Free Republic

A Pentagon think tank conducted a study that claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin has Asperger's syndrome, "an autistic disorder which affects all of his decisions," according to a report. Putin's "neurological development was significantly interrupted in infancy," wrote Brenda Connors, an expert in movement-pattern analysis at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. She added that movements reveal "the Russian President carries a neurological abnormality."

Russian spies operating a cell in New York were trying to find ways to cause an economic meltdown, according to court documents. The three men allegedly wanted to ‘destabilise’ high frequency trading systems, which were blamed for the Wall St ‘Flash Crash’ of 2010. snip The FBI began investigating the men in 2010 after ten Russian spies living in the US were arrested, including red-haired femme fatale Anna Chapman. Last night the exposure of the latest spy ring threatened to turn into a diplomatic row as Russia said there was no evidence against the trio. Prosecutors in New York named...

Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobny allegedly conspired to gather intelligence on behalf of Russia and to recruit Americans. Federal prosecutors in New York have unveiled criminal charges against three men for their alleged involvement in a spying scheme for Russia’s foreign intelligence service. According to a criminal complaint, Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy conspired in the United States to gather intelligence on behalf of Russia and to recruit New York City residents to help. The conspiracy ran from 2012 to the present, and during that time, Buryakov worked at a bank, Sporyshev was a Russian trade...

Havana (AFP) - A Russian intelligence warship docked in Havana on Tuesday, a day before the start of historic US-Cuba talks aimed at normalizing diplomatic relations. There was nothing stealthy about the arrival of the Viktor Leonov CCB-175, which was moored to a pier in Old Havana where cruise ships often dock. But the visit was not officially announced by Cuban authorities. US officials in Washington played down the presence of the Russian vessel, saying it was perfectly legal and not at all out of the ordinary. "It's not unprecedented. It's not unusual. It's not alarming," a defense official told...

Russia’s third Borei-class nuclear-powered submarine Vladimir Monomakh has officially become part of the Russian Navy. Armed with Bulava ballistic missiles, the SSBNs of this class are the planet’s most advanced nuclear deterrence tool. Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=877_1419144372#6lpwsZ5c7V7SzrzT.99

F-16's from RNAF (Royal Netherlands Air Force) operating from Malbork airbase in Poland. Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1b2_1418215345#Efxk1rGWZmuVFsAM.99

Link to video For 20 years, the Russians took a survival drilling pistol kit with them into space.  Then they ran out of ammunition.  The YouTube video above does a good job of highlighting the pistol and kit.  Such an item would likely be a "collector's and curio" item in the United States, as no ammunition is available for the shotgun barrels and very few were made.   Some enterprising importer would do well to get a couple of dozen thrown into a Russian import container of rifles and shotguns.   Collectors in the United States would gobble them up!  The shotgun...

NATO detected and monitored four groups of Russian military aircraft conducting significant military manoeuvers in European airspace over the Baltic Sea, North Sea/Atlantic Ocean, and Black Sea on 28 and 29 October 2014. These sizable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace Eight Russian Aircraft Intercepted over North Sea / Atlantic Ocean on 29 October 2014 At approximately 3:00 a.m. CET on 29 October, NATO radars detected and tracked eight Russian aircraft flying in formation over the North Sea. F-16 aircraft from the Royal Norwegian Air Force were scrambled, intercepted and identified the Russian aircraft,...

The patient is one of two Yale School of Public Health doctoral students who recently returned from Liberia. The students were not in direct contact with Ebola patients in Liberia, but officials said the student interacted with at least one person who was later diagnosed with Ebola. Workers at the Yale School of Public Health expressed legitimate concerns Thursday about whether sufficient precautions were taken upon the students’ return. The students volunteered to stay away from work for 21 days, but school officials decided that was not necessary. School of Public Health Dean Paul Cleary explained in a letter to...

In the era of Cold War the Western information space was full of numerous fantastic stories about Soviet submarines. Having taken shape in books and websites, those tales still keep Americans and Europeans on the trot. RusNavy.com tries to demolish the foremost fables of Western "folklore" of 1950-80's.

World NATO says Russian convoy move 'only deepens crisis' BRUSSELS: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen sharply criticised the Russian decision to advance a "so-called" aid convoy into Ukraine on Friday (Aug 22) as a "blatant breach" of international commitments that "only deepens the crisis". "This is a blatant breach of Russia's international commitments... and a further violation of Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia," Rasmussen said in a statement. "It can only deepen the crisis in the region, which Russia itself has created and has continued to fuel," he said. Rasmussen poured doubt on Moscow's claim that the convoy, which had been...

I thought he said they're weren't any Russian troops there- hmmm Kremlin.ru   

The captain of a cement tanker headed from Aalborg to England had a blood alcohol level over twice the legal limit... five hours after running aground. A tanker loaded with 2,100 tonnes of cement ran aground on the island of Læsø late on Tuesday night, and apparently the ship itself was not the only thing that was loaded. According to Nordjyske, the Russian captain of the ship registered a blood alcohol level over twice the legal limit when North Jutland Police administered a breathalyzer at around 4am. And that was over five hours after the ship, the Cyprus-owned Cemfjord, ran...

If Russia does not affect terrorists before 22 July to obtain access to the investigators involving two MIAs and one Boeing 777, the EU "will determine the consequences" Germany, France and the United Kingdom have given Putin time till Tuesday Terrorists in control of the crash site (photo-ERA) Germany, the United Kingdom and France have called on President Vladimir Putin to affect pro-Russian terrorists, that they provide full access to international experts to the crash of the Boeing 777 airlines Malaysia Airlines in Donetsk region. It said in a joint statement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron...

RAF Typhoons have been scrambled to intercept a force of seven Russian warplanes near the Baltic states. A Russian bomber, four fighters, a command and control plane and a transport plane were taking part in exercises in international air space over the Baltic Sea. The two Typhoons, sent from Siauliai air base in Lithuania, escorted them away on Tuesday. Britain sent four Typhoon fighters to Lithuania, a Nato ally, in April as tensions rose over Russia’s annexation of the Crimea from the Ukraine. Nato carries out Baltic air policing because Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania do not have their own fighters.

Tour operators in Egypt have this week held a conference to urge Italian tourists to return, after instability in the country prompted a crisis in the travel industry following the 2011 ousting of dictator Hosni Mubarak. Around 700 tour operators gathered this week at the ‘United for Egypt’ conference held at the Port Ghalib resort, La Stampa reported. Organizers from both countries hoped the meeting would give a much-needed boost to tourism to Egypt, which has seen a dramatic fall-off in recent years. “In 2008 in Egypt there were 1,073,159 Italian travellers. That number literally collapsed and in 2013 local...

Ukrainian military forces were able to land the Russian # UAV, who was scouting locations for a terrorist organization DNI. In addition, a flask with an unknown chemicalwas found in the UAV. The substance was sent for examination. An investigation is under way, the details of which will be announced later. This UAV journalists of our portal symbolically christened # ICARUS. It's the first trophy # ICARUS in the collection of our military, but probably not the last, as new Ukrainian weapons to deal with enemy UAV and seize control over them, letting us put the drone away without any...

A soldier attacked over the weekend at a bar by a gang of six Russians may never move again, his family said today. Specialist Korry McClanahan, 25, was set upon and beaten outside Steel Creek American Whiskey Co. in Tacoma, Washington, where he had been playing pool with a friend on Friday night. The father-of-one's family are now holding a bedside vigil at Madigan Army Medical Center, where doctors were forced to remove a piece of Spec. McClanahan's skull to relieve swelling to his brain. snip The attack happened after Spec. McClanahan and his friend, also a soldier, stepped outside...

The hedge fund founded and, until recently, run by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer was involved in a deal to sell a stake in a Russian oil company to a Russian oligarch who is the target of U.S. sanctions. Farallon Capital Management sold a part of its stake in Russian firm Geotech Oil Services to the Volga Group, a Luxembourg-based investment firm owned by Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko, in 2010. Four years later, in April 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it would target Timchenko, Volga, and a number of companies associated with them, in a round of sanctions aimed...

The Associated Press reported Monday that Gen. Herbert Carlisle, Commander of United States Air Forces in the Pacific, acknowledged a significant increase in the activities by Russian long-range strategic aircraft flying along the California coast. There was no comment about whether the aircraft were nuclear capable, but it has not been since the Cold War ended in the early 1990s that Russian patrols have skirted the West Coast and California. Gen. Herbert J. "Hawk" Carlisle is the Commander of Pacific Air Forces; Air Component Commander for U.S. Pacific Command; and Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff, Joint Base Pearl...