Free Republic

Iran and Bolivia will "stick by each other" said hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday, in comments sure to provoke concern in Washington. Ahmadinejad's statements came at a joint press conference with leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales in Tehran. He said the two government weren't interested in U.S. concerns about their close ties. "We will stick by each other's side and will be supportive of each other. (I) had extensive talks with Mr. Morales on this," he said. "The geographical distance between the two countries is long but our hearts, thoughts and wills are very close." Ahmadinejad also praised Morales...

Kathmandu: Thousands of Tibetan children and their families face stiff punishment at the hands of the Chinese government for enrolling into schools in India that are run by the Tibetan government in exile, headed by their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, a rights body said. The Washington-headquartered International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) has expressed its misgivings as the ultimatum issued by the Communist Party of China authorities to the Tibetan Party and government workers expired last week. In July, Communist Party authorities in the Tibet Autonomous Region had issued a directive stating that Tibetan children must confess if they have...

If you're a young and educated Irish citizen, why would you stay in Ireland right now, when your country is part of a union that allows for a pretty free flow of labor? That's the gist of an increasing number of columns, including this one by Irish emigrant Peter Geoghegan writing in The Guardian: Forty thousand Irish people left last year; with joblessness running at over 13% another 100,000 are expected to join them before the end of the next. Migration is an ingrained part of our national psyche. Almost every family carries traces of the instinct which, for two...

Round two of the economic crime of the century has begun. On January 12, Lawrence Summers, President Obama's designee to become director of his National Economic Council, sent a letter to congressional majority and minority leaders seeking the second half of the $750 billion approved by Congress last October.   Citing Obama's economic speech of January 8, Summers wrote: "As the President-elect recently stated, 'we start 2009 in the midst of a crisis unlike any other we have seen in our lifetime.'" As you no doubt recall, last September Congress, fearing the wrath of constituents, rejected a bailout scheme put together...

SNIPPET: "For all his public activity, Bray has rarely, if ever, discussed his life story in detail. His own MAS biography offers vague descriptions of his work as "a long time civil and human rights advocate." A charismatic African-American convert to Islam, Bray spent this entire decade working for Islamist organizations. Prior to joining MAS, Bray was political director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Those jobs have helped him build a growing public profile and given him access to politicians and policy makers. And that may explain his reluctance to discuss his life before political activism. The Investigative...

"The health care system in America is broken. Costs are rising at an unacceptable rate -- more than doubling over the last 10 years, which is nearly four times the rate of wage growth. Too many patients feel trapped by healthcare decisions dictated by HMOs. Too many doctors are torn between practicing medicine and practicing insurance. And 47 million Americans worry what will happen to them or their children if they get sick." Who do you think said that? President Obama? Actually, those words were written by Republicans. They are part of the summary of the Patients' Choice Act, introduced...

The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda's Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year. The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen's capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen. His status was announced in an Internet statement by...

The Obama campaign’s Muslim outreach director participated in a meeting in mid September that was attended by several controversial Muslim activists, NBC News has learned. The Obama campaign now concedes that was a misjudgment, and that its top Muslim staffer would not have attended the meeting if she had known the full participant list beforehand. “Would a campaign staffer have attended if they were aware of the complete list of attendees? No,” said Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt in an email statement to NBC. The Muslim outreach meeting On September 15, newly named Muslim outreach director Minha Husaini spoke to a...

GEORGIA CONFLICT 2008 SEPTEMBER 13, 2008 - Russians withdraw from Poti At long last, and after much negotiation and foot dragging by the Russians, hundreds of Russian personnel withdrew from positions Saturday in western Georgia and Georgian officials indicated that Russia met a deadline for a partial pullout agreed to with French President Sarkozy. Russian soldiers and armored vehicles withdrew from six checkpoints and temporary bases in the Black Sea port of Poti and other areas nearby, Georgian Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said. "They have fulfilled the commitment" to withdraw from the area by Sept. 15 under an...