Free Republic

PRESS STATEMENT Nine years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea – a clear violation of international law and of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The United States welcomes the efforts of Ukraine’s Crimea Platform to focus global attention on Russia’s continued occupation. The United States does not and never will recognize Russia’s purported annexation of the peninsula. Crimea is Ukraine.

After the condemnations in the Arab world, the US on Tuesday also joined in the criticism of the visit to the Temple Mount by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Israel said that Ambassador Tom Nides “has been very clear in conversations with the Israeli government on the issue of preserving the status quo in Jerusalem’s holy sites. Actions that prevent that are unacceptable.” A White House National Security Council spokesperson told Axios later on Tuesday that the Biden administration expects Netanyahu to follow through on his written commitment to the governing platform,...

American taxpayers have spent more than $1 billion in Afghanistan since the botched withdrawal, yet the Biden administration is refusing to give an accounting of the funds to a government watchdog. The State Department says it will not comply with an investigation request by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, to look at reconstruction expenditures that have totaled $146 billion since 2002, the agency’s report to Congress says. The U.S. Agency for International Development and the Treasury Department “refused to cooperate with SIGAR in any capacity, while the State Department was selective in the information it provided...

State Department spokesman Ned Price joined "Special Report" Friday to discuss how the United States is working to spread the truth about the war to Russian civilians to combat their president's propaganda. NED PRICE: Public opinion within Russia is notoriously difficult to measure. Russia is essentially a closed society. Vladimir Putin has near-total control over the organs of information, which may explain why it is that his popularity by some ratings and by some metrics is fairly high. And that is precisely because Vladimir Putin has fed his people a steady diet of lies and disinformation and propaganda. So it's...

NBC News on Wednesday evening casually admitted that the “intelligence” Biden released claiming Russia was planning a false flag operation as a pretext to invade Ukraine was totally made up. There were also claims of chemical weapons or Russia asking China for help. Apparently it was all made up. https://mobile.twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1512104639528939528

An Arab assailant killed at least four people in Israel’s southern city of Beersheba on Tuesday in the deadliest such attack in years, before he was fatally shot by a Police identified the attacker as an Arab citizen of Israel, a former high school teacher who had been imprisoned over alleged links to Islamic State. Police spokesman Eli Levy said “a civilian took the initiative and shot and killed” the knife-wielding assailant, a confrontation on a busy city street that later played out in videos filmed by onlookers and broadcast on Israeli television. Tensions have been on the rise in...

On March 21, a Moscow court has recognized the activities of Instagram and Facebook, social networks owned by Meta Platforms, as extremist and banned their operation in Russia. Washington, March 22./TASS/. The United States condemned Russia's decision to ban activities of Meta (the organization's activities are banned on the territory of the Russian Federaton) as an extremist organization, spokesperson for the US Department of State Ned Price said. "We condemn a Moscow court's decision to designate Meta, including Facebook and Instagram, as 'extremist'. This assault on access to information must stop," he wrote on Twitter...

Russia’s top state-controlled energy company is set to cash in on a $10 billion contract to build out one of Iran’s most contested nuclear sites as part of concessions granted in the soon-to-be-announced nuclear agreement that will guarantee sanctions on both countries are lifted. Russian and Iranian documents translated for the Washington Free Beacon show that Rosatom, Russia’s leading energy company, has a $10 billion contract with Iran’s atomic energy organization to expand Tehran’s Bushehr nuclear plant. Russia and the Biden administration confirmed on Tuesday that the new nuclear agreement includes carveouts that will waive sanctions on both countries so...

Amid an intense conflict continuing, the government of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin are in negotiations for a meeting. However, the U.S. State Department does not want Zelenskyy and Putin to negotiate an end to hostilities.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price was pressed in a heated back and forth Monday with The Associated Press' diplomatic reporter on whether the Biden administration lifting some sanctions benefited the Shia Islamist regime. Lee asked, "Ned, are you saying that that long list of things that you said that these waivers give. You're saying that there's no benefit to Iran in any of that?" Price replied, "I am saying that the net benefit of this is a nonproliferation goal for us."

US officials accused Russia on Friday of planning 'false-flag' attacks to justify invasion of Ukraine Agents trained in urban warfare and sabotage are preparing to hit Russian proxy forces as first step, they said It would mimic the Russian playbook used in 2014 when it annexed the Crimean peninsula Kiev has been on alert since Moscow moved 100,000 troops, missiles and heavy weapons close to its border Meanwhile, Ukrainian websites were hacked with the message 'be afraid and expect the worst' The Kremlin denied it was preparing to launch false-flag attacks, calling the reports 'unfounded' And Russian foreign minister Sergey...

The US has intelligence that Russia is planning a 'false-flag' operation on its own forces in eastern Ukraine to create a pretext for invasion. Officials on Friday also said they believed Russia was mounting a social media disinformation campaign to portray Ukraine as the aggressor. The update, making the prospect of military conflict more immediate, came as Ukrainian government websites were taken offline in a 'massive' cyberattack, talks between Washington and Moscow collapsed and Russia held a combat readiness inspection of their troops. Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia had 'run out of patience' with the West as...

US officials said Thursday they are aware of a Kremlin scheme to broadcast a faked video of Ukrainian forces carrying out an attack against Russia or Russian proxies, which would serve as a pretext for an invasion by Moscow. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters that the video would be “very graphic propaganda” and include images of “corpses, and actors that would be depicting mourners, and images of destroyed locations, as well as military equipment, at the hands of Ukraine or the West.” The video, Kirby added, would even suggest that some of the equipment involved in the “attack”...

The Associated Press has aired its grievances with President Biden's administration after reporters were accused of being 'disloyal' for asking probing questions. During several encounters last week, when the administration was asked for evidence to back up dramatic claims about national security developments, it simply retorted: 'You'll have to trust us on that.' The Biden administration appears to be becoming more hostile and wary of reporters that in the past were 'friendly' toward Democratic administrations.

President Biden's administration has taken a hard line against scrutiny of reports on Ukrainian and Russian relations, repeatedly dismissing critical lines of questioning as "Russian talking points" and "misinformation." White House press secretary Jen Psaki and State Department spokesperson Ned Price have squashed inquiries into government sources and alternative narratives surrounding the conflict in Ukraine. The White House has repeatedly warned that a Russian invasion of the country is imminent, citing troops stationed on the Russian-Ukrainian border and alleged plans to launch a false flag operation to justify an annex. Price was pressed by a reporter Thursday on the evidence...

Matt Lee, a veteran reporter with the Associated Press, put State Department spokesman Ned Price in the hot seat Thursday for refusing to provide evidence that Russia plans to stage a false-flag operation to justify an invasion of Ukraine.During his opening remarks ahead of a press briefing, Price made the case “that Moscow might create a false flag operation” to justify an invasion of Ukraine, citing the existence of a Russian intelligence propaganda video that allegedly depicts “explosions and fake corpses,” “crisis actors pretending to be mourners” and “images of destroyed locations or military equipment” on the ground in Ukraine.It...

Skepticism is building around the White House’s narrative regarding Ukraine and Russia, and that boiled over today during the press briefing at the US State Department. In a rare act of journalism, Matt Lee of the Associated Press excoriated State Department spokesman Ned Price in a must-see back and forth.The issue at hand involved the Biden administration’s latest claims that Russia is spreading “misinformation” and seeking to commit a “false flag” attack to offer a pretext for war. While most reporters would have just accepted the government’s word as fact, Lee was having none of it. He lit into Price,...

Despite the Taliban's long history of oppression of women and iron-fisted rule, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price Monday urged Afghanistan's new leaders to form an inclusive government that had women in it.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday spoke with his counterparts in China and Russia about the security situation in Afghanistan. The calls come as both Beijing and Moscow have signaled an openness to recognizing and working with the Taliban, which over the weekend swiftly ousted the Western-backed government in Kabul. Blinken spoke separately with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi about developments in Afghanistan, including the security situation and both countries' respective efforts to bring U.S. and Chinese citizens to safety, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

TEL AVIV — In the worst flare-up of violence in seven years, (Israel launched airstrikes and Palestinian militants launched hundreds of missiles) overnight into Wednesday, killing more than 50 people and injuring hundreds more amid rising fears the conflict could spiral into all-out war.[snip] U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told a briefing Tuesday, "Israel has the right to defend itself" and "the Palestinian people also have the right to safety and security, just as Israelis do."