Free Republic

Nov 10, 2009 — When the Berlin wall fell 20 years ago, Dorothee Hubner first dared to think, “Are we allowed to leave and finally be free?” Her story and that of her parents Gerhard and Gertraude, scientists trapped in East Germany, was told by Andrew Curry, a freelance writer, in Science.[1] Dorothee was 23 years old in 1989. Her parents, also biochemists, “had spent decades struggling to do research in East Germany without compromising their personal ideals with allegiance to the ruling Communist Party.” By not pledging allegiance to the ruling Communist Party, the Hubners faced a life of...

The collapse of communism: Reagan, Thatcher and the pope By Joseph A. Cannon Deseret News Published: Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009 12:12 a.m. MST Twenty years ago, my wife, Jan, and I were in what was then called West Berlin for a conference. One pleasant afternoon we walked along the Berlin Wall from the Brandenburg Gate to Checkpoint Charlie. During that time, there were significant rancorous anti-Communist demonstrations in East Germany, primarily in the southern part. A German friend, with typical Prussian hubris, dismissed them. "Nothing will come of this, these are just the ineffective rumblings of a bunch of Bavarians."...

So now the cat is well and truly out of the bag. For years, as the number of immigrants to Britain shot up apparently uncontrollably, the question was how exactly this had happened. Was it through a fit of absent-mindedness or gross incompetence? Or was it not inadvertent at all, but deliberate? The latter explanation seemed just too outrageous. After all, a deliberate policy of mass immigration would have amounted to nothing less than an attempt to change the very make-up of this country without telling the electorate. There could not have been a more grave abuse of the entire...

Some of you may have read my article on cities with the most beautiful women, this however is about the countries with the most beautiful women. It's always possible to find a city with beautiful women in a land of not-so-amazingly beautiful women. These places on the other hand, are entirecountries with beautiful women. 10. Denmark I've been to Denmark many times, & I can say that I've not found anything rotten there to date. And definitely not the women, the women here are as striking as they come. A lot like their Swedish neighbours, the women of Denmark are...

With an ambitious new pipeline planned to run along the bed of the Baltic Sea, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is driving a political wedge between Eastern and Western Europe. While the Russian-German pipeline offers clear energy benefits to Western Europe, Central and Eastern European leaders fear it could lead to a new era of gas-leveraged Russian domination of the former Soviet bloc. With its gas wealth and eyebrow-raising network of personal ties, Russia has divided members of the European Union that have vowed to act collectively to protect their security. Currently, Russian gas has to be piped through...

A recent report of an ancient textile facility, of sorts, is turning heads.[1] Sifting through the debris on a cave floor in the Republic of Georgia, scientists recently discovered evidence that the early cave dwellers processed textiles in the cave. While searching for ancient pollen grains, they found tiny flax fibers in the dirt. Some of these fibers were woven, some were cut, and some were dyed black, gray, turquoise, or pink. They also discovered evidence that these people were processing fur (for clothing) and animal hides. What is surprising about the find is that this was supposedly happening 30,000...

Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after midnight I was informed in a telephone call by President Barack Obama that (his) administration had decided to pull out from the planned missile defense shield installations" in the Czech Republic and Poland, the...

I was reading an article from The New York Times and this jumped out at me: Although the White House denied that its decision was made to curry favor with the Kremlin, it took some satisfaction in comments by Russian leaders suggesting more flexibility. Obama advisers pointed to a few specific areas where they have won concessions from other countries. Russia, for example, has agreed to a framework for nuclear arms cuts and gave permission for American troops to fly to Afghanistan through its airspace.(emphasis added) Then I read an article on RFERL that had the following: BISHKEK -- A...

When Barack Obama was running for the White House, he posed as a man with a cool head in a crisis who would display calm resolve in the face of any thuggery from the world's rogue states. The candidate described by his aides as "no drama Obama" would have despised the label of a gambler. Yet his decision to abandon plans for a missile defence shield in central Europe amounts to nothing less than a colossal gamble – and one that history may yet condemn as irresponsible and reckless. Be in no doubt about the stakes: the defensive system that...

OBAMA ABANDONS OUR ALLIES This Morning, In “Move Likely To Cheer Moscow And Roil The Security Debate In Europe,” Obama “Told East European States He Is Backing Away From Plans For An Anti-Missile Shield There.” (Peter Spiegel, "U.S. Shelves Nuclear-Missile Shield," The Wall Street Journal, 9/17/09; Jana Mlcochova and Gabriela Baczynska, "U.S. Backs Away From Missile Shield In Europe," Reuters, 9/17/09) Today Is 70th Anniversary Of Soviet Invasion Of Poland. “For Poland, the timing of the announcement is particularly sensitive. Thursday marked the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland following a pact between Moscow and Nazi Germany,...

Security: An Iranian mullah once said "a world without America and Zionism" was a real possibility. Our sellout of Eastern Europe and missile defense brings that dream closer to reality. It would take only one warhead."Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?" Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked at a "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran in 2005. "But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved." He added that Iran had a strategic "war preparation plan" for what it called "the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." A...

Senator Inhofe was on Savage show tonight. He said the Star Wars missile defense for Poland and the Czech Republic were also for protection of the United States. Inhofe said there are three stages of an ICBM flight. Launch, midflight and terminal phase.

Strategic Defense: With Iran on the verge of a deliverable nuke, the administration tells our allies in the dead of night that we will scuttle missile defense plans in Eastern Europe to please the Russians.Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after...

Alliances: The U.S. has expressed a willingness to barter away missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic. Now the Polish foreign minister says he hopes his country doesn't regret trusting the United States.The Brussels Forum is a privately organized high-level meeting of the most influential North American and European political, corporate and intellectual leaders to address pressing challenges currently facing both sides of the Atlantic. One of the pressing issues discussed at this year's conference was whether the U.S. is serious about bartering away plans for missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic in exchange for...

STILL determined to "push the reset button with Rus sia," President Obama hit the delete key on our allies in Eastern Europe. Obama's decision to abandon missile defense as we know it, cutting the throats of Poland and the Czech Republic, handed Moscow's hard-liners their biggest win since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russian strongman Vladimir Putin insisted all along that we'd never be permitted to deploy an anti-ballistic missile system in the former Soviet empire. He was right. And Obama got nothing in return. No Russian commitments on Iran's nuclear program. No sovereignty guarantees for Georgia. No restrictions...

...People, do not fool yourselves into thinking that a Cumbaiya society exists anywhere other than between the ears of historically drug ridden liberals. In the real world, our enemies view the U.S. as some sort of arrogant monster that needs to be destroyed. And, a lot of people in D.C. agree with that philosophy. They go by the name of ‘Czars. And, since they work for Obama and are not held accountable to anyone about anything they do or say, they can bend his ear, and stroke his tail, anyway he or they see fit. Does this administration honestly think...

WASHINGTON -- The White House will shelve Bush administration plans to build a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, according to people familiar with the matter, a move likely to cheer Moscow and roil the security debate in Europe.

Czechs feel betrayed, Poles irked, Romanians slighted. Ask them who's to blame, and the answer may come as a surprise: Obama. George W. Bush fawned over Eastern Europe, and its leaders rushed to join his post-9/11 "coalition of the willing." Now many—officials and ordinary citizens alike—are grumbling over what they perceive as the Obama administration's neglect. It's a startling shift in a region long accustomed to cozy ties with the United States.

The next 100 years George Friedman Published 27 August 2009 Japan and Turkey form an alliance to attack the US. Poland becomes America’s closest ally. Mexico makes a bid for global supremacy, and a third world war takes place in space. Sounds strange? It could all happen. . . In 1492, Columbus sailed west. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. These two events bracketed the European age. Once, Mayans lived unaware that there were Mongols, who were unaware there were Zulus. From the 15th century onwards, European powers collectively overwhelmed the world, creating the first truly global geopolitical system in...

America reneges on missile defense for New Europe The United States is poised to dump a critical missile-defense agreement with two of its most dependable NATO allies. The Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported yesterday that the Obama administration is going to scrap the "third site" anti-missile system scheduled to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic. Missile interceptors in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic were scheduled to be deployed by 2013. Now the plan appears to have been shot down. This move sends the wrong signal to our allies in Eastern Europe. The former Soviet...

Washington may relocate the controversial missile defense system planned for Eastern Europe to the Balkans, Turkey or Israel, a Polish newspaper reports. The U.S. plan included 10 long-range interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic. That plan will almost certainly be scrapped, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reports. Washington is now looking for alternative locations including in the Balkans, Israel and Turkey, the daily says, citing U.S. administration officials and lobbyists based in Washington. "The signals that the generals in the Pentagon are sending are absolutely clear: as far as missile defense is concerned, the current...

The ongoing de-Christianization of Kosovo continues and unlike the past frenzy of the anti-Serbian mass media in the West, we mainly have a deadly silence about the reality of Kosovo and the continuing Albanianization of this land. However, how is it “just” and “moral” to persecute minorities and to alienate them from mainstream society; and then to illegally recognize this land without the full consensus of the international community? How ironic it is that the same United States of America and the United Kingdom, two nations who were in the forefront of covertly manipulating the mass media; remain mainly silent...

Plaque in Pranjani dedicated to the Halyard Mission on September 12, 2004. The plaque next to it reflects the same inscription in the Serbian language. Photo courtesy of OSS Halyard Mission radioman Arthur "Jibby" Jibilian Serb soldiers in front of the Halyard Mission monument first dedicated in September of 2004,in Pranjani, Serbia August 15, 2009. Photo courtesy of Lt. Col. John Cappello Ohio National Guard troops that are in Serbia doing work on schools in South Serbia. They are working with Serb soldiers, some of which are also in the photo. The older folks are those who participated in assisting...

"Irresponsible" To Identify Secret Sites, Says CIA; Lithuania Denies Allegation A third European country has been identified to ABC News as providing the CIA with facilities for a secret prison for high-value al Qaeda suspects: Lithuania, the former Soviet state. Former CIA officials directly involved or briefed on the highly classified program tell ABC News that Lithuanian officials provided the CIA with a building on the outskirts of Vilnius, the country's capital, where as many as eight suspects were held for more than a year, until late 2005 when they were moved because of public disclosures about the program. Flight...

Participants in a very eventful picnic gather for its 20th anniversary at the Austro-Hungarian border. Twenty years ago Wednesday, Hungarian Border Guard Arpad Bella was standing in front of that gate in his summer uniform, pistol at his side, awaiting the arrival of a special delegation of Austrian visitors. Bella’s men had been told to be on the lookout. Meanwhile, reformers within Hungary’s Communist Party had given local democracy activists permission to organize a symbolic event on the border — a “pan-European picnic” in which they would share food, wine and declarations of cooperation with their Austrian neighbors. With foreign...

An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe 2009-07-15 by Valdas Adamkus, Martin Butora, Emil Constantinescu, Pavol Demes, Lubos Dobrovsky, Matyas Eorsi, Istvan Gyarmati, Vaclav Havel, Rastislav Kacer, Sandra Kalniete, Karel Schwarzenberg, Michal Kovac, Ivan Krastev, Alexander Kwasniewski, Mart Laar, Kadri Liik, Janos Martonyi. Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Adam Rotfeld, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Alexandr Vondra, Lech Walesa. We have written this letter because, as Central and Eastern European (CEE) intellectuals and former policymakers, we care deeply about the future of the transatlantic relationship as well as the future quality of relations between the United States and the countries of...

WASHINGTON -- A group of pro-American intellectuals and former policy makers from former Soviet bloc countries have written an open letter to the Obama administration urging it to significantly strengthen its diplomatic and security ties with the region. The signatories warn that the post-Cold War alliances with the United States that helped usher in democracy and bring the region into trans-Atlantic security agreements are in danger of slipping away. The letter was published in the Polish daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" on July 16 and signed by 22 prominent thinkers and ex-foreign ministers, prime ministers, and presidents from Lithuania, Slovakia, the Czech...

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — An exit poll says that Bulgaria's right-wing opposition GERB party has won the country's parliamentary election by a wide margin. The Alpha Research poll shows the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, or GERB, led by Sofia Mayor Boiko Borisov claiming 38.5 percent of the vote Sunday.

1. Definition of “Atheism” There is confusion and debate about the term “atheism” and its definition. The term “atheism” finds its etymology in the Greek combination of “a” and “theos”. What “atheos” means is, as with any term, subject to context (and perhaps personal interpretation). Note that if an atheist states, “I do not believe in God”, this is technically not a statement about God’s existence or lack thereof. Does atheos mean “no God”, “without God”, “lack God belief” or “God does not exist”? Early Christians were referred to as “atheists” because they did not believe in the Greek or...

RIGA, June 1 (RIA Novosti) - A blonde parade will be held annually in the Latvian capital at the end of May, the country's Chas news website reported on Monday. Some 1,000 people participated in the first blonde parade held on Sunday under the motto: Make the world a brighter place. "People need positive emotions, especially in hard times. We held this event for the first time and will make it a tradition and hold it annually at the end of May," the website quoted Marika Gederte, the head of the Latvian Blondes Association, as saying. Sunday's parade was followed...

Note: The following text is a quote: Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Plot to Smuggle Shoulder-Fired Surface-to-Air Missiles, Rocket-Propelled Grenades, and Other Military Weapons LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that CHRISTIAAN SPIES, a leader of an international arms trafficking operation, was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for plotting to smuggle shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles ("SAMs"), rocket-propelled grenades ("RPGs"), anti-tank guided missiles, and other high-powered military weapons into the United States for sale. United States District Judge RICHARD J. HOLWELL imposed the sentence today in...

MOSCOW – Twenty years ago, as Romanians were overthrowing their despotic Communist ruler Nicolae Ceausescu in an explosive discovery of freedom, their ethnically Romanian brethren in next-door Moldova – then still part of the USSR – were quiescent. In recent years, as nearby Georgians and Ukrainians launched pro-democracy “colored revolutions” that brought down their bureaucratic regimes, the citizens of now-independent Moldova, having elected Europe’s only Communist Party government in 2001, remained conspicuously calm and silent. But on Tuesday, thousands of young Moldovans surprised the world by erupting into the streets of the capital Chisinau to protest alleged fraud in Sunday’s...

An unexpected regional election victory by a previously marginal ultra-nationalist party is among a string of developments in Ukraine that threaten to fulfil the worst fears of G20 leaders as they gather for their summit in London. Lacking the protection of European Union membership, Ukraine has few of the safeguards that prevent its Western neighbours from falling into ruin. A sharply weaker currency, a collapse in exports and an economy expected to contract by at least six per cent this year has forced the country to seek £11 billion from the International Monetary Fund. Even this lifeline is endangered by...

Getting the IMF to take the heat — and sell its gold? Posted by Gwen Robinson on Mar 12 12:36. The latest partial solution to many problems besetting - well, all kinds of sectors and areas of the world - seems to be to pump money into the IMF (ie, to massively expand the so-called “New Arrangements to Borrow”, a system by which the fund can borrow from its richer members - or, under the EU’s new proposal, reserves-rich members) and no doubt get it to bail out Eastern Europe. /snip As the FT reports Thursday, US Treasury secretary Tim...

What happened to Dave? Embarrassingly, I used to love him back in the good old days of the 80s and early 90s. Maybe I was just naive and foolish. For the record, screw Katie Couric! She is a hack!

Financial Times: Eastern European economies battered hard Yesterday, 12:21 This should have been a year of celebration in central and eastern Europe. It is 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell, the 10th anniversary of Nato's eastward expansion and five years after the European Union began its enlargement into the region: from the Baltic to the Black Sea, the countries that escaped from Soviet rule have much to commemorate. But the global economic crisis has spoilt the party. Instead of building on the achievements of the past two decades, the region's leaders are feeling the economic foundations shaking under their...

A blast occurred Monday at the Bucharest Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence and Ecology Research Center of the Romanian Ministry of Defense, killing one officer who was working there, the ministry said.Major engineer Octavian – Viorel Mihai received first aid from the unit’s doctor and was immediately taken to the nearest hospital, to receive specialized medical attention, but he passed away.The officer was 37 years old and was working at the center since 2004. Part of his job involved working with powders and explosives. Another two slightly injured in NBC Research Center explosion A woman who was injured in the...

Investors sold equities and piled into gold and U.S. Treasurys, a measure of the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, rose to 87.570 from 86.095 in late North American trade Friday. U.S. financial markets were closed for a holiday Monday. In recent weeks, the dollar and yen have benefited from safe-haven flows that are a reaction to the ongoing financial market crisis and economic slowdown, as investors shun riskier, higher-yielding investments in favor of lower-yielding funds. But news of the resignation of Japan's finance minister weighed on the yen Tuesday, giving the dollar an edge over its Japanese counterpart....

It is said that the only thing that people learn from history is that people learn nothing from history. Looking at how the world is handling the current economic crisis, this aphorism appears sadly true. World leaders have forgotten how the collapse of Wall Street in 1929 developed into a world-wide depression. It happened not thanks to market failures but as a result of mistakes made by governments which tried to protect their national economies and markets. The market was not allowed to make its corrections. Government interventions only prolonged the crisis. We may hope that, even as we see...

Vaclav Klaus, the new critic of Al Gore and Global Warming.

Once a hot spot, region could be heading financial crisis similar to Asia's NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Once a booming investment destination, Eastern Europe is now in serious trouble, and some fear it's poised to suffer its own version of Asia's financial crisis. Within the emerging-markets universe, the region stands out as particularly vulnerable to sharp macroeconomic contraction, further currency depreciation, and even risks of sovereign default. In Eastern Europe's predicament, some observers see clear parallels to what Asian economies experienced in the late 1990s. "You can compare Central and Eastern Europe to Asia in 1997 in the sense of...

Russia has dropped plans to install missiles near Poland after the Obama administration signalled a change in US attitude to the region, a Moscow military official has reportedly said. The official suggested that Mr Obama's White House had made clear it would not prioritise executing the Bush administration's plan to install a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. An unnamed official in the Russian military's general staff said: "The implementation of these plans has been halted in connection with the fact that the new US administration is not rushing through plans to deploy" elements of its missile...

Let’s call it the Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse - this time, we backed down: Russia has dropped plans to install missiles near Poland after the Obama administration signalled a change in US attitude to the region, a Moscow military official has reportedly said. The official suggested that Mr Obama’s White House had made clear it would not prioritise executing the Bush administration’s plan to install a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. There is supposed to be some power in soft power, is there not? As McKittrick, at Closing Velocity, points out: “Obama failed his first...

Nato is suffering from 'enlargement fatigue' and has no will to admit Georgia or Ukraine, according to Poland's foreign minister Radek Sikorski. Mr Sikorski, who is a leading contender to become Nato's secretary-general when the Alliance selects a new chief in April said both countries was a "fairly distant prospect". Radek Sikorski is a leading contender to become Nato's next secretary-general But he denied that Russia, which attaches great importance to thwarting Nato's enlargement, had achieved a victory. Ukraine and Georgia were both promised Nato membership at a summit in Bucharest last April. But no timetable was offered and, four...

Stefan Markovic slipped and stumbled on Belgrade’s icy streets and cursed both the Russians and the Ukrainians for the bad air he’s breathing. “Those damned Soviets!” he shouted. “First they destroyed us with their communism. Now they create more misery. They even poisoned the air we breathe.” A thick cloak of smog choked the capitals of Serbia, Bosnia and Hungary this week as residents and businesses resorted to burning oil, wood and coal — anything that might help them ward off the midwinter chill amid a natural gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine that has cut off supplies to Europe.

Gazprom would have to use extreme measures to make Ukraine return to the negotiations table, says Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller. Ukraine has declined every Russian proposal concerning a new gas agreement and is continuing to steal Russia’s gas destined for Europe. Speaking at a media conference on Sunday, Aleksey Miller said that Ukrainian disagreed to pay the average European market price of $US 418 per 1,000 cubic metres for Russian gas. They also didn’t like the proposal to receive gas from Central Asia for $US 370 as well as the offer to pay $US 250 per 1,000 cubic metres –...

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — When communist rule collapsed in Central Europe in 1989, taking with it the fat salaries the Soviets once paid to their elite athletes, the thick-necked wrestlers and karate stars of Slovakia began looking for a new line of work. They settled on a growth industry where a steroid-fueled physique was an advantage: the emerging Slovakian mafia. Nearly 20 years later, Slovakia's mob has become an important player in nearly every aspect of Slovakian life. Mob figures who once walked around town with baseball bats extorting money from bar owners now own the bars themselves. Mobsters have taken...

Perhaps nothing so clearly highlights the differences in perspective between Old Europe and the still first generation free Eastern Europeans like the current conflict in Israel. The Western Europeans who were given their freedom by hundreds of thousands of American soldiers are busy condemning Israel and ignoring hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas into Israel. The French, who hate everything good, lead the way...

Russia will station missiles in neighbouring Belarus if the United States goes ahead with plans for a missile defence shield based in Poland and the Czech Republic. The report comes from the Interfax news agency, which quotes a Russian defence ministry source. An official ministry spokesman has declined to comment on the report.