Free Republic

How’s that foreign policy working out now with Joe Biden? President Donald Trump brought a greater peace to the Middle East. Biden has brought on a deteriorating situation that’s about to explode into greater war. Folks on the left are freaking out at him for bombing Iranian-backed militias in Syria, saying he only lasted about a month before he did such a military action and they’re not cutting him any slack. Now it looks like the Iranian backed terror group the Houthis have just fired off a ballistic missile at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and several other Saudi cities are also...

Emirati police have arrested a man for allegedly stealing a highly valuable newborn camel to give to his girlfriend for her birthday, the United Arab Emirates’ state-linked newspaper reported Wednesday. The owners of the baby camel reported the theft from their farm earlier this month, according to the local National newspaper, prompting Dubai police to fruitlessly search the area. Several days later, an Emirati man called authorities to say a stray camel had wandered onto his farm some 3 kilometers (almost 2 miles) away. When interrogated, the man’s story fell apart, according to police in Dubai. He soon admitted to...

The daughter of Dubai's ruler who tried to flee the country in 2018 later sent secret video messages to friends accusing her father of holding her "hostage" as she feared for her life. In footage shared with BBC Panorama, Princess Latifa Al Maktoum says commandos drugged her as she fled by boat and flew her back to detention. The secret messages have stopped - and friends are urging the UN to step in. Dubai and the UAE have previously said she is safe in the care of family. Ex-UN rights envoy Mary Robinson, who had described Latifa as a "troubled...

The United Arab Emirates’ mission to Mars is a major achievement for the Gulf country and comes seven months after the country launched its first interplanetary mission snip--- That Israel and the UAE both had important milestones last year points to how important the current relations are. Israel and the UAE have many shared interests, whether it is a shared regional outlook about threats and instability, or the fact that both countries are close partners of the US. Both countries are also pioneering technology products, whether in fintech or food tech or other sectors, many of which have been on...

How holding Palestinian elections threatens to expose Fatah. The Palestinian attempt to appease the Biden administration by holding Palestinian elections threatens to reveal the flabbiness and collapse of Fatah, which lies at the heart of the Palestinian Authority. Recently, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened Fatah members who opted to run outside the Fatah list with death. This apparently occurred last week during a Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting in Ramallah. Abbas had barred members of the Fatah Central Committee, Revolutionary Council, and Consultative Council from running in the upcoming legislative elections. This ban also included current ministers, ambassadors, governors, security officials,...

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article first appeared on JNS. Israel recently signed agreements establishing relations with four Muslim nations: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Both good and bad news surround this development. The bad news is bland and predictable: a permanent peace between Israel and its Muslim neighbors is, according to Islamic law, or sharia, impossible: any land that was once part of Dar al-Islam—that is, any land that was ever conquered by Muslims for any length of time—is always part of Islam and must be recovered by...

President Joe Biden's administration has temporarily paused some pending arms sales to U.S. allies in order to review them, a U.S. State Department official said on Wednesday. Reviews of this sort are typical for a new administration, but Donald Trump's administration was doing deals down to the wire, including one for 50 stealthy F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin as a side deal to the Abraham accords inked only moments before Biden was sworn into office. The Department is temporarily pausing the implementation of some pending U.S. defense transfers and sales under Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales to...

In November 2020, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hu Chun Ying, along with the foreign ministers of the three European member states, said that “The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) alone does not solve all the problems and negotiations and multilateral talks should take place in the Middle East.” The Iranian regime did not welcome the announcement. Over the past year, the Islamic Republic leaders have used all their resources to downgrade and neutralize the United States’ policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran. The regime in Iran rushed to quickly implement a 25-year strategic pact between Iran and China...

Chinese expat Alexis (Xiaozhe Huo) has won the second trial race for the Camel Trek Marathon at Dubai’s Al Marmoom racetrack. A total of 11 expatriates from nine countries participated in the race. Organised by the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Centre (HHC), the annual Camel Trek Marathon is now open to expats in the UAE. German national Linda Krockenberger and Russian-Armenian expat Nonna Akopian clinched the second and third spots, respectively. Alexis said: “It was not just (a) physical race ... but also psychological. You need to have clarity of mind, avoid fear and be courageous in achieving your goal....

Secretary General. Joined by 34 other countries, the document enshrines the Trump administration’s pro-life diplomacy on the official record of the General Assembly. “The United States strongly supports the dignity of all human beings and protecting life from the moment of conception throughout the lifespan,” Ambassador Kelly Craft wrote to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres transmitting the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Promoting Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family. Following the letter, the declaration was issued as an official document of the United Nations last week and circulated on December 11, after having been translated into all six official UN languages....

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a leader of the bipartisan push to block the Trump administration’s sale of F-35 fighter jets and other weaponry to the United Arab Emirates, said Tuesday that the push will likely fail to pass the Senate. “I think there’ll be a significant vote not to sell the F-35s. I don’t know what significant means,” Paul, who has expressed concerns over the UAE’s human rights record and involvement in the conflict in Yemen, told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I think it’s a long shot to win.” Paul explained that — despite the Senate’s vote to block an...

The Senate will vote next week on whether to block President Trump's arms sale to the United Arab Emirates, setting up a foreign policy showdown in the final days of the administration. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said he expects to bring up the votes next week, which he is able to do without support from GOP leadership because of the rules governing arms sale resolutions. “It’s ready, it has privilege on the floor. We are gathering support for it and I would think sometime next week,” Menendez said, asked about timing. Sens. Menendez, Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)...

GAZA - The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees paid the salaries of 30,000 Palestinian staff across the Middle East for last month, but a funding shortfall may still hinder payment in December, officials said on Wednesday. UNRWA finds itself in limbo after the U.S. election - President Donald Trump ended all U.S. payments, but while Palestinians hope President-elect Joe Biden’s administration will at least partially resume payments, that could take months. The agency said last month it had run out of money to pay salaries after two years of funding cuts by the United States and other donors, including...

The experts all told us Donald Trump had no chance to win the presidency in 2016. Then he had the audacity to win anyway. The experts all told us Joe Biden would crush Donald Trump in 2020, and that the Democrats would sweep Congress. Reality intervened: Republicans gained in the House, have more than a shot at keeping the Senate, and the presidential election was diabolically close, whatever its ultimate outcome turns out to be. The experts didn’t seem to have a problem with socialism, riots, or “defund the police,” but those are triggering civil war within the Democratic...

The decision by three Arab states to make peace with Israel can be credited both to efforts by the Trump administration and the recognition by these Sunni states that their security would improve against the ongoing threats they face from Turkey and Iran. Iran and its proxies interfere with Arab states while promoting their Shi’ite revolutionary ideology; likewise, Turkey pushes its Sunni revolutionary ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the region. Turkey and Iran look to overthrow the Sunni Arab states that do not align with them, such as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The normalization deals between the...

The message was clearly aimed at Gulf states and others that are partnered with the US. Iran has sought to reach out to its Arab neighbors, with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warning them that US President Donald Trump will be leaving in 70 days, but Iran’s regime will remain “forever.” He urged them to realize that “betting on outsiders to provide security is never a good gamble.” In Arabic and English, he called for dialogue and to work together. The message was clearly aimed at Gulf states and others that are partnered with the US. Iran was offering them...

Israeli Settlements Minister Tzachi Hanegbi warns that a Biden presidency could ignite war in the Middle East, while Egypt fears Biden would aid the resurgence of Islamists in the region. Hanegbi pointed out that Biden has indicated he will resurrect America’s nuclear agreement with Iran which was cancelled by the Trump administration. For Israel, this would represent an existential threat to national security and drastically increase the chances of war with Tehran. “If Biden stays with that policy, there will, in the end, be a violent confrontation between Israel and Iran,” said Hanegbi. Meanwhile, other Middle Eastern countries such as...

It is against the law for civilians, without elected or appointed positions in our government, to with foreign governments for our government. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rGCjRLfZ8c This needs to be spread far and wide instantly.

With the US presidential election just days away, incumbent President Donald Trump has many ardent, fervent and zealous supporters, most prominent among them Christian Evangelicals and working-class whites, who he is hoping will sweep him to victory. But another group which, although a good deal smaller, is also passionate and outspoken in its support for Trump is Orthodox Jews, both ultra-Orthodox (haredi) as well as substantial segments of the modern-Orthodox community.

Mideast policies pursued by Donald Trump have forever changed the Arab-Israeli dynamic – for the better. To state that the upcoming presidential election will probably be the most consequential in U.S. history, is not an overstatement. It is fact. At stake nothing less than the future of America and its trajectory. Will it continue to be a vibrant liberal democracy that encourages the free exchange of ideas and a free market system or will it devolve into a dark Orwellian black hole with excessive government overreach, burdensome regulations, prolonged closures, skyrocketing energy costs and mandatory conformation to the prevailing, forced...