Free Republic

Missiles from North Korea, drones from Iran, and a massive amount of technical assistance from China. Russian President Vladimir Putin may complain about the backing Ukraine is receiving from Nato allies, but it is doubtful that Russia would be able to maintain its military offensive without the help it is getting from its motley collection of autocratic friends. In the latest indication of the support Moscow is receiving for its war effort in Ukraine, a team of UN investigators has concluded that debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on January 2 was from a...

A British columnist who has written several books on the Middle East says Iran is gearing up to attack Great Britain and the West. Con Coughlin, defense editor for The Telegraph, wrote a Thursday opinion column in which he called on the United Kingdom and its allies to understand Iran's intent and do "a major rethink of how we deal" with Tehran. "With experts warning that Iran could have enough material for a nuclear warhead within two weeks, it also means Britain and its allies need to give serious consideration to how they deal with the emerging threat to their...

Now, following the liberation of the southern city of Kherson, the Ukrainians say they have found four Russian torture chambers where abuses were perpetrated against the civilian population on a “horrific” scale. Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General said the Russians had “illegally detained people and brutally tortured them” using a variety of despicable methods, including “a device with which the occupiers tortured civilians with electricity.” The abundance of evidence accumulated by Ukrainian and international investigators illustrates the industrial scale on which Russian President Vladimir Putin and his henchmen are today committing war crimes in the heart of Europe..... To...

As head of the Quds Force in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Suleimani is widely regarded as one of the world's leading terrorists. Now Barack Obama has effectively granted him an amnesty. Qassem Suleimani, the head of the elite Quds Force in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, fully deserves his reputation as one of the world’s leading terrorist masterminds. For a decade a more he has been the driving force behind an array of Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups, from Hizbollah to Hamas, which have orchestrated a reign of terror throughout the Middle East. From a purely British perspective, he was responsible for training and...

It has taken the best part of three years, but the realisation is dawning on our leaders that there is likely to be only one outcome in Syria’s brutal civil war, and that is the Assad regime declaring victory. Ever since the Syrian rebels were overrun by al-Qaeda and other Islamist movements of a similar uncompromising hue, I have been warning that, rather than backing the rebels, the West’s interests would be far better served by doing everything in its power to halt the violence, even if it means the detestable regime of President Bashar al-Assad surviving. In the pragmatic...

Prince William’s decision to wear the red tunic of the Irish Guards on his wedding day has reportedly disappointed some of his Royal Air Force colleagues. Only the helicopter wings above his left breast will denote his role his role as an officer in the RAF. But his choice will provide an immense boost for the 1st Battalion Irish Guards, which is currently on operational deployment in Helmand province, Afghanistan. As the Queen prepares for her visit to Ireland, it is also a smart diplomatic move.

Six months after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hotly disputed election victory, the Green protest movement led by Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated candidate for the presidency, shows no sign of abating. As a result, the Iranian regime finds itself once more resorting to the tactics of repression it has relied on for more than 30 years. Eight people were killed in nationwide protests on Sunday, including Seyed Ali Mousavi, the nephew of Mr. Mousavi. Yet rather than being quelled by the regime's brutal response—as happened during the antigovernment protests of 1999 and 2003—the protestors' resolve has been strengthened. In the past...

With less than a week to go before Iran delivers its formal answer to the West's offer of a peace deal over its nuclear programme, it is tempting to think that the diplomatic net is finally closing on Tehran. That is certainly the impression given by the suggestion that Russian President Dmitri Medvedev is prepared to support a further round of sanctions, which would most likely target Iran's oil and gas industries. As one of the country's main trading partners, the Russians, given their geographical proximity to the Iranian border, have the ability to undermine the West's attempts to pressurise...

As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sworn in for his second term in office today, Iranian opposition groups have intensified their attacks against the regime in protest at the controversial election result. In the latest incident, a leading opposition group is being blamed for blowing up a key railway bridge at Ahwaz in southern Iran. The bridge, which is used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to transport military supplies, was destroyed in the early hours of Saturday morning. According to reports now reaching the West, Iranian security officials immediately sealed off the area to prevent onlookers seeing the extent of the...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is no longer above criticism from voters and theologians Forget the threat posed to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by the political unrest that has swept Iran this week. It is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the regime's Supreme Leader, who should really be sweating about his future. For the past two decades, the 69-year-old has been the ultimate source of power in Iran. A middle-ranking cleric who was elevated by his mentor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, during the final months of his life, Mr Khamenei exercises enormous influence over the way the country is run. But when he delivers today's sermon at...

Has President Obama inadvertently given Iran the green light to develop an atom bomb? I only ask because it appears to be the logical conclusion to be drawn from his announcement this week that he is giving Iran until the end of the year to decide whether or not to co-operate with the West over its controversial nuclear programme. ... Under pressure from a visiting Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to explain the latest White House position on Iran, a relaxed Mr Obama remarked: "We should have a fairly good sense by the end of the year as to...

As the Obama administration prepares to engage Iran diplomatically, one question is paramount: Who are the men with whom the White House hopes to reach accommodation? In "Khomeini's Ghost," British journalist Con Coughlin finds some troubling answers. He identifies the "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final decision-maker in the Islamic Republic and thus the interlocutor for Obama. "The powers entrusted to the Supreme Guide . . . compare favorably to those claimed by Europe's fascist dictators . . . with the added benefit of claiming divine inspiration." Next to the supreme guide, Coughlin says the Islamic Revolutionary Guard,...