Free Republic

A Polish soldier who accidentally shot a Syrian refugee who had entered Poland over the border from Belarus has been acquitted of negligent use of a weapon. The Syrian man had been seeking 50,000 zloty (€11,500) in compensation from the soldier. The verdict was welcomed by defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, whose ministry had supported the soldier’s legal defence. The incident in question took place in November 2023 in Poland’s northeastern Podlasie province. The soldier, named only as Adam Ł. under Polish privacy law and who holds the rank of second lieutenant, had only recently received his first posting to the...

Ben Roberts-Smith has revealed he contemplated suicide for months amid war crimes allegations, saying thoughts of his children helped him through his lowest point. The nation's most decorated living soldier said the relentless coverage took a psychological toll and left him believing his family might be better off without him. 'When that flood of media and allegations came, it was relentless,' Roberts-Smith told NewsCorp. 'From the perspective of someone sitting there going, 'What is going on? I don't understand where it's coming from. I don't know why that's being said.' 'Psychologically, that takes a toll. 'And there were many times...

Somaliland’s president has offered to put Donald Trump’s name on an airport.Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, commonly known by his nickname Irro, has floated renaming Berbera International Airport. The idea came after weeks of lobbying at Washington and New York to win what his government has sought for decades: formal recognition from the United States. Berbera, a port city on the Gulf of Aden, has a runway built by the Soviet Union in the 1970s that stretches more than 4,000 meters, among the longest in Africa. So far, no agreement has been reached on the airport, on military access, or on recognition...

Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has questioned whether he can receive a fair trial, giving two major interviews on his dramatic arrest at Sydney Airport, the prospect of life behind bars if convicted on five counts of war crime murder and his defamation loss against the Nine newspapers. Breaking a years-long silence amid serious allegations he murdered unarmed Afghan civilians and prisoners between 2009 and 2012, the Victoria Cross Recipient said he was unsure a jury could be found that were impartial towards him — but he was “trusting again in the system”. It comes after his legal team pondered...

Marine Le Pen is set to officially launch her presidential campaign this weekend at the National Rally two-day party congress in Orléans. The latest Ifop poll, carried out in the wake of the mass protests and riots in France, suggests the far right leader would win the first round of the presidential election by a wide margin, and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon emerged as her most likely opponent in the runoff. ...

When an Iranian dissident proclaims that “the greatest killer of Iranians has been Islam,” the statement is less an exercise in academic historiography than a cry of immediate political exhaustion. Across the diaspora and within the quiet corners of Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz, a powerful counternarrative has taken hold. Confronted with the gallows, morality police, and institutional dogmatism of the Islamic Republic, many Iranians have turned history into a weapon of resistance. In this narrative, the seventh-century Arab conquest is not a distant chapter in antiquity, but the original sin of Persian history – an ongoing catastrophe linking the fall...

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s policy of leniency toward immigrants has caused his prosecutors to regularly decline to pursue cases involving drunken driving, felony drug possession, shoplifting and grand larceny against migrants, according to a new congressional audit. Investigators for the House Judiciary Committee said they found more than 100 previously unreported cases in which Mr. Descano’s office failed to prosecute or under-prosecuted cases against migrants. That included a Chinese migrant “serial fraudster” who had more than 50 charges dropped. The audit, released Tuesday, tied those cases to Mr. Descano’s stated desire to protect immigrants from having to face...

COMMENTARY ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY WSJ "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has labeled his military's strikes on Russia's oil infrastructure “the most effective sanctions.” Meanwhile, reports indicate that alongside urging Europe and India to halt purchases of Russian oil, Washington plans to share additional intelligence with Ukraine on Russian refineries, pipelines, and other energy infrastructure. Most discussions about these “sanctions” have focused on their financial implications for Russia. Vladimir Putin relies heavily on corruption and patronage, with oil and gas serving as key revenue streams. Disrupting the flow could force Putin to choose between sustaining the war and maintaining the payouts to...

Big news on the El-Sayed front. James O’Keefe, the spymaster of conservatism, has revealed that Abdul Muhammed is actually – and illegally – being financed from overseas. One of O’Keefe’s Project Veritas operatives penetrated El-Sayed’s campaign, hitting it off with Abdoul Beckwith, the campaign’s “regional field organizer.” Beckwith proceeded to give O’Keefe’s guy a complete rundown on the internals of the sheik’s campaign, including the illegal contributions coming in from foreign sources. “You know, he has people from overseas that donate to him… no, it is not allowed.” Quite so. Federal election law is very clear on this. Statute 52...

"Russian president says [this] area will not be part of any potential peace talks while Kremlin says the zone spans 660km. What we know on day 1,697" • Russia is establishing a “security zone” inside Ukraine along the border and it will be non-negotiable in any ⁠future talks with Kyiv, Vladimir Putin • The planned security zone spanned 660km (410 miles), of which 70% was currently under Russia’s control, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov did not say how deep it would reach inside Ukraine. • As Russian missiles and drones have systematically slammed into power plants in Kyiv and...

The second-hand online marketplace Vinted has removed listings of looted French goods and stepped up checks on "suspicious" adverts, as the country's authorities seek to prevent goods stolen during riots from being sold online.

American Stephen Hubbard was released by Russia on Wednesday, state news agencies reported, the latest sign of warmer ties with the Kremlin as Washington pressures Kyiv to agree to a deal that ends Moscow’s war. The news of Hubbard’s release followed talks between U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and President Vladimir Putin early Wednesday. Putin said that Hubbard, 74, was at the Pulkovo Airport near St. Petersburg, the TASS state news agency reported. There was no immediate confirmation from the United States. Trump said Tuesday that he had raised with Putin the idea of releasing Hubbard, who was being held in...

As the French right-wing National Rally is seizing on fiery protests in the country for its pre-election pitch, so are President Trump and his Republican allies in the U.S. The big picture: The Trump administration has used the unrest, which began over education grievances, to bolster its messaging on immigration and the threat of "communists," a group Trump has repeatedly claimed is threatening American civilization. Driving the news: "When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France, just remember that is what the radical 'Dumocrats' want to do to America," Trump said before a Kansas rally crowd Monday.

Three prominent Latin American political leaders have endorsed Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) in recent weeks, prompting criticism from some Democrats who describe the international support as foreign interference in a U.S. election. Salazar, who is running for reelection in a district President Donald Trump won by nearly 15 points in 2024, has faced backlash for saying that the administration’s signature immigration enforcement polices have gone too far. Now, as she courts Latino voters in South Florida, she has shared public messages of support from friendly right-wing leaders in Latin America, including Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate...

As hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across France this past weekend in support of student protesters, many displayed a somewhat mystifying rallying cry on their cardboard signs: “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres.” The phrase, a mash-up of the Islamic blessing “In the name of God” and the French phrase “It’s the darkness,” may make little sense on the surface. The poster addressed Snapchat users with the greeting “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres,” a seemingly nonsensical phrase that appeared to mimic the colloquial blend of Arabic and French that young people in France sometimes use. The writer then added,...

Message at a Doha security conference comes as allies worry the U.S. will leave them to clean up after the Iran war DOHA—Regional security officials received a sobering American message as they gathered in the Qatari capital and braced for a potential new round of escalation between the U.S. and Iran: They need to look out for themselves. Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and President Trump’s special envoy for Syria and Iraq, said the grand bargains that have underpinned global security for decades are undergoing major transformation, and countries in the Middle East and elsewhere should focus on...

The mayor of the previously sleepy French city of Limoges has accused Emmanuel Macron’s government of having failed to properly equip police, claiming that officers ran out of ammunition as rioters stormed City Hall and set the historic building ablaze. Limoges Mayor Guillaume Guérin of the centre-right Républicains party told broadcaster BFMTV that around 700 “ultra-left” Black Bloc rioters joined the protest on Saturday of around 5,000 intent to “destroy, smash, and kill people.” The LR mayor detailed a level of premeditation and planning among the alleged leftist arsonists, saying that they came equipped with a battering ram weighing over...

With civil unrest, rioting and violence increasing across France in recent days, including countless migrants protesting conditions there, another European nation is touting its simple and effective means to enforce the border: Shoot unlawful migrants dead. "Do not come to the Polish border, or you will be dead, shot dead," said Polish Member of European Parliament Dominik Tarczyński in a recent interview. "Do not come to the Polish border. I'm very clear for years." Continued the official: "If you are coming, it's your own risk. Do not cry over that. Do not tell me that you were shot, you were...

As the footage of violent French riots circled the globe this weekend, American conservatives are warning that the same destruction could come to American shores. The threat, as they see it, comes from the burgeoning Red-Green Alliance, a partnership between the far-left and Islamists. A powerful visual of the purported alliance was on display in France this past weekend as crowds waving Palestinian flags protested and rioted alongside French communists and other far-left groups. At the center of the international promotion of France's unrest sits the network funded by left-wing donor Neville Roy Singham, whose groups were central boosters of...

Russia is a pillar of an anti-American axis led by China and joined by Iran and North Korea — the trio providing Putin with the economic backstop, materiel, and manpower he desperately needs. In 2022, Putin and China’s Xi Jinping issued a joint statement of cooperation that bluntly challenged the United States and NATO. The Russian regime is actively abetting Iran’s military operations against the United States, providing intelligence for targeted attacks on U.S. personnel, as well as drone weaponry (which Iran initially designed but Russia can produce at scale). That is to say: While Trump embraces Putin, Putin aids...