Free Republic

The full staggering scale and cost of the European Union’s new global diplomatic corps can be revealed today. The so-called European External Action Service (EEAS) will have an annual budget of £5.8 billion and an army of ambassadors across 137 embassies, with up to 7,000 Eurocrats trained to pursue the EU’s foreign policy. It will be run by Baroness Ashton, the obscure Labour quangocrat and Blair-appointed peer who last year was surprisingly nominated by Gordon Brown to be the EU’s foreign secretary – even though she has never been elected by British or European voters. The former treasurer of the...

In simple terms, the collection of links below centered on the latest Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), come to the general conclusion that the Department of Defense (DoD) can no longer think, strategize, complete staff work, or acquire the right capabilities to do what DoD is supposed to do (which is also a topic lacking consensus).

The Failure of Long Range Planning by Ari Bussel In 2000 Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Barak (today’s Defense Minister) orchestrated a sudden withdrawal from Lebanon in compliance with UN Resolution 245 (1978). Upon completion, PM Barak stated: “From now on, the government of Lebanon is accountable for what takes place within its territory, and the Lebanese and Syrian governments are responsible for preventing acts of terror or aggression against Israel, which is from today deployed within its borders.” As the attacks from Lebanon were playing out this week, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Head of Opposition (former Foreign...

Resuming rice aid to North Korea remains a point of debate as the South’s rice surplus nears 1.4 million tons and the North falls deeper into destitution. The opposition Democratic Party proposed organizing a special parliamentary committee to prevent a domestic rice market crash by sending rice to the North, a month after the Seoul government said old rice will be used to feed livestock. “The rice surplus amounts to 1.4 million tons, more than double the standard inventory, and is expected to reach 2 million tons by October,” Jeon Hyun-hee, the DP’s floor spokesperson, said on Tuesday. “North Korea,...

Debunking a Myth by Ari Bussel “He made it his devilish business of his, to find out who this Ms. Doolittle is … Every trick that he could play, he used to strip her mask away, and when at last the dance was done, he glowed as if he knew he won, and with a voice too eager and a smile too broad he announced to the hostess that she was ‘a Fraud!’” My Fair Lady, “You Did It!” We were sitting on two aisle seats, one across from the other. She was determined to find out my employer, convinced...

The Middle East is now teetering on the brink of war because a vast international mob has been unloosed, with the tacit approval of Barack Hussein Obama. That is the real meaning of the Gaza martyrdom stunt of May 31, 2010. That purposeful provocation is not past. The Gaza suicide operation is still being used all over the Middle East and Europe to whip up hatred and violence. As Mark Steyn just reported from a dingy cafe in Algeria, "I can just about make out the plasma TV up in the corner on which Jimmy Carter, dubbed into Arabic, is...

The administration of Barack Obama sees its new National Security Strategy – a statement the White House sends Congress from time to time – as a work of great importance, a radical departure from its predecessor’s thinking. It is neither; nor, for that matter, is it a strategy.

The Argentine government Monday formally will open its long-awaited offer to swap up to $20 billion in defaulted debt, it said Wednesday in a statement. Argentine officials hope the swap will re-establish the country's access to global credit markets and rebuild relations with the international financial community. Argentina has been basically locked out of credit markets since 2001, when it defaulted on about $100 billion during a massive economic crisis. In a prospectus supplement published on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Web site late Wednesday, the government laid out fresh details about its offer to exchange up to $18.3...

The world clustered around Barack Obama yesterday – with one very notable exception. Leaders of some 40 countries, from Argentina and Armenia to China and India, gathered in Washington to attend the nuclear security summit convoked by the US president. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, stayed away.

Diplomacy: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is often described as sidelined from the big jobs in foreign policy, given her political rivalry with the president. But to look at the areas where she is active shows a lot of messes. As if it were not bad enough that the Obama administration is failing mightily to lead the Free World on security as Iran goes nuclear, the record of his secretary of state is one of misfires and small blunders in areas where she has a free hand. The latest was annoying Canada last Wednesday by horning in on a maternal...

The Democracy Corps-Third Way survey released Monday finds that by a 10-point margin -- 51 percent to 41 percent -- Americans think the standing of the U.S. dropped during the first 13 months of Mr. Obama's presidency. On the national security front, a massive gap has emerged, with 50 percent of likely voters saying Republicans would likely do a better job than Democrats, a 14-point swing since May. Thirty-three percent favored Democrats. "The erosion since May is especially strong among women, and among independents, who now favor Republicans on this question by a 56 to 20 percent margin," the pollsters...

American weakness, not our strength, is provocative, as the Europeans should better understand after almost sixty-five years of sheltering under the American umbrella. A United States infused with humility works right up until they - and we ourselves - need real protection. It is realism's virtue never to forget that lesson.

Ever since 1945, the US has regarded itself as the leader of the “free world”. But the Obama administration is facing an unexpected and unwelcome development in global politics. Four of the biggest and most strategically important democracies in the developing world – Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey – are increasingly at odds with American foreign policy. Rather than siding with the US on the big international issues, they are just as likely to line up with authoritarian powers such as China and Iran. The US has been slow to pick up on this development, perhaps because it seems...

In a recent puff piece, The New York Times reports that our President is tired. This is not the first such report. Back in May, when he treated England’s Gordon Brown so shabbily, the excuse given — according to The Daily Telegraph – was that wrestling with the economic crisis had left Barack Obama too exhausted to be able to focus on foreign affairs. We should perhaps discount what was said in May. For, as I have attempted to document in detail here, here, here, here, here, and here, President Obama is a gentleman, and, as such, he is never...

President Obama is playing out a drama on the world stage, addressing Islam as a virtual supplicant, and conceding serious issues, while getting nothing in return. Why? Richard Baehr writes: The President demanded a complete freeze on Israeli settlement building, including in sections of Jerusalem, supposedly in return for some conciliatory gestures by the Palestinians and Arab states toward Israel. The demands on Israel hardened Palestinian attitudes, and the PA made a total settlement freeze a precondition for resuming peace talks. No gestures towards Israel were forthcoming from any Arab party. Instead, the Palestinians and Arab states launched a full...

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez's government began taking over management of a Hilton-run hotel on Venezuela's Margarita Island on Wednesday. Tourism Minister Pedro Morejon said a 20-year concession granted to the company has expired and the government "has taken legitimate control of an asset that belongs to all the people of Venezuela." Chavez issued a decree last week ordering the "forced acquisition" of the Margarita Hilton & Suites and its marina, though news of the edict did not surface until Tuesday. Morejon said the government has held majority ownership of the hotel since 1995, when a banking crisis forced...

Why is the president going to Denmark to beg for the Olympics?Between a still-existent worldwide recession and nuclear saber-rattling from North Korea and Iran, it's pretty clear that the White House has a lot on its plate in terms of international relations. A lot of serious stuff on the menu. So, why does President Obama need to add "seconds" to the plate by getting personally involved in the U.S. bid to attract the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago? The president is now planning on traveling to Copenhagen this week. Sure, it's the president's hometown, but that's no reason to put...

If Zbigniew Brzezinski had his way, the US would go to war against Israel to defend Iran's nuclear installations. In an interview with the Daily Beast Web site last weekend, the man who served as former US president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser said, "They [IAF fighter jets] have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? We have to be serious about denying them that right. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not." Brzezinski has long distinguished himself as...

The Constitution of Honduras contains 379 articles, all which can be reformed or removed except for seven of them. These seven articles are known in Spanish as “articulos petreos”, meaning that they cannot be altered or reformed in any way; they define the form of government, the national territory, and the extent and limit of presidential terms. So, 372 or 98.15% of the articles in the Constitution of Honduras can be legally reformed. So then, why did Mr. Manuel Zelaya so desperately insist on summoning a National Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution? The answer is simple; he wanted...