Free Republic

"I've never trusted the Americans. I've trusted them neither before nor now and I'm not going to trust them in future. But concerning the possible strike on Syria, I think that this strike will likely be delivered because it's profitable both for the Democrats and Republicans."

A new national survey by the independent Levada Center indicates that social tensions across the country are rising at levels not seen since the eve of Russia’s 1998 financial collapse. Seventy-two percent of Russians say they worry about rising prices, 52 percent cited growing impoverishment, and 48 percent say one of the nation’s biggest problems is unemployment. In the past year, Russians have become roughly 33 percent more likely to talk about economic crisis, environmental deterioration, and rising crime, the Levada Center director Lev Gudkov told the newspaper Kommersant. Sociologists say it’s still hard to know if rising panic will...

Ukraine can’t reclaim territory annexed by Russia or held by its proxies – but it’s increasingly likely to deprive its larger neighbor of something arguably as valuable: Its power over Ukraine’s Orthodox Christian believers, and with it Moscow’s claim to a central role in eastern Christianity. Moscow Patriarch Kirill went to Istanbul late last month to meet with Bartholomew (of Constantinople). A bishop who was present said that while no final decision was made on Ukrainian autocephaly, the process has now gone too far to reverse it. Russian clerics have warned that granting independence to the Ukrainian church could cause...

n June 14, 2016, the Washington Post reported that Russian hackers had broken into the Democratic National Committee’s files and gained access to its research on Donald Trump. A political world already numbed by Trump’s astonishing rise barely took notice. News reports quoted experts who suggested the Russians merely wanted more information about Trump to inform their foreign-policy dealings. By that point, Russia was already broadcasting its strong preference for Trump through the media. Yet when news of the hacking broke, nobody raised the faintest suspicions that Russia wished to alter the outcome of the election, let alone that Trump...

A former campaign aide accused of lying to the FBI said that then-candidate Donald Trump “nodded with approval” at his suggestion of setting up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. George Papadopoulos’ lawyers argued in new probation filings that President Trump was open to his suggestions about meeting with the foreign leader in March of 2016, The Associated Press reported Saturday. Papadopoulos allegedly volunteered to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin during a gathering with Trump’s foreign policy advisers, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions — who was a GOP senator at the time. “While some...

If Russia "hacked" the election and Trump colluded with Russia, why did Hillary Clinton win the popular vote by 3 million votes? They found a way for Trump to win the electoral college, but let Hillary win Los Angeles, Chicago, NYC, Washington DC, San Francisco and other major cities by a landslide? Makes no sense.

A proposal to raise Russia’s retirement age is shaking the popularity of President Vladimir Putin, who faces a public backlash as the government seeks to stem the erosion of state finances to fund the country’s aging population. The overhaul, which would raise the general age at which people qualify for state old-age pensions for the first time since the early 1930s, comes as Russia’s economy is smarting from international sanctions and a depreciated ruble has left average Russians with less spending power. Fierce opposition to the change is undermining the notion of Putin’s political invincibility. The legislation, introduced by the...

Adam Lovinger, a former Defense Department analyst ... a whistleblower, is now battling to save his career. The Pentagon suspended his top-secret security clearance May 1, 2017, when he exposed through an internal review that Stefan Halper, who was then an emeritus Cambridge professor, had received roughly $1 million in tax-payer funded money to write Defense Department foreign policy reports, his attorney Sean Bigley said. Before Lovinger's clearance was suspended he had taken a detail to the National Security Council as senior director for strategy. He was only there for five months before he was recalled to the Pentagon, stripped...

When it comes to support for President Vladimir Putin’s international positions, the South African (SA) Government has been among the most consistent and enthusiastic of any in the world. However, Russian policy in South Africa has been damaged by the behaviour of Russian oligarchs and state businesses implicated in the corrupt schemes of former SA president Jacob Zuma; he is now facing multiple indictments for seeking and taking bribes for himself and his family. Putin’s landing in Johannesburg on Thursday ought to have been the signal for a fresh start. Ahead of his departure from Moscow, Putin’s advisor on foreign...

During the years of the ANC’s guerilla struggle against white rule in South Africa, Zuma was its head of military intelligence. He and other political associates received training in the Soviet Bloc, then one of the ANC’s allies. Putin and some of his close associates today were officers of the Soviet intelligence and security services during this period. An important ANC policy document in 2015, A Better Africa in a Better and Just World, reflected a pro-Russian worldview. It extolled the value of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and quoted Lenin approvingly on the tranformation of society. The document also...

Russia is "stuck" in Syria and looking for others to fund its post-war reconstruction, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said, describing this as an opportunity for Washington to press for Iranian forces to quit the civil war-wracked country. Bolton said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had told the United States that Moscow could not compel the Iranians to leave Syria. "But he also told us that his interest and Iran's were not exactly the same. So we're obviously going to talk to him about what role they can play," said Bolton, who meets his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, in...

If you googled “Invasion of South Ossetia” on Monday of this week one of the sites near the top of the list was the vitriolic anti Georgian propaganda web site “war.georgia.su” which detailed Georgian atrocities and planned atrocities against the peace loving people of South Ossetia. When I first saw it, the first thing that caught my eye (other than the over the top blood dripping pro anti Georian propaganda) was that the domain name itself. It did not end in “ge” as in Georgia but “su”, the domain name of sites in the former Soviet Union. This made me...

The Trump administration added to its growing list of sanctions against Russia on Tuesday as U.S. lawmakers urged tighter economic restrictions on Moscow and Britain's top diplomat accused Russia's leader of pursuing policies that are making the world more dangerous. The Treasury Department announced two new actions against Russian targets: blacklisting two companies and two individuals suspected of trying to circumvent U.S. sanctions imposed in June in response to cyberattacks; and against two Russian shipping companies suspected of transferring petroleum products to North Korean vessels in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. While President Donald Trump has sought closer ties...

Rev. Franklin Graham says he is cancelling an evangelical summit in Russia after the government passed a new law placing severe restrictions on Christian evangelization. "We were looking forward to this significant event being held in Russia because no one knows modern Christian persecution better than the church that suffered under communist rule. However, just a few weeks ago Russia passed a law that severely limits Christians' freedoms," Graham posted on Facebook in announcing the cancellation of his World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians. The law, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, puts a stop to sharing faith in...

A Ukraine court has found former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of authority for signing gas contracts with Russia and sentenced her Tuesday to seven years in prison. Authorities deployed hundreds of police officers around the court to keep order, state media reported. Dozens of angry Tymoshenko supporters took to the streets of Kiev in August when she was taken into custody. "Dear friends, I just want to say that I disagree with this verdict and I am saying that the year 1937 is back again," Tymoshenko said in the courtroom on Tuesday, making a reference to Josef...

Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele was all over the news over the past few years for providing and promoting the fake Trump – Russia dossier to the Hillary campaign, the DNC, the FBI and the DOJ. With information now known, it becomes clear that Steele was paid by the Russians while he was pushing the fake Russia dossier to the Democrat and Deep State complex. This is the Russia collusion story – the efforts by the corrupt Hillary campaign and the DNC and the US government’s DOJ and FBI to obtain dirt on Donald Trump, even if it was made...

Early last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House...The intelligence captured Putin’s specific instructions on the operation’s audacious objectives — defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump.

Russia will spend hundreds of millions of rubles on restoring the golden dome of the National Capitol Building in Havana, Cuba, in what Russian critics have said is an example of misplaced spending. Russian users reacted sarcastically to the plan, with opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s aide Leonid Volkov calling it “brilliant news, simply the best.” Popular blogger Ilya Varlamov wrote a post on Telegram ridiculing Russia’s decision to spend the money abroad. “Russia will spend 642 million rubles to restore roads and repair hospitals across the country!” he wrote. “Whoops, I made a typo, sorry!" Though opened after eight years...

FRANKFURT, Germany — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russia's President Vladimir Putin will have plenty to talk about when they meet Saturday — thanks in no small part to U.S. President Donald Trump, whose sanctions and criticisms over trade, energy and NATO have created new worries for both leaders. The two will meet at the German government's guest house outside Berlin and will give short statements beforehand but aren't planning a news conference, German officials have said. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert has said that topics will include the civil war in Syria, the conflict in Ukraine, and energy questions. Putin...

Trump administration officials have made thinly veiled calls for a military coup that would topple the Venezuelan dictatorship and pave the way for democracy. But some well-respected academics are warning that a military coup would more likely produce a Russia or China-backed anti-American dictatorship. Evan Ellis, a Latin America expert with the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute, and Brian Fonseca, a professor at Florida International University who has written extensively about the Venezuelan military, are among those who believe that a military coup in Venezuela would probably lead to a pro-Russian or pro-China regime, rather than to a...