Free Republic

Russia’s aggressiveness in Ukraine is proving a boon to North American energy producers looking for greater export opportunities. Whether for natural gas projects in the United States or for oil pipelines in Canada, the West’s confrontation with energy powerhouse Russia has refocused North American political debates – including the controversy over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline – on the need for global energy security. Russia’s aggressiveness in Ukraine is proving a boon to North American energy producers looking for greater export opportunities. Whether for natural gas projects in the United States or for oil pipelines in Canada, the West’s confrontation...

The group of five major emerging national economies known as the BRICS has rejected the Western sanctions against Russia and the “hostile language” being directed at the country over the crisis in Ukraine. “The escalation of hostile language, sanctions and counter-sanctions, and force does not contribute to a sustainable and peaceful solution, according to international law, including the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter,” foreign ministers of the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - said in a statement issued on Monday.

China and Russia are no more impressed with empty bluster today than Japan was in 1941. The Roosevelt administration once talked loudly of pivoting to Asia to thwart a rising Japan. As a token of its seriousness, in May 1940 it moved the home port of the Seventh Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor — but without beefing up the fleet’s strength... --snip-- Being weak is sometimes dangerous. Being loud, self-righteous, and weak is always very dangerous indeed.

Sheriffs have been ordered to sell Iran’s properties, empty its bank accounts and divide the proceeds between several terror victims. This groundbreaking verdict brought to an end four lawsuits filed in Ontario, Nova Scotia and British Columbia by terror victims seeking damages from Iran for training, arming and financing Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Middle East is falling apart. The United States have ceased even to resemble a world power and force for good. Domestically, the United States are torn apart. It's time for President Obama to divide his remaining time in office between golfing and sleeping.Here's a link to a recent analysis of U.S. contributions to increasing instability in the Middle East. Even principals in the Obama Administration disagree substantively. Martin Indyk, special U.S. envoy for the Israeli - Palestinian "peace process" talks, was present at an Arab League summit in Kuwait to oppose passage of an extremely hard line Arab position on the peace talks -- which the Obama Administration has managed to...

Some 150 Israeli Arabic-speaking Christians on Sunday demonstrated outside the European Union mission in Tel Aviv, demanding that the international community stop nitpicking against Israel and start combatting the severe persecution of Christians everywhere else in the Middle East. “Nations, organizations and international missions are quick to raise an accusing finger against Israel at every opportunity,” said Father Gabriel Nadaf, spiritual father of the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, which organized the rally. Those same nations and organizations “don’t life a finger against the ethnic cleansing of Christians in the Middle East,” the priest continued. Father Nadaf went on to explain...

US Embassy in Venezuela Halts New Visas US Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela Notification March 23, 2014 We regret that as a result of the expulsion of several consular officials and Venezuelan government delays in issuing visas for incoming officers, the U.S. Embassy in Caracas does not have sufficient consular staff at present to continue to schedule appointments for first-time tourist (B-1/B-2) visa applicants. Until further notice, we are able to offer such appointments only in emergency situations. If you already have an appointment, please appear at the appointed date and time, because it is unlikely under current staffing conditions that...

President Barack Obama is seeking to abolish two highly successful missile programs that experts say has helped the U.S. Navy maintain military superiority for the past several decades. The Tomahawk missile program—known as “the world’s most advanced cruise missile”—is set to be cut by $128 million under Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal and completely eliminated by fiscal year 2016, according to budget documents released by the Navy. In addition to the monetary cuts to the program, the number of actual Tomahawk missiles acquired by the United States would drop significantly—from 196 last year to just 100 in 2015. The...

Arclight Films says it is putting preproduction of its upcoming film Deep Water on hold, due to some uncomfortable similarities between the project and the mysterious disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370. "Out of sensitivity to the Malaysia flight situation, we've decided to put it on pause for now," Gary Hamilton, managing director of Arclight told THR at the Asian industry tradeshow Filmart in Hong Kong. An action horror, Deep Water tells the story of a flight that mysteriously crashes in a remote stretch of ocean on its way to China. The crash survivors then have to fend off killer sharks....

snip "We looked at the Doppler effect, which is the change in frequency, due to the movement of a satellite in its orbit. What that then gave us was a predicted path for the northerly route and a predicted path the southerly route," explained Chris McLaughlin, senior vice president of external affairs at Inmarsat. This information was relayed to Malaysian officials by 12 March, but Malaysia's government did not publicly acknowledge it until 15 March, according to the Wall Street Journal. Malaysia began to redirect the search effort that day, to focus on the areas the information described. However, some...

Chinese plane lands at wrong airport in Australia The first Chinese plane heading to Australia to join the hunt for a missing Malaysia Airlines jet landed at the wrong airport on Saturday, underscoring the difficulties facing the increasingly complex multinational search effort. The Chinese IL-76 military aircraft made an unexpected stop at Perth International Airport before heading to its correct destination at RAAF Base Pearce outside Perth, where search and rescue operations for Flight MH370, which has been missing for two weeks, are now being coordinated. Read More at Site

March 24, 2014 12:33 PM Mother Jones: Climate Change to Blame for Missing Malaysia Flight By Andrew Johnson Malaysian authorities have finally determined that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean, but the liberal magazine Mother Jones blames the extended nature of the search on the effects of man-made climate change. On Friday, prior to the country’s prime minister’s announcement that the plane had been located, the magazine claimed that expectations for where the plane might be were “vastly different from where investigators could have anticipated 30 years ago” because climate change and a once-thinning ozone layer...

"This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites,'' Mr. Najib said. "It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.'' The latest calculations were based on a new analysis of the satellite-operator's original data, relying on minute changes in the frequency of the electronic "pings"—or attempts to link up with satellites—received from the plane during its more than six-hour flight after dropping off radar, according to Tim Farrar, a satellite industry consultant. Inmarsat was able to correlate two streams...

Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region pledged Thursday to export 100,000 barrels of oil per day through central government-controlled pipelines in a bid to resolve an impasse with Baghdad ahead of elections. The Kurds and the government are locked in a row over energy exports, in which Baghdad has choked off funds to the northern region, draining its reserves, as the two sides spar over a national budget that would penalise the Kurds for failing to meet export targets as well as other issues tied to energy sector regulation. As a "goodwill gesture," the Kurdistan regional government said on its website it...

William Hague has warned Russia that it faces long-term "isolation and stagnation" over the crisis in Ukraine. The foreign secretary said it was time to consider a "new state of relations" different to that of the past 20 years. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he said the UK and its European allies would not "run scared".

<p>KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Chinese relatives of the passengers on the missing Malaysian jet have changed hotels to make way for crews arriving for the Malaysian grand prix after two weeks of searches that have yielded little more than fresh questions.</p>

New satellite data reveals that missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 "ended" its journey in a "remote location" of the southern Indian Ocean, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said today. "This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean," a somber Razak said during a media briefing. The jet vanished March 8 with 289 people on board after it took off from Kuala Lampur bound for Beijing. The announcement follows weeks of...

<p>Those convicted are part of a group of 545 defendants on trial for the killing of a police officer, attempted killing of two others, attacking a police station and other acts of violence.</p> <p>More than 150 suspects stood trial, the others were tried in absentia. Sixteen were acquitted.</p>

In the minds of progs, global warming is the devil incarnate, responsible for everything bad. So naturally, with the world focused on the mystery of Malaysia 370, it is time to blame global warming. Mother Jones Magazine took a break from blaming free markets (maybe because Malaysia Airlines is government-owned) to blame global warming for the inability to find the debris. Scientists say man-made climate change has fundamentally altered the currents of the vast, deep oceans where investigators are currently scouring for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight, setting a complex stage for the ongoing search for MH370. If the Boeing 777 did plunge...

CNN BREAKING: Malaysian Prime Minister holding unexpected 10a ET news conference #MH370Malaysian Defense Min says Malaysian Prime Minister Razak will hold a presser on what he called “new developments” at 10aET #MH370Missing plane family members tell CNN they have been called to a 9:30a meeting, before the 10a ET news conference #MH370. Something is up.