Free Republic

The world has condemned Israel for attacking some, “poor, innocent aid relief workers”, while refusing to look for the real story behind this. Hamas, the terror group supported by even some of our allies in the Middle East, was shipping cargo to Palestinians, in violation of the embargo imposed by Israel. The main stream media would have you believe that a bunch of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) boarded the ship and relentlessly killed some innocent civilians. What they forgot to show you was the video below. It clearly shows IDF soldiers boarding the ship while being beaten with chairs and...

A British aircraft broker (Balli Aviation Ltd.) was recently fined $17 million dollars, and put on probation for five years, for illegally exporting three Boeing 747s to Iran two years ago. The broker pled guilty and cooperated with the investigation. Iran has eight Boeing 747s, and they cannot be exported to Iran without a U.S. government permit. The U.S. refuses to provide these permits, so Iran obtains these aircraft via fraud and companies that are willing to risk prosecution. The Boeing and AirBus aircraft obtained this way have to be maintained by Iran, using smuggled parts. As a result, some...

Clinton said Cuba's response to Obama administration efforts to enhance cooperation revealed "an intransigent, entrenched regime" that had no interest in political reform or ending the isolation imposed by Washington's 48-year old economic embargo on the island. "It is my personal belief that the Castros do not want to see an end to the embargo and do no want to see normalization with the United States, because they would lose all of their excuses for what hasn't happened in Cuba in the last 50 years," Clinton said "I find that very sad, because there should be an opportunity for a...

WASHINGTON — The United States has diverted a shipment of bunker-busters designated for Israel. Officials said the U.S. military was ordered to divert a shipment of smart bunker-buster bombs from Israel to a military base in Diego Garcia. They said the shipment of 387 smart munitions had been slated to join pre-positioned U.S. military equipment in Israel Air Force bases. "This was a political decision," an official said. In 2008, the United States approved an Israeli request for bunker-busters capable of destroying underground facilities, including Iranian nuclear weapons sites. Officials said delivery of the weapons was held up by the...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States should impose sanctions unilaterally against Iran in the same way it acted alone by clamping an embargo on Cuba 50 years ago, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday. Israel, which sees a mortal threat in the prospect of Iran getting a nuclear bomb, has lobbied for "crippling" U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran's energy sector. But Washington and other world powers have balked at such measures for now, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week the Security Council should be sidestepped if it cannot agree to act.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Monday for an immediate embargo on Iran's energy sector, saying the U.N. Security Council should be sidestepped if it cannot agree on the move.

Today in Iran protesters for democracy are filling the streets on the 31st Anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. The tyrannical Iranian regime is continuing with their policy of using intimidation and brutality to quash the protests. Helping the totalitarian government with their violence and abuse is Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens. Despite an embargo of selling such products to Iran, the company has sold a "big brother-like" spy system to Ahmadinejad's nut house. A spokesman for NSN said the servers were sold for "lawful intercept functionality," a technical...

It's too soon for Americans to plan a Cuban vacation of beach, mambo and mojitos, but the U.S. travel industry is gearing up for a return to its largest Caribbean destination before Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Tour operators held a video conference with Cuban tourism officials in Havana on Wednesday and asked them if they are ready for the "rush" of Americans if the U.S. travel ban is lifted as proposed by legislation now under consideration in the U.S. Congress. "Americans really want to see Cuba," said Robert Whitely, president of the U.S. Tour Operators, which together with the National...

Last week a Department of State retiree and his wife were arrested and charged with spying for Cuba for thirty years. In this article I will sort out what we know, don't know and need to explore about this matter. Walter Kendall Myers, Jr .and his wife Gwendolyn Steingarber Myers

SNIPS Two months ago, the Obama administration acted to relax a trade embargo imposed on the island nation in 1962. A senior State Department official described the potential for damage as great and the timing unfortunate, noting that it could affect congressional support for the administration's recent attempts to engage Cuba. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation. Cuba is notorious for not paying its agents, said a former intelligence official speaking anonymously because of the highly sensitive matter. Indeed, court documents indicate the couple received little money for their efforts, but instead professed a...

China’s Threat Revives Race for Rare Minerals By KEITH BRADSHER HONG KONG — A Chinese threat to halt exports of rare minerals — vital for high-performance electric motors in wind turbines, hybrid cars and missiles — appears to have backfired. With control of more than 99 percent of the world’s production of these minerals, China could try to use a ban to force other countries to buy the crucial motors for these high-tech end products, instead of just the minerals, directly from China. But other governments and businesses reacted quickly as word of the proposed ban spread late this summer....

NEW YORK (CNN) — The United Arab Emirates seized a ship carrying banned arms from North Korea to Iran, diplomats told CNN Friday. The incident occurred in early August and was reported to the U.N. Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions committee, Western diplomats at the United Nations said. The diplomats did not disclose which country owned the vessel. It also was not immediately clear whether this was the first time such an incident had happened, or only the first time such a case had been revealed. A U.N. resolution passed in July imposes an embargo on the shipment of arms...

The Obama team has lifted a ban on the sale of some high-tech equipment to Syria. A recognized state sponsor of terrorism. WSJ reports: "The Obama administration has told Syria that it will work to ease U.S. sanctions against Damascus, as Washington intensifies its pursuit of détente with a longtime Middle East rival." [As Obama intensifies his efforts to legitimize a dictatorial state sponsor of terrorism, having just recently decided to return a U.S. ambassador] "The U.S. decision targets spare aircraft parts, information-technology products and telecommunications equipment, sales of which have been restricted by U.S. sanctions on Syria enacted in...

(IsraelNN.com) The United States has alerted Syrian diplomats that America has decided to lift various embargos against Syria, with more suspensions of embargos on the way. Dr. Imad Mustafa, Syria's ambassador to Washington, told Syrian television Sunday that U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama has suspended several articles of the U.S. sanction against Syria, with more suspensions to come, according to Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

The 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba has been shaken by the revelation that drilling for oil and natural gas is about to take place less than 50 miles off the U.S. coast - in Cuban waters. No one knows for sure just how much oil lies off the northwest coast of Cuba, but the consensus is that it's sizable. The U.S. Geological Survey initially came up with an estimate in 2004 of between 5 billion barrels and 10 billion barrels. But Cuba's state oil company, Cubapetroleo, recently said the undersea geology was "very similar" to Mexico's giant Cantarell oil field...

Back in April, Eli Lake of the Wash Times times Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens broke the Iran embargo to sell a "big brother-like" spy system to Ahmadinejad's nut house: A spokesman for NSN said the servers were sold for "lawful intercept functionality," a technical term used by the cell-phone industry to refer to law enforcement's ability to tap phones, read e-mails and monitor electronic data on communications networks. This sale has allowed the oppressive Iranian regime to build a monitoring center that can archive intercepts and provide...

You would think with all of the embargoes that the US government has on doing buisness with Iran and its crazy President Ahmadinejad , that it would be pretty difficult for companies that do buisness with the United States to sell systems to the terrorist regime that would enable it squash dissidents. Of course if you thought that, "you would think..." wrong. Back in April, Eli Lake of the Wash Times times Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens have sold a "big brother-like" spy system to Ahmadinejad's nut house:

The DUmmies are really pissed off at Joe Biden. Why? Because he stated that the U.S. government will NOT end the Cuban embargo as you can see in this DUmmie THREAD, "Biden says U.S. does not plan to lift Cuba embargo." Some of the DUmmies are even saying that is not really what Biden means and you have to microanalyze the word he used, "No." Of course, what the DUmmies need to realize is that all of the Obama administration promises have an expiration date. In the meantime the DUmmies remain angry as you can see so let us...

Biden says U.S. does not plan to lift Cuba embargo Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:11pm EDT VINA DEL MAR, Chile (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday the United States would not lift the country's embargo on Cuba. "No," Biden told reporters

I have long felt that the embargo against Cuba should end. I think the arguments against ending the embargo have become slogans over the years. The only reason we still have the embargo is that Cuban-Americans in Florida want it. And they vote. And politicians from both parties want that vote. We don't have embargoes against Russia or China. But then Russian-Americans and Chinese-Americans don't have similar sway with the politicians the way Cuban-Americans do. I think we should allow our business people access to Cuba.