Free Republic

On Friday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) stated that Israel shouldn’t start another war by moving “against Hezbollah in Lebanon to dramatically escalate the conflict to the north.” Moulton said, “[W]e absolutely do not want to do anything that might escalate this into a regional war. That’s not in our national security interests to get bogged down in a war in the Middle East, potentially sending American troops. And it’s not, frankly, in Israel’s national security interests either. So, behind the scenes, we’re doing what we can to tamp this down and say enough is enough,...

Can Brussels raid the tens of billions of euros in Russian assets frozen by the European Union to pay for Ukraine’s recovery? This thorny legal question is currently under examination by the EU Commission as the cash-strapped bloc looks for potentially €18 billion ($18 billion) next year to keep Ukraine afloat as it fends off Moscow’s invasion. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission's president, told reporters on Tuesday in Berlin that she had set up a task force to both map what assets exist as well as the preconditions that must be met to seize them. “The will is...

Iran is slowly taking off its gloves and has dropped its mask in the widening confrontation with Western countries and Israel. After the United Kingdom (UK) seized an Iranian tanker with oil bound for Syria on July 4, the Iranians embarked on a piracy campaign against British and other vessels in the Persian Gulf. The tanker, Grace 1, was carrying 2.1 million barrels of oil when it was detained by British Marines and will stay in Gibraltar for another month, a court in the British colony decided last Friday. Iran called the British action an “act of piracy” and again...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday Russia's military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could raise the risk of confrontation with coalition forces fighting Islamic State there. In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, Kerry said he had told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov the United States was worried by Moscow's military backing for Assad in Syria's civil war, now in its fifth year. "These actions could provoke a further escalation of the conflict and lead to the loss of more innocent lives, increasing the flow of refugees and risking a confrontation with the anti-ISIS (Islamic...

Jewish Journal Reports: Israeli officials are stepping up their criticism of The New York Times, slamming columnist Thomas Friedman and arguing that the newspaper is an unfit venue for an Op-Ed from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a scathing letter first leaked last week to The Jerusalem Post, Ron Dermer, a top aide to Netanyahu, declined an invitation for the prime minister to write an Op-Ed for the Times. By way of explanation, Dermer cited what he alleged was the newspaper’s anti-Israel tilt. “It would seem as if the surest way to get an Op-Ed published in The New York...

On the eve of the terrorist prisoner exchange that will bring home kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Arab terrorists are gaining confidence and becoming inspired to increase attacks on the road and in Israeli cities. In at least two locations on Highway 60 in Judea, Palestinian Authority Arabs terrorists attacked Israeli travelers. At about 8:30 p.m. terrorists hurled a firebomb at an Israeli bus as it passed the village of El Aroub south of Bethlehem, just five minutes down the road from Gush Etzion. No one was injured, but the bus was damaged. IDF soldiers launched a search for the...

smaller_textlarger_textprint_articleReuters, 15/10 14:30 CET By Catherine Bremer PARIS (Reuters) – French refinery workers cut off a fuel pipeline to Paris on Friday as protesters piled on pressure to derail President Nicolas Sarkozy’s unpopular pension reform. Police broke up blockades at fuel depots in southern France but protesters blocked a terminal at Paris’s Orly airport and truckers were set to join the fray as momentum built for a day of street rallies on Saturday. A nationwide strike is planned on Tuesday, a day before the Senate is due to vote on a bill to make people work longer for their pensions....

Live from New York...it's Barack Obama!On the banks of the Hudson River at West Point, Obama will give his military strategy for Afghanistan, based on the tactical genius of Capt. Spaulding, aka Groucho Marx:Hello, I Must Be GoingOh dear, he is coming, At last he's here. (Spaulding) Hello, I must be going, I cannot stay, I came to say, I must be going. I'm glad I came, but just the same I must be going. La La. (Mrs. Rittenhouse) For my sake you must stay. If you should go away, You'd spoil this party I am throwing. (Spaulding) I'll stay...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 — “Cut and run” versus “stay the course” is so 2006. This week has ushered in a new political battle over the language of the war: “Surge,” meet “escalation.” The Democrats introduced the latter word to portray President Bush’s expected proposal for a troop increase in Iraq in a negative light. “An escalation, whether it is called a surge or any other name, is still an escalation, and I believe it will be an immense new mistake,” Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Tuesday in a speech critiquing Mr. Bush’s as-yet-unannounced Iraq plan. Should...

Wednesday, 27 November, 2002, 14:48 GMT Haiti clashes escalate Petit-Goave demonstrators called for Aristide's removal There have been renewed clashes between anti-government protesters and supporters of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In the city of Petit-Goave, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of the capital Port-au-Prince, more than 1,000 people demonstrated against Mr Aristide - his supporters pelted them with rocks. In Gonaives, some 130 km north of the capital, anti-government protesters clashed with 200 heavily-armed members of a street gang known as the Cannibal Army which is said to be loyal to the president. Aristide is accused of allowing a...