Free Republic

Under the Islamist AKP, Turkey has become a state sponsor of terror. Its links to ISIS are the worst kept secret in the region as ISIS fighters treat Turkey as a gateway to the ISIS Jihad.But Biden made the mistake of quoting Erdogan and had to apologize for it. Vice President Biden on Saturday apologized to Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for saying the Turkish leader admitted his country made mistakes by allowing foreign fighters to cross into Syria.Biden spoke directly to Erdogan to “clarify” comments made on Thursday at Harvard University and apologized for “any implication” that Turkey or...

Forget the happy talk of the mainstream media. The Democrats are a coalition of mutually antagonistic factions, united only by their hatred of President Donald Trump. They couldn't even keep a lid on the conflict between the dominant radicals and the pseudo-moderates propping up senescent Joe Biden as a putative centrist.  Don’t look for the mainstream media to mention this, but the Biden campaign actually disavowed one of the speakers during last night’s Democratic National Convention internet TV show, Linda Sarsour and she is muttering about retaliation at the polls.  Remember her? Sarsour, who has a history of controversial...

I find myself binge-watching random old shows lately. I think it’s a combination of nostalgia and keeping the background busy while I work on my laptop. My latest random TV show to binge at 5 a.m. has been “Glee.” In one of the episodes, the girls in the glee club plan to convince their football player boyfriends to physically stop one of their homophobic teammates from abusing one member of the glee club. But Quinn, one of the girls and a popular blond cheerleader, refuses to join them: She thinks fighting violence with violence will solve nothing. And I didn’t...

This week, while all eyes have been on the Democratic National Convention taking place via Zoom, truly historic events have occurred in the Middle East: a long-awaited peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, including full normalization of relations; presumed peace deals to follow between Israel and Sudan, Oman and Bahrain; the possibility on the horizon of a similar deal with Saudi Arabia. These are not only historic events; they are unmitigated goods: the recognition of a Jewish state in the Middle East is the precondition to any peace in the Middle East. And the formation of a...

Israel's Abraham Accord agreement with the United Arab Emirates marks a substantial achievement for the mission of peace and stability in the Middle East. Although Israel had previously signed diplomatic agreements with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, the agreement with the UAE marks a substantial achievement for the mission of peace and stability in the Middle East. The diplomatic agreement, called the Abraham Accord, means Israel and the UAE can exchange ambassadors and establish embassies in each other’s nations. Furthermore, the accord allows direct trans-national flights and opens new opportunities for bilateral cooperation, particularly in health care and...

Voters face a choice in November between two American futures. Bernie Sanders has made it clear that Joe Biden is merely a means for Democrats first to regain power and then to radically shift the United States left toward a socialist vision that would have been unthinkable in America just a short time ago. Americans seem to understand that this election is unlike anything we’ve seen because Donald Trump’s America and Joe Biden’s America are so diametrically opposed. What is not discussed enough is what hangs in the balance for the rest of the world. The first-term foreign policy successes...

Turkey and Qatar have reiterated their support for Libya's internationally recognised government during a trip by their defence chiefs to the capital, Tripoli, where Germany's foreign minister also paid an unexpected visit... The country has been split since 2014 between factions based in the east and west, and regional powers have aligned themselves with the competing sides. While Turkey and its regional ally Qatar support the GNA, forces in the east led by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar have received backing from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia. "We believe that we will achieve the wanted results by supporting...

Pakistan’s foreign policy has been incoherent and inconsistent since its inception. It has suffered from a chasm between policy and strategy, xenophobic tendencies, domestic politics interfering negatively with the foreign policy process, and vice versa – including the unsettling influence of the military on civilian politics and the outsize impact of religious groups. Policy-makers, rather than focusing on the policy process and the outcomes, serially succumb to socio-religious pressures, intensifying policy volatility, and that volatility, read as vulnerability, opens Pakistan up to manipulation by stronger world powers. The result is that on the issues that Pakistan flags as central to...

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis protested on Sunday against the normalisation deal signed between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, Anadolu reported. Mass rallies were held across Pakistan, including the capital, Islamabad, the port city of Karachi, northeastern city of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Multan and Hyderabad. The protests were organised by the Milli Yakjehti Council, a political-religious alliance which called on the Pakistani people to join the protests and denounce “the controversial deal between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv”. In the city of Rawalpindi, thousands of citizens marched through the city streets led by Senator Sirajul...

Editor's Note: This piece was coauthored by Bruce Abramson.It’s hard to miss the stakes for America in November’s election. President Trump and the GOP base inhabit a starkly different world than do Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and progressive Democrats. That difference transcends mere policy debate; America’s political parties operate on different moral planes. In no foreign context is that moral divergence clearer than the Middle East. Two recent events illuminate the gap: The Biden-led 2020 Democrat Platform, and the UAE/Israel pact that President Trump brokered. The election will determine whether the Middle East continues on the path towards stability and...

August 16, 2020 Israeli TV Kan11 reports as ldo on the trauma of residents of Sderot from Arab Palestinian attacks from Gaza. The mental toll on Sdetot residents. Many are treated.. [Hebrew] https://youtu.be/b7rfHzaaKBk&t=3m42s _____ Sderot's children are suffering post-traumatic stress - Haaretz Jun 12, 2006 · ... their mental health -- whether in Gaza or Sderot-- is reaching new alarming high. (Although Sderot kids are .https://www.haaretz.com/amp/1.4915343Rockets raining on Sderot take physical and mental toll on cityH JOURNALCOMMENTARYBLOGSNEWSCALIFORNIAISRAELUNITED STATESWORLDWIDERockets raining on Sderot take physical and mental toll on cityBy Orit ArfaMay 25, 2007It’s a smooth car ride to Sderot.There’s very little traffic...

President Trump is destroying Obama’s insane Middle East policies one day at a time and the world is a much safer place. Politico Magazine surprisingly uncovered and released a report critical of the Obama Administration shortly after the 2016 election entitled, “The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook“. The long piece started: In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States, according to a POLITICO investigation.The campaign,...

Due to corporate mediaÂ’s hatred of Donald Trump, Americans are sorely uninformed about news stories that, under any other presidency, would deservedly flood coverage. When Donald Trump entered the political arena some five years ago, reporters floundered for a way to cover his candidacy. Then, sensing a ratings boom from the chaos the businessman and former reality TV star injected into the primary, the left-leaning press quickly converted to covering all things Trump, benefitting both their bottom line and their sense of schadenfreude.Following TrumpÂ’s surprise election in 2016, the press faced a different challenge: How to cover a president they...

Telephone service between the United Arab Emirates and Israel began working Sunday as the two countries opened diplomatic ties, part of a deal brokered by the U.S. that required Israel to halt its contentious plan to annex West Bank land sought by the Palestinians for a future state. Emirati officials acknowledged Sunday that Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan had called his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi. Israeli Communications Minister Yoaz Handel issued a statement “congratulating the United Arab Emirates on removing the blocks.” “Many economic opportunities will open now, and these trust-building steps are an important step toward...

National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said Sunday that the only two people who opposed the historic agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates were the ayatollah of Iran and former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes. "I think getting out of the JCPOA was the predicate for this fantastic deal between UAE and Israel," he said on Meet the Press. "I never thought I would see President Trump being endorsed by Thomas Friedman on this deal and David Ignatius and others. I think the only people who were against the deal were the ayatollah and maybe Ben Rhodes." While the deal...

want to make a meme, seems to be scrubbed, Benjamin Netanytahu leaving the White House back door by the garbage.

Iran’s political and military leadership in Iran is escalating its threatening tone towards the UAE following the signing of last week’s historic diplomatic agreement with Israel. The Islamic Republic is warning the UAE of the negative consequences that will result from the expansion of Israeli activity and influence in the Emirates. In a detailed Hebrew-language piece written for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) by Lt. Col. Michael Segal, the author noted that the recurring theme in the Iranian speakers’ statements is that of the “betrayal” by the United Arab Emirates of the Palestinian Authority and their Muslim brethren,...

In the wake of the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, there are rumors that several other states could be next to sign an agreement with Israel. While there are hurdles to normalizing relations with some states in the Middle East, there are others who view the UAE decision as a trial balloon and will react positively based on how the next weeks and months play out between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi. What follows is a list of some countries that reports suggest may be in line to normalize relations. Bahrain Bahrain was long thought to...

SECURING A HISTORIC AGREEMENT: President Donald J. Trump has secured the first agreement to normalize relations between Israel and a major Arab country in decades. President Donald J. Trump has brokered an agreement to normalize relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel – the first such agreement between Israel and a major Arab country since 1994. The countries have committed to the exchange of embassies and ambassadors, and to begin cooperation in a broad range of fields including education, healthcare, trade, and security.This historic breakthrough is the most significant step toward peace in the Middle East in over...

An analysis of the November 2019 Iranian revolt reveals vital truths about the Islamic Republic's inability to suppress popular demand for regime change. The government anticipated the uprising would come if it raised gas prices, and it was correct. It announced the 300% hike abruptly in an effort to prevent the opposition from organizing. Despite this, relatively small, spontaneous uprisings in cities across Iran shook the regime to its core, and for parts of two days, the regime lost control in a number of cities and towns. Large parts of Shiraz were freed from the regime’s authorities for more than...