Free Republic

**SNIP** David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori’s perplexing new musical “Soft Power” attempts to do three things at once: tell the real story of a 2015 stabbing attack on Hwang; do a “The King and I”-like turn that both romanticizes and criticizes a stereotypical America; and opine on the 2016 presidential election. There is an intermission, and the Public Theater has two bars. Start a tab. **SNIP** The first act of the dreamy show-within-a-show sees Clinton begging for votes, attempting to dazzle citizens and desperately trying to relate. That’s when she has that big production number at that ritziest of...

Exclusive - New emails obtained by Fox News show that in March 2011, at the height of the Arab Spring revolution inside Libya, dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s son Saif was willing to talk peace from the ground in Libya – but a source told Fox News the offer was rejected by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In the years since Qaddafi was forced from power, Libya's government has collapsed, and extremist groups including ISIS have exploited the power vacuum. While the Obama administration has promoted the use of "soft power" and diplomacy, the documents suggest the option was not vigorously pursued...

Well now they have done it. They killed a priest. A high priest. A secular high priest. They killed a journalist I mean. “In the video released on Tuesday,” reports Asia News Channel, “an individual presumed to be [freelance journalist James] Foley - who was captured by militants in Syria in November 2012 - is seen on his knees in a desert landscape reading a statement asking his family to stop the US intervention in Iraq. A man standing next to him dressed in black with his face covered and holding a knife then says in a distinct British accent...

The Catholic Church has been disparaged at times throughout its long history, and sometimes rightly. But while it has occasionally fallen short of its ideals, that does not overshadow the good it has accomplished — and can accomplish in the future. With the latest controversy in Germany and the ongoing scandal over priests charged with sexual abuse, it is clear that the Catholic Church, being a human enterprise, occasionally falls short, and its leaders sin greatly. But these lapses do not overshadow the good the church has accomplished in the past and — more to the point — can accomplish...

When Hillary Clinton took office, much of the world had been alienated from the United States by the policies of the Bush administration. Expectations were high that President Obama's team would change the tone, and Clinton delivered. She put a glamorous, smart, politically astute face on American policy. Yet Clinton produced no diplomatic breakthroughs nor any new strategic doctrine. And when it comes to issues of war and peace - in the Mideast, South Asia, and North Asia - she leaves a minimal legacy.In large part, that's because policy-making was tightly controlled by the White House. It's hard to know...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States must look past the violence and extremism that has erupted after the "Arab Spring" revolutions and boost support for the region's young democracies to forge long-term security, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday. Clinton, seeking to reinforce the Obama administration's Middle East policy following a wave of anti-American violence and last month's deadly attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, said Washington cannot be deterred by "the violent acts of a small number of extremists." "We recognize that these transitions are not America's to manage, and certainly not ours to win...

Iran: A leaked memo from the defense secretary reveals the administration has no alternatives to stop Iran's nuclear push if "soft power" fails. This should be a wake-up call, but we continue snoozing toward Armageddon. President Obama campaigned on the notion that not talking to tyrants was not an option or a workable policy. He said he'd be willing to talk with anybody anywhere to bring peace and relieve tensions. Unlike President Theodore Roosevelt, however, he has been talking softly but forgetting about the big stick. A memo written by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and unearthed by the New York...

President Obama will rewrite America’s policy on nuclear weapons next week, heralding further reductions in the U.S. stockpile and giving a pledge not to develop new systems.

WASHINGTON -- Many of the Republicans emerging as potential members of the Obama administration have professional and ideological ties to Brent Scowcroft, a former national-security adviser turned public critic of the Bush White House.Mr. Scowcroft spoke by phone with President-elect Barack Obama last week, the latest in a months-long series of conversations between the two men about defense and foreign-policy issues, according to people familiar with the discussions. Brent Scowcroft The relationship between the president-elect and the Republican heavyweight suggests that Mr. Scowcroft's views, which place a premium on an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, might hold sway in the Obama White...

A man, they say, can be judged by his friends. If that's the case, then Barack Obama can surely be judged by George Clooney. The UK Daily Mail reported this week that the "Ocean's Eleven" actor regularly speaks with and text messages the presumptive Democratic nominee, advising him on everything from fashion to foreign policy. "George has been giving him advice on things such as presentation, public speaking and body language and he also emails him constantly about policy, especially the Middle East," stated a Democratic Party insider. "George is pushing him to be more 'balanced' on issues such as...

The great danger in offering unqualified praise to another person is they could turn around, do / say something really stupid, and make you doubt your original judgment. That’s why the greatest praise for public officials comes when they are safely dead. From that position, they are unlikely to offer any new, public embarrassment. Still, it’s important to climb out on a limb from time to time. There are three people whose bylines I always follow. I have never ceased to be impressed by any column I’ve read from any of these three gentlemen (in alphabetical order): Charles Krauthammer, Thomas...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - After six hard years of war, the United States is awakening to the idea that "soft power" is a better way to regain influence and clout in a world bubbling with instability. And nowhere is the change in thinking more advanced than in the US military, which is pushing for greater diplomacy, economic aid, civic action and civilian capabilities to prevent new wars and win the peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates caught the spirit in a much praised speech at Kansas State University last month, calling for a dramatic increase in spending...

LONDON - The British government has stopped using the phrase "war on terror" to refer to the struggle against political and religious violence, according to a Cabinet minister's prepared remarks for a Monday speech. International Development Secretary Hilary Benn, a rising star of the governing Labour Party, says in a speech prepared for delivery in New York that the expression popularized by President Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks strengthens terrorists by making them feel part of a bigger struggle. Extracts from Benn's speech at New York University's Center on International Cooperation were released by his office. "We do not...

After two years of disastrous dialogue, and more of the same in recent days, we can conclude that no diplomatic initiative can stop Iran from getting the bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency meets again this week to discuss the mullahs' nuclear ambitions, while Russia floats a plan to get Iran to enrich uranium on its soil. But before we got to this point, we had the Europeans in the starring role. The foreign ministers of the leading European Union countries--Britain, France and Germany--did try for years to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions, most recently at Friday's...