Free Republic

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke on Tuesday of a “deep rift” with traditional ally the United States and said the US-Israeli war on Iran was a “breach of international law”. In unusually strong comments, the German head of state said that just as there was no going back from Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, “there will be no going back to before January 20, 2025”, when US President Donald Trump entered the White House for a second time. “The rift is too deep and the trust in American power politics has been lost, not only among our allies but…...

Volkswagen is in discussions with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems regarding a deal that would convert one of the German automaker’s factories from car manufacturing to missile defence production, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The plan involves transforming Volkswagen’s Osnabrück plant to produce components for Rafael’s Iron Dome air defence system, according to the report. The Israeli state-owned company’s system would be manufactured at the German facility under the proposed arrangement. The deal aims to preserve all 2,300 jobs at the Osnabrück site in western Germany, which has faced potential closure. The two companies plan to market the defence...

It was a regional election palooza in France and Germany this weekend. In France, it was Round Two of the march toward the national presidential elections, with a lame-duck Emmanuel Macron's presidency up for grabs. In Germany, it's waffling and wounded German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's desperate bid to avoid losing more Christian Democrat (CDU) seats in regional parliaments to either Alice Weidel's populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party or, even more inexplicably, a resurgent Green party.In France, Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) went into the second round of elections hoping to win major cities' mayoral races, but, much as...

DEI policies now require that four in ten interview candidates for judgeships or prosecutor positions in Berlin have a migrant background. The justice system in the German capital has been radically transformed by the far-left policies pushed by the Green Party, which imposed a rule mandating that prospective judges and prosecutors in the city reflect the exact ethnic makeup of the city, rather than being determined by merit, Bild reported. The “Law to Promote Participation in a Migration Society” was passed by the Berlin city parliament in July of 2021, when it was under the control of a “red-green-red” majority...

Trump’s former national security advisor has slammed European leaders’ inaction on the war in Iran as a “mistake” that invites the US president to halt support for Ukraine against Russia’s full-scale invasion. Europe’s stance on the Iran war risks US President Donald Trump walking away from the conflict in Ukraine, his former national security advisor, John Bolton, has said, criticising the EU’s reaction to the situation in the Middle East. In an interview with Euronews, Bolton, who also previously served as the US’s ambassador to the UN, branded the Iran conflict as “Europe’s war.” “Europe is just as much, if...

The central principle of democracy is that power is vested in the people and expressed by their elected representatives. We expect that governments will seek to align themselves with the views and opinions of the people, while protecting the views and opinions of minorities. Yet Britain is currently demonstrating a different phenomenon: at times, and under the right circumstances, governments are seeking to align themselves with the views and opinions of minorities while failing to protect the views and opinions of the people. Take this Labour Government, which at present appears to be in a blind panic. With local elections...

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - Leading ⁠nations ⁠in Europe ⁠said in a joint statement ​with Japan on Thursday they would ‌take steps to stabilise ‌energy markets and were ⁠ready ⁠to join "appropriate efforts" to ensure safe passage ​through the Strait of Hormuz. The statement from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the ​Netherlands and Japan, condemned attacks by ⁠Iran and ⁠called on it ⁠to ​halt its actions immediately. It also said ​they would ⁠work with certain energy producing nations to increase output and stabilise markets. "We express our readiness ⁠to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe ⁠passage through the Strait," the...

Unlike the Kurds in 1991, the Iranians of 2026 will have a genuine chance to wrest their freedom because of five key reasons: 1. Iran’s army, navy, and — most importantly — air force have mostly been destroyed. (And whatever’s left will be blown to bits over the next few days.) 2. We have complete air supremacy over Iran and aren’t impeded by UN regulations that would prevent us from using it to blow Iranian planes, helicopters, and drones out of the sky, should they target protesters. 3. Instead of pushing Saddam’s army out of Kuwait, President Trump focused on...

European countries have pushed back against Donald Trump’s decision to ease some US sanctions on Russian oil amid Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz, insisting the international community should maintain pressure on Moscow over its war against Ukraine. The UK has joined Germany, France and Norway in rejecting the move, with the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, decrying what she said was Russia and Iran’s attempt to “hijack the global economy”. Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, described Washington’s move to temporarily waive sanctions on Russian oil stranded at sea as “wrong”, as the Trump administration attempted to counter a surge...

Donald Trump criticises Nato and other US allies, saying he has been told they "don't want to get involved" in the Iran war In a post on Truth Social, he says: "We no longer 'need,' or desire, the Nato countries' assistance — WE NEVER DID!" The US president's comments come after a growing list of nations, including many European powers, turned down his request to help protect the Strait of Hormuz - our diplomatic correspondent analyses the situation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing his concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran and saying he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent said in a statement posted on social media, making claims President Donald Trump has denied. Kent, a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists, was confirmed to his post last July...

“What does Trump expect a handful of European frigates to do that the powerful U.S. Navy cannot?” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday. “This is not our war, and we didn’t start it.” “Neither the United States nor Israel consulted us before the war, and ... Washington explicitly stated at the outset ​of the war that European assistance was neither necessary nor desired,” German spokesperson Stefan Kornelius added.

An article at the European Institute for Climate & Energy (EIKE) website here takes a critical look at whether battery parks would be feasible to fully secure Germany’s weather-dependent power generation from wind and solar. . . . 10 days of buffer To bridge a ten-day “Dunkelflaute” (dark doldrums) in winter with a 50 GW load, 12,000 GWh would be needed. This is 470 times the current total capacity and 2,800 times the current large-scale storage. Such a battery would weigh 60 million tons. A modern factory (like CATL in Thuringia) would theoretically need 857 years to produce this amount.

President Donald Trump sent his clearest warning yet to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Sunday: Stand with the U.S. for defense of the Strait of Hormuz or face a "very bad" future. "It's only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there," Trump told The Financial Times in an interview Sunday. "If there’s no response, or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO." Trump echoed those remarks in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on...

Seats in state legislature: Greens 56 (down 2); Christian Democrats 56 (up 14); Alternative 35 (up 18); Social Democrats 10 (down 9); Free Democrats 0 (down 18) RECAP: Right of Center 91 (up 14); Left of Center 66 (minus 11)

An explosion rocked the US Embassy in Norway, damaging the consulate amid Iranian threats of terror retaliation as Operation Epic Fury rages on in the Middle East, according to police and reports. The blast erupted in Oslo around 1 a.m. local time Sunday, hitting the entrance to the embassy’s consular section and causing minor damage, police incident commander Michael Delmer said, NKR reported. “At around 1 a.m. we received several reports of an explosion,” he said, noting there were no casualties. “We arrived shortly afterward and confirmed that there had been an explosion that hit the US Embassy. There is...

Greens are projected to hold on to power, edging the Christian Democrats. Also, the Christian Democrats plus the Alternative for Germany (AfD) fall short of a majority; and, the Free Democrats fall short of the 5 percent threshold.

Germany’s “social-ecological market economy” is a textbook illustration of this dynamic. The state declares hydrogen and other favored technologies to be the “future,” pours billions into subsidies, and attempts to construct markets by decree. Yet even an official body like the Federal Audit Office now describes this as a “planned economy approach” and doubts that the government will reach its own goals. In all likelihood, Germany is about to confirm once again what Mises showed in theory a century ago: planned economies do not deliver their promised outcomes. Instead, they generate rising costs, failing projects, and increasing chaos—while making society...

Keir Starmer has said the conflict engulfing the Middle East could continue “for some time” as he insisted the best way forward in the longer term was a negotiated settlement with Iran. The prime minister said the UK was doing “everything we can” to de-escalate the situation, a clear contrast to the US president, who is focused on regime change and has said it was “too late” for Tehran to negotiate. He defended his decision to block initial offensive strikes by the US and Israel at the weekend, saying he stood by his judgment and denying it had damaged the...

Keir Starmer has defied brutal rebukes from Donald Trump insisting the UK is 'not involved' with Iran strikes. The PM made his latest attempt to wash his hands of the US president's military campaign in a speech to Muslims breaking Ramadan fast last night. Sir Keir - who has been desperately trying to shore up Labour's left flank since the Greens inflicted an humiliating by-election defeat - also talked up his determination to get 'justice' for Gaza.