Free Republic

RENO, NEV. — The remaining candidates in the winnowed Republican presidential field are attacking one another with abandon, each day bringing fresh headlines of accusations and outrage. But Mitt Romney and Ron Paul haven’t laid a hand on each other.

The Clear Conservative Path To GOP Nomination (Graphic Here) Romney had a big victory in Florida, but it wasn't as big as Fox News and the Establishment want to persuade conservatives: 1. Florida Delegates were only 50 versus 100, due to Florida violating Primary rules. 2. Ron Paul didn't campaign in Florida 3. Santorum had personal affairs to tend to and campaigned little in Florida and went to Nevada. The Path (Click Here) These factors lead to a bigger percentage win for Romney, which the GOP Establishment will play up as a huge victory. It's not a huge victory, it's...

"I hope you can see the logic of this idea, please understand that we must avoid being used by the elites to simply revitalize their parties."

Alan Sears is the president, CEO, and general counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), often called the conservative counterweight to the liberal American Civil Liberties Union. Since ADF's founding in 1994, he has been involved with thousands of cases dealing with freedom of religion, abortion, marriage, and family composition, and has led the training of more than 1,500 lawyers.

ANKARA, Turkey — A newly assertive Turkey offered on Sunday a vision of a starkly realigned Middle East, where the country’s former allies in Syria and Israel fall into deeper isolation, and a burgeoning alliance with Egypt underpins a new order in a region roiled by revolt and revolution.

The irony couldn’t be thicker. Here are 500 million inhabitants of the European Union with a gross domestic product that is the world’s largest. Yet the U.S., dragged along by Little Napoleon, a k a Nicholas Sarkozy, flies most of the sorties -- not to speak of providing all the World War IV stuff like space-based surveillance the Europeans can’t field themselves. So Europe doesn’t want to put in its money where its mouth is, and Germany hasn’t even opened it. Unlike neutral Sweden, Europe’s No. 1 power has strictly refused to go along, mumbling that “force never solves political...

ASTANA, Kazakhstan - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Wednesday for a security alliance of several former Soviet nations and China to form a united front against the West. Ahmadinejad's address to fellow heads of state at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan will likely deepen suspicions that the bloc is intended as a counterweight to the United States across the region. In a summit declaration signed by all the member states, the organization also attacked missile defense programs in another apparent dig at the United States.

CANNES, France (AFP) – Peter Fonda launched a four-letter attack on US President Barack Obama at the Cannes film festival on Wednesday, calling him a traitor over the handling of the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill. The star of the 1969 road movie "Easy Rider" was in Cannes for the premiere of "The Big Fix" by Rebecca and Josh Tickell, the only feature documentary in the official selection at the Cannes film festival this year. Fonda -- a keen environmentalist and co-producer of the film which centres on the explosion of the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon, the ensuing...

Moammar Khadafy can survive and even prevail over the vastly more pow erful and technologically advanced NATO-led coalition. To do so, the Libyan dictator can not only exploit the inherent weaknesses of any coalition, but even turn NATO's technologies into a weakness. From the Navy's Top Gun to the Army's OPFOR (Opposing Force), the US military systematically trains to think like its enemies -- to anticipate how the enemy will try to overcome US advantages, pitting his strengths against our weaknesses. This classic "Red Hat versus Blue Hat" analysis begins by comparing objectives. The United States and NATO want to...

There will be a lot at stake at the end of November when world leaders gather for a pivotal NATO meeting in Lisbon. The meeting is meant to hash out a new Strategic Concept, an all-encompassing document issued every decade that guides the alliance's actions and priorities. The last Concept was drafted before 9/11, before the subsequent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and before Russia's resurgence as a regional power (and a worldwide power player). NATO was smaller back then, as well, and has since adopted countries in the former Soviet Union that border Russia. It's a different world—and there...

How Dare They! These self-serving, self-righteous thieves! Right before Congress slinked away to beg for their jobs – The U.S. Senate voted to pay Senator Byrd's family a $193,400 Death Bonus! Please, make no mistake about it. This was not a charitable act of good will. This was a blatant display of Washington cronyism at it's worst. Believe me, I would applaud a charitable act from our elitists in the Senate. But not one Senator took a thin dime out of his/her pocket. THEY TOOK IT OUT OF OURS! Senator Robert Byrd was no charity case. He was a U.S....

A new Time poll finds that one quarter of Americans believe Barack Obama is a Muslim. What’s most interesting about that fraction is that more Americans now believe Obama is a Muslim than believed it when he was running for President two years ago. As Americans have gotten to know their President better, more have apparently come to believe he prays to Allah. Big media predictably is interpreting the poll as exposing Americans’ ignorance and xenophobia. But it is actually the best evidence yet that, whatever his faith, the first new President since 9/11 has exposed himself as the Islamophile-in-Chief....

Out on stands, now, here in Japan. Mass circulation. Hope and "CHANGE"."CHANGE" (North Korea and Red China) can believe in. Hmmm mmmm MMMM!

NATO must win the war in Afghanistan, expand ties with Russia, counter the threat posed by Iran's missiles, and assure the security of its 28 members, according to its new mission statement for the next decade. The draft document, released Monday, seeks to bridge a growing rift between the U.S., which favors a greater international role for NATO, and European nations that want it to retain its traditional defensive focus. "NATO must be versatile and efficient enough to operate far from home," said former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, head of the team of experts who wrote the document....

Russia is planning to show a friendlier face to the West to try to rebuild its economy with foreign capital and expertise — but Britain appears to have been left out of its plans. A Foreign Ministry list of countries with whom Russia will seek “modernising alliances” omits to mention Britain, a sign that relations remain strained after the 2006 murder in London of Alexander Litvinenko, the Kremlin critic and former spy. The two countries have also clashed over Russia’s brief war with Georgia in 2008 and a number of other disputes. The Programme for Effective Use of Foreign Policy...

When Japan’s prime minister visited Washington this month, Japanese officials lobbied intensely to get him a one-on-one with Barack Obama. In the end, Yukio Hatoyama had to settle for just 10 minutes, and even that during a banquet when the US president was presumably more interested in the appetisers and wine. These things matter in Japan. One senior politician called the put-down – as it was inevitably viewed in Tokyo – “humiliating”. He even noted that the Japanese prime minister was shunted to the edge of a group photo, the diplomatic equivalent of banishment to Siberia. It would be wrong...

The Cold War-era Western European Union defence alliance, set up in the wake of World War II, is to cease functioning, its assembly's head Robert Walter said on Wednesday. "The WEU as an organisation will be wound down within a year or so," said British parliamentarian Walter, who presides over the Paris-based assembly of the international grouping. The body was initiated by Belgium, Britain, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1948 and later expanded to include Germany, Italy, Spain and others. Its founding principles were "to afford assistance to each other in resisting any policy of aggression," and "to promote...

Debbie Schlussel posted a long piece last evening about a charity that Sean Hannity is affiliated with, accusing them of malfeasance and mismangement. FrumForum has done an exhaustive investigation of the charity in question, Freedom Alliance, and found enough evidence to substantially rebut each of Schlussel’s claims. I’ll approach them one by one.

Two public policy groups see opportunity in Ohio for 'green-collar' jobsBy MARK DODOSH 12:25 pm, January 25, 2010 The two public policy groups — Apollo Alliance of San Francisco and Policy Matters Ohio — have released a joint report that recommends changes in Ohio's job training efforts in order to better prepare people for what they call “green-collar jobs” in the clean energy sector of the economy. The report, “Mapping Green Career Pathways: Job Training Opportunities and Infrastructure in Ohio,” said many of the elements of a green training infrastructure already exist in Ohio. However, the two groups say there...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's new ruling coalition, freed of pressure from its former communist allies, is expected to move forward soon on a military logistics deal with the United States that would help U.S. operations in the region. The Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), on hold for more than two years, allows refueling, maintenance and servicing of military ships and planes from both countries at each other's ports and bases. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's former communist allies opposed the agreement, saying Indian military bases could become permanent ports of call for the U.S. military engaged in unilateral operations in the...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2009 – NATO has pressing issues concerning Afghanistan and the alliance’s future role amid celebrations of its 60th anniversary, President Barack Obama said today. Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to reporters in Baden-Baden, Germany, today – the first day of the annual NATO summit meeting of 28 member countries that takes place in Strasbourg, France, and Kehl, Germany, through tomorrow, and a day before NATO’s 60th birthday. “As we celebrate this important landmark for NATO, we are reminded that not only do we have immediate joint efforts in Afghanistan that have to be bolstered...

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J., Dec. 5, 2008 – The New Jersey National Guard is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its alliance with the republic of Albania through the State Partnership Program. The State Partnership Program, launched by the National Guard Bureau and the U.S. State Department in the 1990s, was started to foster alliances between U.S. states and former Soviet countries, officials said. Soldiers and airmen with the New Jersey National Guard have worked with their counterparts in Albania since 1993 to modernize the former communist nation’s defense forces and prepare it for membership in NATO. Albania is scheduled to join...

In the aftermath of World War II, statesmen on both sides of the Atlantic recognized that the defense of freedom would require the active engagement of a new generation of leaders. The result was the Atlantic alliance. In the six decades that followed, this alliance helped the West prevail against Soviet communism and ensured the advance of democracy from the Atlantic to the Urals. Today we may be tempted to bask in our achievements and wax nostalgic about all we have been through. But this is no time for nostalgia. At this moment, our alliance now finds itself threatened on...

New Delhi: A former Pacific commander of the United States said on Saturday that the Indian armed forces needed to move beyond “generic” joint activities with their U.S. counterparts and towards focused interaction based on “military operations they are likely to conduct together.” Speaking at the IISS-CITI India Global Forum organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies here on Saturday, Admiral (retd.) Dennis C. Blair noted that the U.S. provision of security in the post-war period had helped Asia maintain peace and security all these years. But as their economies and defence capabilities grow, he added, Asian powers like...

The juxtaposition of events in Colombia and Venezuela give a compelling indication that Hugo Chavez has allied himself with FARC, the terrorist rebels just across his border. The day after the Columbians managed to kill FARC’s second in command, Chavez moved ten battalions to the border, threatening war against the US-allied government in Bogota, which he called “criminal”: President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered 10 battalions of troops to the border with Colombia after Colombia’s military killed a top rebel leader.Chavez told his defense minister: “move 10 battalions for me to the border with Colombia, immediately.” He also ordered the...

Israel helped India turn around Kargil war? UNI | February 08, 2008 | 19:10 IST In a startling revelation, the Israeli Ambassador in New Delhi, Mark Sofer, has said that his country had assisted India in 'turning around' the situation during the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan. In an interview with a weekly, the envoy disclosed how defence ties between the two countries got a boost after Kargil when Israel came to India's rescue at a critical time, helping turn around the situation on the ground. 'I think we proved to the Indian government that you can rely on us,...

Marriage on trial in Oregon Hearing affects not only the future of marriage, but also your right to be heard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On November 2, 2004, 57 percent of Oregon voters voted in favor of Measure 36, a constitutional amendment that recognizes marriage as the union of one man and one woman only. This was a critical measure, a significant step in protecting marriage. Nevertheless, this amendment did not stop advocates of the homosexual legal agenda, who have been working around the clock ever since to reverse the expressed will of the people. Last year, the activists found an ally when...

"Far from being the source of anti-Americanism in Turkey, the AKP represents an ideal partner for the United States in the region." So asserts Joshua W. Walker, a former Turkey desk officer at the State Department now studying at Princ­eton University, referring to the Justice and Development Party (known as the AKP). Writing in The Washington Quarterly, Walker supports his thesis by noting the constructive Turkish role in Iraq, praising "how carefully the AKP has guarded the [U.S.] alliance and tried to work with the Bush administration, partic­ularly when compared to other European nations."Not just that; he welcomes the weakening...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The political movement loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr quit Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Alliance on Saturday, leaving Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition in a precarious position in parliament. The move further weakens the ruling coalition, which even before the defection had failed to push through laws aimed at reconciling Iraq's warring majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Arabs. Maliki's government now enjoys the support of only about half of Iraq's 275 lawmakers, although it could survive with the support of a handful of independent lawmakers. "The political committee has declared the withdrawal of the Sadr bloc from the...

WASHINGTON: The ongoing naval wargame in the Bay of Bengal involving five nations does not "target" China but is designed to shape strategic choices by regional actors like India, a senior Pentagon official has said. "This exercise does not target China. It is designed to shape strategic choices being made by all regional actors. Malabar is a sign of responsible stakeholders interested in promoting peace and security by a visible presence," said Brigadier General John Toolan, Principal Director for South and South East Asia at the US Department of Defence. The four-day 'Malabar Exercise' started on September 4 with the...

Four ruling Iraqi parties have agreed to a "new" political alliance and set of principles after intense deliberation. As reported earlier, the Shi'a Islamic Da'wa Party and Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council have signed an agreement with the two principal Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Notably absent from the "new" agreement are any Sunni Arab political forces. The Iraqi Islamic Party of Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi left the negotiations. Also absent are any other opposition groups, including the secular Iraqi National List of former Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, and the Shi'a groups that...

Nouri Al Maliki, who visited Turkey at the beginning of the week, signed the oil pipe alliance with Iran. The unexpected closeness between these two countries caused the relations with the USA to decline. The alliance between Iraq and Iran brought about reaction from the USA President George W. Bush. Bush warned Maliki on Iraq's close relation with Iran and said, "I hope he (Maliki) has warned Iran sharply. I am sure that Maliki does not suppose that they are being constructive."

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, courting Iowa conservatives, found himself answering questions Saturday about the role his Mormon faith would play should he win the race. Romney told one questioner "we have exactly the same values" and said there is no religious litmus test for candidates. The former Massachusetts governor dismissed suggestions of a conflict between his religion and his ability to govern. He also hastened to offer assurances of his faith. "The Bible for me is the word of God," Romney said. "I also believe that Jesus Christ is my savior." The questions arose as Romney prepared to join...

Latin America: When the U.S. announced an alliance with Brazil on ethanol, critics called it hollow-gesture politics. But that verdict is now in tatters as Brazil reasserts leadership and its president's popularity soars. Under the surprise deal disclosed in February, the world's top two ethanol producers would share private-sector know-how, develop a market for it and help poor Central American and Caribbean states grow ethanol crops to become less oil-dependent. Skeptics, however, dismissed it as another big government program, and some had some good points. They pointed out, as we have, that oil is more efficient than ethanol as energy....

THE proposed four-way strategic dialogue involving the US, Japan, India and Australia, which caused such a furore when it was first revealed while John Howard was in Tokyo, is set to go ahead after all. It is just one of a series of moves the Howard Government might make that could provide an inestimably beneficial strategic transformation in the Australia-India relationship. India is as big a challenge and opportunity for Australia as China has recently been, and as Japan has been for the past 50 years. India's economy is just about growing as fast as China's, but its demographic profile...

A Match Made in Heaven: American Jews, Christian Zionists, and One Man’s Exploration of the Weird and Wonderful Judeo-Evangelical Alliance, by Zev Chafets (HarperCollins, 214 pp., $24.95) For years, I’ve been one of a handful of writers seeking to convince fellow American Jews that it’s time to stop worrying and learn to love the Christian Right. But with some chagrin, I admit I’ve never seen the case made by anyone with quite the power, charm, effervescence, clarity – and humor – that journalist Zev Chafets brings to the job. Is the offer of partnership with pro-Israel Evangelical Christians a good...

For both Tony Blair and George Bush there is no escaping the huge stain on their legacy from the debacle in Iraq. However much they defend their records, as Blair did last week in his BBC interview, historians and public opinion alike will still consider it a vast foreign policy failure. But for President Bush there is one hope that his record might at least be mitigated by a different foreign policy move he has made. That move is America’s rapprochement with India. Bush has been America’s worst president since Richard Nixon. Yet there is another, more intriguing parallel. Nixon’s...

In August of 2006, we warned our readership about the coming North American Union, a plan to merge Canada, Mexico and the US into a single economic and political entity a la the European Union. You can read our alert, "Another Back Door for Gun Control" here: http://www.jpfo.org/alert20060815.htm At that time, the planned NAU was (supposedly) still a theory, one new harebrained scheme among so many others proposed by the government elite safely ensconced in their ivory towers. Disturbingly, that no longer appears to be the case. According to a recent article in the New American ( http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_4468.shtml or http://tinyurl.com/2vlzt3...

Tehran (dpa) - The presidents of Iran and Syria on Saturday vowed alliance against what they called US and Israeli conspiracies against the Islamic world. ISNA news agency reported Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying that the Islamic world in general and Iran and Syria in particular should maintain their vigilance and neutralise conspiracies aimed at sowing discord among Muslims. Ahmadinejad said that what the US really aims for under the pretext of development in the region "is just another effort to strengthen its own status and that of the Zionists (Israel)." ISNA quoted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying that...

The United States should work hard to develop a strong alliance with Russia. I believe such an alliance would be in the best interest of both nations. During the Cold War, Russia -- then known as the Soviet Union -- was our enemy. But today, with radical Islam on the march, we should remember that Russia's roots are in Western civilization. We should nourish those roots and cooperate closely with Russia in the war on terror. Russia has suffered large numbers of injuries and deaths as a result of terrorist actions, primarily by Chechnian Muslims who have been responsible for...

Mr Putin said the US "has overstepped its borders" The Munich security conference was born in the 1960s - the height of the Cold War. Forty years on, there been talk of a new chill. Given the tone and content of Russian President Vladimir Putin's address to the gathered defence ministers, parliamentarians and pundits, it is not, perhaps, hard to see why. Warming quickly to his task after only the briefest of greetings, President Putin accused the US of establishing, or trying to establish, a "uni-polar" world. "What is a uni-polar world? No matter how we beautify this term,...

The cavity magnetron played a decisive role in WWII In the summer of 1940, the war with Germany was at a critical stage. France had recently surrendered and the Luftwaffe was engaged in a concerted bombing campaign against British cities. The United Kingdom was being cut off from the Continent, and without allies to help her, she would soon be near the limit of her productive capacity - particularly in the all important field of electronics. On the morning of 29 August, a small team of the country's top scientists and engineers, under the direction of Sir Henry Tizard...

CANBERRA and Tokyo are negotiating a defence and security agreement that will open the way for Japanese troops to train on Australian soil. The co-operation pact will bring a new dimension to Australia's relations with its biggest trading partner, providing for joint military exercises, regular meetings between foreign and defence ministers, exchanges of officials and closer work on regional challenges such as North Korean nuclear proliferation. It will be Japan's first bilateral security agreement, other than the US-Japan alliance, which remains the linchpin of the Japanese defence arrangements. Both Canberra and Washington have been pushing the previously reluctant Japanese Government...

Space experts have confirmed a report that China successfully tested a new anti-satellite weapon last week, firing the weapon to destroy one of its own old satellites. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.The report of a new Chinese space weapon first appeared in the publication Aviation Week and Space Technology. And on Tuesday the director of the private Center for Defense Information, space security expert Theresa Hitchens, said she and other specialists have been able to confirm it. "There has been some confirmation through the tracking data of the satellite that's been released by the U.S. Air Force. And...

U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 mi. altitude Jan. 11 destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile. The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA and other government organizations have a full court press underway to obtain data on the alleged test, Aviation Week & Space Technology will report in its Jan. 22 issue. If the test is verified it will signify a major new Chinese military capability. Neither the Office of the...

Japan and the United States are considering joint plans to coordinate the response of their armed forces if China invades Taiwan or North Korea strikes Japan, news reports have said. US and Japanese defense and foreign affairs officials would next month start studying various scenarios of military confrontation in Taiwan, reflecting US unease over China's growing military power, the Kyodo News agency reported. The plan would consider a possible Taiwanese declaration of independence and the use by China of military force against the island, according to the report, which cited unnamed US and Japanese government sources. Possible cooperation could include...

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Nov. 16, 2006 -- With NATO expanding its focus beyond its traditional Euro-Atlantic boundaries and into new missions such as those in Afghanistan, exactly how far can and should the alliance extend its reach? That’s among the issues Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his fellow NATO defense chiefs discussed at NATO headquarters here yesterday during the autumn session of the NATO Military Committee. Canadian Air Force Gen. Ray Henault, the committee chairman, opened the two-day session emphasizing the need to focus on current operations “and the ways and means to build...

I was greeted in March 2006 by Manmohan Singh in a small sitting room in the quite modest prime minister’s bungalow in New Delhi. The prime minister of India wore a broad smile, for he had just days before concluded a revolutionary nuclear deal with George W. Bush. Probably outside of Israel, no foreign capital is as pro-Bush as Delhi. Singh was basking in the glory of the Bush deal. Indeed, India’s political and strategic elite, even more than America’s, understands the epic nature of the new strategic relationship with Washington. It has been rightly compared with Nixon’s opening to...

A recent edition of the Hopewell News, a Virginia newspaper reported, “A Richmond attorney…has advised the Prince George County School Board not to block a proposed Gay-Straight Alliance club from forming at Prince George High School. ‘Should the issue be taken to court,’ said attorney D. Pat Lacy, Sr. of Richmond, ‘the school system would lose.’” (Gay-Straight Club Active at PGHS, Hopewell News, Oct. 6, 2006) Common sense, traditional values Americans are outraged that schools are allowing Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) into schools. They want to know who is behind these clubs and what their true motivations are. The plain truth...

Korea to Combat Capital Flight The government is seeking to prevent massive capital flight led by U.K. and U.S. investors. In all, US$9.264 billion foreign investors had in stocks, bonds and dividends here left the country between the beginning of this year and Aug. 11, the most since the stock market was opened to foreign investors in 1992. This is especially worrisome as the foreign funds are fleeing the country for good without re-investing here after they sell stocks and deposit the profits in domestic banks. Korea experienced a net outflow of $830 million in foreign capital in 2002 and...