Free Republic

/begin my translationKim Jong-il to Visit China around Aug. 28From multiple sources from China and Japan... wonder if it is about nuclear test[2006-08-23 11:30]  Multiple sources informed us that N. Korean leader Kim Jong-il is due to visit China around Aug. 28.Chinese diplomatic sources told us in the morning of Aug 23, "Currently senior figures of N. Korean military are staying in China as an advance to team for Kim Jong-il's visit, doing necessary preparations." However, the exact date is not revealed.The sources said, "It is our understanding that these senior military figures are working on his visit schedule which...

Pakistan bows to pressure and arrests Taliban fighters (Filed: 16/08/2006) Pakistan reacted to pressure from Britain and other Western powers yesterday by arresting dozens of Taliban fighters suspected of attacking British soldiers across the border in Afghanistan. At least 27 suspected Taliban warriors were arrested at the private al-Khair Hospital in Quetta where some were receiving medical treatment for wounds. Meanwhile in the port city of Karachi, police arrested a suspected Islamic militant accused of training religious students to become suicide bombers and deploying them against coalition troops in Afghanistan. There have been months of diplomatic wrangling over Pakistan's apparent...

Pressure on Blair to push for ceasefire in Lebanon By George Jones, Political Editor, Malcolm Moore in Rome, and Patrick Bishop (Filed: 27/07/2006) America used yesterday's peace summit in Rome to block hopes of an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, as a YouGov poll suggested that public disquiet was growing at Tony Blair's approach to the crisis. Hizbollah fighters continued to put up determined resistance to Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, killing eight soldiers, the biggest loss since the conflict began 16 days ago. Maj Gen Udi Adam, the chief of Israel's Northern Command, said: "The fighting will continue for several...

North Korea Claims It Is Not Little Boy By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter North Korea is not a ``little boy'' as it already has nuclear weapons and will not succumb to the pressure from ``big brothers,'' Kim Gye-gwan, North Korea's vice foreign minister, told three Americans visiting Pyongyang when the North launched missiles. The plural form of brother indicates that the North was irritated by the pressure not only from the United States but also from China, its long-time communist ally and the main provider of humanitarian goods. The Nautilus Institute, a U.S. think tank on security and sustainability, posted...

N Korea defies missile pressure The Taepodong missile could reach Alaska (archive picture) North Korea has said it is free to carry out a long-range missile test, defying international calls not to do so, Japan's Kyodo news agency says. "This issue concerns our autonomy. Nobody has a right to slander that right," a North Korean foreign ministry official was quoted as saying by Kyodo. The official denied the North was bound by earlier agreements not to launch. The US has said a North Korean test of its nuclear-capable Taepodong-2 missile would be a "provocative act". The missile, which has never...

Israel formulating alternative to PM's unilateral pullout By Akiva Eldar In light of the international opposition to further unilateral steps by Israel, the government has begun to draft an alternative plan that would essentially convert Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's unilateral convergence plan into a bilateral move carried out in conjunction with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). According to the plan now being drafted by the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry, Israel would propose to Abbas that they reach an agreement to establish a Palestinian state with provisional borders in Gaza plus about 90 percent of the...

Under tremendous pressure, mullahs agree to renovate tomb of "Cyrus the Great" May 29, 2006 Thanks to Iranian arab-parast, tomb of founder of Iran Zamin covered with dust but tomb of their beloved cowered arab imam whom ran away to Iran for dear life, covered with gold Under tremendous pressure by Iranian People, mullahs agree to renovate tomb of "Cyrus the Great". A team of experts have recently began renovating the tomb of Cyrus the Great at the ancient site of Pasargad in southern province of Fars. Several megaliths of the tomb have been stolen over time and the renovation...

One thing can be said for Iranians – they’ve sure come up with a novel method of running a secret nuclear program. The U.S. ran the Manhattan Project (more in hope than execution, it turned out) as one of the most secret programs of the Second World War. The USSR’s first bomb test in 1949 might have remained hidden if the U.S. hadn’t detected radioactive debris over the Bering Strait. Israel played its program so close the vest that no one is quite certain when the threshold was breached. Even North Korea has been very circumspect with any detailed information...

PARIS - President Jacques Chirac on Monday scrapped a controversial part of a youth labor law that triggered massive protests and strikes, bowing to intense pressure from students and unions and dealing a blow to his loyal premier in a bid to end the crisis. Unions celebrated what they called "a great victory," and also were deciding whether to keep up the protests. The top two student union UNEF and FIDL said they would press on with demonstrations Tuesday across France. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who devised the law, had faced down protesters for weeks, insisting that its most...

Chanukah and International Pressure By Larry Domnitch December 13, 2005 What induced Antiochus Epiphanes to attempt to eradicate Judaism? Some speculate that he had his own political motives. However, he initially had good relations with the Jews who had helped him take Jerusalem from his rival, the Egyptian Ptolemy. The chronicler of that era, Josephus Flavius mentions that Antiochus initially granted Jews the right to keep their laws. (Josephus Flavius, Antiquities, Book XII, chapter 3:3) He had also decreed that the Temple of Jerusalem continue to be respected by all as a Jewish institution under Jewish auspices. Furthermore, the attempt...

Philosopher George Santayana's famous maxim that "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" should be engraved on large slabs of Sierra granite and permanently affixed to the wall of every office in the state Capitol - and quickly, because a much-weakened Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a reality-oblivious Legislature may replay one of California's worst political blunders. A half-decade ago, as California's dot-com bubble began to burst, those holding stock or stock options in shaky high-tech companies liquidated (or at least the smarter ones did). The state experienced a huge, one-time surge in personal income tax revenues from the...

Joint Mission Keeps Pressure on Terrorists Iraqi soldiers conducted most of the mission on their own with little American intervention. By U.S. Army Spc. Michael Leslie 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Nov. 15, 2005 — The lights are out. The streets are dark. Soldiers are trudging down the alley in silence to find a target. "I think we are well on our way to turning this area of Iraq back over to the Iraqi army with their set of governance and security. At this rate, we will have the Iraqis leading Iraqis very soon."U.S. Army Maj....

Bolton Prods U.N. To Act on Spending, Human Rights Issues By Colum Lynch Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, November 11, 2005; Page A16 UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 10 -- U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton said Thursday that inaction by U.N. members is jeopardizing the passage of U.S.- and U.N.-backed initiatives to combat human rights abuses and streamline the agency's bureaucracy. Bolton, speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Foreign Policy Association, hinted that Congress may retaliate against the United Nations if it failed to take steps toward improving the way it conducts business. He later told the General Assembly that the...

Bush and Blair increase Iran pressure (Filed: 06/10/2005) George W Bush, the American president, has accused Iran and Syria of supporting radical groups. His comments came after Tony Blair said evidence pointed to Iranian involvement in a series of roadside bombings in Iraq. Troops patrol Basra after a roadside bomb attack In a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy, Mr Bush said: "State sponsors like Syria and Iran have a long history of collaboration with terrorists and they deserve no patience from the victims of terror.""The United States makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and...

ALBANY, N.Y. - Claiming Hillary Rodham Clinton is hiding behind her husband, possible Republican challenger Jeanine Pirro renewed her effort Monday to get New York's junior senator to take a pledge to serve a full, six-year term if re-elected. A major thrust of Pirro's campaign has been that Clinton wants to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008 and will be an absentee senator if she is re-elected. Thus far, the former first lady has refused to address the full-term pledge issue, although her husband said Sunday she shouldn't make such a promise again because she might become a...

During the Michael Graham fiasco, we all wrote to WMAL saying we would not listen again. How many have found themselves listening to the station. I am happy to say I have not. I hve even gone to the lengths of emailing them and their advertisers to tell them why (again!)

Bush gives in to pressure over illegal migrants By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 25/08/2005) The Bush administration has signalled a big policy reversal on illegal immigration, telling a worried public that it is "rightly distressed" about the nation's porous borders. The homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, made what amounted to a U-turn on immigration policy after months of rising pressure from congressmen and law enforcement officials. The Minutemen: volunteers who patrol the Mexico-US border Mr Chertoff appeared to bow in the direction of public opinion, which is increasingly restive over the unrestricted flood of people into the US. "The...

Sharon admits that American pressure determines retreat policy By David Bedein August 9, 2005 The U.S. Department has made it clear to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: It wants the Jews out of the Katif district of Gaza by August 15th, with no delays or excuses. The Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, came to Jerusalem and pleaded with Sharon to reconsider his plan to retreat from Katif, which involves Israel's obliteration of the 21 Jewish communities there, including 325 thriving Israeli farms and 86 synagogues and Jewish study centers Sharon's answer to Rabbi Cohen: "This is what the...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Sunday reiterated plans to resume uranium conversion this week and said it was unconcerned about referral of its nuclear case to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. "Although we think referral of Iran's case to the Security Council would be unlawful and politically motivated, if one day they refer Iran's case...we won't be worried in the least," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi. Britain, Germany and France, heading nuclear negotiations with Iran for the European Union, have called an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors on Tuesday...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2005 – Increased U.S. and coalition operations throughout the Euphrates River Valley have forced insurgents to switch tactics in an attempt to cause damage, a coalition spokesman in Baghdad, Iraq, said today. The two major attacks that killed 20 Marines this week in Haditha are evidence of these shifting tactics, Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston said in a press briefing. One of the attacks involved small-arms fire, and the other used an exceptionally large improvised explosive device. The IED may have been an "explosively formed projectile," which is a more sophisticated explosive used to defeat armored...