Free Republic

Russia Now Has More Than 6,000 Airborne, Naval Forces in Crimea, Official Says

Condoleezza Rice specialized in US-Russia relations. Kerry specialized in bad mouthing his country and military and is now mired in Israeli-Palistianian issues -- trying to force Obama's way. Condi should be asked to become a special Envoy and sent to Russia to help slow things down.

<p>"We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed."</p>

Maybe the Obama administration is taking the Budapest Memorandum more seriously than we imagined — or at least want Russia to think we are. Secretary of State John Kerry told ABC’s This Week that “all options are on the table” for a response to Vladimir Putin’s Crimean invasion, including military options: Secretary of State John Kerry said that “all options are on the table” when it comes to steps the U.S. can take to hold Russia accountable for its military movements in Ukraine, including economic sanctions and potentially military action. In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos today on “This...

In a Wednesday interview with Andrea Mitchell, Secretary of State John Kerry resisted Mitchell's assertion that "genocide" was taking place in Syria: QUESTION: I want to ask you about Syria. For three years, we have watched horrific pictures. You spoke of this when you were a senator. Obviously, now you’ve got the lead role on it. Horrible pictures. I looked at video of a child weeping over his mother’s body after a barrel bomb was dropped on her and other civilians by the regime. Just today, this picture on the wires from Yarmouk, from the refugee camp in southern Damascus....

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas left a two-day meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris last week fuming over Kerry’s proposals for a framework accord between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a Palestinian report. The top American diplomat reportedly offered for Abbas to form a Palestinian capital in the neighborhood of Beit Hanina, not all of East Jerusalem, as the Palestinians have demanded. Kerry also suggested that Israel keep 10 settlement blocs as part of any territorial exchange, according to Al Quds, the most widely read Palestinian daily, on Wednesday. The Jordan Valley would not be...

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia ordered 150,000 troops to test their combat readiness Wednesday in a show of force that prompted a blunt warning from the United States that any military intervention in Ukraine would be a "grave mistake." Vladimir Putin's announcement of huge new war games came as Ukraine's protest leaders named a millionaire former banker to head a new government after the pro-Russian president went into hiding. The new government, which is expected to be formally approved by parliament Thursday, will face the hugely complicated task of restoring stability in a country that is not only deeply divided...

Secretary of State John Kerry demanded Monday that Uganda “repeal” its new anti-gay law and warned that the State Department has begun a “review” of U.S. assistance to the impoverished East African nation. “This is a tragic day for Uganda and for all who care about the cause of human rights,” Kerry said in a statement. “Ultimately, the only answer is repeal of this law.” President Yoweri Museveni signed into law on Monday legislation enacting tough prison sentences for homosexual acts, which were already illegal in Uganda. Kerry threatened to cut the more than $400 million the country receives in...

Caracas (AFP) - President Nicolas Maduro said Saturday that remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry on the unrest in Venezuela gave violent groups a "green light" to carry out attacks. In a tweet, Maduro also slammed the remarks made by Kerry late Friday as "arrogant" and "insolent." "John Kerry threatens Venezuela with more violence, with his statements gives the green light to violent groups to attack our people," Maduro wrote.

Kerry Kennedy may agree to a plea deal over driving while drugged charges stemming from a 2012 accident so she can continue her extensive human rights work. Kennedy, 54, is afraid a conviction would bring with it restrictions that would curtail her international travels – she has visited several dozen countries on humanitarian missions. The plea deal was previously discussed between her legal team and prosecutors before being shelved, but her attorneys have brought it back to the table with her trial slated to start Monday, according to the New York Daily News. Lawyers originally tabled the deal while preparing...

Left-wing activist turned CNN host Van Jones ran to John Kerry's defense on Wednesday's Crossfire, after co-host Newt Gingrich slammed Kerry as "delusional" for recently hyping climate change as "the world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction." Jones retorted, "It's not delusional to focus on climate disruption. It's delusional not to." Moments earlier, the former Obama green jobs czar himself made a doom-and-gloom prediction about the hypothetical effects of what he labeled "climate disruption:" [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump](VIDEO-AT-LINK)VAN JONES: Now, here's a good question: should serious people focus on global political instability – terrorism, failing states,...

Monday Here I am in Topeka, Kansas. It has been a long day of travel after several lovely days in Greenville. The best part of Greenville was — as usual — the Spoonbread Room of the Poinsett Hotel. It is good and it’s served in a beautiful room with sunlight streaming in the windows. Every dish is heavenly. Alex, Kitty, Coco, Bob Noah and I ate there yesterday. I enjoyed every minute. Every morsel. Then Bob and I walked the streets of Greenville just taking in the intensely lush friendliness of the passers by. Then, off to a swim meet...

Vid at link.

Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took to Twitter to call for Secretary of State John Kerry to resign for calling global warming the “world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.” Gingrich, a failed Republican presidential candidate, tweeted out his disgust with Kerry’s comments (Note: He spells Kerry’s name wrong in the tweets): Does kerrey really believe global warming more dangerous than north Korean and iranian nukes? More than Russian and Chinese nukes? Really? ? — Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) February 18, 2014 On his trip to Indonesia, Kerry said that global warming is “the world’s largest weapon of...

How did global warming discussions end up hinging on what's happening with polar bears, unverifiable predictions of what will happen in a hundred years, and whether people are "climate deniers" or "global warming cultists?" If this is a scientific topic, why aren't we spending more time discussing the science involved? Why aren't we talking about the evidence and the actual data involved? Why aren't we looking at the predictions that were made and seeing if they match up to the results? If this is such an open and shut case, why are so many people who care about science skeptical?...

February 16, 2014 How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love ‘Climate Change’ Roger L. Simon You could only laugh when John Kerry doubled-down on “climate change” in a speech in Indonesia over the weekend, calling global warming as great a threat to humanity as terrorism and WMDs. Laugh bleakly, that is. Why had our secretary of State, whom even Wikipedia describes as having been a mediocre student and who has no discernible background in science and technology (other than being able to windsurf), settled on “climate change” as his cause célèbre of the moment?Well, things are probably not going...

When I look at the unmitigated disaster that has been the Obama Error, I have trouble deciding which one of Chairman Obama's crimes against the Republic is the most heinous. There's so much to choose from, it's like a buffet of evil. The NSA is reading your email as you read this column. The United States military was used to put the Muslim Brotherhood in control of Libya without any CONgressional approval whatsoever. Obamacareless has changed its appearance more times than a chameleon on LSD. And we could go on an on, with one outrage after another that would have...

John Kerry slammed “extreme” climate change “deniers” in Indonesia Sunday, calling them members of the “Flat Earth Society.” Mr. Kerry, speaking in Jakarta, demonized those who do not believe in climate change, claiming they were “hijacking the climate conversation” and were being paid by “big companies.” “We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific facts,” he warned. “Nor should we allow any room for those who think that the costs associated with doing the right thing outweigh the benefits.” Mr. Kerry then exclaimed, “The science is unequivocal, and those...

Jakarta (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday issued a clarion call for nations to do to more to combat climate change, calling it "the world's largest weapon of mass destruction". In a keynote speech, one of a series planned in different countries throughout the year, Kerry sought to make both a moral and economic argument for greater urgency in cutting greenhouse gases. He warned that low-lying Asian nations and their rich ecosystems were particularly at peril from rising sea levels. Talking to a crowd of Indonesian agriculture, energy and marine students, he said the country and Southeast...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has told an audience in Jakarta, Indonesia, that climate change is a threat to the entire world. "When I think about the array of global climate, of the global threats, think about this: terrorism, epidemics, poverty, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. All challenges that know no borders. The reality is that climate change ranks right up there with every single one of them." Kerry said the science of climate change is compelling the world to act and that the science is absolutely certain.