Free Republic

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday, as Jerusalem, Cairo and Brussels make strides toward a natural-gas export deal. The European Union Embassy in Israel said von der Leyen was arriving “to advance relations between the EU and Israel, especially cooperation in the area of energy. The president will also discuss with Israeli government representatives the global reaction to the food crisis and the situation in the Middle East.” During her two-day visit, von der Leyen is expected to meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Yair...

◾The focus of the most recent rift between Israel and Lebanon is an offshore field called Karish. ◾While Lebanon has yet to make a commercial find of gas in its waters, Israel is already producing from a couple of giant fields. ◾The Israel-Lebanon dispute could lead to a delay in the development of East-Med gas resources. At a time when the world’s gas supply is having to catch up with demand, two prospective gas majors in the eastern Mediterranean have locked horns over a disputed field that could delay the development of local resources. Israel and Lebanon have been...

The buckets of cold water Turkey is pouring on Finland and Sweden’s bids to join NATO may be coming from the sea around the shore of Cyprus, the divided Mediterranean island that is a bargaining chip for the Turkish president, Tayyip Erdogan. There is mounting evidence that Turkey could be using its status as a member of NATO to wield its veto power over the anticipated accession to the alliance of the two Nordic countries as a lever to force the international community to confer legitimacy on its de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. London’s Sunday Express recently reported...

On election night in 2016, Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya set fire to a bulldozer and construction equipment at a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site in Iowa. Over the next few months, the activists used oxy-acetylene torches to melt holes in pipeline valves at three other locations in the state. It was at the height of the Indigenous-led protests against the 1,172-mile-long pipeline, which opponents like the Standing Rock Sioux tribe argued would pollute local water sources and contaminate soil. When Reznicek and Montoya’s actions failed to halt pipeline construction, they held a press conference and publicly took responsibility for...

The United States has confiscated Iranian oil held on a Russian-operated ship near Greece and will send the cargo to the United States aboard another vessel, three sources familiar with the matter said. It was unclear whether the cargo was impounded because it was Iranian oil or due to the sanctions on the tanker over its Russian nexus. Iran and Russia are facing separate U.S. sanctions. The Iranian-flagged ship, the Pegas, was among five vessels designated by Washington on Feb. 22 – two days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – for sanctions against Promsvyazbank, a bank viewed as critical to...

US President Joe Biden has decided not to remove Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from its list of terrorist organizations, Politico reported, refusing to concede to a key Iranian demand in the negotiations to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. According to several sources, Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of his decision during a phone call on April 24, and that decision is final. In March, it was reported that the Biden administration was considering removing terrorism sanctions from the IRGC as part of negotiations to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign...

The United States will participate in Israel’s largescale drill simulating a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities as part of the broader Chariots of Fire exercise later this month, Channel 13 reported on Tuesday evening. According to the unsourced report, the US Air Force will serve as a complementary force, with refueling planes drilling with Israeli fighter jets as they simulate entering Iranian territory and carrying out repeated strikes. The unprecedented Israel- US aerial collaboration in a drill simulating a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities is seen as a potential message to Iran amid long-stalled negotiations in Vienna over a return...

While the Biden administration continues to insist the record high prices at the gas pump are largely due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a video montage of the president's vows during the 2020 campaign to crush the industry that provides the vast majority of energy, along with his actions on his first day in office, suggest there are other factors in play. In a July 2019 primary debate with his Democratic Party opponents hosted by CNN, Biden was asked, "Would there be any place for fossil fuels, including coal and fracking, in a Biden administration?" No," he replied. "We would...

The desolation of U.S. energy security has bolstered Vladimir Putin’s dangerous geopolitical aims.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is illuminating an ugly truth: the anti-fracking war on America’s energy security is being waged by well-funded, radical U.S. environmental groups, as well as interests tied directly to Vladimir Putin. For years, the U.S. government has investigated Russian financial ties to environmental groups that push for ending U.S. fossil fuel production and have successfully shut down fracking sites and pipelines, to the detriment of U.S. workers and consumers. Who benefits? Putin, because the desolation of U.S. energy security has bolstered state-owned Gazprom and his...

Days after taking office as Germany’s vice chancellor and economy minister in December, Robert Habeck asked his most senior officials for a detailed assessment of his country’s dependence on Russian energy. The result shocked him. The country heavily relied on Russian hydrocarbons to power vehicles and factories and heat homes, and there was no contingency plan to secure other supplies, Mr. Habeck said. The government had no viable alternative to Russian imports.

Ben Bernanke, who served as Federal Reserve Chairman under Presidents Bush and Obama, warns that the U.S. economy is headed for a repeat of 1970s “stagflation.” Economists refer to a period of low economic growth, high inflation, and rising unemployment as “stagflation.” “Even under the benign scenario,” the U.S. is likely to go through “a period in the next year or two where growth is low, unemployment is at least up a little bit, and inflation is still high,” Bernanke told the New York Times. “So you could call that stagflation.” That “benign scenario” is if current Fed chair Jerome...

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for an end to oil, gas, and coal use in favor of renewable sources as part of a self-described global climate Marshall Plan. The veteran Portuguese Socialist spoke ahead of the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which has already issued its own call for net-zero carbon emissions to be driven by a wider embrace of solar and wind power sources without delay.

Iran has not been submitting to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, tasked with ensuring United Nations compliance. Iran is just weeks from having enough fissile material to power a nuclear bomb, while simultaneously completing the deployment of 1000 new centrifuges which will allow the regime to enrich its own uranium at an increasing pace, Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Gantz is warning. The news Tuesday came as nuclear talks between Iran and world power, fueled by the United States and European Union have experienced an awkward pause as it appears the two sides are having trouble compromising. “Iran continues...

The Biden administration has remained silent on a key interstate natural gas pipeline facing significant permitting roadblocks. “Since the project’s inception, groups opposing energy infrastructure development have challenged the MVP project at every turn, filing dozens of petitions contesting MVP’s previously issued state and federal authorizations,” said Equitrans spokesperson Natalie Cox. “Ultimately, the decision on [the Mountain Valley Pipeline] is one that President Biden can influence,” climate group Food & Water Watch stated in October. The Biden administration has yet to take a public position on a major natural gas pipeline as the project faces an uphill federal permitting battle....

Lavrov got the "idea" to utter the sad sentence to make distorted and cynical use of historical Nazism, some time after the "talks" between Russia and the "moderate" Abu Mazen --infamous Holocaust distorted since the 1980s-- on the Temple Mount, as a payback for denouncing Bucha and other massacres _______________ CHRONOLOGY: "Russia's message to Israel: a telephone conversation between Putin and Abu Mazen," Elior Levy, Reuters. While Israel is facing riots in Jerusalem, preparing for a political crisis with Jordan and exchanging stings with the Kremlin, the Russian president spoke by telephone with the Palestinian Authority chairman. According to...

Italian television interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Israel has summoned the Russian ambassador and demanded an apology over remarks by the Kremlin foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, that Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood” and that the “most rabid antisemites tend to be Jews”. The remarks were part of Lavrov’s defence of Russia’s policy of “denazification” in Ukraine, the Kremlin’s term for a sweeping purge that Ukraine says is a pretext for “mass murder.” In an interview with Italian TV, Lavrov was asked to address how Russia could say it needed to “denazify” the country when its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is Jewish. “As to [Zelenskiy’s] argument of what kind...

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview on Italian television on Sunday that the fact Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish does not negate the Nazi elements in his country. Lavrov added that Nazi Germany's Chancellor Adolf Hitler also "had Jewish blood." This is a developing story with more details to come.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday said that the fact that Ukraine’s president is Jewish does not contradict Moscow’s claims that it launched the invasion to “denazify” the country, claiming that even Hitler “had Jewish blood.” In an interview with Italian news channel Zona Bianca, Lavrov was asked how Russian President Vladimir Putin could claim he was trying to “denazify” Ukraine when Volodymyr Zelensky, the country’s democratically elected president, was Jewish. “So what if Zelensky is Jewish. The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood,” Lavrov said, adding that...

Israel's foreign minister has denounced as "unforgivable" remarks by his Russian counterpart that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler "had Jewish blood". Russian FM Sergei Lavrov made the comments to try to justify Russia's portrayal of Ukraine as "Nazi" despite the fact that its president is Jewish. Israel's foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador for "clarification" and demanded an apology. Nazi Germany murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust in World War Two. Mr Lavrov made the remarks in an interview with the Italian news channel Zona Bianca on Sunday, days after Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day, one of the most solemn occasions...