Free Republic

Mideast: Iran's electoral board eliminated all moderates this week, leaving just eight hand-picked candidates for June 14's clearly rigged election. Two are 9/11-style terrorists and all are hard-liners. The nuclear trigger is next. If you were disheartened by the results of Iran's 2009 election, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "won" a second term amid widespread allegations of fraud and a futile millions-strong "Green Revolution" uprising in protest, the outcome of the next presidential vote looks to be even worse.

a prominent FBI official, Charles McGonigal, was sentenced to a prison stint. He was convicted of conspiracy and bribery involving a Russian oligarch who is known for being an extremely close associate of Vladamir Putin. While this is being widely reported on today there is a very notable omission seen from the various major news outlets covering this sentencing. To set the stage correctly we need to flash back briefly over what we have been told over the past seven or so years. With the rise of Donald Trump in Republican circles, one of the earliest complaints leveled against him...

For decades, the Iranian government has avoided judicial accountability as the No. 1 nation-state sponsor of international terrorism. This will end on November 27, 2020 in Antwerp, when Belgium’s criminal court commences proceedings against senior Iranian diplomat, Assadollah Assadi. In June 2018, as third secretary in the Iranian Embassy in Vienna, Assadi delivered over half a kilo of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) to Iranian sleeper agents in Luxembourg. TATP is a high explosive used in bombs, suicide attacks, and improvised explosive devices.The target was a major international gathering near Paris, in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)....

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- New York businessman and prominent Democratic fund- raiser Hassan Nemazee was indicted Monday for allegedly defrauding three banks out of $292 million in loans. Nemazee, 59 years old, was charged with aggravated identity theft and three counts of bank fraud in the indictment. Each bank fraud count carries a term of up to 30 years in prison. A lawyer for Nemazee didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Nemazee, who was involved in various presidential campaigns and once served as finance chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, was initially charged criminally in August related...

BETHLEHEM, West Bank: Venezuelan flags and portraits of President Hugo Chavez have been flying high during protests in the West Bank against Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip. The Venezuelan president’s decision on January 6 to expel Israel’s ambassador from Caracas – the only country apart from Mauritania to take such a step – has made the left-wing South American leader a hero to Palestinians. Hamas has welcomed Chavez’s “courageous decision,” while Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, urged Arab states to follow the Venezuelan president’s example. Chavez on Saturday accused Israel of being the “murder arm” of the...

IRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania's main opposition Democratic Party made a criminal complaint against Prime Minister Edi Rama Monday, accusing him of illegally funneling $80,000 to U.S. President Barack Obama's re-election campaign in 2012 in return for a photograph of the two men together. The Democrats brought the case to the Prosecutor General's office, saying Rama — who was then the opposition leader — paid the money in violation of U.S. and Albanian laws to gain access to a campaign event in San Francisco in October 2012. Last week Bilal Shehu, 48, a U.S. citizen of Albanian origin, pleaded guilty...

Iran Threatens to Flood Gaza With 'Millions' of Iranian Fighters Head of Iranian government's Basij paramilitary force claims 'millions' of volunteers have applied to fight in Gaza and Syria. By Mark Langfan First Publish: 11/19/2014, 2:14 PM Reuters The head of Iran's Basij paramilitary force has claimed it is raising an army of "millions" to flood Gaza and Syria to support Tehran's allies. Fars, Iran’s semi-official newspaper, reported that that Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, Commander the Basij paramilitary force, as saying: "Millions of Basijis (volunteer forces) are ready in Iran to be dispatched to Syria and Gaza and they...

A retired US Navy SEAL has interrupted a live television interview about Donald Trump and the war in Iran to call for the release of Australia's most decorated soldier, who was arrested over alleged war crimes. Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, will face court on Wednesday after being charged with two counts of the war crime of murder and three counts of aiding or abetting the same charge. The maximum penalty for the charges is life imprisonment. The Victoria Cross recipient, who spent the night in custody, is accused of murdering unarmed civilians while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, as...

One of Australia's most decorated soldiers, Ben Roberts-Smith, has been arrested and is expected to be charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.The Victoria Cross recipient was arrested at Sydney Airport's domestic terminal after a flight from Brisbane this morning.The former special forces soldier's arrest comes after a mammoth defamation trial against Nine Newspapers that in 2023 ended in a court finding that on the balance of probabilities, allegations he was responsible for, or complicit in the deaths of four detainees in Afghanistan were substantially true.There have been no findings of guilt against Mr Roberts-Smith to a...

Both CNN and the Washington Post reported yesterday that the Iranian regime is plotting to kill President Trump. Jewish World Review has posted the Washington Post story in accessible form here. Intelligence concerning the plot derives from a human source and is apparently unrelated to the attempted assassination of Trump over the weekend.NRO’s Jimmy Quinn quotes Rich Goldberg’s tweet on the rationale for such an operation: “Donald Trump is an existential threat to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The regime knows maximum pressure will return.”The incompetence of the Secret Service presents something of a national security crisis. The Post drily...

Philosophers and poets have argued for at least three millennia about who is more valuable. Poets claim they tell tales that inspire men to do things they would otherwise never accomplish. But philosophers argue that this requires the acceptance of obvious fantasies, thus leading men away from the truth. Judging by what Attorney General Eric Holder has been asking Congress and the American people to believe regarding what and when he knew about Operation Fast and Furious, we think he is telling tales that lead away from the truth. Fast and Furious is the Justice Department program that allowed thousands...

Lockerbie bomber: Lord Mandelson faces new questions over Libya links Lord Mandelson faced fresh questions over his links to Libya last night following the decision to free the Lockerbie bomber. By Andrew Alderson, Patrick Hennessy and Colin Freeman 22 Aug 2009 The Business Secretary denied that the Government had done a deal to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, who was convicted of the 1988 terrorist atrocity that claimed 270 lives. However, his claims were contradicted by Saif Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, in a conversation with Megrahi as the pair flew home from Glasgow. In a transcript...

Lord Mandelson faced fresh questions over his links to Libya last night following the decision to free the Lockerbie bomber.The Business Secretary denied that the Government had done a deal to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, who was convicted of the 1988 terrorist atrocity that claimed 270 lives. However, his claims were contradicted by Saif Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, in a conversation with Megrahi as the pair flew home from Glasgow. In a transcript obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Gaddafi tells Megrahi: “You were on the table in all commercial, oil and gas agreements that...

There are few anecdotes about him, and pictures, at least ones that have appeared publicly, are scarce. The younger Khamenei operates behind an elaborate security structure, an overlapping world that stretches from Iran's Revolutionary Guards to the motorcycle-riding Basiji. That accumulation of control was used to outflank reformists such as Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hossein Ali Montazeri, revered figures of the Islamic Revolution who years ago had questioned the senior Khamenei's qualifications as supreme leader. The violence that has erupted over the last week -- state media have reported that 10 to 19 people have died -- were in part the...

According to Iranian reports, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was killed together with his bodyguard during an Israeli airstrike on the country, while under house arrest. Serving as Iran's sixth president between 2005 and 2013, Ahmadinejad is remembered as one of the Islamic Republic's most extreme and antisemitic voices. He was open about his aspiration to destroy Israel. In 2009, his controversial reelection set off the largest protests in post-revolution Iran's history until that point. The regime under his lead responded with a bloodbath, killing dozens and sending hundreds to prison.

A former French spy has told how, after being accused of a multimillion-pound fraud in Dubai, he disguised himself as an Arab woman and fled to international waters in a rubber dingy. Herve Jaubert, who served in the French intelligence service until March 1993, said that he drew on his experience to escape after a joint business venture turned sour. He said that he had been running a business in America building submarines when he was approached by Dubai World, a state-owned conglomerate, to form a joint venture making submarines, and he moved to Dubai in 2004. “Like an idiot...

Dubai-based global supply chain and port manager DP World’s Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem stepped down from his role as group Chairman and CEO following the release of his name in the Epstein Files, which had previously been redacted by the Department of Justice. DP World announced the Sultan’s resignation from the board on Friday, “effective immediately.” The company further announced the appointment of a new chairman and CEO. After the DOJ gave members of Congress access to view unredacted Epstein Files, Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) discovered that the DOJ had improperly redacted the names of Epstein’s...

It's a roughly 10-15 minute investigative piece (based on typical OMG format) with hidden camera/street confrontation footage. As of right now (early Feb 11, 2026), it has around 44-45K views and several thousand likes. Key content summary James O'Keefe confronts Matthew Tyrmand (a former board member of Project Veritas) in Miami Beach. In the footage, Tyrmand allegedly admits on hidden camera to: Serving as a confidential informant for the FBI and Southern District of New York (SDNY). Providing information ("tons of sh*t") about O'Keefe and other conservative figures/organizations in attempts to get O'Keefe investigated or imprisoned. Making violent threats, including...

Queen’s University Belfast is to remove the name of former US Senator George Mitchell — one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement — from a peace center following the emergence of new information contained in the Jeffrey Epstein files released on Friday. A bust of Mr. Mitchell will also be removed from the university grounds. Mr. Mitchell chaired the negotiations which led to the 1998 peace agreement. The former senator has a long-standing association with the university where he was chancellor from 1999 to 2009. …

GARYSBURG, N.C. -- Amtrak officials say they removed a passenger who was behaving suspiciously from a train in North Carolina on Monday. The Silver Star was headed to Miami from New York when it stopped in Garysburg, N.C., near N.C. 64. That happened just before 7 p.m. about 30 miles east of Rocky Mount. Officials declined to say what the passenger was doing.