Free Republic

<p>World look: Do not say that you did not see!!</p>

Imagine your country being invaded by a frightening combination of stealthy military force and mafia/street thugs carrying advanced, high-tech weaponry... yet refusing to wear insignia, produce ID, or even tell the truth re. who they are, where they came from, or what they are doing there. And nobody does anything to stop them, either inside or outside the country. Then the few patriots that do dare to speak-out against the invader's lies and territorial aggression begin to simply disappear... Kiev Post:  Twelve persons, including journalists (and one American), have been kidnapped over the past week in the eastern Ukrainian cities...

The recent Soviet-er, um, Russian annexation of the Crimea got me reflecting back on my youth. I'm a child of the 1970s and 80s. I'm not ashamed of that either. As I have grown older, I feel that the younger generations have grown soft, complacent, lazy, and unworthy of our 1980s legacy. Ironically our parents felt the same way about us (of course, we proved them wrong.) We had vinyl albums, not because they sounded retro but because that was all we had. Not to brag, but those of us alive in that period - we rocked. Literally. Our music...

What a shock- a Russian-Ukrainian billionaire who made his initial fortune from dubious stock shares eminating from the breakup of the Soviet Union has been sending big, fat checks this year to establishment Republicans and Democrats who aren't too uppity re. foreign policy.Of course, most billionaire Russians who are part owners of huge Russian mining/energy companies over there are KGB/FSB and/or mafia-connected... just like Putin And London resident Leonard Blavatnik is a typical pro-Putin oligarch, getting rich off looting the Russian state then utilizing that ill-gotten fortune to spread Russian influence around the globe. In this case, Blavatnik made almost 20 BILLION from the Russian oil/mining industries...

<p>While the NSA is busy justifying its spying of every American its existence thanks to famous Moscow resident Edward Snowden, its Russian counterparts have been busy intercepting even more phone Ukrainian conversations.</p> <p>After a month ago a leaked phone call between US assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland and the US envoy to the Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt confirmed that it was the US that was pulling the strings in what was about to be a violent coup overthrowing Ukraine's president Yanukovich, "someone" has just leaked another phone conversation, this time between parliamentarian Nestor Shufrych and former PM and ideological leader of the Ukraine "revolution" Yulia Tymoshenko and most probable future president of West Ukraine, in which Tymoshenko is makes the following threats, "It’s going too far! Bugger! We must grab arms and go whack those damn katsaps [a Ukrainian word used to refer to the Russians in a negative tone] together with their leader", "I’ll use all my connections, I’ll raise the whole world – as soon as I’m able to – in order to make sure.. Bugger!.. not even scorched earth won’t remain where Russia stands" although all her empty threats collapse in the last sentence of the phone conversation in which she says, regarding the Crimea annexation, that "we are going to take it to the Hague International Criminal Court." Good luck with that.</p>

US Secretary of State John Kerry chastised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his country’s “unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine” and warned that “serious repercussions will be undertaken.” “National sovereignty is a principle that you either respect or don’t,” Kerry lectured Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in high level talks this past week. “Engaging in displays of military strength or actual incursions into a foreign country in order to influence or intimidate its government is not acceptable.” Lavrov questioned Kerry’s sincerity and historical knowledge by alluding to US intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya in recent years and...

  At the new de facto border that's developed on actual mainland Ukraine at Chonhar, Kherson Oblast (not Crimea), VICE journalist/correspondent/filmmaker Simon Ostrovsky attempted to take 'the safest way' into Crimea from Ukraine (train/on foot) yesterday, which required passing both Ukrianian and Russian checkpoints... The Ukrainians were pretty cool, inviting him inside the commander's tank for a brief interview. Although he stated he was of 'Russian blood', the Ukrainian officer made it abundantly clear how little that meant to him in the current confrontation: 'If your are an invader, we will fend off your invasion. It doesn't matter who it is.' He went on...

If you want to know the back story of the Ukrainian revolution, The Soviet Story tells exactly what happened to Ukraine during the Soviet era - and a lot more.It's the best educational film on the nature of communism, which should be shown to all high school students in America to immunize them against the lure of the “great” utopia. However, I doubt most teachers will do so in today's political climate. This 2008 documentary tells the story of the anti-human ideology the way I see it myself. That was rather surprising, because in today's “progressive” media climate, such...

KHERSON, Ukraine – Ukrainians in the Kherson province just north of Crimea say Russian operatives have moved into the territory, an incursion which, if true, could show Vladimir Putin has more than just the Black Sea peninsula in his sights. Residents of the village of Chonhar, in the Kherson region of Ukraine, say Russian troops showed up last week in armored personnel carriers, prompting the dispatch of Ukrainian troops and a standoff. The suspected Russian troops pulled back and established a checkpoint on a major road leading north from the Crimean capital of Simferopol.

I'm not exactly sure how Vladimir Putin intends to retain what credibility he ever had by lying to our faces when we know better, i.e. that the Kremlin didn't send troops into the Crimean peninsula- but another thing we can see with our own two eyes is that the Russians likely intended to move into as much Ukrainian territory as possible, and likely take the whole country.   They probably counted on the Ukrainians providing them an excuse to get violent, but due to incredible discipline and restraint they've yet to fire a shot at the Russians... the easy gains are done......

Does the West have no future? SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2014 BY SPERO NEWS Speaking before a conference in London on February 21 was Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, who leads his church's Department of External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. Said the churchman, "The Russian Church, which has paid in millions of lives for the godless Soviet experiment, can and must testify before the adherents of militant secularism to the fact that a society torn from its spiritual roots and faith has no future." Well known throughout the Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion has been notable for his defense of the...

Target shoppers can now sign up for free credit monitoring and identity theft assistance, which the discount chain is offering to all customers affected by its security breach. Target will pay for the services for 12 months, provided by Experian through its ProtectMyID alert system. After a year, consumers must pay for the service themselves if they choose to continue. To enroll, first visit CreditMonitoring.Target.com to request an activation code. You'll need to provide your name and email address. The activation code will be sent by email, arriving in one to five days, Target said. Once you have your unique...

The conventional wisdom is that when you poll "all adults" as opposed to a tighter screening for "registered voters," Democrats generally do better. If that is the case, the latest poll from The Economist/YouGov is the worse news yet for a president obviously in over his head with the Russians and Syria. Obama currently sits at 38% approve/56% disapprove with all adults.

Gay rights groups, and others, are calling on the United States to boycott the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Sochi because of recent Russian legislation that criminalizes support for gays and lesbians. Yeah, the Russian honchos are definitely homophobic buffoons. That means you, Vladimir.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel plan to meet here in Washington with their Russian counterparts on Friday for a day of talks that could determine the fate of a September summit meeting between President Obama and the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. State Department officials on Tuesday afternoon confirmed the meeting with Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Sergei K. Shoigu, the defense minister. Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said the four officials would discuss “a number of pressing bilateral and global issues.” “There’s a lot to discuss,´´Ms. Psaki said.

Police source: 2 Russian nationals pulled over in Niagara Falls; 4 suspicious backpacks in the car, robot & bomb techs on scene.FBI is aware of the situation in Niagara Falls, they (sic) joint terrorism task force is working with NYSP.

Canada to announce arrests after thwarting "major terrorist attack":CBCR Reuters – 19 mins ago TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police and intelligence agencies are to announce multiple arrests on Monday after an operation to thwart a "major terrorist attack," the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said on Monday, citing unnamed "highly placed" sources.

In just the short period of time since Tamerlan Tsarnaev was filled with lead and run-over by his team-player brother with an SUV, there's already emerged startling info that indicates Tsarnaev is someone the FBI should have been keeping a keen eye on, esp. considering THEY were the ones that told his mother Tamerlan was a 'extremist leader' and tracked him for five years. The Tsarnaev brothers posted jihadi statements, propaganda, and videos online recently- after Tamerlan had already been on FBI watch-lists for years. Under his own name, he featured videos on his YouTube page such as sermons by...

Four women who are believed to be part of an organized Russian "retail theft ring" were arrested Saturday after trying to steal $32,000 worth of clothes from the Saks Fifth Avenue store in Boca Raton, police said. The women told police they were visiting Florida from New York but they couldn't say why and claimed to not speak English, according to Boca Raton police arrest reports.

MOSCOW — The Russian government in recent weeks has been making use of a new law that gives it the power to block Internet content that it deems illegal or harmful to children. The country’s communications regulators have required Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to remove material that the officials determined was objectionable, with only YouTube, owned by Google, resisting. The video-sharing site complied with a Russian agency’s order to block a video that officials said promoted suicide. But YouTube filed a lawsuit in Russian court in February saying the video, showing how to make a fake wound with makeup materials...