Free Republic

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Syria (search) announced plans to restore diplomatic relations with Iraq more than two decades after ties were severed, boosting regional hopes for securing borders and signaling a willingness to change its policy toward the violence-torn country.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Syria announced plans to restore diplomatic relations with Iraq more than two decades after ties were severed, boosting regional hopes for securing borders and signaling a willingness to change its policy toward the violence-torn country. With Iraq’s neighbours concerned that violence and ethnic instability in Iraq could spread throughout the region, they pledged on Saturday to cooperate with Iraq’s newly elected government on “overall border security.” The neighbours - which include Syria and Iran, two countries accused by US officials of failing to prevent insurgents from crossing their borders - also planned an upcoming meeting of their...

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused his Israeli counterpart of "terrorism," compared Israel's crackdown against Palestinians to the Spanish Inquisition and said Israeli actions fuel anti-Semitism. But on Sunday Erdogan, whose party has its roots in Turkey's Islamic movement, heads to the Jewish state in a trip aimed not just at repairing relations but also at boosting Turkey's image in the United States and in Europe, where debate is raging over whether to let Turkey into the European Union. The trip comes as Turkey's ties with key allies are strained, with some in Washington questioning...

The End of Hostility? By Aleksandr Soldatov The Moscow News According to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the pope hindered mutual respect and brotherly love between the Catholic Church and the ROC I hope that the forthcoming new period in the life of the Roman Catholic Church will help renew the relations of mutual respect and brotherly Christian love between our churches," Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II wrote in a letter of condolence to Rome several hours after John Paul II's death. It is difficult not to read into this condolence message a critical note in regard...

Saturday April 9, 2005 Turks propose removing threat of war on Greece Turkey should ditch a decade-old policy of viewing any extension of Greek territorial waters as cause for war, in a bid to further improve ties, Turkish Parliament speaker Bulent Arinc said in comments published yesterday. In Athens, Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis described Arinc’s reported remarks as “an important move in the direction of further improving bilateral relations.” The Turkish Parliament debated in June 1995 a proposal giving the government authority to take measures — including military action — against an attempt by Greece to extend its territorial waters...

NEW HAVEN -- The French ambassador said U.S.-French relations are better during President Bush's second term although differences remain on China and how to export democracy. Jean-David Levitte spoke to about 175 students and faculty at Yale University on Tuesday. "During the first four years, President Bush discovered that if America can win, alone, all the wars, America cannot, alone, build peace throughout the world," Levitte said. "For that, the U.S.needs allies. These allies, you will not find in China or Russia, you will find them in Europe." Levitte, 59, spoke a day after the European Union decided to continue...

CAIRO, Egypt - Moammar Gadhafi said Wednesday he wants Libya and the United States to be friends, but the one-time international pariah slammed the United Nations (news - web sites) Security Council for being controlled by a select group of countries. In a wide-ranging address to the annual meeting of Libya's parliament-like General's People Congress, Gadhafi also warned Libyans not to support foreign extremists and to stand strong in the face of terrorism. Gadhafi's comments, moderate in the main but typically inflammatory in parts, come as Libya returns to the international fold following years of being regarded as a state...

Moammar Gadhafi said Wednesday he wants Libya and the United States to be friends, but the one-time international pariah slammed the United Nations Security Council for being controlled by a select group of countries. In a wide-ranging address to the annual meeting of Libya's parliament-like General's People Congress, Gadhafi also warned Libyans not to support foreign extremists and to stand strong in the face of terrorism. Gadhafi's comments, moderate in the main but typically inflammatory in parts, come as Libya returns to the international fold following years of being regarded as a state sponsor of terror. "We don't say love...

LONDON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has called the hostile U.S. attitude toward Europe during President Bush's first term "an aberration." "The lack of warmth for European unity shown during Mr. Bush's first term was an aberration in American policy," Mandelson -- a former Labor minister and a close ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair -- said in an interview published Monday in the Independent. Mandelson said in visiting Europe this week, Bush was "reaching out to Europe and the rest of the world and we should reach back." The visit "indicates a recognition that...

President Bush will today call for Europe and the United States to put aside their differences over Iraq and begin a new era of unity. The President flew into Brussels last night to begin two days of meetings with EU and Nato leaders. The aim of the trip is to mend fences at the start of his second term in office. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paved the way with a whistle-stop tour of key EU capitals a fortnight ago. Mr Bush will say the EU - not just the UK - is a key ally of America. The...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush left on a five-day, fence-mending trip to Europe on Sunday, hoping to heal frayed feelings from the Iraq war and to bolster U.S.-European alliances. "Leaders on both sides of the Atlantic understand that the hopes for peace in the world depend on the continued unity of free nations," Bush said during his Saturday radio address. "We do not accept a false caricature that divides the Western world between an idealistic United States and a cynical Europe. America and Europe are the pillars of the free world," he said. "We share the same belief in freedom...

CONDI OFFERS TO GIVE FRANCE MICHAEL MOORE Gift of Filmmaker Seen as Olive Branch In a major foreign policy speech in Paris today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice extended an olive branch to the French by offering to give them the filmmaker Michael Moore. “We hope you will put aside past differences to work for peace and stability in the Middle East,” Dr. Rice told her audience at the Institute of Political Studies. “And in exchange, we will give you Michael Moore.” In addition to the handover of Michael Moore, Dr. Rice offered to change the name of “Freedom Fries”...

Condoleezza Rice negotiated the trickiest leg of her European tour as the new US Secretary of State yesterday, extending an elegant hand of friendship to France and calling for a new understanding between America and Europe. Before meeting President Jacques Chirac at the Elysée Palace, Miss Rice used her first major speech in office to insist that it was time to "turn away from past disagreements". "America stands ready to work with Europe on our common agenda and Europe must stand ready to work with America," she said. Miss Rice chose the elite academic setting of Paris's Sciences Politiques university...

US SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice has called for a "new chapter" in relations with Europe after a rift over the Iraq war and began repairing ties with France, one of the biggest critics of the conflict. Ms Rice pointedly made the appeal in Paris during an eight-nation tour, underlining the message that President George W. Bush wants Europe to be a partner and not a rival. Calling each other "Michel" and "Condi" at a joint news conference, Ms Rice and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier pledged to give US-French relations a new start and emphasised areas of cooperation rather...

PARIS (Reuters) - France wants a fresh start in relations with the United States and both sides have much to contribute to a renewed transatlantic partnership, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said in comments published Monday. He made the remarks before a visit to Paris Tuesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) aimed in part at repairing ties damaged by the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites), which France opposed. "The moment has come for a fresh start in our relations," Barnier said in an interview with the French daily Liberation which was conducted late...

Turkey's foreign minister has spoken of Syria's readiness for peace talks, during a landmark visit to Israel. Abdullah Gul is meeting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israeli leaders in Jerusalem to discuss the prospects for reviving Middle East peace talks. Syria "expressed willingness to resume negotiations without preconditions" with Israel, he was quoted as saying. Mr Gul is also on a mission to repair Israeli-Turkish ties after a chill last year over Israel's crackdown in Gaza. He is the most senior Turkish politician to visit Israel since the Justice and Development Party - a moderate movement rooted in Islam...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Egypt sent a convicted Israeli spy home after eight years in jail and Israel released six Egyptian infiltrators Sunday in the clearest sign of a warming of relations strained by a Palestinian uprising. Both cases had elements of the bizarre. Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Arab textile worker, was alleged to have passed messages in women's underwear soaked in invisible ink. Israel said the Egyptians detained last summer planned to hijack an army tank. By putting the two affairs behind them, Israel and Egypt seemed to be setting the stage for closer security cooperation over Prime Minister Ariel...

A top Hamas leader said yesterday the terror group may accept a long-term truce with Israel, softening its call for the total destruction of the Jewish state. Signaling a possible change in Hamas' hard-line policy, Sheik Hassan Yousef said that if Israel removed its settlements from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the group could agree to allow the Jewish state to exist in peace and security. Yousef, a senior Hamas official in the West Bank, told The Associated Press he envisions a truce in which Israel and a Palestinian state "live side-by-side in peace and security for a certain...

WASHINGTON - Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell urged Europe on Friday to help heal rifts over Iraq with the United States instead of relying on the Bush administration to be the peacemaker. Widely respected in Europe and perceived as favoring traditional alliances more than other Cabinet members, Powell said Europe should respond in kind to President Bush's pledge to reach out across the Atlantic. "I think Europe has to reach out as well," Powell told Reuters in an interview as he prepares to leave office. "We have to meet one another here and not just say, 'Come on, United...

MADRID, Nov 26 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush is awaiting "gestures" from the Spanish government after King Juan Carlos extended an "olive branch" after the two countries fell out over Iraq, Spanish media reported Friday. According to the El Pais daily, which quoted sources at the meeting at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, and White House sources, Bush and the king met for three hours. During the encounter, the king transmitted "a message, an olive branch on the part of Zapatero," the paper added, referring to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Madrid and Washington were close...