Free Republic

Building recent on efforts to strengthen political relationships between Tehran and South American nations, Iran has announced intentions to launch HispanTV to expand their influence in the region, and give their strategic influence a wider audience. A recent planned tour of leftist Latin Amarican states by Iranian leader Ahmadinejad was seen as a demonstration of solidarity by the leaders of those States as a way of uniting against Western powers. According to The Miami Herald, the channel has already begun running anti-Western programming suggesting US plots against Venezuela, and Syria. Ahmadinejad reportedly suggested that the purpose of the channel was...

It’s being called a “revolt” by intelligence pros who are paid to give their honest assessment of the ISIS war—but are instead seeing their reports turned into happy talk. More than 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military's Central Command have formally complained that their reports on ISIS and al Qaeda’s branch in Syria were being inappropriately altered by senior officials, The Daily Beast has learned. The complaints spurred the Pentagon’s inspector general to open an investigation into the alleged manipulation of intelligence. The fact that so many people complained suggests there are deep-rooted, systemic problems in how...

Six people have died and 28 have been injured after gunmen opened fire on a funeral at a church in Jordan. It took place at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak governorate, about 110 miles south of the capital Amman. A witness told TV channel Al Mamlaka that two men - one carrying a rifle and another a ‌pistol - opened fire for several minutes. The station said the men had got out of a vehicle before attacking the funeral at Hamoud church. Local reports initially said seven people had been killed, but Jordan's public security directorate later said there...

A Polish soldier who accidentally shot a Syrian refugee who had entered Poland over the border from Belarus has been acquitted of negligent use of a weapon. The Syrian man had been seeking 50,000 zloty (€11,500) in compensation from the soldier. The verdict was welcomed by defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, whose ministry had supported the soldier’s legal defence. The incident in question took place in November 2023 in Poland’s northeastern Podlasie province. The soldier, named only as Adam Ł. under Polish privacy law and who holds the rank of second lieutenant, had only recently received his first posting to the...

A New York City native became an ISIS bride at just 18 — and is now the first woman to face trial in the US as an alleged member of the ruthless terror group. Halima Salman, now 27, has been painted by Brooklyn federal prosecutors as an ISIS-trained machine gun-toting wannabe killer, showing footage of the young woman wielding an AK-47 assault rifle in her terrorist husband’s Syria home. “The evidence shows that the defendant received training from a violent, brutal, terrorist organization, an organization responsible for violent attacks all over the world,” Assistant US Attorney Amanda Shami told the...

Revealed: the South American connection (Filed: 09/11/2003) A lawless frontier is helping to finance Arab extremists. Philip Sherwell reports from Ciudad del Este, Paraguay They work from dawn until dusk on the traffic-clogged Friendship Bridge that runs across the Parana River between the seedy Paraguayan city of Ciudad del Este and its neighbour, Foz do Iguacu in Brazil. By foot, bicycle and motorcycle or packed into cars, vans and buses, the people known as "ants" criss-cross the bridge several times a day with sacks and boxes laden with counterfeit cigarettes, pirated CDs and computer software and fake designer clothes. For...

COVERT RADIO SHOW: "The Daily Blast" "Today a look at Pakistan, North Korea, Iran and the G20" (April 1, 2009)

This Thanksgiving, President Obama is calling for Americans to lend a helping hand to another group of pilgrims fleeing persecution. "Nearly four centuries after the Mayflower set sail, the world is still full of pilgrims - men and women who want nothing more than the chance for a safer, better future for themselves and their families," Obama said in his weekly address Thursday. "What makes America America is that we offer that chance."

'Nearly four centuries after the Mayflower set sail, the world is still full of pilgrims - men and women who want nothing more than the chance for a safer, better future for themselves and their families,' Obama said in his address. 'People should remember that no refugee can enter our borders until they undergo the highest security checks of anyone traveling to the United States,' Obama said in his address. Obama has vowed to veto the House refugee bill. But the White House has said it is open to working with lawmakers on tighter security measures for visitors from 38...

President Obama used his weekly address to appeal to families counting their blessings on Thanksgiving, reminding Americans that the holiday isn’t only about turkey but a tribute to the deep immigration history that led to the nation’s founding. In 1620, a small band of pilgrims came to this continent, refugees who had fled persecution and violence in their native land, Obama says. Nearly 400 years later, we remember their part in the American story and we honor the men and women who helped them in their time of need. The Obama administration said Wednesday that states can't legally block the...

“Turkish journalist İbrahim Karagül, who is close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has published columns since the start of the Iran War envisioning the destruction of Israel at the hands of Turkey. In a March 13, 2026 column titled "If it makes that 'fatal mistake,' Turkey will invade Israel! It will burn and destroy Tel Aviv and liberate Jerusalem. You have not understood the turn of history! Our silence is dangerous! They cannot invade Iran. There will no longer be Arab-Persian wars or a sectarian war either. The 'Middle Eastern order' has collapsed. Israel is a one-day state."

Strategic patience for the win? Iran's regime leaders thought they could force the US to buckle by strangling the global economy at the Strait of Hormuz. The US, however, has an actual blue-water navy, and that tends to matter in blockades involving a country entirely reliant on sea trade for its only valuable export economy. As the Wall Street Journal concedes, Donald Trump's Hormuz blockade is a lot less "leaky" than the IRGC's. And as Trump himself pointed out yesterday, the Strait may not matter for very much longer anyway:By squeezing the Strait of Hormuz, both the U.S. and Iran...

Let's Examine Mass Killings in Recent History and Islamism The Muslim Turks murdered, either directly or indirectly, between 1.5 and 2.5 million Christians between 1894 and 1924. It was also a jihad, or "holy" war.Sudan, 1953–2004: Some 4 million dead. Written in September 2005: Genocide in Darfur – How the Horror Began , Sudan Tribune, 3 September 2005. Copied here: Racism and Islamism in Khartoum... Perhaps the most destructive civil conflict since World War II and one of the longest wars in Africa's history, it saw the Christian and animist South pitted against the Muslim, Arab-speaking North. As many as...

Greece is set to sign a 3.1 billion euro defence agreement with Israel in Tel Aviv, marking the largest single defence export deal in Israeli history and equipping Athens with its first fully integrated, multi-layered air defence system. A Greek delegation will formalise the contract with the Israeli Defence Ministry, concluding three years of negotiations. The systems, known collectively in Greece as Achilles’ Shield, will be delivered in stages and are scheduled to reach full operational readiness within 35 months. Most of the funding will flow to Rafael Advanced Defence Systems for David’s Sling batteries capable of intercepting heavy rockets...

The Department of Justice announced Thursday that it is creating a task force to take a fresh look at drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations linked to Hezbollah after an investigative report last month claimed that the Obama administration turned a blind eye to such activities to preserve the Iran nuclear deal. The task force, dubbed the Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team (HFNT), will begin its work by reviewing investigations stemming from Project Cassandra, a campaign led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) targeting the Lebanese terror group’s actions. According to a Politico report published last month, officials with the Obama Justice...

The United States on Monday formally removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move Secretary of State Marco Rubio said eliminates the final major barriers to investment and economic recovery in the country. Rubio said in a statement that he had authorized the formal rescission after a mandatory 45-day congressional notification period ended. President Donald Trump had initiated the countdown in July after confirming to Congress that Syria’s government had ceased supporting acts of international terrorism. "I have also delisted Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) designation as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT)," Rubio said Monday. "These...

Unless Israel draws concrete red lines in Syria and the eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish army and navy will further encroach upon Israel’s northern and maritime borders. Israel could find itself facing Turkish tanks on the Golan Heights and Turkish frigates off the coast of Caesarea. This is the warning I heard this week from a very senior Israeli intelligence official. The warning echoes the alarm expressed in the 2025 Nagel Commission report (which evaluated Israel’s security budget and force buildup) about the Turkish drive toward an Islamist-jihadist regional order with Ottoman-era hegemonic ambitions. SNIP

Is Erdogan siding with the jihadis? Probably. Who let Turkey into NATO? Broadcast coming in 10 minutes. Will be available for playback after the program is over.

“A New York woman allegedly planned to bomb the New York State Capitol and scouted the building clad in a burka ahead of the ISIS–inspired plot, the FBI said. Jessica Bowie, 35, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, according to a complaint filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York. She stands accused of planning to target the New York State Capitol and New York State Senators. Investigators learned that Bowie had intended to conduct the attack before fleeing to Syria to join others in ISIS–controlled territories,...

Something has gone wrong somewhere along the way in America and New York City. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji is heading to Syria and Lebanon next month – and she’s bringing along cops assigned to the First Couple’s taxpayer-funded NYPD detail, The Post has learned. Duwaji will be jetting to the Middle East for a trip beginning Sept. 20 to the countries on the State Department’s “Do Not Travel” list for Americans because of dangerous conditions, a source said. Duwaji, a 29-year-old Syrian-American artist, has ties to the region and refers to herself as a “Syrian Illustrator” on her...