Free Republic

Fmr. Commander of NATO, Gen. Wesley Clark says Turkey could do more to stop the flow of foreign fighters to ISIS.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Poland's new prime minister has broken with the practice of pro-European predecessors and has removed the EU flag from her weekly news conference. Beata Szydlo appeared Tuesday to brief reporters after the first working meeting with her Cabinet since the conservative Law and Justice party took power last week, and stood in front of Polish flags only. Asked about the change, Szydlo said that in these difficult times she is grateful that Poland belongs to NATO and the EU, but that government press briefings devoted to national matters will from now on take place "against the...

Turkey could cut off Islamic State’s supply lines. So why doesn’t it? David Graeber Last modified on Thursday 19 November 2015 12.04 EST Western leaders could destroy Islamic State by calling on Erdoğan to end his attacks on Kurdish forces in Syria and Turkey and allow them to fight Isis on the ground How could Isis be eliminated? In the region, everyone knows. All it would really take would be to unleash the largely Kurdish forces of the YPG (Democratic Union party) in Syria, and PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ party) guerillas in Iraq and Turkey. These are, currently, the main forces...

EU countries are lining up in opposition to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open door refugee policy with some countries closing their borders and others establishing strict border controls to try and slow the flood of refugees. Not Merkel. The German leader is defiantly standing by her policy despite the Paris attacks, even though her position is putting enormous strain on her government coalition.

What might have happened if a few of the 1,500 concert attendees in Paris' Bataclan theater had guns? The terrorists had time to kill, reload and kill again. The police unit didn't come for more than a half hour. If a few people in the theater were armed, might they have killed the killers? We'll never know. France's guns laws say you may not carry a gun unless police certify that you are "exposed to exceptional risks of harm" to your life. Few people even bother to apply. Fortunately, in America, laws in every state now allow adults to carry...

The explosives were reportedly found at Cairo airport Guards at Cairo airport apparently discovered the suspected bombs during security checks on two packages which were due to be stowed away on board a flight to America via London. But after a probe they discovered the packages contained no explosives, an Egyptian Interior Ministry source said. It was thought that the parcels, which weighed about 10kg, were flagged up after unusual objects were detected by an X-ray scanner. Egyptian news agency Aswat Masriya reported that the parcels, which contained printer ink cartridges, "appeared to be contaminated" and were set to be...

On the eve of what’s expected to be the most-traveled holiday for Americans in a decade, President Obama’s national security advisers told him Tuesday that there is no specific, credible threat from the Islamic State extremists who carried out the deadly attacks in Paris.Mr. Obama met with his national security council at the White House to discuss the response to the Paris killing spree on Nov. 13 and other attacks by the militants. The advisers told the president there is no known threat to the homeland from the extremist group, also known by the acronym ISIL.The president has been urging...

The Islamic State has likely radicalized thousands of people in the United States, according to a new report, raising concerns that supporters of the terrorist group could be plotting domestic attacks similar to the recent shootings and bombings in Paris.The Threat Knowledge Group, an organization led by the counterterrorism experts Sebastian and Katharine Gorka, has compiled a list of 82 individuals in the United States who were affiliated with the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) and apprehended by law enforcement officials, including those who traveled or attempted to travel to Iraq and Syria, launched domestic attacks, or...

Originally published by the Jerusalem Post. Since the Islamic State attacks in Paris on November 13, we have seen the development of a new, and strange justification for the Obama administration’s insistent refusal to jettison its manifestly failed strategy of contending with IS specifically and with Islamic terrorism generally.

Canadian journalist Ezra Levant visited Muslim neighborhoods in Paris to get a sense of public opinion there, finding that many blame Jews for the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorist attacks on November 13, which left 130 people dead.(video at link)As Levant notes, the Muslims he interviewed do not “have long beards or traditional clothing.”The first man he interviews owns a Turkish restaurant and insists the world cannot call ISIS Muslims.“I don’t know how we can define this war,” said the first man, when asked if the West can the war against terrorism. “Because it is international, it is not a fixed enemy. They...

Armradio - Armenian delegates have raised the issue of violation of the Armenian air space by Turkish helicopters on the sidelines of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's annual session held in Norway October 9-12. Member of the Armenian delegation Tevan Poghosyan has informed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the incident and addressed a letter to James Appathurai, the Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia and hopes to receive a response early in November. ... If NATO really values the inviolability of borders of its member states, it would be reasonable for the Alliance to serve an...

As the United States debates how to properly vet 10,000 Syrian refugees expected to resettle here, employees with Samaritan’s Purse are stationed on the frontlines in Greece, working to be a “face of compassion” for refugees fleeing war and terror. Ken Isaacs, vice president of programs and government relations for Samaritan’s Purse, spent a week in Greece, where the Christian organization has deployed employees and contractors to the region to assist scores of refugees flowing into the country, with hopes of continuing deeper into Europe. There, the group’s workers meet refugees arriving by rubber rafts on Greek islands and provide...

According to an Austrian publication, the parents of Samra Kesinovic have received bad news. Their daughter, who was radicalized in Vienna, ran away to join ISIS fighters in Syria when she was just 17. Her friend, Sabina Selimovic, was 15 when she disappeared. Both girls were the children of Bosnian refugees who had fled to Austria during the Chechen war. The two girls later appeared on social media, carrying Kalashnikov rifles and surrounded by armed ISIS militants. Their pictures were used as a recruitment tool for other young women who would also leave home to become ISIS brides. About a...

I posted a bit earlier on the panic the GOP Establishment finds itself in over the rise of Donald Trump and his apparent immunity from traditional laws of political behavior and consequences. They are becoming just as panicked about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100%. Now a Super Pac run by a major Rubio supporter is attacking Ted Cruz for his vote to rein in the data collection efforts by the NSA. Some conservatives have wondered whether Ted Cruz’s support for the USA Freedom Act, which curtailed the National Security Agency’s ability to collect metadata from phone records in bulk, would...

Matt Drudge: 'America has been arming ISIS'Rare tweet by media giant alludes to sinister Obama policy Matt Drudge’s first tweet in months came with a cryptic message: “America has been arming ISIS.” The Obama administration has been plagued for weeks over news U.S. weapons supplied to Syrian rebels were inadvertently winding up in the hands of terror groups. The media giant’s tweet on Tuesday alludes to something far more sinister. Major media outlets covered the ineptitude of Obama’s U.S.-trained rebels in early November, but there was no evidence he purposefully sent weapons to terror networks determined to attack America....

'Severe blow': Al Qaeda suicide bomber takes out leadership of key ISIS brigadeHAIFA, Israel – A recent suicide bombing in southern Syria shows the rivalry between Al Qaeda and ISIS is more than just a contest to see who can kill the most infidels -- the groups are using classic terror techniques on each other. The Nov. 15 bombing came at a top-level meeting of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, a key ISIS militia known for its bloody and vicious hold over parts of the Golan Heights. Six of the group’s top men were killed, including Muhammad "Abu Ali" al-Baridi,...

We are living through an actual horror movie from hell from which there is no waking up, and from which we cannot escape. Looking at what is going on in the world, one gets the eerie feeling that we are living an ugly genetic-cross between a Zombie Horror flic and a Body-Snatched horror-sci-fi film. Muslim Islamist-Zombies are murdering non-Muslims and Muslims as if they are in a zombie trance. And, President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry act as though Muslims murdering the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, Jews, and pretty much everybody else really isn’t a big deal, and actually has...

The developing crisis over Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane today (Nov. 24) worsened when Syrian opposition fighters shot down a Russian rescue helicopter searching for two airmen who parachuted out of the stricken jet.Turkish media reported that at least one and possibly both of the jet pilots are dead. If so, they may be the first western or Russian troops to die in the Syrian conflict. There was no word on the fate of some 10 crewmen said to be aboard the helicopter.Putin called the Turkish shooting of the jet “a stab in the back by accomplices of the terrorists.” He accused Turkey of aiding the...

President Obama concluded his formal remarks at a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday by saying that next week’s Global Climate Conference in Paris will be a “powerful rebuke” to terrorists such as the Islamic State.Appearing together in the White House East Room, Obama and Hollande each made a statement on the current state of the effort to counter the Islamic State before taking questions from the press.After expressing solidarity with France in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris carried out by Islamic State and discussing more broadly the campaign against the jihadist group,...

An American convert to Islam who became the center of a national firestorm two years ago when he claimed he was unfairly placed on a Department of Homeland Security no-fly list has reportedly been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of being part of an ISIS cell.PJ Media reported late Monday that Saadiq Long and seven others were arrested near the Turkey-Syria border on suspicion of being part of a terrorist cell. U.S. and Turkish officials confirmed the arrest, according to PJ Media’s Patrick Poole.Long, a 10-year U.S. Air Force veteran living in Qatar, gained international attention in 2012 when several...