Free Republic 1st Qtr 2026 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $14,763
18%  
Woo hoo!! And now only $627 to reach 19%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless.

Foreign Affairs (News/Activism)

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • CENTCOM announces Air Force readiness exercise amid growing Iran tensions

    01/27/2026 1:57:16 PM PST · by BeauBo · 21 replies
    The Jerusalem Post ^ | January 27, 2026 at 1:14 PM EST | YONAH, JEREMY BOB
    Although CENTCOM said that the "exercise is designed to enhance asset and personnel dispersal capability," military parties have used such drills in the past as cover for launching a surprise attack... ...During the (multi-day) training event, CENTCOM said that US forces "will deploy teams to multiple contingency locations and validate rapid set-up, launch and recovery procedures with small, efficient support packages. AFCENT will conduct all activities with host-nation approval and in close coordination with civil and military aviation authorities, emphasizing safety, precision and respect for sovereignty."
  • Carney rolls his eyes at US Treasury secretary, telling Trump he meant what he said at Davos

    01/27/2026 1:07:30 PM PST · by MinorityRepublican · 52 replies
    AP News ^ | January 27, 2026 | ROB GILLIES
    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he told U.S. President Donald Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals. Carney rolled his eyes and rejected U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s contention to Fox News that he aggressively walked back his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday. “To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the president, I meant what I said in Davos,” Carney said to reporters as...
  • Trump's about-face in Minnesota after Pretti's death is latest in pattern of sudden shifts

    01/27/2026 4:31:56 AM PST · by devane617 · 69 replies
    AP via Yahoo ^ | 01/27/2026
    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump shifted toward a more conciliatory approach with Democratic leaders in Minnesota on Monday, a sudden change in tack following an outcry over the second fatal shooting by federal agents in the state this month during the administration's nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The about-face comes after Saturday’s shooting death of Alex Pretti by federal agents raised doubts — including from some Republicans — over how the Trump administration has gone about aggressively deporting migrants and confronting protesters opposed to the policy.
  • Xi offers Europe alternative to Trump’s Board of Peace

    01/27/2026 10:10:25 AM PST · by MinorityRepublican · 25 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | 27 January 2026 | Memphis Barker
    Xi Jinping has offered Europe new trade partnerships and promised to uphold the “values” of the United Nations. The move is an apparent attempt to capitalise on the continent’s growing rift with the United States. On Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer became the latest leader to travel to Beijing after Mark Carney and Petteri Orpo, the prime ministers of Canada and Finland. In a meeting with Mr Orpo on Tuesday, the Chinese president said China and Europe were “partners, not adversaries” and invited Finnish companies to “swim in the vast ocean of the Chinese market”. He also appeared to snub Donald...
  • How Iran Crushed a Citizen Uprising With Lethal Force

    01/27/2026 8:43:02 AM PST · by MinorityRepublican · 30 replies
    The New York Times ^ | Jan. 25, 2026 | Farnaz Fassihi, Sanjana Varghese, Malachy Browne and Parin Behrooz
    In Tehran, the capital of Iran, security forces opened fire at protesters from the roof of a police station. In Karaj, they fired live rounds into a march, shooting one person in the head. In Isfahan, young men barricaded themselves in an alley as gunfire and explosions rang out. Scattered protests had percolated since late December, starting with a strike in Tehran’s bazaar and fueled by a plunging economy. But by early January, Iranians had revolted en masse, and the security forces began to crack down with deadly force. It was not just the protests unnerving the regime. President Trump...
  • Trump signs executive order for feds to take over LA’s ‘nightmare’ wildfire rebuild in huge boost for victims

    01/27/2026 6:29:10 AM PST · by dennisw · 72 replies
    NY Post ^ | Jan. 27, 2026 | Emily Goodin, Steven Nelson, Marisa Schultz
    President Trump is sidestepping thumb-twiddling California Democrats with an executive order aimed at fast-tracking the rebuilding of Los Angeles a year after devastating wildfires torched entire city blocks and left thousands homeless. “I want to see if we can take over the city and state and just give the people their permits they want to build,” Trump told The California Post Friday in an exclusive Oval Office interview where he signed the seven-page order. Trump pointed the finger at California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for the painfully slow rebuilding of homes ravaged by the January...
  • Calls for a Boycott of the World Cup Grow

    01/27/2026 5:07:56 AM PST · by Twotone · 48 replies
    Time.com ^ | January 27, 2026 | Miranda Jeyaretnam
    As the Trump Administration prepares for the U.S. to co-host the World Cup this summer, easing travel rules for sporting events amid otherwise tightening immigration policy, some members of the global soccer community are saying: “Stay away from the U.S.A.!” That particular phrasing came from Mark Pieth, a Swiss attorney who chaired the Independent Governance Committee’s oversight of FIFA reform between 2011 and 2013, in an interview with Swiss newspaper Der Bund last week. But calls for a boycott of the world’s biggest international soccer competition have gained traction among other prominent soccer figures, lawmakers, and fans. The U.S. is...
  • Japan's Beloved Last Pandas Leave for China as Ties Fray

    01/26/2026 10:34:25 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 11 replies
    Channel News Asia ^ | 27 Jan 2026
    The distinctive black-and-white animals, loaned out as part of China's "panda diplomacy", have symbolised friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since they normalised diplomatic ties in 1972.Two popular pandas are set to leave Tokyo for China on Tuesday (Jan 27), leaving Japan without any of the beloved bears for the first time in 50 years as ties between the Asian neighbours fray. Panda twins Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao were transported by truck out of Ueno Zoological Gardens, their birthplace, disappointing many Japanese fans who have grown attached to the furry four-year-olds. "Although I can't see them, I came to share...
  • Mark Rutte defies MEPs and praises Donald Trump as 'very important' to NATO

    01/26/2026 10:30:18 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 1 replies
    Euronews ^ | 26/01/2026 | Vincenzo Genovese
    "Donald Trump is very important to NATO and very committed to NATO", Secretary General Mark Rutte said in remarks at the European Parliament on Monday as many MEPs worry about the president of the United States' aggressive rhetoric against Europe. Whereas Trump's threats to control Greenland have been defined as "the end of NATO" by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Rutte said he believes that US President "deserves to be defended" and "is doing a lot of good stuff" for the NATO alliance. "The 2% [of the GDP spending target on defence] reached by all NATO countries at the end...
  • A Peek in as Canada Ducks: Dropping That China Trade Deal Like a Hot Won Ton

    01/26/2026 7:13:18 PM PST · by SeekAndFind · 12 replies
    Hotair ^ | 01/26/2026 | Beege Welborn
    Oh, Xi Jinping Pooh is not going to be very happy with Mark Carney, the globalist squish Prime Minister of Canada. It wasn't a week ago that the two of them were bestest broskis and the rest of the Western Hemisphere was going, 'You out your mind, dude? Or just having a Newsom moment?'Even the Washington Post took a step back.DUDEWashington Post Editorial Board "But there is a fine line between “pragmatism” and naiveté which Carney has already started to blur. Carney and Xi did not simply agree to new trading parameters. They put on a show.Frustrations with one American...
  • Myanmar Pro-Military Party Declares Victory in Junta-Run Polls

    01/25/2026 11:45:50 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 14 replies
    Channel News Asia ^ | 26 Jan 2026
    "We are in the position to form a new government," said a senior official from the Union Solidarity and Development Party, after the vote's third and final phase took place on Sunday.Myanmar's dominant pro-military party has won junta-run elections, a party source told AFP on Monday (Jan 26), after a month-long vote that democracy watchdogs dismissed as a rebranding of army rule. While the military has said the election will return power to the people, popular democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi remains detained since the coup and her party has been dissolved, while critics say the ballot was stacked...
  • China Accuses Fired General of One-Upping General Mark Milley: He Gave Nuclear Secrets to the CIA

    01/25/2026 8:15:09 PM PST · by SeekAndFind · 27 replies
    Red State ^ | 01/25/2026 | streiff
    Yesterday, we were all sort of stunned to find that Chinese dictator Xi Jinping had summarily dismissed and had placed under investigation General Zhang Youxia, the now-former vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission; see New Round of Purges Wrack the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Defense Establishment – RedState. The removal of Zhang meant 37 of the 81 generals appointed since October 2022 were either under arrest or had simply disappeared. The initial reports said Zhang was removed because he “undermined Xi’s authority, abetted political and corruption problems that impaired the party’s leadership over the armed forces, and damaged...
  • US security agreement for Ukraine is '100% ready' to be signed, Zelenskyy says

    01/25/2026 6:16:45 PM PST · by Mariner · 24 replies
    AP via Yahoo ^ | January 25th, 2026 | Unattributed
    President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that a U.S. security guarantees document for Ukraine is “100% ready” after two days of talks involving representatives from Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia.Speaking to journalists in Vilnius during a visit to Lithuania, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is waiting for its partners to set a signing date, after which the document would go to the U.S. Congress and Ukrainian parliament for ratification.Zelenskyy also emphasized Ukraine’s push for European Union membership by 2027, calling it an “economic security guarantee.”The Ukrainian leader described the talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as likely the...
  • A drying climate is making East Africa pull apart faster

    01/25/2026 2:13:35 PM PST · by ProgressingAmerica · 30 replies
    Live Science ^ | 1/25/26 | Stephanie Pappas
    Over the past 5,000 years, East Africa has dried out. Now, new research finds that this change may be making the continent pull apart faster. Faults in the East African Rift Zone have sped up since the levels of large lakes have dropped, according to research published in November in the journal Scientific Reports. The findings highlight the two-way relationship between the climate and plate tectonics, said study senior author Christopher Scholz, a geologist, physicist and professor emeritus at Columbia University.
  • Pentagon no longer views China threat as top priority

    01/25/2026 2:01:32 PM PST · by McGruff · 37 replies
    Politico ^ | Jan 23, 2026 | Jack Detsch
    The Pentagon on Friday night released a long-awaited strategy that prioritizes the U.S. homeland and Western Hemisphere — a stunning reversal from previous administrations that aligns with President Donald Trump’s military strikes in Venezuela and efforts to acquire Greenland. The National Defense Strategy — a dramatic shift from even the first Trump administration — no longer focuses primarily on countering China. Instead, it blames past administrations for ignoring American interests and jeopardizing the U.S. military’s access to the Panama Canal and Greenland. The strategy calls for attention to the “practical interests” of the U.S. public and an abandonment of “grandiose...
  • Second fatal Minneapolis shooting puts Congress on verge of shutdown

    01/25/2026 1:05:25 PM PST · by E. Pluribus Unum · 33 replies
    The Hill ^ | 01/25/26 1:34 PM ET | Al Weaver
    A second high-profile killing by a federal agent in Minneapolis has jeopardized the chances of Congress averting a partial government shutdown as Democrats come out en masse against the funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Lawmakers had been on the verge of completing their funding work for fiscal 2026 this week after the House last week passed its final four appropriations bills. However, the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, a nurse at the city’s Veterans Affairs hospital, by a Border Patrol agent has seemingly torpedoed the chances of those bills passing the Senate, with one key...
  • US judge blocks Trump administration's push to end legal status of 8,400 migrants

    01/25/2026 12:32:22 PM PST · by E. Pluribus Unum · 31 replies
    Reuters ^ | January 25, 20267:59 AM CST | Nate Raymond
    BOSTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's push to terminate the legal status of more than 8,400 family members of U.S. citizens and green card holders who moved to the United States from seven Latin American countries. Boston-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction late on Saturday that prevents the Department of Homeland Security from ending the humanitarian parole granted to thousands of people from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. They had been allowed to move to the United States under family reunification parole programs that were...
  • Democrat Senator Chris Coons dodges questions after trashing trump in Davos

    01/25/2026 12:23:36 PM PST · by E. Pluribus Unum · 9 replies
    Rebel News ^ | January 25, 2026 | Avi Yemini
    After speaking to friendly media at the World Economic Forum, the Democrat senator refuses to answer Rebel News' questions and walks away. The World Economic Forum in Davos attracts global elites eager to shape policy far from their voters — and U.S. politicians are no exception. While outside the conference in Davos, Rebel News journalist Avi Yemini saw Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware holding a media scrum where he was criticizing President Donald Trump and his foreign policy. When the interview ended, Avi approached the senator with a direct question. "Is it appropriate for a sitting U.S. senator to...
  • Trump Says Canada Will Face 100% Tariffs if It "Makes A Deal With China"

    01/24/2026 6:23:13 PM PST · by SeekAndFind · 10 replies
    Epoch Times ^ | 01/24/2026 | Omid Goreishi
    U.S. President Donald Trump says Canadian goods exported to the United States would be hit with 100 percent tariffs if Canada makes a deal with China.“If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken. China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on the morning of Jan. 24.“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit...
  • California becomes first state to join WHO disease network after US exit

    01/24/2026 6:20:51 PM PST · by SeekAndFind · 30 replies
    The Hill ^ | 01/24/2026 | Joseph Choi
    California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced just one day after the U.S. officially withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO) that his state would become the first to join the organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, in a seeming rebuke of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from international collaborations. Newsom traveled this week to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he was scheduled to speak at an event but was canceled at the last moment. During his trip, he met with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “As President Trump withdraws the United States from the World Health Organization,...