Free Republic

A potentially dangerous regional war may be developing in Northeast Africa thanks to the Chinese-funded Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It seems that, wherever people grab onto Chinese money, despair follows.The Nile is the longest river in Africa and may be the longest in the world. (The Amazon competes with it for that title.) While Egypt’s historic prominence means that most people instinctively associate the Nile with that country, the great river actually runs through eleven nations. The White Nile begins in Rwanda or Burundi, flowing north through Tanzania, Uganda, and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia, flowing...

During his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas, would not commit to not tearing down existing border wall built by President Trump’s administration.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Thursday defended Mexico’s restrictive immigration policy, which has prevented many Central American migrants from crossing Mexico to reach the U.S. border. Mexico has sent National Guard officers and immigration agents to the southern border with Guatemala to prevent migrant caravans from entering Mexico and detain those who do manage to cross.... ...López Obrador’s willingness to assume ownership of the immigration policies despite evidence of U.S. pressure reflects his nationalist stance on most issues; he has made defending Mexico’s sovereignty a central issue...

EU member states Hungary and Poland have followed through on their threat to block the continental power bloc’s seven-year budget, after Brussels attempted to push it through with conditions the populist nations said were akin to “political enslavement”. European Union rules mean that many significant decisions — including whether to approve the bloc’s seven-yearly funding programs — must be taken unanimously, with any single member state able to veto decisions. This safeguard was triggered on Monday by conservative-led Hungary and Poland, who blocked the progress of the €1.8 trillion (£1.6 trillion, $2.1 trillion) ‘Multi annual Financial Framework’ (MFF) as an...

At the beginning of July, all eyes and pundits were focused on Israel’s plan to apply sovereignty to portions of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), with speculation about when Israel would do it, over what territory, and what the political, diplomatic and military fallout would be. What a difference a month makes! Albeit sanctioned by the Trump “Peace to Prosperity” plan, and specifically mentioned as a legislative action central to the Israeli government coalition agreement, nothing has happened. It's possible that in the foreseeable future nothing will, and that plans for sovereignty are another unexpected victim of the Coronavirus...

Four House Democrats have written to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling on the United States to cut assistance to Israel should it proceed to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, JTA reported on Monday. The letter was initiated by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Betty McCollum of Minnesota. The letter to Pompeo is circulating among Democrats in a bid to add signatures. “Should the Israeli government move forward with the planned annexation with this administration’s acquiescence, we will work to ensure non-recognition as well as pursue conditions on...

MPs are due to vote on the government's plan to ban low-skilled immigration as the UK moves towards a new points-based system. The government says the new points-based system will treat EU and non-EU citizens equally and aims to attract people who can contribute to the UK's economy. Home Secretary Priti Patel described the new points-based system as "firmer, fairer and simpler". She said the new law gives the UK "full control of our immigration system for the first time in decades and the power to determine who comes to this country." She added: "It will attract the people we...

In the ultimate manifestation of extreme ‘cancel’ culture meets the domino effect, Americans have decided to cancel seemingly everything, everywhere, because of the coronavirus epidemic. My gut (and hope) says this is all cartoonishly overblown and we’ll look back on some of these extreme measures and laugh, but the rest of the world seems to have decided that it’s the next bubonic plague, or something, and is taking action accordingly. The purported logic is to slow the virus’ spread so medical facilities aren’t overwhelmed, and there is soundness to it. Even with a more than slight percentage chance of older...

Use it or lose it. Article V opponents believe America is too corrupt to be trusted with a Convention of the States. They believe We The People fulfilled Ben Franklin’s fears and are no longer fit for self-government, which if true, means we don’t have any business voting either. Nonsense. Thanks to our collective failure to demand Article V Conventions of the States when necessary, We The People slowly, over decades, relinquished our sovereign authority to Scotus. I challenge anyone to explain the practical limits of the Supreme Court of the United States. On paper, our system provides mutual checks,...

The Trump administration is barring Iran’s top diplomat from entering the United States this week to address the United Nations Security Council about the U.S. assassination of Iran’s top military official in Baghdad, violating the terms of a 1947 headquarters agreement requiring Washington to permit foreign officials into the country to conduct U.N. business, according to three diplomatic sources. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif requested a visa a “few weeks ago” to enter the United States to attend a Jan. 9 Security Council meeting on the importance of upholding the U.N. Charter, according to a diplomatic source familiar with...

U.S.-led coalition tells Iraqi military it will withdraw from Iraq out of respect for the nation's sovereignty https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1214275758643929089

At first glance, the new nationalism of conservatives will seem benign and even uncontroversial. In his book “The Case for Nationalism,” Rich Lowry defines nationalism as flowing from a people’s “natural devotion to their home and to their country.” Yoram Hazony, in his book “The Virtue of Nationalism,” also has a rather anodyne definition of nationalism. It means “that the world is governed best when nations agree to cultivate their own traditions, free from interference by other nations.” There is nothing particularly controversial at all about these statements. Defined in these terms, it sounds like little more than simply defending...

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador warned President Trump against taking military action against the vicious drug and human smuggling cartels that control the Mexican side of the United States' southern border. "These cartels reside on our sovereign soil," he pointed out. "Therefore, it is our prerogative to decide what to do about them." "The situation is more complicated than Mr. Trump's simplistic observation that the cartels murder people," Lopez said. "Generally, murder is a bad thing. On the other hand, these cartels bring a lot of US dollars into our country and that is a good thing. Trying to...

Boris Johnson has not won a single vote in the House of Commons... ..... And yet, despite everything, an intriguing question is bubbling up in London, even among some of those predisposed to hate anything Johnson does or stands for: Is he winning? ..... Whatever else can legitimately be leveled at Johnson’s door, he cannot (yet) be accused of making the same mistake. He has defined what he wants from Brexit—maximum sovereignty and no more delays. The rest of his policy flows from there. ..... Johnson’s political strategy at home is also showing early signs of success. In contrast to...

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ speech to the 74th annual High-Level General Assembly meeting on September 24th was full of generalities about world problems the UN is purporting to deal with, in contrast to President Trump's honest discussion of hard truths. “We are here to advance the common good while upholding our shared humanity and values,” the secretary general said. “That vision united the founders of our Organization.” However, Secretary General Guterres’ concept of the UN “vision” today is of a globalist institution, which was not the founders’ original vision at all. The founders' vision for a new United...

Citizens in the small central European state of Slovenia have formed a civil defense force to put a stop to illegal migrants entering their country from Croatia.The Balkan route for migrants heading north from Turkey and Greece into Germany is well-known. However, thanks to Hungary’s national populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the classic Balkan route which starts from Turkey or Greece, goes through Serbia, and then into Hungary has been sealed off. ‘Replacement Migration’, as the United Nation puts it, now comes mainly comes through Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Austria. This is the alternative route that’s been established for illegal...

'In recent weeks I’ve been torn between family loyalty and the national interest,' Jo Johnson wrote. Jo is opposed to a no-deal Brexit. In a surprising move, Boris Johnson's younger brother Jo Johnson announced on Thursday that he is resigning from his positions as Tory MP and minister in what The Guardian called "an extraordinary blow" to Boris Johnson's...

In a stunning press conference today U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explains why she she has taken no action to curb the illegal immigration influx into the U.S. While explaining why she will not allow congress to debate, change or modify U.S. immigration laws, Pelosi outlines how the United States is part of a global society, without borders and without any sovereign right to impede the “human society” from entering our nation. Therefore, according to her outlook and worldview, U.S. politicians have no right to stop any migration movement. Keep this in mind as we approach the 2020 election. The...

Full Title: Supreme Court’s conservatives overturn precedent as liberals ask ‘which cases the court will overrule next’ The Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned a 41-year-old precedent Monday, prompting a pointed warning from liberal justices about “which cases the court will overrule next.” The issue in Monday’s 5 to 4 ruling was one of limited impact: whether states have sovereign immunity from private lawsuits in the courts of other states. In 1979, the Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to such immunity, although states are free to extend it to one another and often do. But the court’s...