Free Republic

This week, a diplomat at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), the collective defence alliance between Europe and North America, hinted the organisation will raise its engagement with Africa, ostensibly to ward off the growing influence on the continent of China and Russia. Russia through the controversial paramilitary company Wagner Group — is now operating in various African states. The idea is to foster improved bilateral relations on security, anti-terrorism efforts and in other fields of cooperation, all in a “pivot to Africa.”On Wednesday, Julianne Smith, US Permanent Representative to Nato, told an African media briefing that the defence alliance...

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: "I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God." Thomas, appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews, was reacting to a preceding monologue in which Matthews praised Obama’s speech: "I think the President's speech yesterday was the reason we Americans elected him. It was grand. It was positive. Hopeful...But what I liked about the President's speech in Cairo was that it showed a complete humility...The question now is whether the...

"Can the News REALLY be Fair, Accurate and Objective?" asked the title of the first lecture in the 2005-2006 George E. McCammon Memorial Distinguished Speaker Series. "Yes," said Marcy McGinnis, senior vice president, news coverage CBS News, speaking at McKendree College in Lebanon on Tuesday night. Her answer was not surprising because she is in charge of news coverage for CBS, a television network that prides itself on those values despite a couple of recent problems. "My job is to pay really close attention to the news, to watch closely and care about it," McGinnis said. She said fair, accurate...

Hillary Boosters Tied to Woman President Poll A Siena College poll that's being widely heralded in the media as evidence that Hillary Clinton could be elected president was actually released as advanced publicity for the college's "First Woman President Symposium" scheduled for next week - which will include speeches from some of Sen. Clinton's most prominent backers. The Siena survey found that 81 percent of voters say they're ready to vote for a female president, with 63 percent saying the country is ready for a woman in the Oval Office. Among the names floated by Siena as potential female presidents,...