Free Republic

Mysterious lights streaking across in the night sky here Tuesday had Sabahans abuzz in social media, with no one able to give a clear explanation on the incident. Meteorologists, policemen and firemen were unable to explain the pillar-shaped lights that moved across the sky in the Putatan area, around 9.30pm, for several minutes. Some netizens said the lights came from lanterns or flares from the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal in Kimanis. Others claimed alien spaceships were responsible, among a host of other possibilities. Such lights appearing over the coastal waters of western Sabah are not rare and have been...

The sinister surprise attack against the naval base at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Military is recognized by historians as one of the most successful sneak attacks in military history. While many Americans initially thought the Empire of Japan intended to attack the United States mainland – Californians along the coastal areas felt especially vulnerable – the real targets were in Southeast Asia: Hong Kong, Siam, Malaya, Thailand, and the Philippines, as the first of many. The attack upon the naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, shocked America and the world. While Americans were still reeling,...

The COMMUNIST THREAT to the Federation of MalayaINTRODUCTION The freeing of large areas of the Federation of Malaya from the menace of Communist Terrorism, and the impending destruction of the remaining Terrorist Forces, unfortunately has not completely foiled the Communist plot to obtain power and to create a Communist State in the Federation. As part of this deliberate Communist plan, Terrorism is giving way to the far more subtle activities of subversion, in which deception is inherent. For this reason the activities of the Communists are not always perceived by the public, and the real purpose for them is not...

It's like American Idol. Except in this Malaysian reality TV show, the goal is to find a religious role model. Young men compete in challenges such as washing corpses and ferreting out unmarried couples. The winner gets a MacBook and the chance to lead prayers in public. Nuri Ali Arbain had never dreamed of becoming an imam. But he also wasn't one to miss an opportunity, which explains why he was standing on a stage with the number 1801 pinned to his shirt, staring into the serious faces of the jurors and blinking into the lens of a television camera....

Before we even learn the name of the Somali teenage pirate we are reportedly about to bring to trial in the United States, and with Al Qaeda reportedly urging the sea-faring criminals to become genuine terrorists, its time for a brief refresher course on America and its long, rich history hounding and being hounded by with pirates. The following is courtesy of historian George C. Herring’s George C. Herring’s masterful work, “From Colony to Superpower, U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776,” which is part of the Oxford History of the United States.... Even into the 1830s, when America had better established...

To the lists of the enemies of the West — Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, the tyrannical nations of Iran and North Korea, and others — we can now add a new foe: instant gratification. Think of how we live now. One can now send an e-mail in New York. An instant later it arrives halfway across the world. A second later the recipient responds. Text messaging via cell phones has brought even faster access to information. With a Blackberry, an individual can find restaurant reviews on five neighborhood eateries in quicker time than it takes to walk across a broad city...

Last week, while working on a piece for National Review Online, I had the opportunity to chat with several experts on the subject of armed combat – all of whom have heard the zip and pop of bullets breaking the sound barrier around them. One of those experts was Col. John W. Ripley (U.S. Marine Corps, ret.).

Bush adopts British colonial model for Iraq By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 03/12/2005) The success of British colonial forces against the Malay rebellion in the 1950s is being commended in the United States as a template for victory in Iraq. Col Andrew Krepinevich, a Vietnam veteran, has been touring congressional offices, the Pentagon and newspapers since autumn espousing an "oil spot strategy". An American soldier hands out colouring books to Iraqi children This week President George W Bush all but formally endorsed a modified version of that approach as official policy. Rather than focus on hunting down the enemy,...

Op-Ed Contributor (Guest) MOST Americans, including many of those making military decisions in Washington, have been surprised by the intensity of the Iraqi insurgency since the January elections. How, despite their failure to coalesce into a united front and their lack of a coherent political program, have the armed factions shown such staying power? History suggests an answer and, more important, provides a model for putting the insurgency down. Once started, rebellions develop their own internal logic and momentum. People who take up arms are normally reluctant to put them down again, even if the chance of ultimate success is...