Free Republic

The first time Donald Trump met Angela Merkel, pictures of their awkward non-handshake in the Oval Office went around the world — and the months that followed did little to break the ice. But if the 63-year-old chancellor sails her way — as widely predicted — to a fourth term in Sunday’s legislative elections, the leaders of the United States and Germany will have to figure out a way to work together in the long term. Pretty much everything about “Mutti,” as Europe’s most influential leader is known at home, sets her apart from the 71-year-old occupant of the White...

Something buried deep in a wire story today caught our eye: a former Clinton administration official asserting that the United States might have to start a war with nuclear Iran. Imagine the uproar if an official in the Bush administration or any other Republican administration suggested such a thing. Cliff Kupchan, vice president of the Nixon Center and Clinton's former expert on Tehran, said that "if diplomacy fails, there might be no choice but for the United States to lead a concerted military campaign against Iran," the Associated Press reported. Kupchan said, "If the U.S. moves aggressively, it won't be...