Free Republic

Russia's Ramzan Kadyrov once again demanded that the United States lift sanctions against members of his family—and his horses—this time offering Ukrainian prisoners of war in exchange, Russian state media reported on Friday. Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya and Russian President Vladimir Putin's loyal ally, made the offer via former American intelligence officer Scott Ritter, who was visiting Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.(snip)"We have prisoners whom we took in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions," Kadyrov was quoted as telling Ritter, a former U.S. official and, more recently, a Russian media darling. "I am passing on to our guest the list...

An investigation has been launched after a Russian passenger plane landed on a frozen river near an airport in Russia's far east on Thursday... It's not the first time a Russian plane has landed in an unusual location in recent months. In September, a Ural Airlines Airbus 320 that was flying from the Black Sea resort of Sochi to the city of Omsk in southwestern Siberia attempted to make an emergency landing at the airport in the city of Novosibirsk, but had to land in open countryside. Russia's aviation agency Rosaviatsia said the landing took place "on a site selected...

Moscow has been on a drive to replace the use of the US dollar in international trade, but there are barrels of Russian oil stuck at sea due to issues with paying in alternative currencies. Shipments of Russian Sokol grade crude oil to state-owned Indian Oil Corp, or IOC, have been delayed by payment issues, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The seller is the state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft. The problem arose because Rosneft unit selling the oil hasn't been able to open a bank account in the United Arab Emirates to receive payments...

President Biden on Friday is expected to sign an executive order expanding sanctions targeting Russia’s ability to build up its military. The new authority would threaten foreign banks connected to the U.S. financial system with penalties for transacting with Moscow. The executive order (EO) warns foreign banks against processing “significant transactions relating to Russia’s military industrial base,” saying that doing so would risk losing access to the American financial system.

Former high-ranking FBI official Charles McGonigal started tearing up Thursday as he was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison for colluding with a Russian oligarch to evade US sanctions. McGonigal, 55, was ordered to surrender by Feb. 26, 2024, made to serve three years of supervised release following his time behind bars, and was fined $40,000. After he exited the courthouse, McGonigal told onlookers, “Happy holidays.” McGonigal, who helmed the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018, pleaded guilty to the charge back in August. “[McGonigal] well knew his actions violated those sanctions,” Manhattan federal judge...

EU officials will begin drawing up a list of extremist Israeli settlers who have been attacking Palestinians in the West Bank so they may be subject to potential sanctions, according to the EU’s chief diplomat. The announcement by Josep Borrell followed the statement earlier by Tánaiste Micheál Martin that Ireland would be “very open” to imposing sanctions and travel bans on extremist settlers if there is no agreement at EU level. Mr. Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, said the issue was discussed during today’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. While there was as yet no...

There have been a vast number of cases in recent months of Russian domestic passenger planes making emergency landings due to technical issues, driven by a lack of spare parts... Data compiled by Newsweek shows that from September 2023 to December 8, 2023, Russia saw a total of 60 commercial aviation incidents that involved emergency landings, engine fires and malfunctions, along with other technical issues forcing the planes to abandon their intended routes... Earlier, Novaya Gazeta Europe found that from January to August 2023, more than 120 air accidents were recorded in Russia involving civil aircraft used by Russian airlines....

Russian citizens say they are living relatively normal lives despite the imposition of worldwide sanctions following the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a new poll.A Gallup survey found that 56% of Russian respondents believe their local economies are improving, while 46% agree that living standards are also improving — a record since the poll began in 2006.The upbeat sentiment comes as Western countries are losing the motivation to continue supporting Ukraine’s defense efforts, with many analysts now saying that Russia has the upper hand in the war.Most Russians feel that war efforts are benefiting them, according to a...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces sanctions against Jews accused of attacking Arabs in Judea and Samaria... "We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank", Blinken said. "As President Biden has repeatedly said, those attacks are unacceptable"....

As the attention of the world centers on the war in Gaza, many commentators believe that the war in Ukraine is becoming a stalemate. To date, Ukraine’s highly anticipated summer counteroffensive has not resulted in any substantial territorial gain, and Russia has not made any progress either. In military terms, a stalemate is not necessarily negative, depending on your perspective. It’s a chance to replenish ammunition stocks (for instance, Russia’s limited supply of missiles) or procure new key weapons systems for the next phase of the war (Ukraine’s acquisition of F-16 fighter jets.) In political and diplomatic terms, a stalemate...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow is ready to end the war in Ukraine, branding it a "tragedy". The Kremlin chief, who sent his troops into Ukraine last February, blamed Volodymyr Zelensky for the continued violence. Putin is reportedly poised to use his speech at an upcoming G20 meeting to urge world leaders to work out a strategy for ending the war. In a virtual meeting on Wednesday, the Russian president said: “Military actions are always a tragedy. And of course, we should think about how to stop this tragedy. Ukrainian President Zelensky signed a decree in October 2022...

Russia is in a better place now than it could be. The recipe? Using human greed as a weapon.

Dr William Makis has reviewed 8 published papers that clearly show the techniques employed by governments world wide to ensure vaccine uptake. From punishments and threats to employment and reputation, to rewards for complying, studies show that the Covid vaccine rollout was aided by the the greatest psychological fear campaign in human history using tried and tested brainwashing techniques.Propaganda Series – Brainwashing Techniques Used to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake – 8 papers reviewed, looking at the psychological manipulation of the massesThis article originally appeared on makismd.substack.com by Dr. William MakisPapers Reviewed:2023 Jun – Steffens et al – “Testing persuasive messages...

TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers will return to the Capitol on Monday for a brief special session to bolster state sanctions on Iran, a move aimed at helping Gov. Ron DeSantis with his floundering presidential campaign, his critics say. Legislators also plan to tackle other issues, including more aid for Hurricane Idalia victims, extra money to harden homes against hurricanes and school voucher funding. Not on the agenda Florida has the highest property insurance rates in the country, Driskell noted. “They continue to go out of control with no immediate relief for homeowners,” Driskell said, “yet we doled out billions to...

A New York judge fined Donald Trump $5,000 on Friday after threatening the former president with jail time for violating a partial gag order in his civil fraud trial. But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron warned that future violations will subject Trump to “far more severe sanctions” — including imprisonment. *** Friday’s fine, while small for Trump, is the first time the ex-president has faced punishment for violating court-ordered restrictions on his speech. Engoron made the decision after discovering that Trump had not fully deleted the social media post that prompted the speech restrictions in the first place. The...

Iranians have little clue they are one stupid missile volley, or one reckless intervention away from a devastating Western response. Iran understandably believes it is riding quite high. It is flush with cash. It hints it almost has the bomb—and might use it soon. The Iranians are bragging about their new tyrannical allies like Russia and China. Iran boasts of now being the self-proclaimed leader of jihad on behalf of all Muslims. It gloats that it is feeding the Russian war-machine by exporting its own drones. Tehran proudly supplied and funded Hamas’s savage murdering of Jewish children in Israel. It...

The U.S. Treasury Department has announced sanctions on two companies for allegedly violating a price cap on Russian oil agreed last year by Western countries. Vessels owned by companies based in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey were cited as having violated a price cap set in December by the countries in the Group of Seven leading economies... The coalition set the price cap at $60 per barrel for Russian crude to restrict income for Russian oil that could then be used to fund its invasion of Ukraine. A vessel owned by U.A.E.-based Lumber Marine was found to have violated...

Over the Christmas weekend, Chicago surpassed the 750-murder mark for 2016. But as blacks lay dying on the streets of Chicago’s South and West Sides, a Black Lives Matter offshoot is more interested in traveling overseas to learn “resistance” from terrorists. The Dream Defenders bills itself as “an uprising of communities in struggle, shifting culture through transformational organizing.” But an investigation conducted by the Haym Salomon Center reveals the group’s embrace of anti-Semitism and collaboration with a State Department-designated terror group. In August, Black Lives Matter singled out Israel for condemnation, declaring it an “apartheid” state engaged in “genocide.” These...

October 12, 2023 - Recently, Sec. of State Blinken made a remark, charging Republicans with exploiting the crisis: the HAMAS terror attack against Israel, that began on October 6, 2023.During 2018, President Trump finally decided to stop implementing the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement. See: United States withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA]. EXCERPT:"After the Trump administration twice certified Iran's compliance in 2017, in May 2018 the United States withdrew from JCPOA as Trump pledged he would negotiate a better deal." The Iran nuclear deal is intertwined with financial sanctions that are explained in Section 1245 of the...