Free Republic

The future of NATO and trans-Atlantic relations will be at the top of the agenda at the Munich Security Conference, which begins on Friday. British political scientist Anthony Glees says that Germany must become a “muscular democracy” and take the lead in Europe. […] “The largest weight is now on Germany’s shoulders. Chancellor Merkel must continue to convince people of the EU’s importance; she must spearhead the effort to redefine the EU. In order to do this, Germany must become a muscular democracy. It needs to shoulder far more responsibility for the physical security of Europe, especially Eastern Europe and...

A prefecture in China’s far western Xinjiang region is requiring all vehicles to install satellite tracking systems as part of stepped-up measures against violent attacks. Traffic police in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture announced the regulation on Sunday, shortly after thousands of heavily armed police paraded in the Xinjiang capital and ruling Communist Party officials vowed to ramp up their campaign against separatists and Islamic militants. The vehicle-tracking program in Bayingolin will utilize China’s homegrown Beidou satellite system, launched in recent years to reduce China’s reliance on U.S.-based GPS providers for sensitive applications. Authorities said they will also track cars using...

A group of nearly 100 prominent Iranian dissidents is demanding that Congress launch investigations into clandestine efforts by the Islamic Republic to influence U.S. policy using a network of lobbyists and propaganda pieces placed in Voice of America's Persian service, according to a letter sent to leading lawmakers and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The group of dissidents, composed of prominent Iranian voices that oppose the hardline regime in Tehran, says that Congress is not doing enough to expose the Iranian regime's lobbying efforts in D.C. and propaganda network, which is said to include some at VOA Persia. Iranian-American...

Reporters have done it again. The latest media misfire on the Trump administration involves Ibtihaj Muhammad, a New Jersey native who made headlines last year when she became the first female Muslim-American to win an Olympic medal for the United States. Muhammad, a lifelong American citizen, claimed in an interview last week that she was detained “just a few weeks ago” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. She said she was held for two hours without explanation. Her remarks on Feb. 7 earned her an entire news cycle, as several journalists ran with reports suggesting, and alleging outright, that...

The Nation of Islam had its annual gathering in Detroit over the weekend and thousands of attendees chanted “Allahu Akbar” as Louis Farrakhan made his way onto the stage. During his appearance at Joe Louis Arena, Farrakhan denounced Jews and told them they are not God’s “chosen” people. “I want to disabuse the Jews today of the false claim that you are the chosen of God — that Israel or Palestine belongs to you,” he said. “I want to disabuse you of that. I’m going to tell you about your future. You that think you have power to frighten and...

The threat to publish the names of suspected homosexuals in Tanzania has been defended by the deputy health minister in a fierce row on Twitter. Homosexual acts are illegal in the East African nation and punishable by up to 30 years in jail. Those who advertised homosexual activities online would also be targeted, the politician warned. Tweeters accused him of homophobia and infringing on the right to freedom of expression online.

Muslims and Muslim sympathizers protested Donald Trump today in New York’s Times Square. Chelsea Clinton boasted about being there with her daughter, Charlotte. Hamas darling, Linda Sarsour was also there spreading hysteria and propaganda about President Donald Trump. In Sarsour’s speech, she reminded people about the executive order that Democratic President FDR passed which put Japanese Americans in internment camps implying that Muslims and minorities could possibly suffer the same fate under a Trump presidency. There was also a loud Arab call to prayer during this protest in NYC. In an Islamic call to prayer (adhan), the Muslim is shouting...

On Friday the U.S. Ambassador to Somalia, Stephen Schwartz, presented a gift to the new President of Somalia, a hat that reads “Make Somalia Great Again.” Ambassador Schwartz was appointed by former President Barack Obama and was sworn into his position in June 2016 according to the International Business Times. Reactions to this gesture on twitter were overwhelmingly negative because let’s face it: Somalia has never been great.

Muslim students at a Sydney public school can refuse to shake hands with women even at an awards ceremony. The Hurstville Boys Campus of Georges River College introduced the policy to allow Muslim boys to instead put their hand on the heart as a greeting. The Year 7 to 10 school's two principals told guests at its 2016 presentation day, including notable community members, that students may decline the gesture. The practice comes from the Muslim teaching of hadith that states: 'It is better to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle than to touch the hand of...

… Before I moved to Jerusalem, I was very pro-Palestinian. Almost everyone I knew was. I grew up Protestant in a quaint, politically correct New England town; almost everyone around me was liberal. And being liberal in America comes with a pantheon of beliefs: You support pluralism, tolerance and diversity. You support gay rights, access to abortion and gun control. The belief that Israel is unjustly bullying the Palestinians is an inextricable part of this pantheon. Most progressives in the US view Israel as an aggressor, oppressing the poor noble Arabs who are being so brutally denied their freedom. […]...

Full title..........................Muslim terrorism does not exist - but the ecological crisis is real, the Pope tells conference on inequality ........................ Pope Francis insisted there are 'violent individuals in all peoples and religions' Said 'intolerant generalisations' would only make dangerous people stronger Letter is likely to be seen as a critique of President Trump's immigration policy

New Hampshire Democrat Ray Buckley has dropped out of the race for Democratic National Committee chair and is throwing his support behind Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison. Buckley’s announcement comes a week before DNC members gather in Atlanta to choose a new chair. […] Ellison says if he wins, he’ll ask Buckley to lead a “new and innovative 57 state strategy” targeting the states and U.S. territories. …

More than 100,000 Palestinians have sent US President Donald Trump letters, imploring him not to withhold US support from the idea of founding a Palestinian state. Arab media website Al-Monitor reported that the wide scale campaign was organized by Youth Center for Development and Innovation Arab in the West Bank city of Nablus, and that the center had gathered the letters for 11 days, starting on January 20—the day of Trump’s inauguration. The initiative had collected the letters of young Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as from Syrian refugees and Lebanese nationals. “All of the...

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned Thursday that continued Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank endangers the possibility of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians and could lead to war in the Middle East, Reuters reported. “We are concerned that unlimited construction of settlements will … make a two-state solution impossible and could increase the risks of conflicts in the Middle East, including possible war,” Sigmar Gabriel said during a news conference at a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Bonn, Germany. Despite being one of Israel’s strongest allies, Germany has taken a more critical stance against...

French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron has drawn a storm of criticism from his rivals after calling France’s colonization of Algeria a “crime against humanity”. In a TV interview in Algiers this week, the centrist said French actions in Algeria, which achieved independence in 1962 after eight years of war, were “genuinely barbaric, and constitute a part of our past that we have to confront by apologizing”. His visit also included a stop at the Martyrs’ Memorial in Algiers, saying he wanted to promote a “reconciliation of memories” between the two countries. The violent history between France and Algeria is still...

The European Union’s legislature has approved more anti-terror rules targeting foreign fighters going to or returning from conflict zones and will make crimes of such actions as public incitement and training for terrorism. The parliament said new rules will reinforce the sanctions for traveling to or returning from conflicts with the intent to carry out terror attacks, as well as aiding, funding or abetting such actions. …

The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday evening reacted to the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. A statement from PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s office said that the PA remains committed to the two-state solution and is willing to work with Trump’s administration to achieve a peace agreement. At the same time, the statement criticized Netanyahu and claimed that “Israel’s insistence on destroying the two-state solution will lead to more extremism and more instability.” “We are ready to work positively with the Trump administration in order to bring peace,” the statement continued, “but the Israeli Prime...

As the nation speeds toward development of fully self-driving vehicles, here’s a speed bump to consider: Not only is hacking a “real threat,” but “autonomous vehicles provide an avenue for terrorism as well,” Congress was told on Tuesday. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) asked RAND Senior Information Scientist Nidhi Kalra, “How real is the threat of vehicle hacking” when it comes to autonomous vehicles. […] … “[A]utonomous vehicles provide an avenue for terrorism as well because there’s a way to use these vehicles to — you know — the threat is no longer sort of suicide bombers and — that blow...

Following comments from the White House that — contrary to America’s long-standing policy — a two-state solution may not be necessary for peace in the Middle East, Germany has insisted that the approach cannot be abandoned. German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said a two-state solution was the foundation of Germany’s Middle East policy. The head of a German parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, Norbert Röttgen, was quoted by “Die Welt” newspaper as saying “the two-state solution is the only way Israel can remain a democratic and a Jewish state at the same time.” Niels Annen, foreign policy spokesperson for the...

Sweden is to appoint a special envoy to the Israel-Palestine peace process, Foreign Minister Margot Wallström announced during the presentation of her foreign policy vision in parliament. Wallström presented the ruling center-left Social Democrat-Green coalition government’s foreign policy declaration for the year in the Riksdag on Wednesday morning, continuing an annual tradition. […] Sweden’s relationship with Israel has been increasingly frosty in the past few years. In 2014 it recognized Palestine as a state, and Israeli officials have routinely refused to meet Wallström after she called for investigations into “extrajudicial” killings of Palestinian assailants by Israeli forces. […] Without mentioning...