Free Republic

For the first time since the operation in Gaza got underway, IDF artillery cannons started to shell targets in the Strip. IDF artillery cannons began pounding the eastern sector of the Gaza Strip around 4 pm Saturday. Ynet correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai reported that portable artillery batteries are engaging in a heavy bombardment of the area. This is the first time in three years that the IDF has fired artillery shells at Gaza targets. Most shells are landing in what the Palestinians characterize as the "security zone" adjacent to the Gaza Strip fence. The IDF is targeting rocket launching sites in...

The truth of the matter is that when it comes to her enemies, Israel has a very tiny margin of error. What makes that particularly dangerous is the most radical of its Hamas, Hezballah and Iran, enemies do not hate Israel because they want to live on the land, they hate Israel because they are a non-Muslim contamination of their caliphate and their society. These are societies that are trying to build an earth that is ruled by Shariah Law and Israel is a constant reminder of the freedom and democracy that is NOT offered in a Muslim society. Hell,...

NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Friday was back to its intransigent ways, batting aside India's demand for action against perpetrators of 26/11 and putting paid to any hope that it might bend under international pressure. The defiance came through clearly through the statements of Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who ruled out extradition of any terrorist to India, while audaciously declaring that Pakistan had not detained the wanted jihadi leader Maulana Masood Azhar. Not just that, he claimed that Pakistan did not even know where Azhar was. In fact, Qureshi had the gall to declare, "There is no terrorist infrastructure...

Little coverage has been given to Israel's REAL opponent in this conflict IRAN. The Islamic Republic created by Jimmy Carter is described as one of the chief arms provider of Hamas, but their control of the terrorist group go WAY beyond giving them weapons to kill with. Dr. Walid Phares believes that Iran deliberately pushed Hamas to provoke Israel at a time "between" the two Presidential administrations and before the Israeli and Palestinian elections: Timing the Hamas end to the cease fire between two American presidencies in Washington and just before the Israeli and Palestinian elections, the Iranian Mullahs thought...

ISRAEL has taken out its most senior Hamas scalp, Nizar Rayan, dispensing with efforts to avoid civilian casualties to kill him at home with family, as its bombardment of the Gaza Strip entered a seventh day. Israeli warplanes yesterday pounded about 20 targets, including a mosque in Gaza, as Hamas ordered a "day of wrath" against Israel over the killing of Rayan, who died with his four wives and 11 of his children. Officials warned Hamas had acquired dozens of Iranian-made Fajr-3 missiles, raising fears the nuclear warheads at Dimona, 30km east of Beersheba, had fallen within the Islamic militants'...

That's a view emerging from the conservative end of the spectrum of Middle East policy thinkers here at a time when the pro-Israel community is grappling with how to deal with the issue between presidential administrations. John Bolton, the former Bush administration U.N. ambassador and nuclear proliferation negotiator, raised eyebrows when he said as much at a forum two weeks ago at the American Enterprise Institute, where he is a fellow. This week he elaborated in a conference call organized by The Israel Project. "I think unfortunately it's pretty close to inevitable," Bolton said, referring to Tehran's developing a nuclear...

<p>Russia faces a particularly nasty version of the global recession (at a minimum), and perhaps an economic "perfect storm." Regardless of how bad its economy gets, two broad political trends, each carrying profound implications for Russia's foreign policy and U.S.-Russian relations, are bound to emerge.</p>

BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The world has undergone remarkable changes this year, but international security situation on the whole remained stable with "peace" and "development" prevailing as the themes of the times. In 2008, the world has continued moving toward multi-polarization, resulting in a distinctive shift of international forces. Globalization is developing in depth and regional cooperation is gathering momentum. The world has been confronted with one hotspot issue after another and non-traditional threats are increasing. The world economic growth took a turn for the worse due to the outbreak of the global financial crisis. WORLD MULTI-POLARIZATION STRENGTHENED In...

The United States and Russia are bidding hard against each other to give the Lebanese army heavy weapons, a contest which Israeli diplomacy has failed to deter, DEBKAfile's military sources report. Defense ministry official Amos Gilead arrived in Moscow Friday, Dec. 19 only to watch his train leaving the station: Sophisticated Russian S-300 air defense systems were already speeding toward Tehran to guard its nuclear sites and MiG-29 fighter jets had been pledged to Lebanon. In Washington, too, Israeli diplomats pleaded in vain with Bush administration leaders to refrain from giving Lebanon tanks and a fleet of combat helicopters. Ten...

The Bush administration moved Wednesday to clamp down financially on a New York City business suspected of acting as a front company for Iran's Bank Melli, which has been accused of providing support to Iran's nuclear program. "This scheme to use a front company set up by Bank Melli - a known proliferator - to funnel money from the United States to Iran is yet another example of Iran's duplicity," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

MOSCOW - Russia's top military officer warned that Moscow felt threatened by U.S. policy in ex-Soviet Central Asia and claimed that Washington was attempting to establish new military bases there, news agencies reported Tuesday. Gen. Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the Russian military's general staff, said Washington planned to establish a foothold in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Interfax and ITAR-Tass reported. U.S. officials denied there were plans. Makarov also said U.S. support for bids by Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO made Russia feel threatened. He cast doubt that relations between the countries would improve under Barack Obama. "According to our...

Unless effective measures are taken soon, Iran will have a nuclear bomb within a year according to worst-case assessments, or a few years under more optimistic ones. President-elect Barack Obama is publicly committed to a policy of engagement with Iran. The question is no longer whether to engage, but how to do so. Iran has good strategic reasons for seeking a nuclear capability and it is questionable whether any combination of inducements, positive or negative, can elicit a change in its policies. We will only know, however, if a sincere and comprehensive attempt is made. Time is the biggest problem.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia said on Saturday hundreds of Russian soldiers had moved into a disputed Georgian village near breakaway South Ossetia and had pushed out Georgian police, fuelling fears of confrontation. A regional police official and an interior ministry spokesman said between 500 and 600 Russian soldiers were in the village of Perevi, close to the de facto border with the region.

Tel Aviv is planning to buy a new generation of "smart bombs" that would "easily hit targets in Lebanon and Syria from Israel's airspace". "This would provide Israel with unprecedented stand-off capabilities," the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post quoted an industry source as saying. "Planes would not even have to leave Israeli airspace to be able to hit targets in Syria and Lebanon." The smart bomb which is called JDAM-ER (Joint Direct Attack Munitions-Extended Range) is being built by Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force. According to the report, the JDAM is a low-cost guidance kit that converts existing unguided...

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Russian troops retook a village near the breakaway region of South Ossetia Saturday just hours after withdrawing, Georgia's Interior Ministry and European Union peace observers said. Georgian police had already moved into Perevi on Saturday to remove Russian-built roadblocks when Russian troops and helicopters unexpectedly returned, said Shota Utiashvili, a ministry spokesman. "They left, and we went in with about 40 people to remove the roadblocks," he said. "While they were doing this, the Russians deployed a battalion of special forces with helicopters and armor and told the Georgian policemen to get out immediately," he said.

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, made his reputation as a fierce proponent of human rights, founding Doctors Without Borders and famously helping to carry rice up the beach in Mogadishu, Somalia, in the middle of severe civil warfare in 1992. Mr. Kouchner, a Socialist, shocked many supporters when he agreed to join the center-right cabinet of President Nicolas Sarkozy. But he shocked them again on Wednesday when he admitted in an interview that “there is permanent contradiction between human rights and the foreign policy of a state, even in France.” Speaking to the newspaper Le Parisien for the 60th...

Iranian ships and submarines have deployed an undisclosed number of Iranian troops and weapons at the Eritrean port town of Assab, according to opposition groups, foreign diplomats, and NGOs in the area. The city of Assab sits at the Horn of Africa in the Arabian Sea. As such, Assab offers a strategic position as the world nervously eyes the precarious routes through which a seaborne oil traverses daily. Local sources have reported that Iran recently sent soldiers and a large number of long-range and ballistic missiles. The military basing came after Iran signed an accord with Eritrea to revamp the...

BEIJING: China on Thursday called upon India and Pakistan to intensify the process of dialogue and cooperation in order to safeguard peace and stability in South Asia. "It is also in line with the requirements for regional peace and stability and the common expectation of the international community," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao while responding to a question regarding last week's terrorist attack in Mumbai. China is showing signs it is worried about heightening of tensions between India and Pakistan because it might affect the delicate diplomatic balance in the region, sources said. Worsening of conditions between India and...

Israel is drawing up plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and is prepared to launch a strike without backing from the US, it has been reported. Officials in the Israeli Defence Ministry told the Jerusalem Post that while they prefer to act in consultation with the US, they were preparing plans that would allow them to act in isolation. "It is always better to coordinate," a senior Defence Ministry official told the newspaper. "But we are also preparing options that do not include coordination."

December 3, 2008 | 1727 GMT Summary Judging from the manner in which India is building a case for military action against Islamist militant facilities in Pakistan in response to the Nov. 26 attacks in Mumbai, it is likely that the Indians will exercise their option to use force. If and when that happens, it is likely to begin with artillery fire and airstrikes against militant camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Given that this is a red line for the Pakistanis, Islamabad is likely to respond, and the resulting situation could easily create a bigger security problem for India. Analysis Although...