Free Republic

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Chongqing city, which experienced severe flooding following heavy rains, from Aug. 20 to Aug. 21, but state-run media didn’t report on his trip until Aug. 23—an unusual delay for media outlets that typically provide constant coverage of top officials’ public activities.The media reports also focused on economic development—a departure from the information about Li’s trip that was posted on the Chinese central government’s official website from Aug. 20 to Aug. 25. The website emphasized that Li had observed the effects of the flooding and encouraged locals to unite amid the catastrophe.China analysts say this...

Recently I met with a senior Republican Party official who wanted to chat about what the GOP could be doing (with a few more bucks). He began his pitch by lamenting all the “strife” in the Republican Party, and his desire for “peace” among the “factions.”Before he could finish whining, I stopped him. I told him that, frankly, he was wrong. I see no evidence of “strife” among conservatives. Indeed, on the issues we focus there is near unanimity.For example, 94 percent of Republican primary voters want government spending strictly limited to no more than population and inflation. Legislation doing...

Discussions of racial problems almost invariably bring out the cliché of “a legacy of slavery.” But anyone who is being serious, as distinguished from being political, would surely want to know if whatever he is talking about — whether fatherless children, crime, or whatever — is in fact a legacy of slavery or of some of the many other things that have been done in the century and a half since slavery ended. Another cliché that has come into vogue is that slavery is “America‘s original sin.” The great Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that a good catch...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2008 – Incidents of Iraqi-on-Iraqi attacks due to ethno-sectarian strife and other types of violence in Iraq have decreased markedly from a year ago, a senior U.S. officer posted in Iraq said yesterday. “Iraq is in a very different place than it was just 12 months ago,” Multinational Force Iraq spokesman Army Brig. Gen. David G. Perkins told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. “Iraqis refuse to be pitted against each other by senseless violence.” For example, Perkins said, the number of security incidents so far during Ramadan is more than 60 percent lower than it was...

Police and troops on Sulawesi were put on high alert, because military intelligence had picked up information indicating that Islamic radicals from all over Indonesia were moving to Sulawesi in an attempt to launch a spectacular attack on local Christians. Australia has warned its citizens to stay away from Central Sulawesi, where most of the violence tends to take place. To make matters worse, the Christians are ready to strike back if the Islamic terrorists go after them again. Over the last few years, some 2,000 people have died in religious strife on Sulawesi. The Islamic radicals need a spectacular...

Sgt. Eli Chagoya, assigned to Multi-National Division – Baghdad’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, meets with a 6th Iraqi Army Division Soldier during a patrol on the streets of Baghdad in support of Operation Together Forward. Department of Defense photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Keith DeVinney. BAGHDAD -- On the same day the Iraqi parliament reopened after a month-long recess, the Iraqi president predicted an end to sectarian violence in Iraq, while the British foreign secretary discussed the importance of handing over security responsibility to the Government of Iraq.In Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraq’s Council of Representatives reconvened with...

A family feud has erupted over voter-turnout tactics as the Democratic Party tries to regain control of the House and Senate in this year's midterm elections. Three months before the elections, party officials are arguing about how the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has allocated its 2006 campaign resources, triggering a spat at the national level that has angered state party leaders who want the public bickering to end. "The weakness of the Democrats is that we'll screw up a two-car funeral procession. We're not happy as Democrats unless we are wringing our hands and gnashing our teeth," said Chris Redfern,...

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2006 – Large-scale sectarian violence as displayed by Sunnis and Shiites in Baghdad has seemingly bypassed Nineveh province in northern Iraq, a U.S. military commander told Pentagon reporters today. "We have been fortunate in that we've not seen that level of sectarian violence in Nineveh province," said Col. Michael Shields, commander of the U.S. Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Shields gives credit for this positive state of affairs to the efforts of Gov. Duraid Mohammed Daud Abbodi Kashmoula and the senior Iraqi military and police officials serving in the province. "They have great outreach to...

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2006 – American military commanders in Iraq are calmly assessing the impact of a week's worth of violence and civil strife that has erupted across Iraq since terrorists bombed a Shiite mosque, a senior Pentagon official said here today. "Our commanders have addressed that issue. The mission remains what it is each and every day," Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters at the Pentagon. Hundreds of Iraqis have died in sectarian violence that began after terrorists blew off the top of the Golden Mosque, a Shiite religious shrine in the heavily Sunni city of Samarra, Feb....

It may look like a happy melting pot to commentators on the outside, but Peter Whittle feels alienated in an area carved up by immigrant groups Much like everywhere else in the country, the local parade of 40-odd shops in my part of suburban southeast London long ago lost its traditional butcher, baker and fishmonger to the onward march of the big food boys. But one thing it never seemed to have much need for was a shop offering international money transfers. However, walking through this tatty but reliable street on my way to Woolwich Arsenal station recently, I noticed...

Prague, 5 April 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Back in 1978, when the Roman Catholic Church last elected a pope, the world stood uneasily divided in a struggle between Soviet communism and the West. By most accounts, Pope John Paul II played a major role in ending that divide, largely by focusing attention on injustices in his native Poland, then under Soviet sway. Today, with the Vatican set to elect a new leader, the world stands divided yet again. The Cold War analogy is imperfect, but increasing tensions and violence are threatening what has been called a possible "clash of civilizations between...

Gawronski has let us at the NOR know repeatedly that he thinks our approach to the "internecine Church war" is much too "bellicose," is lacking "a common focus on love," and he has let your Editor know that his soul is therefore in grave peril. And all this because your Editor "sneers at beauty"? Well apparently, given Gawronski’s particular notion of beauty. We know Fr. Gawronski well, and he has a side interest in Zen Buddhism, and a large part of his sense of beauty consists of long walks in the woods, meditation, harmony, and tranquility. Well, it must be...