Free Republic

• "We have to realize that perhaps China isn't as strong as when we at first think. China is still figuring out also how to deal with this trade situation, how to ensure the stability of its domestic economy," said Curtis Chin, an Asia fellow at the Milken Institute. • Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box," Chin also "totally" disagreed with the view that U.S. President Donald Trump's policies are backfiring. China's power may have been overrated and the U.S. economy is staying strong, meaning that U.S. President Donald Trump has an advantage in the trade war, according to one expert....

Unlike the prior administration who was more than willing to give away America’s wealth and power, President Trump understands US economic power. And he is using the wealth and power of the United States to the country’s full advantage. President Trump knows that since the US is holding all of the aces it is time to use them and really start winning. The US economy is the world’s largest America’s economy is bigger than the combined economies of the rest of the G7. Our total annual output which will exceed $20 Trillion this year, is almost 25% of the world’s...

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier launched strong attack on Trump for his tariffs and sanctions. He told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that “this trade war is slowing down and destroying economic growth – and it creates new uncertainties.” Meanwhile, the agreement between the EU and US “can only be first step”. Altmaier emphasized “Our goal is a global trade order with lower tariffs, less protectionism and open markets.” Regarding US sanctions on Iran, Altmaier also pledged the Germany and EU will continue to support companies doing business with Iran. He warned that “we won’t let Washington dictate us with whom...

The Democrats Don’t Have a Foreign Policy, They Have A Trump Policy Not just treasonous, stupid. May 10, 2018 Daniel Greenfield Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism. Quick, what’s the Dem position on Syria? What about China? Don’t bother. There was once a time when Democrats could discuss Syria, North Korea, the South China Sea, economic tensions in the European Union and the future of Africa. But that was before Trump. Democrats don’t have a foreign policy anymore. They have a Trump...

Kurdish fighters vow to resist regime's crackdown as groups search for more united strategy amid sanctions on Tehran. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Sunday that they had killed “10 militants” in the Kurdish region of Iran. The same day the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) said they had engaged in “heavy clashes” with the IRGC near the city of Oshnavieh and had killed 12 “IRGC terrorists.” The battles come amidst a rise in tensions in Iran with US sanctions kicking in and after six months of protests in various parts of the country, including the Kurdish...

Debbys’ Awan, & Robs’ magnificent nine. Free… snipp HTTP://DAILYCALLER.COM/2018/06/04/WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ-AWAN-ISLAMOPHOBE/ WASSERMAN SCHULTZ SCREAMED AT HOUSE OFFICIALS TO KILL HACKING PROBE, INTERVENED IN PAKISTANI CRIMINAL MATTER // snipp // https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/iranian-mabna-hackers On February 7, 2018, a grand jury sitting in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, indicted nine (non DWS) Iranian nationals for their alleged involvement in computer intrusion, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft offenses. //snipp// State-Sponsored Cyber Theft Nine (non DWS)Iranians Charged in Massive Hacking Campaign on Behalf of Iran Government https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/nine-iranians-charged-in-hacking-scheme-032318

Washington (CNN)Iranian President Hassan Rouhani issued a challenge to President Donald Trump on Monday, saying the Islamic Republic would welcome talks with the US "right now." "I don't have preconditions. If the US government is willing, let's start right now," Rouhani said during an interview that aired on state television late Monday local time, just hours before the US renewed sanctions on Iran. "If there is sincerity, Iran has always welcomed dialogue and negotiations," Rouhani said. Trump's national security adviser John Bolton, when asked about the offer by CNN's Jake Tapper, dismissed it as possible "propaganda." "Let's see what really...

Reza Pahlavi is hated & feared by the Iranian regime, because he is very popular with the Iranian people & the regime view him as a huge threat. 2 days ago, Reza Pahlavi asked Iranians via social media, to use their local soccer match to show their disdain for the regime. He specifically asked Azeris, since as a whole they were not participating as much in the ongoing protests. Here is a video posted after that request: Thousands of soccer fans in Iranian province of Azerbaijan singing in praise of Reza Pahlavi in Turkish-Azeri language.

Iran test-fired a short-range anti-ship missile in the Strait of Hormuz during naval drills last week that Washington believes were aimed at sending a message as the United States reimposes sanctions on Tehran, a U.S. official said on Friday. The official, however, did not suggest that such a missile test was unusual during naval exercises or that it was carried out unsafely, noting it occurred in what could be described as Iranian territorial waters in the Strait. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed on Sunday it had held war games in the Gulf over the past several days, saying they were aimed...

Not long ago, Donald Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton was promising regime change in Iran by the end of this year. Uber-hawk Bolton has long wanted war with Tehran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo isn’t much different, and has even advocated bombing Iran. Secretary of Defense James Mattis has previously recommend U.S. airstrikes against Iranian targets. Today, Bolton says the U.S. does not to seek regime change in Iran. So does Pompeo. So does Mattis. Why? President Trump has been known to be hawkish on Iran. Politico observed Wednesday: “Trump has drawn praise from the right-wing establishment for hammering...

One of the instruments that the enemies use is creating discord among us. I insist that we stress and place great emphasis on this matter. Brothers, sisters, Muslims in the world of Islam, if this call reaches your ears, you should know that the day when the words “Sunni” and “Shia” appeared in the American discourse, we became concerned. Every insightful person became concerned. What does America have to do with Sunni and Shia? What does such and such a Jewish Zionist politician in America – who has done nothing except for showing malevolence against Islam and Muslims – have...

A top Iranian official has admitted for the first time that Iran knowingly helped al-Qaeda terrorists — including some of the 9/11 attackers — travel secretly through the Middle East. “Their movements [through Iran] were under the complete supervision of the Iranian intelligence,” Mohammad-Javad Larijani said in a recently surfaced interview. That was one of the main accusations leveled against Iran in the U.S. government’s 9/11 Commission Report, which named the nation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Larijani, the secretary of the Iranian judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights and a former diplomat, is a prominent member of the...

"Elements of the U.S. military are clearly aware that much of what the U.S. is doing in Yemen is aiding AQAP and there is much angst about that," said Michael Horton, a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a U.S. analysis group that tracks terrorism. "However, supporting the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against what the U.S. views as Iranian expansionism takes priority over battling AQAP and even stabilizing Yemen," Horton said.

Last September President Obama cited his drone program in Yemen as a successful model of US anti-terrorism strategy. He said that he would employ the Yemen model in his effort to "degrade and ultimately destroy" ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But just a week ago, the government in Yemen fell to a Shite militia movement thought to be friendly to Iran. The US embassy in Yemen's capitol was forced to evacuate personnel and shut down operations. If Yemen is any kind of model, it is a model of how badly US interventionism has failed. In 2011 the US turned against...

(Via CNN) No person accepted to the United States as a refugee, Syrian or otherwise, has been implicated in a major fatal terrorist attack since the Refugee Act of 1980 set up systematic procedures for accepting refugees into the United States, according to an analysis of terrorism immigration risks by the Cato Institute. Oh Really? No Refugees implicated in terrorism? Read on…

This is a jaw-dropping exhibition of the scope of President Trump’s strategic leverage. Remember how Secretary of State Rex Tillerson refused to take the bait from Senator Marco Rubio regarding Saudi Arabia? Put this outcome in the dividend column. Those who have not followed the back-story of non-extremist politics in the middle-east will miss the obvious play identified more readily by those who have followed closely. One of the major influences and advisers for King Salman of Saudi Arabia is Egyptian President Fattah Abdel el-Sisi. El-Sisi has already established a productive relationship with President Trump both before and after the...

For this week’s Big Ideas with Ben Weingarten podcast, I had historian, Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, former Special Advisor to the Secretary of State and consultant to the National Security Council during the Reagan administration, author of 38 books and most pertinent to today, Iran expert, Michael Ledeen on the podcast to discuss among other things: The impending collapse of the Khomeinist regime and what the U.S. can do to accelerate it The false narrative about alternatives for Iran being either appeasement or war The history of U.S. intelligence failures in Iran How secular...

Ongoing rocket sirens in southern Israel since 19:00 pm Wednesday. IDF spokesperson reports over 70 rockets launched during the evening, most of which landed in open territory and 11 of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. 15 Israelis have been injured from the rocket launches and many families are spending the night in the home shelters. Hamas in a statement: “We are delivering on our promise. The resistance accepted the responsibility to even the playing field with the enemy and it is succeeding in doing so.”

Iran’s oil exports dropped by 7 percent to 2.32 million bpd in July—their lowest level in four months—as South Korea and Europe are slashing imports ahead of the return of the U.S. sanctions on Tehran... Analysts expect Iran’s oil exports to drop more noticeably beginning in September, and the rate of decline to accelerate.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Tuesday he would reluctantly comply with renewed US sanctions on neighbouring Iran, but recalled his country's 12 years under international embargo... Iraq is the second-largest importer of Iranian non-hydrocarbon products, buying some $6 billion (5 billion euros) worth of goods from its eastern neighbour in 2017. It also buys in Iranian-generated electricity in efforts to deal with chronic power cuts that have been a key factor sparking mass protests in recent weeks... Iranian private companies recently cut off power supplies to Iraq's oil-rich coastal province of Basra over outstanding payments... The sanctions are expected...