia. A piece of aircraft debris that washed up on the French island of Reunion last week roughly 3,700 km (2,300 miles) from the expected crash zone was consistent with where the plane...

If you can't beat members of the "birther" movement, join 'em. That's the approach President Obama took on Saturday night in Kenya, his father's homeland, when he made a wisecrack about his birthplace — which suspicious critics have harped on for years. "Some of my critics back home might be suggesting I'm here to look for my birth certificate," Obama said while making a toast at a state dinner hosted by President Uhuru Kenyatta. "That's not the case." In 2011, Obama made his birth certificate public after so-called birthers questioned his eligibility to be president, claiming he was not a...

Obama on Kenya: There's a reason my name is Barack Hussein Obama"This is personal for me," Obama said. "There's a reason why my name is Barack Hussein Obama."

The White House has shrugged off demands by some leaders that President Barack Obama steers clear of support for gay rights while in Kenya on July 25. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that Obama was not expected to back away from addressing any particular tropic while in Kenya. He was answering a question on the matter while addressing journalists during a daily briefing at the White House on Tuesday. "I had not been made aware of that particular announcement from Kenya. Obviously, we have been clear that when the President travels around the world, he does not hesitate...

(CNN)—President Barack Obama on Saturday lectured Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta about his country's gay rights record. "When you start treating people differently not because of any harm they are doing to anybody, but because they are different, that's the path whereby freedoms begin to erode," Obama said at a joint press conference with the Kenyan leader in Nairobi. "And bad things happen."

Oh damn. Of course the very first question put to Obama at the press conference this morning in Kenya was about gay rights. He went on and on about Kenya’s lack of gay rights, but the president soundly slapped down his suggestion to impose his values on the African country.Watch below:(video at link)Notice the applause too.It should be too surprising that Kenyans aren’t open to his gay-mongering – before his visit a coalition made a statement that they would tell Obama to shut up and go home if he pressured them on gay issues. Funny how far left liberals like...