Free Republic

If you want to know who’s running the State Department these days, it helps to peruse the website of a relatively new, conservative-leaning organization called the Ben Franklin Fellowship.The group’s roster includes Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau, top officials in bureaus such as consular affairs, and even an acting undersecretary or two. The fellows include current and former members of the foreign service, as well as other international affairs specialists. And while the Fellowship describes itself as nonpartisan, its right-of-center views are obvious: It emphasizes goals such as border security; opposes typical diversity, equity and inclusion practices; and advocates...

With four hats, including national security adviser, the former Trump rival is defying predictions he’d be a weak player. Marco Rubio is doing big things under President Donald Trump — way more than nearly anyone expected. The secretary of State was once thought of as one of the weakest players in the Trump orbit, a man who wouldn’t last long in the Cabinet because he faced many internal rivals and had major policy differences with Trump and the MAGA base. But Rubio has deftly earned the president’s trust, enough so that Trump this week gave him another powerful job as...

Someone should tell Politico's senior foreign affairs correspondent Nahal Toosi that Team America: World Police was meant to be a comedy, not an instructional film. Yet on Sunday Toosi was strategizing how to get President-elect Trump deep into the Syria mess that he wants to avoid.Her story in which she ditches any hint of attempting to be an objective reporter in favor of a flat out advocate for foreign interference by Trump is made crystal clear in the title of her more than obvious pitch piece, "How to Convince a Reluctant Trump to Get Involved in a Liberated Syria."

Ukrainian officials are warning Republicans who may soon take control in Congress: Defeating Russia means providing not just weapons, but more money for Ukraine’s economy as well.Ukrainian leaders believe that, despite dissident notes from some on the far right, a fully or partially GOP-led Congress won’t skimp on giving Kyiv military aid. In fact, Ukraine expects “even more robust” weapons packages if Republicans are in charge, said Daniel Vajdich, a lobbyist for the Ukrainian government.

A holdover from the Obama administration who helped broker the Iran nuclear deal continues to work in the Trump State Department as a member of the “policy planning staff,” according to her biography on the agency website. “Prior to joining the Policy Planning Staff, she served as a Director for Iran and Iran Nuclear Implementation on the National Security Council Staff from 2014-2016,” Sahar Nowrouzzadeh’s bio states. “Sahar also previously served as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State and a Team Chief and Senior Analyst at the Department of Defense.” In an October 2016, Nowrouzzadeh was...

Donald Trump has spent his entire presidential campaign warning against the dangers of Mexican immigrants stealing American jobs, raping women and hauling drugs across the border. Now, Mexico is fighting back. Mexican officials are pursuing a counteroffensive to Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, reaching out to U.S. business leaders, looking at ways to better use social media, and even encouraging qualified Mexicans to get U.S. citizenship. But they’re also trying to stay sensitive about taking more high-profile steps, such as running TV ads in an already overheated presidential race that promote Mexico as a friendly, vibrant neighbor and not a cesspool of...

Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Monday that Russia will begin pulling out of Syria appeared to take the White House by surprise, and revived concerns that the Russian leader is outmaneuvering Barack Obama. Just six months after he threw international relations into a tailspin by launching airstrikes in Syria, Putin on Monday declared that "the tasks put before the defense ministry have been completed over all,” adding that he had ordered that "the main part" of Russian forces in Syria would be withdrawn.

Donald Trump wants to ban Muslims from entering the United States? Well, it turns out lots of Britons want to ban him from the United Kingdom. Trump detractors across the pond have started an online petition on an official government website asking British officials to block the GOP presidential front-runner from visiting. "The signatories believe Donald J. Trump should be banned from UK entry," the petition reads. "The UK has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech. The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the UK," the petition says. "If the United Kingdom is to...