Free Republic

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Monday for an immediate embargo on Iran's energy sector, saying the U.N. Security Council should be sidestepped if it cannot agree on the move.

Today in Iran protesters for democracy are filling the streets on the 31st Anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. The tyrannical Iranian regime is continuing with their policy of using intimidation and brutality to quash the protests. Helping the totalitarian government with their violence and abuse is Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens. Despite an embargo of selling such products to Iran, the company has sold a "big brother-like" spy system to Ahmadinejad's nut house. A spokesman for NSN said the servers were sold for "lawful intercept functionality," a technical...

It's too soon for Americans to plan a Cuban vacation of beach, mambo and mojitos, but the U.S. travel industry is gearing up for a return to its largest Caribbean destination before Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Tour operators held a video conference with Cuban tourism officials in Havana on Wednesday and asked them if they are ready for the "rush" of Americans if the U.S. travel ban is lifted as proposed by legislation now under consideration in the U.S. Congress. "Americans really want to see Cuba," said Robert Whitely, president of the U.S. Tour Operators, which together with the National...

Last week a Department of State retiree and his wife were arrested and charged with spying for Cuba for thirty years. In this article I will sort out what we know, don't know and need to explore about this matter. Walter Kendall Myers, Jr .and his wife Gwendolyn Steingarber Myers

SNIPS Two months ago, the Obama administration acted to relax a trade embargo imposed on the island nation in 1962. A senior State Department official described the potential for damage as great and the timing unfortunate, noting that it could affect congressional support for the administration's recent attempts to engage Cuba. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation. Cuba is notorious for not paying its agents, said a former intelligence official speaking anonymously because of the highly sensitive matter. Indeed, court documents indicate the couple received little money for their efforts, but instead professed a...

China’s Threat Revives Race for Rare Minerals By KEITH BRADSHER HONG KONG — A Chinese threat to halt exports of rare minerals — vital for high-performance electric motors in wind turbines, hybrid cars and missiles — appears to have backfired. With control of more than 99 percent of the world’s production of these minerals, China could try to use a ban to force other countries to buy the crucial motors for these high-tech end products, instead of just the minerals, directly from China. But other governments and businesses reacted quickly as word of the proposed ban spread late this summer....

NEW YORK (CNN) — The United Arab Emirates seized a ship carrying banned arms from North Korea to Iran, diplomats told CNN Friday. The incident occurred in early August and was reported to the U.N. Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions committee, Western diplomats at the United Nations said. The diplomats did not disclose which country owned the vessel. It also was not immediately clear whether this was the first time such an incident had happened, or only the first time such a case had been revealed. A U.N. resolution passed in July imposes an embargo on the shipment of arms...

The Obama team has lifted a ban on the sale of some high-tech equipment to Syria. A recognized state sponsor of terrorism. WSJ reports: "The Obama administration has told Syria that it will work to ease U.S. sanctions against Damascus, as Washington intensifies its pursuit of détente with a longtime Middle East rival." [As Obama intensifies his efforts to legitimize a dictatorial state sponsor of terrorism, having just recently decided to return a U.S. ambassador] "The U.S. decision targets spare aircraft parts, information-technology products and telecommunications equipment, sales of which have been restricted by U.S. sanctions on Syria enacted in...

(IsraelNN.com) The United States has alerted Syrian diplomats that America has decided to lift various embargos against Syria, with more suspensions of embargos on the way. Dr. Imad Mustafa, Syria's ambassador to Washington, told Syrian television Sunday that U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama has suspended several articles of the U.S. sanction against Syria, with more suspensions to come, according to Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

The 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba has been shaken by the revelation that drilling for oil and natural gas is about to take place less than 50 miles off the U.S. coast - in Cuban waters. No one knows for sure just how much oil lies off the northwest coast of Cuba, but the consensus is that it's sizable. The U.S. Geological Survey initially came up with an estimate in 2004 of between 5 billion barrels and 10 billion barrels. But Cuba's state oil company, Cubapetroleo, recently said the undersea geology was "very similar" to Mexico's giant Cantarell oil field...

Back in April, Eli Lake of the Wash Times times Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens broke the Iran embargo to sell a "big brother-like" spy system to Ahmadinejad's nut house: A spokesman for NSN said the servers were sold for "lawful intercept functionality," a technical term used by the cell-phone industry to refer to law enforcement's ability to tap phones, read e-mails and monitor electronic data on communications networks. This sale has allowed the oppressive Iranian regime to build a monitoring center that can archive intercepts and provide...

You would think with all of the embargoes that the US government has on doing buisness with Iran and its crazy President Ahmadinejad , that it would be pretty difficult for companies that do buisness with the United States to sell systems to the terrorist regime that would enable it squash dissidents. Of course if you thought that, "you would think..." wrong. Back in April, Eli Lake of the Wash Times times Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens have sold a "big brother-like" spy system to Ahmadinejad's nut house:

The DUmmies are really pissed off at Joe Biden. Why? Because he stated that the U.S. government will NOT end the Cuban embargo as you can see in this DUmmie THREAD, "Biden says U.S. does not plan to lift Cuba embargo." Some of the DUmmies are even saying that is not really what Biden means and you have to microanalyze the word he used, "No." Of course, what the DUmmies need to realize is that all of the Obama administration promises have an expiration date. In the meantime the DUmmies remain angry as you can see so let us...

Biden says U.S. does not plan to lift Cuba embargo Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:11pm EDT VINA DEL MAR, Chile (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday the United States would not lift the country's embargo on Cuba. "No," Biden told reporters

I have long felt that the embargo against Cuba should end. I think the arguments against ending the embargo have become slogans over the years. The only reason we still have the embargo is that Cuban-Americans in Florida want it. And they vote. And politicians from both parties want that vote. We don't have embargoes against Russia or China. But then Russian-Americans and Chinese-Americans don't have similar sway with the politicians the way Cuban-Americans do. I think we should allow our business people access to Cuba.

President Obama's decision this week to ease some parts of the embargo against Cuba is being hailed as a first step toward altering a U.S. policy that has prevailed for a half-century without unseating Fidel Castro. We don't object, though it'd be nice if Mr. Obama also began speaking up against the Castro dictatorship. Mr. Obama's changes are partly a humanitarian response to Cuban hardship. They might even expose the regime's phony claim that the Yankee "bloqueo," or embargo, is the cause of Cuba's misery. But let's not expect too much. Embargo or not, Cuba will remain an island prison...

IN another outreach to rogu ish regimes, the Obama ad ministration on Monday an nounced the easing of some restrictions on Cuba. Team Bam hopes that a new face in the White House will heal old wounds. Fat chance. Sure, it's fine to allow separated families to see each other more than once every three years -- even though Cubanos aren't allowed to visit America. And permitting gifts to Cuban relatives could ease unnecessary poverty -- even though the regime will siphon off an estimated 20 percent of the money sent there. In the end, though, it's still Fidel Castro...

The Castro regime is one of the most brutal, ruthless and amoral regimes of our time. While little mention of it is offered by the world media, due to their soft spot for murderers and thugs everywhere, the cruelty it embodies is no less true. After all, the only time the media sees fit to heap scorn on anyone is when conservatives enact policies that defend innocents against terror or brutality. If the Castro regime were still in its glory days, lifting any part of the embargo would still be ill advised and an act of acquiescence to evil. But...

The U.S. policy of shunning communist Cuba by imposing a strict trade embargo has failed to prod the island nation toward democracy and should be re-evaluated, according to the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "We must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuban regime in a way that enhances U.S. interests," wrote Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., in a report dated Monday. President Barack Obama has promised a fresh look at the U.S. policy. He says he would be open to meeting with Castro, who took over as Cuba's president for his ailing...

HAVANA, September 17 —In less than 24 hours more than 1,000 intellectuals from Latin America, the United States, Europe and Africa have signed an appeal circulated by their Cuban colleagues, expressing solidarity and demanding an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba. The message, which is circulating on the Internet, notes that Cuba was dramatically impacted by two powerful hurricanes recently, and that its people are demanding an immediate halt to the odious blockade that has been maintained against Cuba by successive U.S. administrations for almost 50 years. The appeal to the world from a large group of Cuban artists...