Free Republic

The Ukraine war’s mounting casualties, Western divisions, and dwindling prospects for victory make a negotiated peace increasingly urgent before the conflict spirals into an even greater catastrophe. The Ukrainian Gordian KnotAfter crossing with his army into Asia, Alexander the Great stopped at Gordium (in modern-day Turkey). He approached the famous Gordian knot—a tangled mass of bark tying an ox cart to a pole, so intricate and tight that no one could unravel it. When told that anyone who could untie the mess would rule all of Asia, Alexander simply pulled out his sword and cut through it—solving the problem and...

Europe resents its dependence on American military power while criticizing Washington’s foreign policy, exposing the hypocrisy, insecurity, and economic decline undermining its global influence. Nearly every week, another psychodrama arises between the United States and its NATO partners. Europeans blame the Trump administration for the usual things—a lack of cordiality and bombastic threats. But two truths, rarely spoken, characterize all these spats. One is hypocrisy; the other is insecurity. Take Trump’s recent demand that Ukraine cease attacks on Russian diesel refineries. Given the midterms and the critical issue of fuel prices, it was understandable that Trump might request an energy...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis will vote in a pivotal election Tuesday as their country is embroiled in unresolved wars, still reeling from Hamas’ 2023 attack and deeply divided over the character of the state and the right person to lead it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces off against a coalition of parties seeking to oust the longtime leader from power. Opinion polls have suggested a tight race with his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.In Israel’s fragmented parliamentary politics, no single party has ever won an outright parliamentary majority, so political leaders must forge coalitions. But in a tight...

The allegations come after several countries in the region elected conservative leaders following the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle USAID and shift remaining foreign assistance functions to the State Department. "You have plenty of examples out there of how USAID was attempting to run its own foreign policy," U.S. Ambassador to Panama Kevin Marino Cabrera told Fox News Digital. Cabrera said USAID’s dismantling has allowed the State Department and U.S. Southern Command to work more closely with partner countries on disaster relief and recovery efforts. "We’re focused on actual disaster relief and recovery. We’re not focused on these crazy agendas,...

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro said on Monday that ​the country's federal police had requested that he ‌turn in his passports following a visit to his imprisoned father, former President Jair Bolsonaro. The senator, who was defeated on ​Sunday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da ​Silva in a runoff vote, said he intended ⁠to comply with the request, denying he planned to ​flee the country after the election. The younger Bolsonaro claimed, ​without providing evidence, that the police request was based on a ruling from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Brazil's ​top court and federal police did not immediately reply...

SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. military, citing unspecified “risks to our personnel,” on Monday banned electric vehicles manufactured by Chinese automaker BYD from Kadena, a key U.S. air base on Okinawa. “These vehicles present an unacceptable and unmitigable risk to our personnel and our mission,” spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Alli Stormer said, per Reuters. She did not say what specific concern had prompted the move against vehicles produced by BYD, the largest global supplier of EVs, but the firm had, in June, been put on a Pentagon black list of 188 Chinese companies. Japanese media speculated that the presence of...

Investors had hoped for friendly overhauls such as spending cuts and deregulation Brazilian financial assets were swept by a historic rout Monday after the surprise election victory of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wrong-footed investors who had bet on his defeat.The Brazilian real slid more than 10% against the U.S. dollar while the country’s benchmark stock index fell nearly 17%, which would mark a record daily loss. The index’s plunge triggered a circuit breaker, leading Brazil’s stock-exchange operator to temporarily halt trading.Global investors had piled into Brazilian markets in recent weeks after Flávio Bolsonaro—the eldest son of former President...

PORT HURON, Michigan, Oct 25 (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump on Sunday escalated ​his invective against Norway, calling it a "shit house country" and ‌saying Norwegian immigrants were not welcome in the United States because the Nobel committee, based in the capital Oslo, had not awarded him a Peace ​Prize. Trump made the comments at a political rally in Port ​Huron, Michigan, ahead of next week's midterm elections Attributing recent unrest in ⁠France to immigration, Trump said he would welcome immigrants from some ​countries but not from Norway "because I didn't get the Nobel Prize ... ​So I don't...

If if can happen there, is can happen anywhere. The Pacific coast province of British Columbia elected a majority Conservative government to the provincial legislature, for the first time since 1928. This is as if California suddenly went Republican. The CBC reports, 5 reasons why Lorne Doerkson is the next premier of British Columbia: Eby’s snap election gamble backfired, while the B.C. Conservative leader projected normalcy. “Normalcy.” David Eby, the head of the governing New Democratic Party (NDP), held only a 47-44 majority in the legislature, with two vacancies. He was having trouble getting his program approved, so he called...

Story highlights Elon Musk said SpaceX restricted Starlink in Ukraine over its alleged use for offensive drone strikes, claiming the loophole had been closed and access restored. He warned that Ukraine’s frontline would “collapse immediately” if Starlink were switched off.

A 12-year legal campaign resulted in Norway’s seizing a Russian research vessel in Svalbard, deep into the Arctic Circle SVALBARD, Norway—This summer, Russia’s Geographical Society leased an ice-strengthened vessel for an expedition to map Russia’s historic presence on Norway’s Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.The sun shone and the waters were calm, the passengers on the Professor Molchanov recalled. What they didn’t know was that Norwegian police would board it at its first stop, the Russian-run mining town of Barentsburg, with a court order to seize the ship and its paperwork.The Russians were in no mood to cooperate.The episode last month in...

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, has threatened flight bans, visa bans and the freezing of Pakistani nationals’ assets if Pakistan continues to refuse to take back Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of the Rochdale child grooming gang, who is now free in England. “If Pakistan still refuses to take back Shabir Ahmed, I will not hesitate to impose flight bans, visa bans and even freeze their nationals’ assets,” Farage wrote on X, posting a video with the message. “If they want a fight, I’ll give them one.” In the video, he went further. “I’m sorry, Pakistan, but you need...

British Columbia has elected a Conservative government for the first time in 98 years in a landslide victory that could be a warning for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) was ousted in the key federal battleground on Saturday, after nine years in power, following the snap election called two years early by Premier David Eby.

Brazilians are going to the polls on Sunday in a highly unpredictable runoff in which the leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is attempting an unprecedented comeback against the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who won the first-round vote. Bolsonaro’s surprise victory despite not leading most polls made him the favourite three weeks ago, but since then Lula’s campaign has gained ground, and the two go into the contest virtually tied. The gap between them was the narrowest ever recorded in a first round, at less than 2% of the vote, and the 80-year-old president has spent much of the...

Russian drone and missile attacks on multiple Ukrainian regions killed at least four people on Saturday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to social media on Sunday.Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 153 drones along with an unspecified number of cruise missiles into the country in its latest round of attacks. The air force said that 119 drones were shot down or otherwise suppressed, with impacts reported in 15 locations....snip...Zelenskyy has repeatedly criticized the U.S. for failing to ensure an adequate supply of missiles. The Ukrainian leader told ABC News during an interview in Kyiv last week...

Hundreds of protesters stormed the Roman Colosseum and clashed with police at the historic gates as the demonstrations in France spread to Italy over the weekend. The protesters, many of them young and waving Palestinian flags, were seen cheering and yelling inside the 2,000-year-old arena during the demonstrations in Rome as security forces pushed them out. The tense scene was one of many across the country on Saturday as thousands marched in the streets of Rome, Milan, Turin and other cities to protest the current cost-of-living crisis and the ongoing war in Gaza. The Colosseum had notably upped its security...

China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, known collectively as CRINK, are seeking to undermine U.S. leadership by weakening the rules-based international order. Human rights violations and trafficking at the Alabuga complex in the Russian town of Yelabuga illustrate the increasingly complex ties among the CRINK regimes. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created a demand for drones that Moscow could not initially meet. Its answer was an arrangement to manufacture the Iranian-designed Shahed on Russian soil. This report contends that the burgeoning labor force that powers the Alabuga drone factory has become a site of gross human rights...

“ Palestinian Scholar Nidhal Siam At Al-Aqsa Rally: Macron, You Lowlife, Soon We Will Conquer Paris And Rome, Rule Europe With Islam Palestinian scholar Nidhal "Abu Ibrahim" Siam spoke at a rally at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, organized by Hizbu ut-Tahrir, and which was aired on Al-Waqiyah TV (Lebanon) on October 30, 2020. He said that the only response to France and President Macron is to declare Jihad and that the armies of the Caliphate will conquer Rome and France and remove Macron and his "corrupt" civilization. He added that the civilization of France and the West, which he said...

Wes Streeting has said Britain must be ready for war in 1,000 days as Russia intensifies its hybrid warfare against Nato. The Defence Secretary warned that Britain’s enemies could be in a position to attack the country by 2030 and it must “be ready with our allies to fight and win”. Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Streeting said: “My defining priority... is to make sure that this country is ready to fight and win a war. “To prevent the worst, we have to prepare for it. In the first instance, that means expanding our capabilities so our adversaries think twice...

Bolsonaro, the son of jailed ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro, is the narrow favorite to win Sunday's runoff after nabbing 47 percent of the vote over Lula's 45 percent in the first round. Saturday's polls published by the Datafolha institute and Quaest give Bolsonaro 51 percent of voting intentions, while Lula has 49 percent. Both polls show a difference between the candidates that falls within the margin of error, locking them in a statistical tie. No first-round loser in the history of Brazilian democracy has bounced back to win the runoff, but Lula's campaign has regained momentum with massive protests and an...