Free Republic

US President Barack Obama said on Monday the United States would be a friend and partner to Libya, but urged rebels poised to depose Muammar Gaddafi to not seek justice through violent reprisals. "The Gaddafi regime is coming to an end and the future of Libya is in the hands of its people," Obama said in a statement to reporters on the farm where he is on vacation. The likely end of Gaddafi's rule is a lesson for leaders in the Middle East who ignore the demands of their people for change, Turkey said on Monday. "What is happening in...

Johnnie Stevens of Workers World Party gave the following talk at the July 30 meeting in New York’s Riverside Church protesting the war against Libya.Attacking Libya is attacking Africa! The war against Libya is a colonial war against all of Africa! I want to ask you all to come out on Sat., Aug. 13, to march in Harlem against the attacks on Libya and Zimbabwe and against the economic cuts of teachers and workers. Who’s all coming out for the march in Harlem, please stand up. (The audience stood up.) Our party’s first demonstration was in 1959 at Rockefeller Center...

Sen. Jim Webb (Va.), a leading Democratic authority on national security policy, on Sunday said he has “serious problems” with President Obama’s decision to support NATO operations in Libya. Webb has criticized Obama’s decision to send U.S. forces to intervene in the Libyan civil war but he ratcheted up his criticism this weekend. Webb, former Secretary of the Navy and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the action set a worrisome precedent. “The reason that he used for going in defy historical precedent. We weren't under attack. We weren't under an imminent attack. We weren't honoring treaty...

South Africa President Jacob Zuma has snubbed the visiting Michelle Obama by sending his prisons minister to meet the first lady at the airport and failing to see her during her three-day stay. Mr Zuma was out of the country for the first day of Mrs Obama's second solo trip abroad on Tuesday and although he returned on Monday night, aides said he was "not available" to meet her. Instead, he arranged for Corrective Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to greet her on her arrival in Pretoria on Monday night, and one of his three wives, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, to meet her...

Michelle, Mom, Kids Africa Trip Costing Taxpayers $171,000 At Least for Air Travel Alone Tuesday, June 21, 2011 By James Zilenziger (CNSNews.com) - The White House isn’t saying how much of a tab the taxpayers will need to pick up for the week-long trip that First Lady Michelle Obama, her two children, her mother, a niece and a nephew are taking to South Africa and Botswana. But according to Congressional Research Service estimates, the flights alone will cost taxpayers more than $171,000--almost as much as the $174,000 annual salaries paid to rank-and-file members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The...

PRETORIA — Michelle Obama began what officials have billed as her first major overseas trip as US first lady Monday, a visit to South Africa and Botswana focused on young women leaders and the legacy of the anti-apartheid struggle. She is travelling with her daughters, Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson -- but without her husband, US President Barack Obama.

Thousands of Christians have been forced to flee their homes in Western Ethiopia after Muslim extremists set fire to roughly 50 churches and dozens of Christian homes. At least one Christian has been killed, many more have been injured and anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 have been displaced in the attacks that began March 2 after a Christian in the community of Asendabo was accused of desecrating the Koran. The violence escalated to the point that federal police forces sent to the area two weeks ago were initially overwhelmed by the mobs. Government spokesman Shimelis Kemal told Voice of America...

As someone who supported a Libyan no-fly zone from the earliest days of what once seemed like a revolution but now looks like a civil war, I have to admit that Operation Odyssey Dawn may be a perfect example of being careful about what you wish for. To use a metaphor suitable for March Madness, Obama blew the fast break. The president, an avid hoopster, should understand the reference. In basketball, a fast break is when the offense brings the ball down the court as quickly as possible so the defense doesn't have time to set up. It's all about...

Six hero pilots return home safe and sound from a bombing mission to Libya which saw them in the cockpit for an incredible 25 hours. Three B-2 Spirit bombers, piloted by two men each, made it back after the 11,418-mile round trip from the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri - where they are kept in special hangars - to Libya, where they hit targets on forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi and back again. At $2.1bn, they are the most expensive warplanes in the world and rarely leave their climate-controlled hangars. But when it does, the B-2 bomber makes a...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/19/libya.civil.war/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1 More than 110 Tomahawk missiles fired from American and British ships and submarines hit about 20 Libyan air and missile defense targets in western portions of the country, U.S. Vice Adm. William Gortney said at a Pentagon briefing.

No more details avaliable at the moment.

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday defended President Barack Obama's reluctance to order US forces to mount a "no fly" zone over Libya, following domestic criticism over his stance. Debate over a no fly zone went on at the United Nations on Tuesday but risked being overtaken by advances by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi against opposition forces. "I do not believe that the American people would want the US president to act unilaterally in a way to engage militarily without taking careful consideration of what the consequences of that would be," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Obama's press...

Some great powers talk big and act big. Some do big things quietly. But you can't talk big and do nothing and still expect to be taken seriously in a world of ruthless power players. That's what Obama is doing in Libya today, following in the pathetic footsteps of Jimmy Carter and Lyndon B. Johnson. Obama is a grandstanding blow-hard, and the world understands that by now. Telling Hosni Mubarak to leave the presidency of Egypt after 30 years of a very successful alliance that stabilized the Middle East was unnecessary, dangerous, and humiliating to a man who deserved better...

Washington finally broke its silence Wednesday over the crisis in Libya when President Barack Obama issued a statement before television cameras in the Grand Foyer of the White House. Until now, the Obama administration had been making only bland declarations concerning the Libyan turmoil in order not to endanger American diplomats and citizens who had yet to be evacuated to safety. Before Wednesday’s statement, Obama had only given out a written declaration regarding Libya last Friday. But while the cause for the administration’s diplomatic reticence was resolved by a sea evacuation, Obama’s statement nevertheless contained only empty words. Instead of...

Obama not ruling out military action in LibyaBy Jordan Fabian - 02/24/11 01:59 PM ET President Obama will telephone French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday to discuss the ongoing unrest in Libya, White House press secretary Jay Carney said. The leaders will discuss potential options for the West to take against the Libyan government, which has been led for 40 years by Moammar Gadhafi. "They will be discussing Libya, and they will be discussing different options we can take ... to affect the behavior of the Libyan government," Carney said at his daily press...

If the turmoil paralyzing parts of the Middle East and North Africa brings oil production in Libya and Algeria to a standstill, it could cause crude oil to explode to $220 a barrel, derailing the global economic recovery. According to a new report from Tokyo-based Nomura, a simultaneous production halt from embattled Libya and neighboring Algeria would reduce OPEC spare capacity to 2.1 million barrels a day and may cause crude to spike from about $97 a barrel today to $220 a barrel. “The closest comparison is the 1990-1991 Gulf War,” the Nomura analysts, led by Michael Lo, wrote, saying...

While things are falling apart in other parts of the world, things at the White House are busy — too busy to notice. During Wednesday’s White House press briefing, newly minted Press Secretary Jay Carney responded to a question from CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller about when people might expect to hear President Barack Obama address the situation in Libya. Carney’s reason why they haven’t yet: Scheduling. (h/t Real Clear Politics Video) “This is just a scheduling issue,” Carney said. “As I said, the president will meet with Secretary of State [Hillary] Clinton this afternoon, his regular meeting and they...

U.S. President Barack Obama is under heavy pressure from critics to condemn Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi as estmates of the death toll in his massacre of opponents pass the 1,000 mark. Tens of thousands of foreigners are trying to flee the country by air, land and sea. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Wednesday told the parliament in Rome that the it “appears to be true” that more than 1,000 civilians have been slaughtered by Qaddafi’s armed forces and hired mercenaries, who are being paid up to $2,000 a day. He also expressed concern about a rise in “Islamic radicalism”...

Development aid to Africa has been flowing for decades, but the results have been paltry. Instead, recipients have merely become dependent and initiative has been snuffed out. It is time to reform the system. Development aid to Africa is a blessing for all those directly involved -- both on the giving end and on the receiving end. Functionaries on the donor side, at least those abroad, earn good money. Many of those on the receiving end, for their part, know how to organize things in such a way that their own personal interests don't get short shrift. There is no...

London, May 8 (ANI): South African police chief General Bheki Cele in order to avoid a visit by President Barack Obama to the country during the World Cup, is 'praying' that the US football team is knocked out of the tournament. Briefing on senators on security, General Bheki Cele said that a visit by the US President, which could happen if the team makes the knockout stage, would be a nightmare.

In its budget request for the State Department for the 2010 financial year, the Obama administration proposed significant increases in funding for US arms sales and military training programmes for African countries, as well as for regional programmes on the continent, and is expected to propose further increases in its budget request for the 2011 financial year. The 2010 budget proposed to increase foreign military funding spending for Africa by more than 300 per cent, from just over US$8.2 million to more than US$25.5 million, with additional increases in funding for North African countries. Major recipients included Chad, the Democratic...

<p>KAMPALA, Uganda— Iran's president is in Africa this week to build alliances to evade stronger U.N. sanctions for his country's nuclear program, ease its international isolation and strengthen its economy.</p> <p>Both Zimbabwe and Uganda, the two countries President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is visiting, have something to offer.</p>

"President Barack Obama wasted little time after his election in promoting abortion abroad by overturning the Mexico City Policy and forcing Americans to pay for abortions and abortion promotion in other nations," notes LifeNews.com editor Steven Ertelt in an April 7 online report. "Now the Obama administration is attempting to get Kenya to legalize abortion," reports Ertelt. The LifeNews.com article notes that the African nation of Kenya recently saw its parliament approve a draft Constitution that would overturn its historic prohibition on abortion. Although the draft contains language advocating the right to life for unborn children, it contains a section...

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday urged all the parties in Nigeria to show restraint in response to the killings of some 500 people in the recent sectarian violence. "We continue to urge all parties to exercise restraint ... The Nigerian government should ensure that the perpetrators of acts of violence are brought to justice under the rule of law and that human rights are respected as order is restored," said Clinton at a joint press conference with Gabon President Ali Bongo. At least 500 Christians, mostly women and children, were reportedly killed in a...

U.S. President Barack Obama has sharply criticized an anti-gay bill in Uganda that would impose the death penalty in some cases. Other western governments and gay rights activists also have criticized the legislation. Supporters accuse the U.S. and other western nations of interfering in Uganda's internal affairs. VOA's Robert Raffaele has more. The Ugandan measure calls for the death penalty or life imprisonment for HIV-positive homosexuals who have sex with minors. Earlier this week, at the U.S. Congress, some 200 lawmakers introduced a resolution condemning the bill. U.S. President Barack Obama criticized the Ugandan measure while speaking at a prayer...

While President Obama has lifted restrictions on AIDS-infected foreigners entering the United States, the "gay rights" lobby is demanding more. Led by lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, 90 mostly Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives are demanding that President Obama denounce the Christians of Uganda for considering new legislation opposing homosexual practices that threaten public health in that East African country. In the other body of Congress, Democratic members of the U.S. Senate are urging Uganda to allow foreign-funded homosexual groups to have free rein on their sovereign soil. In a letter to Uganda President Yoweri Museveni,...

President Barack Obama says he has no intention of sending American troops to Yemen or Somalia, but won't rule out the possibility.

Abuja — FEDERAL Executive Council (FEC) has described as highhanded and unfair, decision by the United States government to list the country among those to be watched over terror even as the government of Eritrea has pitched its tents with Nigeria in condemning the listing. Addressing State House Correspondents after the first meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC in 2010, Minister of Information and Communication, Prof Dora Akunyili stated that after reviewing the development, government has come to the conclusion that the US verdict on Nigeria was highhanded, especially that the country has participated very actively in all anti-terrorist...

On November 9, 2009, TV5, the international French TV channel, featured a panel of journalists on the theme of "Barack Obama, and a new vision of the United States in Africa". The Africa's correspondant of the French national newspaper Le Figaro gave a surprising comment : "despite what one can think of George W. Bush's policies, we have to admit that he helped Africa enormously. He had a real plan and vision for this continent. This is not the case anymore with Obama. Obama as no vision for Africa. His speeches are only words." Even the Sudanese journalist agreed :...

We already knew that Barack Obama's brother Malik was a Luo activist and a militant Muslim who argued that the black man must "liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture." Malik Obama, older brother to Barack Obama, holds an undated picture of Barak, left, and himself, middle, and an unidentified friend in his shop in eastern Kenya. (Karel Prinsloo, AP) Now there's this:Audio found (Here) of speaker in Kenya on the election of Kenyan (Obama) being elected in the US as President. Starting around the 2:00 minute marker, the speaker discusses ethnicity problems towards the Luo tribe in...

Following my article last week on whether Barack Obama deserved to get the Nobel Peace Prize, my inbox was inundated with emails from American readers seeking to know whether I have proof that Obama was really born in Kenya. If he was born in Kenya, they theorise, he is therefore not entitled to claim American citizenship and the presidency of the United States. I could not help laughing at those emails, most displaying a naivete' and lack of understanding of this sentence from last week’s article: "It seems Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States of America (via a...

VATICAN CITY (AP) - African bishops attending a Vatican meeting are speaking about the election of Barack Obama in divine terms—putting them very much at odds with many of their U.S. counterparts. Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, Ghana said Wednesday that there was "a divine plan behind" Obama's election. "It's like the biblical story repeating itself," he told reporters, citing the Old Testament figure Joseph, who after being sold into slavery in Egypt ends up becoming a top official. "We believe God has his own plans. God directs history," he said of the U.S. election. "We pray that it...

But, more broadly, Bell fears that the United States does not "have the right strategy" on Darfur, and he warns that the "status quo plays in favor of the government" of Sudan's President Omar Bashir. The group wants Obama to take action and renew pressure on the regime by coming up with a peace initiative, which would include countries with sway in the region such as Egypt and China, and could eventually lead to a tentative peace deal. Since his nomination, Gration has made some risky moves, indicating some openness towards Bashir -- who is the subject of an International...

GOP lawmakers are calling on the Obama administration to cancel $400,000 in economic aid to foundations run by Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi following his rambling diatribe at the United Nations this week and the hero's welcome he gave to the Lockerbie bomber last month. The State Department notified lawmakers earlier this month of its intent to disburse $2.5 million in economic aid to Libya, including $400,000 for Qaddafi's foundations. Of the $400,000 half will go to a foundation run by the leader's son, Saif, and the other half to one run by his daughter, Aisha. Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtien, the...

After getting complaints from Congress─and an inquiry from NEWSWEEK─the State Department backed away Thursday from awarding foreign-aid funds to two foundations headed by the children of Libyan dictator Muammar Kaddafi.

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga arrived in the United States of America on Saturday night to news of cancellation of a luncheon with US President Barack Obama which had earlier been scheduled for later this week. The news followed a round of confusion over whether he would attend the luncheon, hosted by the White House for selected leaders from sub-Saharan Africa on the sidelines of the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York. New York-based Kenyan ambassador to the UN Zachary Muburi-Muita told the Nation on Saturday night that the State Department contacted him on Friday to...

Barack Obama's broken promise to African villageDavid Cohen, Evening Standard 25.07.08 It is an extraordinary sight to walk into a basic two-room house under a mango tree in rural east Africa and discover what is essentially a shrine to Barack Obama. The small brick house with no running water, a tin roof and roving chickens, goats and cows is owned by Sarah Obama, Barack's 86-year-old step-grandmother. Inside, the walls are decorated with a 2008 Obama election sticker, an old "Barack Obama for Senate" poster on which he has written "Mama Sarah Habai [how are you?]", a 2005 calendar that says...

KOGELO, Kenya, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Kenyan relatives and philanthropic organizations seeking President Obama's financial help mostly get financial advice, extended family members say. Requests for assistance have grown since Obama's election, the Boston Globe reported Sunday. In Kogelo, where Obama's father was raised, as well as in other areas of Kenya, politicians are expected to provide financial help to their tribe and family.

The White House Monday said President Barack Obama had no plans to meet Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi at the United Nations next month, but declined to rule out a chance encounter. Even a passing greeting between Obama and Kadhafi would be a politically tense moment, as a backlash mounts in the United States at the hero's welcome granted by Libya to freed Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi. Obama is due to attend his first United Nations General Assembly meeting in September and Kadhafi is also expected to address the session, fueling speculation they could meet in the next step...

We're all now familiar with this viral exchange between Secretary Clinton and a questioner in Africa

Hillary Clinton snapped. It was unfortunate, because she is our secretary of state, and she blew a fuse while abroad; but it's only human to unload now and again, and it was all a misunderstanding, in any case. What I find dispiriting is how the media's treatment of situations like this has a decided partisan bias. Unless you were on vacation and avoiding all media, you probably know the story. During her seven-nation tour of Africa, the former first lady lashed out at a student in Kinshasa, Congo, who apparently asked her a question about her husband's views on China...

A close aide to Hillary Clinton has dismissed as "psychobabble" the fuss over the US secretary of state's barbed response to a questioner asking for her famous husband's opinion instead of her own. Clinton ignored questions about the episode as she wound down a marathon African trip on Thursday. Clinton had reacted strongly earlier this week when a Congolese student in Kinshasa asked her for the opinion of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, about an international economic issue. "Wait. You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" a wide-eyed Clinton asked on Tuesday in response. "My husband...

Usually it’s Bill who loses it, but Hillary has swallowed a lot of aggravation in the last nine months. The fascinating thing about Bill and Hillary’s relationship is the way they perform their emotional correctives in public. Because Bill got so thoroughly smacked around last year for mouthing off on the campaign trail at the wrong moments and causing Hillary vote-losing blowback, he has been as good as gold ever since—the very model of a discreet, dignified former president. How appropriately stony-faced he looked the other day, sitting next to looney-tunes Kim Jong Il before the handover of the two...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made another controversial comment at an African town hall. While discussing the importance of free and fair elections, she uses the 2000 Presidential election and its ensuing recount, and the fact that then-candidate George W. Bush was the brother of then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, as an example in telling Nigerians, "We have our problems, too."

In Congo, Hillary Clinton Suggests Government Ownership of Industry Would be a Good Thing Wednesday, August 12, 2009 By Adam Brickley (CNSNews.com) - In a television interview Monday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that it would be a good thing for the government to take an ownership interest in industry.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – At a housing project for the homeless she once visited as first lady, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton basked in the cheers and serenade from an adoring crowd Saturday and pronounced U.S.-South African ties on the mend after years of strain. Clinton was in her element as she worked rope lines at the project on the outskirts of Cape Town that she had toured by herself in 1997 and then again in 1998, with her husband, President Bill Clinton, in tow to see the progress.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is currently in the midst of a whirlwind tour of Africa that takes her through seven nations in eleven days. "Africa?" you may be thinking. "Isn't that the continent where progress on numerous social, economic, and political ailments has been frustratingly elusive? That must be quite a difficult, depressing trip for her." If that is indeed what you were thinking, you couldn't be more ignorant. Because Hillary has proven herself to be a special kind of secretary of State, one whose diplomacy utilizes gregariousness and levity as much as carrots and sticks. Accordingly, during a...

Though overshadowed by hubby Bill’s rescue mission to Pyongyang, Hillary Clinton is in Africa speaking some useful truths. The Secretary of State’s seven-country jaunt began yesterday in Kenya, where she took aim at political corruption and graft. A disputed 2007 election resulted in a power sharing deal between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, but not before related violence claimed more than 1,000 lives. “The absence of strong, effective democratic institutions has permitted ongoing corruption, impunity, politically motivated violence, human-rights abuses and a lack of respect for the rule of law,” Mrs. Clinton said at a press conference....

"We don't need lectures on how to govern ourselves. Lecturing us on issues that deal with governance and transparency is in bad taste," Mr Odinga said. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state said that she, and President Barack Obama, "are convinced that the leaders of this nation have the capacity" to reconcile Kenya's dangerous divisions. More than 1,300 people died and 300,000 were forced from their homes as Kenya erupted into politically-charged clashes after the disputed December 2007 presidential elections. Despite strong pressure from western powers, Kenya's government has refused to allow an international tribunal, insisting on using existing...

« Previous PostNext Post »If Kenyan BC that I provided would not be genuine, Hillary would not be rushing to Kenya, would she? You are in: Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs: Press Relations Office > Daily Appointments Schedule > 2009 > Daily Appointment Schedule: August 2009 Daily Appointments Schedule for August 3, 2009 Washington, DC August 3, 2009 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman Daily Appointments Schedule Monday, August 3, 2009 10:00 a.m. Secretary Clinton holds a Secure Video Conference on Iran. (CLOSED PRESS...