Free Republic

Why Does Ahmadinejad Want Russian Troops in Iran? 25/04/2008 By Amir Taheri Why is the leadership in Tehran anxious to give Russia the right to land troops in Iran? The question is not fanciful. The Islamic Republic is conducting a devious campaign to prepare public opinion for that eventuality. The message is relayed through deliberately vague terms that diplomats understand immediately while the general public does not. The device is to revive two treaties that most students of Iranian history thought were dead and buried long ago. The first is the 1921 Treaty that the government of Sayyed Ziauddin Tabatabai,...

The Thailand Coup – Creating A New World Order David J. Jonsson September 28, 2006   The Sword of Islam may not take on the form of war and or terrorism, but take the form of political action, bloodless coups, finance and media propaganda. The actions are to achieve the same goal—the establishment of the Islamic Kingdom of God on Earth and implementation of Shariah law. In the case of Thailand it was a ‘bloodless’ coup led by Muslim Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin ostensibly to remove a corrupt democratically elected government. As Time Magazine (Asia) on September 25 reported Gen....

NOVO OGAREVO, Russia. September 11, 2006 President Putin succeeded in impressing a group of foreign Russia experts at his official residence outside Moscow, displaying his command of major issues, his endurance during the nearly three-hour conversation (he had just returned from South Africa), and—with an introduction to the group by press secretary Alexei Gromov and evident pride—his Italian chef. Delivering a not-so-subtle message at the luncheon, Putin said Russia would not work against U.S. interests, but Moscow would uphold its own interests. Relations will only be effective, he said, “if our interests are taken into account.” And while he values...

World briefing Irresistible rise of the dictators' club Simon Tisdall Tuesday June 6, 2006 Guardian Tony Blair's promotion of shared global values and inclusive institutions in his Georgetown speech last month took little account of the rise and rise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Few may yet have heard of it. But out of the east comes a radically different paradigm for 21st-century international organisation, short on idealism and long on hard-headed self-interest. The "universal" principles of "liberty, democracy and justice" lauded by Mr Blair are hardly its driving force. Founded by China, the five-year-old SCO groups together like-minded authoritarian...

Oracle Commentaries 7/22/2006 Urgent Intelligence Update UNCOVERED: RUSSIAN-SYRIAN-IRANIAN AXIS For students of Bible prophecy, even the title of this communiqué should set off alarm sirens. I just received some electrifying intelligence data. First, from the Debka-Net-Weekly’s briefing. And second, from some personal intelligence sources (I carefully guard) that confirm Debka’s report. Russia, Iran and Syria have entered a defense pact that is in the process of altered the balance of power in the entire Middle East. Russia’s part in the pact has been kept relatively secret for a long time. But the facts reveal a long steady Russian commitment...

I have been invited to be a guest on Ken Bagwell's, "Heads Up America", show on Friday morning (tomorrow) at 11 AM Eastern Time, 10 AM Central, 9 AM MOuntain, and 8 AM Pacific. The topics will include: The aftermath and current situation at Klamath, including my book, The Stand at Klamath Falls Illegal Immigration and the need for the American people to stand and demand and end to it. The Red China Threat and my book series, The Dragon's Fury Series. Ken is a conservative, all-American talk show host. He was very supportive of the Klamath Farmers during the...

The amount of Russian espionage in the United States dipped after the Soviet collapse in 1991, officials and experts say, but rebounded by 1994 under then-foreign intelligence chief and later Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "massive" expansion of intelligence-gathering in Western Europe and North America, Jane's Intelligence Digest reported. Officials and experts say Russian spying has increased significantly under Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel. "In 1989 and 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, we all wanted to light candles and sing 'Kumbaya' and wait for the peace dividends to...

THE career of President Vladimir Putin of Russia was built at least in part on a lie, according to US researchers. A new study of an economics thesis written by Putin in the mid-1990s has revealed that large chunks of it were copied from an American text. Putin was labelled a plagiarist yesterday after a pair of researchers at the Brookings Institution, a Washington DC think tank, established that the Russian president’s academic credentials were based on a dissertation he had lifted in part verbatim from the Russian translation of a management study written by two professors at the University...

WASHINGTON - The Russian government had sources inside the American military command as it planned and executed the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to Iraqi documents released as part of a Pentagon report. The Russians passed information to Saddam Hussein on U.S. troop movements and plans during the opening days of the war, according to the report Friday. The unclassified report does not assess the value of the information or provide details beyond citing two captured Iraqi documents that say the Russians collected information from sources "inside the American Central Command" and that battlefield intelligence was provided to Saddam...

Russia and China bridle at paying UN All Financial Times NewsThe US has sparked protests from Russia and China by proposing a fundamental change to the way contributions to the United Nations are calculated that would make them pay more. The US, the organisation's biggest contributor, wants to shift from a formula broadly based on gross national income (GNI) to one that takes account of purchasing power parity (PPP) – a tool used by economists to compare living standards in different countries more accurately. In testimony prepared for a congressional hearing, before that hearing was delayed, John Bolton, the US...

Russia Spies Operated in Iraq Through 2003 Mar 24 3:48 PM US/Eastern By MIKE ECKEL Associated Press Writer MOSCOW Russia had a military intelligence unit operating in Iraq up through the 2003 U.S. invasion and fall of Baghdad, a Russian analyst said Friday. A Pentagon report said Russia provided Saddam Hussein with intelligence on U.S. military movements and plans. The unclassified report does not assess the value of the information or provide details beyond citing two captured Iraqi documents that say the Russians collected information from sources "inside the American Central Command" and that battlefield intelligence was provided to Saddam...

Venezuela has become an important customer of Russian weapons, a senior government official said when announcing a record sale of armament in 2005, AP reported. Mikhail Dmitriyev, the head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, advised that Russia could sell MiG strike aircraft to Venezuela. Queried about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez' remarks on the possibility of buying MiG's, Dmitriyev answered that no concrete deal has been made. However, "if Venezuela desires to procure MiG's, we are ready to cooperate," he noted. According to the official, Russia is also determined to open a maintenance site for any weapons...

Ben Levy, founder of ACLU here made his mark `All I wanted to do was to protect the right to speak freely without penalty, without being afraid.' The bullets always were fired at night, but the threats, curses and social snubs came at any hour of the day. Houston's early American Civil Liberties Union members often found themselves in conflict with groups willing to use unsavory means to maintain the status quo. Founded in 1957 by Houston lawyer Ben G. Levy and a handful of supporters, the organization eventually made its mark in prison, civil rights and First Amendment litigation....