Free Republic

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to send 'millions' of Syrians to EuropeCredit: EPA Speaking to his party, Erdogan warned he would "open the gates" to spark a new refugee crisis if the EU dared to call 'Operation Peace Spring' an "invasion." "Hey EU, wake up. I say it again: if you try to frame our operation there as an invasion, our task is simple: we will open the gates and send 3.6m migrants to you," he said. He added that ISIS prisoners held by Kurdish forces would be kept in jail or returned to home countries willing to take them....

As we remember, with a debt of gratitude we can never repay, those who have died to keep us free, let us also remember what the consequences will be if we lose this great defense against jihad that the free world isn’t even seriously fighting.Today is May 29, the anniversary of the Muslim conquest of Constantinople, which took place on May 29, 1453.It is useful, in our comfortable complacency and general lack of any historical memory at all, and overarching concern to avoid “Islamophobia,” to recall what happened when the Muslims entered the great city.Historian Steven Runciman notes that the...

The very best thing we can do is recognize that Trump is less than what we'd like in a candidate, so we should just sit this one out and NOT work our butts off to help him get elected. This strategy worked very well for us when McCain was our candidate. And again when Romney was the man. Obama was not that bad as president. Hillary can't be much worse. /sarcasm WAKE THE HELL UP, PEOPLE!!

The European Union’s ambassador to Turkey has quit after criticizing the Turks for their handling of a deal to tackle the refugee crisis, and telling them they should be more like Germans. Under the terms of the controversial pact, Turkey gets cash and visa-free travel to the EU in return for taking back migrants illegally crossing the Mediterranean to Europe. Turkey also wants discussions on it joining the EU to be restarted as the price for its help. The European Commission has set 72 conditions that Turkey must meet to get visa-free travel. But negotiations have stalled over the EU’s...

Ten pupils at a secondary school in Gossau turned up for their lessons wearing an edelweiss shirt on Friday. A teacher was very unhappy at the sight of this typically Swiss clothing; he asked them to go and put something else on. According to the "SonntagsZeitung", the teacher considered that this manner of dress conveyed "racist and xenophobic" ideas. The ten pupils decided to come to school wearing peasant shirts and to sing patriotic songs to show their "pride in being Swiss". Tensions with classmates of Balkan origin are said to be at the origin of this initiative, reports the...

Bund plans forced rentals of vacant homes to refugees 09/12/2015 Federal and state governments are planning new law on compulsory letting vacant homes to refugees. The Regulation is primarily aimed at unused commercial properties. It is not excluded that even condos and homes covered by the proposed law. According to research of the ARD Berlin Studios federal and state governments are planning the introduction of Acceleration Act that forced temporary rentals will enable vacant properties to provide accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers. As is apparent from a position paper of the federal-state working group that reports from the ARD...

Let My People Go  Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt: The Century-Long Struggle for Coptic EqualityBy S. S. HasanOxford University Press. 320 pp. $49.95.Reviewed by Robert W. ShaffernSana Hasan, an Egyptian scholar best known for her Enemy in the Promised Land, has written another important book in Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt—a book in which she honestly confronts the sorry condition of Christians in Egypt, where the “problems faced by the Christian minority are for many . . . a taboo subject.” Hasan courageously describes the discrimination and harm often visited upon one of Christianity’s oldest communions—the Coptic...

When he was asked why the vast majority of Egyptians, the heirs to a great pre-Islamic civilization, speak Arabic rather than Coptic, a leading Egyptian historian replied, "Because we had no Ferdowsi." That would be the tenth-century Persian poet and the author of the Shahnameh (Book of Kings) who revived not only the Persian language, but also Persian identity. Ferdowsi is known for his efforts to save the Persian language, and the history, from oblivion. It has been suggested that Ferdowsi is Iran's Homer: "Twice as long as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey taken together, the Shahnameh blends Iran's ancient myths...

Hamas: Disengagement is Proof That Zionism Can Be Defeated Monday, August 15, 2005 / 10 Av 5765 (IsraelNN.com) A Hamas spokesman from northern Samaria told Al-Jazeera web site that the organized celebrations - said to cost $10 million - of Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gush Katif and northern Samaria were not a waste of resources, but reinforce the message that Zionism can be defeated. The Hamas spokesman, Muhammad Ghazal, told Aljazeera.net, "Arabs and Muslims worldwide must realize the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is not an act of Zionist magnanimity, but rather the result of sustained resistance and heroic...