Free Republic

Not meant to scare, rather to serve as a wake-up call. This Monday Russia's Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported that part of Ukraine's Soviet-era nuclear arsenal may well have found its way to Iran. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainians agreed to transfer the Soviet nuclear arsenal that remained in Ukraine after independence to Russia. According to Novaya Gazeta, some 250 nuclear warheads never made it to Russia and are thought to have been sent to Iran instead. The report further noted that the warheads in question will remain operational until 2010. ............................ Iran's recent financial maneuverings also...

Not only were neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq mentioned in a film about the Iraq-Kuwait war, but the Manchurian corporation's technicians rewire the brains of the abducted U.S. soldiers with false memories of al-Qaida-type jihadists so that they will lay the blame for their terrorist acts on an innocent Muslim jihadist. Why don't the movies have plausible, real-world villains anymore? One reason is that a plethora of stereotype-sensitive advocacy groups, representing everyone from hyphenated ethnic minorities and the physically handicapped to Army and CIA veterans, now maintain liaisons in Hollywood to protect their images. The studios themselves often have "outreach...

In his first State of the Nation address during his first term, Bush lumped Syria along with Iran and North Korea as the so-called the world's "axis of evil."

Iran says it has found the wreckage of two US unmanned spy planes on its territory in recent months, accusing the US of violating its sovereignty through illegal overflights. The Foreign Ministry says Iran "strongly protests against such unlawful acts and emphasises the necessity to observe the principles of international law concerning the sanctity of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states". The Pentagon has no immediate comment to the protest, which came in letters to the US Government written months ago but only made public at the United Nations on Monday. They described the crash of a Shadow 200...

The UN Security Council approved a resolution Monday demanding Syria co-operate with a UN investigation into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, threatening further action against Damascus if it continues to stonewall. Syrian border police keep watch. INDEPTH: Syria The resolution was unanimously approved by the 15-member council after the threat of economic sanctions was dropped from a previous resolution, co-sponsored by the U.S., France and Britain. Russia and China had objected to the initial text which called for the threat of economic sanctions unless Syria co-operated with an investigation into the bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 20...

On the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of D-Day, Presidents Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush traveled to Normandy to lead us in tribute to the bravery of the Greatest Generation of Americans, who had liberated Europe. Always a deeply moving occasion. The 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of the dropping of the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, however, were not times of celebration or warm remembrance. Angry arguments for and against the dropping of the bombs roil the airwaves and fill the press. And the reason is obvious. While World War II was a just war against enemies...

Senior Iranian officials have indicated that Russia could become a partner in lucrative projects to build 20 nuclear power stations in Iran. "A plan has been approved in parliament obliging the government to study the possibility of building 20 nuclear power stations. Many countries, including Russia, could participate," Kazem Jalali, head of the Iranian parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, announced in Moscow. Jalali, heading the Iran-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group on an official visit to Russia, made the remarks at a meeting with Alexander Rumyantsev, head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom). Jalali told Russian officials that Iran still intends...

BEIJING: China and Russia are to hold rare joint military exercises involving up to 8,000 service personnel from Aug 18-26, the Global Times reported, citing Russian media reports. 'Peace Mission 2005' will involve China's army, navy and air force, while Russia will dispatch its navy and air force, it said. China's Defense Ministry has not announced the exercises. But Russian President Vladimir Putin said last Thursday during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao that joint exercises will take place later this year. According to the Global Times, which is run by the official People's Daily, final arrangements for...

MOSCOW - With Russia and China pledging to develop their partnership, investment and energy issues topped the agenda of their bilateral summit in the Russian capital. The countries also lashed out at perceived US unilateralism by issuing a declaration demanding a curb on outside interference in nations' internal affairs. During his visit to Russia from June 30 to July 3, Chinese President Hu Jintao discussed ways to boost bilateral cooperation, including investment and the energy sector, and signed a declaration with President Vladimir Putin denouncing "monopoly and domination in international affairs" and calling for an end to "attempts to divide...

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti commentator Pyotr Goncharov) - Russia will not lose no matter who wins the second round of the presidential election in Iran. It has a fair chance of preserving its priority standing in Iran's foreign policy under any president - Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, technocrat and pragmatist, or his rival, the ultraconservative Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, who produced a furore with his surprise success at the election. This is the unanimous opinion of most Russian experts. Unlike Washington, which said the election in Iran was undemocratic and would not create a legitimate...

Iran's Guardian Council approved a law on Saturday that will press the government to develop nuclear technology that could be used to build atomic weapons. This should come as no surprise to those who have been paying attention to the growing danger of the remaining two parts of what President Bush aptly named the Axis of Evil. The UN and the EU would have us play nice and politely ask them time and again to stop their dangerous pursuits. They might even face UN resolutions, if they don't decide to threaten nuclear war in response. Ultimately it will take force...

Fellow FRiends, there have been quite a few threads on FR about the new potential axis between China-India-Russia. Many have said, that this axis poses the next evil in the world the US has to confront. Others, like me have stated that the Chinese and Indians are just not compatible. All you have to do is travel to places like Vancouver, Canada (large Indian and Chinese population), Hong Kong, etc. In any of these places, the two cultures do not mix. They are a complete cultural misfit. I have posted a comedy routine by an Indian comic (Russell Peters -...

In the closing stages of World War II, as Allied and French resistance forces were driving Hitler's now demoralised forces from France, three senior German officers defected. Legionnaires were recruited from German POW camps The information they gave British intelligence was considered so sensitive that in 1945 it was locked away, not due to be released until the year 2021. Now, 17 years early, the BBC's Document programme has been given special access to this secret file. It reveals how thousands of Indian soldiers who had joined Britain in the fight against fascism swapped their oaths to the British king...

Sixty years after the Allied victory over fascism in Europe, Britain is still "obsessed with the Nazi period" and "ignorant" about German history after 1945, Berlin's ambassador to London has said. Thomas Matussek said that the countries were "drifting apart" because British schoolchildren were growing up with "dangerous misunderstandings" and were not taught "what Germany is about". Asked about Prince Harry's decision to wear a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party, he said he could not advise a member of the Royal Family - but added: "If it were a normal teenager, I would like to create an opportunity...

As if striving to be worthy of its position as part of the Axis of Evil, North Korea test fired a missile into the Sea of Japan Sunday. South Korean officials said last month that Pyongyang had recently shut down a nuclear reactor, possibly to harvest more weapons-grade plutonium. This comes on the heels of Iran's threat Saturday to resume producing nuclear fuel.

Just 48 hours before representatives of 189 nations meet at the United Nations to review the flaws in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Iran threatened Saturday to resume producing nuclear fuel, and North Korea dismissed President Bush as a "philistine whom we can never deal with."

The Holy See's ambassador to Taipei Ambrose Medtha confirmed on Wednesday that (TAIWAN) President Chen would attend the funeral, and added that he believes the president would have "no difficulty" at the Italian immigration on his way to Vatican City. According to MOFA spokesman Michael Lu, President Chen will depart on a special China Airlines flight at 15:40 on Thursday afternoon, and land in Rome at 5 a.m. on Friday. The president will return to Taipei on the afternoon of that same day, Lu said. The five-member Taiwanese delegation will include Minister Chen, Taipei Grand Mosque Imam Ma Shiao-chi,...

RBC, 04.03.2005, Moscow 17:20:02.On March 18, 2005, Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a working visit to France on invitation of his French counterpart Jacques Chirac, the press service of the Russian head of state has reported. In the course of the visit, Putin will take part in a meeting between Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Iran sent North Korea a message of support that praised the Pyongyang administration for "protecting the peace." North Korea's official Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the Islamic Republic of Iran's President, Mohammed Khatemi, send the Pyongyang administration a message saying that the Iranian government ad its people fully support the North Korean government and its people in their efforts to protect North Korea's security and peace. Khatemi also announced his support for North Korea's efforts to reunite the Korean peninsula. North Korea had announced it was withdrawing from nuclear disarmament multinational talks on February 10th. The Washington administration labeled...

IRAN will carry out an "astonishing" retaliation to any attack against the Islamic republic by Israel or the US, a top Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted as saying today. "We will counter any stupid action by Israel and its master with firmness and in an astonishing way," Brigadier-General Mohammad-Ali Jafari was quoted as saying by the Shargh newspaper. The commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces said Iran had the capacity to defeat any invader within months. "We pushed the Baathist enemy from our country within one and a half years," he said, referring to the opening campaigns of the...