Free Republic

In full disclosure, I wrote this last night before the State of the Union address. I guessed then and I was right - none of this was addressed by Obama in his speech. Last week we shared how horrific January 2016 began in its first week. Week two doesn't look much better. President Obama tried to present a world of rainbows and unicorns in his final State of the Union address, but that's about as real as the Land of Oz. Barack Obama and his minions can attempt to create an alternative universe in which they live, but the truth...

Washington (CNN)Ten American sailors are in Iranian custody after two small U.S. naval craft apparently briefly entered Iranian territorial waters, a U.S. senior defense official said Tuesday. The official, however, expects the situation to be resolved quickly. A senior administration official said there is nothing to indicate this was anything hostile on the part of any entity in Iran, adding that the U.S. has received high-level assurances that the sailors will be released promptly. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told CNN's Jake Tapper that President Barack Obama will be in touch with members of Congress about the incident. "Certainly,...

Nine of the ten people who died in a terrorist attack in Istanbul on Tuesday morning are German, German media are reporting. German government sources told broadcaster N-tv that nine of the victims were German. The Turkish government had already confirmed that most of the people who died in the attacks were German. [...] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the attack had been a suicide bombing carried out by a terrorist of Syrian origin. ...

Multiple people have been reported injured after an explosion in a historic district of Istanbul popular with tourists, Turkish media reported Tuesday. Private NTV television said the explosion in the Sultanahmet neighborhood was close to a park that is home to a landmark obelisk. The state-run Anadolu Agency says several police and medics were sent to the area. Police sealed the area, barring people from approaching in case of a second explosion. Sultanahmet is Istanbul's main sight-seeing area and includes the Topkapi Palace and Blue Mosque.

Murder in Istanbul: Kremlin's hand suspected in shooting of Chechen The shooting in broad daylight of Abdulvakhid Edelgireyev – a key Chechen Islamist figure who fought with an al-Qaida affiliate in Syria – is the latest in a series of audacious killings of enemies of the Russian state in the Turkish city ...He survived the battlefields of Syria, and those of east Ukraine. But in November his life came to an abrupt end in a flurry of bullets: he was shot dead in broad daylight in Istanbul as he embarked on a shopping trip with his three-year-old niece. Edelgireyev and...

Attacks on women in Cologne and other German cities on New Year’s Eve have prompted more than 600 criminal complaints, with police suspicion resting on asylum seekers, putting pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel and her open door migrant policy. The attacks, mostly targeting women and ranging from theft to sexual molestation, have prompted a highly-charged debate in Germany about its welcoming stance for refugees and migrants, more than one million of whom arrived last year. The sudden nature of the violent attacks and the fact that they stretched from Hamburg to Frankfurt prompted Germany’s justice minister Heiko Maas to speculate...

In response to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon's (Likud) announcement last Wednesday that a strategic 40 dunam compound is being officially added to the Gush Etzion region in Judea, the US lost little time in condemning the move. The land that is being added was purchased by American millionaire Irving Moskowitz and his wife, and is referred to as "Beit Bracha." Jerusalem Councilman and Israel Land Fund (ILF) Director Arieh King covertly obtained the abandoned church complex adjacent to Highway 60 three years ago according to reports, and worked to renovate the compound. On Friday, US State Department spokesperson John Kirby...

Egypt approaches Israel seeking clarifications on reconciliation talks with Turkey, expresses reservations concerning Turkey's potential role in Gaza. Egypt has approached Israel asking for clarifications regarding recent progress in its reconciliatory talks with Turkey. Senior officials in Jerusalem told Haaretz that Egypt expressed its reservations regarding granting Turkey a role in the Gaza Strip, and asked whether Israel had committed to any easing of restrictions in the closure imposed on Gaza. These officials, who asked to remain anonymous due to the delicate diplomatic nature of the issue, stated that what caused the Egyptian government’s displeasure was Israeli media reports from...

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused the head of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition party of treason on Friday for using a trip to Moscow to condemn Ankara’s shooting down of a Russian warplane over Syria. Selahattin Demirtas, co-head of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), met foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday and criticised Ankara for shooting down the warplane near the border with Syria last month. Moscow denies it had entered Turkish airspace.

ANKARA --- Altay, Turkey’s first domestic tank in the making, has received much interest from the country’s allies, said Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) head İsmail Demir said Jan. 7 during a presentation at parliament. “Including Pakistan and the Gulf countries, we can say that countries that we have good relations with are showing a large interest in the tank. Representatives of some countries are being invited to the ongoing firing tests,” he said, adding that the tests were extremely satisfying. “Lately, we have seen that Saudi Arabia’s interest was big,” he said. The SSM officials said at the briefing...

The Turkish army has expressed concerns to the United States' top military figure over Syrian Kurdish groups' attempts to create a "Kurdish corridor" in northern Syria and change the demographic structure of the region to the advantage of Kurds. The messages were delivered to Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who held talks with Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Jan 6. Dunford, the highest-ranking military officer of the U.S., visited U.S. troops stationed in Turkey's Incirlik Base following talks in Ankara. Military-to-military talks focused on the joint...

We are witnessing the decline and fall of the European Union as we know it: the beginning of the end for the last of the twentieth century's grand political experiments. The speed of the decline and the extent of the fall are not certain; Brussels still has plenty of options. But it is clear that the EU, having ceased its geographical and institutional expansion, is entering a period of contraction, and quite possibly disintegration. The lines of fracture are clear, and so are the indicators that the stresses will only intensify. Divisions between the rich north and the poorer south,...

Saudi Arabia is mulling the sale of shares in Aramco, believed to be the world's most valuable company, as part of plans to repair its finances and open up its economy. The announcement was made by the country's deputy crown prince as Saudi's secretive, state-owned oil firm grapples with the effects of oil prices nearing 12-year lows . Mohammed bin Salman told The Economist: "That is something that is being reviewed, and we believe a decision will be made over the next few months." The Saudi economy has taken a battering from the oil price decline and the finance ministry...

Told you that 2016 will prove an interesting year. Now Yeni Safak, the pro-Erdogan main newspaper under the control of Erdogan in Istanbul published the people’s vote and their desire regarding the new presidential system which Erdogan wants to establish. The conclusion? 60% of voters support a presidency system (in reality a Caliphate): More than half of voters in Turkey found to favor presidency system in Turkey, according to figures from the GENAR research company. The research indicated that 59.6 percent of voters support a presidency system, while 55 percent of voters say yes to a new constitution, according...

For the first time since the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922, a Greek Orthodox Epiphany celebration is set to take place in Izmir on January 6, 2016. The Greek Orthodox community has received permission from the Turkish authorities to perform the Diving for the Holy Cross ceremony on the local pier. "For the first year we will be performing the Blessing of the Waters at the port of Izmir. Officially, this is the first year. We had also done it around 10 years ago, but not officially. This time we have received a license from the Turkish government, the Ministry...

Istanbul (AFP) - It's an occasional but regular sighting in Istanbul. Out of the mist on the Bosphorus that divides Europe and Asia looms the hulk of a Russian warship purposefully making its way to the Mediterranean. Most likely the ship is part of Moscow's so-called "Syria Express", a key supply line for naval deliveries from its Black Sea ports to military operations backing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Dozens of Russian warships, auxiliary naval cargo ships and sometimes even submarines have passed through the Bosphorus Strait, northbound and southbound. Every month since Russia stepped up operations...

ISTANBUL — Turkey is getting ready to widen the reach of its military considerably by building a multipurpose aircraft carrier with “trans-continental” capabilities. The 225-meter ship dubbed the Anadolu (or Anatolia), set to enter service in 2021, is designed to take fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, tanks, troops, and landing vessels to areas around the Mediterranean and as far as the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, officials say. While some analysts say Turkey needs a carrier like this, some regard the project as an expensive expression of prestige and grandeur that far exceeds the country’s limits. The move is a sign...

BRUSSELS - NATO is flatly dismissing a claim by Russia that its actions and expansion constitute a menace for Russia's security. Alliance spokesperson Oana Lungescu said Tuesday that NATO is still studying Russia's new security doctrine, approved last week. "That said," Lungescu added, "we categorically reject totally unfounded claims that NATO and its policies constitute a security threat" for Moscow.

Saudi Arabia stews in policy hell: Spengler By David P. Goldman on January 3, 2016 in David P. Goldman, Spengler, China, Middle East, AT Top Writers Last week's mass executions in Saudi Arabia suggest panic at the highest level of the monarchy. The action is without precedent, even by the grim standards of Saudi repression. In 1980 Riyadh killed 63 jihadists who had attacked the Grand Mosque of Mecca, but that was fresh after the event. Most of the 47 prisoners shot and beheaded on Jan. 2 had sat in Saudi jails for a decade. The decision to kill the...

After Turkish stab in the back, Putin twists the knife Tom Parfitt The Times January 5, 2016 12:00AM After a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian bomber in November, President Vladimir Putin complained Turkey's leadership had stabbed Russia in the back. Now he is twisting the knife by cultivating Ankara's old enemy, the Kurds. Last week, Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic party, met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow and criticised Turkey for bringing down the Su-24. It is thought unlikely that Moscow would directly fund Kurdish guerillas inside Turkey, but last month the Free Syrian...