Free Republic

Erdogan Extols Koranic Harshness Toward Non-Muslims, Seeks Their Koranic Conquest NOV 3, 2019 2:00 PM BY ANDREW BOSTOM Notwithstanding any limited “support” Turkey may (or may not) have provided the successful U.S. raid this weekend, which liquidated ISIS’s al-Baghdadi, Turkish President Erdogan made some revealing, indeed pathognomonic remarks, during last Friday’s (10/25/19) prayers in Istanbul’s Great Camlica Mosque. A Turkish writer in exile who is a very fluent, gifted Turkish-to-English translator, translated (below) the triumphal report by Yeni Akit, an outlet enamored of the Turkish President and his traditionalist Islamic political party, the AKP. On October 25, Turkey’s president Recep...

Americans have to face the painful reality that Arabs are, when judged by 21st century Western Standards, a crazy people. This is not meant as an insult. Early this year, the Iraqi parliament proposed a law that would permit men to marry 9 year old girls. The law had the support of a majority of parliament. The law would also permit men to beat up and rape their wives, and prevent women from leaving the house without the permission of the husband. These SOBS are supposed to be the allies of America in the fight against ISIS. The Shia regime...

The Fatah movement headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas emphasizes its continued adherence to the "national struggle" as a means to counter all the "colonialist" plans which they believe seek to undermine the existence of the "Palestinian people" and their cause. Such "colonialist" plans range from the Balfour Declaration to US President Donald Trump's peace plan. On the occasion of the approaching 102nd anniversary of the statement by former British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour in support of the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people, the Fatah movement called the Balfour Declaration a "historic crime" against humanity...

Russia acquiesced to Israeli requests and canceled certain arms sales to regimes that are antagonistic toward Israel, an adviser to the prime minister said this week, according to the Ynet news site. In return, he said, Israel canceled arms sales that irked the Russians, including to Ukraine.

..... ...1630’s Dutch Tulip Mania is a good place to start a serious discussion about what one could call "The 2019 North Syria/Save the Kurds/Trump is a Monster" mania, or put more simply, President Trump’s northern Syria retreat in the face of Turkish belligerence. It seems that Trump has learned some of the lessons of the past. Before World War I, the Chief of the German High Command, Field Marshall Alfred von Schlieffen, saw the looming French/English/Russian Military Alliance as the setting for a disastrous two-front war with 1) France/Great Britain to the West and 2) Tsarist Russia to the...

Syria is not exactly a great prize to call the country a bloody mess would be a massive understatement. Entire cities have been destroyed. Syrian economy lost $300 billion in gdp,a decrease so steep it could take over a generation to recover to prewar levels. The cost of reconstruction could be as high as $400 billion, requiring Russia and Iran to spend considerable capital if they have the slightest chance of digging the country out. Russians and Iranians are not gaining newfound control. They’ve had control for some time. Moscow's influence stretches back before Bashar Assad was even born. Syrian...

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration has suspended security assistance to Lebanon, congressional officials said Friday, including more than $100 million for the Lebanese Armed Forces. Congressional aides were told by State Department officials in a conference call Thursday that the aid to Lebanon was being held up by the White House Office of Management and Budget at the direction of the National Security Council, a department within the White House.

Key point: These new guided missiles could cause a lot of damage. Iran has unveiled a kit that appears to convert unguided surface-to-surface rockets into guided weapons. The Labeik kit “looked similar to the guidance units used with the Fateh-110 family of solid-propellent missiles, although its four triangular control surfaces were inverted,” according to Jane’s Defense Weekly, which based its analysis on Iranian television footage of a military parade earlier this month. “As with the Fateh-110 family, these would be attached between the rocket motor and warhead to steer the projectile. They appeared to be compatible with the 610-millimeter diameter...

GOP Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) criticized President Trump on Thursday for reportedly deciding to renew nuclear waivers for Iran. "This is disappointing and another lost opportunity to tear up the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal once and for all," the senators said in a joint statement tweeted by Cruz. "President Trump should immediately order his administration to stop issuing civil nuclear waivers."

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday that his government’s ultimate goal was to restore state authority over Kurdish controlled areas in northeast Syria after an abrupt U.S. troop withdrawal but he expected it to happen gradually. In a state television interview Assad also said that a deal between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin to drive out the Kurdish-led YPG militia from a 30 km (19 mile) “safe zone” along the border was a “positive” step that would help Damascus achieve its goal. “It might not achieve everything ... it paves the road...

In Iraq, demonstrators are being shot dead in the streets. In Lebanon, protesters have paralysed the country and seem set to bring down the government of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. In recent weeks the Egyptian security forces crushed attempts to protest against the police state of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi... A rough approximation is that 60% of the region's population is under the age of 30. A young population can be a great asset to a country. But only if the economy, the educational system and the institutions of the state are functioning well enough to accommodate their needs, and...

Israeli Air Force chief Amikam Norkin on Wednesday said the military’s multi-tiered network of air defense systems were “on alert” amid a general threat of attack by Iran. In recent weeks, the military has begun to believe that Tehran intends to eventually retaliate against Israel’s regular airstrikes against its forces and proxies in the region. The Israel Defense Forces believes this could take the form of a large-scale attack involving cruise missiles and attack drones, similar to the strike on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco petroleum facility that was attributed to Iran. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran intends...

... There will never be peace between the Arabs and Israel. Why not? Because, as noted, the Arabs don't want peace with Israel; they don't want Israel, and will look for any excuse to avoid any kind of peace agreement. As Netanyahu once observed regarding the prospects for peace in the area: "If the Arabs put down their weapons today there would be no more violence; if the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel." Or, as Golda Meir before him observed: "Peace will come when Arabs will love their children more than they hate...

In Iran, Eshaq Jahangiri Kouhshahi, the first vice president of the President Hassan Rouhani's regime, said on Oct. 22 that $22 billion of the country's resources were taken to Istanbul and Dubai under the pretext of increasing the value of the country's troubled rial currency. However, the miserable dollar price of the rial was not reduced from the act, and the $22 billion was not returned to the country. Something else was going on. Iran is facing unprecedented economic instability, a horrifying nightmare, along with corruption, embezzlement, and looting. It's institutionalized, so what we can infer from this is that...

Diplomatic Reception Room 9:20 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Last night, the United States brought the world’s number one terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organization anywhere in the world. The United States has been searching for Baghdadi for many years. Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been the top national security priority of my administration. U.S. Special Operations Forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in northwestern Syria and accomplished their mission in grand style. The U.S. personnel were incredible. I got to...

Unidentified drones attacked Syrian areas controlled by the Assad regime and Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias at the Hamdan airport near the town of Al-Bukamal in the eastern region of Deir ez-Zor, according to opposition-affiliated TV station Halab Today. Before the attack, three drones were seen flying from the direction of areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces militia, according to Step News, a news agency founded by Syrian activists and journalists. At noon, explosions were heard at the Hamdan airport. Ambulances were sent to the airport, but the number of causalities is unknown. Iranian-backed militias in Al-Bukamal have been...

INDIANOLA, Iowa — Elizabeth Warren issued a warning to Israel if it continues building settlements in the West Bank. The Massachusetts senator was asked after a town hall in Iowa whether she was open to making U.S. aid conditional on an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt construction in a territory Israel won in a defensive war in 1967, which is home to about 3 million Palestinians and roughly 400,000 Jews. "Right now, Netanyahu says that he is going to take Israel in a direction of increasing settlements. That does not move us toward a two-state solution....

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) has received a lot of criticism for the surpassing crudity of her declaration about the President — “We’re going to impeach the motherf***er”– and in the last few days for offering the phrase for sale on a t-shirt — but less attention has been given to the company she keeps. As far back as her swearing-in, and at a private dinner she held that same day, many unsavory “Palestinian” activists were in attendance. It should be remembered that at her victory party, Tlaib wrapped herself not in the American, but in the “Palestinian” flag, and...

Biden took aim at Trump during a campaign fundraiser on Sunday afternoon at Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont's home in Greenwich The former vice president said he believes Trump will be defeated in the next election, but expressed concern at what he could accomplish before then 'What worries me most about him is the more pressure he receives, the more erratic he's going to become,' Biden said He said Trump 'could easily get us into a war accidentally in Iran' in the next year Biden optimistically added: 'I do choose hope over fear. I do choose truth over lies. I do...

There are many sound arguments about why the U.S. should not have withdrawn its modest presence. But the notion that the pullout empowers Tehran is belied by its leaders’ expressions of anxiety. The Middle East rarely offers a respite to ambitious nations, even Iran.