Free Republic

When was the fall of the Roman Empire? Was it in 410 when the Visigoths sacked Rome, or 455 when the Vandals plundered Rome? Or was it 476, when the last western Roman Emperor was deposed? Whatever the answer, the people alive on the ground at the time surely did not wake up to a headline saying: “Rome has fallen, commence medieval barbarianism.” Only later did historians pinpoint certain dates. It’s possible, therefore, that we are already past the date that will be considered the fall of the American Empire. Perhaps historians will look back and say that September 11,...

A Chinese group "cloned" code stolen from the National Security Agency years before a security flaw was fixed, researchers said this week. The Chinese group, identified as APT31, used the so-called exploit, along with other hacking tools to stage attacks, Check Point, an IT security firm, said in a research note. Generally an APT, or Advanced Persistent Threat, is associated with nation-state cyber activity. "Check Point Research has determined that Chinese hackers cloned and actively used the cyber offensive tool of a US-based hacking group [that] is believed to be tied to the NSA," a Check Point spokesperson said to...

It’s a Bloomberg article, so link only (I don’t want to get in trouble with Mike).

Link only

Finding the same migration policies in two different parts of the world strongly suggests a single source, namely, the Trilateral Commission Depending on where you live and how sensitive you are to the global mass-immigration crisis, your reaction to it will be somewhere between head-scratching and shell-shocked incredulity. The purpose of this report is to give you some concrete evidence about where these policies originated and to what ends they were created. A major player is Peter Sutherland, who in past years has served as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, as Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, as EU...

As more key powers are transferred to Brussels, it poses an existential question for central governments. … “In my opinion, national central governments will become less important and will lose more power. They will become more and more impotent,” says Franz Schausberger, founder of the Austria-based Institute of the Regions of Europe.To compensate, he notes, “regions have to become stronger, so that the citizens can strengthen their identity and participate in regional and local democracy.” …

Why do so many in Europe feel so much hostility to the most open and liberal democracy in the Middle East? Daniel Gordis, President of the Shalem Center, zeroes in on the source of the problem in this fascinating look at the complex relationship between Europe, Israel and the Arab World.

Paul Weston has recently descended into the swamp to do verbal battle with the racists of the Left. A summary of his encounters is below.For a typical leftist screed, see this article attacking Paul, which validates exactly his description of the anti-European and racist leftist ideology.The Genocidal Racism of Left-Wing Extremistsby Paul WestonI have had some interesting discussions with extreme left-wingers recently. And oh boy, what a dreadful lot of immoral, dangerous racists they are!These online conversations are always initiated by the leftists, who promptly accuse me of racism, bigotry and Islamophobia. I reply that I am not driven by...

European transnationalism is a utopian dream, Pierre Manent warns. The European Union’s grand project rests on the belief that nationalism is passé, indeed pernicious. Fascism’s mystic nationalism proved, on this view, that the nation-state impedes the spread of human rights, tolerance, and the rational adjudication of disputes—all essential to global peace. The nation-state should therefore give way to organizations like the E.U.: a transnational, secular institution that can bring about peace and prosperity by practicing what French intellectual Chantal Delsol calls “techno-politics”—a rational approach superior to the atavistic passions and superstitions that fired nationalism. But as the political philosopher Pierre...

The real international struggle is between nations and governments. It is not between cabals or cliques or capitalist enterprises. It is not even between ideologies. When we read of a looming financial crisis, credit contraction or the falling dollar, we are reading about things that will affect nations. The political reaction will come on the national level. The retreat from globalization will be a retreat led by nation-states, by national sentiments ignited and inflamed. When we read about the mortgage bust, about the largest banks writing off billions of losses, we merely see that specific economic arrangements are being upset;...

Yugoslavia is gone, forever. The country that emerged from World War I and Versailles as the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, land of the South Slavs, has passed into history. Sunday's vote in Montenegro, a tiny land of fewer people than the Washington, D.C., this writer grew up in, voted Sunday to secede from Belgrade, establish a nation and seek entry into the European Union. In 1991, Macedonia peacefully seceded. Slovenia and Croatia fought their way out, and Bosnia broke free after a war marked by the massacre at Srbenica and NATO intervention. Bosnia is itself subdivided into...

Some time ago, former Foreign Policy Adviser, Strobe Talbot made a startling pronouncement about the future of the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” “The next one hundred years,” he contended, “will render obsolete any concept of nationhood,” for “all states will recognize a single, global authority.” Talbot is not a lone prophet. In fact, the agenda for global governance is well underway. Looking back in time, recall that Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address recognized America as a nation-state, unequivocally under God. Accordingly, the Civil War battlefield became resting place for patriots who spilled their blood so...

"...having spent the past nine years in the intelligence and counter-terrorism community, I am forced to conclude that our increasing failure to effectively combat terrorism is not merely the failure of programs and policies, but rather the fundamental failure of our paradigm. In order to understand and effectively confront terrorism, we must replace the current international paradigm of the Nation-State system with a New Map of our world: globalization and multiculturalism are invalidating the Cartesian geography of the Nation-State system, laying the framework for the coming epochal conflict embodied by the paradigm of hierarchy versus rhizome..." Read the full article...

Europe is not working properly. I am quite clear about that. The European Union pumps out too many rules and regulations, and is too centralised and inflexible. It has a poor track record on waste and fraud, and is a prime example of the failed "big government knows best" approach to life. For almost a decade, auditors have refused to sign off the EU's accounts because of the level of fraud and corruption in the organisation. Every year, £3 billion goes missing. Red tape is strangling European business. It has a serious impact on jobs and growth. Productivity in the...

The Dutch government has called for a major return of powers from Brussels to the nation states, saying that integration has gone too far and lacks popular consent. It said it was time to consider taking back control of health, culture, social policy, aid to poor regions and the subsidy regime of the Common Agricultural Policy. The new Dutch-first aims were laid out by Bernard Bot, the foreign minister, in a landmark speech in Berlin on Wednesday night. It was being compared by the Dutch press yesterday to Margaret Thatcher's Bruges speech in 1988 and marks a dramatic departure for...

"The Nation-State Is Finished" by William F. Jasper Robert Bartley, a closet one-worlder at the WSJ, used his newspaper’s "conservative" clout to seduce American business leaders into sacrificing U.S. sovereignty for trade. ‘‘What in blazes can President Bush be thinking?" That has been the general response — on talk radio and in media surveys, Internet postings and letters-to-the-editor — of many current and former Bush supporters angered and confused by the president’s immigration proposals. These folks would not have been surprised by the president’s outrageous announcement on January 7 or his remarks the following week at the Summit of the...

Robert Bartley, a closet one-worlder at the WSJ, used his newspaper’s "conservative" clout to seduce American business leaders into sacrificing U.S. sovereignty for trade. ‘‘What in blazes can President Bush be thinking?" That has been the general response — on talk radio and in media surveys, Internet postings and letters-to-the-editor — of many current and former Bush supporters angered and confused by the president’s immigration proposals. These folks would not have been surprised by the president’s outrageous announcement on January 7 or his remarks the following week at the Summit of the Americas in Mexico if they had been paying...

The National Interest Issue Date: Winter 2003/04, Posted On: 12/12/2003 Networking Nation-States James C. Bennett The early 20th century was filled with predictions that the airplane, the automobile or the assembly line had made parliamentary democracy, market economies, jury trials and bills of rights irrelevant, obsolete and harmful. Today's scientific-technological revolutions (epitomized by space shuttles and the Internet) make the technologies of the early 20th century-its fabric-winged biplanes, Tin Lizzies and "Modern Times" gearwheel factories-look like quaint relics. Yet all of the "obsolete" institutions derided by the modernists of that day thrive and strengthen. The true surprise of the scientific revolutions ahead is...

The world has 84,924 nations in 10,077 regions. Visitors get their piece of the action at Create a Nation State, an interactive game where players sign in to create their own nation based on their political ideals. Create a flag, a government style based on models from Denmark to Zimbabwe, a currency, even a national animal and motto. Answer a questionnaire to define the type of nation created, whether authoritarian or permissive, left-wing or right, compassionate or psychotic. Then the work begins. An issue and a need to make a decision is e-mailed to players daily as their nation evolves....

COMING TO AMERICA 'Cult of multiculturalism' vs. U.S. sovereignty Congressman blames liberals, Bush's open-door policy for immigration crisis Posted: August 3, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: WorldNetDaily is pleased to have a content-sharing agreement with Insight magazine, the bold Washington publication not afraid to ruffle establishment feathers. Subscribe to Insight at WorldNetDaily's online store and save 71 percent off the cover price. By Paula R. Kaufman © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Thomas Tancredo is a third-term Republican congressman from Colorado. As chairman of the 65-member Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus he deals regularly with such facts as these: More than 33.1 million...