Free Republic

Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, said military aid to Israel should continue, through the war conduct report released by the State Department on Friday “raised concerns.” Cardin’s remarks on transferring military aid to Israel are different than that of the White House, as President Biden withheld sending over some bombs to the U.S. ally last week and said earlier this week the U.S. would stop supplying weapons like artillery shells and bombs if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) goes forward with a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, the city in the south of the Gaza...

Hamas needs to be understood as a criminal organization with whom negotiations are absurd, and swift action against, is the only reasonable response. Reuters reports that “Hamas says it will not compromise further with Israel to win Gaza ceasefire.” It’s just another headline about the heirs of Yassir Arafat; we know better than to take the statement seriously. Hamas will keep talking as long as they can, for obvious reasons. The people engaged in negotiations, at least, if not their foot-soldiers, are safe while they’re at the negotiating table. But there’s a different question that ought to be inspired by...

Barry Sternlicht, a prominent figure in the real estate industry as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, has sounded the alarm regarding the precarious state of regional and community banks across the United States. His apprehension stems from the challenges faced by these institutions amid the current economic landscape characterized by higher interest rates, increasing vacancies, and inflationary pressures. Sternlicht’s concerns point to a potential wave of bank failures, with implications for the broader financial system.

The Biden administration tried to argue Thursday that if Israel launched an ambitious attack on Hamas in Rafah, that would strengthen Hamas, improve Hamas’s leverage in hostage negotiations, and build popular support for Hamas. Israel launched a limited operation in Rafah this week, near the Egyptian border, as it prepares to take on the final four Hamas battalions in a town that is viewed as the last stronghold of the terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that an Israeli military campaign in Rafah would “actually weaken … Israel’s security.” He also said that the...

...we need to go back to when agriculture was inefficient. Good idea. There are too many proles anyway, right? Time to thin the herd. ... Climate change hysteria is a magic force in the hands of an elite that has been preaching deindustrialization and mass culling of human beings since the early 1960s. What was once a fringe movement led by the truly insane Club of Rome and Paul Ehrlich has gone mainstream, at least among the Leftists who are at the top of the social pyramid these days. The UN, WEF, IPCC, MSM, and of course the EU and...

During a portion of an interview with CNN set to air on Wednesday’s broadcast of “OutFront” that was aired on Wednesday’s broadcast of “The Situation Room,” President Joe Biden stated that if Israel goes into population centers in Rafah, “I’m not going to supply them the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem.” And that while Israel will still get supplies for the Iron Dome and to give them the “ability to respond to attacks” he has “made it clear to Bibi and the War Cabinet, they’re...

During an interview aired on Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” President Joe Biden stated that his promise to cut off transfers of bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they go into Rafah’s population centers is “not walking away from Israel’s security” but it is “walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas.” Biden also stated that “we’ve held up the weapons” by delaying a shipment of bombs to Israel even though Israel has “Not yet” crossed his red line by going into Rafah’s populated areas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing heat over its military support for Israel's war, the Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind formal verdict this week on whether the airstrikes on Gaza and restrictions on delivery of aid have violated international and U.S. laws designed to spare civilians from the worst horrors of war.A decision against close ally Israel would add to pressure on President Joe Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israel's military. The Democratic administration took one of the first steps in that direction in recent days, when it paused a shipment of 3,500 bombs...

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday at the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that the U.S. is withholding a shipment of weapons to Israel over concerns about its ongoing attack on Hamas in Rafah. Austin, while claiming that the Biden administration’s commitment to Israel’s security was “ironclad,” said that the U.S. had concerns about Israel’s potential use of large bombs in Rafah and had therefore paused a bomb shipment. “We’ve been very clear… from the very beginning that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace. And...

The ink was barely dry on President Biden’s signature transferring another $61 billion to the black hole called Ukraine, when the mainstream media broke the news that this was not the parting shot in a failed US policy. The elites have no intention of shutting down this gravy train, which transports wealth from the middle and working class to the wealthy and connected class. Reuters wrote right after the aid bill was passed that, “Ukraine’s $61 billion lifeline is not enough.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell went on the Sunday shows after the bill was passed to say that $61...

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, claimed on Tuesday his rogue regime is “broadening the battlefront” against Israel and America to hasten the collapse of both nations. Salami claimed that the existence of both America and Israel “is coming to an end” in the immediate future and that Iran needed the help of every Muslim nation on earth to eradicate free societies because “if the enemy manages to infiltrate into a Muslim state, it will go on with others.” According to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, Salami claimed that Iran – without specifying...

The US last week paused a bomb shipment for Israel over concerns it was going ahead with a major ground operation in Rafah, southern Gaza, a senior administration official says. The shipment consisted of 1,800 2,000lb (907kg) bombs and 1,700 500lb bombs, the official told CBS News, the BBC's media partner in the US. Israel has not "fully addressed" US concerns over humanitarian needs of civilians in Rafah, the official says. Israel made no immediate comment. Overnight, there were further Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, hours after Israeli forces backed by tanks took control of the key Rafah...

Turkish Foreign Minister: We must stop Israel. Either by peace or by force.

Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns is heading to Doha, Qatar, in a last-ditch effort to save talks on a potential hostage deal between Israel and Hamas after the terror group balked at Israel continuing the war against it.

US aid to Ukraine will help Ukraine launch counteroffensive in 2025, Sullivan says.

OPINION China’s recent outcry over the alleged breach of ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ with the Philippines reveals a profound irony, given the history of its coercion and deceit There is a huge amount of insincerity and gall involved in the Chinese complaint that the Philippines had torn up the bilateral ‘Gentleman’s Agreement,’ between Beijing and Manila. While the term ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ has an implicit assumption of ‘trust’ as a fundamental tenet besting a relationship, which may otherwise not be legally binding -- to even imagine that there has been any element of ‘trust’ between these two sparing countries, is to put oneself...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video statement on Sunday insisting that Israel will not agree to Hamas’s demand that it end the war as a condition of a deal to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. “Israel has been, and still is, ready for a pause in the fighting in order to free our hostages,” he said. “[But] Israel will not agree to Hamas’s demands, which would mean surrender; it will continue fighting until all of its objectives are achieved.”

HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed Bill 7, declaring the City and County of Honolulu a “Purple Heart City” to honor recipients of the Purple Heart. The bill was passed on April 17 and was signed on Friday. According to the City and County of Honolulu, those who were injured, wounded, or died in the line of duty receive the Purple Heart for their bravery and sacrifice. “I’m just really grateful to all of you, not only for your service and what you represent but for having the opportunity to become a Purple Heart City and all that...

In Ukraine, the Russians are slowly grinding down the Ukrainian army and there is the prospect of a major Ukrainian collapse and/or a major Russian offensive. Signs of collapse are evident due to manpower/materiel shortages but no one can say for sure when these things will happen. Another event many are expecting is an attack on the Kerch Bridge, which even I, the arch optimist, am expecting to happen sooner or later… … May Day - Trophy Exhibition Opens in Moscow Workers all over the world have been celebrating May day and Russia marked it be opening an exhibition of...

“The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs says that a large-scale European war is not a fantasy, and the Poles are already saying that there is no diplomatic solution to the war,” the Prime Minister noted on the program, adding that “Europe is playing with fire, we are on the frontier between peace and war.” As Hirado.hu reports, the Prime Minister recalled that once in 1999, our country managed to stay out of war, when an attempt was made to involve us in the southern Slavic conflict against the Serbs, which would have ruined Serbian-Hungarian relations and the...