Free Republic

NATO is a corpse. All that remains is the grotesque performance art of a diplomatic zombie stumbling from summit to summit, mouthing tired clichés about “shared values” and “burden sharing,” even as its core strategic logic lies rotting beneath the surface. The Atlantic Alliance, once the steel scaffolding of Western security, has become a hollow ritual. Its military readiness is an illusion. Its political cohesion is fraying. Its future, if it has one, lies not in revival—but in reinvention or replacement. This is not a triumphalist declaration from the Kremlin or Beijing. It is a sober diagnosis, grounded in realism...

(CNSNews.com) – The financial contribution that the United States makes to the United Nations has increased sharply over the past decade, rising by $4.5 billion between 2001 and 2010 – a 142 percent rise -- according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Since 2006, the OMB has presented Congress with an annual report detailing the U.S. contributions to the U.N. system for each fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. The total money contributed from all federal agencies to the United Nations, as reported by OMB, since 2001 are as follows: FY 2001 -- $...

Be Our Guest 'War is just like boxing," said Gen. George Patton. "When you get your opponent on the ropes, you must keep punching the hell out of him and not let him recover." Today in Iraq, the enemy is on the ropes. Our Air Force has pummeled Al Qaeda with 40,000 pounds of bombs. Soldiers and Marines have reduced northern Al Qaeda safe havens to rubble. Contractors are delivering tons of supplies and securing our diplomats. One-time insurgent strongholds are returning to peace. One would expect aspiring political leaders not only to laud our troops for their great work...

Senate Republicans turn back Democratic plan requiring start of U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq within 120 days