Free Republic

LGBT activists view Saudi Arabia’s beheadings as equal to the smallest microaggression by American Christians, while ruining someone’s life for their political views or their blog posts is perfectly acceptable (as long as it’s done to those who disagree).  They see moral equivalence for the smallest slight or limitation of their lifestyle versus instigating your complete financial and personal ruin. Don’t believe it?  Here’s objective proof. Let’s compare three cultures and how tolerant each one is regarding LGBT rights:  Saudi Arabia, American Christians, and LGBT activists. Saudi Arabia.Gays are banned from even attending school, never mind teaching at one.  It’s pretty...

Amid reports of a renewed Saudi offensive against Iranian-allied rebels in Yemen, Iran's news agency reported on Friday that Saudi Arabia had stopped Iranian aid planes from landing in Yemen. Not unexpectedly, a top Iranian official responded with threats directed at Saudi Arabia. Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian warned on Sunday that the Saudi behavior and its siege of Yemen and preventing the dispatch of humanitarian aids "will not remain unanswered." "Saudi Arabia is not entitled to decide for others in the region," Abdollahian added. Iran's FARS News Agency stated that Saudi fighter jets...

Sen. Ted Cruz promises a bold shift in U.S. foreign policy if he's elected president that would cancel President Obama's arms deal with Iran and move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. On the eve of remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition, the White House contender laid out bullet points for his approach to the Middle East in an interview with the Washington Examiner that would sharply rebuke Obama's eight years. Cruz's call to get tough with enemies of the United States, especially Tehran, and prioritize relationships with key allies like Israel should go over well with the 800...

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen to participate in UN-brokered negotiations to end violence ravaging the country. “This has to be a two-way street,” Kerry told reporters in Canada after taking part in a summit of Arctic nations. “We need the Houthi and we need those that can influence them to make sure that they are prepared to try to move… to the negotiating table,” Kerry said. Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh had called on Friday for all Yemenis to enter a political dialogue to end the conflict. …

Senior U.S. officials pressed Saudi leaders for fear of making matters worse Senior U.S. officials pressed Saudi leaders in a series of messages to quickly wrap up their air campaign in Yemen for fear of making matters worse, people familiar with the matter said, before Riyadh declared Tuesday it was ending the offensive. Yet on Wednesday, Saudi airstrikes resumed in several parts of the country after Iranian-linked Houthi militants took over a military brigade in the southern city of Taiz, provincial security officials said. There was no sign of peace talks, though the Saudis had said they were shifting to...

Being a fighter pilot, in general, sounds like a sweet gig on the surface. You fly in fast jets, and you get to wear sunglasses a lot. But to the 100 Saudi fighter pilots bombing Houthi rebels in Yemen right now, it just got better. Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal promised each and every one of them a Bentley. Oddly enough, bin Talal deleted the tweet shortly after, but I think the offer still stands. In case your Arabic is a little rusty, the original reads: I congratulate your success of Operation Decisive Storm and the start of Operation Restore...

Yemen remains unstable and much more work needs to be done in the region, despite a declared halt to the Saudi-led bombing campaign in the country, the White House said on Wednesday. "Obviously, the job is not done," Jen Psaki, White House communications director, said on CNN. Tuesday's announcement by Saudi Arabia that it would end its campaign of air strikes against the Iranian-allied Houthis drew positive responses from the White House and Tehran, as well as fresh calls for peace talks and for humanitarian aid. Saudi Arabia said its month-old campaign against the Houthis, who had seized large areas...

An American aircraft carrier and its warplanes are shadowing an Iranian convoy approaching Yemen, as the U.S. beefs up its presence in the region -- but back in Washington, officials can't seem to agree on why. Pentagon sources confirmed to Fox News that the USS Theodore Roosevelt is tracking the Iranian convoy, and also launching F/A-18 Hornets to conduct "manned reconnaissance" of the estimated nine Iranian ships. Those ships are suspected of carrying weapons to rebel fighters in Yemen. But State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf insisted Tuesday that the U.S. ships were "only" there to "ensure the shipping lanes remain...

A Saudi-led coalition will end "Operation Decisive Storm" -- its nearly monthlong airstrike campaign in Yemen -- by the end of Tuesday, and a new undertaking called "Operation Restoring Hope" will begin, Saudi state-run TV reported without immediately elaborating. The aim is to bring back Yemen's "security and stability through establishing a political process," said a statement from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait.

The Saudi-led coalition will now begin a new phase, titled 'Operation Restoring Hope', according to the statement of the Saudi defense ministry. Saudi-led coalition operations in Yemen are now entering a political phase. The airstrikes have eliminated all threats against the kingdom and the neighboring countries through the destruction of the heavy arms and ballistic missiles that were seized by the Houthi militias and pro-Saleh forces, according to a statement by the defense ministry. A coalition spokesman said the decision to end operation Firmness Storm followed a request from the Yemeni government.

Washington - Top Obama administration officials have failed for several days to persuade Saudi Arabia’s government to limit the scope of its airstrikes on cities and towns in Yemen, a campaign that authorities said killed nearly 50 people Monday in Sana, the capital. The U.S. effort to restrain the Saudi attacks came as the Pentagon moved the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and a guided-missile destroyer into waters off Yemen. In all, nine U.S. warships are patrolling near strategic shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Arabian Sea. Officials said the growing armada is meant, in part, to...

The Obama administration, while showing willingness to cave in to just about every Iranian demand in the ongoing nuclear negotiations, appears to be flexing its muscles in the Yemen proxy fight between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

With every day that passes, Operation Decisive Storm proves just how necessary, and hence, justifiable it is. The conspirators inside Yemen have made huge investments over the past few years in funding sectarian infrastructures, organizations, logistics, as well as tribal and interest-based relations woven with ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s “family-run militia.” The militia that has fought under his banner defends his interests and the interests of those he chooses to befriend today, only to turn on them tomorrow. These investments have been huge and long term. The investors are now well known and for a time this looked like nothing...

To understand what feeds former president Jimmy Carter's anti-Israeli frenzy, look at his early links to Arab business. Between 1976-1977, the Carter family peanut business received a bailout in the form of a $4.6 million, "poorly managed" and highly irregular loan from the National Bank of Georgia (NBG). According to a July 29, 1980 Jack Anderson expose in The Washington Post, the bank's biggest borrower was Mr. Carter, and its chairman at that time was Mr. Carter's confidant, and later his director of the Office of Management and Budget, Bert Lance.

The Pentagon says the American warship USS Theodore Roosevelt is "repositioning" as part of a security operation at sea, and not to intercept Iranian vessels off the coast of Yemen. Citing unnamed officials, the Associated Press reported earlier in the day that the aircraft carrier would join other U.S. ships in the area to confront Iranian vessels, which are said to be carrying weapons to resupply Houthi rebels that have overrun parts of the country. But Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren dismissed the report, saying the Roosevelt is ”repositioning to conduct maritime security operations."

A Saudi-led air strike in Yemen destroyed a weapons cache outside the capital of Sana’a hours ago, causing a massive explosion with shockwaves blowing out windows throughout the city.According to Al-Jazeera, “at least 46 people” were killed when Saudi forces dropped a bomb on a scud missile facility inside the city of Sana’a, the latest attack agains the new Houthi government. The Saudis accuse the Houthi, a Shiite minority, of receiving materiel support from Iran, accusations that they both deny.

According to a report by al-Jazeera, several American generals are skeptical that Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen will succeed.  A “senior commander at CENTCOM” claimed the Saudis did not keep the operation secret from American authorities because they feared the Obama Administration inform Iran, but rather because the Saudis feared the Pentagon would dismiss their battle plan as a “bad idea” and try to talk them out of it. “Military sources said that a number of regional special forces officers and officers at U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) argued strenuously against supporting the Saudi-led intervention because the target of the intervention, the Shia...

9/11 COVER-UP? The latest claim isn’t from conspiracy theorists--it’s from a former top US Senator. He says documents prove Saudi Arabia helped pull off the attacks, and that the FBI hid the truth. Shep has details:

U.S. military officials are concerned that Iran's support for Houthi rebels in Yemen could spark a confrontation with Saudi Arabia and plunge the region into sectarian war. ADVERTISEMENT Iran is sending an armada of seven to nine ships — some with weapons — toward Yemen in a potential attempt to resupply the Shia Houthi rebels, according to two U.S. defense officials. Officials fear the move could lead to a showdown with the U.S. or other members of a Saudi-led coalition, which is enforcing a naval blockade of Yemen and is conducting its fourth week of airstrikes against the Houthis. Iran...

Since October 2014, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has regularly referred to the concept of a "Mastermind" (ust akil, "supra-intellect," in Turkish) that, he says, is plotting against Turkey. This concept has been applauded by the Islamist pro-AKP media. Erdogan's December 12, 2014 speech, which focused on this "mastermind" concept, inspired the production of a two-hour "documentary" by one of the leading Turkish television channels, the pro-AKP A Haber. The film, titled "The Mastermind," first aired on March 15, 2015 and has been broadcast repeatedly since then; in addition, the Turkish Islamist pro-AKP media are circulating the film on their...