Free Republic

Recent developments indicate a possible turnaround of events in the hotly contested Syrian war zones because of rethinking process of how best to achieve the aim of containing Iran. This seems to be imminent because of apparent cracks in the Russia-Iran alliance that has been shoring up Al Assad’s regime for the last three years at least. Two other players, namely Turkey and the US, have apparently reached what seems to be a workable level of understanding to coordinate their activities in the heavily Kurdish populated parts of Syria, particularly in Manbij area. Recent reports suggest that the US and...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Donald Trump’s Mideast negotiating team will visit the region 'next week' as it finalizes its as-yet unveiled Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and will hold talks on deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip. The trip comes as officials say the Trump administration is near completion of the plan with an eye on a possible release this summer. The National Security Council said Wednesday that senior adviser Jared Kushner and special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt would travel to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It said they would discuss “the next stages of the...

The oil-rich Gulf States - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - are not known for easily parting with their petro-dollars. But this miserly instinct dissipates when the Sheikhdoms perceive a direct threat to the stability of their respective governments. On Sunday, the three nations led by Riyadh pledged to provide Jordan with a cash infusion of $2.5 billion to help the arid kingdom prop up its free-falling economy. Separately, the European Union announced that it would provide Jordan with $23.5 million. The hefty Gulf State bailout is testament to how seriously they view the problem. Jordan has...

A spokesman for the Iranian government on Tuesday warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that U.S. President Donald Trump could nullify any nuclear deal with North Korea, reported The Associated Press. The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Mohammad Bagher Nobakht as saying, "We are facing a man who revokes his signature while abroad." Nobakht's remarks came following the historic summit in Singapore between Trump and Kim. Even before the summit began, Iran urged North Korea to be cautious, with a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry saying Pyongyang should enter the gathering with “awareness” because the United States has a...

Inland lake where Christians believe Jesus walked on water has reached its lowest level in a century The shrinking Sea of Galilee, the inland lake where Christians believe Jesus walked on water, is to be topped up with desalinated seawater. A plan given Israeli cabinet approval will pump 100 million cubic metres of water annually by 2022 into the lake in the Galilee region, said Yechezkel Lifshitz, from the country’s energy and water ministry. In 2017 Israel’s water authority said the sea, hit by years of drought, had reached its lowest level in a century. Situated 200 metres (656ft) below...

Heavy fighting in Yemen between pro-government forces and Shiite rebels has killed more than 600 people on both sides in recent days, security officials said Monday. A charity said meanwhile that an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition had destroyed a new cholera clinic in the country's north. Government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, have been advancing along the western coast in recent weeks as they battle the Iran-allied rebels, known as Houthis. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. Witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals,...

The White House is on the verge of introducing penalties against companies engaged in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which will deliver Russian natural gas to the EU across the Baltic Sea. Apart from Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom, the project is being undertaken by German energy firms Wintershall and Uniper, French multinational Engie, British-Dutch oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell, and Austrian energy company OMV. Initially, Gazprom's European partners were planning to become stakeholders in the Nord Stream 2 AG, which is registered in Switzerland. However, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Poland’s...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Someone really needs to relieve John McCain of his I-phone. – The guy whose rejection by the American people gave us Barack Hussein Obama got all upset on Saturday over President Trump’s refusal to bow to our Euro-Canadian betters at the G7 summit, and decided to send the following tweet: John McCain ✔ @SenJohnMcCain To our allies: bipartisan majorities of Americans remain pro-free trade, pro-globalization & supportive of alliances based on 70 years of shared values. Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t. 7:55 PM - Jun 9, 2018 There...

“Keep calm and carry on.” In the wake of a disastrous G7 summit where US president Donald Trump all but broke off the Western alliance, the EU should stay cool and prepare to take over global leadership. That is the message on Monday (11 June) by a former member of the EU leaders club, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. “The US is leaving a vacuum. And who should step in? For me, it is completely obvious, it is Europe’s time to step in,” the former Danish prime minister said at an event in Brussels. “That’s where our new next opportunity is,” she said,...

Israeli Military Industries Systems, or IMI Systems, in cooperation with Israel Aerospace Industries, abbreviated IAI, is close to finishing development of a new air-launched, precision-guided, high-speed weapon called Rampage that can hit targets more than 90 miles away. The announcement comes as Israel steps up its cross-border campaign against Iran and its interests in neighboring Syria, which has seen an increasing emphasis on stand-off capabilities given the complex air defense environment in that country, but the weapon could also be especially attractive to a number of foreign military forces. The two Israeli state-run companies officially unveiled the new weapon in...

Prince William will sit down for talks with the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president during his historic visit to the Middle East. William will also visit Jordan, and the capital Amman where his wife the Duchess of Cambridge lived from May 1984 until September 1986. 'The non-political nature of His Royal Highness's role – in common with all Royal visits overseas –allows a spotlight to be brought to bear on the people of the region: their cultures, their young people, their aspirations, and their experiences.' The palace said his 'goal' is to meet as 'many people from as...

(News, Comment, Analysis) "What will Israel's reaction to this be? How effective will Syrian air defenses be against a reaction? What will Russia's reaction be to Israeli attacks on its ally's forces?" Col. Pat Lang on his "Sic Semper Tyrannis" blog 6/10/2018 The word from Syria is that the Assad regime is planning their "largest offensive of the war" to launch this week. The report published by "Almasdar News" Saturday June 9th says the big offensive expected in southwestern Syria against the jihadists is about to kick off. The US State Department issued a statement May 25th warning the Syrian...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu released a video Sunday in which made an "unprecedented offer" to the Iranian people to help solve Iran's water crisis by creating a Farsi website with detailed plans on Israeli water conservation technologies and strategies. "The Iranian people are victims of a cruel and tyrannical regime that denies them vital water," Netanyahu stated. "Israel stands with the people of Iran, and that is why I want to help save countless Iranian lives." He noted that "Iran's meteorological organization says that nearly 96% of Iran suffers from some level of drought" and that Iran;s Environmental Minister had...

A wide-ranging discussion, not that long but covering many subjects. Iranian economy in poor shape, and Iranians protesting. Erdogan calling for new elections, Jordan back on the right side, Europe longing for someone to help with the migrant problem, Trump doing his job for the American people, Angela Merkel making things worse, Ezekiel war clouds gathering. Have a good Sunday evening listening to Amir's take on all these momentous things.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned Syrian President Bashar Assad was “no longer immune” from retaliation, while declaring the Iran nuclear deal is over after Washington ditched the accord. “He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, as we’ve just demonstrated, we will destroy his forces." “Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel,” Netanyahu added. “The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well,” he said, adding: “I think it’s something that he...

This afternoon, Donald Trump made an announcement regarding the future of the Iran nuclear deal. Ahead of a self-imposed May 12th deadline, the President announced that he will not be waiving the sanctions. This decision places the United States in violation of the deal. But while it may not kill the JCPOA completely – European states and Iran could decide whether to keep some version of the deal going without the United States – it will start a period of profound uncertainty about the future of U.S-Iranian relations. In some ways, this uncertainty is the most concerning thing about the...

Chinese President Xi Jinping will open late Saturday a two-day regional security summit attended by Russia, Iran and other allies confronting rising tensions with the US over trade and Washington’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal. Armored vans lined the streets of the coastal city of Qingdao as world leaders arrived Friday for the 18th annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional security bloc led by China and Russia. Its member states also include four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics, Pakistan and India. Iran is an observer member. Authorities emptied an entire oceanside swathe of the city —...

International attention in recent years has understandably centered on Pyongyang’s advances in nuclear weapons technology and the question of whether North Korea can be convinced to denuclearize. This focus, however, has tended to obscure the fact that North Korea’s military development serves two purposes. The first is the ability to intimidate and threaten both its neighbors in the region and the United States. The second, less well-known purpose is to proliferate weapons—conventional, unconventional, and weapons of mass destruction—to desperate and unstable regions around the world in exchange for hard currency. Some have said that North Korea’s proliferation of nuclear weapons...

"Bashar al-Assad's father Hafez, met with the founder of the North Korean regime, Kim Il Sung, in the 1970s. As client states of the Soviet Union, both countries developed military-to-military ties. These diplomatic relations have endured to this day. And their governments have a history of sending each other messages of solidarity and support." - Ivan Watson Video at link.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis linked Friday the pullout of US-led coalition forces from Syria to an agreement on a political process. Speaking at a meeting of coalition defense ministers at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Mattis said: “As the operations ultimately draw to a close, we must avoid leaving a vacuum in Syria that can be exploited by the (Bashar) Assad regime or its supporters.” He added that in Syria, “leaving the field before the special envoy Staffan de Mistura achieves success in advancing the Geneva political process we all signed for under the UN security council resolution would...