Free Republic

Germany under intense pressure to scuttle the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring natural gas from Russia underwater to Germany. That's the assessment of Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. The United States behind that pressure. On Friday a White House official told the media that nine thousand US troops were going to be withdrawn from Germany..... A Russian disc jockey arrested in Berlin at the request of the United States...... A Florida judge who has refused to release grand jury records related to the late Jeffrey Epstein has close ties to politicians involved in the investigation of Epstein 15...

A western diplomat and three regional security sources said Wednesday that Israel Air Force warplanes struck a target on the Syrian-Lebanese border overnight, hours after Lebanon reported a series of three overflights by Israel in its airspace. Israel has expressed increasing concern over the fate of Syrian chemical and conventional weapons as the country slides further into chaos after almost two years of civil war.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES MASNAA, Lebanon -- Syria ended its nearly 30-year occupation of Lebanon yesterday, pulling its last 250 soldiers across the border after an upbeat ceremony that glossed over the tensions between the two neighbors. The rear guard of a Syrian contingent that had numbered 14,000 soldiers just two months ago chanted and waved V-for-victory signs as it rode buses and jeeps across the border in the eastern Bekaa Valley. "We sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Bashar," went the chant in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose likeness was posted all over the vehicles.

Assassins who killed Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, travelled from Iraq through Syria to carry out the attack, according to the Beirut judge leading the inquiry into the bombing. Rachid Mezher, the senior investigator for the Lebanese military tribunal, said that the organisers had been recruited from Islamist groups linked to Syria and operating against the US-led coalition in Iraq. Although no firm ties with the Syrian regime have been established, his comments suggest strong circumstantial evidence of a connection. Investigators believe that a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into the 60-year-old billionaire's convoy last...