Free Republic

I am troubled by this administration's almost obsessive embrace of Saudi Arabia. I am even more troubled by conservative media's failure to challenge that embrace. Most conservative media outlets state the following narrative regarding Saudi Arabia: "Saudi Arabia is no longer our enemy. It has become our ally. Thanks to President Trump's hard resolve to fight radical Islamic terrorism, King Salman has appointed his son, MbS, to institute widespread reforms, prosecute pro-terrorist elements, and consolidate an 'Arab NATO' alliance that is intended to contain terrorism and its sponsors in Iran and Turkey. Those who oppose Saudi Arabia now are useful...

For years, the liberal foreign policy establishment presented Americans with a false choice on Iran: surrender or war. President Trump has proved that binary to be a fantasy, squeezing and deterring the Iranians without full-on confrontation. “When I became president, Iran was a true state of terror,” Trump said in France this week. Now, “they are failing as a nation.” Not that his critics give him credit — or room to maneuver. As The Daily Beast reported last week, alumni of the Obama administration have been secretly in touch with the Iranians — no doubt to reassure the mullahs that...

The Islamic Republic of Iran is involved in the illicit procurement of technology for weapons of mass destruction, the German intelligence agency for the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern wrote in its May report. In the 206-page report, that was reviewed by The Jerusalem Post, the intelligence agents wrote: “The fight against the illegal proliferation of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction and the materials needed for their manufacture, as well as the corresponding delivery systems [e.g. rockets], including the necessary knowledge, in cooperation with other authorities, is also the responsibility of counterintelligence.” The intelligence report continued, “From these...

US-led forces have blown up three oil tankers in Syria as the United States increases its pressure on Syria by thwarting the oil trade between the PKK/YPG and the Assad regime, according to local sources quoted by several media sources. The strike was carried about by coalition planes, which hit three oil tankers, leaving four dead. The coalition has not yet made a statement about the attack. In the area controlled by Assad, oil consumption stands at around 136,000 bpd. Production, meanwhile, is only 24,000 barrels per day. This means that the regime must import significant volumes of crude oil...

King Salman of Saudi Arabia has pulled off in Mecca what many had thought unlikely -- getting 20 or so disparate Arab nations to unite in a common position against Iran. ... In middle-of-night, back-to-back summits at Islam's holiest of sites, the aging but still-attentive Saudi monarch got a double endorsement of his claims that Iran is destabilizing the Middle East and a backing of his call for "the international community to shoulder its responsibility. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and 21 Arab League nations present called for Iran to stop "interfering in the internal affairs" of its neighbors and...

Syrian government forces have captured a village deep within the last rebel stronghold in the northwest province of Idlib, after intense clashes with militants. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said on Monday that the troops had reached the village of Qassaibyeh. The pro-government Syrian Central Military Media also confirmed that Syrian troops have captured the village. Human rights and war monitor groups say the government campaign to retake Idlib over the past month, supported by airstrikes, has killed dozens of civilians. The area is overcrowded with refugees and displaced persons from the war.

Since taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump has achieved more for Israel and the Jewish people than any other president before him. Since 1948, the State of Israel has seen friendly presidents of the United States as well as unfriendly, but today Israel’s greatest friend sits in the White House. Since taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump has achieved more for Israel and the Jewish people than any other president before him, even rivaling Harry Truman, who voted in favor of and later recognized the Jewish state. The list of accomplishments President Trump and his administration have produced...

A sign alluding to a historical massacre of Jews was carried openly at the annual al-Quds Day hatefest in downtown Toronto on Saturday afternoon, the B’nai Brith of Canada reported Sunday. The sign depicts the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and warns that, “The last Khayber is ready,” an allusion to an ancient battle in which a Muslim army defeated and slaughtered Jews in the Arabian Peninsula. It also predicts the coming of “the last Hayder,” a nickname for Ali, the leading figure in Shi’a [Shi’ite] Islam. Shi’a [Shi’ite] clerics are among the speakers and organizers of the Toronto...

The New York Post reports that two military veterans walked out of a private meeting with Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez earlier this week after the freshman congresswoman began bashing US foreign policy. However, AOC's office claims the two men are lying. “She knocks the country, she knocks the president. And that’s not what America is about,” Silvio Mazzella, a Vietnam War veteran and treasurer of Community Board 11, told the New York Post.Another veteran, "Anthony Vitaliano — an Army veteran who worked in the NYPD for 38 years, and commanded the Bronx’s homicide detectives," was sitting right next to the congresswoman...

Israel and the US will offer incentives to Russia later this month in a bid to curb Iran’s influence in Syria, which could include legitimizing the continued leadership of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, a London-based Arabic newspaper reported Sunday. The incentives will be raised at an unprecedented trilateral meeting of national security advisers scheduled for later this month in Jerusalem, according to a report in Asharq al-Awsat that quoted Western diplomats and was cited by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster. The report did not clarify what the other proposals could be. US National Security Adviser John Bolton, Israeli National Security Adviser...

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is concerned over a missing radioactive device from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor, Saudi-owned Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Thursday. Aside from the security concerns, at the forefront in the GCC’s mind is what impact the radioactive device—wherever it may be today—could have on water supplies. According to the newspaper, the device went missing after the car transporting it was stolen. Thankfully, the vehicle was recovered, but the radioactive nuclear device was not so lucky. The GCC has contacted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over the incident—both organizations are concerned that Iran’s nuclear program...

As the Trump administration sent warplanes and an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, a small group of former Obama administration officials reached out to their contacts in the Iranian government, including Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Their message to Iran: Don’t take Trump’s bait. Stay calm. Conversations between former Obama officials and Iranian government officials have been ongoing since November 2016. Zarif, who visits the U.S. every year for the U.N. General Assembly in New York, usually meets with lawmakers, think tanks, journalists, and former officials when he is in town. But the recent round of conversations, which took...

Nigeria: “local Muslims” murder 7 Christians on way home from church, burn Christian homes The jihad against Christians continues unimpeded in Nigeria with little to no attention from Western media. Shame on them and Western Churches especially who fail to advocate for persecuted Christians out of fear of being branded ‘intolerant’, ‘islamophobic’ and ‘racist’. Gunmen suspected to be local Fulani Muslims killed several Christians as they made their way home from church services in Jos, Nigeria…following the murder of another area Christian. Fulani jihadists (often referred to as “herdsmen”) have successfully infiltrated the general population of “local Muslims” in Nigeria....

Sri Lanka: Muslim doctor accused of sterilizing non-Muslim patients without knowledge, consent Sri Lanka recently experienced a massive launch of violent jihad during a string of Easter bombings that killed 290 people and injured over 500. It shocked the country, and created an awakening–much like 9-11 did in America–to the 1400 year old fact that there are Islamic forces that aim to conquer through jihad. Jihad comes in many form, among them: violent jihad toward conquest, stealth jihad toward conquest, jihad by immigration toward conquest (hijrah), population jihad toward conquest, jihad within one’s soul. Aside from the latter, whatever it...

[GCC=Gulf Cooperation Council] Makkah: The GCC Summit in Makkah has condemned the recent sabotage operations, which targeted four tankers in UAE’s regional waters and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities. The GCC leaders discussed the exceptional circumstances and dangerous challenges the region is undergoing following the recent attacks on the UAE and Saudi Arabia and their ramifications and direct threat to the regional security and peace, to freedom of global marine navigation and trade as well as to world oil markets as a result of attempts by some countries to undermine security and stability of the region, support terrorism and...

Update: 7.25pm: Gardaí believe three men wearing balaclavas were involved in today's shooting in Coolock. They understand that the three left the scene in a silver Toyota Avensis with a registration number 04-D-71806, which was found burnt out in the Castletymon Gardens area of Coolock at around 3.45pm. The scene has been preserved for a forensic examination and a post mortem will take place tomorrow.

A man was blasted to death on Tuesday afternoon at the family home of a pal murdered last week. Hamid Sanambar, in his 40s, and originally from Iran but living in Ireland for several years, was blasted in the head by a gunman. He was standing in the garden of the Little home on Kilbarron Avenue in Dublin’s Coolock, when he was struck by a hail of bullets.

An Iranian man who got political asylum in Ireland met three Cork men through road bowling in the county and they got together for a raid on a brothel in the city. Hamid Sanambar, aged 38, with an address at Dominic St, Cork, at the time pleaded guilty to robbing one woman of a laptop, phone and cash to the amount of €1,060 and £250 sterling at the premises on Cove St, Cork, on September 2, 2012. He also admitted robbing a laptop, phone and €3,000 from another woman, and robbing €100 from a man at the premises and entering...

Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour claims that the President of the United States is putting people’s “lives in danger” when he tweets. Sarsour and other Women’s March activists are now lobbying Twitter to ban President Donald Trump from its platform. Representatives from the Women’s March brought several boxes of petitions to Twitter headquarters last week, calling on the company to ban the President of the United States from its platform. Sarsour expressed her dismay to see that President Trump had called out Iran on Twitter last week, in which he stated, “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the...

Idlib province, the Syrian opposition’s last stronghold, is a major source of dispute between seemingly staunch allies within the conflict, Turkey and Russia.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on May 15 that by conducting air strikes and ground operations in Idlib, Syrian President Bashar Assad “sought to sabotage Turkish-Russian cooperation” and violate the ceasefire agreement. Not being able to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin directly, Erdoğan instead chose to criticise Assad. But it seems that Putin got the message and responded to Erdoğan with another wave of air strikes on Idlib on May 17 that was followed by a unilateral...