Free Republic

On National Day for the Victims of Communism, we solemnly remember the more than 100 million lives claimed by communism in the 20th century. We commit ourselves to stopping the spread of this oppressive ideology that, without fail, leaves in its wake misery, destruction, and death. As proud Americans who cherish the blessings of freedom and democracy, we promise to support the more than one billion people currently captive within communist regimes and denied their unalienable rights to life and liberty. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the decisive Polish victory against Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks in the Battle of...

Clive James's 2007 book titled Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts is a collection of artists and thinkers. They are largely concerned with responses to "threats against freedom, mostly in the 20th century." As I leaf through it, I am astonished at the echoes of my own qualms as this country stands on the precipice of either remaining free or not. I see Democrats and leftists invoking Nazism to describe conservatives in America, and I am reminded of Jean-François Revel's words that "one insults the memory of the victims of Nazism if one uses them to bury...

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer, who admitted overseeing the torture and killings of as many as 16,000 Cambodians while running the regime’s most notorious prison, has died. Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, was 77 and had been serving a life prison term for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The communist Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975-79 was accused of genocide for causing the deaths of so many of their countrymen from executions, starvation and lack of medical care due to its radical policies. Only after neighboring Vietnam pushed the Khmer Rouge from...

Cambodian archaeologists have unearthed a large centuries-old statue of a turtle in an excavation at the famous Angkor temple complex in the country's northwest. The 56-by-93 centimeter (22-by-37 inch) carved stone turtle believed to date from the 10th century was discovered Wednesday during digging at what was the site of a small temple that had been built on Srah Srang, one of Angkor's several reservoirs. Researchers pinpointed where the temple had been and workers drained water off to enable the dig, which began March 16, said Mao Sokny, head of the excavation team of the Apsara Authority, a government agency...

"If our workers don't die from coronavirus, they'd die of starvation." This is the stark assessment of how the pandemic is impacting the clothing industry from garment factory owner, Vijay Mahtaney, the chairman of Ambattur Fashion India. In normal times, Vijay Mahtaney and his partners Amit Mahtaney and Shawn Islam employ a total of 18,000 workers in three countries - Bangladesh, India and Jordan. But the outbreak has forced them to shut down the majority of the business, with just one factory, in Dhaka, partially operational.

A US citizen who arrived in Malaysia after disembarking in Cambodia from the MS Westerdam cruise ship has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the Malaysia Health Ministry said on Saturday. The 83-year-old American woman flew to Malaysia on Friday from Cambodia along with 144 others from the ship, said Malaysian health ministry, adding that her 85-year-old husband had tested negative. The MS Westerdam, which had 1,455 passengers and 802 crew on board, had been stranded at sea for two weeks after being turned away from five countries – the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Thailand – over coronavirus...

A tenacious Brit convinced that missing flight MH370 is in the Cambodian jungle says he will resume his search - even though a previous attempt nearly proved deadly. Ian Wilson believes he spotted the Malaysia Airlines plane when looking at Google Maps. He travelled to the area with brother Jack last year - and Jack was lucky to survive a sudden fall after ground gave way underneath him. Despite this Ian is keen to return to the mountainous terrain... However the Aviation Safety Network (ASN) is certain that the aircraft was captured mid-flight. Evidence is mounting that the crash, which...

An epidemic of African Swine Fever is sweeping through China's hog farms, and the effects are rippling across the globe, because China is a superpower of pork. Half of the world's pigs live in China — or at least they did before the epidemic began a year ago. "Every day, we hear of more outbreaks," says Christine McCracken, a senior analyst at RaboResearch, which is affiliated with the global financial firm Rabobank. McCracken and her colleagues now estimate that by the end of 2019, China's production of pork could be cut in half. "That's roughly 300 million to 350 million...

UK: Holocaust memorial removes references to Jews, highlights Muslim role in saving people OCT 7, 2019 4:30 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER What did you expect in today’s shattered, staggering, dhimmi Britain, where the next Prime Minister could be openly antisemitic and pro-jihad? The UCU has apologized, but would it have done so if no one had said anything? “Why did UK’s Holocaust memorial events remove references to Jews?,” by Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, October 4, 2019: The University College Union in the United Kingdom sent an email to branches that excluded mention of Jews among the groups persecuted during...

Asian American groups are objecting to the Trump administration’s efforts to step up deportations of Cambodians, as dozens of refugees with criminal convictions are being ordered to report to federal officials next week for removal. At least 20 people in California have been served notices to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin the deportation process, according to Ny Nourn, a San Francisco-based community advocate with the Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus. The state is home to the largest population of Cambodians in the U.S. In Massachusetts, the state with the nation’s second largest Cambodian community, at...

An advertisement showing the image of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bursting into flames aired during ABC's Democratic debate in Houston on Thursday, prompting a heated response from viewers. The 30-second ad, from a Republican-affiliated PAC named New Faces GOP, features its founder Elizabeth Heng, a former GOP congressional candidate in California, warning about liberal politicians who embrace socialism. "This is the face of socialism and ignorance," Heng says as a photo of Ocasio-Cortez catches fire and burns away to show harrowing images from the Cambodian Civil War in the 1970s from which her father fled. "Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez know the horrors...

US Military Official Confirms China Deal to Use Cambodian Naval Base By Neou Vannarin August 25, 2019 A senior U.S. Indo-Pacific Command officer August 15 confirmed Cambodia and China are proceeding on a base for China's navy in the Southeast Asian country's Preah Sihanouk province. Army Brigadier General Joel B. Vowell said construction would begin next year at Ream Naval Base, confirming to a group of regional journalists here that Cambodia will grant China access to the deep coastal waters on the Gulf of Thailand. "We have information that tells us that there will be some development by the People's...

(PHNOM PENH, Cambodia) — Nuon Chea, the chief ideologue of the communist Khmer Rouge regime that destroyed a generation of Cambodians, died Sunday, the country’s U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal said. He was 93. Nuon Chea was known as Brother No. 2, the right-hand man of Pol Pot, the leader of the regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The group’s fanatical efforts to realize a utopian society led to the death of some 1.7 million people — more than a quarter of the country’s population at the time — from starvation, disease, overwork and executions. Researchers believe Nuon Chea was...

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Nuon Chea, the chief ideologist and 'Brother Number Two' of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, whose brutal rule in the 1970s led to the deaths of some 2 million people, died on Sunday at the age of 93, a court spokesman said. A U.N.-backed court found Chea guilty of genocide and sentenced him to life in prison last year, almost four decades after the Maoist regime which oversaw Cambodia's "Killing Fields" was overthrown. Chea was among a small clique -- led by 'Brother Number One', Pol Pot -- of mostly French-educated communists who rose to lead a bloody...

When a dozen of conservatism’s best minds take on Socialism and expose it for the utopian fraud it is, attention must be paid. In a brief foreword to a special issue of National Review, Editor-in-Chief Richard Lowry admitted that many conservatives thought socialism in America had been “vanquished” after the collapse of Soviet Communism 30 years ago. But as T. S. Eliot insisted, “There is no such thing as a Lost Cause because there is no such thing as a Gained Cause.” The experts examine socialism in its many guises, beginning with Charles Cooke’s blunt assessment that socialism is not...

In an unprecedented move last week, India voted in support of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation named ‘Shahed’. This is the first time India has taken a step back from its decades-old position on the two-state theory under which New Delhi sees both Israel and Palestine as separate and independent countries, seeking to bring peace in West Asia.The vote, which took place on 6 June at the UN, saw countries such as US, France, Germany, India, Japan, UK, South Korea and Canada polling in favour of...

* China is grappling with a widespread African swine flu (ASF) epidemic, a disease fatal to pigs but harmless to humans. * ASF's effects on pigs are gruesome. Symptoms include diarrhea, depression, and miscarriages. * The government is urging farmers to cull infected pigs to prevent the spread of the disease, which is in turn dramatically decreasing the country's pork production. * Dutch bank Rabobank estimates that the country will kill 150 million to 200 million pigs — or one third of the country's supply — this year. * China is the world's largest pork producer and consumer. The steep...

My children I AM with you in the storms of life. My hand is eternally yours to hold onto. Pay no attention to the circumstances and do not look back , leave all distractions behind holding tightly onto My Hand of Hope for I AM with you even now and remember your life is in ME . Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Colossians 1:27 For God wanted them to know that...

Tribal conflicts, steadily diminishing in the West under capitalism, will rise again to threaten the peace and prosperity of humanity. In 1975, when the Khmer Rouge took over, they quickly emptied the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. This was to be year Zero; a rebirth of Cambodia as an engineered egalitarian, classless rural society with “the corruption and parasitism of city life” eliminated. Several million had to leave at once, including hospital patients. Those who refused were summarily executed. Those who left were forced to work in fields, where many died while being fed starvation rations.Dehumanizing those you murder is...

The bridges you are building are just that, but what lies on the other side ? For if I Am not there, the bridge is built in vain and soon shall crumble out of view but My Spirit builds bridges of Truth and My hand is on it of blessing and promise. Allow me to take your hand and speak softly to guide the rudder of your life for you are My vessel and I AM your God so let it be so . . . Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace,Whose mind is stayed on You,Because...