Free Republic

In the 1920s, Nazis and Communists frequently battled in pubs and streets as they fought for supremacy in Germany. After the prolonged battle, the Nazis won out and the Communists were outlawed in Germany the day Hitler took power. That was the beginning of the rise of the Nazis becoming the most hated group in world history. The battle between the two groups did not end there as Stalin took control of Communist Russia, renamed the Soviet Union. In the 1930s, while Hitler was consolidating power and beginning to eradicate his enemies, Stalin was throwing thousands into the Gulag and...

We talked to nine Portland activists who think violence is necessary to fight fascism. The nine anarchists who met me one rainy afternoon in Portland, Oregon, told me they almost showed up to talk to me "bloc'd out"—in the black clothes and masks that have become something of an iconic look. You likely know what "bloc'd out" means because you've seen photos and videos of masked anarchists, or encountered them in person at practically any left-wing protests (or at counter-protests held in response to right-wing rallies). Bandanas, scarves, or helmets are used to guard against the effects of pepper spray...

"We recently heard that Ayers and Dohrn, both former leaders of the Weather Underground, the militant left-wing group best known for bombing empty government buildings in the 1970s, were also present for the Wagner-Kass celebration at the Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a restaurant and event space in Pocantico Hills, New York."

Two American hikers who were detained in Iran have been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of "illegal entry" and "espionage," the state TV website says.

Before there was Iraq, there was Lebanon.  In 1982, following Operation Peace for Galilee, JINSA reported on the international terrorist haven that had arisen in Fatahland – the southern part of Lebanon controlled by Yasser Arafat.  Aside from the expected mélange of Middle Easterners, there were Japanese Red Army, German and Italian Red Brigades, Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Salvadorans, Colombians and Peruvians.  There were Iranian Shi’ites, East Germans and Bulgarians.  Before there was Iraq, there was Lebanon, again.  Religious Iran and secular, Ba’athist Syria made a deal to use Syrian-controlled Lebanon as a base for Hizballah to attack Israel.  Today, Israel...

3/13/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- “They came to the door dressed as plumbers, claiming they needed to fix a leak,” said retired Army Maj. Gen. James Dozier. But, that was only the beginning of the general’s six-week ordeal as a hostage. He described his ordeal to group of conference attendees here March 10. “I didn’t know at the time that I or any member of NATO was being targeted,” the general said. “Later I learned they had been observing me and other NATO officials for some time.” Italian police officials became aware of some of those surveillance efforts by...

A court in Italy has jailed five suspected members of the Red Brigades in connection with the 2002 murder of a top government adviser. Prosecutors in the northern city of Bologna had requested life sentences for four of the defendants, and 24 years' imprisonment for another. The five were convicted over the killing of Marco Biagi, who had advised the government on labour reforms. The Red Brigades-Communist Combatant Party claimed the killing. It is an offshoot of the left-wing group that attacked government and business targets in the 1970s and early 1980s. Shoot-out The prosecutor had asked the court to...

ROME - Police raided homes across Italy before dawn Friday and arrested seven alleged members of the radical Red Brigades suspected of the 1999 killing of a Labor Ministry consultant. Authorities said the arrests struck at the heart of the left-wing terror organization, which sprang back into action a few years ago after more than a decade of silence. The suspects, officials said, might also have had a role in the slaying of another government adviser last year. Police arrested three men in Rome and one in Florence, prosecutors said. A woman was picked up in Pisa and another near...

A member of a splinter faction of Italy's Red Brigades, arrested last month after a shoot-out in a train, admitted yesterday killing two prominent government advisers involved in the overhaul of employment laws. In a note handwritten in block letters, Desdemona Lioce, 43, said: "I claim responsibility for organising the actions taken against Massimo D'Antona and Mario Biagi." The admission was in a letter delivered yesterday to two Roman prosecuting magistrates, Franco Ionta and Pietro Saviotti. D'Antona was shot dead in May 1999 and Biagi in March last year. They were experts on labour law drafted in by the Minister...