Free Republic

With U.S.-Israeli relations currently at just about absolute zero — minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit — U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz claimed in a piece she wrote for The Hill that, according to its headline, “The spirit of Israel lives in the Democratic Party.” The South Florida Democrat, and chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, was writing in response to a statement by U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, during an interview earlier this month on Boston Herald Radio. “I don’t understand how Jews in America can be Democrats first and Jewish second and support Israel along the line of just following...

IS, which last year declared a self-styled "caliphate" over large parts of Syria and Iraq under its control, has fought against the Assad regime as well as other rebel groups as it seeks to gain territory. An activist in Yarmuk said IS launched the attack on the camp after some of its members were detained following the murder of a leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas there on Monday. Rebel fighters have been gaining territory in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the 2011 Arab Spring-inspired uprising against Assad that triggered the Syrian civil war. Last week they...

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — A top State Department official on Monday dismissed reports that Iran may be hiding key nuclear-related assets in North Korea and implied that she was unaware of the possibility, despite the publication this weekend of several articles by top analysts expressing alarm at the extent of nuclear cooperation between Tehran and Pyongyang.

The US-led world powers and Iran Monday, March 30, entered the last tense hours for a nuclear deal as though Lausanne was on a different planet from the Middle East, where the Yemen war, in which Iran is deeply involved, abruptly scooped up a power outside the region, Pakistan. A high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on Monday reaffirmed Pakistan’s “firm commitment to supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia.” Among those attending were Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Defense Minister...

New London — Everything came to a halt on the Connecticut College campus Wednesday afternoon as President Katherine Bergeron canceled all other events and called for a campus-wide forum to address a tenured professor’s Facebook post comparing Gazan Palestinians to “a rabid pit bull chained in a cage, regularly making mass efforts to escape.” "Gaza is in the cage because of its repeated efforts to destroy Israel and Jews," Andrew Pessin, a professor in the college's philosophy department, published to his personal Facebook page in August. Editor's note: This corrects an earlier version of the first sentence. "The blockade is...

On the brink of a new Middle Eastern catastrophe: Saudi Arabia sends war planes into Yemen in a terrifying clash with Iran leaving region at boiling point Religious fissure between Sunni and Shia Muslims erupted into conflict Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels 18 civilians were injured after Saudi warplanes targeted Sana’a in Yemen Britain and America supported the Saudi-led military intervention Coalition deployed 100 fighter jets and 150,000 soldiers to fight in region Truly, it is a terrifying development. The great religious fissure between Sunni and Shia Muslims that dominates the Middle East has erupted into...

There are still nearly two years left in Barack Obama's presidency, but historians looking back on his record in foreign policy will surely identify one costly error: his refusal to follow through on the implied threat in stating that the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons would be a "red line." That statement was made in a press conference on Monday, Aug. 20, 2012. The president was not scheduled to appear; press secretary Jay Carney said, "Looks like there's a surprise guest here." After fielding questions on other topics (Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, Mitt Romney's attack ads and tax...

Iranian-backed Shiite militias have left the northern Iraq city of Tikrit, a key condition the U.S. demanded before it agreed to begin launching airstrikes Wednesday to support Iraqi forces and try to retake the city from the Islamic State group, the top U.S. general for the Middle East said Thursday. Austin said he witnessed brutality by Shiite militias during his extensive experience leading U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. "I will not -- and I hope we will never -- coordinate or cooperate with Shiite militias," he said, adding a blunt explanation for why the Iranian-led offensive failed: The wrong...

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) traveled to Baghdad on Monday, where he met Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to discuss the political and security situation there, according to the prime minister's office. In another meeting with Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, Boehner affirmed support for Iraq's democratic system and discussed the shared U.S. determination to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to a parliamentary statement provided to The Hill by a local journalist. The Speaker's visit with a congressional delegation comes as local forces, including Iranian-backed Shiite militias, work to retake the city of Tikrit, about 100 miles northwest...

Shiite Saudi researcher Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs said in a March 26 interview with the Iranian English-language TV channel Press TV that the Saudi campaign against the Houthis in Yemen may bring the rule of the royal Saudi family to an end. He also said that the US will lose influence in Yemen following its "miscalculation" of supporting the Saudi campaign. Following are excerpts: Ali Al-Ahmed: The Saudis and their allies have a huge battle on their hands. They have entered the hornet's nest. In fact, the founder of Saudi Arabia warned his children...

Plunging oil prices have been an economic windfall for U.S. consumers, primarily through greater savings at the pump. In energy-reliant countries around the world like Angola, however, the effect has been far less beneficial. Social and economic turmoil in countries like Venezuela and Russia—largely because of the swoon in global oil prices—has drawn attention away from Angola, an OPEC member that is Africa's second-largest oil producer. The country churns out 1.75 million barrels of oil per day, according to the Energy Information Agency (EIA). The sub-Saharan country is hugely dependent on oil production to generate revenue for its economy, which...

The Saudi kingdom long was Yemen’s largest benefactor and held sway over powerful Yemeni tribal leaders. Yet following Saleh’s resignation in November 2011, Iran swiftly worked to increase its influence in Yemen by creating ties with whomever shared a common disdain for Saudi Arabia, including liberal anti-Saleh activists. The Houthi rebels, an oft-ignored militia from Yemen’s far north, were an obvious ally for Iran. Houthi fighters, who follow a sect of Shi’ite Islam known as Zaydism, consolidated power in the wake of the 2011 government collapse. They are staunchly anti-Saudi. They believe that the Kingdom was involved in the systematic...

Amman - His Majesty King Abdullah II, on Monday, received a delegation of US senators, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The meeting reviewed ways to strengthen Jordan-US relations in various fields, and the latest regional and international developments. His Majesty the King expressed his appreciation for the United States' efforts to support Jordan in dealing with various challenges facing the region, and the aid that the US provided to the Kingdom, which helps Jordan implement its comprehensive and development plans and programs. The meeting tackled the latest developments in the Middle East, particularly endeavors to combat the threat...

His Majesty King Abdullah II received on Sunday, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, and his accompanying delegation to discuss Middle East issues. The meeting, which was attended by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah and His Royal Highness Prince Faisal Bin Al Hussein, dealt with Jordanian-US ties and ways to enhance these, especially in political and economic fields, in addition to regional and international developments, top of which are efforts to combat terrorism and extremist ideology and achieve peace in the region. The King said efforts should be ramped up to fend off the threat of...

Not even a lifeline could have helped her . . . There was a telling moment on today's Morning Joe when Joe Scarborough challenged April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks to cite some of President Obama's foreign-policy successes. Ryan was reduced to replying "that's kind of tough. Hmm, that's a tough one . . . I have to really ponder that." View the video here.

CAIRO — The Arab states said on Sunday that they had agreed to form a combined military force to counter both Iranian influence and Islamist extremism, a gesture many analysts attributed in large part to their drive for more independence from Washington. The agreement came as American and other Western diplomats in Lausanne, Switzerland, were racing to beat a self-imposed deadline of Tuesday to reach a deal with Iran that would restrict its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions. In response, Saudi Arabia and other American allies in the region have made clear that they are...

Foreign ministers from 22 Arab countries agreed to form a unified military force on Thursday, approving a draft resolution designed to counter growing security threats in the region. "The Arab ... ministers agreed on adopting an important principle, which is forming the unified Arab military force. The task of the force will be rapid military intervention to deal with security threats to Arab nations," Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby told reporters after the meeting, Reuters reported. The agreement, which Elaraby described as “historic,” came shortly after airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and its Arab...

Obama is insisting on the creation of Palestine with a border separating it from Israel based on the ’67 lines plus swaps. In doing so he is ignoring UNSC resolution 242 which grants Israel the right to secure and recognized borders and does not demand a full retreat to the ’67 lines. He is also threatening to allow the UNSC to impose such borders on Israel thereby circumventing his oft stated insistence that all matters are to be negotiated between the parties. Ben-Dror Yemini, writing in YNET, which is left of center and Netanyahu's arch enemy, makes the case, "Given...

Saudi Arabia accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of hypocrisy on Sunday, telling an Arab summit that he should not express support for the Middle East while fuelling instability by supporting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. In a rare move, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that a letter from Putin would be read out to the gathering in Egypt, where Arab leaders discussed an array of regional crises, including conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya. "We support the Arabs' aspirations for a prosperous future and for the resolution of all the problems the Arab world faces through peaceful means, without any...

The former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency on Sunday described President Obama's Middle East policy as one of "willful ignorance," saying the administration needs a clearer strategy for dealing with conflicts emerging across the region. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said during an interview on "Fox News Sunday" that recent developments in the Middle East are moving in a bad direction for the United States, with Iran "clearly on the march" to influence events in a "regional sectarian war." “At the end of the day, we have just this incredible policy confusion — never mind what our strategy is to...