Free Republic

Thousands of desperate migrants are camping out on roundabouts amid squalid camps overflowing with rubbish on the Greek holiday islands of Lesbos and Kos. Around 5,000 people have arrived in Lesbos in the past few days and many are forced to sleep outside amid broken glass and piles of rubble without access to water, shelter, toilets or medical care. Shocking images taken at the official Moria camp near the main town of Mitlini show filthy and overflowing latrines strewn with discarded plastic bottles and tents perched next to piles of rubbish.

The strong bias that many European media hold against Israel has been documented for decades by a great variety of analysts. One of the first to do so was The Jerusalem Post editor David Bar-Illan. He gave many examples of media prejudice in his book, Eye on the Media, published in 1983 and based on his columns in the daily. […] During an interview some ten years after the publication of his book, Bar-Illan told me that the BBC was “by far the worst offender when it comes to Israel.” He said that there were hundreds of examples of BBC...

Aldi and Lidl, Germany’s toughest discount food retailers, are invading the US. Both operate small, efficient no frill self serve supermarkets with a strong non-food assortment, and very low prices. Both have permanently changed the competitive landscape wherever they have gone. Lidl is about to open its U.S. headquarter in Arlington, Virginia and a distribution center in Alamance County, North Carolina. These are early steps in its U.S. invasion by this formidable company that operates about 11,000 stores in 26 countries throughout Europe. I am told that the company has already selected 80 locations in the Greater Washington, D.C. area...

Head of state-affiliated Saudi TV channel reveals Saudi Arabia will 'seriously try to get' nuclear weapons following Iran deal. While US President Barack Obama claimed he prevented a nuclear arms race in the Middle East when he presented the Iran deal last Tuesday, a key source in Saudi Arabia laid bare that claim by expressing the country's sense of urgency to acquire its own nuclear weapon. Jamal Khashoggi, head of the Saudi Al Arab news channel that is owned by a prince of the ruling Saudi royal family, and who previously was the media aide to Saudi Arabia's ambassador to...

When traveling through Europe accompanied by a copy of Martin Gilbert’s magisterial one-volume biography, “Churchill: A Life,” you cannot ignore the parallels between today and the 1930s. With the enemies of freedom prowling along on the periphery of civilization and the economy wobbling, the West once again finds itself at an existential crossroads. This time, there is no Winston Churchill to set us upon the road toward victory. Europe is different from when I first lived there in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was not as superficially wealthy then, although this time I rarely wandered far from where...

Closer ties between Iran and Germany will help bridge the gap between Europe and the entire Middle East, Iran’s president said as Iran and Germany announced plans to hold their first joint economic conference in a decade, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday. Hassan Rouhani, who met visiting German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, said he hopes Germany plays a “positive role” in improving relations between Iran and the EU, “as it played a positive role in nuclear talks.” […] But despite the optimism, Gabriel warned that obstacles still remain that could affect the pace of German investment in...

The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the Iran nuclear deal and paving the way to lifting longstanding sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The 15-0 approval of the Iran nuclear deal clears one of the largest hurdles for the landmark pact, which will now go before the US Congress where it may face an uphill battle for confirmation. The UN vote came shortly after the European Union approved the nuclear deal, okaying the pact between the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany and Iran that lifts punishing economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange...

Criticism of Germany’s role in the recent negotiations over Greece’s future has been fierce. Spiegel speaks with Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble about the government in Athens, his own feelings about a Grexit and his relationship with Chancellor Merkel. […] Spiegel: Germany took on a leadership role in the negotiations with Greece—and adopted a “very patronizing tone,” as European Parliament President Martin Schulz lamented. Does it worry you that people across Europe are talking about a “new German dominance?” Schäuble: There is no German dominance. Germany is in a good position economically, that is undeniable. But in contrast to France and...

Germany believes Iran should rethink its stance on Israel as last week’s nuclear deal means it must “bear new responsibilities, at home and abroad”, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday during his visit to the Islamic republic. […] “With the nuclear agreement and the economic recovery that will surely come after it, Iran will also bear new responsibilities, at home and abroad,” he told delegates at a conference in the capital. “You must understand that for us Germans, the security of the state of Israel is also of great importance. I understand how difficult the debate is, and we...

German private households collectively hold more wealth than ever before, according to a report released by the German Federal Bank on Monday. A strong labor market and comfortable incomes have helped German households’ financial assets to rise by €140 billion in the first quarter of the year, according to the report, climbing to €5.212 trillion—a record high. […] Germans still showed an “ongoing high level of risk aversion” and did not take advantage of low interest rates by taking out significant loans. […] But such wealth is not necessarily shared equally across the country. A study last year revealed that...

TEHRAN, July 20 (Reuters) - Germany and Iran moved tentatively on Monday towards reviving a once close trade relationship, anticipating the lifting of western economic sanctions against Tehran following a landmark nuclear deal. Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, making the first top level German government visit to Tehran in 13 years, indicated that a ministerial-level meeting of a long dormant German-Iran economic commission would take place early next year in Tehran. Gabriel signalled the move at a meeting with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh during the visit, which is also the first to the country by a senior member of...

The first of two MEKO Frigates built by Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) in Kiel appears ready to start her first sea trials according to ship spotter pictures. The vessel, designated MEKO A-200 AN Frigate, was launched in early December 2014. Algeria ordered two frigates (with an option for two more) in March 2012. The weapons fit selected by the Algerian Navy is quite powerfull for this type of vessel. Picture showing the first MEKO A-200 AN frigate for Algeria with most of its systems fitted (except for the anti-ship missiles) and ready to start sea trials. Picture taken on...

The situation in Athens seems to have calmed down, but former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke thinks Europe has an even bigger issue to worry about: Germany. In a blog post on Friday, Bernanke wrote that the failure of the eurozone as a whole is very much related to the "highly asymmetric outcomes" among member nations. In other words, Bernanke is attributing Europe's woes to the fact that countries like Germany are benefiting at the expense of the monetary union's weaker members, like Greece, Spain, and Italy. Bernanke points to unemployment rates as a clear sign of the disparity in...

WESTMINSTER, United Kingdom – The former head of the British Military has called for the UK and her allies to invade the Islamic State. Lord Richards told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme the current allied strategy of air strikes and support for Kurdish fighters was “woefully insufficient.” He said the strategy was “firing up” the Islamic State because it was “dribbling” rather than “clouting” the terrorist nation. Richards went on to say: “Sooner or later tanks are going to have to roll, there is going to have to be troops on the ground…. The current strategy won't work in the...

Sun-baked and debt-choked Greece presented on Monday a plan to become Europe's solar energy powerhouse, attracting up to 20 billion euros of investment in the decades to come to lift its economy out of the doldrums. The cash-strapped country regards clean energy as one of the few advantages of its uncompetitive economy, which is going through its longest and deepest recession in decades as a result of a debt crisis. The ambitious plan, called "Project Helios", involves multiplying Greek solar power production from 206 megawatts (MW) in 2010 to 2.2 gigawatts (GW) by 2010 and up to 10 GW by...

Germany is in crisis this summer as illegal immigrants pour across the Bavarian border in ever increasing numbers.  Already, there have been more illegals entering Germany to date than entered all of last year. And the German people are fed up. Chancellor Angela Merkel is saying simply that Germany can't help everyone.  And that policy was tested yesterday when she was confronted by a crying Palestinian teen who came with her family to Germany four years ago seeking asylum.  Guardian: During the discussion, entitled “Good life in Germany”, Reem, a Palestinian, told Merkel in fluent German that she and...

Germany and Cuba have signed framework accords to formalize future ties. Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit to Havanna is the first by a German foreign minister since Germany’s reunification 25 years ago. Thursday’s signing by Steinmeier and his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, involved two documents intended to open regular consultations between their ministries and cultural exchanges. They also contained an acknowledgment of human rights, an issue raised by Amnesty International, which is critical of Cuban clamps of freedoms of expression. Steinmeier’s trip comes just days ahead of the intended reopening by Cuba and the US of their embassies. President Barack Obama announced...

Full title: 'You can't all come': Palestinian immigrant girl bursts into tears after 'heartless' German leader Angela Merkel explains personally to her on TV exactly why she must be deported The German Chancellor has been criticised for telling a Palestinian girl that her family might be deported because: 'You can't all come.' Angela Merkel made the comments during a discussion with a group of schoolchildren at an event about 'living in Germany'. The girl, known as Reem, surprised Merkel when she revealed her family had been waiting for four years to receive permanent residency. She added that they could be...

(CNSNews.com) – In the closing minutes of the Iran nuclear negotiations in Vienna this week, Secretary of State John Kerry made a comment about having gone to war as a young man and not wanting to do so again, leaving everyone in the room, including the Iranians, with “tears in their eyes.” Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, the lead U.S. negotiator in the talks, recounted the moment while addressing the annual Generation Prague Conference at the State Department on Wednesday. Sherman said that in the final plenary session, with the media out of the room, each of...

‘Bottleneck’ dates back 600 to 800 years, genome analysis shows; researcher says among population ‘everyone is a 30th cousin. Illustrative photo of Ashkenazi Jews, taken from Nurit Ben Sheetri's 'The Redheads' exhibit at Dizengoff Center (courtesy Nurit Ben Sheetrit) A new study concludes that all Ashkenazi Jews can trace their ancestry to a “bottleneck” of just 350 individuals, dating back to between 600 and 800 years ago. The study, published in the Nature Communications journal Tuesday, was authored by Shai Carmi, a computer science professor at Columbia University, and more than 20 medical researchers from Yale, Columbia, Yeshiva University’s Albert...