Free Republic

DURING Friday prayers the congregation of Muhammad Yousef, a young puritanical preacher in the Egyptian town of Mansoura, once spilled out into the alleys surrounding his mosque. Now Sheikh Muhammad counts it a good week if he fills half the place. In Cairo, 110km (68 miles) to the south, unveiled women sit in street cafés, traditionally a male preserve, smoking water-pipes. Some of the establishments serve alcohol, which Islam prohibits. “We’re in religious decline,” moans Sheikh Muhammad, whose despair is shared by clerics in many parts of the Arab world. According to Arab Barometer, a pollster, much of the region...

BRUSSELS (AFP-Jiji) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief on Saturday asked Turkey to forgo any unilateral military action in Syria, where Ankara has threatened a fresh offensive against a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia. “The statements of a possible Turkish military operation in northeast Syria are a source of concern,” Federica Mogherini said in a statement. “We share the goal of ending violence, defeating terrorism and promoting stability in Syria and the wider region. We expect the Turkish authorities therefore to refrain from any unilateral action likely to undermine the efforts of the Counter-Daesh Coalition or to risk further instability in...

The United States must revamp policies toward Africa on improving trade, fighting terrorism, and providing financial assistance to stave off the growing influence of China and Russia on the continent, White House national security adviser John Bolton said. “Great power competitors, namely China and Russia, are rapidly expanding their financial and political influence across Africa,” Bolton said Thursday in an address at The Heritage Foundation in Washington. “They are deliberately and aggressively targeting their investments in the region to gain a competitive advantage over the United States.”[snip]“The predatory practices pursued by China and Russia stunt economic growth in Africa; threaten...

In a hotel conference room in Denizli, Turkey, about 60 Iranians sing along to songs praising Jesus mixed with Iranian pop music. When the music stops, American pastor Karl Vickery preaches with the help of a Persian translator. "I'm not famous or rich. But I know Jesus. I have Jesus," he says, with a Southern drawl. The Farsi-speaking Christian converts shout "Hallelujah!" and clap.

Donald Trump has a name for everything and everyone, from Crooked Hillary to Little Rocket Man, who for a time became his best friend. Will he call the next region-wide conflagration in the Middle East, when it breaks out, Obama’s War? If he hasn’t thought of that already, he should start considering it now. Because the catastrophic policies of our former president have emboldened the Islamic state of Iran and enabled it to threaten the United States and our allies militarily in ways never before possible. When Obama took office in January 2009, he inherited a strong U.S. military and...

U.S. Defense contractors are looking at a potentially sharp downturn in arms sales to key Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, for decades their best foreign customers, because of the Obama administration's effort to forge a new relationship with Iran and to punish the Egyptian military for usurping their country's first Islamist president. The Saudis are reported to be seeking to buy five German Type-209 submarines, similar to those acquired by Israel and capable of launching nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, for $3.4 billion, with a long-term program of up to 25 boats in a $16.03 billion deal. Germany's Bild newspaper,...

Security Council became a kangaroo court, turning a perverted version of “international law” against the Trump administration for its just defense of the Jewish state of Israel and Israel's right to choose its own capital On December 6th, President Trump announced his decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to instruct the State Department to begin the process of relocating the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Two days later, at a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the other 14 members of the Council, including U.S. allies such as France, the United...

Last Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party voted down a motion to freeze funding for the Palestinian Authority until it stops its “pay to slay” imbursements to terrorists and their families. The motion stated that “with the payments, the PA knowingly and willingly supports terror against Israel and makes this a worthy financial business.” But Merkel’s party wasn’t moved. One day later, a Palestinian terror attack seriously wounded a pregnant woman. The baby, who was delivered in an emergency procedure, held out for a few days and died on Wednesday. In October during a visit to...

ISIS release pictures of their new gold coins they say will 'break capitalist enslavement' - so why are they still paying their deranged gunmen in US dollars? ISIS have released a new hour long video, showing off their latest propaganda tool - their very own coin currency. The video, which includes a dreary and distorted history of world economics, shows the smelting of gold, silver and copper coins. Dramatised by clips from Hollywood war films, the film accuses the US of 'confiscating Americans real wealth through an executive decree' with the introduction of the Gold Reserve Act in 1934. Yet...

US prosecutors have charged Huawei's chief financial officer with fraud, saying she had used at least seven passports in 11 years. - ...she was charged with conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions between 2009 and 2014. It is alleged she used Hong Kong company Skycom to access the Iranian market in deals that violated US sanctions. She allegedly assured US banks that Huawei and Skycom were different companies but prosecutors say they were one and the same. - Mr Gibb-Carsley said she had been aware of the US investigation and had avoided entering the country since March 2017, despite the...

A U.S. attempt to get the United Nations to condemn violence by Palestinian militant group Hamas for the first time failed on Thursday because the draft resolution fell short of votes needed in the General Assembly. The resolution required two-thirds support and while Assembly resolutions are non-binding, they can carry political weight. The U.S. text received 87 votes in favor, 58 against, 32 abstentions and 16 countries did not vote. In an earlier procedural move requested by Kuwait, the 193-member body narrowly voted to require two-thirds support and not a simple majority for adoption of the draft resolution. Outgoing U.S....

The workers of Iran National Steel Industrial Group in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, took to the streets of Ahvaz for the 26th consecutive day to protest for their rights On Wednesday Dec.5.2018 The workers were chanting “we will not give in to disgrace.” The workers were marching toward the main streets of the city, holding banners that read, “Workers are awake and fed up with being exploited.” The Iran National Steel Group workers started rallying in November in protest to not having received several months of their wages. Most of the workers are the sole breadwinners of their families. The workers...

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is now disclosing the nature of his resignation, and why he left Lebanon to spend time in Saudi Arabia. It appears the Saudi and regional partners provided evidence that Iran and Hezbollah were planning an assassination targeting Hariri and his family.

ERBIL — US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey urged other countries to share a larger burden in facilitating the conditions for peace in Syria, while floating the idea of the United Nations enforcing a no-fly zone for parts of Syria. "Remember we were present not in northern Iraq but over northern Iraq in Operation Northern Watch for 13 years. That can be a UN force," he said on Tuesday, referring to the joint US-UK-Turkey no-fly zone in the late 1990s that protected Kurdish areas from the air force of Saddam Hussein. Jeffrey briefed reporters in Washington, D.C., after...

Russia has completed an elaborate air defense system in Syria that curbs the operational capabilities of both the United States and Israel, according to a report by the Washington- based Institute for the Study of War. The deployments throughout the conflict-ravaged country include variations of the advanced S-300 and S-400 systems in addition to other cutting-edge technologies. Moscow long ago exported such systems to Syria, however, they remained under the control of its own army. Only after the accidental downing in September by Syrian forces of a Russian reconnaissance plane, an incident the Kremlin blamed on Jerusalem which minutes earlier...

The IDF destroyed a Hezbollah tunnel that penetrated into Israeli territory south of the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced in a statement Tuesday.

12 More than 200 pro-Israel activists picketed what Haaretz described as the "largest ever pro-Palestinian student conference held at UCLA," letting members of the Hamas-backed anti-Semitic hate group Students for Justice in Palestine know that their radicalism and violence against Jews and Israel supporters will no longer go unchallenged on campus. Groups supporting Israel gave the campus Left a taste of its own medicine. Turn-about is, after all, fair play. Students Supporting Israel (SSI), Reservists on Duty (RoD), and other pro-Israel groups came together in Los Angeles to protest a recent weekend conference. Literature documenting the role of Students for...

WASHINGTON - Two police departments in the northeastern United States decided over the past week to cancel their participation in a program that involves visiting Israel and meeting Israeli police officers, due to public pressure by a coalition of progressive organisations, including a number of groups affiliated with the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement (BDS).

A number of pro-Iranian militia bases and Iranian weapons caches in southern Syria were targeted by Israeli airstrikes on Thursday night, according to the Al-Arabiya news site. Explosions were also reported in and around the Syrian capital of Damascus, near its international airport, which Israel claims has been used by Iran to supply terror groups with advanced weaponry...The Israel Defense Forces refused to comment on Thursday night’s reported airstrikes, but denied a Russian media claim that an Israeli plane had been shot down. "The reports of an Israeli aircraft or other Israeli aerial platform being hit are false," the army...

Streets of Ahvaz in Khuzestan province and Haft Tapeh in the ancient city of Shush in Iran witnessed yesterday Nov.29, the well determined and courageous strikes of sugarcane and Ahvaz Steel mill workers. The recent endless brave strikes by workers prompted the regime to, send the henchman Sadegh Larijani, the head of the regime's judiciary, to the scene on November 26, to show off to and intimidate the workers to pay "We must deal with those who want to disrupt the order of the country, under the pretext of pursuing the demands of workers," he said. ... "Workers should not...