Free Republic

As the United States gets closer to electing its 44th president, there is a keen sense of interest in Russia in the outcome of a most thrilling race for the White House, but also a palpable feeling of detachment about the possible implications for Russian-U.S. relations. There is a consensus that, after eight years of George W. Bush, America will enter a period of major foreign policy adjustment, but Russia will not be at the heart of it. No one seriously expects a magical transformation of U.S. foreign policy, but there is a hope that the state of world affairs...

Iran is trying to derail an agreement that would allow US and British troops to stay in Iraq after their mandate expires at the end of this year. In a move that has raised concern among senior Iraqi and US officials, Tehran is using its influence over its smaller neighbour to scupper a Status of Forces Agreement, which must be reached by January 1. After the deadline US and British troops would have no legal basis to remain and, in theory, would have to leave. This week President Ahmadinejad told a senior official from Baghdad that Iraq had a duty...

Stop what you are doing for a second. This is important. How important? Well it’s the most important thing EVER. As a country it is my contention that the United States is perched precariously on the edge of a great abyss. It is that same abyss from which the Anti-Christ will arrive. You see the great city of Babylon in the Bible, in my opinion, is the United States, and oh how the mighty have fallen. Senator Barack Obama has said a lot of things that are not true in this election, but one thing he has said that is...

The United States is preparing to hand control of Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace in Baghdad to the Iraqi Government in one of the most symbolic examples of the country's increasing sovereignty. Plans are also under way to turn over swaths of the green zone, which surrounds the palace, to the Iraqi authorities, with Iraqi forces expected to replace US troops at some checkpoints over the next year, according to sources inside the compound. The transition is part of a process in which the Iraqi Government has taken full responsibility for security in 11 out of 18 provinces as its police...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has shelved plans to set up a diplomatic outpost in Iran, in part over fears it could affect the U.S. presidential race or be interpreted as political meddling, The Associated Press has learned. The proposal to send U.S. diplomats to Tehran for the first time in three decades attracted great attention when it was first floated seriously over the summer but has now been placed on indefinite hold as November's election nears and Iran continues to defy demands to halt suspect nuclear activities, officials told the AP.

Here’s the news The Battle for Main Street, Hometown, U.S.A: Sept 29, 2008, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd committed an act of domestic, economic terrorism. Don’t wait for the claim of responsibility from their organization known as ALL SPENDA. Obama Bin Phonein will not call that in, he does not want us to get a fix on his position. We should expect the release of tapes demonstrating that Bin Phonein is still alive, it’s all Bush’s fault and that all American’s will pay dearly on April 15th 2009. The follow up attack of April 15th is being conducted under the...

Militants in Pakistan pose a threat to the country's existence, according the the American General, David Petraeus. Speaking in London after meeting the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, the commander of US Central Command said Pakistan had to deal with the problem. He went on to say he would help Pakistan make a a sustained commitment to deal with the militants. His comments come amid tension between the US and Islamabad over American attacks on militants inside Pakistan. 'Existential threat' US forces in Afghanistan have conducted a number of cross-border operations targeting militants based in neighbouring northwest Pakistan. The Pakistani...

More US Navy forces have been sent to surround a hijacked ship loaded with Russian-made tanks Extra destroyers and cruisers were deployed within 10 miles of the Ukrainian vessel Faina being held by Somali pirates because of "great concern" over the possibility of the tanks and other weapons aboard the ship falling "into the wrong hands," said a spokesman for the 5th Fleet. American helicopters were flying over the ship in the Indian Ocean after the pirates demanded 20 million dollars to release the ship and its cargo. The navy spokesman said the weapons had been bound for Sudan and...

BRITAIN is considering pulling out of a £9 billion project with America to produce the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft, intended to fly off the Royal Navy’s forthcoming aircraft carriers. The move is part of an increasingly desperate attempt to plug a £1.5 billion shortfall in the defence budget. The RAF’s 25 new Airbus A400 transport aircraft could also be at risk. Studies have now been commissioned to analyse whether Eurofighters could be adapted to fly off the carriers. If Britain abandons the JSF, it will be seen as a further snub to the Americans following Gordon Brown’s decision...

A US destroyer off the coast of Somalia closed in on a hijacked Ukrainian ship loaded with tanks and ammunition, watching it to ensure the pirates who seized it do not try to remove any cargo or crew. As the American ship moved in on the cargo vessel Faina, and a Russian missile frigate headed to the area, the seizure of another ship off Somalia's coast was announced by an international anti-piracy group. The Greek tanker with a crew of 19 is carrying refined petroleum from Europe to the Middle East. It was ambushed in the Gulf of Aden, said...

<p>An unconfirmed report just came in from AD reader Kubrickguy. Newman was battling cancer but must have lost the fight. Long live Paul Newman.</p>

A tie in the liberal media is a crushing defeat to dems and a HUGE victory for Republicans. I haven’t heard this in the media yet but it is something we all know: A tie in a debate between a liberal and a conservative is a crushing defeat to the Liberal Political Infrastructure. The media can control cameras, edit interviews, make fools of Republicans by posting pre-interview preparatory behaviors…. But they can’t fake truth. The democratic media are just short of using CGI in their disparaging journalistic endeavors. I expect a T-Rex to pop- up during Palin interviews and crush...

TOKYO - The Japanese government's November 30 decision to nationalize the insolvent Ashikaga banking group has surprised investors who had expected a Resona-style bailout - in which shareholders weren't forced to take a haircut for the mess. The move means that Ashikaga shareholders' capital will be wiped out, leaving them with nothing, and the government will take 100 percent of the equity in the regional lender. Since May 17 when the government decided, in bailing out Japan's fifth largest bank, not to compel shareholders to assume responsibility for the Resona debacle, some foreign hedge funds had picked up regional Japanese...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that Iran's military will ''break the hand'' of anyone targeting his country's nuclear facilities. The president spoke during a military parade displaying various types of Iranian-made missiles, including Shahab-3 and Ghadr. Also taking part in the parade was a military truck carrying a huge banner saying ''Israel should be eliminated from the universe'' in both English and Farsi. ''If anyone allows himself to commit even a tiny offense against Iran's legitimate interests, borders and sacred land, our armed forces will break his hand before he pulls the trigger,'' Ahmadinejad said...

A young filmmaker risks everything, including his life to tell his brothers' story. Often humorous, sometimes lethal, this embedding with four combat units in Iraq, gives him insight into his two soldier brothers, his family, and ultimately into his own character. Brothers At War Coming Soon To A Theater Near You http://brothersatwarmovie.com http://ie.youtube.com/BrothersAtWar

TEHRAN — Iran warned on Tuesday it will not respond to every adverse claim about its nuclear drive, after a damning report from the UN atomic watchdog left the global community divided about future action. Amid fears that one response might be a US or Israeli strike on Tehran's nuclear programme, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader warned again that Iran could bring oil shipments from the Gulf to a halt if attacked. "We are against offering the agency an open door once more and that they expect Iran to respond to any claim," said Alaeddin Borujerdi, head of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The destruction of a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor last year was the result of an intelligence collaboration that included a "foreign partner" who first identified the facility's purpose, CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said on Tuesday. The reactor at the desert outpost of Al-Kibar was flattened in an air strike on September 6, 2007 that senior U.S. intelligence officials have said was carried out by Israel on its own initiative. "Our foreign partnerships ... were critical to the final outcome," Hayden said in a speech for delivery to the World Affairs Council of Los Angeles. A U.S....

Macy's Inc. says it's investigating a complaint that Somali employees at its Southdale store in Edina received a letter prohibiting the speaking of Somali at work. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says it was contacted by six Somali-speaking employees of the Southdale Macy's who say they were warned that speaking Somali at work could warrant losing their jobs. According to CAIR-MN, the Macy's East document reads: "It is Macy East's policy that a common language is spoken during work -- therefore, effective immediately all associates must speak English while working -- It is a job...

While Russian arms sales are sliding, American weapons exports are surging. Russian expects to sell $6 billion worth of weapons this year. But Russia exported $8 billion worth of weapons last year, and there were hopes that sales might reach $10 billion this year. The sudden fall in Russian arms sales comes from problems with the two largest customers; China and India. Meanwhile, U.S. sales are currently about $32 billion a year. The United States and Russia have long been the largest exporters of weapons, accounting for about 70 percent of world sales over the last decade. Traditionally, the U.S....

After watching this documentary today I suddenly realized that the link from Barrack Obama to the members of this Terrorist group is as strong as ever. He has yet to this day to ever denounce their actions or address why he, the "One" has for friends a group of people who engaged in orgies (see vid) did massive amounts of drugs and DECLARED WAR ON AMERICA!!! (See Vid) Barrack Obama is NOT fit for public office. He is not fit to bag my groceries. Watch the video and become as disgusted and angry as I am. The audacity of Barrack...

WASHINGTON, - Five former U.S. secretaries of state said on Monday the next American administration should talk to Iran, a foe President George W. Bush has generally shunned as part of an "axis of evil." Engaging Iran is important because Washington's military options against Tehran are unsatisfactory, said the diplomats, who worked for Republican and Democratic administrations. The five -- Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher, James Baker and Henry Kissinger -- all said they favored talking to Iran as part of a strategy to stop Tehran's development of a nuclear weapons program. "Frankly the military options here are very...

WASHINGTON — The White House warned Iran Monday it faces possible new sanctions over its suspect nuclear program, but allowed that US-Russia tensions make seeking new UN action "slightly more complicated." "We are working to find out with our allies what the next course of action would be," spokeswoman Dana Perino said after the UN atomic watchdog reported it had been unable to make much progress in probing Tehran's nuclear drive. Asked what impact the bitter feud between Washington and Moscow would have on securing fresh action in the UN Security Council where Russia has a veto power, Perino replied:...

America and China are holding secret talks about their shared fear of instability in nuclear-armed North Korea amid reports that the country's diminutive bouffant-haired dictator Kim Jong-il suffered a serious stroke last month. The world's most unpredictable nation is thought to be heading for a succession crisis involving the three pillars of state - the Kim dynasty, the military and the Workers' Party. Veteran generals and party technocrats are expected to install one of Kim's sons or his brother-in-law as a figurehead for a collective leadership if the ailing 66-year-old "Dear Leader" is incapacitated or dies, US and South Korean...

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned the West today against starting an arms race in Europe by stationing a US missile defence shield near Russia's borders and said there was no basis for a new Cold War. Mr Putin, who has taken a robust stance on Russia's conflict with Georgia over the South Ossetia region, blamed Washington rather than Moscow for resurrecting Soviet-style rhetoric. "Today there are no ideological contradictions. There is no basis for a Cold War," Mr Putin told a group of reporters at a three-hour lunch briefing at his retreat in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. "There...

THE US is now in the "end game" in Iraq but must move cautiously in drawing down its forces there despite a growing insurgency in Afghanistan, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says. Mr Gates' top military adviser, Admiral Michael Mullen, said he was not convinced that "we're winning it" in Afghanistan and warned that "frankly, we're running out of time". Admiral Mullen said he had ordered the military to draw up a new strategy that encompasses insurgent safe havens in Pakistan. But Mr Gates said President George W. Bush's decision to draw down only 8000 of the 146,000 troops from...

The agreement, which would have seen an exchange of nuclear technology, was shelved due to "deep concerns about Russian behaviour," according to Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State. "We make this decision with regret," Miss Rice said in a statement. "Unfortunately, given the current environment, the time is not right for this agreement." The announcement came shortly after Russia said it was dispatching a nuclear cruiser and other warships and planes to the Caribbean for joint exercises with Venezuela. A spokesman for the Russian navy said the joint manoeuvres would take place in November under an agreement signed when...

THE US is to ramp up US forces in Afghanistan in a "mini-surge" but withdraw troops more from Iraq. In a speech to be delivered later today, President George W. Bush will announce one Marine battalion in November and an army brigade in January, for an estimated total of 4500 more troops in Afghanistan. "In November, a Marine battalion that was scheduled to deploy to Iraq will instead deploy to Afghanistan. It will be followed in January by an army combat brigade,'' Mr Bush said in prepared remarks released by the White House. He said he would bring home 8000...

MIDI - LONELY PEOPLE

In combative mood the US Vice-President stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the besieged Georgian President Dick Cheney delivered a bellicose warning to Russia yesterday during a brief visit to war-torn Georgia, promising that America's small Caucasus ally would one day join the Nato alliance . In combative mood, the US Vice-President stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Mikhail Saakashvili, the Georgian President, and bluntly reinforced Russia's worst fears — that Washington would not stop pushing for Georgian membership in Nato. He also attacked Moscow for trying to redraw the country's borders by force. “Georgia will be in our alliance,” he said, in defiance of the...

A US Navy flagship carrying humanitarian aid yesterday steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region. A previous trip by US warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand-off could intensify in the Black Sea port of Poti. The arrival of the USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, came as Moscow accused Dick Cheney, the hawkish US Vice-President, of stoking tensions during a visit to Tbilisi this week. After meeting President Saakashvili, Mr Cheney vowed...

A US warship anchored at the disputed Georgian port of Poti as Russia declared it would not challenge Nato vessels bringing relief to the beleaguered democracy through the Black Sea. The USS Whitney, flagship of America's Mediterranean Sixth Fleet, arrived in the port which was bombed and occupied by Russian forces during the incursion into Georgia last month. A small Russian detachment remains dug in on the outskirts of the town. America had previously aborted an attempt to dock the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul at the port, fearing an accidental clash with the Russians. Russia said it would not authorise...

WASHINGTON - The United States is likely to scrap a civilian nuclear pact with Russia soon as punishment for its war against Georgia last month, a U.S. official said on Thursday. While the U.S. government has announced plans to give U.S. ally Georgia over $1 billion in reconstruction aid, it has yet to hit Moscow with any concrete sanctions for the military incursion deep into Georgian territory last month. But the Bush administration is preparing to scuttle the civilian nuclear deal, which was intended to lift Cold War restrictions on trade and open up the U.S. nuclear market and Russia's...

A US navy flagship has steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region. A previous trip by American warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand off could erupt in the Black Sea port of Poti. The arrival of the USS Mount Whitney came as Moscow accused Dick Cheney, the hawkish US vice-president, of stoking tensions during a visit to Tbilisi yesterday, in which he vowed to bring Georgia into the Nato alliance. Russia sees any such move as a...

Biden quoted as saying that Israel will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was quoted Monday as telling senior Israeli officials behind closed doors that the Jewish state will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. In the unsourced report, Army Radio also quoted Biden as saying that he opposed "opening a additional military and diplomatic front."

The Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States of provoking a war in Georgia to improve Republican prospects in November's presidential election. In comments designed to inflame tensions between the two countries, Mr Putin told CNN: "The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US president." The White House dismissed Mr Putin's suggestion it had orchestrated the conflict as "not rational". Russia earlier forced to rebuff a French threat...

A new Cold War between Russia and the West grew steadily closer yesterday after the Kremlin gave a warning about “direct confrontation” between American and Russian warships in the Black Sea. Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, declared that Russia was taking “measures of precaution” against American and Nato naval ships. “Let’s hope we do not see any direct confrontation in that,” he said. Any attempt by countries in the West to isolate Russia would “definitely harm the economic interests of those states”, he said. A day after the Kremlin said that it was ready to...

Russian and US warships moved to within less than 200 miles of each other today as tensions over Georgia continued to rise between the two countries. A US coast guard ship docked at the a southern Georgian port prompting Russia to send a missile cruiser and two support vessels to another Georgian port. The manoeuvrings came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev officially recognised the two Georgian rebel territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. The US cutter Dallas, carrying 34 tons of humanitarian aid, arrived in the Black Sea port of Batumi, south of the zone...

BATUMI, Georgia - A U.S. military ship carrying humanitarian aid docked at the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi on Wednesday, avoiding the port of Poti, which is still controlled by Russian forces. The move came amid escalating tensions between Russia and Georgia's Western allies. Batumi, where the Coast Guard cutter Dallas docked, is well south of the zone of fighting in this month's war between Russia and Georgia. The United States and European nations have assailed Russia's recognition of two Georgian territories as separate nations Tuesday, and Moscow has also criticized the United States for bringing humanitarian aid into...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Syria's President Bashar Assad has publicly stepped up his outreach to old ally Russia in recent days, seeking aid to build up Syrian military forces and offering Moscow help in return — in an apparent effort to exploit a new Russian-American rift. U.S. officials have noticed: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Mideast leaders this week that they should worry about Syria's efforts to gain more sophisticated weapons. Syria's long-term aim, however, remains unclear, in part because Assad also continues to pursue peace efforts with Israel — a key U.S. and European goal — even as...

US President George W Bush has urged Russia not to recognise Georgia's two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. Mr Bush's comments came after Russia's parliament passed a non-binding motion calling on President Dmitry Medvedev to support the enclaves' independence bid. The US has said such recognition would be contrary to international law and has pledged to stand by Georgia. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war this month over the two provinces. Moscow launched a counter-attack after Tbilisi tried to retake South Ossetia from rebels by military force. The US and a number of Western...

The 'Redeem Team" does it, beating Spain in a close game tonight.

June 20 | Majority of Icelanders favor cancelling defense agreement with US Several |Icelandic news organizations report the results of a new poll conducted by Gallup and commissioned by Helgi Hjörvar, Member of Parliament for the Social Democrats. The poll asked participants if they were for or against cancelling the defense agreement with the US. 33.2 per cent were "strongly in favor" of cancelling the agreement, 20.6 per cent "moderately in favor"; 9.4 per cent were "strongly against" cancelling the agreement and 15.4 per cent " moderately against". Overall, 53.8 per cent were in favor of cancelling the defense agreement and 24.8...

BEIJING – Across the Chinese media, the story has hit saturation coverage. China, once mocked as “the weaklings of Asia,” is going to win what it calls the total medal count for the Beijing Games.

Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese Christian immigrant to the United States and author of an anti-Muslim tirade "They Must Be Stopped", is the latest example of a publishing phenomenon that digs up women from Middle Eastern backgrounds or Muslim countries who know how to wear cocktail dresses and uses them as mouthpieces for racist and xenophobic beliefs that don't get much of a hearing when spouted by angry white men.

A deal on missile defences angers Russia even though they may not work THE east Europeans have little reason to fear a strike from Iran. So why are they eagerly signing up to America’s system to intercept Iranian missiles? Because they are scared of Russia. Within days of Russia’s invasion of Georgia, Poland had agreed to host ten American interceptors. Ukraine offered to link up its early-warning radars and contribute to surveillance in space. The Czech Republic had already agreed to host the missile-tracking radar. “We have crossed the Rubicon,” said the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, as the deal...

Russia’s invasion of Georgia has unleashed a refugee crisis all over the country and especially in its capital. Every school here in Tbilisi is jammed with civilians who fled aerial bombardment and shootings by the Russian military—or massacres, looting, and arson by irregular Cossack paramilitary units swarming across the border. Russia has seized and effectively annexed two breakaway Georgian provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It has also invaded the region of Gori, which unlike them had been under Georgia’s control. Gori is in the center of the country, just an hour’s drive from Tbilisi; 90 percent of its citizens have...

WASHINGTON - The chaos in Georgia has forced the United States to halt a high-priority program that was helping the former Soviet republic to identify possible smugglers of nuclear bomb components across its borders, long considered a transit point for terrorists seeking to obtain weapons of mass destruction, according to US officials. A team from the US Nuclear Security Administration was providing Georgian authorities with radiation equipment and training at key border crossings and the Batumi airport on the country's Black Sea coast when Russia invaded two weeks ago. The advisers were forced to flee the country within days, according...

The United States has accused Russia of targeting civilians in its conflict with Georgia and said Moscow wants to strangle Tbilisi, the latest in a steadily escalating stream of criticism from Washington. "It's becoming more and more the outlaw in this conflict," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said of Russia in an interview with CBS Evening News yesterday. "They intend and probably still do intend to strangle Georgia and its economy," she told CBS in the interview in Brussels, where she attended a NATO meeting on the crisis. Ms Rice said Russia had used its overwhelming force to beat...

The Bush administration warned Russia today that it would fail in its "strategic objective" of redrawing Europe's post-cold war map by invading Georgia as 26 Nato countries declared there would be "no business as usual" with Moscow until it withdraws its forces from Georgia. An emergency meeting in Brussels of Nato foreign ministers voiced strong support for Georgia and agreed to establish new structures cementing Georgia's links with the west, but avoided speeding up moves to bring Georgia into Nato. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, accused Russian forces in Georgia of "bombing civilians and wanton destruction" and told...

The United States has been left diplomatically isolated after European members of NATO moved to reject an American proposal to scale back ties with Moscow following Russia's invasion of Georgia. US diplomats attending an emergency NATO summit in Brussels had called on the alliance to suspend ministerial meetings with Russia, held twice a year, as a way of demonstrating the West's disapproval of the war. But other members of the alliance, including Britain, rejected the plan, saying that it would be foolish to isolate Russia. Instead diplomats released their strongly-worded statement, stopping short of concrete action, at least for now....