Free Republic

The USA has called for Ukraine not to attack Russian refineries despite Russia's widespread offensive against several energy facilities in Ukraine. The Department of Defense has warned that such an attack could bring another spike in fuel prices worldwide. Michaelo Podoliak, advisor to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, claimed that such facilities were legitimate military targets. In a recent interview, he also claimed that such an attack was not only legitimate but desirable on a worldwide level in order to weaken Russia's hold on the energy lobby. “Ukraine must destroy Russia's refineries. They have no impact on worldwide pricing, and are...

Russia's armed forces have grown larger and not dwindled during its war in Ukraine, a top US general said on Wednesday. "The army is actually now larger — by 15 percent — than it was when it invaded Ukraine," US Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told the House Armed Services Committee in a hearing. "Over the past year, Russia increased its front-line troop strength from 360,000 to 470,000," Cavoli continued, adding that the bolstered numbers stemmed from Russia raising its conscription age from 27 to 30. The increase, Cavoli said, meant that Russia was able to...

Ukraine’s shortage of ammunition and military equipment resulting from the US and its allies’ struggle to resupply the country’s military is having an increasingly dire effect on the battlefield, US and NATO officials are warning, as Russia intensifies its attacks on Kyiv’s dwindling air defenses knowing that they likely won’t be replenished anytime soon. The Ukrainian military is “experiencing shortages in air defense munitions, mostly in the medium to long range,” a NATO official said on Wednesday. “It’s not just that we know that. It’s that Russia knows that. So Russia is using drones and missiles in ways that are...

Ukrainian forces in a priority section of the front line near Avdiivka appear to have defeated a large Russian mechanized assault involving tanks and fighting vehicles over the weekend. -snip- On March 30, Ukrainian troops outside occupied Avdiivka fought off a Russian battalion-sized mechanized assault, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said. ISW cited a Ukrainian serviceman who, on March 31, said that elements of Russia's 6th Tank Regiment sent 36 tanks and 12 BMP infantry fighting vehicles into a battle on the front line near Tonenke, a village east of Avdiivka. The serviceman said...

Strikes on Russian oil refineries have a significant impact on Russia’s ability to conduct warfare. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, Commander of U.S. Forces Europe in 2014-17, stated this during the 16th annual Kyiv Security Forum. “Of course, attacks on oil refineries have a significant impact. Russia is less able to pay for this war, and it also deprives it of the necessary fuel to continue hostilities. I would recommend ignoring the calls for an end to such attacks.” The Lieutenant General emphasized that sanctions against Russia need to be strengthened. He also added that 2024 will be the year of...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of Donald Trump in a historic case challenging his eligibility to seek the Republican presidential nomination under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment due to his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The court was unanimous in reversing the unprecedented decision out of Colorado that would kick Trump off the ballot under the provision after a state trial court found he participated in "insurrection" on Jan. 6 through incitement. “For the reasons given, responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress...

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In 1943, as the tide of war turned against the Third Reich, the German high command opted for a desperate strategy on the Eastern Front. Outnumbered and outgunned by the Red Army, the Germans pinned their hopes on a mobile, aggressive defense to stop a relentless series of Soviet offensives in Ukraine and southern Russia. As today’s Ukraine fights over many of the same battlefields of 1943, it has chosen a strategy that echoes the German approach from 80 years ago. After the failure of its much-anticipated summer counteroffensive, and running low on ammunition and stamina to fight off continual...

House Republicans have moved quickly and strongly to the right, embracing the most extreme positions on cultural issues (including abortion, gay and trans rights, and guns) and isolationism on foreign policy and national security. snip The House now has a long list of extreme ideologues, ranging from Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona to Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Troy Nehls of Texas, Bob Good of Virginia, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who don’t care if government works at all. In fact, they are content with gridlock, as they pander to the needs of former...

On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, a former ally of Donald J. Trump, delivered a blistering critique of the former President, implying that Trump prioritizes personal loyalty over the nation’s welfare. In 2017, Donald Trump, who was then serving as President, threw his support behind Ron DeSantis in the race for Florida’s governorship. This endorsement from Trump was a significant boost for DeSantis, a tea-party conservative, enabling him to surpass the right-wing GOP candidate Adam Putnam, who was serving as Florida’s agriculture commissioner at the time, Politico reported. “Congressman Ron DeSantis is a brilliant...

Russian language transcript at the link. Synopsis: Pro-Russian political scientist Sergey Markov states that Russia was ill prepared for their war against Ukraine. The discussion gets very heated as it progresses.

Ilion, which is a village in Herkimer County, New York, will be losing its facility in March 2024 according to letters sent to union leaders obtained by the Utica Observer-Dispatch. It can’t be understated how big of a deal this is: Ilion is the literal birthplace of Remington, as the company was founded there. They’ve been manufacturing guns there since 1816… which is well over 200 years worth of history. And yes, the facility closure will involve layoffs and swathes of people losing their jobs. As to who should shoulder the blame for this abrupt closure, local Republican lawmakers put...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Several stores at the location where George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020 have sued the city, accusing it of neglecting the area and hurting business. The lawsuit, filed in mid-November in state court, also names Mayor Jacob Frey and other officials and accuses the city of not properly policing the area since Floyd’s death. It also accuses the city of blocking the intersection that is now known as George Floyd Square with concrete barriers for more than a year after Floyd's death, keeping customers from entering. The combination has turned the area into a...

On the global stage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been consistently on message: In visits to Washington and other Western capitals, he has focused on keeping Kyiv supplied with more advanced arms, ammunition and financing. At home, however, he faces a human resources problem. The war is approaching the end of its second year, and Ukraine’s military needs more manpower to sustain a bloody war of attrition against Russia, a country with more than three times the population of Ukraine. In a recent essay, Ukraine’s top military commander, Valery Zaluzhny acknowledged that training and recruiting troops was becoming a serious...

the collapse begins....

Ichabodovich spending 80M usd (shell buyers) on yachts as ukie military crumbles

Finland has accused Russia of flooding its borders with migrants from the Middle East and Africa over its decision to increase defense cooperation with the United States, a claim which Moscow denies. As many as 300 migrants from Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Syria have arrived in Finland this week, Reuters reported, citing the Finnish Border Guard. The arrivals have prompted Finland to erect barricades at the border with Russia to stop the migrants from crossing freely into the country. The razor-wire barriers were put up Friday around midnight at the Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala border posts in southeast Finland,...

In the early hours of Thursday, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Estonia launched a pointed accusation against Russia, alleging a failure to detain illegal migrants at its borders. The incident sparking this contention involved eight Somali citizens attempting to circumnavigate immigration control, attempting to enter Estonia via Narva. Geopolitical Tensions Highlighted This incident brings to light the ongoing concerns around border security and immigration control, issues that hold significant weight for Estonia, given its geographical location and strained political relations with Russia. The accusation by the Estonian official not only underscores these concerns but also spotlights the intricate complexities...

HELSINKI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Finland will erect barriers at four crossings on its border with Russia from midnight, officials said on Friday, in a bid to stem an increase in migrants that Helsinki says has been orchestrated by Moscow. Finland has accused Russian authorities of funnelling migrants to the crossings in retaliation for its decision to increase defence cooperation with the United States, an assertion dismissed by the Kremlin. Barriers will go up at four of the nine crossings with Russia, at Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala in its southeast, the Finnish Border Guard said. "Our aim is to...

On Tuesday, Michigan Judge James Redford ruled that Donald Trump will remain on the Michigan Presidential ballot for 2024. A Michigan judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that tried to use the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” to remove Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot.The judge separately ruled that Michigan’s secretary of state doesn’t have the power under state law to determine Trump’s eligibility for office based on the constitutional amendment.The rulings mark a major victory for the former president, who has a commanding lead in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race, according to recent polling. Recently, a ruling in...