Free Republic

Sweden inched a step closer to joining NATO on Monday after Turkey’s president sent accession protocols to parliament. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted both Sweden and Finland to seek NATO membership but the former’s entry had been stymied by Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s sign off on the accession protocols comes after months of delays but it is unclear how long the process will take. Erdogan’s proposal must make its way out of a parliamentary commission and then be opened up for a general vote on the main floor of the assembly where the Turkish president and his allies...

The US government has formally declared that members of the Russian armed forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Wednesday. The official US declaration that Moscow has violated the laws of conflict comes after Blinken, President Joe Biden and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman all said it was their personal opinion that war crimes have taken place. "Today, I can announce that, based on information currently available, the US government assesses that members of Russia's forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine," Blinken said in a statement.

A push by the US State Department to include the phrase "Wuhan virus" in a joint statement with other Group of Seven members following a meeting of foreign ministers on coronavirus on Wednesday was rejected, resulting in separate statements and division in the group. "What the State Department has suggested is a red line," a European diplomat said. "You cannot agree with this branding of this virus and trying to communicate this."...Although the World Health Organization officially has dubbed the illness Covid-19 or coronavirus, a 12-paragraph draft statement circulated by the US among the G7 ministers referred to it as...

CNN reporter Jennifer Hansler attacked President Trump today for tweeting about an apparent terror attack in London while the investigation was still underway. However, CNN itself was reporting the incident as a terrorist attack before Trump tweeted. Further, UK authorities had indeed already announced that they were treating the incident as a terror attack. Wrote Hansler: In addition to declaring the incident a "terrorist attack" before officials in London, Trump said the perpetrators are "animals." Remarkably, Hansler's article acknowledges that the suspect had been arrested on suspicion of terrorist offenses. In her very first sentence, Hansler also links to another...