Free Republic

The greatest collapse of a mighty state, a large human so­ciety and a fruitful civilization of which we possess a reasonably ac­curate record, has been immortal­ized by Edward Gibbon’s histori­cal classic, The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire. Henry Adams remarked that Gibbon did not really explain the fall; but this criticism is not altogether just. As the following excerpts from The Decline and Fall show, the philosophic historian offered a number of reflections on the symp­toms and causes of the drama which he set out to describe: "This long peace and the uni­form government of the Romans introduced...

The State Department on Monday brushed off reports of Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering his government to look into the nation’s former “real estate” abroad, saying Alaska would be staying in American hands. Putin signed a new decree last week to allocate funds for the research and registration of Russian property overseas, including that in former territories of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, Russian state media TASS reported. The decree, which comes amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, did not specifically mention Alaska, though it caught the attention of military bloggers, who argued Putin was using the decree to...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new decree relating to Moscow's historic real estate holdings abroad, a move interpreted by ultranationalist bloggers as a foundation for future revanchism against Russia's neighbors—and even the U.S. The decree, signed by the president late last week, allocates funds for the search, registration, and legal protection of Russian property abroad, including property in the former territories of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. This would include Alaska, swathes of eastern and central Europe, large chunks of central Asia, and parts of Scandinavia. Russia's Foreign Ministry and its presidential administration's Foreign Property Management...

Russian language transcript at the link. Go to "more" and expand the page to see this option.

The following is adapted from a talk delivered on September 12, 2023, at the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship on Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C., campus, as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series. The transgender movement is pressing its agenda everywhere. Most publicly, activist teachers are using classrooms to propagandize on its behalf and activist health professionals are promoting the mutilation of children under the euphemistic banner of “gender-affirming care.” The sudden and pervasive rise of this movement provokes two questions: where did it come from, and how has it proved so successful? The story...

Why have the October 7 attacks triggered a culture war in the West? Because parts of our Left are anti-Semitic and the Right is calling them out? Absolutely. But this is also psychological displacement: we’re so shocked by the murder of Israelis, distressed by the bombings in Gaza and, unable to comprehend an intractable problem, that we withdraw into the familiar language of domestic politics. The Times of Israel reports (as spotted by Sumantra Maitra of The American Conservative) that Washington ordered officials to permit humanitarian aid in to Gaza: “The Americans insisted,” said the defence minister, “and we are...

The system isn’t broken — it’s working as exactly intendedAs long as the right is arguing with the stated goal instead of stopping the real purpose of a policy, the left wins.One of the key faults of conservative political analysis has been its focus on stated goals instead of true purpose revealed through actions. Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, recently declared on X (formerly Twitter): “Mass migration has failed.” “Oh no my friend,” I quickly replied, “it has succeeded at its actual goal.” Kirk is correct that mass migration has been a disaster for citizens of the...

A Russian propagandist has called for the reinstatement of the Russian Empire, saying that's the country's ultimate goal. As Russia continues its military offensive against Ukraine, Russian propagandist Sergey Mardan alluded to a misconception that Russia wishes to restore the USSR, which collapsed in 1991, and instead suggested the country could rewind the clock back beyond the days of the Russian Empire. His comments come as President Vladimir Putin announced a new Russian holiday, the "Day of Unification," on September 30, to mark the illegal annexation of the Dontesk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. Putin declared them to...

This is a video from a Russian propagandist with English language subtitles. In the video the propagandist proudly promotes the prospect of a restored Russian/Soviet Empire.

Seems like COVID's everywhere again. But here's good news from Pfizer! This season's updated COVID-19 shots are now available for ages 6 months and up, and they're designed to help protect against recent variants. That is why today, at 8pm, the Empire State Building turned its iconic building blue to announce that the CDC recommends everyone 6 months of age and older get this season's updated COVID-19 shot. The blue light symbolizes our gratitude and appreciation for the updated vaccines and all those who made it possible.

A key Russian general who Russian president Vladimir Putin promoted this week said that Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is a mere "stepping stone" to further conflict with Europe. Vladimir Putin promoted lieutenant general Andrey Mordvichev to the rank of colonel-general after he had already been serving in the role of commanding the central military district and Russian central grouping of forces in Ukraine. In an interview with Moscow's state-run Russia-1, Andrey Mordvichev said that he believes Vladimir Putin's war will last quite a long time and expand in the future. "I think there's still plenty of time to spend. It...

If you think, like Elon Musk, that instead of fighting, Ukraine and Russia “should agree to a truce,” the recent interview with General Andrey Mordvichev, one of Russia’s top commanders in Ukraine, should give you pause. Asked about the war’s expected duration, he said the quiet part out loud: There is still “plenty of time.” According to him, “If we are talking about Eastern Europe, which we will have to, of course then it will be longer.” In other words, the Kremlin is in the conflict for the long haul. Not only it is committed, as Russian President Vladimir Putin...

The word “imperialism” comes from the Latin word imperium. It refers to a nation or a state implanting its rule on other states, treating them as subordinates and in an inferior fashion. Some suggest today that America is behaving imperialistically—we do, after all, have some 600 military bases around the world. So it is worth recalling some historical examples of imperialism to understand what the idea entails. Looking at empires through history, we can identify several things that most of them have in common. One is that their leaders often say or seem to believe that their imperialist policies have...

On this date in 388, Magnus Maximus, partially successful usurper of the western Roman Empire, was put to death by Emperor Theodosius. The late centuries of Rome witness many a rebellious general but the smart money in a civil war rarely fancied the guy whose power base was distant Britannia. With his bombastic name and balls to back it, Magnus bigly bucked those odds, defeating and murdering the western Augustus Gratian in Gaul in 383. From there he bossed Africa, Britain, and his native Spain for several years. The departure from Britain of this local chancer made good would prove...

This article will look at three causes of the Roman Empire’s collapse, and see the extent to which its defects can be applied to the decline of the USA as the leading world power. While the influence of the USA cannot be considered imperial — we technically are not an empire — nonetheless, the terms hegemony, leadership, and dominance in the world system are adjectives that apply to ancient Rome and might well apply to us.

The member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — consisting of the teetering Masters of Empire and their tawdry entourage of class-stratified vassals — have just concluded a historic confab in Vilnius, Lithuania, capital of the alpha Baltic chihuahua. In a shockingly transparent but otherwise rather banal series of events it became unmistakably clear that their grand plans to subject Russia to the “rules-based order” have come to naught. Among others, the following consequences will ripple in the wake of this reality: Russia will achieve a decisive conclusion to the war on terms they dictate. NATO is shattered as...

A cursory examination of history reveals that the United States is mired in the same process that precipitated the collapse of the great empires of the past. The foibles and failures of human nature and their impact on the rise and fall of empires is amazingly consistent and the end result always inevitable. Can this nation avoid a similar fate? Empires are defined as great military and economic powers encompassing large occupied or controlled land areas. Although they vary greatly, they average around 250 years in duration. The United States will be celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2026. In 1976,...

Largely unbeknownst to the general public, executives and top journalists of almost all major US media outlets have long been members of the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).Established in 1921 as a private, bipartisan organization to “awaken America to its worldwide responsibilities”, the CFR and its close to 5000 elite members for decades have shaped US foreign policy and public discourse about it. As a well-known Council member famously explained, they transformed the American republic into a global empire, albeit a “bene­volent” one.Based on official membership rosters, the following illustration depicts for the first time the extensive media network...

President Ronald Reagan's audacious "evil empire" speech will be celebrated on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, in Washington, D.C. — 40 years to the day after the president issued a call to spiritual confrontation against communist doctrine and the Soviet Union. "Reagan brought clarity, moral clarity to the Cold War with the Soviet Union," said Roger Zakheim, Washington director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, told Fox News Digital. "It’s a lasting legacy speech." Zakheim’s organization is co-sponsoring a 40th anniversary symposium on March 8 hosted by The Victims of Communism Museum to honor the message of the "evil...

The war between Russia and Ukraine started long before February 24, 2022. Russian aggression has been constant ever since Vladimir Putin came to power in the late nineties. However, it was the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 that started the current conflict. The crazy part is NATO and the rest of the world just watched as Russian forces invaded Crimea in an eerily similar way to how Nazi Germany annexed Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Rhineland before launching its invasion of Poland and starting World War II.