Free Republic

It is no secret that in mid-2001 rapprochement was initiated between the Russian Federation (RF) on one hand, and the U.S. and NATO on the other hand, targeted as the most important goal the Chinese-Russian alliance with all its aspects - military-technological, strategic-geopolitical etc.; it was supposed to undermine this alliance. As was shown in the NewsMax articles "Sergei Ivanov Goes to Beijing” and "Sergei Ivanov Returns from Beijing,” this didn’t happen. However, let’s look at the Chinese reaction in a more comprehensive way. Information from the Beijing and Hong Kong media On May 22, Beijing-based China Daily paper published...

ANKARA, Turkey - U.S. President George W. Bush ( news - web sites) on Tuesday thanked Turkey for taking command of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan ( news - web sites), calling Turkey a model for Muslims of a secular and democratic state. Turkey took control of the 4,000-member multinational force from Britain last week. "Turkey's participation and leadership in the war on terrorism deepens our country's strategic partnership and provides Muslims around the world a hopeful model of a modern and secular democracy," Bush wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. Turkey, a secular state, has...

Innocent Plea Entered for Moussaoui Tue Jun 25, 5:16 PM ET By DAVID PACE, Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A federal judge refused Tuesday to change the site of Zacarias Moussaoui's trial and entered a plea of innocent on his behalf during a volatile hearing for the only man charged in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. Photos AP Photo Slideshows Reuters Zacarias Moussaoui Audio/Video Judge Enters Plea for Moussaoui (AP) Throughout his arraignment a short distance from the Pentagon ( news - web sites), Moussaoui clashed with U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema over his legal rights. "I...

Can somebody educate me here?

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The father of slain 7-year-old Danielle van Dam has been barred from the trial of her alleged killer amid concern he might try to harm the defendant. Judge William Mudd ordered Damon van Dam out of the courtroom and told him to stay away from the third floor of the courthouse, officials said Tuesday. Damon van Dam recently had asked detailed questions about how deputies transported defendant David Westerfield to and from trial, said sheriff's deputy C.K. McKenzie. "That raises a bunch of red flags. It suggests he might try to do something," said McKenzie, one...

Let us look at how the Moscow media in late May 2002 – right at the time of the Bush-Putin summit in Moscow and St. Petersburg – described relations in the Moscow-Beijing-Washington triangle. For example, in a Vremya Novostei newspaper report for May 28, the following was emphasized: "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin told [U.S. President George] Bush that he has some questions concerning development of certain missile programs by Taiwan. The hypothetical missile might of this small island does not jeopardize Russia. Putin just reminded Bush that Russia takes to heart Chinese interests. Evidently, Putin was against both the deployment...

<p>Hope I'm posting okay- did a search and didn't see this article posted yet. Thought some might find it interesting and/or be tracking these...</p>

Just breaking: 50 Miles North of D.C., same type of spores found in Daschle letter are apparently at this house. No other details. DC FREEPers, can you shed light??rd

The way biker John "Little John'' Swisher sees it, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is out to get him. "I think the ultimate goal of the EPA and the government is to do away with two-wheel traffic altogether,'' complained Swisher, 52, chairman of the Indiana Motorcyclists' Political Action Committee. What has Swisher and bikers across the country on the warpath is an effort by the EPA to toughen pollution standards for on-street motorcycles. Bikers fear the regulations will prevent them from customizing engines to make bikes take off faster and sound louder, which can also make them more polluting. What...

Posted on Tue, Jun. 25, 2002 Raise debt limit Republicans who dominate the U.S. House are suffering acute embarrassment over the rising debt. They should be. But they should ignore their pride and, along with Democrats, promptly approve a modest increase in the debt limit. Congress has no choice but to raise the federal debt limit. The government has run out of money, and it has reached the limit on borrowing that lawmakers previously established. Congressional delays in raising the limit have squandered large amounts of money by forcing the government into expensive accounting shenanigans. The Senate approved a $450...

"From a strategic standpoint, the Palestinian suicide bombings may seem incompatible with the goal of attaining statehood. But when this tactic is viewed as a means toward achieving a transformation of the entire Islamic world, then the rationale behind it comes into sharp relief. And if this is the goal, then the Palestinians and al Qaeda are now serving each other's interests...." (STRATFOR) The full STRATFOR document and an analysis of Arafat's likely next steps are available on Winds of Change.

Words and PatriotismBy Tammy Bruce FrontPageMagazine.com | June, 25 2002 The approval of a  Department of Homeland Security is one of the more important things Congress can do in our war against Radical Islamists (to use Lou Dobbs’ new and vastly more appropriate terminology). Congress needs to do more than just approve the idea, however—they need to endorse the name as well. I’ve never liked euphemisms, and coming from the Left Elite I was instilled with the importance of words and the role they play in politics. If you control the definition, you control the debate.  This important lesson has...

Many American politicians are talking about new and "historical" post-Cold War changes in the relationship between the U.S. and Russia. For example, they praise Moscow for its cooperation and support for the war on international terrorism. It’s hard to find anything new in these remarks because since the demise of the Berlin Wall, hardly a year has passed without pronouncements being made about how the Cold War is finally over. Last week in Moscow, Attorney General John Ashcroft thanked the Russians for their cooperation in the anti-terrorism campaign, saying Russia was a "very important law enforcement partner in the world...

Reports: Iran earthquake struck chemical weapons plant – local civilians may have been exposed to nerve gas The devastating earthquakes that struck Qazvin in the Islamic Republic of Iran this week may have hit a Chemical Weapons manufacturing and storage facility. Conflicting Iranian reports of the number of casualties and a visit to the scene by Iranian president Khatami have given rise to rumors that local civilians were exposed to highly dangerous nerve gasses. The earthquake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, struck Qazvin province and its capital of the same name on Saturday, June 22. Three days later, an...

Filed at 4:48 p.m. ET CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Israa Badr was pleased an American president finally recognized the need for a Palestinian state, saying George Bush ``is finally admitting there is something called Palestine.'' But like many other Arabs, the 25-year-old public relations officer mistrusts the motives behind Washington's plan for Mideast peace, saying America only has Israeli concerns in mind. ``It just won't work,'' she said, ``(the Americans) only listen to the Jews.'' Bush, who on Monday became the first American president to endorse Palestinian statehood, set strict terms for such a move. Only after the Palestinians elect...

<p>CIVIL-RIGHTS activists ought to be outraged that a prosecutor willfully withholds possibly exculpatory evidence from the defense, like federal prosecutor Alan Vinegrad did in the trial of former Police Officer Charles Schwarz. Instead, their outrage is over the racial makeup of the jury for Schwarz's third trial, a trial made possible by appellate court actions.</p>

Ghana Tops US Visa Lottery June 26, 2002 Approximately 87,000 persons have been notified that they may apply for an immigrant visa under a special law that makes permanent resident visas available annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The State Department announced June 18 that 87,000 applicants whose names were selected in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery (DV-2003) have been notified "and may now make an application for an immigrant visa." The law makes 50,000 permanent resident visas available each year, but it is likely that not all of the first 50,000...

From the KausFiles ...Bonus question: Who was the star of the 1993 movie produced by Dr. Samuel Waksal, ImClone's recently-arrested, high-profile former chief? Hint: It's someone who doesn't wait for no stinkin' F.D.A.! ...Click here for the answer. -- The Last Party (Thanks to alert kf reader D. Moynihan.) 1:10 A.M.

Jeb promoting literacy, with a young FL student and a children's book character, Clifford the Dog. Wednesday, June 19, 2002 Sun-Sentinel $1.2 million goes to charity By Tom Stieghorst Carnival Cruise Lines said Tuesday it plans to give to charity the $1.2 million in development incentives it was offered by Florida to create a new call center in Miramar. The money, part of a state program to spur job creation, will be passed along to charities that promote literacy, said Carnival President Robert Dickinson, who handed out the first installment of $100,000 in Tallahassee at a ceremony attended by Gov....

<p>Duquesne Light Co. today said it expected to restore power to the RIDC Park in O'Hara by this afternoon.</p> <p>The outage was the most serious of dozens of interruptions around the area, almost all of them related to heavy power usage for cooling during heat waves. The official high reached 89 yesterday and was expected to hit 90 today.</p>