Free Republic

MOSCOW -- Russian jets carried out a second day of strikes in Syria Thursday, as a senior U.S. politician and activists claimed the targets included rebels backed by the United States. "I can absolutely confirm to you that they were strikes against our Free Syrian Army recruits that have been armed and trained by the CIA, because we have communications with people there," Republican Sen. John McCain, who is head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview with CNN, according to the Reuters news agency.

In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina chastised the Obama administration, calling its response, or lack thereof, to Russian aggression in Syria, “weak” and willfully naïve. “We must be prepared to use force,” declared Fiorina in a hawkish response to Russian airstrikes in the central city of Homs this week that have transformed the geopolitical calculus in the region. U.S. Pentagon officials insist that the Russian aerial assault is targeting primarily non-ISIS combatants, including the American-backed moderate Syrian opposition. “I can absolutely confirm to you that they were strikes against our Free Syrian Army...

Amid conflicting reports about Moscow targeting U.S.-alllied groups in Syria, GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said late Wednesday that she backs military readiness against Russian forces. “I believe we must tell the Russians that we will conduct [and] we will secure a no-fly zone around anti-Assad rebel forces that we’re supporting,” she said on Fox News’s "Hannity." “Does that mean we might use force against Russian jets?” host Sean Hannity then asked. “Well, hopefully not,” Fiorina responded. "Hopefully, if we are signaling clearly to the Russians are intention, it will not come to that.” “But if it does come to...

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina argued the US should “secure a no-fly zone around anti-Assad rebel forces that we’re supporting” and “be prepared” to use force against Russia if need be on Wednesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel. Fiorina said, Well, first, we know what’s going on. Syria and Russia, who have had a longstanding relationship, Iran, and Iraq, are forming an unholy alliance. Russia’s intentions are to shore up, and stabilize the Assad regime. ISIS is sort of a camouflage. There is no doubt, that Russia will be conducting airstrikes against anti-Assad rebels, whether or not they happen...

On the eve of the Netanyahu visit to Washington, President Obama gave a lengthy interview to Jeffrey Goldberg that shows a chief executive who has learned next to nothing about the world in his five years in office. First, kudos to Goldberg: he pressed Obama repeatedly, challenging vague formulations and seeking clarity. Goldberg pushed Obama hard, especially on Iran and Syria. Obama isn’t good off the cuff, especially when challenged; he is far better with a prepared speech. And what emerged is an awful portrait of the president and his conception of the world. Take Syria. Here’s what Obama said:...

resident Obama, speaking at the G-20 meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday, reminded me of an investment banker trying to sell a deal he doesn't believe in. And the customer knows it. Halting. Hesitant. Uncertain. Uncomfortable. That's what Obama's statement and body language had to say. On the verge of a potentially huge defeat on the Syrian question in Congress, President Obama is in a box. He's looking for a way out, but he can't find one. He's losing supporters in the legislature at home, and he didn't gain any at the G-20 summit abroad. When Obama speaks to the...

It is not amusing any more. Obama’s handling of the Syrian conflict has proven once again the grave mistake Americans made by re-electing Barack Obama into the White House, a man as gutless as a balloon full of hot air, as utterly ineffectual as an ant in combat with a scorpion. It’s one thing to show your ineptitude behind closed doors. But here, the entire world is watching – and laughing. For days, Obama has threatened an imminent (albeit limited) attack on Syria, careful to allow Syrian authorities enough time to change their dinner plans. But now, Obama has apparently...

Treachery and betrayal were the Administration's response, as the media gives Obama cover. What more does anyone need to know than that Americans are under attack before ordering a military response to suppress the attack and possibly rescue our people? Even if the initial response isn't exactly what you'd want it to be, even if you don't have every asset available that you might in a perfect world, isn't it your duty -- whether you're a lowly second lieutenant or the Secretary of Defense -- to do everything you can as quickly as you can? Of course it is, at...

Obama says he is 'ultimately' responsible for Benghazi security By Meghashyam Mali - 10/28/12 08:32 AM ET President Obama on Saturday vowed to hold his administration “accountable” for September’s attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, saying he took ultimate responsibility for any security lapses. “What my attitude on this is is if we find out there was a big breakdown and somebody didn’t do their job, they’ll be held accountable,” said Obama in an interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, according to a report on that network’s website. “Ultimately as Commander-in-Chief I am responsible and I...

a rally in Denver on Thursday, President Obama argued the "spirited fellow" he met on stage at the first presidential debate the night before wasn't "the real Mitt Romney."

PARIS — The United States used to call wayward members of NATO back to the reservation with a whistle or a shout. It decided what was deviation from doctrine, and that decision was pretty much law. When the Obama administration stamped its foot this time, no one snapped to attention. Rather, Germany and France, meeting with Russia in Deauville, northern France, last week, signaled that they planned to make such three-cornered get-togethers on international foreign policy and security matters routine, and even extend them to inviting other “partners” — pointing, according to diplomats from two countries, to Turkey becoming a...

South Korean media reported Sunday that Seoul and Washington have called off plans to hold a major joint naval exercise in the Yellow Sea this month. Yonhap news agency quoted government sources as saying the exercise involving a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has been postponed to avoid tensions on the Korean peninsula during the upcoming G20 summit in Seoul. There was no official confirmation of the reports. The Chinese government has fiercely opposed the deployment of the U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington in the regional waters.

The U.S. military has refuted South Korean media reports that Seoul and Washington have called off plans to hold a major joint naval exercise in the Yellow Sea this month, because there were no such plans. A spokesman for U.S. Forces Korea told VOA Monday that no such exercise was set for this year. The spokesman said there is no exercise to cancel. The Yonhap news agency quoted South Korean government anonymous sources Sunday as saying an exercise involving a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier had been postponed to avoid tensions on the Korean peninsula during the upcoming G20 summit in...

The long-simmering clash between the world's two great powers is coming to a head, with dangerous implications for the international system. China has succumbed to hubris. It has mistaken the soft diplomacy of Barack Obama for weakness, mistaken the US credit crisis for decline, and mistaken its own mercantilist bubble for ascendancy. There are echoes of Anglo-German spats before the First World War, when Wilhelmine Berlin so badly misjudged the strategic balance of power and over-played its hand. Within a month the US Treasury must rule whether China is a "currency manipulator", triggering sanctions under US law. This has been...