Free Republic

In recent hours, multiple USAF C-17 Globemaster III aircraft have been shuttling between the Gulf, Souda Bay, Sofia and Ramstein Air Base, highlighting the scale of the logistical effort behind the ongoing American military buildup toward the Middle East. These heavy transports, some departing directly from the Gulf and others repositioning from Eastern Europe, are now forming a continuous bridge with Germany. The operation underscores how sustainment — not just combat aircraft — is shaping the strategic picture. The flights tracked today include several C-17s rotating northbound toward Ramstein, which is once again acting as the primary European hub for...

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said on Monday it was following up with “high interest and concern” on the maritime coordinates and map recently submitted by Iraq to the United Nations. The ministry said in a statement that the coordinates and map included infringement on areas adjacent to the Saudi-Kuwaiti divided zone, where both countries share natural resources in the area according to previous agreements between them. For more Saudi news, visit our dedicated page. The ministry added that the Kingdom rejects “claims” that any other side has the right to the divided submerged area between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It...

New satellite imagery and flight-tracking data show a significant buildup of U.S. military aircraft at a key air base in central Jordan, as tensions rise over Iran's nuclear program, The New York Times reported Friday. Images captured Friday reveal more than 60 U.S. attack aircraft parked at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base — roughly three times the number typically stationed there.Flight data also indicate that at least 68 cargo planes have landed at the base since Sunday, suggesting a surge of personnel, equipment, and logistical support. More fighter jets may be positioned under protective shelters. The images show advanced aircraft, including...

Ten airlines continue to fly the Airbus A380 on a scheduled basis. As everyone knows, Emirates is overwhelmingly the largest user of the type. According to ch-aviation, it still has 116 frames. They include A6-EDF, which turned 20 this month; it is the world's oldest active superjumbo.Emirates was not the launch customer of the double-decker. Singapore Airlines was. Nonetheless, the Gulf giant's first passenger-carrying A380 took place in August 2008...If routes with fewer than five departures are excluded, only 11 destinations have ceased seeing the equipment. In comparison, Singapore Airlines has ended 12 A380 routes, while BA has ceased eight.The...

The United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said, escalating US pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s regime. “As you probably know we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump said. “Large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually.” Attorney General Pam Bondi said the tanker has been sanctioned by the US for multiple years “due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,” including Venezuela and Iran.

Rep. Ilhan Omar dodged questions on Thursday about her alleged affair with a DC political consultant who’s on her payroll. The freshman Democratic congresswoman appeared ahead of a scheduled event at the University of Minnesota when a Post reporter asked her about claims she broke up the marriage of Tim and Beth Mynett. But instead of answering, Omar nervously made a beeline to make small talk with a police officer ... Omar has paid Tim Mynett’s E Street Group consulting firm $230,000 since 2018 — raising concerns of potential ethics violations.

Here is the campaign video of Ubax Gardheere, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 15 around 1996, which makes her something like 40 now. She represents herself as a "proud single mother" of three children, an immigrant, a Muslim, and a person of color. Here is a transcript of the video, which is pretty much a word salad that might have been written by an algorithm. Hi! I'm Ubax Gardheere. I'm a single black immigrant mother and homeowner in the unincorporated area of Renton, and I'm running for King County council in district 9. I came...

It is election season in King County and several seats on the King County Council are up for grabs. This year, riding on the energy that was felt during last year’s election cycle, Black women continue to be at the forefront of politics across the nation and in the State of Washington. Saudia J. Abdullah, Lydia Assefa-Dawson, Shukri Olow and Ubax Gardheere are four Black women looking to bring new and empowering energy to politics in the Pacific Northwest, as all four a vying for seats on the King County Council. Now let’s talk about Ubax Gardheere! This is what...

A lead United Nations agency overseeing food and agriculture policy is expected to issue a road map in the coming weeks which will call on the West, including America, to dramatically reduce its meat consumption. The UN's Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) will publish its so-called global food systems’ road map during the upcoming COP28 climate summit in Dubai which will kick off on Thursday and extend nearly two weeks until mid-December. FAO's first-of-its-kind document will recommend nations that "over-consume meat" to limit their consumption as part of a broader effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Bloomberg reported.

One of the first things I did when I moved to Dubai was buy a Dodge Challenger. Not the volcanic Hellcat or the feral Scat Pack — the SXT, the V6 base model. Nevertheless, for those nine months in 2023, the car carried itself like it had seen things it couldn’t legally discuss. I miss it the way a grounded teenager misses his phone — painfully and often. The car was, in many ways, gloriously pointless. But to me, it was absolutely perfect. Nobody buys a Dodge for practicality. You buy one because fun is a dying art and driving...

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have presented a $112 billion reconstruction plan to Gulf officials to build a “high-tech metropolis” atop the remains of Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The 32-page PowerPoint presentation labeled "sensitive" and titled "Project Sunrise" was developed over 45 days and reportedly presented to officials from Qatar, UAE, Egypt, and Turkiye. The plan envisions turning the Gaza Strip into a "high-tech metropolis" over the next two decades with four phases of reconstruction beginning in southern Gaza. It also calls for turning Rafah into Gaza's new "administrative center," housing over 500,000...

Note: The following text is a quote: March 30, 2010 Eritrean man pleads guilty to alien smuggling WASHINGTON - Samuel Abrahaley Fessahazion, 23, an Eritrean national, has pleaded guilty to helping smuggle illegal aliens to the United States for private financial gain, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP). Fessahazion, aka "Sami," aka "Sammy," aka "Alex" and aka "Alex Williams" pleaded guilty on March 29, 2010, in Houston to one count of conspiracy and two counts of encouraging and inducing aliens to come to, enter or reside in the United...

Minnesota once prided itself on its Scandinavian-style safety net – high taxes, generous benefits and a shared belief that no child should ever go hungry. But that image lies in ruins after a billion-dollar fraud spree that siphoned taxpayer money away from the needy and poured it straight into luxury mansions, high-end cars, overseas real estate and designer lifestyles. What authorities first hoped was a one-off pandemic scam has now been exposed as something far bigger – and far uglier. Federal prosecutors say that over the past five years, scores of scammers – many operating inside Minnesota’s Somali diaspora –...

Archaeologists have uncovered definitive proof of early Christian life in the Arabian Gulf, thanks to the discovery of a plaster Christian cross dating back around 1,400 years. The find was made on Sir Bani Yas Island, about 110 miles southwest of Abu Dhabi, and confirms that a cluster of small courtyard houses found decades ago were part of a monastic Christian community. The cross was discovered by teams from Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism during excavations that restarted in January 2025. The artifact was found among courtyard houses north of the main monastery complex, where senior monks are...

British Prince Andrew and UAE’s Mohamed bin Zayed. Andrew may go into a gilded life in exile. As the former Duke of York is massacred daily by an unstoppable flux of scandals, he is facing the prospect of being evicted from the 30-room Royal Lodge that has been his residence for more than 20 years. Prince Andrew always maintained that he held a ‘cast iron’ lease of the mansion, until it became public that he only paid ‘one peppercorn a year’ in rent. The agreement stated that the Crown would have to pay Andrew around £558,000 ($742,000) if he gave...

Why Washington Must Accelerate the U.A.E. Chip PartnershipThe United States and China are locked in a technology cold war. Beijing’s latest move—restricting exports of rare earth minerals critical to advanced manufacturing of everything from semiconductors to defense systems—shows that China is willing to weaponize every advantage it has. But the trade war is only part of the story. China’s quest to become a hegemonic power runs through the Gulf, where it seeks to establish a military presence to secure energy and shipping routes vital to its economy. For years, Beijing has courted the region’s energy and capital-rich states through the...

Former D.C. Congressman Walter Fauntroy, 83, is back in the U.S. after several years absence and, according to his attorney, he is in jail in Loudoun County, Va. Attorney Johnny Barnes said Fauntroy was arrested at Dulles Airport in Loudoun County Monday morning on his return from Dubai on an "unexpected" warrant from Prince George's County, Md. It involved Fauntroy's failure to appear in a court case in 2011 on allegations of fraud involving a 2009 Obama inauguration party that never took place.

President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the Gaza war has not only won support from Israel, but also from the Arab and Muslim world — and from the Palestinian Authority, which has opposed his plans in the past. The 20-point plan, as Breitbart News has noted, would fulfill Israel’s goals of freeing the remaining hostages, as well as disarming Hamas and removing it from power. It also offers the prospect of a Palestinian state — if Hamas complies with the plan and the Palestinian Authority agrees to sweeping reforms of its policies and anti-Israel culture. If Hamas does not agree,...

"If we work together, we can bring an end to the death and destruction that we’ve seen for so many years."Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a U.S.-backed plan to end the war in Gaza and establish “a credible pathway” to a Palestinian state.The White House rolled out the plan shortly before President Donald Trump appeared with Netanyahu for a joint press conference at the White House. Trump announced that Israel had agreed to the 20-point framework, which the president said would deliver “peace in the Middle East,” during his opening remarks.“Today is a historic day for peace,...

Since Labour came to power, it has become clear that the battle against extremism has taken a back seat to political expediency. Labour has always had a counter-extremism problem, and after two decades of work I have done in this area which started post 7/7 under the Blair government, Labour continues to flounder in challenging Islamism in Britain. This Government, it seems, is being straight-jacketed by Islamist loudmouths who have hijacked the public discourse space on who represents Muslims in the UK. These political extremists who have hijacked Islam continue to smear and threaten those within Muslim communities who dare...