Free Republic

In his desperation to sink the Iran nuclear deal, Bibi Netanyahu is taking a hellish gamble. Israel depends upon the United States for $3 billion a year in military aid and diplomatic cover in forums where she is often treated like a pariah state. Israel has also been the beneficiary of almost all the U.S. vetoes in the Security Council. America is indispensable to Israel. The reverse is not true. Yet, without telling the White House, Bibi had his U.S. ambassador arrange for him to address a joint session of Congress in March -- to rip up the president's Iran...

The title of this short piece is actually the title of an essay by Paul Fussell, the writer, literary and cultural critic who just passed away at the age of 88. His New York Times obituary notes his “withering scorn for the romanticization of war,” which was due, in part, to his own experience of battle in World War II as an infantryman wounded in southeastern France. His most well-known book is probably The Great War and Modern Memory (about World War I), of which Steven Hayward at Power Line says: Fussell managed the extraordinary feat of weaving together a...

In case you missed it, this is referring to the video of Hollywood endorsing the Iran deal.

What happens to the Iran nuclear deal if Iran already has a nuclear weapon? Both Iran and North Korea were part of the A.Q. Kahn proliferation network, and bilateral trade in oil and weapons has continued despite UN resolutions designed to stop it. Ballistic missile cooperation is documented, and nuclear cooperation has been an unspoken theme in Washington. Pyongyang helped Damascus, Iran’s ally, build a secret reactor. There are reports that North Korean experts visited Iran in May to help Iran with its missile program. Pressed by reporters on the subject of North Korea-Iran nuclear cooperation a few weeks ago,...

If world powers are hoping the influx of Western money and ideals will boost and even ultimately empower reformists, they’ve likely miscalculated.Trying to sell the nuclear deal with Iran, leaders from the six world powers that negotiated the deal have talked a lot about its ostensible virtues. But they all have painstakingly avoided talking about one aspect that could be key to the agreement’s ultimate success: regime change. That nobody’s openly talking about it doesn’t mean they’re not secretly thinking about it. Indeed, the hope that this deal will transform Iran might have significantly bolstered the West’s confidence in the...

We say that evil is dark. But this metaphor is imprecise. Evil is actually intensely bright, so painfully bright that people look away from it. Many even deny its existence. Why? Because once people acknowledge evil's existence, they know they have to confront it. And most people prefer not to confront evil. That is what led to World War II. Many in the West denied the darkness of Nazism. They looked the other way when that evil could have been stopped and then appeased it as it became stronger. We are reliving 1938. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain went to...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump once said that he thinks America must strike Iran, preferably through the air. “You know, the one thing I sort of liked was what they were saying about Iran,” Trump said on MSNBC on January 12, 2007, in response to a speech President Bush gave that day on the latest developments in the war in Iraq. “I believe you have to go in and strike Iran — not with soldiers,” Trump said. “You know, it’s not a world of soldiers anymore. It’s a world of air. It’s a world of different kinds of, you know,...

"The long unmeasured pulse of time moves everything. There is nothing hidden that it cannot bring to light...." --Sophocles Call it a footnote to history. It's 46 pages long, but till now it's been kept under wraps: the testimony of David Greenglass before a grand jury some six decades ago on August 7, 1950. It doesn't contain any surprises. It's been known for some time that his testimony against his sister, Ethel Rosenberg, was false. A frame-up. He admitted it in a newspaper interview before he died, and explained why he'd ratted on her: to save his own skin. She...

What everybody already knows: Iran wants a nuclear weapon. Whether it’s to utilize for themselves, or to monetize to the open market of global bad actors Iran is heavily invested in getting the bomb. What many did not know: Our goal going into the multi-lateral talks with Iran was clear, end Iran’s nuclear weapon pursuit. Our end result walking away from the talks was equally clear—the United States leading the way—gave Iran permission to get the nuclear bomb (the very thing we were attempting to keep them from getting.) What many now think: Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons has been...

On Tuesday, we moved into a new nuclear age. In the old nuclear age, the US-led West had a system for preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. It had three components: sanctions, deterrence and military force. In recent years we have witnessed the successful deployment of all three. In the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, the UN Security Council imposed a harsh sanctions regime on Iraq. One of its purposes was to prevent Iraq from developing nuclear weapons. After the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, we learned that the sanctions had been successful. Saddam largely abandoned his nuclear...

The president has said that the United States will be safer because of the nuclear deal his administration and five other nations fashioned with Iran. "Without a deal, we risk even more war in the Middle East," he said in an hour-long press conference on Wednesday. It was an unfortunate historical reminder, one the president would rather we all ignore. In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed a four-party pact with Adolf Hitler allowing Nazi Germany to seize a portion of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain returned from the Munich Conference, claiming "peace with honor. I believe it is peace for...

Almost 30 years ago, when the US was negotiating with the Soviet Union about intermediate-range nuclear weapons, President Ronald Reagan was told that the Russians like to talk in proverbs. A writer on Russia taught him the proverb “doveryain no proveryai,” which means trust but verify. It was a phrase Reagan would use many times in his dealings with Mikhail Gorbachev – and one that seems particular wise now. As I’m writing this, the US and five other nations (the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) are engaged in nuclear talks with another adversary, Iran (towards a...

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says a final nuclear deal is “within reach” as Iran and world powers face a June 30 deadline for an agreement. […] Rouhani indicated that Iran will allow inspections of its nuclear facilities, but said the Islamic republic won’t allow its “secrets” to be jeopardized under the cover of international inspections. …

The Clinton Foundation’s Swedish organization raised $26 million while the Scandinavian country’s government was lobbying U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to not impose further sanctions on Iran. The Swedish business dealings with the Islamic republic were at risk from the possible new sanctions according to the Washington Times. The William J. Clinton Foundation Insamlingsstiftelse had never been screened by the State Department ethics officials despite an agreement implemented in 2009 when Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State. The agreement was intended to implement a transparent review system of her husband, Bill Clinton’s, fundraising and public speaking activities. The review...

Indian Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh struck an alarmist tone on Saturday, saying India is concerned that extremist groups such as Islamic State may get their hands on nuclear arms from Pakistan. “With the rise of ISIS in West Asia, one is afraid to an extent that perhaps they might get access to a nuclear arsenal from states like Pakistan,” Singh said on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La regional security conference in Singapore, Bloomberg reported. Singh went on to add that if Pakistan develops technology that enables its submarines to carry nuclear warheads, “it would...

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has threatened the world claiming they are very close to acquiring a nuclear bomb from Pakistan to use in attacking the United States. They have threatened to smuggle it through the United State's porous southern border.(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has threatened the world claiming they are very close to acquiring a nuclear bomb from Pakistan to use in attacking the United States. The claim was made in an article entitled "The Perfect Storm" which was published in the Islamic State's English language propaganda magazine Dabiq; it was penned...

North Korea said Wednesday that it has the ability to miniaturize nuclear weapons, a key step toward building nuclear missiles. Analysts and U.S. officials have said previously that they suspected Kim Jong Un's regime was working toward accomplishing the technical feat, which is needed to fit a nuclear device on the tip of a ballistic missile. But on Wednesday, the official U.S. response was skepticism. "Our assessment of North Korea's nuclear capabilities has not changed," National Security Council spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement. "We do not think that they have that capacity." "However, they are working on developing...

From Left to Right: Mati Weiderpass, Ted Cruz, Kalman Sporn and Heidi Cruz at a literal fireside chat in Mr. Weiderpass’ apartment.The organizer of the controversial 'Ted Cruz fireside chat' on strange alliances and misguided boycotts.A nuclear-armed Tehran presents an urgent threat to freedom. Opposing the Iran deal are two unlikely allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel. And it’s just the latest sign of a thaw in a relationship that proves the wisdom of the old Sanskrit proverb, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Saudi Arabia officially dropped the Arab boycott against Israel in 2005 as a condition of...

Energy Department plans to spend more than $60 million in Russia for nuclear security activities at the same time U.S. and European Union sanctions are punishing Moscow for aggression against Ukraine In an interview with Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Eric Edelman revealed that the United States is, in effect, subsidizing Russia’s increasing nuclear weapons capacity—weapons that could be used against the U.S. in any major war with the West Gertz’s report describes how the “Energy Department plans to spend more than $60 million in Russia for nuclear security activities at...

If you are watching the news, or were listening to Mark Levin’s rant last evening, the subject du jour is the Senate passage 96-1 of the Corker-Cardin bill. Yes, that is Tennessee’s own Republican Senator Corker, who obviously has his political eye set on a future in the White House. The bill is advertised by Republican leadership as a great victory giving Congress 30 days to review the President’s secret nuclear treaty negotiations with Iran before enactment. Under present law, the President cannot execute a treaty with a foreign nation unless it has the approval of 2/3 of the Senate....