Free Republic

Staunton, February 17 – Most analysts have become so focused on Vladimir Putin’s use of “hybrid war” that they do not take into consideration that he could choose to wage a conventional war in some places, and most of these same analysts are also guilty of evaluating the Baltic countries as if Moscow would use the same and common strategy against them. But Marius Laurinavičius, an analyst at the Vilnius Center for Research on Eastern Europe, points out that Moscow could very well employ a “hybrid” war strategy against Estonia and Latvia but use a “conventional” against Lithuania in order...

Zionist Camp Chairpersons Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni toured the northern border Monday, making it a point to continue their attacks on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. "Bibi's failure against Hamas in the Gaza envelope severely impairs our deterrence against Hezbollah on the northern border," Herzog charged. Livni added that "Israel's security and our power to deter attacks is based on a strong army and our relationship with the United States, that the same Netanyahu would tear to pieces."

I am often asked how I can believe in God when there have been so many wars caused by religion. The implication is that if only people would leave behind their convictions about the existence of a God the world would be a much better, more peaceful place. Of course very few people ever reflect on the fact that the very reverse of this was demonstrated in the 20th century, which saw the atheistic communist and Nazi ideologies rise. In fact, that century saw more killing than the previous 19 put together.None of this is to say that religion...

It seems likely that whoever read Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog's interview with the Washington Post over the weekend became confused and thought for a moment that they were reading a statement from the U.S. State Department,or from Secretary of State John Kerry himself. In a demonstration of complete disconnection from reality, Herzog refused to define Iran as an existential threat to Israel, and then said, "I trust Obama to get a good deal." Herzog's words could not help but bring readers back to September 1938, when then-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned to London amid cheering throngs who praised...

GENEVA - Talks between the United States and Iran on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme have made "some progress" and managed to "sharpen up some of the tough issues" that need resolving, a senior U.S. administration official said on Monday. Political directors from Iran and the six major powers have agreed to resume talks next week at a venue to be decided, the official said, speaking after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held two-day talks in Geneva.

an has built an active front from Israel's northern Mediterranean border adjacent to Rosh Hanikra, all the way to the Golan Heights. The goal: to undermine and wage war against the "Zionist entity" with conventional, powerful military means from within Lebanon and Syria. So says Yigal Carmon, Counter-terrorism Adviser to prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin, and founder and president of the prestigious Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). "Iran has taken advantage of the chaos in the Middle East to form a united front from Tehran, through Baghdad, Syria and Lebanon," Carmon told Kol Yisrael public radio on...

GENEVA - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met for two hours in Geneva on Sunday in another round of nuclear talks to try to narrow gaps as they pressed against a March 31 deadline to reach a political agreement. The meeting included for the first time U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, who spent most of the day separately negotiating technical details of curbing Iran's nuclear program. The talks are set to resume on Monday before Kerry returns to Washington in time to testify before...

There were news reports yesterday that there was going to be an attack by American, Iraqi and Kurdish forces on ISIS in Mosul. The attack is scheduled for a month or two or three from now: April, May or possibly later. Please don't. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Forget the reasons given for telegraphing our intentions months ahead of time. They make no logical sense. What will happen is that the ISIS forces will have months to prepare, to reinforce, to dig in, to booby trap ... in other words to create a killing field. And it will...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today made the following remarks at the start of the Cabinet meeting: "Today the Cabinet will be briefed on the security challenges developing around us, first and foremost Iran's attempt to increase its foothold on Israel's borders even as it works to arm itself with nuclear weapons. Alongside Iran's direct guidance of Hezbollah's actions in the north and Hamas' in the south, Iran is trying to also to develop a third front on the Golan Heights via the thousands of Hezbollah fighters who are in southern Syria and over which Iran holds direct command. The fact...

Our next President will have to commit to destroying ISIS. There is no alternative. That is history’s primary lesson We begin with the reality that the United States and many other nations are at war with militant Islamists. They are a growing army of religious zealots murdering Christians, Jews, others who are not Muslim, and even other Muslims. In my youth America knew how to win wars. In Europe it bombed Germany into submission, leading its allies in an invasion that left Germany divided for decades until the Soviet Union collapsed. In Asia Truman dropped two atomic bombs on Japan...

Saddle up our high horses and gallop to America's rescue Take advantage of the enemy’s unpreparedness; travel by unexpected routes and strike him where he has taken no precautions.—Sun Tzu (circa 544-496 BC) The Art of War From the halls of Montezuma To the shores of Tripoli; We fight our country’s battles In the air, on land and sea…. —USMC Hymn Nearly a thousand years after Islamists attacked Rome and desecrated the Tomb of St. Peter (846 AD) America got its turn at bat against Muslims during the 1st Barbary War (1801-1805). Fighting Muslims overseas no doubt helped to build...

As tension grows over US deal Netanyahu says will leave Iran as a nuclear threat, Likud comes out with hard-hitting campaign video. Amid an ongoing confrontation over the Iran nuclear deal being formed by US President Barack Obama's administration, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has come out with a new ad saying he is not afraid of disagreement - and pointing out that the US also opposed the establishment of Israel. "1948, (David) Ben-Gurion stands before a fateful decision: the establishment of the state of Israel. The American Secretary of State strongly opposed," recalls the ad. "Ben-Gurion, in opposition to the...

On the surface, the two candidates are as different as can be. Netanyahu is warring with President Obama. Herzog seems to want to be President Obama: The Labor Party leader is campaigning on an Israeli version of “hope and change.” Herzog’s billboards promise Israeli parents an extra teacher in each kindergarten classroom. Netanyahu warns about “the people who want to kill us.” He is fixated on the Iranian mullahs, who he says pose an existential threat to the Jewish state and places beyond. Netanyahu is prepared to risk the ire of the White House and Democrats to make his case...

That didn’t take long. Less than a day after the U.S. military announced its Spring offensive against ISIS, seasoned military officers said the plan was unworkable. Skepticism about the U.S. and Iraqi military plans for the next phase of the ISIS war begins inside the Pentagon. Less than 24 hours after U.S. military officials publicly detailed their plans for a spring offensive on ISIS-held Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, many within the Pentagon privately questioned whether that timetable was plausible. They said that they were dubious that their partners in the Iraqi military—the troops supposed to lead the offensive—would be...

Arab governments are privately expressing their concern to Washington about the emerging terms of a potential deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program, according to Arab and U.S. officials involved in the deliberations. The direction of U.S. diplomacy with Tehran has added fuel to fears in some Arab states of a nuclear-arms race in the region, as well as reviving talk about possibly extending a U.S. nuclear umbrella to Middle East allies to counter any Iranian threat. The major Sunni states, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have said that a final agreement could allow Shiite-dominated...

US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz was headed to Geneva Saturday to join talks with Iranian officials as efforts for an historic nuclear deal stepped up a gear. It was the first time that Moniz, who is himself a nuclear physicist, had joined the negotiations, although US energy officials have been involved in the intensive technical talks under way ahead of new meetings between the countries' top diplomats on Sunday and Monday. "At the request of Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will travel to Geneva on Saturday to join Secretary Kerry in continued negotiations with Iran...

In what is becoming an increasingly nasty grudge match, the White House is mulling ways to undercut Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming trip to Washington and blunt his message that a potential nuclear deal with Iran is bad for Israel and the world. There are limits. Administration officials have discarded the idea of President Barack Obama himself giving an Iran-related address to rebut the two speeches Netanyahu is to deliver during his early March visit. But other options remain on the table. Among them: a presidential interview with a prominent journalist known for coverage of the rift between Obama...

A recent CNN poll found that four out of five Democratic voters oppose the Israeli Prime Minister's planned March 3 tirade to Congress against diplomacy. Thursday morning, twenty-three House Democrats did something about it. They sent a letter calling on House Speaker John Boehner to postpone Netanyahu's scheduled March 3 address. The signers were: Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC); Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN); Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), top Democrat on the House Financial Services committee; Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR); Rep. André Carson (D-IN); Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), top Democrat on Judiciary; Rep. Danny...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that a UN report critical of Iran’s evasiveness over its nuclear program was further proof that the international community should reconsider the direction of its negotiations with Tehran. “The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report again demonstrates that Iran refuses to come clean to the international community about its preparations for producing nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said. World powers should not be “wooing Iran for its agreement” to a deal that would enable it to continue uranium enrichment, he said. The IAEA report stated that Tehran is being evasive and ambiguous in its dealings with...

Perhaps the most vivid and disturbing evidence that the Iraqi government simply does not share America’s core values emerged on Feb. 6. In a grainy video posted on YouTube, a three-minute horror show plays out on the front lines somewhere in Iraq. Iraqi military officers and presumably Shiite militiamen — dressed in black, skull-adorned “Sons of Anarchy” shirts — crowd an ambulance emblazoned with the Iraqi state seal. Inside, a blindfolded and hog-tied man in military fatigues pleads for mercy as the Iraqi vigilantes beat him over the head, taunting him with expletives. “We will f— your sisters,” they shout....