http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/exile/ en-us Thu, 1 Oct 2009 14:09:44 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2352462/posts There is more than a bit of gallows humor in the following Torah thought, which I've heard attributed to several gedolim over the years: Question: Why is it that our children do not ask "Four Questions" on Sukkos? After all, things are far from ordinary - arguably even more so than on Pesach - when we sit down to our first Yom Tov meal outdoors in the sukkah. Answer: Throughout our 2,000-year exile, it was not at all unusual for children to see their families leaving the comfort of their homes and sleeping outdoors. However, when they saw them sitting... The Jewish Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2352462/posts#comment Thu, 1 Oct 2009 14:09:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2296278/posts King Jehoiachin was only 18 years old and had occupied the throne of Judah barely three months when he was led off into Babylonian captivity in 598 BCE together with his wives, his mother, his servants, his eunuchs and thousands of "the chief men of the land." But what happened to them when they reached Babylon? And what happened there to the tens of thousands of others who joined them in exile when the First Temple was destroyed a decade later? The Bible tells us of the return to Judah half a century later but virtually nothing of what the... Jerusalem Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2296278/posts#comment Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:39:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275322/posts Iranian reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi was given an ultimatum by the Islamic Republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a call to support the reelected regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the London Times reported Friday morning. Khamenei made it clear to Mousavi that if he failed to report to Friday prayers at Teheran University, during which he planned to deliver a sermon calling for national unity, the oppostion leader would be exiled. Khamenei is expected to be assisted by "an army of Islamic volunteer militiamen" during the sermon. According the report, Khamenei made the demand while meeting with the representatives... Jerusalem Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275322/posts#comment Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:45:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2266985/posts Kim Jong-il's Eldest Son 'in the Dark but Not in Exile' North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam admits he relies on press reports for news that his younger brother Jong-un will succeed their father but denies he himself is looking for asylum abroad. Speaking to Nihon TV, Kim Jong-nam said he based his assumption on media reports and could neither confirm nor deny them definitely. Asked whether Kim Jong-un resembles his father, he said, "That is one of the reasons my father has named my brother as his successor. My father likes my brother very much." Nihon TV... Chosun Ilbo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2266985/posts#comment Mon, 8 Jun 2009 05:07:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2219352/posts Julio Severo away from Brazil Open letter to the friends of Blog Julio Severo Dear FriendsI have arrived at a new place, being now away from Brazil and away from friends. It was not an easy decision. In fact, it was the only alternative. Because of a 2006 complaint from the Associação da Parada do Orgulho Gay de São Paulo (Gay Pride Parade Association of São Paulo), federal prosecutors have been looking for my location. The complaint is “homophobia”.Actually, there is no anti-“homophobia” law in Brazil. Even so, federal prosecutors have recently summoned one of my friends to reveal my... Last Days Watchman http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2219352/posts#comment Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:58:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2202085/posts Dalai Lama marks 50 years of Chinese oppression (video)The Dalai Lama has been in exile for 50 years now. Meanwhile, the people of Tibet have lived under the yoke of Chinese oppression. There was hope President Barack Obama would put pressure on the Chinese to improve human rights in Tibet. However, statements by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during her recent Far East visit, indicate the Obama Administration is willing to throw Chinese human rights under the bus in favor of Chinese economic cooperation. Video here. The Intellectual Redneck http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2202085/posts#comment Sun, 8 Mar 2009 22:03:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2054648/posts Two years after the first Purim festival in 3405 (356 BCE), the Persian king Ahasueraus died and was succeeded by his son, Darius. Although a Jew according to Jewish law, Darius considered himself Persian and identified with the country of his birth. Nevertheless, as the son of Esther, he acted toward the Jews with far more benevolence than his predecessors had. In 3408, the second year of his reign, Darius granted the Jews permission to continue the work halted 18 years earlier by King Cyrus and to complete the reconstruction of their Temple in Jerusalem. Moreover, Darius helped finance the... Jewish World Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2054648/posts#comment Fri, 1 Aug 2008 02:02:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030673/posts After 11 years of providing Moscow readers with investigative journalism, irreverent commentary, and sophomoric gags, the English-language newspaper the "The eXile" is closing down after investors fled in the face of a government inspection of the paper's content. The alternative tabloid -- known for its Gonzo-style journalism on drugs, sex, politics, and the seamier side of Moscow nightlife -- announced the closure in a blog posted on its website on June 11. The paper's demise, and the investors' flight, was sparked by a visit on June 6 by inspectors from the Federal Service for Mass Media, Telecommunications, and the Protection... RFE/RL http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030673/posts#comment Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:32:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013598/posts Carol Felsenthal's new book about Bill Clinton's post-presidential years, Clinton in Exile, is often catty, occasionally malicious, and overly reliant on unnamed sources. It's also pretty boring; when Felsenthal's not muckraking, she's content to trot out newspaper accounts of Clinton's foundation work and his appearances on the guest-speaker circuit. But don't fret—with Slate's reading guide, you can zip straight to the water-cooler-worthy gossip. Slate http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013598/posts#comment Fri, 9 May 2008 15:44:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904112/posts SADDAM Hussein was prepared to take $1 billion and go into exile before the Iraq war, George Bush, the United States president, is said to have told José WMaria Aznar, the then prime minister of Spain, a month before the 2003 invasion. During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on 22 February, Mr Bush told Mr Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to a transcript of their talks published yesterday in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. "The Egyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if... The Scotsman - UK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904112/posts#comment Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:18:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836356/posts After three days, The Miami Herald only published two responses, but not a single apology from Herald Staff or from the journalist Ana Menendez. Please read article below, and forget about the word Cuban, and replace it with African American after each insulting word. Dont you think that after three days, the Herald Board of Directors will publish an apology by this time?? The Miami Herald, Forum, Ana Menendez should give an apology http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836356/posts#comment Sat, 19 May 2007 17:30:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1832754/posts Photos Surface of Kim Jong-il's Relatives in Europe Recent photos of Kim Pyong-il, the half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il and the country's ambassador to Poland, have been made public, according to a report by NK Daily, a website (www.dailynk.com) that specializes in North Korean news. A photo of Kim Pyong-il, the half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il and the country's ambassador to Poland accompanied by his daughter and son, Eun-Song and In-kang The photos also show Kim Pyong-il’s daughter and son, Eun-Song and In-kang, who have until now lived a sheltered and private lives. They were... Chosun Ilbo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1832754/posts#comment Sun, 13 May 2007 10:19:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1777767/posts Kim Jong-il’s Son Living Life of Riley in Macau North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s eldest son Kim Jong-nam has been living in Macau with his family for 10 years, sources say. Several Macanese who met the younger Kim say he has fake Portuguese and Dominican Republic passports and frequently travels to Beijing, Bangkok, Vienna and Moscow. A source in Macau said Kim junior is not an alcoholic but tends to drink heavily recently when he does -- to the tune of 10 boilermakers at a time. The source said Kim never used to drink boilermakers but seems to have... Chosun Ilbo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1777767/posts#comment Fri, 2 Feb 2007 03:21:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1668432/posts /begin my excerpt Exclusive: Kim Pyong-il To Attend A Conference Of Overseas Mission Chiefs  Analysis: "Kim Jong-il to display solidarity among family in the midst of the missile crisis" It is revealed that Kim Pyong-il(age:53, see photo,) half brother of Kim Jong-il and N. Korean ambassador to Poland, is to attend a conference of overseas mission chiefs in Pyongyang soon. It is drawing some attention.According to Japanese media reports on July 18, N. Korean leadership, after rejecting a resolution at the UN Security Council, is to convene the conference of overseas mission chiefs where the leadership conveys its future direction in foreign affairs, and Ambassador Kim... Segye Ilbo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1668432/posts#comment Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:51:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606626/posts The all-in-one cameraman, lighting assistant, soundman and anchor of Hakha Television tweaked the maroon handkerchief in his breast pocket, glanced around his secret suburban studio and began his latest peroration to his fellow "Persians" thousands of miles away in Iran."I want to see that you can hear me," he said. "Come out on the streets. Bring flowers, chocolates and anything friendly. If the police come to attack you, look at their eyes and say, 'I love you. I love you'." For three and a half years Ahura-Pirouz Khaleghi Yazdi has been broadcasting a daily two-hour blend of Zoroastrianism, music and... The Daily Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606626/posts#comment Fri, 31 Mar 2006 05:28:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1576277/posts The United States offered to let Saddam Hussein live in exile like Napoleon on St Helena if he would use his influence to end the Iraqi insurgency, a lawyer for the deposed leader said. Lawyer Saleh al-Armouti said that when he met Saddam in prison in Baghdad last month, Saddam had said the Americans had offered to treat him "like Napoleon," whom the British imprisoned on St Helena island in the Atlantic ocean in the 19th Century, "if he called on the resistance to end its activities". Armouti reported Saddam as saying the Americans had told him that if he... Sidney Morning Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1576277/posts#comment Sat, 11 Feb 2006 01:20:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1550409/posts Exile enrages Syria by linking Assad to Hariri assassination By Harry de Quetteville (Filed: 02/01/2006) Syria's ruling Ba'ath party yesterday expelled one of the country's most senior politicians after he implicated President Bashar al-Assad in an assassination plot last year. The party denounced Abdel-Halim Khaddam, 73, a former vice-president and a stalwart of the Ba'ath regime, as a traitor to the "party, the homeland and the Arab nation" for his remarks. Earlier the Syrian parliament had called for him to be put on trial for high treason. Mr Khaddam, who resigned six months ago, is already in exile in Paris.... The Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1550409/posts#comment Mon, 2 Jan 2006 01:51:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1512024/posts DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Saddam Hussein accepted an 11th-hour offer to flee into exile weeks ahead of the U.S.-led 2003 invasion, but Arab League officials scuttled the proposal, officials in this Gulf state claimed. The exile initiative was spearheaded by the late president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, at an emergency Arab summit held in Egypt in February 2003, Sheik Zayed's son said in an interview aired by Al-Arabiya TV during a documentary. The U.S.-led coalition invaded on March 19 that year. A top government official confirmed the offer on Saturday, speaking on... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1512024/posts#comment Sun, 30 Oct 2005 15:20:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1488579/posts The term "Palestinian" is a masterful twisting of history. To portray themselves as indigenous, Arab settlers adopted the name of an ancient Mediterranean tribe, the Philistines ("invaders" in Hebrew), that disappeared almost 3,000 years ago. The connection between this tribe and modern day Arabs is nil. Romans, in order to conceal their shame and anger with rebellious regions, changed the references to Judea and Samaria by naming the area Palestine. Israel became a nation in the 14th century BCE. Two thousand years before the rise of Islam. Since 1272 BCE, the Jews have had dominion over the land for up... Arutz Sheva http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1488579/posts#comment Wed, 21 Sep 2005 13:40:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1460266/posts Iran's seemingly ineluctable progress towards acquiring nuclear weapons has publicly resumed with the conversion of raw uranium outside Isfahan. According to Alireza Jafarzadeh, an exiled dissident based in Washington, it may never have been suspended, despite an agreement to that effect reached last November with the European Union troika of Britain, France and Germany. He claimed yesterday that the Iranians had manufactured about 4,000 centrifuges, capable of enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels, at a plant in Natanz, and had hidden this activity from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), thus maintaining a well-tried pattern of cheating. Those hoping for a... telegraph.co.uk http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1460266/posts#comment Wed, 10 Aug 2005 04:04:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1456297/posts When American bombs were raining down on what is left of Afghanistan, fellow Muslims in the neighbouring Islamic republic of Iran took out to the Streets. Contrary to our expectations in the West, they did not rally to denounce the 'Great Satan' - the name given to America by the late Ayatollah Khomeini. Instead, ordinary Iranians, in one of the most extraordinary shifts in the geopolitical landscape since September 11, challenged their own hard-line Islamic clerics who swept Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi from power in 1979. Tens of thousands of men and women also demonstrated, in several cities, after World... Mideast News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1456297/posts#comment Wed, 3 Aug 2005 19:53:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1453349/posts In 1947, Ruhalhah Khomeini, then a mid-ranking mullah in Qom, issued a “fatwa” (opinion) that made it incumbent on “the faithful” to murder Ahmad Kasravi. It took a group of eight “faithful” to plan and carry out the murder several months later. A jubilant Khomeini told his entourage that he had “eliminated that paragon of impiety” for ever. At the time of his murder Kasravi was one of Iran’s leading intellectuals. A veritable Renaissance man, he was a senior jurist at the high court, a distinguished historian, a magnetic orator, a master of the Persian prose, and a best-selling author.... Asharq Al Awsat (Arabic Paper) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1453349/posts#comment Fri, 29 Jul 2005 18:58:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1447113/posts The famous investigative journalist Akbar Ganji is said to be dying. He has been urgently transferred from his cell in Evin to a hospital in Tehran. On July 16 it was the 36th day of his hunger strike as a protest not just against his own and his fellow-prisoners’ illegal detention, but also against the undemocratic Islamic Republic and its unelected Supreme Leader-for-Life, a harsh dictator with absolute power. Ganji’s hunger strike is a scream for the world’s attention for the persistent violations of the most fundamental human rights in his country. And for the fate of the vast number... Rooz Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1447113/posts#comment Wed, 20 Jul 2005 23:03:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1432578/posts Roya Hakakian's story of growing up Jewish during the Iranian Revolution. Revolution. Everything in Iran changed on February 1, 1979, the day Ayatollah Khomeini returned to our country a few days after the departure of the Shah. Suddenly, millions were demanding an end to 2,500 years of monarchy--including hundreds of young Jews who joined the revolution against the wishes of their elders, hoping to recast their identities as secular Iranians who could assimilate seamlessly into the fabric of the promised utopia. Khomeini quickly took on the status of an "imam," only a step away from prophet in the Shi'ite tradition,... reformjudaismmag.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1432578/posts#comment Tue, 28 Jun 2005 21:19:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1431597/posts Libyan Opposition Seeks to Topple GadhafiBy MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer Sun Jun 26, 6:57 PM ET LONDON - Divisions over tactics and vision split Libyan opposition groups in exile, but participants at a two-day conference agreed Sunday to unite under a "national accord" aimed at ousting Moammar Gadhafi. In a final declaration, the groups addressed the United Nations, saying the global body was responsible for restoring Libya's constitution. The charter was drafted in 1951 as part of a U.N. resolution — but Gadhafi froze it after assuming power in a military coup and replaced it with martial law. "Bringing... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1431597/posts#comment Mon, 27 Jun 2005 15:16:35 GMT