Free Republic

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Tuesday warned the US about the dangers of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel does not calm a conflict; rather, it fuels it even more,” Gabriel said. “It’s in everyone’s interest that this does not happen.” Despite widespread international opposition to the move, Trump is expected to recognize the city as Israel’s capital on Wednesday. A senior administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity told AFP news agency that the president would make the announcement during a speech slated for 1 p.m. local...

European Union foreign ministers on Monday opposed any plan by President-elect Donald Trump to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and warned that it could ratchet up tensions with the Arab world. “It is very important for us all to refrain from unilateral actions, especially those that can have serious consequences in large sectors of public opinion in large parts of the world,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters after chairing their talks in Brussels. “We hope that there can be reflection on consequences of any move that is taken,” she said. …

Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem as per President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promise is a “provocation” that would result in “serious consequences,” France warned at Sunday’s peace summit in Paris. Foreign ministers from around 70 nations gathered in Paris Sunday in an attempt to urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to recommit to the so-called two-state solution. Representatives from the United Nations, European Union, Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation were also in attendance. However, neither Israel nor the Palestinians had any representation at the conference.

I became a fan when I first met Angela Merkel, then a back-bencher. Most German political leaders are gregarious, hale fellows well met. She was the antithesis: reserved, almost shy. A scientist by training she was the daughter of a pastor, raised in the New States (old East Germany). She was taught Russian in school and is fluent. Sensing that one day it might be useful, she taught herself English. Vladimir Putin speaks German. The two talk regularly on the phone. She is a remarkable person. The day after her election as Chancellor was finalized, she flew to Washington for...

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that the drastic limits placed on people’s freedoms to curb the coronavirus earlier this year had weighed heavily on her, bringing back memories of life in surveillance-riddled East Germany. Speaking on the eve of the 30th anniversary of German reunification, Merkel told the RND newspaper group she was acutely aware of the sacrifices she was asking of Germans when the country went into lockdown in March. “That I had to tell people they could only be out in the street in a single household or just two persons at a time, that no events could...

A Su-25 jet of the Armenian Air Force was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter in the airspace of the Republic of Armenia, Spokesperson for the Armenian Defense Ministry Shushan Stepanyan informs. F-16 fighter jets belonging to the Air Force of the Republic of Turkey took off from Ganja Airport of the Republic of Azerbaijan at 10:30 am today and were assisting SU-25 fighters and Turkish-made Bayraktar UAVs in the missile strikes on Vardenis, Mets Masrik, Sotk regions of the Vardenis region of Armenia. During this period, the air defense units were performing fire support tasks for the air...

For decades, foreign policy experts—the blob—assumed much about the Middle East that has turned out to be completely wrong. It’s been remarkable to watch the mainstream press and official Washington try to downplay the significance of the peace deal the Trump administration brokered between Israel and two Arab states this week.The signing of the Abraham Accords on Tuesday between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain at the White House, which for the first time normalized relations between Israel and the two Persian Gulf states, is by any measure historic. It’s been 26 years since any Arab state recognized Israel,...

Six European Union countries and the bloc’s executive Commission have begun testing a virtual “gateway” to ensure national coronavirus tracing apps can work across borders. The trial starting Monday will allow national computer systems that run tracing apps in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Latvia to communicate with each other via a central hub. If the tests succeed, travelers from each of the six countries will be able to use their own apps while abroad in the other five to ensure they’re notified if they have been in close contact to another user who tests positive. Tracing...

After a solid nine-month stretch that was blissfully devoid of major Brexit-related news as the global COVID-19 pandemic raged on, we declared last night that Brexit talks "suddenly matter again" as the drop in the pound was blamed - incorrectly, as Bloomberg later determined - for triggering yesterday's intraday declines in US markets. But on Friday morning, American traders awoke to some surprisingly positive trade news out of Great Britain. A trade deal with Japan had been agreed to in principle, which would - if finally ratified by both countries - allow 99% of the UK's exports to Japan...

Thanks to the Kremlin, U.S. President Donald Trump may soon see one of his dearest wishes come true. Nord Stream 2, a nearly completed project that would pipe natural gas from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany, has thus far withstood major diplomatic assaults from the United States. But now, with the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, there is growing pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to kill the $11 billion scheme. Construction on Nord Stream 2 began in 2018, after Germany granted planning permission for its end point in the northeastern German town of Lubmin. It...

No, seriously, this story is real and it goes like this: a peaceful and nature-loving 28 year old Turkish immigrant was cycling in Hanover (a city in Germany), minding his own business, when a hate filled 40 year old German crossed his way. Basically, the German neon-nazi tried to cross the street in a hateful manner, thus obstructing the peaceful martial-arts expert and amateur cyclist. This incident understandably made the Turkish gentleman very angry. What followed was inevitable, like death and taxes: the cyclist dismounted his bike and beat the pedestrian to death. Literally. Actually, the pedestrian died in the...

The paper said that Hijjawi was arrested at Heathrow airport and the 62-year-old's house in the Blackhall area of Edinburgh was searched by Scottish police. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, also known as BDS. British authorities arrested the former chairman of the Association of Palestinian Communities in Scotland  Dr. Issam Hijjawi on Saturday for allegedly committing preparatory acts of terrorism in connection with the New Irish Republican Army. He was the 10th person to be charged in a joint Police Service of Northern Ireland and MI5 investigation called Operation Arbacia, The Irish News reported Tuesday.

Between his meetings in Jerusalem last Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recorded a short address for the Republican National Convention in which he discussed many of the Trump administrationÂ’s foreign policy accomplishments. By the time his remarks were broadcast in the United States on Tuesday night, Pompeo had already landed in Khartoum, Sudan, the second stop on his week-long shuttle diplomacy mission aimed at expanding the circle of normalization between Israel and the Arab states of the region. Aside from the fact that it was nice to hear PompeoÂ’s warm remarks about Jerusalem, his address was significant...

The normalization agreement between the UAE and Israel has effectively ended the racist BDS movement. A Palestinian man walks by a grafitti sign calling to boycott Israel seen on a street in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on February 11, 2015. (photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90) With the recent developments between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, it’s become clearer than ever that there’s no future for the discriminatory and racist Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. From its inception, the movement was rooted in a desire to destroy the State of Israel as we know it. While cleverly presenting itself...

Austria: Muslim migrant attacks Jewish leader with baseball bat AUG 25, 2020 11:00 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER The Qur’an depicts the Jews as inveterately evil and bent on destroying the well-being of the Muslims. The Jews in the Qur’an are called the strongest of all people in enmity toward the Muslims (5:82); they fabricate things and falsely ascribe them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181); they claim that Allah’s power is limited (5:64); they love to listen to lies (5:41); they disobey Allah and never observe his commands (5:13). They are disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people...

Col. Assimi Goita, who emerged Thursday as the head of the junta in power, worked for years with U.S. Special Operations forces focused on fighting extremism in West Africa. He spoke regularly with U.S. troops and attended U.S.-led training exercises, said officers from both countries, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Goita, who also received training from Germany and France, according to the officers, headed Mali's special forces unit in the country's restive central region, where fighters linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have established a stronghold that...

With one stroke of a pen, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- nationalist, conservative world leaders much-maligned by our sclerotic global elites as bigoted warmongers -- did more last week to advance durable peace in the Middle East than did generations of Washington's failed "peace process," "two-stater" professional classes. Peace between Israel and the oil-rich Gulf state, the United Arab Emirates, represents a profoundly impactful act of statesmanship and reifies an ascendant, transformative paradigm. In a just world (which we do not presently inhabit), the Norwegian Nobel Committee would be knocking on their doors. In the...

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to be “brave” in the fight against global warming as she sought to breathe fresh life into a climate movement overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. The 17-year-old traveled to Berlin to meet Europe’s most powerful leader exactly two years since she first skipped school to demand more climate action, kicking off what would become the global Fridays for Future strikes. Thunberg was joined by co-campaigners Luisa Neubauer from Germany and Belgium’s Anuna De Wever and Adelaide Charlier, all of whom wore masks as they made their way to the...

Its the weekend again in the summertime of DC 19, getting off to a good start with great music. They talk about "masks" nowadays and its really not "masks" that we are being told to wear it's "face coverings" that are really "muzzles" covering our noses and mouths. What does someone wearing a mask look like? Here's a clip from the 1970's when the weatherman was stung by a hornet, the weatherman being a guy you saw a lot in Denver for many years on KUSA, Bill Kuster. Bill was at KYW-TV Philadelphia in the 1970's and on this occasion...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sealed a defense cooperation deal Saturday with Polish officials that will pave the way to deploy more American troops to Poland. Pompeo, in Warsaw at the end of a four-nation tour of central and eastern Europe, signed the deal with Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak that sets out the legal framework for the additional troops. “This is going to be an extended guarantee: a guarantee that in case of a threat our soldiers are going to stand arm-in-arm,” Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony. “It will also serve to increase the...