Free Republic

Here’s one of the more important questions for any contemporary history exam, but one you nonetheless won’t find on any test: 13.) How many deadly terror attacks committed in the name of Islam have occurred since September 11, 2001? a) 234 b) 701 c) 4,049 d) 24,795 Here’s the basic methodology used by the compilers: “The list of terrorist attacks committed by Muslims since 9/11/01 is incomplete because not all such attacks are picked up by international news sources, even those resulting in multiple loss of life. These are not incidents of ordinary crime involving nominal Muslims killing for money...

Well they were all there; European heads of state slowly making their way along one of the great capitals of Europe, oblivious to the growing danger all around them. No this isn’t Paris of 2015; it’s London of 1910 and the funeral of King Edward VII. All the great crowned heads of Europe were there, most cousins through the long line of Queen Victoria, all marching together behind the casket of the British king. All they’re together in their finest uniforms as they display the power of state and yet all oblivious to the gathering storm all around them, which...

Link only from the Globe

Postwar constitution bans use of force in international disputes, which Shinzo Abe says inhibits country's ability to protect itself. Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is to defy public opinion and announce a dramatic shift in the country's defence policy that would make it easier for its troops to fight in overseas conflicts. Abe's cabinet is expected to adopt a resolution on Tuesday that would end Japan's long-standing ban on exercising collective self-defence, or coming to the aid of an ally under attack even if Japan itself is not threatened. Japan's postwar constitution prohibits the use of force to settle international...

....[Obama] told troops he is thankful for their service. He called them "real heroes." He also pledged to bring a “responsible end” to America’s longest war. He promised to announce “fairly shortly” how many U.S. troops will remain in the country after the current combat mission is concluded at end of this year.

Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its postwar constitution Saturday with growing debate over whether to revise the war-renouncing charter in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push for an expanded role for the military. The ruling conservative party has long advocated revision but been unable to sway public opinion. Now Abe is proposing that the government reinterpret the constitution to give the military more prominence without having to win public approval for the revisions. …

Just wondering what would happen....never say never, right? How tepid would the USA react? What if Putin said he just wanted "this island" of Alaska's, or "that small region"? He might say Peter the Great did not represent the will of the Russian people when he sold the land to William Seward on behalf of the United States.... What would the nation do? What would the regime do? What would you do?

Saturday, December 07, 2013 A Date That Will Live Forever in Infamy Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Naval Base Bombed, Shinto Worshipers Fear Backlash - New York Times - December 8 1941 A day after planes passed over their peaceful village on the way to attack the Naval Station at Pearl Harbor, local fishermen are still picking up the pieces. "I don't know what any of this is about," a man who would only give his name as Paji said, holding the remains of a net which he had used to earn a living. "All I...

U.S. Marine tilt-rotor aircraft swooped in during a joint training exercise at this military training range in southwestern Japan last week, dropping off Japanese ground troops and peeling away. The soldiers raced to nearby positions, cutting off an opposing force threatening Marines nearby. As military maneuvers go, it was fairly basic. But had it been a real-world mission, it might also have been illegal. Under the current interpretation of Japan’s pacifist constitution, Japan’s armed forces are not permitted to fight on behalf of friends or allies unless the Japanese themselves come under direct attack. It is a policy that conservative...

The false argument about defending our freedom By John Silveira Issue #142 • July/August, 2013 I'm tired of hearing how we should honor our veterans because they're defending our freedoms. They're not. No one in any of the Islamic countries is trying to take away our freedoms. No one in Russia, China, or North Korea gives a damn about them, either. In reality, the only people taking away our freedoms are in Washington, DC, our statehouses, and our city halls. It is our own politicians, our own bureaucrats, and special interest groups from the Sierra Club to Monsanto, all of...

The NRA’s initial proposal of armed school guards was met with an irrational chorus of protests. More guns aren’t the answer, was the cry. And the leading crier was the White House’s expert skeet shooter. In a country where law enforcement is heavily armed and gunmen are stopped by gunmen in uniforms, a strange Swedenization had set in. The problem was not the man, it was the gun. Get rid of the guns and you stop the killing. Schools across the country are banning not the gun, but the idea of the gun. It is a conceptual prohibition that is...

As most of you have read or seen by now, a journalist and NBC/MSNBC media consultant named William “Bill” Arkin has created quite a stir by viciously insulting American soldiers in Iraq. He wrote at his Washington Post blog, “Early Warning: William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security” column (1/30/07), that “… this NBC (Nightly News) report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer force that thinks it is doing the dirty work” re Iraq. The “report,” according to Arkin, featured “a number of soldiers (who) expressed frustration with...

Suppose our enemies declared war on us—and we didn't show up? In a variation on the pacifist line from the 60s, that's essentially what Chris Hayes has proposed as American policy. On his MSNBC show this morning, the hopelessly naive Hayes suggested that rather than debating "big war"—boots on ground—versus "small war"—targeted strikes—we go for a third option "no war." In Hayes's fantasy-land, America declares the war on terror over and "declares itself at peace." View the video here.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — From a hometown of 26,000 people to an adopted home borough of 2.6 million, Miss America's story includes a journey from a small town to the big city — but it doesn't start there. Mallory Hagan, 23, moved from Alabama to New York City as soon as she became a legal adult, and though she says she left because "I needed to find myself," it turns out she knew who she wanted to be all along. snip [money quote]"I'm not sure that it came out as eloquently as I would have liked it to, but my...

Interfax quoting Putin's spokesman: Putin has sent a message of congratulations to Obama. Of course he did. After all, Mitt Romney said, “There will be no flexibility with Vladimir Putin,” while President Obama promised he’d have way “more flexibility” after the election.

One of mankind’s first recorded discussions concerning morality in warfare is found in Thucydides’ passage in his master work, the Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 B.C.), wherein Athenian commanders, who possessed overwhelming force, approached their adversary before commencing the battle with a surrender ultimatum stating that they would hear no protestations about justice, rather the weaker adversary must consider the incontestable facts of the situation and surrender. In other words, ‘the strong do as they will, and the weak do as they must.’ Obviously these ancients dismissed the concept of restraint in war as irrelevant. To their way of thinking, after the...

American hostage Warren Weinstein says in a video released late Sunday by al Qaeda that he will be killed unless U.S. President Barack Obama agrees to the militant group's demands. "My life is in your hands, Mr. President," Mr. Weinstein said in the video. "If you accept the demands, I live; if you don't accept the demands, then I die."

  December 7, Seventy Years Later David C. Stolinsky Dec. 7, 2011 http://carlahoag.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/u-s-s-arizona-pearl-harbor.jpg December 7, 1941 − like September 11, 2001 − began with fine weather and bright sunshine. Both days began with complacent Americans who planned to spend the day in their usual, peaceful activities. Both days began with other people who had other plans. Both days ended with many Americans dead, and the rest awakened from their slumbers. December 7 was a Sunday. Some people slept late. Others went to church. Personnel at the U.S. Navy Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and at Hickam Army Airfield were...

The most common justification for the Shalit deal is to wear it as a perverse badge of moral nobility. "What other country would exchange a thousand terrorists for one man." This is a close cousin of the argument that says the United States treating terrorists with kid gloves proves that it is nobler than them. Both of these insufferable arguments are symptoms of the moral decline of civilization. If the life of a single soldier is more important than the battle, then why have battles or soldiers at all? We don't send soldiers out to fight because we think that...