Free Republic

In Kosovo and Honduras, Obama-ite foreign policy gave Putin effective precedent.‘Your independence is irreversible, absolutely irreversible.” So declared Vice President Joe Biden, thrilling a parliamentary assembly in Pristina, Kosovo. These were still the early months of the Obama administration, and the vice president was touring the Balkans to take a victory lap in the breakaway Serbian territory whose independence he’d done so much to champion as an influential senator. As Vladimir Putin tucks away Crimea, just as he clawed South Ossetia and Abkhazia back from Georgia five years ago, Kosovo is worth remembering. So is President Obama’s staunch support of...

MADRID—When Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia—under the watchful gaze of Russian troops—some Spaniards viewed the drama through the lens of a conflict much closer to home. Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo said "the parallelism is absolute" between Crimea and Catalonia, the wealthy industrial region that has scheduled a nonbinding referendum on independence from Spain for November. Sunday's referendum in Crimea and the one planned in Catalonia each violates its nation's constitution, Mr. Garcia-Margallo said Monday, and thus "by definition violates international law." Catalan officials ridiculed his attempt to tar Catalonia with the Crimean brush. Catalans...

Who lost Ukraine? ....President Viktor Yanukovych, is on the verge of permanently consigning Ukraine to Russia’s sphere of influence. ....He wants Ukraine to become a vassal of Russia — as it was for centuries under Czarist rule. .... The Russian dictator is a murderous former KGB thug, who openly longs for the return of the Soviet Union. He believes the U.S.S.R’s disintegration was one of the greatest “tragedies” of the 20th century. Think about that: He is nostalgic for a monstrous totalitarian regime responsible for the deaths of over 40 million — including the genocidal terror famine, “the Harvest of...

<p>A federal hate-crimes indictment highlights differences in response between Barack Obama and previous presidents when racists target blacks with violence.</p> <p>The Feb. 8 Department of Justice press release says that members of the Compton 155 gang, whose members call themselves “nigger killers” (the release spells it out N***** Killers) or “NKs,” use “violence and threats of violence in an effort to drive African-Americans out of their ‘territory’ on the west side of Compton.” Further, “[t]o instill fear in African-Americans, members of the gang tag their gang moniker and ‘NK’ throughout their ‘territory.’”</p>

“Lavender graduation” events for homosexual students are sadly becoming common on Catholic campuses across the country. Georgetown University president John DeGioia is scheduled to deliver remarks at this evening’s “Lavender Graduation” ceremony. The Jesuit university’s website describes the event as “a special ceremony for LGBTQ and Ally undergraduate and graduate students to acknowledge their achievements, contributions, and unique experiences at Georgetown University.” (For readers unfamiliar with today’s campus jargon, “LGBTQ” means “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer,” and “ally” means any “heterosexual” person who is accepting of those who claim such other sexual “identities.” An “ally” is also commonly expected...

Many years ago in college, I took a required psychology class. One day we were told by our professor we had to divvy ourselves up into two groups for a particular project. I don’t remember the nature of the project, but I am quite serious when I say it took us three class days to divide ourselves. Much of that time was spent discussing all the hidden hurt feelings and angst that come with being “chosen” into one group or another, reminiscent of the painful procedure of choosing sides for softball in gym class. After one day of this ridiculous...

At a time when many state and local governments cannot afford even necessary government programs, the Obama administration is about to force hundreds of jurisdictions to waste millions of dollars printing ballots in Spanish and other languages for voters who don't need them. Worse, some of these bilingual ballots may be used fraudulently to encourage people who are not citizens to vote illegally in next year's election. A perverse element of the Voting Rights Act makes the whole scheme possible, and, unfortunately, not even Republicans have been willing to challenge it. Under the Act, jurisdictions whose population includes at least...

The fraudulence of much that currently masquerades under the name "multiculturalism" results from gross perversions of what, in 1972, I called the new ethnicity. Multiculturalism is a profound betrayal of the fundamental principles of the new ethnicity. In the current culture wars on campus, however, an explicit indictment of the perversions of multiculturalism may be useful. 1. Anti-Americanism. Since it regards the West (at least its white males) as imperialistic, and America as the most advanced face of the West, multiculturalism expresses hostility to American traditions and institutions, while glorifying non-Western cultures, especially those inimical to America.2. Victimology. Multiculturalism...

Should the American Flag be Banned -- in America? No. This is a lame decision. Teach the kids what the flag means, instead of banning it. Yes. The safety of students comes first. Not sure, but of all things to ban, the American flag would seem the least 'incendiary.' Other (post a comment)

Border: When the Justice Department sued Arizona Tuesday for the grievous crime of protecting its border, it did more than just signal a softer policy on immigration. It also put our national security at risk. 'A state may not establish its own immigration policy or enforce state laws in a manner that interferes with the federal immigration laws," the U.S. wrote in its complaint. But Arizona isn't "interfering" at all. It's just doing what should be Uncle Sam's job — protecting our border. Arizona should get a presidential commendation, not a lawsuit. It's bad enough that bankrupt U.S. states have...

The US Census is using "community organizers" to count illegals in the Census. This means that a state harboring more illegal aliens can gain more House seats as long as the Census Bureau finds the illegal aliens and counts them. This also means that the illegal alien population resident in the United States during a census year has the potential to alter the regional and philosophical balance of power in Congress.

...Today the city's Asian population perhaps more than any other symbolizes what Robinson calls a stunning evolution of diversity in Austin. The city counts among its fold growing numbers of Indians, Pakistanis, Koreans, Vietnamese, Bangladeshis, Chinese and others spanning the Asian continent. Robinson projects that the 2010 census will show the Asian population grew by 62 percent since the last head count of Austin residents 10 years ago — faster than any other group and triple the rate of Austin's growth overall. Immigrants also figure heavily in the explosion of the city's Latino population, the largest ethnic group in...

A failed presidency for Barack Obama could turn into liberalism's worst nightmare. Barely six months into his term, the 44th president has succeeded in generating the most widespread and serious discussion of secession since the Civil War. Despite what Newsweek's Evan Thomas may claim, Obama is not the "God" who will bring us together but the autocratic sponsor of an overbearing, oppressive leviathan from which a growing number of Americans are seeking refuge. That refuge, according to author Paul Starobin, will come in the form of several regional republics that reflect the diverse character of Americans no longer bound in...

SEATTLE -- With mariachis, tequila and parades, Cinco De Mayo will be celebrated this week in parties across the nation, kicking off a commemoration of Mexican heritage in the United States as a pseudo-holiday that has been adopted by the general population. But for Dagoberto Reyes, a Salvadorian immigrant living in Los Angeles, May 5 is more a reminder of the dominance Mexican culture has in a country that is home to immigrants from many Latin American countries. His prime example: Los Angeles-area public schools. "Our kids go to this school system, and the school system is more preoccupied with...

GRAND ISLAND — About 50 to 80 Muslims quit at the JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant Thursday night. Dan Hoppes, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 22, said the matter stems from the recent debate over break time for the purpose of prayer during the holy month of Ramadan. "There were some Muslim people who wanted to get the rest of the people to back them to moving their (dinner) break to an earlier time, and when that did not happen, the rest of the people went back to work and those people protesting...

The Bradley Project Releases Its Report, 'E Pluribus Unum' - Calls for National Dialogue on America's National Identity http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-03-2008/0004825455&EDATE= http://tinyurl.com/6jrswk Report Finds That America is Facing an Identity Crisis and is in Danger of Becoming Not "From Many, One" - E Pluribus Unum - But Its Opposite, "From One, Many" June 3, 2008 PR Newswire (press release), NY Sixty-Three Percent of Americans Believe Our National Identity is Weakening, and One in Four Believe the Nation is So Divided That a Common National Identity is Not Possible WASHINGTON, June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Bradley Project on America's National Identity today released...

Summary: Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. But in fact, it corresponds to some enduring propensities of the human spirit, it is galvanized by modernization, and in one form or another, it will drive global politics for generations to come. Once ethnic nationalism has captured the imagination of groups in a multiethnic society, ethnic disaggregation or partition is often the least bad answer.

Hamad, 34, has shopped at Wal-Mart before, but never one like this. She is overcome with nostalgia as she spots Nido powdered milk and Al Haloub Cow, canned meat she calls the "Arabic Spam." "My father loves this," she says. "People from war-torn countries, this is what you lived on when you couldn't go out of the house to shop." This Wal-Mart, though, isn't in a war zone. It's in Dearborn, Mich., home to nearly a half-million Arab-Americans, the largest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East.

In Africa last week, President Bush deplored the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s, defended his refusal to send U.S. troops to Darfur and decried the ethnic slaughter in Kenya. Following a fraudulent election, the Kikyu, the dominant tribe in Kenya, have been subjected to merciless assault. People are separating from one another and butchering one another along lines of blood and soil. According to a compelling lead article in the new Foreign Affairs, "Us and Them: The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism," we may be witnessing in the Third World a re-enactment of the ethnic wars that tore Europe...

The decision by Britain, America and certain other European countries to recognise Kosovo as an independent state is mind-blowingly stupid and suicidal and of a piece with their obvious determination to capitulate in the war for civilisation. It is a rotten decision for the following reasons: 1) It endorses a breach of a country's right to maintain its own integrity. Serbia is a properly constituted democratic country. To recognise the validity of such a secession is to undermine the principle of a country's right to determine its own composition. It puts up two fingers to international law, which explicitly recognises...