Free Republic

You would be forgiven for thinking these stunning vistas lay deep in the heart of Antarctica. But they are, in fact, what has become of the European landscape as temperatures plummet to nearly -40C - the coldest snap in decades. Rivers, lakes, beaches and even seas have been iced over by a Siberian freeze, creating some incredible sights, but also more tales of tragedy. ... But in southern Kosovo, nine people were killed when an avalanche hit the village of Restelica, officials said on Sunday, adding to more than 500 killed in snow and bitter cold across the Continent in...

The budget that President Obama unveiled on Monday does its best to conceal the magnitude and implications of his plans for our military. But the cumulative effect of the spending cuts it does specify, together with those that are statutorily required but as yet unacknowledged, is unmistakable: The U.S. military's might will be transformed from that of, and befitting, a global superpower to that of just another cash-strapped, if glorified, regional power. This is not an accident; it is by design. The evidence of Mr. Obama's true intentions towards our armed forces and their ability, on behalf of the nation,...

MP Christian Tybring-Gjedde - Thanks again to cecilie http://www.chinadroll.com/ Transcript below Dear National Congress, The Labour Party has turned Oslo into an ethnically divided city. In the Grorud Valley the indigenous population is moving out and non-Western immigrants are moving in. Norwegians feel ostracised in their own neighbourhoods children don't feel at ease in kindergartens, schools and leisure activities. No politicians should decide where people should live, but the reason behind thousands of people deciding to move away Is not something we politicians can just ignore. In the Grorud Valley blonde girls are harrassed into dying their hair dark. Children...

Mideast: As the president sneaks more money in the budget for Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood thugs he helped install in Cairo show their gratitude by threatening to attack Israel. For three decades, the U.S. essentially paid Egypt not to attack our closest ally in the region. The policy worked to maintain peace. But Obama nullified that deal by backing Islamist revolutionaries against reliably pro-U.S. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Now the bribe has lost its effect. The new Egyptian leadership, led by the virulently anti-Jewish Muslim Brotherhood, this week issued a warning to Washington that it should understand that "what was...

British Islamist Anjem Choudary Launches 'Shariah for India,' Vows to Demolish Hindu Temples and Bollywood; Muslims Urged to Join In New Delhi March Next Month Marking 88th Anniversary of the End of Islamic Caliphate Introduction British Islamist Anjem Choudary and Omar Muhammad Bakri – both former leaders of British jihadist organization Al-Muhajiroun – have launched an organization called Shariah for Hind (India) to advance their agenda for reestablishing Islamic rule in India. The group has planned a major public event in New Delhi on March 3, 2012, which marks the end of the Turkey-led Islamic caliphate 88 years ago. <...

BAGHDAD, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. supermajor Exxon Mobil won't be able to take part in an oil and natural gas licensing auction scheduled for May in Iraq, a spokesman said. Iraq is expected to put around a dozen oil and natural gas blocks up for auction in its fourth licensing round, scheduled for May. Exxon Mobil is prohibited from taking part because it has contracts with the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government. "The Iraqi government has decided that Exxon won't be allowed to participate in the next oil- and gas-bidding round," Faisal Abdullah, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry,...

Even as visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping got the red-carpet treatment from President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, the White House on Tuesday accused China and Russia of effectively giving Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a "license to kill" the critics of his regime by vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at ending bloodshed in Syria. Obama press secretary Jay Carney did not use the incendiary phrase, which Norah O'Donnell of CBS News put in the mouth of an anonymous administration official, in a TV report Monday and in a question to Carney at his daily...

A Greek default and traumatic ejection from the euro moved a step closer last night after eurozone finance ministers cancelled a crucial meeting, accusing Athens of failing to flesh out austerity cuts. The escalating brinkmanship came as fresh data showed that Greece's economy contracted by 6.8pc last year and at an accelerating 7pc rate in the last quarter, far worse than expected by the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) "troika". The country appears to be in a self-feeding downward spiral that is playing havoc with budget targets, leaving Greece with a...

A man thought to be Iranian has had both legs blown off after attempting to throw a bomb at police in the Thai capital, Bangkok, officials say. Two other explosions were reported in the same busy commercial district of the city, injuring four other people. Police said one blast took place at the house the injured man rented with other Iranians. One of those men also threw a bomb at a taxi in the capital. Last month, the US embassy warned of possible attacks in Bangkok.

Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz told BreitbartTV Editor Larry O'Connor on the Governor Paterson Show on WOR that the Media Matters organization is full of "radical Stalinists" and says the White House and Democratic Party need to clearly separate themselves from the organization. *snip* Speaking at University of Pennsylvania last week, well-known Israel supporter and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz reportedly warned the press about MMFA's operations. "I have, and let me tell you, Max Blumenthal (((SON OF CLINTONISTA VIPER, SYDNEY BLUMENTHAL))) and Media Matters will be singlehandedly responsible for (Obama) losing this election," he is reported saying. The Democrats "cannot win...

Meet Britain's luckiest soldier Denis Larubi, who escaped death twice in two days after being shot by a Taliban sniper, thanks to his bullet-proof body armour. The Lance Corporal's first lucky escape came when the sniper's round missed him by mere inches when the shots struck a bullet-proof glass just in front of his face in a sentry tower. The next day, Lance Corporal Larubi, 30, defied the odds again when a bullet fired by the same marksman clipped his rifle, sending it speeding into his left shoulder - but was stopped by his £2,000 Osprey Mk4 Kevlar vest. The...

<p>White House to Retirees: Cough Up $13 Billion The White House released details of its personnel and healthcare budget proposals on Monday, and they confirmed pretty much what MOAA had predicted.</p> <p>All told, the TRICARE fee proposals envision shifting about $13 billion in health costs from the Pentagon to retirees over the next 5 years.</p>

THE question we now face: Is the Prime Minister of Australia a liar? Her Four Corners disaster on Monday night is part of a pattern. Julia Gillard deceives and, I suspect, lies. And what's killing her is that she does it so badly. Here are my seven deadliest examples. The first: Just a "part-time" typist The Socialist Forum was a radical group that helped to bring former members of the Communist Party into the Labor Party. In 2007, asked about her involvement, Gillard said "many a long year ago" - mostly when "I was a university student" - she'd merely...

SCHOOLS will receive a standard payment per student across the public and private sectors under a proposal for the biggest shake-up of education funding since the Whitlam era. The overhaul, recommended by the Gonski review into school funding, will for the first time see funding based on the costs of educating students to an agreed standard. This standard payment, called a School Resource Standard, would then be supplemented by loading for indigenous students, those in remote communities or students with disabilities or special needs. The Australian understands the report, by an independent panel chaired by businessman David Gonski and to...

The idea of the average mayor pole dancing would not appeal to most voters, but in the Italian town of Taranto, porn stars Amandha Fox and Luana Borgia both think it will get one of them the job.

Syria stepped up its siege Tuesday on the city of Homs and launched fresh attacks in cities all over the country, leaving dozens dead, according to opposition groups. At least 40 people were killed, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria. The deaths included three defected Syrian soldiers and two women, the group said. Deaths took place in Idlib, Homs, Daraa, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Hama, Damascus, the Damascus suburbs, and Latakia, the group said. Fear and horror paralyzed residents in the Syrian city of Homs Tuesday, with snipers preventing anyone from moving and heavy shelling blasting through the...

I think late January and February have been the busiest time for Operation Fast & Furious. The media still doesn’t give it proper coverage, especially this news: On February 4th, Mexico arrests a key figure in Fast & Furious. Not only is he a key person in Fast & Furious, but he was also a top lieutenant to El Chapo. I first found out about it on Borderland Beat, a great website keeping us up to date about the drug war in Mexico. The Los Angeles Times reported it on February 7th and my colleague AWR Hawkins published commenrary on...

The US is scrapping a joint project with the EU to land a robot on Mars due to lack of money. Charles Bolden, the chief of US space agency NASA, announced the move at a press conference in Washington on Monday (13 February) on how his agency plans to spend its 2013 budget. He said: "Tough choices had to be made ... This means we will not be moving forward with the planned 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions that we had been exploring with the European Space Agency (ESA)." He added the US is not giving up on Mars as...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia came close to nuclear disaster in late December when a blaze engulfed a nuclear-powered submarine carrying atomic weapons, a leading Russian magazine reported, contradicting official assurances that it was not armed. Russian officials said at the time that all nuclear weapons aboard the Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine had been unloaded well before a fire engulfed the 167-metre (550 feet) vessel and there had been no risk of a radiation leak. But the respected Vlast weekly magazine quoted several sources in the Russian navy as saying that throughout the fire on December 29 the submarine was carrying 16...

The remarkable success of Prime Minister Mario Monti, feted as a hero both at home and abroad, has created turmoil among Italy's discredited politicians and is likely to provoke radical shifts in the political landscape over the coming year. Some analysts say the impact of Monti will spark a political revolution comparable to the "Clean Hands" corruption probe—whose 20th anniversary is this week. That scandal swept away the old order, sending hundreds of politicians to jail and forcing Bettino Craxi, the dominant figure of his era, into exile in Tunisia where he died. "The whole Italian system is in transition,...

On Monday, Israeli embassy workers in the capital cities of India and Georgia were targeted in terrorist attacks that Israeli officials believe were planned and carried out by Iran and its client, the militant group Hezbollah. The bomb in Tbilisi was defused, but the bomb in New Delhi, planted in an embassy worker's car, exploded and injured at least two. Iran's next target could well be on American soil. In Senate testimony last month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated that Iranian officials "are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real...

Raytheon Restarts Production of Laser-Guided Maverick for US Air Force, Navy (Source: Raytheon Company; issued February 13, 2012) SINGAPORE --- After more than two decades, Raytheon Company has formally restarted production of the laser-guided Maverick missile, with the first weapon expected to be delivered to the U.S. Air Force in late 2012. Production began following a rigorous U.S. Air Force and Navy Developmental Testing/Operational Testing program that culminated in a production contract in late 2011. "The combat-proven laser Maverick has demonstrated its effectiveness against frigate size ships, small moving boats, tanks, fortified personnel and fast moving maneuvering vehicles in excess...

USAF cancels AMRAAM replacement By: Zach Rosenberg Washington DC The US Air Force has cancelled the next generation missile (NGM) meant to replace both the anti-air AIM-120 AMRAAM and the anti-radiation AGM-88 HARM, both mainstays of the USA and its international allies. The NGM programme, also formerly known as the joint dual-role air dominance missile and projected to cost up to $15 billion, was cancelled "for affordability reasons", according to Gen Edward Bolton, USAF chief budget officer. The contest was eagerly anticipated by major aerospace companies, including Aerojet, Alliant Techsystems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. Following the 13...

The Iranian State media just announced that another high ranking Revolutionary Guard commander, Ahmad Sodagar, has died of a heart attack. Sodagar, a major general, had served as the head of security and intelligence of the Guards’ Khatam-al-Anbia Base and was the chief commander of the Guards’ Prophet Mohammad Division. He had served in the Iran-Iraq war and, at the time of his death, was the head of the program “Defaeh Moghadas” or Holy Defense. This is the fifth Guard commander to die because of a heart attack or stroke in the past month. Those reported to have died before...

A top Muslim Brotherhood official has warned that any cuts in U.S. aid to Egypt could affect Cairo’s peace treaty with Israel – the latest sign that Egypt’s emerging political forces intend to call Washington’s bluff over the diplomatic dispute triggered by a crackdown on non-governmental organizations. Egyptian judges have referred 16 Americans and 27 others linked to NGOs for trial, accusing them of using foreign funds to encourage disruptive protests. Among the targeted NGOs whose assets and funds have been seized are the U.S. government-funded International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute. On Capitol Hill, the chorus of senior...

A Strategic Challenge In China’s New Tactical Fighter Exports by Richard Fisher, Jr. Published on February 7th, 2012 REPORTS As part of its campaign to build global strategic influence China is offering increasingly sophisticated weapons exports that it uses to reinforce important political and economic relationships. China is no longer a last resort supplier of cheap but obsolete weapons for isolated regimes; it can now offer a full range of weapons that are increasingly competitive with Western systems in capability and very competitive in terms of price. This increase in both capability and value is creating new weapons sales opportunities...

Over the weekend, a drama with potentially horrific consequences for freedom-loving Americans played out half-a-world away. A Saudi newspaper columnist named Hamza Kashgari was detained in Malaysia, reportedly on the basis of an alert by the International Criminal Police Organization, better known as Interpol. Reuters quotes a Malaysian police spokesman as saying that, “This arrest was part of an Interpol operation which the Malaysian police were a part of.” It was apparently mounted in response to a “red notice” (or request for help apprehending an individual) issued by Saudi Arabia. Kashgari was then sent back to Saudi Arabia where he...

BANGKOK (AP) — An Iranian man carrying grenades blew off his own legs and wounded four civilians Tuesday after an earlier blast shook his house in Bangkok, Thai authorities said. The explosions came a day after an Israeli diplomatic car was bombed in India — an attack Israel blamed on Iran.

Washington, D.C. (February 13, 2012) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that eight Coptic Christian families were evicted from their homes in northern Egypt following two attacks by radical Islamists on Christian homes and businesses in late-January. The attacks were in response to an alleged affair between a Christian man and a Muslim woman. On January 27th, hundreds of Muslims, led by Salafists who adhere to the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, looted and torched Christian homes and shops in Kobry el-Sharbat near Alexandria following rumors that a Christian man, Mourad Samy Guirguis, had an affair with a Muslim...

After a relatively quiet weekend that saw nearly 50 people killed, heavy shelling resumed this morning in the neighborhood of Bab Amr in the city of Homs, Syria. Tuesday marks the tenth day of the Syrian Army's assault on Homs, and activists tell ABC News that over 500 people have been killed since February 4th. The livestream over Bab Amr shows a constant stream of shelling and gunfire, and there are unconfirmed reports that several people have died in the early attacks. Video posted on YouTube shows flames shooting into the air after an apparent explosion.

The great myth of the last few decades is that people can establish sustainable savings by investing in other people’s debt. That is how relatively astute and candid writers, such as Jeremy Warner for the Telegraph, can claim that “Britain is still a hugely wealthy nation� and actually mean it. In his latest blog post, Warner tries to convince us that aggregate private debt in Britain is not so bad when we factor in “assets� as well.From his piece:Believe it or not, Britain is still a hugely wealthy nationLast week I drew attention to a report by Royal Bank of...

The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) has announced that its President Chakib Ben Makhlouf has visited the Gaza Strip on an extended tour where he visited Hamas facilities, praised Palestinian “martyrs, and visited the grave of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yasine who was killed by Israel. According to the FIOE announcement: Mr Chakib Ben Makhlouf the president of FIOE visited Gaza Strip in an extended tour where he inspected the conditions of Palestinians and their civil institutions after three years since the Israeli war on the strip. During his visit, the FIOE president expressed the commitment of...

A bungling Iranian bomber blew off his own legs when he hurled a grenade at Thai police outside a Bangkok school - which bounced off a tree and then exploded at his feet. It came after he had blown up his own home and then hurled a grenade at a taxi driver who would not accept him as a passenger, the Bangkok Post reports. Police allegedly found an Iranian ID card in a satchel close to the blast in the Thai capital, and unconfirmed reports suggest he is called Saeid Moradi. Four people, three men and one woman, were injured...

Greece is burning. Not that this is a new phenomenon. But it sounds so sinister, so ominous.When you find out why it's burning, it becomes a tragicomedy. The Greek government -- led by unelected economist Lucas Papademos -- promises to slash the safety net of many Greek citizens for a big sack of bailout money. Ordinary Greeks, whose futures are being mortgaged, are very angry. Things burn. Then everyone goes home and waits for the money to arrive.The process repeats with such frequency that a lengthy Wikipedia page has sprung up to catalog each outburst, hence the tragicomedy. And why...

An Iranian bomber has been blamed for three explosions in the Thai capital Bangkok just a day after bomb attacks in India and Georgia. The blasts, which injured five people, come amid growing suspicion Iran is staging a series of revenge attacks for the assassinations of two nuclear scientists. A picture posted on Twitter showed a wounded man - the bomb suspect - lying on a pavement outside a Thai school. TV reports suggested an Iranian identification card was found nearby. It is understood two blasts came from grenades while a third explosive detonated in a home rented by the...

The men were part of a larger group of 34 who were buried alive when an Allied shell exploded above the tunnel in 1918 causing it to cave in. Thirteen bodies were recovered from the underground shelter but the remaining men had to be left under a mountain of mud as it was too dangerous to retrieve them. Nearly a century later French archaeologists stumbled upon the mass grave on the former Western Front during excavation work for a road building project. Many of the skeletal remains were found in the same positions the men had been in at the...

NEW migrants should get taxpayer subsidies to visit overseas relatives, an Islamic group has told the Federal Government. The Islamic Women's Welfare Association also says Muslims prefer to live close to their own people and Australia should consider how to "facilitate the purchase of homes for new migrants". In a submission to a federal multicultural inquiry, the association has urged the Government to give tax deductions to newly arrived migrants so they can visit relatives in their homelands. "Migrants face a lot of sacrifices such as having to travel long distances to visit relatives, spending on communication costs, missing out...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had a clear and unified message coming out of their meeting in Washington, D.C. Monday: They are looking for a political solution in Syria and won't consider putting international troops there unless the Syrian regime agrees. Clinton and Davotoglu spent the afternoon preparing for the upcoming inaugural meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group this weekend in Tunisia. Following the meeting, they both urged the international community to support the Arab League's recommendations for Syria following their Sunday meeting in Cairo, which included a request for a U.N.-Arab peacekeeping...

In 1868, a British army led by Sir Robert Napier sailed from India to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to rescue several English and European hostages from the mentally unstable, sadistic King Theodore. Theodore had become enraged a few years earlier because his letter to Queen Victoria asking for military assistance had been ignored, and so he retaliated by taking the hostages. Napier’s expedition required the building of a port, railroad, and road in order for his army of 13,000 soldiers to march to Theodore’s stronghold Magdala, 400 brutal miles from the coast. After the three-month march, the British met Theodore’s army at...

Russia Grounds Su-24 Bomber Fleet after Urals Crash Russia has postponed indefinitely all flights of Su-24 Fencer tactical bombers after one of them crashed in Russia’s Urals, a source in the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. The Su-24 combat aircraft crashed in the woods of the Kurgan region during a routine flight on Monday. Both pilots ejected safely. “The Air Force commander has cancelled all flights of this type of aircraft until the cause of the crash is established,” the source said but did not specify how long it could take. Monday’s crash was the third of a Su-24 in...

Did the New York City Police Department use "terrible judgment," as Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, when it showed a documentary about Islamist extremists -- The Third Jihad -- to more than 1,400 officers undergoing counterterrorism training? You might think so if you took your cues from a New York Times editorial calling the documentary a "hate-filled film about Muslims," or from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which declared that it "defiled our faith and misrepresented everything we stood for." Dr. Zuhdi Jasser fervently disagrees. Jasser is a former US Navy officer and a past president of the Arizona Medical...

LONDON (Reuters)—A radical cleric once described as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe" was freed from a British prison to live under virtual house arrest on Monday after a court ruled that his detention without trial was unlawful. The Jordanian preacher known as Abu Qatada must wear an electronic tag to allow the police to keep track of him, spend 22 hours a day at his family home and is banned from using the Internet and mobile phones. Twice convicted in his absence in Jordan of involvement in terrorist plots, Britain says he is still a national security risk...

Greek parliamentarians have voted through an austerity package that keeps their hopes of securing a €130bn bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund on track. But more hurdles have to be cleared before loans start flowing, which are vital if Greece is to avoid a default in March, when it faces €14.5bn of bond repayments, a bill it cannot foot alone. Following are the next steps in the process. This week • Having secured parliamentary approval against a backdrop of violent protest across Greece, Athens must now detail where it will find an extra €325m of cuts demanded...

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT -- At a forward operating base in eastern Afghanistan, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff dropped by Feb. 10 to meet with the leadership of Task Force Bulldog, have lunch with the troops, and present awards to eight soldiers, including a Bronze Star Medal to a soldier from the Czech Republic. ... Novotny, a reconnaissance squad leader and combat medic, rescued an American soldier who was gravely wounded Nov. 19, public affairs officer Terry Kelley said. On a route clearance patrol, Kelley added, some roadside bombs went off and one wounded a soldier who...

The 10-week investigation into the downing of a CIA drone in Iran is raising questions as to whether the malfunctions inadvertently may have handed the Iranians not only the aircraft but its data. Based on the review, a former intelligence official told Fox News that investigators think one of the drone's three major "data streams" began sending back bad information to its U.S.-based operator. A leading question is whether the bad data caused the drone's operator to inadvertently land the aircraft. But it also raises the possibility that the faulty data stream could have prevented the drone from dumping the...

TEPCO blames high reactor temperature reading on broken thermometer National Feb. 14, 2012 - 06:40AM JST ( 10 ) TOKYO — A rapidly rising temperature reading at one of the reactors in Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant that sparked fears of another meltdown is probably caused by a broken thermometer, TEPCO said Monday. Scientists have been watching the equipment for around a week as it slowly rose above 35 degrees Celsius that the two other temperature gauges on the No. 2 reactor showed. There were concerns when it exceeded 80 degrees that a spontaneous nuclear reaction had started in the...

Sean Penn has accused Britain of colonialism and urged the government to open negotiations with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. At a meeting with Argentine president Cristina Kirchner, the Left-wing Hollywood actor referred to the islands "the Malvinas Islands of Argentina" and said Britain should entered into a UN-sponsored dialogue over their sovereignty. "The world today is not going to tolerate any ludicrous and archaic commitment to colonialist ideology," he said during the meeting in Buenos Aires.

Time for Clarity: Russia and China are not our friends Posted by Herman Cain on 02/13 Share By Herman Cain / February 12, 2012 There are many theories about why Russia and China last week vetoed a United Nations resolution endorsing an Arab League plan to transfer power from Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Some say Vladimir Putin doesn’t want to go against a fellow strongman because a lot of them have been losing power lately, and he doesn’t want to be next. China has tended to follow Russia’s lead on this issue – also joining in a two-party veto in...

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed at knife point in his vacation home on the Caribbean island of Nevis Feb. 9, according to a court spokeswoman, although he’s not the first Supreme Court justice become a victim of crime. In 2004, Justice David Souter was mugged while jogging, and in 1966, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had her purse snatched. Breyer was with his wife, Joanna Breyer, and guests when an intruder armed with a machete broke into their home. The intruder took $1,000 but no one was hurt.

It took a medevac unit 59 minutes to get U.S. Army Spec. Chazray Clark to a hospital in southern Afghanistan after receiving a call that a roadside bombing severed three of his limbs. Clark did not survive.