Free Republic

<p>French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Friday what he called “Islamic separatism” in his country and those who seek French citizenship without accepting France’s “right to commit blasphemy.”</p> <p>Macron defended satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that helped inspire two French-born Islamic extremists to mount a deadly January 2015 attack on the paper's newsroom.</p>

Oval Office11:35 A.M. EDTPRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay, well, thank you very much. This is a truly historic day — a very, very important day, especially in a beautiful part of the world. I’m pleased to announce a truly historic commitment: Serbia and Kosovo have each committed to economic normalization. Very expect — very important term. They’ve been working on this for many, many years — decades, actually.After a violent and tragic history, and years of failed negotiations, my administration proposed a new way of bridging the divide. By focusing on job creation and economic growth, the two countries were able to...

Today, I am pleased to announce yet another historic commitment. Serbia and Kosovo have each committed to economic normalization. After a violent and tragic history and years of failed negotiations, my Administration proposed a new way of bridging the divide. By focusing on job creation and economic growth, the two countries were able to reach a real breakthrough on economic cooperation across a broad range of issues. We have also made additional progress on reaching peace in the Middle East. Kosovo and Israel have agreed to normalization of ties and the establishment of diplomatic relations. Serbia has committed to opening...

President Trump on Friday oversaw an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo that normalizes economic relations between the two countries, and that also includes Kosovo recognizing Israel and Serbia moving its embassy to Jerusalem. The Belgrade-Pristina deal was then signed by their two leaders in front of Trump in the Oval Office. “Truly, it is historic,” Trump said. “I look forward to going to both countries in the not too distant future.”

The European Union stepped up threats of more sanctions against Turkey over its energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean in a bid to address demands by Greece and Cyprus. EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell said he would begin compiling a list of possible penalties that would be directed at individuals, but which could be expanded to include assets, ships as well as restricting Turkish access to European ports and supplies. Such measures may be discussed at a meeting of the bloc’s leaders next month if there isn’t diplomatic progress.

AN UNPRECEDENTED EU crisis looms as tensions between the Brussels bloc and Turkey escalate along its border, as Greece warns it will do "whatever is necessary" to defend itself from Ankara. Earlier this week, Athens vowed to defend its rights against "any type of threat" after Turkey confirmed plans to send oil-and-gas research vessels to the Eastern Mediterranean. Greek armed forces are officially on 'high alert' and are monitoring Turkish movements in the region. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday gave his backing to Greece in the dispute. Mr Macron called for sanctions against Turkey, adding he will soon call...

The UK will not join other European countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland in halting selling arms to Turkey after its invasion in Syria, the Independent reports. The UK was initially also against an EU condemnation of Turkey's military attack, but later agreed to the EU's unanimous position. Because of the UK's refusal to a European arms ban, the EU agreed on stopping arms sales unilaterally.

European officials are hoping Donald Trump’s surprise expression of support for the Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar can be reversed amid division in Washington over US policy on the north African country. A clarification of US policy is considered necessary in order to build an international consensus condemning the attack on Tripoli that has claimed nearly 300 lives and injured more than 1,000, including migrants trapped in detention centres, since it began this month. Haftar is seen by Britain and the UN as the immediate aggressor in the conflict. Diplomats were surprised last week when an official White House readout of...

A court case in Paris began on September 2, 2020 to render justice concerning a series of terrorist attacks in recent French history. The case is occurring after five years of investigation and delay, partly due to COVID-19, which caused the closing of most French courthouses, with the trial of 14 suspects, three in absentia, accused of being connected with those responsible for the terror attacks on the satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo in central Paris and following events — the attack on a kosher supermarket, Hypercacher, in east Paris and other sites for three days beginning on January 7,...

The normalization agreement between the UAE and Israel has effectively ended the racist BDS movement. A Palestinian man walks by a grafitti sign calling to boycott Israel seen on a street in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on February 11, 2015. (photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90) With the recent developments between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, it’s become clearer than ever that there’s no future for the discriminatory and racist Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. From its inception, the movement was rooted in a desire to destroy the State of Israel as we know it. While cleverly presenting itself...

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded on Saturday to Turkey’s Vice President who threatened Greece with war if it expands it’s territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Aegean. “Turkey’s unprecedented belief that it can threaten neighboring countries with the use of force when they exercise their legal rights is contrary to contemporary political culture and also the fundamental provisions of international law,” the foreign ministry said in an announcement. Athens was responding to Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay who, in an interview with the state-run Anadolu Agency, asked himself the rhetorical question: “If Athens’ attempts to expand its...

The leaders of the coup that ousted Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita spent most of the year training in Russia before returning to boot out the democratically-elected leader at gunpoint, according to sources in the Malian military. The rebels took control of Mali's largest military base in Kati, just outside the capital, Bamako, on Tuesday before storming Keita's official residence, seizing the president and forcing him to resign as leader of the West African nation. Numerous media outlets, including the BBC, immediately reported that the coup was led by Malick Diaw and Sadio Camara, two army colonels who hold top...

While Israelis have been celebrating the new potential ties with the United Arab Emirates, the Turkish ruling party is angling across the Mediterranean in Istanbul to become a much larger challenge to the Jewish state in the coming years. Ankara’s current regime under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been increasingly hostile to Israel for the last decade, comparing the country to Nazi Germany and vowing to “liberate” Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Now reports indicate that intelligence and military assessments in Israel see Ankara as a challenge and threat. A recent article in The Times noted that Mossad head Yossi Cohen...

Col. Assimi Goita, who emerged Thursday as the head of the junta in power, worked for years with U.S. Special Operations forces focused on fighting extremism in West Africa. He spoke regularly with U.S. troops and attended U.S.-led training exercises, said officers from both countries, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Goita, who also received training from Germany and France, according to the officers, headed Mali's special forces unit in the country's restive central region, where fighters linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have established a stronghold that...

With one stroke of a pen, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- nationalist, conservative world leaders much-maligned by our sclerotic global elites as bigoted warmongers -- did more last week to advance durable peace in the Middle East than did generations of Washington's failed "peace process," "two-stater" professional classes. Peace between Israel and the oil-rich Gulf state, the United Arab Emirates, represents a profoundly impactful act of statesmanship and reifies an ascendant, transformative paradigm. In a just world (which we do not presently inhabit), the Norwegian Nobel Committee would be knocking on their doors. In the...

In an interview that seems to signal that France will not be returning to lockdown, president Emmanuel Macron says that the country “cannot be put on hold” by coronavirus. While at the presidential holiday home in Brégançon on the French Riviera, Macron gave an interview to magazine Paris Match — complete with traditional “at home”-style photos of himself and his wife Brigitte in their holiday attire. And he told the Paris Match journalist: “We can’t shut the country down because the collateral damage of lockdown is considerable. Zero risk never exists in any society. We must respond to this anxiety...

Mozambique: Islamic State captures key port, establishes its first outpost in southern Africa, imposes Sharia AUG 19, 2020 3:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER The desire to restore the caliphate is not discarded after setbacks. The service of Allah is not negated by setbacks. The jihad continues, and will continue, while the world yawns and tends to other matters. “Islamic State now has its first outpost in southern Africa after capture of key port in Mozambique,” by Julian Kossoff, Business Insider, August 17, 2020: Mozambique has become the latest African stronghold of Islamic State (IS) after well-armed insurgents captured a strategic...

Turkey claims it is “breaking a blockade” by sending naval ships under the guise of a research mission to the Mediterranean. For a country that is a member of NATO – and which has sent drones to Libya, is busy bombing northern Iraq and occupies part of northern Syria – Turkey’s narrative that it is under “blockade” is a novel approach to fan its latest maneuvers in the Mediterranean. Never in history has Turkey been less under blockade than it is today, yet it has manufactured a crisis with Greece to lay claim to areas of the Mediterranean, asserting it...

France is deploying two Rafale fighter jets and a naval frigate in the eastern Mediterranean because of tensions between Greece and Turkey. French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Turkey to halt oil and gas exploration in disputed waters in the area. A Turkish survey ship began such a mission on Monday, angering Greece. The area is rich in untapped energy. There are also tensions around Cyprus over rival exploration rights. The Republic of Cyprus and Greece do not accept any such rights for Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus in the region. France is also at odds with Turkey over the crisis in...

Lebanese officials targeted in the investigation of the massive blast that tore through Beirut sought to shift blame for the presence of explosives at the city’s port, and the visiting French president warned Thursday that without serious reforms the country would “continue to sink.” The blast Tuesday, which appeared to have been caused by an accidental fire that ignited a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate at the city’s port, rippled across the Lebanese capital, killing at least 135 people, injuring more than 5,000 and causing widespread destruction.