Free Republic

The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. President Donald Trump’s national security team failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration, the sources said. And now it may be weeks before the administration’s efforts to alleviate the intensifying economic fallout take hold, officials said Thursday, including high-risk naval escorts of oil tankers through the strait that the Pentagon...

The finance ministers of the most important BRICS countries refused to come to the meeting in Moscow. The Kremlin presented there its idea of ​​​​phasing out payments in US dollars. No one supported it. Friday's BRICS meeting in Moscow was focused on the Kremlin's announcement of a global payment system alternative to the dollar. However, it was held without the participation of finance ministers and central bank governors of China, India and South Africa, Reuters reports. The countries sent their deputies and junior officials to the meeting. China was represented in Moscow by Vice Finance Minister Liao Ming and Central...

With Heidi Cruz missing in action, a significant Cruz insider - let's call him John Doe - started cleansing his spirit of what apparently is a more evil Cruz campaign than most of us imagined. At the outset, we are convinced that John Doe is legit. We have seen his employment letter on Cruz campaign stationary. He makes north of $3500 per week. When this is all over, it is John Doe the nation has to thank for being brave enough to come forward. Right now, the only thing that concerns him is that he doesn't want to get a...

In short, this (anonymous) person said, the Republican Party had been a stool supported by three legs: national defense, free-market economics, and social values. But the person said that thanks mostly to President George W. Bush, the party has failed on the first two legs. The country has shifted significantly on the last one, and there's nothing a Republican candidate can do to change it. As a result the Republican Party is in disarray, and Trump is taking advantage.