Free Republic

Islamic nations’ leaders meeting in Indonesia Monday acknowledged the chaos wracking parts of the Muslim world, but said that should not move the spotlight away from “the central issue” for the world’s Muslim community: Palestine. A resolution endorsed at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) “extraordinary” summit on the Palestinian issue said the leaders were “aware of the tragic spread of crises” in the Islamic world, including armed conflicts and terrorism. “Nonetheless,” it said, that situation “should not divert international attention from the cause of Palestine and al-Quds al-Sharif [Jerusalem], which must remain the central issue of the Islamic ummah...

Days before North Korea's latest nuclear-bomb test, the Obama administration secretly agreed to talks to try to formally end the Korean War, dropping a longstanding condition that Pyongyang first take steps to curtail its nuclear arsenal. Instead the U.S. called for North Korea's atomic-weapons program to be simply part of the talks. Pyongyang declined the counter-proposal, according to U.S. officials familiar with the events. Its nuclear test on Jan. 6 ended the diplomatic gambit.

On February 26, the ayatollahs have scheduled two "elections" in Iran: one for the parliament and one for the Assembly of Experts, a body that is supposed to monitor the supreme leader and choose a replacement when the time comes. Some in the West tout this as the potential start of a new era of moderation. After all it is the first election since the conclusion of nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers. But the nuclear deal cannot be the only criteria by which the West determines the prospects for moderation in Iran. Equally or more important is...

The United States is coming under increasingly bitter criticism for its perceived lack of leadership over Syria as the country's brutal civil conflict heads toward new levels of intensity. Washington appears unable or unwilling to prevent its ally Turkey from bombing Kurdish fighters inside Syria, its critics say. And it has done little to rein in Russia's mounting military involvement on behalf of Bashar al-Assad. President Barack Obama, at a summit in California, said "this is not a contest between me and Putin." "The real question we should be asking is what is it that Russia thinks it gains if...

The commander of the Basij paramilitary force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, vowed that Tehran "will not make any compromises with our enemies in the Middle East." Speaking in a press conference in honor of the anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution, Naqdi emphasized that "the hundreds of Revolutionary Guards generals fighting in Syria will never repeat the mistake of the Shi'ite Caliph Hassan bin Ali who surrendered leadership of the Muslim world to Muawiyyah bin Abi Sufyan." Naqdi added that "it is impossible to compare Iran to Iran under the Shah's rule, since back then,...

Emboldened by its nuclear deal with the world powers, Iran is already seeking to enfold in its embracing wings the Arab and Islamic region. Iran's capacity for intrusions having been starved by years of sanctions. Now, with the lifting of sanctions, Tehran's appetite for encroachment has been newly whetted -- and its bull's-eye is the West Bank. Iran has, in fact, been meddling for many years in the internal affairs of the greater region. It has been party to the civil wars in Yemen and Syria, and, through the Shiite Muslims living there, continues actively to undermine the stability of...

Pentagon documents released on Tuesday indicate that the 2017 budget requests of the US Defense Department include a total of $145.8 million for Israeli missile defense programs, a sharp drop in financial support amid a standoff over American military aid. The aid, meant for Israel's missile interceptor programs including the short-range Iron Dome, medium-range David's Sling and Arrow ballistic missile interceptor, includes far lower figures than those recorded the year before in 2016, reports Reuters. A total of $103.8 million for Israeli cooperative programs was listed in the 2017 budget request, in a serious cut from $267.7 million in 2016....

A brutal ISIS torturer wasn't the only jihadist terrorist who traveled with former British MP George Galloway to Gaza, it has been revealed. According to a recent report, Alexander Kotey left the UK on Galloway's "Viva Palestina" convoy to Gaza in 2009, and from there eventually made his way to Syria to join the Islamic State terror group. [...] As many as eight Muslim extremists who would later be convicted of or involved in terrorist activities joined the convoy, according to The Times. Among them were Amin Addala and Reza Afsharzadegan, both known associates of Emwazi from west London; and...

Iran wants to recover tens of billions of dollars it is owed by India and other buyers of its oil in euros and is billing new crude sales in euros, too, looking to reduce its dependence on the U.S. dollar following last month's sanctions relief. A source at state-owned National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) told Reuters that Iran will charge in euros for its recently signed oil contracts with firms including French oil and gas major Total, Spanish refiner Cepsa and Litasco, the trading arm of Russia's Lukoil. "In our invoices we mention a clause that buyers of our oil...

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-06/merkel-says-eu-must-take-in-refugees-directly-from-turkey

Iran will continue to develop its missile program and it should not be considered a threat to neighboring and friendly countries, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted the head of the army as saying on Thursday. Under a deal reached between Iran and six major powers in 2015, most international sanctions imposed on Iran due to its nuclear program were lifted last month. However, sanctions imposed on its missile program were not lifted. According to a July 20 United Nations Security Council resolution endorsing the deal, Iran is still "called upon" to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to...

Communism sucks. Socialism does too. Ask the people who survived both systems. As Fidel came to power in 1959, how many Americans slid onto rafts to get into Cuba? Or took the last ship to Havana? I'll need actual names. Attention to all you college kids out there so starry-eyed for Bernie - are you serious? But you're young. Far and wide you've been educated by Liberal pro-BDS professors, so you're not expected to know too much except that the two most reliable beacons of tolerance and liberty, the United States and Israel, are on the wrong side of history....

Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the US commander in charge of the coalition fighting Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, said Monday that carpet bombing the terrorists would be "inconsistent with our values." The remark is seen as being aimed at Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). In December, Cruz pledged to "utterly destroy ISIS," and vowed: "We will carpet-bomb them into oblivion." He even hinted at the use of nuclear weapons, saying: "I don't know if sand can glow in the dark, but we're going to find out." After being asked to explain why carpet bombing would...

Iran's semi-official FARS news agency says that the country's navy has warned a U.S. warship to leave an area in the sea of Oman where Iran has been conducting a naval drill. [...] Iran on Wednesday began a naval drill near the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world oil supply passes. The warning was the first such incident since 10 U.S. sailors were briefly captured by Iran on Jan. 13 after drifting into Iranian territorial waters. ...

Hosni Kaliya pulls a cigarette out his pack with his mouth. When he poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire, most of his right hand was consumed by the flames and all that remains is a stump without fingers. He still has four fingers on his left hand, but they jut out like claws, burned, stiff and contorted. His fingernails are curled. He wears black wool gloves with the fingertips cut off, so that they won't dangle emptily. A knit cap protects Kaliya's head, where his hair was burned off, and his unusually small ears. But the...

Days after Iran received hundreds of billions of dollars in sanctions relief from the controversial nuclear deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday admitted a good portion of the massive funds will go to terror. Speaking at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Kerry spoke about the massive kickback Tehran is receiving after nuclear sanctions were lifted last weekend. "I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists," he acknowledged to CNBC. "You know, to...

The July 2015 agreement officially entered into force after key United Nations confirmation that Tehran has shrunk its atomic program, triggering the lifting of painful international sanctions on the Islamic republic. "The Iranian nuclear program will now for many years be subjected to strict technical restrictions and close monitoring," said Steinmeier, whose country was among the six world powers that negotiated the landmark deal with Tehran. ...

Germany's ambassador to the Vatican, Annette Schavan, still sees religion as a peacemaker, despite wars and terrorism. In an interview with DW, she calls for more interfaith dialogue and respect between all religions. [...] 'There are warmongers who embrace religion. But that does not mean that religion promotes war. Religion has the great power to bring peace. People are upset by the numerous attacks and wonder, "Should we equate these images of violence with Islam?" One gets the impression that Islam is part of the problem. But that's not true. It must become clear that it is part of the...

President Barack Obama says Americans long held in Iran will soon be reunited with their families and says "tireless" diplomacy made it possible. [...] Under the deal, the U.S. was pardoning or dropping charges against seven Iranians citizens accused or convicted of violating U.S. sanctions.Obama says the released Iranians weren't charged with terrorism. He says their release is "one-time gesture" to Iran. ...

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the official implementation Saturday of the landmark deal reached between Tehran and six world powers has satisfied all parties except radical extremists. Speaking in the parliament in comments broadcast live on state television, Rouhani said, "In (implementing) the deal, all are happy except Zionists, warmongers, sowers of discord among Islamic nations and extremists in the U.S. The rest are happy." ...