Free Republic

Europe has acute concerns about Russia's military intervention and annexation of Crimea – it's doling out aid to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russian individuals. But its potentially most punitive weapon – blocking Russian energy exports – remains out of reach. However much Europe might like to express its displeasure by targeting a major part of Russia's economy, it confronts one inescapable fact: It needs Russia's natural gas and oil. Europe's dependency has concerned both the European Union and the United States for decades, but the current political crisis in Ukraine has driven home the urgent need for Europe to...

My order is inevitable for it is simply The Father's will concisely done in full view and commitment of My Witness that is My spirit in you . . . Acts 17:28 28 For in him we live and move and are! As one of your own poets says it, ‘We are the sons of God.’ John 14:12 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father. Job...

Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry has banned 50 names they argue contradict the culture or religion of the Kingdom, according to reports by local media. Parents in the Kingdom will reportedly no longer be able to call their children by names such as Linda, Alice, Elaine or Binyamin (Arabic for Benjamin) after the civil affairs department at the ministry issued a list of the prohibited names. Binyamin is believed in Islam to be the son of Prophet Jacob, but is also the name of the current Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. …

Thanks to Fracking, U.S. Will Pass Saudi Arabia In Oil Production 12 March 2014 Thanks to fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a process used to extract oil from shale, the United States will soon pass Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer....

Dozens of rockets as well as mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip Wednesday at southern Israeli towns. Hours later the IDF fired tank shells at what it termed “terror targets” in the Strip. Israeli reports put the number of rockets at over 60, and Islamic Jihad, which took responsibility for the attack, said it had fired 90 rockets at Israel. The organization said in a statement that it had launched an ongoing “military operation,” which it termed “Breaking the Silence.” No Israeli casualties were initially reported in the largest attack from the Strip since Operation Pillar of Defense...

This isn’t really new, but some of the most interesting material comes from Rafael Medoff’s demonstration of how the material was buried and misreported by historians sympathetic to liberal presidents. When FDR endorsed quotas for Jews in the US and even North Africa, liberal historians claimed that he was being “practical” or actually trying to help Jews. And then there’s the story of the efforts to bury and lie about FDR’s exchange with Stalin about the Jews.

Did you hear the biggest news of the week? No, it’s not that Russia invaded the Crimea and is “occupying” Ukraine. Sure, that nearly tanked world markets, but it was bush league compared to the other news, involving a major strategic American ally, that slipped under the radar. Qatar had its ambassadors pulled by their neighbors: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. Yes, it seems that these three countries don’t quite appreciate the Qatari-backed Muslim Brotherhood/al Qaeda revolutionary program, nor do they like the fact that Qatar refuses to pledge to desist in aiding and sheltering people who...

US wants to combat anti-homosexuality movement worldwide By Julio Severo The Associated Press reported on February 26 that the United States, “troubled” by an anti-homosexuality movement in Uganda and across much of the world, is launching a new effort to combat what Secretary of State John Kerry described as a “threat to human rights.” Comparing a Ugandan anti-homosexuality law to oppressive government crackdowns on German Jews in the 1930s, Kerry said that according to the AP report, he was going to direct American ambassadors to look at “how we deal with this human rights challenge on a global basis.”...

Saudi Arabia has formally designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, in a move that could increase pressure on Qatar whose backing for the group has sparked a row with fellow Gulf monarchies. The U.S.-allied kingdom has also designated as terrorist the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, whose fighters are battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Interior Ministry said in a statement published by state media. Friday's move appeared to enforce a royal decree last month in which Riyadh, which backs some rebel groups in Syria with money and arms, said it would...

Like in horror movies, swarms of bats attacked a Saudi village and caused panic among its residents, who said they were even more frightened by the birds’ screams. Residents of the village in the southern Saudi province of Jazan near the border with Yemen said some of the birds attacked children and other people outside their homes. “The residents said they are frightened to leave their homes after the bats attacked some of them,” Sabq Arabic language daily said. “They said they were even more frightened by the bats’ screams, which they described as horrifying. They called on authorities to...

Passport control officials have been criticised by Tory MPs for "waving through" a woman without asking her to remove her full-faced veil. Philip Davies told the Commons he witnessed the scene at Heathrow Airport as a woman underwent checks to enter the UK after flying in from Saudi Arabia. He insisted all women wearing a "full Islamic veil" should have to compulsorily remove it so they can be identified by immigration officials. ... Men are also increasingly dressing up as Islamic women in burkas to commit crimes, Mr Hollobone claimed. Terror suspect Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed went missing last November after...

For the next several months, Washington won’t be seeing as much of President Barack Obama as usual. In February, March and April, the president is traveling to nine countries: Mexico, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. His trip to Mexico is next week. He is heading to Europe in March and Asia in April. On Friday, Mr. Obama is traveling to California to visit the drought-stricken Central Valley and meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at Sunnylands, the Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage. The president’s domestic travels are expected to pick up as the midterm...

In its annual survey of American Jewry published last October, the American Jewish Committee found that 75 percent of American Jews agree with the statement, “The goal of the Arabs is not a peaceful two-state agreement with Israel, but rather the destruction of Israel.” And yet, American Jews supported the establishment of a Palestinian state 50% to 47%. Next week over 10,000 predominantly Jewish American supporters of Israel will gather in Washington at AIPAC’s annual policy conference. Given their high commitment to Israel, probably most of those gathered belong to the 47% of American Jews who opposed Palestinian statehood. Yet...

[SNIP] And a fact about Obama's upbringing is that it was defined by fiction. Clergyman Hosea Ballou said, "Education commences at the mother's knee...," but not only was Obama's mother's knee not around all the time, but what an odd knee it was. Her father had given her his first name, Stanley, because he'd wanted a boy, and Stanley Ann Dunham's personal development reflected that bizarre beginning. She attended Mercer Island High in Seattle, which had a wing known as "anarchy alley" that was infested with radical leftist teachers. It is said that Dunham "thrived" in that atmosphere, and she...

Education departments in a number of regions in Saudi Arabia have banned female employees and visitors who do not wear a face veil from entering girls’ schools, the Saudi Gazette reported on Monday. The report cited a pamphlet sent by education departments to school principals, in which male and female school guards are instructed to abide by Islamic rules, regulations and directives and moral principles. …

Bulldozers are set to demolish a building in Mecca situated right above the site believed by scholars to be the birthplace of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The Saudi Binladin Group, which is charged with redeveloping the historical area, plans to raze a small library on the site in order to build a modern complex which would include a presidential palace and imam’s residence. The demolition would take place just steps away from Mecca’s Masjid al-Haram, or Grand Mosque, which surrounds the Ka’aba, one of Islam’s holiest sites. …

Years of uncertainty ends over multi-billion pound sale of fighters to Saudi Arabia in boost to defence giant ahead of annual results BAE has finally agreed a deal over price increases for the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Saudi Arabia. The FTSE 100 defence company signed a £4.5bn contract to provide the supersonic fighters to the Middle East nation seven years ago but the sale has faced hurdles over cost, forcing BAE to defer earnings from the so-called "Salam" deal. BAE said on Wednesday that it had agreed "price escalation terms" to the original agreement which had included...

Why are Saudi men attacking women? According to 9 out out of 10 Saudi men, it’s all about the eyeshadow. It has to be the eyeshadow since there’s not much else you can see of a traditional Saudi woman’s face. In entirely unrelated news… “The flash memory of mobile phones taken from teenagers showed 69.7% of 1,470 files saved in them were pornographic and 8.6% were related to violence,” said report author Professor Abdullah al-Rasheed. Whew. I would have thought it would be the other way around. Saudi Arabia was the only country to generate more searches than Pornistan for...

Is the Israeli Mossad behind the Arab Spring? According to a play which recently aired on Egyptian television, the answer is yes. The anti-Semitic play, entitled "The Spy," recently aired on the Egyptian Al-Hayat TV channel. It was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). The play displays anti-Semitic stereotypes and portrays Mossad officials preparing "for a huge operation of espionage and sowing disunity" which targets the entire Arab world. The play features a group of Mossad officials, five men and one women, and the men are all dressed up in hareidi attire. The males are all named...

Is the Israeli Mossad behind the Arab Spring? According to a play which recently aired on Egyptian television, the answer is yes. The anti-Semitic play, entitled “The Spy,” recently aired on the Egyptian Al-Hayat TV channel. It was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). The play displays anti-Semitic stereotypes and portrays Mossad officials preparing “for a huge operation of espionage and sowing disunity” which targets the entire Arab world. …