Free Republic

I nominate Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey, as the most inconsistent, mysterious, and therefore most unpredictable major politician on the world stage. His victory in a referendum last Sunday formally bestows him with near-dictatorial powers that leave Turkey, the Middle East, and beyond in a greater state of uncertainty than ever.Here are some of the puzzles:Mystery #1: Holding the referendum. The Turkish electorate voted on April 16 in a remarkable national plebiscite that dealt not with the usual topic – floating a bond or recalling a politician – but with fundamental constitutional changes affecting the very nature of their...

An explosion in southern Lebanon last week destroyed what is believed to have been a Hezbollah weapons depot. This latest in a series of mysterious “accidents” in Hezbollah-controlled precincts proved, as one Israeli official wryly remarked, that those who “sleep with rockets and amass large stockpiles of weapons are in a very unsafe place.” With the Party of God’s overland supply route through Syria choked off by the 22-month-long uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and Israel virtually in total control of the maritime route, Hezbollah’s stockpile is being systematically degraded.Yet the arsenal of Iran’s other regional proxy force, Hamas,...

1976"Human Rights Internet reporter," 1987, vol. 12, p. B-107 In 1970, during 'Black September,' Jordan itself killed 3,400 Palestinians in just 10 days. In 1976, the Syrian army killed more than 23,000 Palestinians. 2011-2012Mathieu Rabechault: US says Iran forming pro-regime militia in Syria," AFP, August 14, 2012 Rights groups say more than 23,000 people have been killed in 17 months of fighting between troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces, including civilians killed in the regime's brutal crackdown.

Deposed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia less than two weeks ago, but his escape may have been facilitated by the Israelis in exchange for bombshell information. Literally. First, though, Assad is enjoying his rest in Moscow, where he and his family have been granted asylum... But not all is well for Assad ... terms of Assad's asylum: Bashar is strictly prohibited from engaging in political activity or leaving Moscow without prior approval from Russian authorities. Asma al-Assad filed for divorce through a Russian court and requested permission to leave Moscow for London; her request is still under review....

There are no good guys in this fight. The ISIS and al Qaeda takeover bodes most ill. Christians and religious minorities face genocide. Sharia, the most system of governance on the face of the earth, will be imposed. “The international media has been trying to portray these “rebels” as plucky freedom fighters against the tyrant Assad, but actually they’re Islamic jihadis who will impose Sharia and make life miserable for the remaining Christians of Syria.

To the victors go the spoilers. When Islamist rebel forces in Syria marched into Damascus and stormed the palace of Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, they found a massive fleet of high-end cars, including Mercedes, Porches, Audis and Ferraris. Videos shared on social media show gleeful looters touring a massive garage in the presidential palace, chock full of high-end roadsters from the deposed dictator’s private stash. ... One eagle-eyed commenter pointed to a coveted Mercedes-Benz with gullwing doors. SUVs, motorcycles, ATVs and what appears to be an armored truck also awaited the rebels, who traipsed through the sprawling mansion taking selfies,...

I first met Qassem four years ago, at the height of the European refugee crisis. The BBC had sent me to capture the stories of Mideast migrants, thousands of whom would daily wash ashore on the Greek isles. He was around 15, malnourished and clearly traumatized. As we sat together in a cabin at a ­migrant camp on the island of Lesbos, his hunched body rocked backward and forward. His marginal life amounted to a speck of dust amid the geopolitical earthquakes that were remaking the region at the time. Yet the story he told opened a window onto the...

Russia has begun withdrawing ships from its naval base in Tartus, Syria, after a rapid advance by Islamist rebel forces that the Syrian army, led by President Bashar al-Assad, is unable to contain, according to Naval News. On December 2, the tanker "Yelnya," crucial for supporting Russian forces in the Mediterranean, departed Tartus. Other vessels may have left the base along with it. The Russian naval group in Syria consists of five ships and one submarine, including two "Admiral Gorshkov" class frigates, one "Admiral Grigorovich" class frigate, an upgraded "Kilo" class submarine, and two auxiliary vessels. If Russia decides to...

While there is not much time left until June 18, the day of the presidential elections in Iran, the war between the two factions within the regime for winning this seat has escalated. On April 25, a letter signed by 220 members of the Iranian parliament was published in the media. The MPs asked Ebrahim Ra'isi, the head of the regime's judiciary, to run for the presidency. The letter was published contrary to the usual custom of non-interference of the legislature in the affairs of the executive branch. Ra'isi's endorsement is also interpreted as an attack against the current president,...

WALLACE: ...in October of 2002 in which you authorized the use of force, you went further than the president ever did. Let's watch:(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)ROCKEFELLER: I do believe that Iraq poses an imminent threat, but I also believe that after September 11th that question is increasingly outdated.(END VIDEO CLIP)WALLACE: Now, the president never said that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat. As you saw, you did say that. If anyone hyped the intelligence, isn't it Jay Rockefeller?ROCKEFELLER: No. I mean, this question is asked a thousand times and I'll be happy to answer it a thousand times. I took a...

<p>Russia should reconsider its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad in light of the apparent chemical weapons attack that killed more than 80 people and "horrified us all," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday.</p>

Full title: EXCLUSIVE: Deputy of banned suicide-bomb-endorsing cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi had White House meeting with National Security Council staff --------------------------------------- The UK and U.S. have banned Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who leads the anti-Israel International Union of Muslim Scholars. The Obama administration invited that group's VP, Abdallah bin Bayyah, to a private meeting on the day it announced support for Syria's rebelsThe organization ended its December 2012 board meeting by calling for the end of Israel and the return of its lands to the PalestiniansHours after MailOnline began inquiring with the National Security Council about its meeting with bin Bayyah, the cleric's...

Seriously, should conservatives even WANT to depose Bashar al-Assad? It is clear that Assad's biggest crime is being Western educated and a strong leader. THAT is what got him in trouble with the Islamofascists and their allies in the White House and the American left. Assad may be brutal, but he is the closest thing we have to a representative of WESTERN civilization in Syria. Shouldn't conservatives be arguing for a political solution that would keep him in power and keep the Islamo-nuts OUT of power?

Imagine if these savages win ..... Golem writes: Execution in Idlib by Jabhat al-Nusra. Victims are apparently "Sunni supporter of Al-Assad". The white jihadists are Chechens and perhaps Dagestani judging from their Russian accents. The same ethnicity as the Boston bombers, if you remember the younger bomber on his vkontakte page had web videos supporting jihad in Syria. The most disturbing aspect is all the little children there cheering people being beheaded.

More than 3,000 U.S. military personnel have secretly returned to Iraq via Kuwait and 17,000 more are on their way in response to the civil war in Syria that has spilled over into northern Iraq, according to a report published Monday by Iran's Press TV. The news follows by four days a report from the Russian news service RT that the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower has joined the USS Iwo Jima off the coast of Syria. Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week issued stern warnings to Syria about unspecified but serious "consequences" that would follow if...

Escalation. No real detail except this from Reuters: TURKEY SAYS HAS STRUCK TARGETS IN SYRIA IN RESPONSE TO MORTAR STRIKE ACROSS BORDER - STATEMENT FROM PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE This came after a Syrian mortar killed five Turks today. Turkey has contacted the United Nations and the Nato military alliance after Syrian shells killed five people in a Turkish town near the border between the two countries. The shells exploded after being fired into Akcakale from Tall al-Abyad in Syria, where forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are trying to put down an 18-month-old insurgency.

According to the Spanish daily ABC, a Libyan rebel commander who played a key role in overthrowing the rule of Muammar Qaddafi previously participated in the May 2010 attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza aboard the Turkish-owned vessel the Mavi Marmara. The operation famously culminated in a deadly clash between Israel Defense Force commandos and “activists” armed with iron rods and knives aboard the ship. The paper’s source for the story is the rebel leader himself: Mahdi al-Harati, the commander of the so-called Tripoli Brigades, which are widely credited with having played a decisive role in the rebel...

Another Arab dictatorship looks ready to collapse, and this one might have the biggest impact of them all. The embattled Bashar Assad regime in Syria lost its Prime Minister overnight, as Riyad al-Hijab fled to Jordan and announced his defection: SyriaÂ’s prime minister defected to Jordan on Monday, according to news reports, becoming the most senior official yet to quit the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad.A statement read on the al-Jazeera Arabic news channel that was described as coming from Prime Minister Riyad al-Hijab said he had resigned to protest his governmentÂ’s harsh tactics as it escalates its efforts...

Syria says the year-long revolt to topple President Bashar al-Assad is now over, but it will keep its forces in cities to "maintain security" until it is safe to withdraw in keeping with a U.N.-backed peace deal. The agreement proposed by United Nations-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan says the Syrian authorities must be first to withdraw troops and stop violence immediately. The army kept up an offensive against opposition strongholds on Saturday, pummelling the Khalidiya district of Homs city. "Mortars are falling every minute and the sounds of explosions are shaking the neighborhood," an activist report said. A child...

Iran is helping its ally Syria defy Western sanctions by providing a vessel to ship Syrian oil to a state-run company in China, potentially giving the government of President Bashar al-Assad a financial boost worth an estimated $80 million. Iran, itself a target of Western sanctions, is among Syria's closest allies and has promised to do all it can to support Assad, recently praising his handling of the year-long uprising against Assad in which thousands have been killed. China has also shielded Assad from foreign intervention, vetoing two Western-backed resolutions at the United Nations over the bloodshed, and is not...