Free Republic

Civilizations are mortal. We know of entire worlds disappearing, of empires collapsing. It is happening again. Op-ed. Imagine a ship. You start by changing the bow, then the rudder, the hull, the mast, the sail and finally all the constituent parts as they erode. At the end of this transformation, will it still be the same ship? Plutarch's image in the “Life of Theseus” offers some help for a reflection on identity. Let's imagine that the boat is our civilization. Would we still be faced with the same civilization? With the wave of mass migration towards Europe we are faced...

Against the backdrop of the United States’ recognition of the investigation against Donald Trump as politically motivated, structural and ideological controversies, and concerns that the American economy will enter a recession, the GEOFOR editorial board asked Paul Craig Roberts, Chairman of the Institute for Political Economy (USA), a PhD in Economics and US Undersecretary of Treasury in the Reagan administration, to share his views on America’s future. GEOFOR: Special Counsel John Durham “acquitted” Donald Trump on the so-called “Russiagate”, writing in his report that the FBI investigation was politically motivated. How will this news affect the Democrats’ fight against Trump?...

The House of Representatives has passed a bill which seeks to eradicate blasphemy against Islam. The bill, H.R. 5665, is truly remarkable as it amounts to Congress making a law respecting the establishment of Islam and reducing the United States government into a tool of the world’s ayatollahs. The actual text of the bill not only seeks to eradicate blasphemy against Islam around the world – and solely against Islam at that – but even requires the federal government to reorganize some portions of the State Department along the lines of an Islamic religious institution which will be responsible for...

Seventy years ago, Italian-American nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi asked his colleagues a question during a lunchtime conversation. If life is common in our Universe, why can’t we see any evidence of its activity out there (aka. “where is everybody?”) Seventy years later, this question has launched just as many proposed resolutions as to how extraterrestrial intelligence (ETIs) could be common, yet go unnoticed by our instruments. Some possibilities that have been considered are that humanity might be alone in the Universe, early to the party, or is not in a position to notice any yet. But in a recent study,...

Moscow, December 11, Interfax - Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the Foreign Ministry until March 1, 2021 to initiate discussions on international forums concerning measures to prevent actions insulting religious feelings of believers and fomenting interfaith enmity and conflicts. The presidential instruction was published on the Kremlin's official website on Friday, following Putin's recent meeting with representatives of religious groups. The Foreign Ministry has also been told "to consider the possible conclusion of international agreements and (or) the adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution on such matters." Ismail Berdiyev, the head of the Coordinating Center of Muslims of...

Moscow, November 5, Interfax - A ban on insulting the feelings of the faithful should be enshrined in international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. At his meeting with representatives from religious organizations on the National Unity Day on Wednesday, one attendee, Ismail Berdiyev, head of the North Caucasus Muslims' Coordinating Center, suggested that the president present to the UN Security Council an idea that all countries introduce a law making it unacceptable to offend religious feelings. "It is a good proposal. I don't understand, who could be against a ban on insulting the feelings of the faithful in any...

This is truly one of the most troubling news stories I have come across since President Obama took office, and that says a lot from my point of view. I have tried to warn people in general, but Christian in particular about the evil fruit that Liberalism cannot but produce. We may be about to witness this on a global scale as President Obama will have the United States join the United Nations backed Alliance of Civilizations. From the Associated Press: “The Obama administration is preparing to join an international advisory group that the U.S. has largely shunned due to...

The city council of Saonara, a town with 10,000 inhabitants just outside Padua, has introduced a new law making it illegal “to blaspheme against any faith or religion” and utter foul language in public.

People who believe in extraterrestrial life are sometimes referred to in a mocking manner. In the ‘X-Files’ TV-series Fox Mulder is often referred to as ‘Spooky,’ but according to a recent article, maybe he should be called ‘racist’– if Mulder believes that aliens built the pyramids in Africa. The Quartz Media article, “Outlandish theories that aliens built the pyramids are rooted in racism,” by Julien Benoit is critical of those who believe the pyramids or other ancient structures were built by aliens. Some may call this belief simply "odd," but Benoit just out and out labels it racist. From the article:...

History is full of mysterious disappearances — of people, of places and even of entire civilizations. In many cases, time has not told us what happened to the populations that have vanished en masse, all over the world. Archeologists unearth ruins and uncover clues as to the demise of ancient cultures, but the fates of many inexplicably evaporated peoples remain question marks. Here are four mysteriously vanished civilizations that keep scientists scratching their heads.

Once again, Muslim religious fanatics are striking out against our values of freedom of speech and open expression. And again, they claim that somehow they have been so deeply offended by cartoons depicting Muhammad that murder and mayhem are somehow justified. At the root of this insane rage against Western civilization is Muslim dignitude. “Dignitude” is dignity’s shabby imitation, the unfortunate tendency of some people to have an exaggerated sense of their own dignity and to be ready at any moment to be deeply offended at the slightest perceived affront. And among Muslims it is accompanied by a hypocritical...

The jungle-choked remains of a "lost city", abandoned by a mysterious civilisation several centuries ago and long fabled for reports of its gold and "monkey children", have been uncovered in the depths of the rainforests of Honduras. A team of American and Honduran archaeologists, aided by the bushcraft and survival skills of former British SAS soldiers, has just emerged from one of the most remote locations on Earth with news of their stunning discovery. The expedition was seeking the site of the legendary "White City", also known as the "City of the Monkey God", a goal for Western explorers since...

Q: So, we are now facing "the clash of civilizations": the West and Islam, two civilizations which are equally great. A: Yes. Q: On one side, we have the civilization that gave the world democracy, the concept of rights, Roman law, Greek tragedy, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, Newton, Einstein, Darwin, modern science, technology, Michaelangelo, Caravaggio, Raphael, Giotto, Brunelleschi, perspective in art, Picasso, Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, Verdi, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Euclid, Saint Peter's Basilica, the Empire State Building, Kant, Voltaire, ... A: OK, let me stop you. We've got an idea. Q: On the other side,...

Modern culture emerged in southern Africa at least 44,000 years ago, more than 20,000 years earlier than anthropologists had previously believed, researchers reported Monday. That blossoming of technology and art occurred at roughly the same time that modern humans were migrating from Africa to Europe, where they soon displaced Neanderthals. Many of the characteristics of the ancient culture identified by anthropologists are still present in hunter-gatherer cultures of Africa today, such as the San culture of southern Africa, the researchers said. The new evidence was provided by an international team of researchers excavating at an archaeological site called Border Cave...

The last of Samuel Huntington's books -- "Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity," published four years ago -- may have been his most passionate work. It was like that with the celebrated Harvard political scientist, who died last week at 81. He was a man of diffidence and reserve, yet he was always caught up in the political storms of recent decades. "This book is shaped by my own identities as a patriot and a scholar," he wrote. "As a patriot I am deeply concerned about the unity and strength of my country as a society based...

Relics of three civilisations found By Saadia Khalid 6/9/2008 Islamabad The remains of more than 2,400-year-old Buddhist era are nurturing silently under the lap of Margalla Hills as the murals of Buddha appeared on the walls of caves at Shah Allah Ditta. At the distance of 15 kilometres from the main Golra intersection, the site needs immediate attention of the Department of Archaeology and Museums as it possesses not only the relics of Buddhist era but also 8th century AD Hindu period and the 300-year-old Aurangzeb period. According to archaeologists, the cages belong to Buddhists where monks used to perform...

Contact: Nan Broadbent press@seismosoc.org 408-431-9885 Seismological Society of America Unearthing clues of catastrophic earthquakes 'An inviting tale of destruction' SANTA FE, New Mexico -- The destruction and disappearance of ancient cultures mark the history of human civilization, making for fascinating stories and cautionary tales. The longevity of today’s societies may depend upon separating fact from fiction, and archeologists and seismologists are figuring out how to join forces to do just that with respect to ancient earthquakes, as detailed in new studies presented at the international conference of the Seismological Society of America. "It's an idea whose time has come, "...

DAKAR (Reuters) - World Muslim leaders on Friday condemned extremism and terrorism as incompatible with Islam and proposed a high-level international meeting to promote a "dialogue of civilizations" with the Christian world. Leaders of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which represents 1.5 billion Muslims from across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, made the "Dakar Declaration" after a two-day summit in Senegal's capital. "We continue to strongly condemn all forms of extremism and dogmatism which are incompatible with Islam, a religion of moderation and peaceful coexistence," the declaration said. "We believe that it is important to plan...

Source: University Of British Columbia Date: April 25, 2007 Studying Early China, To Learn Why Civilizations Rise And Fall Science Daily — In the Yellow River valley of northern China, Zhichun Jing digs through the remains of long-ago cities to find insights for modern survival. Over the past 10 years, Jing has been excavating the cities of the late Shang Dynasty. Flourishing between 1,200 and 1,050 BC, the Shang was one of the first literate civilizations in China and East Asia. Its last capital city was Yinxu, where the present-day city of Anyang now stands. Zhichun Jing studies the dynamics...

Collapse of civilisations linked to monsoon changes 11:13 04 January 2007 NewScientist.com news service Catherine Brahic The downfall of the one of the greatest Chinese dynasties may have been catalysed by severe changes in climate. The same climate changes may have simultaneously led to the end of the Maya civilisation depicted in Mel Gibson's new film Apocalypto. So says Gerald Haug of the GeoForschungsZentrum in Germany and colleagues, who studied geological records of monsoons over the past 16,000 years. They have found a startling correlation between climate extremes and the fall of two great civilisations: the Tang dynasty in China...