Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The United States and Iran have agreed for the first time to one-on-one negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, according to Obama administration officials, setting the stage for what could be a last-ditch diplomatic effort to avert a military strike on Iran.

Israel's vice prime minister said on Sunday he would welcome direct talks between the United States and Iran if they were aimed at halting what Israel sees as plans by the Islamic Republic to build a nuclear weapon. But Moshe Yaalon also said that he believed a denial by the White House of a New York Times report that Washington and Tehran had agreed in principle to hold bilateral negotiations. Israel has said it could use military force to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, and it has had differences with Washington over when Tehran would actually cross the...

Iran denied on Sunday a report in a U.S. newspaper that it had plans for direct talks with the United States over its disputed nuclear program. The New York Times reported, citing Obama administration officials, that the United States and Iran had agreed in principle to one-on-one negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, though the White House quickly denied the report.

"I'll be making a major announcement on President Obama next week--stay tuned!"

Every now and then this past Spring and Summer, someone would bring up the specter of an “October Surprise.” There we’d be in the last weeks of the election cycle and bang! out would come some startling revelation about Mitt Romney. Maybe he sacrificed that dog he carried on the roof of his car in some hitherto unknown religious ceremony. Maybe, as was revealed about George Bush early in November 2000, he was caught driving suspiciously slowly after a few too many beers. Who knows?But as the weeks and months have worn on talk of an October Surprise seems...

Dick Morris on Fox. Says he expects Obama to announce a sudden "breakthrough" with Iran, claiming that through his god-like powers of persuasion, they have agreed to one-on-one talks with The Messiah in exchange for stopping enrichment of Uranium. Second most likely Surprise: sudden announcement that we have killed the Benghazi murderers. To be announced right before the third debate.

Political guru Dick Morris predicted Saturday that the White House will announce an "October surprise" — a deal with Iran over nuclear inspections before the Nov. 6 election. Citing an Internet report on WorldNetDaily, a conservative website, Mr. Morris said a deal between the White House and the Iranian regime is in the works to ease sanctions on Iran in return for concessions on the Iranian nuclear program. Such an agreement, announced before the election, would represent a big foreign policy victory for the president, who has been under pressure from Israel to take a more robust stand against Iran's...

Is famed women's right attorney Gloria Allred about to pull an "October surprise" on Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney? That's the thinking, after Drudge Report founder and respected politico, Matt Drudge, tweeted Thursday: "Here she comes. Hearing Gloria Allred out there again, about to make a move. After all, it's her time of the campaign. Team O at the ready!!"PHOTOS: Political HottiesAllred, an outspoken supporter of President Barack Obama refused to confirm, or deny, Drudge's prediction, telling RadarOnline.com: "I have no comment at this time about Mr. Drudge's Tweet. I don't discuss meetings with potential clients."As RadarOnline.com previously reported, during...

I'll be making a major announcement on President Obama next week--stay tuned!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2012

Romney supporters are scared to death of another last minute Rathergate or NY Times document dump Fraud and hoax Is what several readers posted after their investigation uncovered the identities of the people behind the An October Surprise website. Turns out the readers were right. Once the identities were outed, the perps had to confess early:

The White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, ready to strike militant targets from Libya to Mali — if investigators can find the Al Qaeda-linked group responsible for the death of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya. But officials say the administration, with weeks until the presidential election, is weighing whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on Al Qaeda is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group's profile in the region, alienate governments the U.S. needs to fight it in the future...

What if we’ve already had an October surprise in this campaign, in September, and the mainstream media are failing to follow up? An issue becomes a real issue only if enough people give it the attention it’s due. Many people in the diplomatic and intelligence communities say that the Obama administration, behind the scenes, is in complete disarray in the aftermath of al-Qaeda’s attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. That tension burst into the open during last Thursday’s debate, when Vice President Joe Biden said the administration “did not know”...

TWENTY-FOUR hours after the American compound in Benghazi was attacked and our ambassador murdered, the tragedy seemed more likely to help President Obama’s re-election campaign than to damage it. The White House already enjoyed more public credibility on foreign policy than on almost any other issue. When Mitt Romney reacted to the attack with a partisan broadside, portraying a news release sent out by the Cairo embassy before any violence began as a White House apology to the attackers, the president’s path forward seemed clear. He would be disciplined and careful, show anger and steel but also coolness under pressure,...

The murder of Ambassador Stevens at Benghazi is Obama's October surprise gone bad thanks to two former SEALS who were not supposed to be at Benghazi. But then I ran to the end of the story so let's back fill the datapoints. First President Morsi first public statement to us was that he wanted the blind iman who first bombed the WTC released. Now Obama forever dedicated to appeasing the muslim world, bowing to them comes natural to him, knew that he had to obey Morsi's request however he couldn't release Omar Abdul-Rahman. There had to be a reason powerful...

John Bolton says that it doesn’t fly for the White House to say they didn’t know about the security needs of Benghazi. He says of course they won’t be involved in the nitty gritty of hundreds of security decisions around the world, but Benghazi he says is very different: But in a high threat mission where you’ve had evidence of Al Qaeda attacks against other missions, where for goodness sakes the Red Cross has withdrawn from Benghazi – the Red Cross that lives in the environment of war thought it was too dangerous – that’s something that the President,...

A single algorithm which placed and then cancelled orders on the Nasdaq accounted for 4% of all quoted traffic in the US with no clear goal. An investor gives FRANCE 24 his insight into the mystery which has concerned market watchers. A single mammoth mystery algorithm has set alarm bells ringing for market regulators and players, and underlined the market’s vulnerability to technology and the woeful lack of regulation on algorithms. A single algorithm last week placed and cancelled orders on the Nasdaq accounting for 4% of all quoted traffic in the US. Not only this, it also accounted for...

Okay, I know it is three weeks away from October Surprise Friday. You know that time of year where you gather around the dinner table for the traditional Ocotber Surprise Friday meal and reminisce about the past October Surprises, who could forget 2000. Any way, since we don't have election day anymore in the traditional since, and by the time the first Friday before the election comes around, it may be too late to influence the outcome. Like the Christmas shopping season that has been extending from Halloween to the 24th of December, the October Surprise may come at any...

Last week, WND reported the breathtaking story, based on impeccable Iranian sources, that Barack Obama sent an emissary to Qatar to meet with a representative of the ayatollah to offer a secret deal – one that would help Obama win his re-election bid.It was a shocker – even by Obama standards. The White House was offering Iran a deal to reduce international sanctions against the rogue, terrorist-supporting nation developing nuclear weapons if it simply agreed to suspend uranium enrichment for two weeks before the U.S. election – allowing Obama to announce a phony "diplomatic coup."As the story pointed out, this...

"Obama loves Russia. Moscow loves Obama, because he is destroying the United States military, just as Moscow has always wanted. If Obama gets four more years, America’s once mighty military will become nothing more than a strike force for the United Nations – which is effectively controlled by Russia and China."

The size and "lethality" of the attack on the U.S. consulate compound in Benghazi, Libya, that left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead was "unprecedented," a senior State Department official said today. Senior State Department officials today gave the most detailed account to-date of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other diplomats. One official said the nature of the assault was unparalleled in recent history. "The lethality and number of armed people is unprecedented," one of the officials said. "There was no attack anywhere in Libya...