Free Republic

In his address to the UN General Assembly on September 25, Georgia’s outgoing President Mikheil Saakashvili lashed out at Russia for mounting “constant pressures and threats” on neighbors and said that “the last authoritarian empire in the world” will fail and its leader Vladimir Putin will vanish from the Russian politics in “few years from now.” In his speech Saakashvili, whose second and final presidential term nears its end, also mentioned his tenure saying that “many good things” have been done under his leadership, but also added that “some of these things were done at a very high cost.” Full...

Well, we always knew the Democrat leadership would fall in behind the Prez on Syria – and Nancy Pelosi led the pack. Speaking yesterday she made the standard humanitarian case for intervention but then added her own cute spin. Nancy told us that she asked her 5-year old grandson if he thought America should go to war. “No!” he replied, so she gave him a lesson in the importance of deterring the use of chemical weapons. There are two things to take away from that surreal anecdote. A) Nancy discusses foreign policy with 5-year olds. B) They know more about...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich says he's reconsidering his neoconservative views regarding the benefits gained from U.S. military interventions as a way to promote democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere. Gingrich believes the methods he has long been a supporter of have backfired and require re-evaluation, the Washington Times reports. “I am a neoconservative,” Gingrich told the Times. “But at some point, even if you are a neoconservative, you need to take a deep breath to ask if our strategies in the Middle East have succeeded.” Gingrich, who backed the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, said...

In a veiled shot at influential neoconservatives within the Republican Party, Sen. Rand Paul tells The Brody File the following: “There are people who will do or say anything who are your enemies,” Paul said. “Those who believe in perpetual war are some of the most dangerous to our country, and I think they will do everything they can to try and vilify people who are trying to find a more reasoned approach where war is the last resort not the first resort.” While he didn’t mention any names, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Paul...

Republicans were treated to a strange surprise last week when Jonathan Martin reported on Liz Cheney's plan to primary three-term Republican Sen. Mike Enzi, of Wyoming, in 2014. Martin captured some hostility toward Cheney ("She just moved back here, she didn’t even grow up here"), but provided little insight as to why the intellectual heir to Dick Cheney's War on Terror was preparing to challenge a popular--if inactive--GOP incumbent.While Cheney refused to comment for the article, Enzi suspects that "she may take aim at his legislation, passed this year in the Senate, to let states collect sales tax on Internet...

I have always admired Douglas Murray, mostly because of how he courageously stood up for Israel against politically correct inanities, but now I have a problem. You can see my problem in the video that you can watch by clicking on the link just below this post title, in which Douglas Murray, "radical Muslism cleric" Anjem Choudary and British convert to Islam - representing the "moderate" Muslims - Julie Siddiqi discuss on Channel Four News the Woolwich attack, and in particular the fact that one of the perpetrators, Michael Adebolaj, had been associated to Choudary and participated in at least one...

To understand the rage and news from Turkey and the alleged “Turkish Spring” being promoted by some websites and commentators, one has to have a deep understanding of the friends and enemies the nation of Turkey has acquired in eighty plus years of independence and Westernization thanks to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In the West, the British still resent the Turks for their unwillingness to take up arms against the Nazis in World War II. Believe it or not, some Germans hold the same animosity because a Turkish alliance with Nazi Germany would have crushed the Allies in Europe and the...

The U.S. is fortunate that Russia is not intent on undermining our interests, which makes it a little odd that so many American hawks insist that this is so and sometimes seem eager to make it so. Consider Syria. Syria hawks see Russian opposition to Western and Arab intervention in the country as proof of Russian antagonism to America, but Russia is at most half-heartedly defending the status quo and continuing its formal policy of objecting to outside interference in other states’ internal affairs. It has committed itself to nothing except occasionally vetoing a resolution at the U.N., and if...

Why the hysteria about Russia? From the tone of what passes for policy discourse in Washington, one would think that Russian troops were massing on the country’s western border and that opposition activists were being executed by the hundreds. Some realities in Russia are indeed disturbing, but a sense of perspective is needed. If Moscow were really the capital of a brutally authoritarian anti-American state, things could be far worse — and profoundly damaging to U.S. national interests. But demonizing Russia doesn’t change conditions there and only undermines our ability to get what we want and need. Domestically, Russia is...

Syrian Christians Told Convert, Leave, or Die Religious Freedom Coalition Apr 26th, 2013 Christians remaining in Syria have been given three choices by the American supported Free Syrian Army (FSA): convert to Islam, flee their homeland, or die. It is widely believed that this Islamic ideology will be enacted nationwide if President Assad is overthrown. Many Westerners falsely assume that since the FSA opposes a dictatorship, they must be democratic, secular, and tolerant. In reality, however, the FSA seeks to establish a totally Islamic state governed by Sharia law. Although many have suffered as a result of the civil war,...

Carl Bernstein claimed that because he's Jewish, he could accuse "Jewish" neo-cons of talking George W. Bush into starting an "insane" war against Iraq. Joe Scarborough wasn't so sure. Jewish neo-cons? The single most salient statement from the pre-war period was that by CIA Director George Tenet, who personally told President Bush that Saddam Hussein's possession of WMDs was a "slam dunk." So which temple does Tenet attend? What? He's Greek Orthodox? Never mind. Joe Scarborough offered a strong rebuttal to Bernstein's allegations. View the video here.

Ten years after reaching the height of their influence with the invasion of Iraq, the neo-conservatives and other right-wing hawks are fighting hard to retain their control of the Republican Party. That fight was on vivid display last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) here where, as the New York Times observed in a front-page article, the party appeared increasingly split between the aggressively interventionist wing that led the march to war a decade ago and a libertarian-realist coalition that is highly sceptical of, if not strongly opposed to, any more military adventures abroad. The libertarian component, which...

What do Bill Kristol, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Karl Rove and other old, stale RINO hacks all have in common? They fear Rand Paul and the new generation of libertarian-conservatives or constitutional-conservative. Bill Kristol went on America Live with Megyn Kelly to whine about how ‘dangerous’ the ‘Neo-Isolationist’ Rand Paul is. Kristol also declared that Paul has no political future or something.

As last night's awful events have painfully proven, we're continuing to lose ground and our movement is being undermined, above all due to the treachery, blindness and incompetence of the GOP leadership to the forces gutting us from within. Our elites continue to betray the most basic conservative principles, and this is especially so for the snakes in the grass who've infiltrated our party as conservatives when they're anything but. Chief among these false conservatives are the neocons, who are big government liberals by any definition yet have gotten positions of power and policy decision-making that have continue to cause...

How America can stop what the New York Times calls “Israel’s March to War” is the hot topic this month. The issue—for the Times—is whether Israel is on the verge of bombing Iran’s nuclear sites, or can be persuaded to delay that decision and rely on the United States instead. This is what a parade of U.S. officials visiting Jerusalem this summer have counseled (and pressured) Israel to do. But the comments of Israel’s top officials suggest that its patience is wearing thin and that it may act soon, in weeks if not months. As the Associated Press put it,...

Muslim political scientist: Jews established neocon movement to destroy Islamic world through brute force and films like Superman, Tom and Jerry Curses! Muhammad Waqi'ullah is on to us! "U.S.-Based Political Scientist Muhammad Waqi'ullah: The Neocon Movement, Established by Jews, Plans to Destroy the Islamic World by Brute Force and through 'Harmless' Films like Superman, Tom and Jerry," from MEMRI, June 4: Following are excerpts from an interview with Muhammad Waqi’ullah, a US-based Sudanese professor of political science, which aired on Al-Majd TV on June 4, 2012. Waqi’ullah received his Ph.D. from the University of Mississipi [sic], and worked for the...

Much depends on who capitalizes on the thirst for change. As daily protests wane, the hard work of political organizing must begin. In this regard, the liberal, or “right,” forces (as they are known) need to address the Russian people’s concrete economic and social concerns. Too often movements have rallied around a strong personality with minimal connection to the population’s aspirations. This time the liberals have a ready-made constituency in the rising middle class and its youthful vanguard. They cannot waste this opportunity. Otherwise, the standard-bearers of change could be radical nationalists, even warmed-over communists who might well tap into...

There are few things the liberal media like more than a Republican renegade. David Stockman has made a career out of strutting his independence from the GOP. So little surprise that he was an honored guest on this morning's Up With Chris Hayes on MSNBC. That Stockman repaid his hosts by attacking Republicans was utterly predictable. Even so, the absurdity of Stockman's particular assertion was breathtaking. The former Reagan budget director actually claimed that the notion of American exceptionalism, a focus of Newt Gingrich's campaign, is nothing less than . . . "neo-con code" for an aggressive foreign policy. View...

This is a story I couldn’t resist writing. Ron Paul supporters are spraying vinegar at the sky to “kill” clouds. They’re standing in their backyards, on their porches, and in front of their windows, angrily aiming spray bottles filled with vinegar into the air.How could I not write about this? If I live to be one-hundred years old, will I ever again get the chance to write about something so incredibly insane?I have several friends who support Ron Paul. The aim of this piece is not to malign or belittle all Paul supporters – just the ones who adhere to...

The Syrian regime, which has endured nine months of civil unrest spurred by the Arab Spring as it swept across the Middle East, has armed its medium-range missile arsenal with chemical warheads. According to a report published by the Sabah daily Sunday, Damascus armed 600 one-ton chemical warheads to use in the event of a foreign military intervention. Furthermore, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the deployment of 21 missile launchers along its border with Turkey. Syria’s medium-range missiles that can be equipped with chemical warheads have a range of up to 1,300 kilometers and would include the southern and central provinces...