Free Republic

Before there was Iraq, there was Lebanon.  In 1982, following Operation Peace for Galilee, JINSA reported on the international terrorist haven that had arisen in Fatahland – the southern part of Lebanon controlled by Yasser Arafat.  Aside from the expected mélange of Middle Easterners, there were Japanese Red Army, German and Italian Red Brigades, Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Salvadorans, Colombians and Peruvians.  There were Iranian Shi’ites, East Germans and Bulgarians.  Before there was Iraq, there was Lebanon, again.  Religious Iran and secular, Ba’athist Syria made a deal to use Syrian-controlled Lebanon as a base for Hizballah to attack Israel.  Today, Israel...

HOW OTHERS SEE IT   The anti-immigration AfD party is set for its best-ever national election Sunday, largely due to its popularity in the former East Germany. There, voters say they were left behind during reunification – and resent efforts to integrate immigrants while they still feel like second-class citizens. GROSSDUBRAU, GERMANY—“Traitor!” “Merkel, out!” The anger, boos, and whistles greeting Angela Merkel in Germany’s east earlier this month are not the sort of reception many outside observers expect the country’s popular chancellor to receive. But not so for people like Regina Bernstein, who lives near this small village of 4,200...

A 70-year-old former British soldier who fought guerillas in Aden and Triad gangs in Hong Kong showed four muggers how it doesn't pay to mess with the SAS. Douglas O'Dell is past retirement age but the moves he learned as a volunteer in Britain's toughest regiment half-a-century ago stood him in good stead when he was ambushed near his home in Bielefeld, Germany, by four local toughs. The former Provost Sergeant put paid to the danger on the street like he once took out bandits in hotspots across the globe. THWACK! The first mistake came when one of the teenagers...