Free Republic

Why Did Iran Take Captive and Release U.S. Sailors So Quickly? The capture of American sailors in Persian Gulf waters by Iran should have provided the regime in Tehran a desperately needed opportunity to flex its muscles. However, the entire incident ended in the utmost humiliation for the regime. The times have changed, and Iran can no longer take on such adventures, such as the capture of over a dozen British sailors and hold them for long periods. Iran has suffered strategic defeats in many different aspects, from the nuclear dossier, to Syria , Yemen , Iraq .While Iran...

The EIA has just published its latest update to the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), and soon we will get their update to the Short Term Energy Outlook. These are the two documents in which the EIA take a stab at estimating where US production is going, as opposed to where it has been. Weakness in the Chinese economy has hung like a pall on the oil market since the turn of the year and there is nothing putting a floor under the oil price just yet, but to my eyes the decline of US shale production is now well established...

An Iraqi volunteer forces commander has revealed US plans to evacuate Daesh (ISIL/ISIS) leaders from the central Iraqi city of Ramadi, according to the Iranian Fars Iranian News Agency. Fars reported: A commander of volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) disclosed the US plots to evacuate ISIL leaders from the city of Ramadi as Iraqi army and popular troops are completing victory over the terrorist group. “The delay in operations to liberate Ramadi and Fallujah cities in al-Anbar province is the result of the US interference,” Commander of Imam Khamenei Battalion Haidar al-Hosseini al-Ardavi told FNA on Thursday.

Thanks to our federal government, the American people remain in peril. Terrorists continue to take advantage of Barack Obama’s fraudulent refugee program by infiltrating an unknown number of Islamic extremists into our country. Coupled with unrestricted border entry, the rising tide of illegal immigrants represents a growing danger to the American public. And this is precisely what Obama wants. The ongoing invasion of the nation by America-hating, inferior stock is an important part of the “fundamental transformation” of the United States that Obama has spoken of throughout his years in the White House. Of course, White House press secretary Josh...

A major conference held in New York on Friday, December 19th raised hopes for the future of the deadly civil war in Syria coming to a final end. However, Iran is the only party left out actually concerned over its interests gone with the wind after such extensive strategic capitalization and secret war in the Levant and its vicious dictator Bashar Assad. Seeking to find a solution for the crisis in Syria, various parties involved in this conflict - including the Syrian opposition - joined the top diplomats of 20 different countries in this third international meeting on Syria, after...

Barack Obamas repeated insistence that Bashar al-Assad must leave office and that there are moderate rebel groups in Syria capable of defeating him has in recent years provoked quiet dissent, and even overt opposition, among some of the most senior officers on the Pentagons Joint Staff. Their criticism has focused on what they see as the administrations fixation on Assads primary ally, Vladimir Putin. In their view, Obama is captive to Cold War thinking about Russia and China, and hasnt adjusted his stance on Syria to the fact both countries share Washingtons anxiety about the spread of terrorism in and...

The George Washington University Center on Extremism recently published a study on Islam-based extremism by sympathizers of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, Daesh, or as the Obama administration says, ISIL). The study's executive summary noted that this recent trend of "ISIS-related mobilization in the United States has been unprecedented." Some of the major findings from their report were the following: ~ 250 Americans have traveled to Syria or Iraq to join ISIS, or have tried to. ~ 900 active investigations against ISIS sympathizers in all 50 states. ~ 71 individuals have been charged with ISIS-related activities since March...

In an email this week to students, University of Maryland President Wallace Loh, outlining the reasons behind his request to the Board of Regents to rename the school's football stadium, due to the racist past of a previous president for which the stadium is named, managed to quote the wrong official motto of the United States: "Our national motto engraved on our coins is E Pluribus Unum, one formed from many. The Founders of our Republic got it right. We are a diverse people, but we are united by common values and ideals. We are of many different backgrounds but...

Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama said in an interview that aired Thursday that he is confident the U.S. is safe from a Paris-style attack from ISIS and that American law enforcement is well equipped to protect the nation during the holidays. "ISIL will not pose an existential threat to us. They are a dangerous organization like al Qaeda was, but we have hardened our defenses," Obama told CBS. "The American people should feel confident that, you know, we are going to be able to defend ourselves and make sure that, you know, we have a good holiday and go about...

A permanent new US “expeditionary force” will target Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, operating independently of local troops in Iraq and Syria for the first time, defense secretary Ash Carter has revealed, in a significant escalation of the frontline use of American ground troops in the region. Addressing Congressional leaders who are demanding swifter progress against Isis, Carter said on Tuesday that the troops would be based in Iraq but will have the capability to carry out raids across the border. “It puts everybody on notice in Syria,” he said. “You don’t know at night who is going...

Oversight: A federal agency keeps stonewalling congressional efforts to access its internal communications. What's the problem here? If the agency's global warming claim was honestly arrived at, just turn over the documents.

MR KIRBY: Good afternoon, everybody. Got a special guest with me here today to kick off the briefing – Mr. Simon Henshaw, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, is going to walk you through for a few minutes some more details about the screening process for refugees. We’ve talked about this over the last few days, about how extensive and thorough it is, and I asked Mr. Henshaw to come give you a little primer on that. He’ll also be able to stick around for a couple of questions and then we’ll get on...

Anonymous, the loose collective of online activists, said Saturday it has uncovered information about Islamic State group attacks in Paris as well as on locations in the U.S., Indonesia, Italy and Lebanon, all apparently set for Sunday. OpParisIntel, a group within Anonymous, released a statement saying it had collected information about imminent attacks by the militant group -- aka Daesh, ISIL and ISIS -- on the French capital a little more than a week after a series of coordinated attacks there left 130 dead and hundreds injured. Anonymous also said the Islamic State group is planning an assault at the...

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) says the argument made by the left and by GOP leadership – particularly Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) – that America shouldn’t stop letting Syrian refugees into the country because “that’s just not who we are” is “not supported by logic or rational.”

NEW YORK (AP) - Intelligence officials found no evidence of any specific or credible threat targeting American soil following the deadly Paris attacks, U.S. officials told The Associated Press. Still patrols were stepped up and added security measures put in place nationwide. In New York, officers with assault rifles stood guard in Times Square, and extra security was stationed at French-owned sites in Washington and consulates in Boston and New York City. But elsewhere around the country, like at Minnesota's Mall of America, it was business as usual. Dozens of police cars left Times Square with lights and sirens blaring...

IDF Intelligence officers have warned Israeli soldiers that the CIA may be trying to gain their confidence to obtain information that could reveal security information. The memo warns soldiers to “be aware and report any unusual incidents.” The IDF attached to its memo a copy of an article from a Israeli newspaper that once reported that American s serving in the IDF were extensively questioned when they visited or returned to the United States. The American government has ears and eyes in Israel, both on the spy level and within the consulate. One security officer in a community in Judea...

Australian defense planners are looking at the possibility of a naval sail-through close to China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea, in case the government decides to follow its close ally the U.S. in testing Beijing’s territorial claims. “Australia has been looking at options,” said one official in Australia’s military familiar with operational planning. The official spoke after the American guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed early Tuesday within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of seven sand and rock outcrops in the Spratly chain on which China has built artificial islands. The U.S. considers the area international waters,...

Video:China warns US not to ‘make a fool of itself’ over South China Sea manoeuvres. China is not afraid of fighting a war against the United States in the South China Sea, a state-run newspaper with links to the Communist party has claimed. Beijing is attempting to build artificial islands, while other states in the region are looking to the US to flex its military muscle on their behalf Twenty-four hours after Washington challenged Beijing’s territorial claims in the region by deploying a warship to waters around the disputed Spratly archipelago, the notoriously nationalistic Global Times accused the Pentagon of...

The United Nations General Assembly has almost unanimously voted to condemn the US embargo on Cuba, in the first such resolution since US-Cuban diplomatic ties were restored earlier this year. The motion won more support than it has done in the past, with 191 members of the 193-member body voting in favour. Only the US and Israel opposed the resolution, which is non-binding.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday that the U.S. will begin "direct action on the ground" against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria, aiming to intensify pressure on the militants as progress against them remains elusive. "We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground," Carter said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee, using an alternative name for the militant group. Carter pointed to last week's rescue operation with Kurdish forces in northern Iraq to free hostages...