Free Republic

The United States has publicly warned United Nations member states not to support Thursday’s UN General Assembly resolution denouncing US President Donald Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. The text will also call for nations, including the US, not to relocate their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. To date, the US is the only country who said it will do so. The UN General Assembly is scheduled to hold a special emergency session to disavow Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem on Thursday at the request of Yemen, Turkey and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The resolution is expected to...

America is drawing up plans for a “bloody nose” military attack on North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons programme, The Telegraph understands. The White House has “dramatically” stepped up preparation for a military solution in recent months amid fears diplomacy is not working, well-placed sources said. One option is destroying a launch site before it is used by the regime for a new missile test. Stockpiles of weapons could also be targeted. The hope is that military force would show Kim Jong-un that America is “serious” about stopping further nuclear development and trigger negotiations. Three sources - two former...

As tensions rise to historic heights on the Korean Peninsula, both the US and China have begun taking unprecedented steps to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Across North Korea's border in China's Jilin province, state-run media ran a full-page instructional package on how to survive a nuclear blast. The page doesn't mention North Korea, but it doesn't need to. Also new in Jilin, are five new refugee camps built "because the situation on the China-North Korea border has intensified lately," a leaked document seen by the New York Times read. The camps can potentially accommodate thousands of North Koreans pouring...

US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said, “We will continue to work through all our partners to try to stabilize the country.” Spokesperson Nauert commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russian soldiers will be pulled out of Syria and said, “If Russia chooses to pull out, certainly, that is its choice to do so, but we continue to work through all our partners to try to stabilize the country.” US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert answered questions about Syria in the daily press briefing. Nauert said the following on the question about Russian President Putin’s announcement that Russian...

Hiroshima atomic bombing survivor Setsuko Thurlow and International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) leader Beatrice Fihn on Saturday urged the United States and North Korea to negotiate and avoid nuclear war. On Sunday, the two will receive this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Thurlow, 85, was 13 years old at the time of the Hiroshima bombing. "No human being should suffer what we suffered," Thurlow told reporters Saturday. "I deeply and strongly urge the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. never to use nuclear weapons ... Negotiate....

Service failed to meet over 90 percent of requests for support training in 2016 The U.S. Navy doesn't have enough amphibious warships to effectively support the Marine Corps in training for combat operations, according to senior Pentagon officials. Marine Lt. Gen. Brian Beaudreault, deputy commandant for plans, policies, and operations, said Friday the current fleet of 32 amphibious assault ships falls short of the number needed to meet operational requirements. He said this negatively impacts the ability of joint naval forces to train, particularly in large-scale formations, which harms readiness. Beaudreault, testifying before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness,...

The US argues the United Nations pact is 'inconsistent' with its policies, adding that decisions on domestic immigration should be 'made by Americans and Americans alone'. The administration of President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from a United Nations pact to improve the handling of migrant and refugee situations, deeming it "inconsistent" with its policies, the US mission to the global body announced Saturday."Today, the US Mission to the United Nations informed the UN Secretary-General that the United States is ending its participation in the Global Compact on Migration," the Americans said in a statement.

The United States has withdrawn from a United Nations pact to commit to protect and preserve rights of migrants and refugees. Donald Trump's administration said the agreement, known as the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, was "inconsistent" with its policies. In September 2016, the 193 members of the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a set of commitments that pledged to uphold the rights of refugees, help them resettle and ensure they have access to education and jobs. A statement from the US read: "The New York Declaration contains numerous provisions that are inconsistent with US immigration and refugee...

While we have all been watching the southern border and wondering when the wall will finally be built, we have ignored a growing issue with our northern neighbors. As ISIS teams up with Latin American drug cartels to create one of the deadliest threats to US security, we have failed to notice that Trudeau’s government is dealing with returning Jihadists by teaching them poetry and letting them wander free. As ISIS have begun to lose major ground in Iraq and Syria, they (and Hezbolah and Boko Haram) have joined up with the drug cartels as a way of funding their...

Eight people have been rescued and are in good condition aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the Navy said in a statement. Meanwhile US and Japanese ships and planes are searching the area for the three people who remain missing. The names of those who were onboard are being withheld pending the notification of their next of kin, the Navy said. The crash happened approximately 500 nautical miles southeast of Okinawa as the C2-A Greyhound aircraft was on course to land on the Reagan. It had been transporting passengers and cargo from the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan...

The American grid security story grows increasingly grim. Last week, security consulting firm Symantec warned that recent cyberattacks gave hackers direct access to the nation’s power grid on multiple occasions, according to a new report by Wired. This time, not only the United States was exposed, said Symantec. Europe also experienced similar vulnerabilities, proving the hackers could have induced blackouts on both sides of the Atlantic. Thankfully, this apocalyptic scenario didn’t happen. In spring and summer 2017, the Dragonfly 2.0 hacker group—a primary culprit featured in cybersecurity reports from many experts lately—launched campaigns against energy companies. They succeeded 20 times,...

After World War II, the United States became the most powerful and most militarily active nation in the world. The real reason the US decides to go to war is not for the reasons we are sold through the mainstream media. It’s not about getting rid of evil dictators or for humanitarian reasons. It is not even about defeating terrorism. The real reason the US is always at war is purely to protect its economic hegemony. Once the second world war ended, the developed world was so devastated that the US easily rose to become the world’s most powerful nation....

And then there were two: the US and Syria. As Nicaragua signs on to the Paris Agreement, the United States and Syria are now the only two nations in the world who have refused to be members of the climate pact. The Central American country held out on signing the deal for two years, based on criticisms that it was "insufficient" in addressing climate change. On Monday, however, the Nicaraguan government announced its intent to join the accord. Vice President and first lady Rosario Murillo said they sent a "document of adhesion" to the United Nations, according to Nicaragua's state-run...

U.S. prosecutors last month charged a former Turkish economy minister and the ex-head of a state-owned bank with conspiring to violate Iran sanctions by illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on Tehran’s behalf.

Thirteen Afghans who came to the United States for military training between 2005 and 2017 went AWOL here and have not been accounted for, according to an inspector general's report. During that same period, a total of 253,977 foreigners came to the United States for military training, including 2,537 of them from Afghanistan, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a report released on Friday. During that time, 320 foreign trainees went AWOL in the United States. And of those 320 AWOL trainees, 152 of them (47.5 percent) were from Afghanistan. As of March 7, 2017, the...

Nikki Haley and Israel's UN Ambassador Danon at the Security Council this week denouncing Iran U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley used her entire speech to the UN Security Council on Wednesday to denounce the Iranian regime on multiple grounds. It was the Security Council first meeting on the ‘Situation in the Middle East’ after President Donald Trump’s statement on the new American policy on Iran. The session was supposed to be devoted to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, Ambassador Haley departed from the monthly ritual during which Israel is normally singled out for criticism by other Council members....

The US troops stationed in Makhmur have also retreated after Hashd al-Shaabi took the control of the town from peshmerga forces. The US troops stationed in Makhmur town of Mosul have retreated to Hewler (Erbil) Wednesday evening after peshmerga forces withdrew and handed over the control of the town to Hashd al-Shaabi militia. The US troops reportedly blew up the base before their evacuation and withdrawal to the surroundings of Hewler next to the peshmerga forces. The US military base in Makhmur was constructed before the operation to liberate Mosul and an undisclosed number of US special forces were stationed...

The best is yet to come for US oil production—but it will be a short-lived hurrah, according to Ian Taylor, head of oil trading giant Vitol. US oil production has steadily increased throughout 2017 as US drillers regained their footing after the oil price crash. What started out at 8.946 million bpd of crude oil production in the first week of January has now reached an average of 9.561 million bpd as of September 29, according to the EIA.

North Korea claims it has a missile that could reach the West Coast of the United States and plans to test it in the very near future, according to Russian lawmakers who visited the reclusive nation this week.  “They are preparing for new tests of a long-range missile. They even gave us mathematical calculations that they believe prove that their missile can hit the West Coast of the United States,” Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian Duma’s international affairs committee, told the RIA news agency, Reuters reports.  “In general, [North Korea’s] mood is rather belligerent,” Morozov added. “The situation, of course, demands...

It’s been a beautiful spring day in the suburbs of Pennsylvania on this Thursday, June 7th, 1961. You just got home from work and your wife is almost finished preparing one of her typically delicious dinners. Your kids, a boy and two girls, aged 15, 13, and 9, have been out all day riding their bikes around the neighborhood and playing with friends. Now everybody’s hungry and ready to sit down for the family meal. Last night was game night, and you barely emerged with a victory in Monopoly. Your kids are getting good, and your wife, normally the more...