Free Republic

NATO made a formal invitation on Thursday to tiny Montenegro to join the alliance as its 29th member. NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels signed the accession protocol under the eyes of the Montenegrin prime minister, Milo Djukanovic. The membership must be approved by all 28 national governments or parliaments, including the United States Senate. When an informal invitation was made to Montenegro in December, Russia responded angrily. Montenegro has a population of about 600,000 and little military capacity, but in December, Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov, the chairman of the Russian Parliament’s defense committee, said, “They are ready to admit even...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House vote to label the century-old deaths of Armenians as genocide was in jeopardy Tuesday after several Democrats withdrew their support and sounded alarms it could cripple U.S. relations with Turkey. The loss of support is a major setback to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, who have fiercely defended the resolution to Republicans and the Bush administration as a moral imperative in condemning the World War I-era killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks. President Bush called Pelosi on Tuesday to ask her not to call for...

The Parliament Hill rally grew from an idea by two military wives. OTTAWA -- The subdued colours of official Ottawa were replaced yesterday with blazing displays of red as thousands of people jammed Parliament Hill in an unprecedented outpouring of pride and tears for Canadian troops fighting in Afghanistan. "First off, all I'd like to say, 'Wow,' " said Lisa Miller, wife of a Canadian soldier, surveying the crowd of up to 10,000 from a platform at the base of the Hill. "We never dreamed it would be this good," she said, wiping away tears. "It's heart-warming you came together...