Free Republic

Outgoing First Minister Alex Salmond has been compared to a Japanese soldier who believed World War II was still happening years after peace was declared. Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, made the remarks as he called on the SNP leader to accept the result of last month’s independence referendum. […] Mr. Salmond appeared to open the door to an early re-run of the vote last week, saying “circumstances obviously can change” and that a breach of the pre-referendum “vow” to Scotland could pave the way for another ballot. …

BEIJING — China dismissed Tuesday a British editorial accusing it of "hijacking" the U.N.-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen as baseless and politically motivated. British climate change minister Edward Miliband's editorial singled out Beijing as the culprit behind the talks' near collapse. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the piece seemed designed to sow discord among developing nations. She said the comments by an individual British politician — not mentioning Miliband by name — were an attempt to "shirk the obligations of developed countries to their developing counterparts and foment discord among developing countries, but the attempt was doomed to...