Free Republic

Nature might abhor a vacuum, but empires love them. The busy empire-builders in Tehran have spent the last two decades extending their reach into power vacuums in Iraq and Syria as part of their attempt to recreate at least part of the old Persian Empire that once covered almost the entire Middle East. Funding the Houthi rebels in Yemen keeps the Saudis conveniently distracted, too, as well as giving Tehran a way to attack the shipping that Western economies rely upon. Hamas and Hezbollah in Gaza and Lebanon respectively are Iran's imperial outposts even further west — and the Arab...

So says Al-Hurra, which is interesting of itself, but we'll get to that in a moment. According to Open Source Intelligence Monitor, Arab countries have sent back-channel approval for an Israeli strike on Iran in response to the ballistic-missile attack earlier this month. They understandably want the attack to remain focused and disciplined to prevent a wider war, and they want a heads-up before the attack to prepare a common defense. In fact, OSINT notes that this appears to be a case of getting the Nasrallah-hit band back together again: Al-Hurra is reporting that several Arab Counties have recently sent...

Will Israeli air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities spark a larger shooting war between the two belligerent countries? Any aerial attack by Israel against Iran would be difficult. Israel has no long-range bombers to hit the nuclear sites that are over 1,000 miles away. Jet fighters would require a significant number of bunker-busting bombs that may have limited efficacy. The Israeli jets would need to be re-fueled, and the air force has limited means to conduct these operations (except for re-fashioned 707 tankers). The Israelis would have to fly over Iraqi air space, which is anathema to Baghdad. Plus, the...

DUBAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran's oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran's proxies if the conflict escalates, three Gulf sources told Reuters. As part of their attempts to avoid being caught in the crossfire, Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are also refusing to let Israel fly over their airspace for any attack on Iran and have conveyed this to Washington, the three sources close to government circles said.

President Biden said Thursday that the US is “discussing” the possibility of Israel bombing Iranian oil facilities as payback for a volley of nearly 200 rockets fired at the Jewish state on Tuesday — causing a spike in global crude prices. Biden said the oil strike option was under consideration when asked directly by a reporter as he left the White House. “We’re discussing that. I think that would be a little… anyway,” the retiring 81-year-old president said ... Within 45 minutes of Biden’s remark, crude oil futures spiked to about $74 per barrel from its opening price of $70.10,...

The US airman-turned-social media influencer and his brother — sentenced to jail in Dubai last month after claiming they were lured and drugged at a yacht party — were freed from prison Tuesday, putting an end to the siblings’ four-month “nightmare.” Joseph and Joshua Lopez arrived home in their native Ohio, Detained in Dubai, an organization dedicated to helping people facing legal issues in the United Arab Emirates, announced late Tuesday... Detained in Dubai thanked Ohio Senator and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance for his “help and support” in ensuring the brothers’ safe return.... Vance had been in “constant...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — The oil-rich United Arab Emirates on Thursday announced the completion of the Arab world’s first nuclear power plant, calling it a “significant step”. Abu Dhabi’s Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant will produce 40 terawatt-hours of electricity annually after its fourth and final reactor has entered commercial operation, the state-owned Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) said in a statement. It will generate 25 percent of the electricity needs of the hot, desert Gulf state, where air-conditioning is ubiquitous — nearly the equivalent of New Zealand’s annual consumption, ENEC said.

PARIS/MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday and placed in custody, three sources told Reuters. The arrest of the 39-year-old technology billionaire prompted on Sunday a warning from Moscow to Paris that he should be accorded his rights and criticism from X owner Elon Musk who said that free speech in Europe was under attack. There was no official confirmation from France of the arrest, but two French police sources and...

Telegram founder Pavel Durov detained on arriving in France from Azerbaijan

Middle East update on the Third World War, currently in progress ... three upstart powers — Communist China, Nationalist Russia, and Radical Islam* — who mean to reshape the global order to suit their interests and aren't shy about using any means at their disposal (including violence) to achieve that end. ... The members of this new Axis also make fantastic allies of convenience, if not ideology. A bit like Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia allying for the brief and brutal business of carving up Poland ... China wants the western Pacific (that's everything on the other side of Hawaii)...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged four Iranian nationals over an alleged plot to kidnap a Brooklyn-based journalist and human rights activist who published material critical of the Iranian government. A superseding indictment from the U.S. District Court from the Southern District of New York was unsealed Tuesday, revealing charges against an Iranian intelligence official, Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, as well as "Iranian intelligence assets" Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi and Omid Noori.

Salemi) Officials in the US-led multinational coalition that is reportedly preparing to assist in repelling an expected Iranian attack have preemptively warned Israel not to respond too strongly to such an assault, according to a Tuesday report. “Don’t push it,” the unnamed officials told Jerusalem, according to Kan news. “Think carefully before you attack in return. The goal at the end of the day is not to lead to an all-out war.” In April, a massive drone and missile attack from Iran was foiled by a coalition that reportedly comprised Israel, the United States, Britain, France, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran and Sweden carried out a prisoner swap Saturday that saw Tehran release a European Union diplomat and another man for an Iranian convicted in Stockholm of committing war crimes over his part in 1988 mass executions in the Islamic Republic. The arrest of Hamid Nouri by Sweden in 2019 as he traveled there as a tourist likely sparked the detentions of the two Swedes, part of a long-running strategy by Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution to use those with ties abroad as chip in negotiations with the West.

Custom made Mansory Rolls Royce worth over half a million dollars with U.A.E. license plate spotted at the @UCLA protests. Still think these are grassroots protests? Think again. May 29, 2024.

The Biden administration is urging Arab states to join a "peacekeeping" force which would control Gaza once the war ends, the Financial Times reported. The initiative aims to fill the vacuum which would be created in Gaza once Hamas is toppled and until a "credible Palestinian security apparatus" could be established. Among the countries the US has been discussing its plans with are Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco, all of which are "considering" the initiative. The US has also spoken to Saudi Arabia about the plan, but the Saudis are unwilling to deploy their own forces to the...

Failed CNN boss Jeff Zucker still wants to stay in the media game. To that end he is leading an offer to buy the bankrupt British publishing group behind the Daily Telegraph newspaper and Spectator magazine. The New York Post reports Zucker, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi-backed investment group RedBird IMI, is ready to pitch $750 million to the Barclay family that would allow them to repay their nearly $1.4 billion debt to Lloyds Banking Group. RedBird, a venture capital firm that has $1 billion in capital, would then have an option to convert the loan secured against the...

Was Dubai's apocalyptic storm SELF-INFLICTED? Claims UAE 'flew cloud-seeding flights - which increase rainfall - the day before' 18 months' rain fell in 24 hours causing chaos that closed airport and sparked rush to flee the country The United Arab Emirates is today attempting to dry out after the heaviest rain ever recorded in the desert nation caused utter chaos - but there are suspicions the horrific flooding in Dubai and elsewhere may have been self-inflicted. The typically scorching UAE heavily relies on cloud-seeding - a technique which sees aircraft fire salt flares into clouds to speed up condensation and...

The United Arab Emirates and neighboring states were rocked this week by the heaviest rains on record, which resulted in devastating floods, dozens of deaths, significant damage, and diverted flights. A government meteorologist indicated early on that the UAE's well-known geoengineering efforts were at least partly to blame. However, now that there is a body count, the government task force responsible for cloud-seeding missions in the region is attempting to deny responsibility. Liberal media outlets such as the Guardian and Wired and so-called experts have dutifully accepted these denials, insinuating that climate change or other factors may instead be responsible....

The record-breaking rain that fell over the United Arab Emirates and Oman this month, triggering deadly floods and chaos, was driven partly by the climate crisis, according to a scientific analysis published Thursday, which pointed directly at humans burning fossil fuels.A team of 21 scientists and researchers, under the World Weather Attribution initiative, found that climate change was making extreme rainfall events in the two countries — which typically fall during El Niño years — between 10 and 40% more intense than they would have been without global warming.Over a period of less than 24 hours between April 14 and...

Something extraordinary happened above Israel over the weekend. It wasn’t that Israel repelled a massive Iranian rocket and drone barrage, although that was sufficiently miraculous. Nor was it that amazing that Saudi Arabia helped defend Israel against Iranian incursions because it’s been rumored for decades that Saudi Arabia occasionally lends a hand in those matters. What was truly extraordinary was that Saudi Arabia openly admitted to helping Israel fight back against Iran’s attack. It shows the truth of the ancient proverb that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Many people are pointing to President Trump’s Abraham Accords as...