Free Republic

Russia's opposition said on Tuesday they feared Vladimir Putin had decided to use force to smother their protests after riot police detained hundreds of demonstrators challenging his presidential election victory. After three months of peaceful anti-Putin protests, police hauled away more than 500 people, including opposition leaders, who attended unsanctioned protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Monday or refused to leave after a rally that was permitted. The police intervention sent a clear signal that Putin is losing patience with opponents demanding more democracy, openness and political reforms, and will crack down if they step out of line. "Fear...

"SCHWARZENEGGER FLEXES MUSCLE FOR MOSCOW, WHILE OBAMA IGNORES WARNINGS FROM RUSSIAN DISSIDENTS" International News Analysis Today June 29, 2010 By Toby Westerman SNIPPET: "California governor, and former film superhero, Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged to lead a trade mission to Russia and assist "in any way possible" Russia's drive to develop its own high tech "Silicon Valley." U.S. president Barack Obama has also promised his backing in facilitating the flow of U.S. technology to Russia. The eager participation of Schwarzenegger and Obama in exporting U.S. technological capabilities came during Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's three day visit (June 22-24) to the United...

GENEVA (AP) - A killer - or killers - may be on the loose in Europe after a Hamas operative was slain last month in Dubai. European nations, however, seem to be in no rush to find him, her or them. The spotlight is falling on those countries where police say the alleged assassins' trails begin and end: Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Authorities there have either declined to say whether they are investigating, or told The Associated Press they have no reason to hunt down the 26 suspects implicated in the Jan. 19 killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh....

Da boy in Dubai. Or, more accurately, da dead boy in Dubai. Da boy is Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a leading Hamas operative who habitually boasted of killing two Israeli soldiers and was renowned as an arms supplier for various Palestinian groups in Gaza. He who lives by the Kalashnikov tends to die by the Kalashnikov. It’s a tragedy that violence still occurs in the world, but it would be equally tragic if we singled out one nation for condemnation. There is a very good chance that some branch of Israeli intelligence killed the man. The Mossad is often mentioned, but historically...

The pigheaded refusal to acknowledge that sometimes the ends justify the means reflects Europe's moral impoverishment. Dahu Khalfan Tamim now has a world-class reputation for detective work. The head of the Dubai police swiftly determined that Hamas’s Mahmoud Mabhouh did not die of natural causes at the five-star Bustan Rotana Hotel on Jan. 20. He was assassinated. Let’s for the sake of argument grant that Israel did away with Mabhouh; that he was not killed by Iran or over some intra-Palestinian dispute, and that clues pointing to Israeli culpability are genuine. Mabhouh certainly deserved to be assassinated by Israel. Hamas...

What do you call a story whose plot includes 11 skilled rogues coming together in an exotic locale for the ultimate teamwork takedown, and then disappearing into the mist to celebrate their acts of derring-do? Using their skills to find their target, track it, and then finally acquire it sounds like Oceans 11, right? Yes, except this story features primarily British olim (immigrants to Israel) and instead of knocking over a casino, this story includes knocking out a terrorist. Using the Hollywood props of fake wigs, fake passports, fake tennis outfits, fake room service and a real cattle prod and...

Dear Americans, My name is Tomas David Schuman. I am what you may call a "defector" from the USSR, and I have a message for you: I love you very much. I love all of you -liberals and conservatives, "decadent capitalists" and "oppressed masses", blacks and whites and browns and yellows, rednecks and intellectuals. For me you are the people who created a unique nation, country and society in the history of mankind-by no means a perfect one, but, let's face it- the most free, affluent and just in todays world.... My dear friends, I think you are in big...