Free Republic

Billionaire financier George Soros said Thursday the European Union is in an "existential crisis" and needs to be reinvented in the face of growing threats. "The reinvention would have to revive the support that the European Union used to enjoy," the Hungarian-born Soros said at the Brussels Economic Forum. Such reinvention would have to review the past and explain to European citizens what went wrong and then make proposals to make things right. Soros welcomed a German idea to cut European funds aimed at reducing income inequalities at the regional level for those countries disrespecting the rule of law. Both...

In Czech, a Russian citizen Yevgenity Nikulin said in court that United States authorities approached him twice to convince Nikulin to falsely testify that he had hacked the DNC emails for Trump and was ordered to do so by the Russian government. Nikulin’s lawyer suggested that the US charges against him are prompted for political reasons to blame him for the DNC leaks. “[They told me:] you will have to confess to breaking into Clinton’s inbox for [U.S. President Donald Trump] on behalf of [Russian President Vladimir Putin],” Nikulin wrote, according to The Moscow Times. The AP reported more on...

A U.S. defense official said Tuesday that-- if left unchecked-- it is "inevitable" that North Korea will develop a nuclear device that has intercontinental capabilities. Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said at a Senate hearing that North Korea is working to produce a device that can be transported on a ballistic missile. "If left on its current trajectory, the regime will ultimately succeed in fielding a nuclear-armed missile capable of threatening the United States homeland," Stewart said. Stewart’s remarks are the latest indication of the U.S.’ increased worries about North Korea’s missile and nuclear...

Friends who visit Europe with large families in tow tell me they soon become “tourist attractions” themselves.Europeans are used to Muslims with large families. But Americans? People from a prosperous developed nation? How odd. Don’t they know that children get in the way of self-fulfillment? That population growth is bad for the environment?The visiting Americans with large families are almost invariably Christians—another segment of European society that, along with children, seems to be on the way out. In 2016 more than 90,000 people dropped out of the Church of Sweden, and Norway’s State Church lost more than 25,000 members...

Separate concepts of Russia and the United States on creation of special safety and de-escalation zones in Syria could be compatible, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said. “Russia’s idea is in creation of four safety zones in the western part of Syria, the US side thinks about two or three temporary zones of ‘de-escalation’ and ‘stabilization.’ Both the proposals could be compatible in the end,” de Mistura told Il Corriere della Sera newspaper. The diplomat added that the proposed scheme could become effective as the presidents of the Untied States and Russia were engaged in direct talks...

THREE Russian warships have challenged Nato by entering Latvia's exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea, according to armed forces officials in Riga. The corvettes - Liven 551, Serpukhov 603 and Morshansk 824 - were detected only four nautical miles from Latvian territorial waters. It was the latest in a series of moves by Vladimir Putin's naval forces seen as testing the response of the small Baltic state, a NATO and EU member. The move on Sunday was linked today to the arrival in the Baltic Sea of US warship, USS Carney, with cruise missiles on board. The three Russian...

What could go wrong? Not that you’ll hear much attention paid to this, since it didn’t involve Hillary being exonerated, Mike Flynn being a monster or Trump being Putin’s . . . ah, go and get a word from Stephen Colbert if you really want one. But there are more pressing matters for the FBI to concern itself with, one of which is terrorists who come into this country and how they’re getting in. An absolute article of faith among leftists is that refugees pose absolutely no threat of terrorism. None. It doens’t matter if they come from the world’s...

"US" by Paul Genova (Mr. Paul Genova has been President and Chief Operating Officer of Wireless Telecom Group Inc. since June 30, 2016. I haven't said too much about this election since the start....but this is how I feel.... I'm noticing that a lot of people aren't graciously accepting the fact that their candidate lost. In fact you seem to be posting even more hateful things about those who voted for Trump. Some are apparently "triggered" because they are posting how "sick" you feel about the results. • How did this happen you ask? Well here is how it happened!...

Freelance reporter, Joe ‘Rambo’ Biggs and David Rodriguez of Borderland Alternative Media documented just how easy it is to cross the southern border. Biggs and Rodriguez were able to cross the border between Anapara, Mexico and Sunland Park, New Mexico, U.S. many times in under a minute! Biggs and Rodriguez walked right up to the border with Mexico. Rodriguez waltzed right over the border and pointed out that there is no border patrol around. Biggs explained that there is a wall and some fencing in some areas, however; there are large gaps where there is no physical border wall whatsoever....

Ilham Ahmed, the co-president of the Democratic Council of Syria. File photo Ilham Ahmed, the co-president of the Democratic Council of Syria, said that the United States should not choose between Turkey and the Kurds in Syria.Ahmed accused Turkey of turning a blind eye to terrorism. “Erdogan is trying to force the United States to choose between us [Syrian Kurds] and Turkey. We don’t think such a choice is necessary, but it is worth considering what that choice entails,” she said.“The Turks said they bombed our headquarters because they claimed our territory is being used to launch attacks against Turkey, but those...

The Syrian city of Raqqa remains occupied by Daesh terrorists since early 2014. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with the backing of a US-led international coalition is set to storm Raqqa and liberate it next month. It has been reported that US tanks will be used during the battle. A representative of the command of the Syrian Democratic Forces, who wished to remain anonymous, told Sputnik Arabic that the US had recently delivered heavy weapons and tanks to the SDF.“Two days ago, as part of the upcoming battle against Daesh the US sent us tanks and heavy weapons. The armament was delivered to Rojava [Kurdish de facto autonomous...

A US-led coalition spokesperson on Saturday told ARA News that for the United States there is a difference between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG). The US-led coalition recognizes the PKK as a threat to Turkey.“We disagree with the Turkish position that the YPG and the PKK are the same organization. The Coalition recognizes the threat the PKK poses to Turkey, but Turkey cannot pursue that fight at the expense of our common fight against terrorists that threaten us all,” the coalition spokesperson said in an exclusive interview with ARA News. “We call on all countries in...

On Tuesday, Turkey bombed the headquarters of Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, killing 20 of our soldiers. Immediately after the strike, the leaders of our forces — known as the People’s Protection Groups, or YPG — rushed from their operations center near Raqqa, where they’ve been working with the U.S. military to push the Islamic State out of its Syrian stronghold, to view the site of the attack. The American colonel and other officers who accompanied the YPG leaders were met by tens of thousands of protesters, including the mothers of soldiers who have died fighting the Islamic State. They...

How many refugees has the US taken in the last year? And how many asylum seekers? Are they classed as the same? And where are they today? Most importantly, were adequate checks in place to ensure that not only do they have a valid claim, but also that there are no disqualifying factors? As you’d imagine, not only are there contradictory answers to all of these questions, but the information seems purposely obfuscated. President Trump has been calling for an overhaul of the vetting system for refugees (where either no adequate paperwork is available for asylum application, or there are...

U.S. forces have dropped what is known as the "mother of all bombs" in Afghanistan. The device is the largest non-nuclear device in the Air Force arsenal, Fox News' Jennifer Griffin reported. It was dropped in Nangarhar Province, an eastern area near the Pakistan border.

The US just released that the military and intelligence operatives had intercepted communications between the Syrian military and chemical experts discussing preparations for last weeks chemical-weapons attack in Syria. OK…I am not making a judgment on this yet. It is a new development, and it is one that we must give consideration.. If they have actual evidence of a recording of intercepted communcations in Syria speaking about the coming attack, it has to be taken seriously. The intelligence was part of a larger collection of information that was gathered shortly after the attack on the northwest city of Idlib that...

In a statement on Friday morning, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the US missile strike violated not only international, and added that the attack “was on the brink of military clashes with Russia.” “Instead of their much-publicized thesis about a joint fight with a common enemy, Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL], the Trump administration has proven that it will fiercely fight against the legal government of Syria,” Medvedev wrote on his Facebook page. Ealier in the day, the Kremlin released a statement according to which "President Putin views the U.S. strikes on Syria as aggression against a sovereign...

U.S., South Korea, Japan target North Korea submarine threats By Elizabeth Shim Contact the Author | April 3, 2017 at 1:32 PM April 3 (UPI) -- The United States, South Korea and Japan held a joint anti-submarine exercise aimed at deterring North Korea threats. The drill was held in response to Pyongyang's advancing submarine-launched ballistic missile program, South Korean newspaper Segye Ilbo reported Monday. The exercise marks the first time Japan has participated in joint drills in and around the peninsula, working with both U.S. and South Korea forces, according to the report. The United States and South Korea, on...

Every day, an estimated 8,000 girls worldwide are cut and marred in a process known as female genital mutilation, or FGM. But survivors and experts stress that this is not a faraway human rights violation. A portion of it is happening right here in the United States of America. “Not a day goes by where I am not contacted by a girl who has been cut in this country, or forced to visit another country to have it done,” Jaha Dukureh, an infant FGM survivor, activist and founder of the support and educational foundation Safe Hands for Girls, told Fox...

Politics and Governance are guided by many things: ideologies, practicalities, economics and often circumstance, but the one area with a proven track record of failure is decision making by spite. To retaliate against imagined slights is the mark of a man who cannot be trusted to run anything, let alone a 28 nation (soon to be 27) block. But the EU Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, seems to be living in his own private fantasy land of unassailable power. In a recent speech at the European People’s Party conference, he said: “Brexit isn’t the end, a lot of people would like...