Free Republic

While our greedy authorities, hungry for other country’s territories, passionately cling to some stolen Japanese islands, tiny pebbles in the ocean, the inhabitants of another island, a large and undoubtedly Russian one, are busy collecting signatures. I received a call from a certain local democrat. His name, address and appearance, I will not reveal for anything, lest some terrorist in Guantanamo Bay remember that said democrat, many years ago, equipped for their last mission the Boeings which crashed into the twin towers. Unbelievable, says you? Well, no more unbelievable than what happened to human rights defender Alexei Sokolov, when a...

N. Korean paper defines nuke deterrent as means of aggression SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Tuesday described its nuclear weapons capability as means of both self-protection and "merciless aggression" towards those violating its sovereignty, the first acknowledgment by the country that it may use its nuclear weapons other than for defensive measures. "Our nuclear deterrence capability is a powerful defensive measure to secure the peace and stability of the Joseon (Korean) peninsula and nearby regions. It will become a vehicle for merciless attacks on those who even slightly infringe upon our sovereignty," said Minju Joson, North Korea's...

Boys who have a so-called "warrior gene" are more likely to join gangs and also more likely to be among the most violent members and to use weapons, a new study finds. "While gangs typically have been regarded as a sociological phenomenon, our investigation shows that variants of a specific MAOA gene, known as a 'low-activity 3-repeat allele,' play a significant role," said biosocial criminologist Kevin M. Beaver of Florida State University. In 2006, the controversial warrior gene was implicated in the violence of the indigenous Maori people in New Zealand, a claim that Maori leaders dismissed. But it's no...

SPANKING is stressful at first, but it could bring consenting couples closer together. That's the implication of two studies of hormonal changes associated with sadomasochistic (S&M) activities including spanking, bondage and flogging. Brad Sagarin at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and colleagues measured levels of the stress hormone cortisol in 13 men and women at an S&M party in Arizona, before, during and after participating in activities. During S&M scenes, cortisol rose significantly in those receiving stimulation, but dropped back to normal within 40 minutes if the scene went well. There was no change in those inflicting the activity. At...

A Christian minister who has had heated arguments with Muslims on his TV Gospel show has been brutally attacked by three men who ripped off his cross and warned: ‘If you go back to the studio, we’ll break your legs.’ The Reverend Noble Samuel was driving to the studio when a car pulled over in front of him. A man got out and came over to ask him directions in Urdu. Mr Samuel, based at Heston United Reformed Church, West London, said: ‘He put his hand into my window, which was half open and grabbed my hair and opened the...

In a new, year-long University of Pennsylvania survey of dog owners who use confrontational or aversive methods to train aggressive pets, veterinary researchers have found that most of these animals will continue to be aggressive unless training techniques are modified. The study, published in the current issue of Applied Animal Behavior Science, also showed that using non-aversive or neutral training methods such as additional exercise or rewards elicited very few aggressive responses. “This study highlights the risk of dominance-based training, which has been made popular by TV, books and punishment-based training advocates,”Herron said. “These techniques are fear-eliciting and may lead...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2008 – Vice President Richard B. Cheney arrived in Georgia today, delivering “a message of friendship” from the U.S. and condemning Russia’s “illegitimate, unilateral” aggression against the former Soviet republic last month. “Americans are acutely conscious of the great trials your country has faced over the last four weeks, and we stand in solidarity with the people of Georgia,” Cheney said at a news conference in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Russian forces invaded Georgia last month and continue to maintain a military presence there in defiance of a cease-fire deal reached Aug. 13. Moscow further...

About a year ago, I saw a Russian television broadcast in which Vladimir Putin, riding a noble steed, reaches the edge of a lake, deftly removes his shirt and in an impressive display of muscle, leans over and washes his face in the crystal clear water. That is when I began to worry. The leader determined to restore the great nation's lost honor and days of glory was playing the macho worship card. It reminded me of an old Italian propaganda film in which Il Duce - Mussolini - is riding in his official car when he sees a farmer...

<p>TSKHINVALI, Georgia, Aug. 16 -- Nine days ago, late in the afternoon of Aug. 7, Georgian tanks, artillery and infantry began moving out of bases in Georgia and toward South Ossetia, a zone long held by separatists who are backed by Moscow.</p>

Virtually everyone believes Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili foolishly provoked a Russian invasion on August 7, 2008, when he sent troops into the breakaway district of South Ossetia. “The warfare began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched a barrage targeting South Ossetia,” the Associated Press reported over the weekend in typical fashion. Virtually everyone is wrong. Georgia didn't start it on August 7, nor on any other date. The South Ossetian militia started it on August 6 when its fighters fired on Georgian peacekeepers and Georgian villages with weapons banned by the agreement hammered out between the two sides in 1994. At...

<p>IGOETI, Georgia - Russian forces pulled out of positions deep inside Georgia on Friday, two weeks after thousands of troops roared into the small Caucasian nation aboard hundreds of armored vehicles.</p> <p>The movements came after Russia's defense minister said President Dmitry Medvedev had ordered a pullback and promised that Russian forces would withdraw to separatist regions and surrounding security zones by the day's end.</p>

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart … Alexandr Solzhenitsyn Western Europe can accept at least part of the blame for Vladimir Putin’s strategic ruthlessness. Nearly a year ago Western Europe dragged its feet in allowing Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, partly as a result of Putin applying oil-supply-related pressure to the Germans. No surprise there. Western Europe prefers incessant bureaucratic quibbling to action, or even real diplomacy, anymore. So Putin rightly figured that, having been denied current membership in NATO, Georgia’s chance of...

The U.S. ambassador to Russia has told a Russian daily that Washington strongly urged Georgia not to invade its breakaway province of South Ossetia . . . .

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2008 – Countries around the world are looking at Russia "through new lenses" following its aggression against the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today. VideoMeanwhile, the United States continues humanitarian efforts to help Georgians affected by the conflict. Two U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo jets have delivered supplies to Georgia, and another aircraft delivered a U.S. military survey team to the country. “During these humanitarian relief operations, the United States expects Russia to ensure that all lines of communication and transport -- including seaports, airports, roads and airspace -- remain...

This is the dramatic moment a TV reporter was shot by a sniper as she reported live from war-torn Georgia. Tamara Urushadze took a bullet to her left arm in the flashpoint town of Gori as Russian forces continued their illegal occupation. Bravely, or foolishly, the 32-year-old brunette continued her report after a few moments as other journalists and aid workers dashed for cover.

US Presidential Candidate Declares Russia Not the Aggressor  

The Sun witnessed the latest horror as a blood-splattered tot was rushed screaming to a shattered hospital in the gateway city of Gori. It was 5pm — four hours after fighting should have stopped. The one-year-old boy with an ugly head wound was carried from a police car. With him was his uninjured sister, three — smeared with his blood. Minutes later, a second cop car screeched to a halt. Inside was the children’s mother, in agony from gunshot wounds in her right shoulder and leg. She was loaded on to a trolley. After a brief examination all three were...

President Medvedev said the EU peace plan contained "good principles to settle the problem," but that Russia would also add proposals and that it was "up to Georgia now". He said that President Saakashvili, whom he described as a "lunatic," had lied about his side's respect for a ceasefire during the conflict. "You know, lunatics' difference from other people is that when they smell blood it is very difficult to stop them. So you have to use surgery," President Medvedev said. Asked about the progress of the peace plan, President Sarkozy said: "The night is young. We are not at...

LONDON (AFP) — British energy giant BP said Tuesday that it has closed two more oil and gas pipelines in Georgia because of the ongoing conflict with Russia. "We have closed two other pipelines in Georgia -- Baku-Supsa and the South Caucasus pipeline, which is a gas pipeline," a BP spokesman told AFP. The key Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which BP also operates, was shut last week after a blast occurred in a pump at a section in eastern Turkey. Russia's armed forces on Tuesday denied deliberately targeting the strategic BTC conduit running through Georgia after Tbilisi claimed it had been...

YORK, Pennsylvania (AFP) — Republican White House hopeful John McCain Tuesday stepped up a fusillade against Russian "aggression" and declared that today, "we are all Georgians." Addressing voters in Pennsylvania, McCain said he had spoken by telephone earlier with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who he said wanted to thank the American people for their support. "I told him that I know I speak for every American when I say to him, today, we are all Georgians," said the Republican, a hardliner against Russia who wants the mighty nation expelled from the Group of Eight club.

GEORGIA'S prime minister says he wants more evidence of a Russian halt to military operations after Russian fighter jets continued to bomb Georgian villages. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said early on Tuesday he had ordered an end to military operations in Georgia. But Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said Russian jets were still targeting civilians. "Despite the Russian president's claims earlier this morning that military operations against Georgia have been suspended, at this moment, Russian fighter jets are bombarding two Georgian villages outside South Ossetia," Mr Gurgenidze said. He said the Kremlin's statement that it had ceased military operations was...

Headline only so far on fox news ...

I’m sorry but this is one reason why I have no real respect for the so-called “peace movement”. I would think a peacenik would abhor all war and call for peace whenever and wherever it broke out. But alas, the peace movement is currently silent (Day Four) when it comes to the recent Russian invasion of Georgia.

The Georgian National Anthem   Freedom Our icon is the homeland Trust in God is our creed, Enlightened land of plains and mounts, Blessed by God and holy heaven. The freedom path we've learnt to follow Makes our future spirits stronger, The morning star will rise above us And lighten up the land between the two seas. Glory to long-cherished freedom, Glory liberty!  

Erie, Pa: ARLINGTON, VA – Today, in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S. Senator John McCain delivered the following statement regarding the current conflict between Georgia and Russia: “Americans wishing to spend August vacationing with their families or watching the Olympics may wonder why their newspapers and television screens are filled with images of war in the small country of Georgia. Concerns about what occurs there might seem distant and unrelated to the many other interests America has around the world. And yet Russian aggression against Georgia is both a matter of urgent moral and strategic importance to the United States of America....

As I write, Russia is waging war on my country. On Friday, hundreds of Russian tanks crossed into Georgian territory, and Russian air force jets bombed Georgian airports, bases, ports and public markets. Many are dead, many more wounded. This invasion, which echoes Afghanistan in 1979 and the Prague Spring of 1968, threatens to undermine the stability of the international security system. Why this war? This is the question my people are asking. This war is not of Georgia's making, nor is it Georgia's choice. The Kremlin designed this war. Earlier this year, Russia tried to provoke Georgia by effectively...

Build up: A column of Russian armoured vehicles head towards South OssetiaA bloodied woman lies injured in the ruins of an apartment block in Gori after another Russian air strikeAnguish: A man cradles the body of a relative in the street after Russian planes bomb homes in Gori, killing five peopleFleeing: A boy and a woman stare in terror at the carnage from a vehicle as they are evacuated from South OssetiaGeorgian soldiers stand near a lorry evacuating local residents from Avnebi, a Georgian enclave near Tskhinvali, in the breakaway Georgian province of South OssetiaDevastation: A Georgian tank burns after...

June 26, 2008 -- Little dogs -- think Chihuahuas and Dachshunds -- tend to be feisty, while certain breeds, like Golden and Labrador Retrievers, are as mellow as their reputations suggest, found a new study that identified the most and least aggressive common dog breeds.

Officer, lawmaker team up Those who peer at children in public could find themselves on the wrong side of the law in Maine soon. A bill that passed the House last month aims to strengthen the crime of visual sexual aggression against children, according to state Rep. Dawn Hill, D-York. Her involvement started when Ogunquit Police Lt. David Alexander was called to a local beach to deal with a man who appeared to be observing children entering the community bathrooms. Because the state statute prevents arrests for visual sexual aggression of a child in a public place, Alexander said he...

The sports culture surrounding football and wrestling may be fueling aggressive and violent behavior not only among teen male players but also among their male friends and peers on and off the field, according to a Penn State study. "Sports such as football, basketball, and baseball provide players with a certain status in society," said Derek Kreager, assistant professor of sociology in the Crime, Law, and Justice program. "But football and wrestling are associated with violent behavior because both sports involve some physical domination of the opponent, which is rewarded by the fans, coaches and other players." Using a national...

NEW YORK: It has been well documented that, across human cultures and in most mammals, males are more aggressive than females. It's simple to blame male hormones but a new study has found the role of brain in the behaviour. A team of researchers at the Vanderbilt University in the United States has carried out the study and found it is the human brain which processes aggression as a reward much like sex, food and drugs. "We have found that the 'reward pathway' in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved. "It's...

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 8, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called on Iran yesterday to disavow the actions of five high-speed boats that reportedly threatened to blow up three U.S. Navy warships in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. Gates spoke with reporters after touring the USS New Orleans here and having lunch with some of the ship’s sailors. Defense officials said five Iranian Revolutionary Guard high-speed craft approached the USS Port Royal, USS Hopper and USS Ingraham as they were entering the Persian Gulf yesterday morning. The boats maneuvered aggressively, threatened the ships via bridge-to-bridge radio and dropped...

Study shows placebos as good as antipsychotics for the intellectually disabled. Scientists have discovered that taking a sugar pill is more effective than routine medications in treating aggression in people with intellectual disabilities. Until now, patients with intellectual disabilities have been prescribed antipsychotic drugs — normally given to people with a psychiatric disease like schizophrenia — to treat aggressive behaviour such as head banging. But evidence for the drugs' effectiveness has been thin. “Antipsychotic drugs are widely used because they are cheap and at high doses they sedate people,” says Eric Emerson at Lancaster University, an expert in the behaviour...

I decided to write this essay following the riots in Malmö this weekend. Malmö is Sweden's third largest city and by far the worst city in Scandinavia when it comes to Muslim aggression. I read recently that an Arab girl interviewed in Malmö said that she liked it so much there, it felt almost like an Arab city. Native Swedes have been moving away from the city for years, turned into refugees in their own country by Jihad, not too different from the non-Muslims in some regions of the Philippines, southern Thailand or Kashmir in India, or for that matter...

How nurseries 'still breed aggression' By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent  Last Updated: 1:15am BST 26/03/2007     Children who spend a lot of time in nursery are more likely to be aggressive and disobedient throughout primary school - no matter how excellent the nursery, according to study published today.Primary school teachers are more likely to say that such children - even at the age of 11 - are still "getting into fights" or "arguing a lot".The findings, from a continuing study of nearly 1,400 children, reignite the debate about whether working women damage their children's health by putting them...

A much-anticipated report from the largest and longest-running study of American child care has found that keeping a preschooler in a day care center for a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class ? and that the effect persisted through the sixth grade. The finding held up regardless of the child's sex or family income, and regardless of the quality of the day care center. With more than 2 million U.S. preschoolers attending day care, the increased disruptiveness very likely contributes to the load on teachers who must manage large classrooms, the authors...

A new study finds that children who received better quality child care before kindergarten had better vocabulary scores later on than those who received lower quality child care. The study also finds that children who remained in child care longer were more likely to have behavior problems in the sixth grade. Researchers say the effect of child care quality is consistent with other evidence showing that early experiences matter to a child's language development. But, they say, parenting is a much more important predictor of a child's development. The report appears in the current issue of Child Development. It tracked...

The political category of Spotplex.com now is completely dominated by a gay news site because, per the system, it gets the most hits. However, many of their posts are about things like the current top hit, “Ace Young Flexing More Than His Musical Chops” and other things completely unrelated to politics but nonetheless highly ranked on the page...

Widely prescribed anti-psychotic drugs do not help most Alzheimer's patients with delusions and aggression and are not worth the risk of sudden death and other side effects, the first major study on sufferers outside nursing homes concludes. The finding could increase the burden on families struggling to care for relatives with the mind-robbing disease at home. "These medications are not the answer," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which paid for the study. He said better medications are at least several years away. Three-fourths of the 4.5 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease develop aggression,...

Abe risks China fury over war comments By Colin Joyce in Tokyo (Filed: 07/10/2006) The new prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, risked outrage yesterday when he stated that Japanese war criminals were not guilty under domestic law and should have been pardoned when Tokyo regained self-government. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe: revisionist Mr Abe's comments were a direct reference to 28 Japanese "Class A" Second World War criminals at the trial staged by the Americans in Tokyo from 1946 to 1948. They were deemed to bear the most responsibility for starting the war in the Pacific and for atrocities....

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin warned Georgia on Wednesday not to provoke or blackmail Russia as Moscow ignored international appeals to drop economic sanctions against its southern neighbor. Discussing a dispute with Georgia over the arrests of four Russian officers, who were later released, Putin told lawmakers: "I would not allow anyone to talk to Russia in the language of provocation and blackmail." But in Georgia, the head of the central bank said his country would block Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) as long as economic sanctions were in force. Russia was hoping to end...

Analysis: Moscow wants to rein in its pro-NATO neighbor, and a spy scandal may have provided an opening By Yuri Zarakhovich in Moscow Russia has escalated its showdown with its small, NATO-inclined neighbor of Georgia by closing all transport and postal communications. No trains, no flights, no ships, no vehicles, no mail money orders — nothing can cross the border. This time, it's much worse than just another Russian spat with a former satellite state. The Georgia standoff may soon create a major headache for the Bush Administration, because of U.S. support for Georgia's right to align itself with the...

The perpetually outraged motion machine that exists in the contemporary Arab-Muslim world, fuelled by toxic fumes of indiscriminate anger and hate, is once again in rage over references to Islam made by Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope's address at the University of Regensburg in his native Bavaria is a beautifully woven piece of meditation on the relationship between faith and reason, a subject of immense importance today as it has been in the common history of various cultures striving to reconcile what paradoxically seems irreconcilable. The Pope mentioned a conversation between an "erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an...

Whatever we think of Israel's assault on Lebanon, all of us seem to agree about one fact: that it was a response, however disproportionate, to an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah. I repeated this "fact" in my last column, when I wrote that "Hizbullah fired the first shots". This being so, the Israeli government's supporters ask peaceniks like me, what would you have done? It's an important question. But its premise, I have now discovered, is flawed.

HOUSTON - Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay was expected to charm jurors the same way he spent decades charming politicians, analysts, investors and employees. But when he took the witness stand this week in his fraud and conspiracy trial, the ever-smiling diplomat and philanthropist morphed into a scrappy fighter. First he tried to take control of questioning by his own lawyer. Then he repeatedly bristled, snarled and quarreled on cross-examination with the federal prosecutor who had secured the indictment against him. His transformation was in stark contrast to that of his co-defendant, former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling, whose lengthy...

CIA ousts al-Qa'eda hunter 'for lack of aggression' By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 08/02/2006) The man at the head of America's efforts to hunt down terrorists has been forced to resign amid concern that he was too cautious in pursuing al-Qa'eda leaders. Robert Grenier, the head of the CIA's counter-terrorism centre, is the latest in a series of senior officials to resign from the agency over the past year. Intelligence officials told the Los Angeles Times that the head of the CIA's clandestine service had become increasingly frustrated by Mr Grenier's approach, which he thought too tentative. However, they...

Every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he's not, he's a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who are spanked when they misbehave are more likely to be anxious and aggressive than children who are disciplined in nonphysical ways, research shows. This is true even if spanking is the "cultural norm." Whether parents should spank their children or use other forms of physical discipline is controversial. Some experts argue that children should not be spanked when they act out citing evidence that it leads to more, rather than fewer, behavior problems and it could escalate into physical abuse. There are data to support this argument. Other experts, however, argue that the...

The Embassy of Venezuela in Mexico has been shown, by very different sectors in that country and in Mexico, to be an instrument of the ideological propaganda and political expansion of the personal interests of Hugo Chávez. Observations of interventionism include giving electoral support to the PRD [Democratic Revolutionary Party of Mexico], even "espionage," as well as a presumed importation of high caliber weapons and contacts with the FARC, ETA and Al Qaeda. Mexico City | Tuesday, 15 November 2005 | Vladimir Villegas is a person of Euro-African heritage showing a good sense of humor and charisma. Tall, robust, sporting...

You know things are really getting out of hand when TV hostess Oprah Winfrey decides to go jihad. Yes, Oprah, the waddling guru of the bored middle-class at-home housewives, has repeatedly taken time off from teaching her followers about closet organization and thigh reduction, in order to promote the Palestinian cause. She has run one-sided articles about the Middle East conflict on her show and and in her O Magazine. Whenever the subject of terrorism is broached on her show, Oprah studiously avoids allowing anyone to link it to Palestinians or the Hizbollah. She interviewed mothers of suicide bombers who...