Free Republic

Vladimir Putin is no stranger to rumours about his own health – but now the health of one of his closest allies has been called into question. Exiled newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe claims that Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, 47, is suffering from pancreatic disease and has ‘no hope of recovery’. The news outlet says Kadyrov – a leading ally of the dictator’s war against Ukraine – has been living with ‘pancreatic necrosis’ for more than five years, which explains his frequent absences from the public stage. An extraordinary new picture shows the Chechen warlord looking unusually bloated. Novaya Gazeta Europe...

Ibragim Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was shot in his Florida home on May 22 in a violent confrontation with an FBI agent. The FBI agent and two Massachusetts state troopers questioned the Boston bombers' collaborator Todashev about his ties to the late Boston Marathon bombers, as well as a triple throat slashing/slaying in Massachusetts two years ago (that the Boston bombers have been implicated in). ABC News reported last week that Todashev became violent as he was about to sign a confession that he and the Boston jihad bombers were the murderers of the three Jewish boys...

A man who lost his leg in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing ripped the decision of an appellate court Friday to toss the the death sentence and overturn three of the convictions of terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. “It’s ridiculous,” Marc Fucarile said when asked about the ruling on the local Boston WEEI radio show “Ordway, Merloni and Fauria.” Fucarile — who lost his right leg during the second of two finish-line explosions that killed three and left more than 260 wounded in April 2013 — said the case should be clear cut. “The guy did this. Put him to rest,” Fucarile...

Family friend tells Vocativ that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s mother sent a distraught message after her son was given the death penalty. With her terrorist son sentenced to death, the mother of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sent raging messages to his supporters saying the United States will burn “in the flames of an eternal and terrifying fire,” her close friend told Vocativ. “They think that they are killing us and they celebrate this, but we are the ones who will rejoice when Allah grants us the chance to behold them in the flames of an eternal and terrifying fire, an otherworldly...

The New York Times's David Herszenhorn on Friday wrote up a bizarre new conference held by the parents of the Boston Marathon bombers in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, where they have lived for the past year: "Parents Deny Son's Guilt And Accuse U.S. of Plot." It's puzzling why Herszenhorn chose such a credulous tone to the conspiratorial rants of the bombers' mother Zubeidat Tsarnaeva (The Washington Post made do with a brief mention at the very end of a related story on Friday). The parents of the two brothers accused in the bomb attack that killed three people and...

MAKHACHKALA, Russia — An explosion believed to have been caused by a remote-controlled bomb ripped through a Russian military truck at a bath house in the capital of Dagestan (search), killing at least 10 troops in the deadliest attack in the southern province in months, officials said. Seven soldiers were wounded. Bloodstained bodies lay in the street on the outskirts of Makhachkala (search), and ambulances quickly whisked away the wounded. It was not immediately known whether there were any civilian victims of the blast. Rashid Isayev (search), the head of the province's criminal police, said the explosion occurred as three...

The man convicted and sentenced to death for carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 is fighting to keep federal prosecutors from seizing the funds he has accumulated in his prison canteen account. The Boston Herald reported an attorney for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 30, filed an appeal seeking to stop the feds in Boston from taking the $4,200-plus in Tsarnaev's account,

The trial of Dzhokar Tsarnaev has gripped America, but in Russia the Boston bomber’s trial has received little media coverage, with even the arrival of five Tsarnaev family members from Russia to testify receiving no attention. The relatives are staying in Massachusetts over the weekend, after a sick juror meant their testimony for the defence could not be heard on Thursday. But Russian state-controlled media has shown little interest in their trip to the US, and a decision appears to have been taken that the Tsarnaevs’ links to Russia should be played down. On 8 April, the jury convicted Tsarnaev...

Today, a side of Adams that was not made much of in his lifetime has for many of us become the most important, and much-needed, part of his legacy: his critical view of Islam and of Muhammad. He derived these views from experience — his own and his father’s — of Muslim behavior (both of the Barbary Pirates and of the Ottoman Turks), from his lifelong study of history, and from his intensive reading of the Qur’an. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were sent in 1786 to negotiate in London with the ambassador from Tripoli, Sidi Haji Abdrahaman, about the...

ISIL’s Afghan branch – also known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K) – has claimed responsibility for the attack... “Russian foreign policy has been one big red flag for ISIS [ISIL],” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center told Al Jazeera. “The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Russian actions in Chechnya, Moscow’s close relationships with the Syrian and Iranian governments, and especially the military campaigns that Russia has waged against ISIS fighters in Syria and — through Wagner Group mercenaries – in parts of Africa.” “ISK [ISKP] has consistently demonstrated its ambition...

Terrorist attack in Russia, Several gunmen fired shots at a concert hall in Moscow on Friday

Officials say Sheher Bano, an assistant superintendent of police in Lahore, risked her life to rescue the woman after Arabic calligraphy on her outfit was mistaken for verses from the Quran. PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A police officer in Pakistan is being hailed as a hero after she protected a woman from a furious mob accusing her of blasphemy over what she was wearing. Sheher Bano, an assistant superintendent of police in the city of Lahore, “put her life in danger” to rescue the woman after colorful Arabic calligraphy on her outfit was mistaken for verses from the Quran, the Muslim...

An incident in Lahore Pakistan stands as a damning indictment of modern Islamic society. From distant Pakistan, an NBC news story surfaces that serves to remind us of everything we need to know about our current crisis. A week ago, a female police officer in Lahore, Pakistan, patrolling a shopping district in the busy muslim city, saw a crowd gathering, to taunt, accuse, and threaten a young woman in a colorful Kurta (a long shirt-dress). Her dress was covered with bright and abstract calligraphy that the crowd assumed was an improper quoting of the Koran. In Pakistan, when a crowd...

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has posted a video of ex-UN weapons inspector (and convicted child sex offender) Scott Ritter visiting Grozny Ritter has consistently promoted Kremlin propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine and seems to be absolutely loving his time in Chechnya

Former American intelligence officer Scott Ritter has visited the Russian republic of Chechnya, offering its leader Ramzan Kadyrov and his fighters "friendship" with the United States. Ritter, a former United Nations Special Commission weapons inspector, U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer, and a convicted sex offender, made the remarks in an address during his visit to Chechnya's capital, Grozny.

Most countries were founded by professionals including lawyers and businessmen. Sometimes they included pharmacists, doctors and inventors. Often they included generals and military leaders. As Palestinians now call for the world to accept a new State of Palestine in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 massacre, it is worth considering a country whose founding fathers are psychopaths and cowards. Consider that Hamas has ruled Gaza outright since 2007, so every child under 16 years old has only known a land governed by the U.S.-designated terrorist group. On October 7, it assembled well over one thousand people of its army...

Russia's Ramzan Kadyrov once again demanded that the United States lift sanctions against members of his family—and his horses—this time offering Ukrainian prisoners of war in exchange, Russian state media reported on Friday. Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya and Russian President Vladimir Putin's loyal ally, made the offer via former American intelligence officer Scott Ritter, who was visiting Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.(snip)"We have prisoners whom we took in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions," Kadyrov was quoted as telling Ritter, a former U.S. official and, more recently, a Russian media darling. "I am passing on to our guest the list...

The Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, wants the United States to lift sanctions against his family, for which he is ready to give up Ukrainian prisoners of war, APA reports citing Pravda EN. During a visit to Chechnya by American ex-intelligence officer Scott Ritter, the head of the republic Ramzan Kadyrov offered to exchange captured Ukrainian servicemen for the lifting of US sanctions against his family, RIA Novosti reports. "We have prisoners whom we took away in Donetsk and Lugansk. I am passing (the list) to our guest... if they lift the sanctions on my mother, my daughters...

BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:30 P.M.) – The Turkish presidency announced that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will receive in Istanbul tomorrow his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, against the backdrop of the new escalation in the Donbass region. In a statement, the Turkish presidency confirmed that Erdogan and Zelensky would chair in Istanbul the ninth meeting of the high-level strategic cooperation council between the two countries.The statement indicated that the meeting, which will be held in the presence of the relevant ministers, will review “all aspects of Turkish-Ukrainian relations that rise to the level of strategic partnership and the steps that can be...

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Monday that another 3,000 of his fighters were ready to go to fight in Ukraine as part of new units of the Russian defence ministry and the Russian National Guard forces. -snip- "They (the fighters) have the best equipment and modern weapons," Kadyrov said on the Telegram messaging app. "In addition, the guys are highly combative and very motivated to achieve results." In May, Kadyrov said that Chechnya, which is a federal republic of Russia, had sent more than 26,000 fighters to Ukraine from the start of the war, including 12,000 volunteers and that...