Free Republic

Turkey on Thursday suspended all export and import operations with Israel due to what it described as its "aggression against Palestine in violation of international law and human rights," the Turkish Trade Ministry announced, according to the Anadolu news agency. "Since the first day, our country has rushed to the aid of the people of Gaza, delivered tens of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid to the region by ships and planes, especially food, health and medical aid materials, evacuated thousands of patients and stood by our Palestinian brothers and sisters in these difficult days," the ministry said. "However, the...

Moscow puts subsidiaries of German and Italian firms under the control of a Gazprom division, sparking annoyance from Italy and the EU. In a move that is likely to increase tension between Russia and Western Europe, the Kremlin has unexpectedly announced the "temporary external management" of Russian subsidiaries of Italian water heating company Ariston and German appliance maker BSH Hausgeraete. The subsidiaries, Ariston Thermo Rus, and BSH Household Appliances, now come under the management of Gazprom's Household Systems and are now completely under Russia's control. The Executive Order, signed by President Vladimir Putin, which was revealed on Friday and backdated...

The Soviet-Afghan War destroyed Afghanistan and eventually the Soviet Union, which dissolved in 1991 into 15 republics. Numerous satellite states in Europe were liberated at the same time. History may repeat as the Russia-Ukraine war weakens Moscow, financially and geopolitically. Russia’s 2022 invasion was about reoccupying a former colony, Ukraine, but there are other Russian republics that hope to become liberated... … in December 1991, Ukrainians voted for independence and Ukraine became the first of the Soviet republics to leave. The Baltic republics followed, as did Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and others. Now there is unrest across the Russian Federation…...

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he called White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and threatened to “intervene” if President Biden slapped sanctions on an Israeli military battalion over its alleged conduct in the West Bank. “We heard a rumor of this before our [aid] bill was actually brought for a vote in the House [Saturday], I mean, hours before,” Johnson (R-La.) told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “And I’ll tell you what I did, Hugh, and I don’t, I guess I’m breaking news here,” Johnson went on. “No one knows this. But I called the White House immediately...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the next few days, according to three American sources. The sanctions are a result of human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank. This will be the first time that the United States government has imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit for its activities in the West Bank. The sources stated that the American sanctions will prohibit the transfer of US military aid to the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, will prevent its soldiers and officers from taking part in training with...

The European Council decided today to list four persons and two entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. "The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians, including torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and for the violation of right to property and to private and family life of Palestinians in the West Bank," the EU stated. "The listed entities are Lehava, a radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group, and Hilltop Youth, a radical youth group consisting of members known for violent acts against Palestinians and their villages in the...

The European Union will "start the necessary work" to hit Iran with heavier sanctions after Saturday's aerial attack on Israel, the bloc's top diplomat has said. Speaking following an exceptional virtual meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday, Josep Borrell said he would ask his services to study the possibility of expanding existing EU sanctions against Iranian drone technology. It would see the current sanctions regime - established in July 2023 to punish Iran for aiding Putin's war machine with unmanned drones - expanded to include missiles and to also cover Iran's proxies in the region. The bloc would also...

The administration of leftist President Joe Biden did not move to renew expiring sanctions in Iran’s drone and ballistic missile production at the United Nations in October, shortly after the Iran-backed massacre of an estimated 1,200 people in Israel and Saturday’s unprecedented direct missile assault by Iran on the country.

The Biden administration has rolled back sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela in a disastrous move being heavily criticized by Hispanic voters here in the United States—many of whom are in the U.S. because they or their families fled the socialist regimes. President Joe Biden's administration mobilized Tuesday to ease economic sanctions against oil-rich Venezuela just one day after lifting several Trump-era financial, travel, and migration regulations for fellow socialist state Cuba, whose repressive government notoriously cracked down on the pro-democracy protests in 2021. This week's events are being seen as a soft-on-socialism downslide in U.S. foreign policy that's dealing a...

After US Pres. Joe Biden declared 'the rouble would be turned to rubble' by sanctions, the Russian economy looks more resilient with GDP growth hitting 3.6% in 2023 - outstripping every G7 country. America and the EU slapped Russian entities with sanctions as early as 2014 after the annexation of Crimea to deter further Russian aggression, disrupt its nefarious activities and demonstrate the West's resolve.... ...'Sanctions influenced Russia's behaviour enormously, but not in the direction of stated objectives by the sender states,' Dr. Kirkham said. 'Sanctions influenced Russia's behaviour enormously, but not in the direction of stated objectives by the...

Protests have continued this week in Cuba over one of the island’s worst ever economic and energy crises as food shortages and blackouts push the country toward the "verge of collapse." Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio took to X on Tuesday to say the disastrous situation was down to Cuba’s long-standing Marxist policies. "The reason Cuba is on the verge of collapse is because Marxism always leads to hunger, poverty and shortages," Rubio said The senator, an ardent critic of the Cuban regime, took to the social media platform to push back on accusations levied by the Cuban Deputy Foreign...

Best quote of his explanation: "This is a situation in which the sanctions were imposed by one important sector of the world economy which then cut itself off from resources that it needs - and that's particularly true of Western Europe - in return for cutting Russia off from various things that Russia doesn't really need."

The Biden administration on Wednesday quietly issued yet another sanctions waiver to Iran, giving the terrorist regime access to as much as $10 billion in frozen assets. When Presidentish Joe Biden showed similar largess in September of last year, he promised that the money — "merely" $6 billion that time — could "only be spent on humanitarian purposes." Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said his government would spend the money however they damn well pleased, and then did. It was less than two months ago when three American servicemembers were killed and another three dozen wounded in a drone attack by...

President Joe Biden’s administration slapped more sanctions on Israelis over so-called “extremist settler violence” on Thursday — including on two outposts in the West Bank, marking the first sanctions on Israel relating to a specific area. The sanctions are a virtual gift to the anti-Israel and antisemitic “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement, at a time when Biden is trying to shore up flagging Arab- and Muslim-American support. The news also came on the same day that the Biden Administration sent senior White House officials to meet with Palestinian-Americans in Chicago. The sanctions also came a day after the Biden Administration...

The Biden Administration continues to apply new sanctions to Israeli individuals and firms as it faces pressure from left-wing activists to take a tougher stance against Israel, lest he lose support in key swing states in the 2024 election. Last month, the White House announced sanctions against four Israeli citizens, none of whom had been charged with any crime, for so-called “extremist settler violence.” The language of President Joe Biden’s executive order is so broad that it allows the administration to adopt sweeping sanctions on any Israeli who lives across the 1949 armistice lines, or who supports the rights of...

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. will announce a major package of sanctions against Russia on Friday over the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the two-year Ukraine war, President Joe Biden said on Tuesday. Biden, speaking to reporters as he departed on a trip to California, did not give details but said he would provide more information about the package on Friday. The package will "hold Russia accountable for what happened to Mr. Navalny" and for its actions over the course of the war in Ukraine, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said, without providing details...

"The military writes that the occupiers have Starlink with licensed accounts," Andriy Tsaplienko, a Ukrainian journalist, said on his Telegram channel ... "They began to deliver Starlink en masse, via Dubai, accounts are activated, they work in the occupied territories" ... "SpaceX does not do business of any kind with the Russian Government or its military," the statement said. "Starlink is not active in Russia, meaning service will not work in that country. SpaceX has never sold or marketed Starlink in Russia, nor has it shipped equipment to locations in Russia. If Russian stores are claiming to sell Starlink for...

Venezuelan opposition leader and banned frontrunner in the yet-to-be-scheduled presidential election against dictator Nicolás Maduro, María Corina Machado, announced that a mob of socialists attacked her campaign event on Wednesday, beating her supporters “with sticks and stones.” “More than 100 regime colectivos attacked with sticks and stones and injured numerous attendees,” Machado wrote in a message on Twitter. “The police present, through their inaction, abetted the armed colectivos.” The term colectivo is used in Venezuela to mean socialist regime-linked armed thugs who have waged campaigns of terror against known dissidents through street beatings, extrajudicial killings, and other violence since the...

Tucker Carlson's interview with Vladimir Putin hasn't even been released yet and already Western leaders are talking about censuring him for speaking to the Russian president. Newsweek is reporting that politicians inside and outside the EU Parliament are arguing that Carlson is aiding and abetting Putin by giving him a platform, and hence Carlson should face sanctions in the same way that other Russian allies of the Kremlin leader do. Exclusive: Tucker Carlson could face sanctions over Putin interview.https://t.co/J3l0SIzoMX pic.twitter.com/TuBNXH1D4e— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 7, 2024The irony is strong in this one. One of Putin's great sins is suppressing all political...

Sanctions under the New Executive Order The United States has taken action against persons connected to escalating violence against civilians in the West Bank. The Department of State is imposing financial sanctions on four individuals pursuant to a new Executive Order that President Biden announced today to promote accountability for certain harmful activities that threaten the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank. The Executive Order establishes U.S. authority to issue financial sanctions against those directing or participating in certain actions, including acts or threats of violence against civilians, intimidating civilians to cause them to leave their homes, destroying...