Free Republic

Geopolitics: With America hit by a financial crisis, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez now sees a weak U.S. and is pushing to accelerate Russia's foothold in the Caribbean. Russia's with him. Will the next U.S. president be ready?For Chavez, America's meltdown is a golden opportunity to strike at the U.S. by introducing Russian power into the hemisphere. Wasting no time, he barreled over to Russia in a hasty trip last week, saying bilateral cooperation on weapons sales would speed forward. He made no secret of exploiting U.S. difficulties. "We are facing a new geopolitical dynamic and for that reason we are moving...

"No incursion will be tolerated anymore," said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, chief military spokesman. The prospect of the ALLIES fighting each other as they hunt down Islamist militants still appears remote, given the Pakistani government's desire to receive billions of dollars in aid from the U.S. But the repeated warnings against U.S. troop raids reflect the strong anger felt among Pakistan's senior ranks that the U.S. is overstepping its bounds with a close ally.

Saudi Arabia walked out on OPEC yesterday, saying it would not honor the cartel's production cut. It was tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran. As the world's largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home. As the Saudis left the building, the message was shockingly clear. “Saudi Arabia will meet the market’s demand,” a senior OPEC delegate told the New York Times. “We will see what the market requires and we will not leave a customer without oil."

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said any Israeli attack on Lebanon depended on the Iranian nuclear issue and the Israel-Syria talks, in an interview with Iran's state-run television on Monday. "I can not say when Israel is going to attack Lebanon, if it is going to be soon or not. It depends on the region's events and circumstances," said Nasrallah, whose Lebanese Shiite group is backed by Damascus and Tehran. "On the one hand it depends on Iran's nuclear case, and on the other hand it depends on the indirect talks between Syria and Israel," he added. He was referring to...

The presidents of Armenia and Turkey pledged Saturday to overcome decades of enmity between their two nations during the first visit to Yerevan by a Turkish head of state. Abdullah Gul held talks with Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian after which the two agreed there was now the "political will" to improve relations frozen for decades by lingering bitterness over 1915-1917 massacres. Gul's visit was hailed by French and EU President Nicolas Sarkozy as "courageous and historic" at a time when the Caucasus region is in turmoil following the conflict in Armenia's northern neighbour Georgia. The two countries -- which have...

MOSCOW, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia is mobilizing commando units near its border with South Ossetia, a senior Russian military official said on Tuesday. Russia officially recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states on August 26, saying the move was needed to protect the regions after Georgia's August 8 attack on South Ossetia. "According to our information, Georgian security forces are trying to restore their [military] presence in Georgian populated villages in South Ossetia. With this aim, Georgia is mobilizing its special forces from the interior and defense ministries near the administrative border with South Ossetia," Col. Gen....

Further escalating the crisis in the Caucasus, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia yesterday; their annexation by Russia is likely to follow shortly. Russian promises to withdraw troops to pre-conflict positions ring increasingly hollow. Russian officials have threatened to use nuclear weapons against Poland and Ukraine. All signs point to the Kremlin's decision to launch a new Cold War. The free world's response has been feeble. Western spokesmen have warned that Russia's aggression will hurt its international "standing." NATO has suspended formal dialogue, and Russia may be blocked from entering the World Trade Organization....

The secrets of the crushing of Yugoslavia are emerging, telling us more about how the modern world is policed. The former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte, this year published her memoir, The Hunt: Me and War Criminals. Largely ignored in Britain, the book reveals unpalatable truths about the West's intervention in Kosovo, which has echoes in the Caucasus. The tribunal was set up and bankrolled principally by the United States. Del Ponte's role was to investigate the crimes committed as Yugoslavia was dismembered in the 1990s. She insisted that this...

Russia moves SS-21 missiles into Georgia: US defense official 24 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AFP) — Russia has moved short-range SS-21 missiles into South Ossetia, possibly putting the Georgian capital Tbilisi in range, a US defense official said Monday. The development came amid other signs that Russia was adding ground troops and equipment to its force in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, strengthening its hold over the breakaway regions, officials said. "We are seeing evidence of SS-21 missiles in South Ossetia," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said the short-range missiles should be capable of targeting Tbilisi. "We're...

PARIS (AFP) – The Dalai Lama accused China on Wednesday of pursuing a crackdown in Tibet in spite of the Olympic Games, French lawmakers said following talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. Asked during a private meeting at the Paris Senate whether China was respecting the "Olympic truce", the Dalai Lama's "answer was very clear: no," said former French justice minister Robert Badinter. "While the Games are taking place, the oppression of the Tibetan people and repression continue," said the opposition lawmaker, who oversaw the abolition of the death penalty in France. The 73-year-old Buddhist leader, who arrived on...

Britain’s Sunday Times reports that Brig.-Gen. Muhammad Suleiman, the key aide to Syrian president Bashar Assad who was assassinated last August 2, had been the one supplying Hezbollah with Russian-made SA-8 anti-aircraft missiles that threatened Israel’s air supremacy over Lebanon. The Times cites the London-based Saudi paper Al-Sharq al-Awsat as saying Suleiman was “senior even to the defense minister” and “knew everything.” He had been Bashar Assad’s personal mentor since 1994, and after becoming prime minister in 2000 Assad appointed Suleiman as his operations officer with responsibility for protecting the regime. The Times notes that Suleiman “was killed by a...

TEHRAN, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran has launched a production line for superior "Quick Reaction" tanks as part of the country's campaign for self-sufficiency in defense, Iran's English-language Press TV said on Monday. Iran has successfully started the production of a "Quick Reaction" tank named "Tosan", Head of the self-sufficiency unit of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) ground forces, Colonel Nasser Arab-Beigi was quoted as saying. "Military equipment needs to be upgraded in accordance with the latest developments in global technology," said Arab-Beigi, adding that the current situation calls for a significant enhancement of the country's defense capacity. The...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan should be prepared to shoot down ballistic missiles bound for the United States although this would relax its self-imposed ban on collective self-defense, or aiding an ally under attack, government advisers said on Friday. North Korea, which launched a Taepodong ballistic missile in 1998 that overflew Japan, is believed to have missiles capable of reaching the United States, Japan's closest security ally. Washington has made clear it would welcome an end to the collective self-defense ban. "There was overall consensus that it is absurd to have a legal system where Japan can't do anything," said Shinichi...

FIFTEEN British sailors and marines arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards off the coast of Iraq may be charged with spying. A website run by associates of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, reported last night that the Britons would be put before a court and indicted. Referring to them as “insurgents”, the site concluded: “If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that is proven, they can expect a very serious penalty since according to Iranian law, espionage is one of the most serious offences.” The warning followed claims by Iranian officials...

The United Nations appealed to European countries Friday to contribute to an expanded peacekeeping force in Lebanon that would have a balance of European and Muslim troops so that Israel and Lebanon will view it as legitimate. Italy endorsed sending troops to Lebanon but did not commit itself to specific numbers. Finland decided to send up to 250 peacekeepers to Lebanon, but said they would not be deployed until November..... Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said the news was promising but more European soldiers are needed for a vanguard force of 3,500 troops that the U.N. wants on the ground...

UN force put in doubt as French reveal militia fear From Charles Bremner in Paris PLANS for a 15,000-strong United Nations force in Lebanon were cast into doubt yesterday when France demanded guarantees that Hezbollah forces would first be disarmed and Germany said it would not send combat troops. President Chirac’s office announced that France would add immediately 200 troops to its contingent of 200 serving with the existing UN force in south Lebanon (Unifil), which France commands. The statement, after a telephone conversation between M Chirac and Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, dismayed UN officials, who had hoped...

Click on the link to see why so many people in Russia are smiling ! Good ol'Hugo just ordered some toys. http://insidestraight.typepad.com/the_inside_straight/2006/07/hugo_chavez_whe.html

TEHRAN, July 29 — These should be heady days for Iran’s leaders. Hezbollah, widely regarded as its proxy force in Lebanon, continues to rain down rockets on Israel despite 17 days of punishing airstrikes. Hezbollah’s leader is a hero of the Arab world, and Iran is basking in the reflected glory. Yet this capital is unusually tense. Officials, former officials and analysts say that it is too dangerous even to discuss the crisis. In newspapers, the slightest questioning of support for Hezbollah has been attacked as unpatriotic, pro-Zionist and anti-Islamic. As the war in Lebanon grinds on, Iranian officials cannot...

In a remarkable week, nothing was more remarkable than the following announcement (reported, but not sufficiently, by the American media) from the government of Saudi Arabia: "Viewing with deep concern the bloody, painful events currently taking place in Palestine and Lebanon, the Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] would like to clearly announce that a difference should be drawn between legitimate resistance and uncalculated adventures carried out by elements inside [Lebanon] and those behind them [i.e. Iran and Syria] without consultation with the legitimate authority in their state and without consultation or coordination with Arab countries, thus creating a gravely dangerous situation...

S Korea suspends North food aid Pyongyang tested seven missiles South Korea is to suspend food aid to the North because of its controversial missile tests, reports said. Shipments of rice and fertiliser would be shelved until the missile "problem" was resolved, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a top official as saying. The move came as Japan presented the UN Security Council with a binding draft resolution calling for sanctions against North Korea. Pyongyang has threatened more launches if it is subjected to foreign pressure. The resolution, which urges North Korea to immediately stop developing, deploying and testing ballistic...