Free Republic

Communist China poses a greater threat to America and our interests abroad than any other nation in the world. If it wasn’t clear prior to the spread of the Chinese coronavirus, resulting largely from the Chinese Communist Party’s Chernobyl-like response, the subsequent threats should crystallize this point. It has acted malevolently toward the U.S., our European and Anglosphere allies, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and India, and across the South China Sea. Countering the CCP is essential to preserving American life, limb, and liberty. The public deserves to know what presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s approach to China would be. After...

Russia has won approval to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after 18 "marathon" years of talks to gain entry to the 153-member club. Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina and WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy hold a placard after a signing ceremony on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation The world's 11th largest economy now has six months to ratify its membership after being given the go-ahead on Friday at a meeting of the trade body in Geneva Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a statement: "This result of long and complex talks is good...

It was 1985, and the government of New Zealand had made a momentous decision -- to abolish farm subsidies in a country where farming had been king ever since Britain colonized the islands in 1840. Twenty years later, as the World Trade Organization heads toward an apparent stalemate at its summit in Hong Kong over plans to reduce agriculture subsidies, the message from New Zealand's farmers to their counterparts in the United States and the European Union is: There's life -- in fact a better life -- after subsidies. The evidence is there, its farmers say: Since the government's momentous...

I never thought I’d be saying this, but Dr. Phil is my new hero. Although I’m not a talk show fan, on a personal level, I’ve always appreciated his frankness and down-to-earth manners, but up until now, I was unaware of his political views. Well, after Friday’s (4/4) show, I think it’s safe to say that Dr. Phil is on the right side of the fence. I was dreading another depressing panel discussion on Washington Week in Review, so I flipped the channel and just happened to run across a preview for the Dr. Phil show. U.S. military uniforms caught...

A historic drive to bring down export subsidies and many other forms of financial support for farmers forms the centrepiece of the agreement struck at the WTO, touching on a politically-charged issue worldwide. The workplan reviving deadlocked global trade talks, which was adopted by the World Trade Organisation's 147 member states after days of hard bargaining, sets the target of eliminating or reducing subsidies in what is likely to be years of tough negotiations to come. Decades into the drive for international free trade, the decision marks the first time that governments have accepted to anchor elimination in a global...