Free Republic

Donald Trump berated Zelenskyy on April 23, after he said Ukraine would not legally recognize Russian control over Crimea. He said he will not accept ceding any territory, even though this is against the Minsk Agreement that was supposed to allow the Donbas to vote on separation, since they are Russians who have lived there for hundreds of years. Trade Unions House - Odessa on May 2, 2014 These people have a human right to separate from Ukraine, which hates Russians, and they were killing Russians on the street in Odessa during the 2014 Revolution, which prompted this entire separatist...

In what many citizens concerned with the survival of Austria as a European nation-state are calling a demographic tipping point, Muslims have now become the largest religious group in Vienna’s compulsory schools, comprising a striking 41.2% of all students across primary, secondary, and vocational education levels. The stark demographic shift has sparked outrage among conservatives and nationally-minded citizens in Austria, with the Freedom Party (FPÖ) warning that the capital is being culturally transformed beyond recognition. “This is no longer immigration. This is displacement,” said Maximilian Weinzierl, national council member and leader of the FPÖ’s youth wing. “41.2% of Muslim students—that’s...

Muslims Threaten to Sue Spain in Strasbourg Over Holy Week Processions, Claim They “Offend Islam”A group of British Muslims of Iranian origin, led by Anjem Choudary, is threatening to file a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.They allege that Spain’s traditional Holy Week processions are an “offense to Islam” and to the Prophet Muhammad, demanding their immediate ban.The Muslim group intends to sue Spain in Strasbourg over these Catholic processions, with Choudary arguing that these religious events, rooted in Catholic tradition since 1978, are a “provocation” against Muslims.“It’s an offense to the thousands of Muslims forced...

The “end of history” is over and Europe is experiencing a “transatlantic crisis”, says Ursula von der Leyen, former Angela Merkel acolyte turned European Commission supremo. “Another, new European Union” is needed to shape the “new world order” emerging out of power struggles between the United States, China, and Russia the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen told a German newspaper. Speaking to Die Zeit, the top Eurocrat expressed her interpretation of events that “The West as we knew it no longer exists”, stating that beyond the old understanding of what countries were Western and which not,...

Two months ago, the English podcast host Louise Perry hosted David Betz, a professor at King’s College, London, and an expert in civil wars. The topic? “The Coming British Civil War.” Betz argues that the United Kingdom now has all the traditional hallmarks of a society on the verge of violent civil conflict. He mentions the collapse of faith in British institutions, the two-tier justice system, Islamic radicalization, and the polarization wrought by official multiculturalism, among other factors. The YouTube version of the interview has had nearly 200,000 views—so many that Telegraph columnist Tim Stanley noticed, writing in his April...

The European Commission is issuing burner phones to officials traveling to the United States amid fears of espionage in Trump’s America. It’s the kind of security measure typically saved for trips to China or the Ukraine, where the fear of IT surveillance is high. But three European Commissioners will test out burner phones and basic laptops at International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington next week, sources told the Financial Times. The move from the European Commission, the primary executive arm of the European Union, marks a new era of American-European relations, which have all but dissipated since...

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that he believed Vice President JD Vance was correct in his criticisms of European speech laws during a recent speech. Maher said, “JD Vance…the other week, made a speech, in Munich. A lot of people were shocked by it. I thought half of it was pretty shocking because it was about this election that they just had in Germany where there is a party on the ballot that is very Nazi-friendly.” He continued, “But the first part of the speech was about free speech, that I didn’t think he...

The European Union will pause its first countermeasures against U.S. tariffs after President Donald Trump temporarily lowered the hefty duties he had just imposed on dozens of countries, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday. The bloc was due to launch counter-tariffs on about 21 billion euros ($23.25 billion) of U.S. imports from next Tuesday in response to Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium. It is still assessing how to respond to U.S. car tariffs and the broader 10% levies still in place. “We want to give negotiations a chance,” von der Leyen said on X....

It took the prospect of a second Trump presidency for Brussels to suddenly discover the virtues of free trade. Ursula von der Leyen now dangles a “zero-for-zero” tariff deal—years too late and painfully transparent. Yes, really. Perhaps, just perhaps, Europe should have made that offer a long time ago—before the first tariffs, before the steel and aluminum disputes, before their hypocritical WTO filings. Without question, before they spent years lecturing U.S. administrations on the supposed virtues of multilateral trade regimes they had rigged to their advantage. American taxpayers have subsidized European peace, prosperity, and strategic irrelevance for eight decades. From...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson 🚨BREAKING: President Trump announces MASSIVE tariffs are coming VERY shortly on pharmaceuticals. THIS is what I voted for: "We're gonna tariff our pharmaceuticals ... we're going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals." From Aaron Rupar 8:00 PM · Apr 8, 2025

The European Commission recently presented measures to strengthen the competitiveness of the wine sector and that includes the promotion of alcohol-free wine. Health concerns, a crackdown on drink-driving, changing habits among the younger generation, all of these factors are thought to be reasons why per capita alcohol consumption in Europe fell by 20% between 2000 and 2019, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Faced with flagging demand, some winemakers are betting on alcohol-free wine and opting for innovation to diversify sales. Near the city of Charleroi, Associated Beverage Solutions has been producing alcohol-free wine since 2018 using vacuum distillation,...

8 Apr 2025 U.S. President Donald Trump shot down the European Union’s offer of a zero-tariff trade relationship on some goods, demanding that the bloc do more to rectify the significant trading imbalance, such as purchasing more American-produced energy. With markets putting pressure on politicians worldwide, leading Eurocrats came out on Monday, attempting to appease Washington with concessions. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Brussels had relayed an offer of “zero-for-zero” tariffs on industrial goods, while trade envoy Maroš Šefčovič suggested a “boost in strategic areas” like semiconductors and minerals. 8 Apr 2025 U.S. President Donald Trump...

Financial experts are seeing a spike in affluent working Americans looking to resettle in Europe. They say it's time for Europe to prepare for their arrival. Russian-American *Julia had wanted to leave the United States for a couple of years, but the start of President Donald Trump’s second term forced her to start taking the idea seriously. "I noticed people who are immigrants [like me], they were a lot more worried after the election happened," she told Euronews Next. "We saw the warning signs right away". The anesthesiologist worked on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis in New York City...

WASHINGTON — The European Union has floated a “zero-for-zero” tariff resolution with the Trump administration after 20% import levies were imposed by Washington last week. “We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday. “Because Europe is always ready for a good deal. So we keep it on the table,” she said at a press conference alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Trade ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday neared agreement on a list of US goods to target in response to the recent US decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium. But a second round designed to reply to the blanket 20% tariff on other imports from the bloc, and a flat rate of 25% on cars, remains under debate. The first round of countermeasures, which are expected to be adopted on Wednesday, is likely to include US products such as bourbon whiskey, though this inclusion remains moot, particularly after threats from US President Donald Trump to impose 200% tariffs...

In his highly quoted speech to the Munich Security Conference, Vice President J.D. Vance singled out a country unfamiliar to many Americans: Romania. Mr. Vance condemned what he described as Europe’s crackdown on free speech and mentioned Romania’s election annulment. In December, “Romania straight up canceled the results of a presidential election based on the flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors,” he said. “The argument was that Russian disinformation had infected the Romanian elections, but I’d ask my European friends to have some perspective. If your democracy can be destroyed with a few...

On Monday, European Union leader Ursula von der Leyen has said that the European Union is ready to offer "zero-for-zero" tariffs in trade negotiations with the United States for industrial goods. "We stand ready to negotiate with the United States. Indeed, we have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods, as we have successfully done with many other trading partners, because Europe is always ready for a good deal," von der Leyen said on Monday. This comes as the 27-nation bloc has been in talks to get the US to lower tariffs against the EU. The countries are facing a 25...

France’s trade minister said the European Union’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs could be “extremely aggressive” amid increasingly heated rhetoric from Paris. Speaking ahead of crunch talks in Luxembourg, French Minister of Foreign Trade Laurent Saint-Martin said that Brussels must consider all options in the trade dispute with the United States. “We must not exclude any option, on goods, on (American) services and open the European toolbox, which is very complete, which can also be extremely aggressive in return,” the minister said per Le Figaro.

BRUSSELS, April 6 (Reuters) - European Union countries will seek to present a united front in the coming days against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, likely approving a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28 billion of U.S. imports from dental floss to diamonds. Such a move would mean the EU joining China and Canada in imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States in an early escalation of what some fear will become a global trade war, making goods more expensive for billions of consumers and pushing economies around the world into recession.

The response from the EU is exactly what we would expect to see from the end of the 80-year-old Marshal Plan.EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyden has three big concerns with the new trade/tariff reset. I strongly suggest everyone to read the EU concerns slowly to fully absorb decades of hypocrisy now surfacing:#1 The EU will not be able to compete for U.S. market share with 20% general tariffs and 25% auto tariffs.#2 The EU must deploy countermeasures against the risk of losing industrial capacity and manufacturing to the United States.And #3 The EU must defend itself against China...