Free Republic

JD Vance’s staff were at the airbase ready to fly to summit in Bürgenstock for Iran talks before trip was suddenly cancelled Talks set to take place on Friday between the US ⁠ ⁠and ​Iran in Switzerland to implement a peace deal were cancelled as Hezbollah targeted Israeli forces and Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes in south Lebanon which killed at least 16 people. The talks were set to begin in the Swiss village of Obbürgen two days after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that opened a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent understanding over...

Andy Burnham has won the crucial Makerfield byelection by a huge majority, paving the way for a challenge to Keir Starmer’s premiership. The Greater Manchester mayor beat the Reform UK candidate, Robert Kenyon, by 9,231 votes, and the new hardline Restore Britain party came a distant third. Labour won 54% of the vote to Reform UK’s 35%, while Restore Britain secured 7%. Turnout was 58.75%, six percentage points up on the general election, with 45,510 votes cast.

Tales of Deceptive PR, Chapter 26: About fifteen years ago, I worked in-house for a billionaire who had just bought his own private club in Tampa Bay. The bayside property had been in and out of bankruptcy, and the billionaire hoped to rebrand it as exclusive, ultra-elite, and high-end.The trouble was that the club had embarrassingly low, dirt-cheap membership rates because it was so desperate for members. It directly undercut our desired branding.So I had the club create a brand-spanking-new “international corporate” membership category that cost foreign businesses $1 million a year. Nobody ever paid for an “international corporate” membership,...

Had someone the ability and the intestinal fortitude to be a fly equipped with a teeny, tiny camera on Angela Merkel's wall yesterday morning, there is no doubt in my mind they would have caught a time-lapse sequence of Merkel's bucket gourd doing a 360° rotation akin to Linda Blair's little head in The Exorcist. Only, instead of the movie's excruciatingly slow rotation, Merkel's head would have been spinning at warp speed and threatening to fly off into the room. I am sure the ex-German chancellor and architect of the current German immigration crisis never expected to hear the chamber...

Despite the suggestions that I am irrationally hard on Trump's "deal" with Iran, I really am trying to keep an open mind. My assessment of the situation is based on watching and interpreting Trump's moves during the so-called "ceasefire" with Iran that began on April 7th of this year. I thought the ceasefire was likely a mistake, based on Trump's assurances that Iran was on the ropes and ready to make a deal. I know that sounds odd. If I thought Trump was right about the conditions, why oppose the ceasefire? Simple: if true, we had them on the ropes....

A United States-based human rights organization has expressed alarm over the demolition of three mosques in India within a matter of days, arguing that the incidents reflect a broader pattern of discrimination against the country’s Muslim minority. Justice For All, a U.S.-based advocacy group that campaigns for human rights and religious freedom, said authorities demolished the three mosques over a five-day period, including two in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and one in the western state of Rajasthan. The organization’s statement comes after the demolition of Masjid Mustafa Qadri in Sambhal, the Shaheed Azgaib Mosque in Varanasi and Jaipur’s...

Authorities in India’s western state of Rajasthan have issued eviction notices to several mosques and Islamic schools, ordering them to vacate land or explain why they should not be removed, a move that has sparked criticism from a civil rights organization over alleged violations of due process. The notices were issued in the Gadra Road area of Barmer district, near India’s border with Pakistan. Mosque management committees were instructed to either vacate the land or appear before local revenue officials to justify their continued presence on the sites. The Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), a legal advocacy and...

New secret Hamas internal documents have been provided by IDF intelligence to the Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Research Institute, which provided them exclusively to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. An analysis by the Amit Center includes six documents viewed by the Post, of which three are covered in this article, showing the progression of Hamas’s secret plans from 2022 to 2023 to systematically deceive Israel into complacency so as to surprise the IDF during the October 7 massacre. Although much is already known by now about Hamas’s deception, these original documents have not previously been made public and reveal a...

When Javier Milei entered the race to be Argentina’s president, 108 notable economists said his policies could be a disaster. Three years later, the maverick president continues to prove them wrong.***A letter signed by 108 economists from around the world, that included Thomas Piketty and former Colombian Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo, released before the 2023 election, warned that Milei’s economic platform was "fraught with risks that make them potentially very harmful for the Argentine economy and the Argentine people." They also added in their letter that, "However, while apparently simple solutions may be appealing, they are likely to cause...

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman warned Thursday that a continued IDF presence in southern Lebanon would mean the “annulment” of the memorandum of understanding it signed with the United States, as Israel doubled down on its plans to keep troops in the area amid its ongoing conflict with the Hezbollah terror group. Speaking to the Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese news outlet Al Akhbar, Esmaeil Baghaei said the continuation of Israel’s offensive would be a violation of the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran that was signed this week. The signed memorandum affirms a commitment to Lebanon’s territorial integrity in the face of...

In the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted primarily in the United States along with Mexico and Canada, there was widespread criticism from many European fans. Concern that the Trump administration's immigration policies would somehow impact fans' ability to enter the country. Complaints that the host stadiums, places like Los Angeles Stadium, Boston Stadium or Seattle Stadium would somehow prove unworthy of hosting World Cup matches. Those concerns and complaints have proven to be wildly unfounded. The atmosphere in Los Angeles for the U.S. Men's National Team opening match win over Paraguay was widely praised. To the point...

South Africa’s president promised Sunday to act on what he called concerns over illegal migration following a rise in anti-immigrant protests and sentiment in Africa’s most advanced economy, with other nations claiming their citizens have been targeted in xenophobic attacks. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s comments in a speech on national television dedicated to the issue were an acknowledgment of the tensions. Anti-migrant protest groups have said they’ve set a June 30 deadline for foreign nationals who are in South Africa illegally to leave and have requested talks with the government. South Africa has a history of violence sparked by anger over...

Democrats, among them some of the most recognizable names in politics, have accepted millions of dollars in campaign contributions from top employees at firms the Pentagon recently designated as "Chinese military companies" operating in the U.S. The Department of War on June 8 designated Alibaba, Baidu and BYD as "Chinese military companies," meaning that the three firms, in the eyes of the U.S. government, are providing assistance to the People’s Liberation Army through its military-civil fusion strategy or other means. Senior employees at these companies, including executives, have donated roughly $2.6 million to Democratic political committees since 2020, a Fox...

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday issued a stark warning for the Israeli government to get on board with President Donald Trump's controversial agreement with Iran, suggesting Israel had alienated much of the globe in recent years and that the U.S. was its last remaining major ally. "If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world," Vance said near the end of an hourlong White House briefing with reporters.The remarks were the most public display of how much the Trump Administration's...

Iran has announced plans to introduce a system of maritime fees in the strait of Hormuz in two months, after the 60-day period of negotiation that has been triggered by the signing of the memorandum of understanding. Tehran, claiming a historic victory over the US, said the strait was under its control and a European plan for a naval mission to escort ships though the strait would not be welcome.

There's so much to pick apart here, but there are really only three things that matter: "Status quo," "End all sanctions," and "$300 billion." As for the efficacy of a denuclearization plan involving the UN... I just throw my hands up in the air. I spent weeks coming up with or sharing other people's attempts to explain what Trump was thinking, from the "rug-merchant" delay strategy to the "there's no one left there with the authority to negotiate" conundrum. But reading these bullet points, you have to wonder if they weren't having the exact same discussion inside the White House,...

A string of west African countries have outlawed same-sex relations in recent months, further eroding LGBTQ rights on a continent where they were already under attack. Of Africa's 54 countries, only about 20 do not currently criminalise same-sex relations. Here is a look at the wave of anti-LGBTQ sentiment sweeping the continent and some of the forces driving it, from politicians playing to their homophobic base to the geopolitics of rejecting supposedly "Western values". - What are the laws? - Uganda set the tone in 2023, adopting one of the world's harshest anti-LGBTQ laws, including the death penalty for "aggravated...

This week the national average dipped below $4/gallon for the first time since March. This is an auspicious sign for Trump and his political fortunes, but to Iran hawks on the right, it comes at an unacceptable price. Fox News host Mark Levin, a usual Trump booster, is gravely disappointed that Trump seems to be abandoning his hopes for a regime change in Iran in order to salvage the midterm elections, and his own presidency. Neoconservative columnist David Harsanyi has turned against both Trump and Vice President J D Vance with blind fury for not pursuing the war further and...

@WhiteHouse "The United States is committed to PEACE... We expect a complete Ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel." - President Donald J. Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the U.S. Navy has allowed more than a dozen ships through to Iranian ports, lifting a blockade as part of an agreement to end the war.Vance made the announcement at a White House press briefing, where he said more oil is now flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Republican vice president said more than 12.5 million barrels went through the shipping channel Wednesday night."So we're also honoring our end of the early part of the agreement on the military side," Vance said, citing it as an immediate benefit of...