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Ukrainian forces can retake the strategic southern city of Kherson from Russian troops, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday, in what would be a major defeat for Russia in its invasion of its neighbor. Austin's remarks coincided with a Russian-installed official in Kherson region saying Moscow was likely to pull its troops from the west bank of the Dnipro River, signaling a significant retreat, if confirmed. Ukraine said it was still fighting in the area and was wary of the occupying Russian forces setting a trap. Austin did not answer a question about whether Russian forces were preparing...

Hu Xijin, the editor of the Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times, considers enhancing China's nuclear program as being vital to the country's "strategic deterrence" against the United States. China and the United States have been sparring over a range of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Hu's op-ed came one day after Biden announced he instructed the Intelligence Community to "double down" on their efforts to identify the COVID-19 origin, including coming up with a list of questions that China has to answer. The Intelligence Community hasn't ruled out the possibility that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory, a notion that...

My words: "OOOH! LET'S SWORDFIGHT!" A senior Likud source on Saturday responded to former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The meeting took place in France. "Olmert, who offered Abbas the Western Wall, has now turned into his faithful mouthpiece," the source said. "In the US and many Arab countries, they already understand that Abbas is the true obstacle to peace, and that the reason for his extreme demands is not peace but rather the elimination of the State of Israel." MK Moti Yogev (Jewish Home) also responded to the meeting. "Olmert met with...

ED HENRY: The point actually was that people were targeted because of their religion. Though Jen Psaki of the State Deptartment inaccurately suggested not all of the victims in the market were Jewish, though in fact all four were... Video at link...

Count the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman among those who believe it’s in the national interest to close the Guantánamo Bay detention center. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said the facility at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba “does create a psychological scar on our national values. Whether it should or not, it does.”

I wondered yesterday whether Robert Gibbs jumped or was pushed and noted that President Barack Obama’s words indicated that it was “not an entirely voluntary departure”. It’s being reported by John King on CNN right now that Gibbs wanted to be a presidential counsellor – something he’s been putting about for quite a while – but William Daley, the new chief of staff, nixed this because he believed that too many cooks would spoil the presidential broth. So that’s why Gibbs is out. Additionally, King reports that Valerie Jarrett, whose sole qualification to being a senior counsellor

I am completely stunned that the Obama campaign would now admit that Senator Obama did nothing to influence today's vote on the bailout bill. Obama got as far away as he could and is now trying to blame John McCain for the bills failure?! ...Obama sought to stay above the fray and maintain a steady demeanor that advisers maintain has set him apart throughout the financial turmoil. In other words he voted "Present" again as ususal. You just can't make this stuff up folks.

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2007 – American troops killed one terrorist and detained 16 others, including an alleged al Qaeda-affiliated killer and a media representative, during a series of morning raids conducted throughout Iraq today. Coalition forces in Mosul captured an al Qaeda-related suspect known as “The Butcher,” who is allegedly responsible for numerous kidnappings, beheadings and suicide operations in the Ramadi and Mosul areas. Coalition forces also detained five other suspects and killed one terrorist during the raid. Coalition troops operating in Fallujah captured two suspected terrorists with alleged ties to foreign fighter operations. Elsewhere, coalition forces captured a...

Who would have known, when Oprah Winfrey gave author James Frey his nationally televised tongue-lashing last January for all that made-up stuff in his memoir "A Million Little Pieces," that the "Year of the Mouth" was just warming up? A lot of the things that came out of people's traps in 2006 were pretty stupid and embarrassing -- not that that made this year stand out from any other in human history. The difference now is our ability to hear and often see it all, every last moronic syllable and telling inflection. For that we can thank, or bemoan, the...

"Islamic fascists"--used by President George W. Bush for the conspirators in the alleged trans-Atlantic airline bombing plot--and references by other prominent figures to "Islamofascism," have been met by protests from Muslims who say the term is an insult to their religion. The meaning and origin of the concept, as well as the legitimacy of complaints about it, have become relevant--perhaps urgently so. I admit to a lack of modesty or neutrality about this discussion, since I was, as I will explain, the first Westerner to use the neologism in this context. In my analysis, as originally put in print directly...

Former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta recently wrote a scathing article about former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh. Freeh made some harsh comments about his life at the FBI during the Clinton scandal years, and Podesta simply could not resist the knee-jerk urge to defend his ex-boss. Those who know me well also know that I have little love for the former FBI Director. His tenure at the helm of the bureau was a disaster. Freeh can best be described as a "Luddite" in terms of his understanding of modern technology. I am almost certain that his new book...

WASHINGTON - A top aide to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a congressional panel Thursday that a transformation of the United Nations is under way, but denied the U.N. is an out-of-control bureaucracy. "For me, the United Nations is not oversized, over-resourced or under-supervised by its member states," Malloch Brown said in a written statement to the House International Relations Committee. The panel is drafting legislation calling for major changes in the U.N.'s administration. The proposals could tie U.S. funding for the United Nations to reform efforts. U.S. congressional criticism of the United Nations has increased in light of a...

Are you as sick and tired of hearing about Al-Jazeera broadcasting the latest beheading or hostage pictures as I am?  Perform a general search on Google or on Free Republic and you will see that they are partners with terrorists when it comes to broadcasting the terrorist messages. It's time to put an end to Al-Jazeera.  DISH Network is a distributor of Al-Jazeera programming.  It's time to apply pressure to DISH Network to STOP broadcasting this terrorist programming on our soil.  Please send them and email, even if you are not a current subscriber.  Let them know you are telling...

...Now the CNN of the Arab world has fired its general manager, Mohammed Jassem Ali-Ali. Ali-Ali had set up and run the network since its inception in 1996. He had previously worked for Qatar television; Al-Jazeera is based in Qatar, but repeatedly aired exclusive footage provided by Iraqi officials during the war. The firing came after the London Sunday Times reported that Iraqi intelligence agents had successfully penetrated the network and converted it into an "instrument" of the Iraqi regime. Al-Jazeera spokesmen denied any connection between the reports and Ali-Ali’s removal...

The New York Times has become the official tribune of the Islamic republic regime's officials in order to spread the Clerical regime's views and propaganda. The famous and well known newspaper which was known till now for its tendency to back the so-called "reformist" faction of the theocratic regime has broke all records and has published in its today edition, May 10th, an article written by an individual named "M. Javad Zarif". This article is entitled as "A Neighbor's Vision of the New Iraq". It is important to note that the New York Times Editor in Chief or the management...