Free Republic

Russia has put forward a highly contentious list of security guarantees it says it wants the west to agree to in order to lower tensions in Europe and defuse the crisis over Ukraine, including many elements that have already been ruled out. ...The demands, spelled out by Moscow in full for the first time, were handed over to the US this week. They include a demand that Nato remove any troops or weapons deployed to countries that entered the alliance after 1997, which would include much of eastern Europe, including Poland, the former Soviet countries of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and...

The Russian military, the second largest military in the world, may not be what it looks like. Lies and systematic corruptions may in fact have dragged Russia into this war with Ukraine, which has been heavily backed up by the US and NATO. We will present the evidence, you make your own decision, because the Russian Army, is #NotWhatYouThink #NWYT #longs Music: Lethal Secrets - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen The Mole - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen Cloak - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen Before Nightfall - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen Torpedo - Tigerblood Jewel Hordes - Jo Wandrini Intense Thrill - Bonnie Grace Ostinato -...

A Russian senator attempted to justify what he described as the Russian military's "difficulty" in Ukraine by saying that his country is fighting against one of the "strongest and best-trained armies." Frants Klintsevich, who made the remarks recently during an appearance on Russian state TV, said Ukraine has an elite military made up of "Russian soldiers and officers with exactly the same mentality as ours," according to a translation provided by a journalist with the BBC. Recent reports from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and remarks from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have indicated that Russia is losing...

In a conflict that is shaping up to be one of the most intense and rapidly developing of our time, drones have come to play an increasingly important role, and could well end up being one of the pivotal factors in its eventual conclusion. Thus, the delivery of at least 16 additional Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, on top of the 18 already in Ukraine's pre-war inventory, constitutes perhaps one of the most significant instances of support to Ukraine's plight yet. [1] Now evidence has emerged that Turkey's drone contributions have not remained limited to the TB2, with new combat footage of...

[Catholic Caucus] Cordileone Won’t Do It For the Sake of "Unity"CrisisMagazine.com editor Eric Sammons asked “conservative” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on May 21 why he doesn't deny Communion to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 81, a leading promotor of abortion who lives in his Archdiocese.Cordileone replied that after nine years at the helm of the Archdiocese he is “not at that point yet” because he is still in early stages of discerning what would be best for the Church in “preserving unity.”He argues that Pelosi has “done good” but admitted that this does not justify perpetrating very evil deeds. Asked...

Lamar Jackson vs. Nick Bosa. The NFL’s most dynamic offense against one of its stingiest defenses. A rematch of a Super Bowl played seven years ago and a possible preview of another. The game Sunday between the San Francisco 49ers (10-1) and the Baltimore Ravens (9-2) is one of the premier matchups of the entire season, even if it won’t get the national television exposure it deserves. The game will be played in the early window after the league opted to flex the Oakland-Kansas City game into the doubleheader slot and kept the matchup between New England and Houston in...

Comedy specials have become a bugle call for herds of people looking for reasons to be offended and to demand the end of a celebrity’s career. They have also become a “safe space” for people who like to laugh at politically incorrect humor and provide relief from a life where saying what you really mean is incredibly risky. Bill Burr’s “Paper Tiger” is no exception, delivering a swift kick straight into the hornet’s nest of strident feminism. In his hour-long Netflix special, Burr is undaunted by the recent backlash against all forms of comedy by people who seem affronted by...

President Donald Trump warned Mexico on Thursday he was considering leveling car tariffs if officials failed to stop the flood of migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. “We need help from Mexico, if Mexico doesn’t give the help, that’s okay, we’re going to tariff their cars coming into the United States,” Trump said. The president commented on his ongoing efforts to pressure Mexico to help stop migrants from approaching the Southern border of the United States during a meeting at the White House about economic opportunity zones. Trump backed away from the possibility of closing the border, noting that Mexico...

Last year, Germany obtained its first female Defense Minister in the person of Ursula von der Leyen. Given that the reign of Angela Merkel is getting rather long in the tooth, Time Magazine was quick to ask if the world was looking at the next Prime Minister. But with tensions building up in multiple hotspots around the globe, Germany’s military is coming under scrutiny, in part over questions regarding their ability to get their financial house in order. Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s defence minister, on Monday pledged to get a grip on Germany’s military equipment budget after publishing...

“Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.” – Saul Alinsky, “Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals,” p. 126 As the amnesty debate rages on, one has to ask: Why is it so important to this criminal administration to give a license to illegals to come into America? While most Americans are under the delusion that people favor this administration, the real question is, who exactly supports Barack Hussein Obama? Let’s go down memory lane and recollect just who (so you’ve been told) gives him all this support. If you remember...

Iran castigated its U.S. adversary on Tuesday over new financial measures to disrupt Iranian commerce, and a default on payment for rice purchases highlighted the encroachment of sanctions on the staples of everyday life. Lawmakers in Tehran vowed to ban crude exports to European countries even before an EU oil embargo takes effect. The U.S. sanctions, targeting Iran's central bank and giving U.S. banks new powers to freeze Iranian government assets, were the latest in a tightening web of international measures aimed at forcing the Islamic Republic to scrap sensitive nuclear work. "It is an antagonistic move, psychological warfare which...

US President Barack Obama Saturday signed into law tough new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and financial sector, in a move that could intensify a brewing Gulf showdown. The measures, meant to punish Iran for its nuclear program, were contained in a mammoth $662 billion defense bill, which Obama signed despite having reservations that it ties his hands on setting foreign policy. The sanctions are meant to hit Iran's crucial oil sector and require foreign firms to make a choice between doing business with Tehran's financial sector and central bank or the mighty US economy and financial sector. Foreign central...

Some great powers talk big and act big. Some do big things quietly. But you can't talk big and do nothing and still expect to be taken seriously in a world of ruthless power players. That's what Obama is doing in Libya today, following in the pathetic footsteps of Jimmy Carter and Lyndon B. Johnson. Obama is a grandstanding blow-hard, and the world understands that by now. Telling Hosni Mubarak to leave the presidency of Egypt after 30 years of a very successful alliance that stabilized the Middle East was unnecessary, dangerous, and humiliating to a man who deserved better...

Chinese in Series of Diplomatic Gaffes in Seoul A Chinese delegation led by Dai Bingguo, the Chinese state councilor in charge of foreign affairs who visited South Korea on Nov. 27 and met with President Lee Myung-bak to discuss North Korea's attack on Yeonpyeong Island, has become the talk of the town among diplomats in Seoul. A diplomatic source in Seoul on Monday said the Chinese suddenly notified the South Korean Foreign Ministry at 3 p.m. on Nov. 27 that a delegation led by Dai will leave in 15 minutes and hopes to land at Seoul Airport. The airport in...

Iran: A leaked memo from the defense secretary reveals the administration has no alternatives to stop Iran's nuclear push if "soft power" fails. This should be a wake-up call, but we continue snoozing toward Armageddon. President Obama campaigned on the notion that not talking to tyrants was not an option or a workable policy. He said he'd be willing to talk with anybody anywhere to bring peace and relieve tensions. Unlike President Theodore Roosevelt, however, he has been talking softly but forgetting about the big stick. A memo written by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and unearthed by the New York...

The leader of an al-Qaeda-backed group has offered US forces safe withdrawal from Iraq within a month if they left their heavy weapons behind, according to an audio tape posted on the internet on Friday. The authenticity of the tape could not be verified, but it was posted on two main web sites used by al-Qaeda and other armed groups in Iraq. "We call on [President George] Bush not to waste this historic opportunity," said the speaker, identified as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, head of the so-called Islamic state in Iraq, which was announced in October by al-Qaeda and groups linked...

How did we go from winning the war in Iraq to losing overnight? Was this decided by the same committee that changed "Peking" to "Beijing"? These word changes are a fortiori evidence that liberals are part of a conspiracy. On what date did "horrible" and "actress" vanish from the English language to be replaced with "horrific" and "actor"? Who decided that? (Meanwhile, I'm still writing "Puff Daddy" in my nightly dream journal when everybody else has started calling him "Diddy.") When did "B.C." (before Christ) and "A.D." (anno Domini, "in the year of the Lord") get replaced with "BCE" (before...

How did we go from winning the war in Iraq to losing overnight? Was this decided by the same committee that changed "Peking" to "Beijing"? These word changes are a fortiori evidence that liberals are part of a conspiracy. On what date did "horrible" and "actress" vanish from the English language to be replaced with "horrific" and "actor"? Who decided that? (Meanwhile, I'm still writing "Puff Daddy" in my nightly dream journal when everybody else has started calling him "Diddy.") When did "B.C." (before Christ) and "A.D." (anno Domini, "in the year of the Lord") get replaced with "BCE" (before...

Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad-Reza Sheybani says 'Israel can't deal with our capabilities; Lebanon war beginning of end of Israel' Iranian threats against Israel continue: Iranian media outlets published sections of interviews given by Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad-Reza Sheybani, who said that Hizbullah's military capability has greatly increased in the last decade, and threatened that if Israel harmed Syria, the Iranians would respond with force. Sheybani stressed that Iran would support Syria if it is attacked by Israel. "There should be no doubt on this issue: If Syria is harmed, even in the slightest way, we will respond with...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea's test-firing of missiles was an act of a "paper tiger" that has miscalculated the world's response and may result in sanctions, the senior Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Wednesday. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware said he was more concerned about Pyongyang's taking conventional provocative acts that could escalate tensions in north Asia, than about it's ability to hit U.S. territory with a missile. Asked on CBS' "The Early Show" whether Washington should have destroyed the missiles before launch, Biden said, "I would rather have seen it do exactly what it...