Free Republic

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. "Very few people were true Nazis," he said, "but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had...

Your editor doesn't get to vote, as he is not a citizen. His preference would be for Senator McCain, simply because the editor's parents knew Senator McCain's parents, and because of the senator's POW experience. This said, the editor can't understand why people cannot be logical about assessing candidates and then vote pro or con. Why does plain dumb analysis take precedence over logic? The greatest analytical error that critics of Governor Palin are making is what the editor calls "mirror analysis". You look at yourself in the mirror, and assume Senator McCain choose Ms. Palin to appeal to you....

Eleven persons including three Army jawans, one of them a JCO, five civilians and three militants were killed while six others including three Army personnel, two civilians and a woman were injured as three fidayeens, who had infiltrated in wee hours of yesterday morning from Kanachak sector, managed to hijack a load carrier auto carrying Gujjars along with their milk containers at Gadla, Kanachak this morning and travelled more than 15 kms before taking shelter in a house at Chinore near Bantalab on on old Jammu-Akhnoor road taking nine persons including four children and three women hostage. The operation, which...

We aren't sure why we are going back to Georgia, we'd pretty much foretold what would happen and its happening. Perhaps we need to go back because the west is having one of its "youse dirty rate betrayed us" moments, whereas the sad reality is the Russians, whatever else they have done, have not betrayed the west. The ceasefire document they signed was at the west's insistence, not at theirs; they kept saying in as many ways as possible they were not going to leave Georgia and that Tbilisi can forget about South Ossetia and Abkhazia and so on and...

If Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were president of the United States, would Iran try to build a nuclear bomb? Would Pakistan provide covert aid to al-Qaeda? Would Hugo Chavez train terrorists in Venezuela? Would leftover nationalities with delusions of grandeur provoke the great powers? Just ask Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili, who now wishes he never tried to put his 4 million countrymen into strategic play. In January I urged Americans to draft the Russian leader to succeed George W Bush (Putin for president of the United States, January 8, 2008). Putin's swift and decisive action in Georgia reflects precisely...

Some heightening of tension as agitators try and keep alive the closed incident of land to be given to a Hindu shrine to erect facilities for pilgrims, not to expand the shrine. In Kashmir, the Government of India follows a discriminatory policy that no outsider can buy land - this land was not be bought, just given for use, it would remain government land. This is a consequence of the 1947 articles of accession under which GOI promised this clause to then princely state ruler. So when separatist Muslims began an agitation saying the government was not to let the...

The gentleman who was one of the five live persons (and 199 cadavers, some held for 30 years) Israel traded for the bodies of two of its soldiers is in the news. He vows to continue the struggle. Well, last time he shot a civilian father in front of his 4-year girl, and then crushed her skull with his rifle butt. What a hero! What a blow for the oppressed Palestinians! May we suggest a Nobel Peace Prize for the gentleman? A trifling honor we shall no doubt will have to beg him to accept. So, good buddy good pal,...

....says Washington Post. There are a large number of "depending on" qualifiers and so this is by no means a done deal. In any case, the military has no plan to send additional troops to Afghanistan till next years. If this happens, three brigades slated for Iraq in 2009 will retrain for Afghanistan. So why are we not happy? Haven't we been yelling and screaming for more troops for Afghanistan? We are not happy for two good reasons. First, the US has an absolute shortage of combat brigades. That three may go to Afghanistan and not Iraq changes nothing: the...

Indians are the 'new Jews' of Britain, which will one day day be ruled by an Indian prime minister, according to disgraced Tory peer Lord Archer. Archer, who is touring India to promote his latest book, said Indian businessmen are 'taking over' Britain and that Indian mayors and councillors are taking over local government throughout the country. His comments were made following a number of Indian takeovers of major British companies, such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Corus Steel and the Scottish whisky gian Whyte and Mackay. In a television interview staged in a glitzy new shopping malls near Delhi, Archer...

The US military has awarded an $80 million contract to a prominent Saudi financier who has been indicted by the US Justice Department. The contract to supply jet fuel to American bases in Afghanistan was awarded to the Attock Refinery Ltd, a Pakistani-based refinery owned by Gaith Pharaon. Pharaon is wanted in connection with his alleged role at the failed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and the CenTrust savings and loan scandal, which cost US tax payers $1.7 billion. (ABC News Photo Illustration)The Saudi businessman was also named in a 2002 French parliamentary report as having links to...

BATRIK — bordering Afghanistan's Nuristan province, inaccessible Chitral district has long been thought to be a refuge for Osama bin Laden. With the high peaks of the Hindu Kush range and narrow valleys, ... easy to dodge through secret mountain routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan. home of the Kalasha, a unique pagan civilization that's lived in the area for 2,000 years or more, boxed in by an increasingly militant Islam. According to locals, bin Laden lived with a Kalasha family in Chitral for some time during his first Afghan jihad, . With his now much more severe ideology, the al...

SRINAGAR, Oct 8: Taking advantage of the losing grip of Police, BSF as well as Army in Sopore, militants have kidnapped and mercilessly slaughtered a young dental surgeon within 24 hours of beheading a Territorial Army recruit in the apple-rich north Kashmir township. More confident this time, militants have slit the throat of the young dental surgeon and father of three kids with seven shaving blades in broad daylight after subjecting him to untold brutality for about two hours. Civilian sources revealed to the EXCELSIOR that the local Police Station responded to a report and recovered the dead body of...

NOT for nothing is it known as 'Mother of Satan'. The crystal explosive is highly unstable and sensitive to heat and friction. And it is a favourite of terrorists. It was used in the London bombings in July and it would have caused destruction in Australia too. Australian police believe that what they unearthed yesterday during a raid on a red brick house in Sydney were ingredients for 'Mother of Satan' bombs. Australian newspapers reported that among items seized from the Sydney house included at least two large plastic containers, each holding several litres of a clear liquid. Police suspect...

AUSTIN, Texas, August 27: Though the governments of the United States and Pakistan appear to be in sync with one another on the hunt for Osama bin Laden and militant Islamists, a crisis of relations is brewing just beneath the surface. Despite expressions of unity in the war against Al-Qaeda, cooperation at the operational and tactical levels is nearly nonexistent -- and calculated interference by Pakistani intelligence and security elements is hindering US operations in the country. This situation is further complicated by ongoing rivalries between government agencies, poor communications and general lack of cooperation by US intelligence and security...

WASHINGTON, August 27: When Pakistan’s General Pervez Musharraf takes the podium on Sept 17 in New York, before the world’s most important Jewish forum, he will appear and claim to be speaking for Pakistan and the entire Muslim world. But that may probably be the only misleading statement he may make in his historic speech. The rest of his address to the Jewish world would be well rehearsed and well-considered. Musharraf has been invited by the American Jewish Congress because he says so many nice things about enlightened Islam and, more importantly, because he signs on the dotted line of...

The July 7 terrorist bombings in London have led to greater scrutiny of Pakistan’s role in fomenting global Jihad. The London bombers were Britons of Pakistani origin and at least three out of the four visited Pakistan recently. It is natural for the international community to wonder why so many elements of Islamist extremism have a Pakistani connection. The July 7 terrorist bombings in London have led to greater scrutiny of Pakistan’s role in fomenting global Jihad. The London bombers were Britons of Pakistani origin and at least three out of the four visited Pakistan recently. It is natural for...

NEW DELHI: In what is likely to be recognised as a new world record, an IAF Cheetah helicopter landed at an altitude of 23,240 feet on the Kamet glacier in the Garhwal Himalayas to rescue three critically injured climbers earlier this month. Disclosing this on Monday, IAF's D-G, flight safety, Air Marshal A K Singh said what was even more remarkable was that Wing Commander S K Sharma and his co-pilot Flt Lt A B Dhanake managed to successfully take off from the glacier with an increased pay-load of 70 kg. Sharma and Dhanake flew the rescue missions on May...

Gen.Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's US-blessed military dictator, continues to assert, without any fears of contradiction or punitive action by the US, that the action of a group of scientists of Pakistan headed by A.Q.Khan in clandestinely selling or transfering military nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea was a rogue operation without the knowledge or approval of the political or military leadership of the country. 2. In his latest assertion on the subject, he told the CNN, the US TV channel, in an interview on March 19, 2004, as follows: " I am extremely positive neither the Government nor the...

US fears Islamic militants in Mauritania, Algeria TIMBUKTU, Mali, March 18 (Reuters) - The United States fears hardline Islamic militants moving around the Sahara desert could try to topple the Algerian and Mauritanian governments, senior diplomatic and military officials said. The U.S. ambassador to Mali, Vicki Huddleston, said a leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an Algerian group allied to al Qaeda, could be looking to re-arm and link up with other militants in the region. The leader, Amari Saifi, known as el Para and widely regarded as the GSPC's second-in-command, claimed responsibility for kidnapping 32...

Arsonists set fire to 36 buildings, mostly deserted health clinics and police stations, in a rampage across Thailand's Muslim south that may reflect anger over a missing lawyer, government officials said Friday. . No injuries were reported. Interior Minister Bhokin Balakula said the attacks were carried out overnight in the provinces of Pattani, Songkhla and Yala, where violence erupted in January when an army camp was raided and guns were stolen. . More than 20 state schools were also set on fire that night, probably as a diversion for the army camp raid, in which four soldiers were killed. ....