Free Republic

OPINION China’s recent outcry over the alleged breach of ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ with the Philippines reveals a profound irony, given the history of its coercion and deceit There is a huge amount of insincerity and gall involved in the Chinese complaint that the Philippines had torn up the bilateral ‘Gentleman’s Agreement,’ between Beijing and Manila. While the term ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ has an implicit assumption of ‘trust’ as a fundamental tenet besting a relationship, which may otherwise not be legally binding -- to even imagine that there has been any element of ‘trust’ between these two sparing countries, is to put oneself...

May 9 parades across other regions in Russia have been cancelled this year over 'security concerns'. VLADIMIR Putin paraded nuclear missile launchers, tanks and thousands of war-ready troops this morning ahead of his triumphant Victory Day event. -snip- Ahead of the patriotic event, Russia's fearsome intercontinental nuclear missiles were pulled through the capital's streets in a show of force to the West. Huge columns of troops marched towards the Red Square and even children in oversized battledress joined in the military festivities. The real events will be held on Thursday under intense security, with reports suggesting that Moscow's centrepiece show...

A bipartisan majority in the U.S. Congress recently took the noble and necessary action of devoting a fresh round of aid worth $61 billion to Ukraine. Now that the U.S. has stepped up militarily, the West needs to ramp up a line of effort that has been lacking in its Ukraine strategy: intensifying economic warfare. It’s a tactic that President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would have embraced — and one that will undermine the Russian military and the Vladimir Putin’s regime’s stability. Reagan came into office perceiving the Soviet Union’s economic weakness, and resolved early in...

Ukrainian energy workers are struggling to repair the damage from intensifying airstrikes aimed at pulverizing Ukraine’s energy grid, hobbling the economy and sapping the public’s morale. Staff worry they will lose the race to prepare for winter unless allies come up with air-defense systems like the U.S.-made Patriots to stop Russian attacks inflicting more destruction on already damaged plants. "Rockets hit fast. Fixing takes long," Oleh said in limited but forceful English. DTEK says it has lost 80% of its electricity-generating capacity in almost 180 aerial attacks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. It estimates that repairing...

Russia 1 state television commentators propose a resumption of Soviet-era psychiatric practices in which anyone opposed to the regime would be subjected to psychiatric torture.

Ukrainian troops have made a tactical retreat from three more villages as Russian forces press forward across the eastern front line and take advantage of Kyiv’s exhausted military, which is desperately awaiting the arrival of new U.S. assistance. Ukraine’s commander in chief, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said in a Telegram post Sunday that the “situation at the front has worsened” and described some of the toughest fighting west of Avdiivka, the city that fell to Russian forces in February. In that direction, Ukrainian troops withdrew from the villages of Berdychi, Semenivka and Novomykhailivka. “Trying to seize the strategic initiative and...

"You can't go anywhere at all, not even to Uzbekistan or Belarus for the May holidays," said one source. -snip- Russia is making overseas travel harder for some officials due to fears that foreign powers may try to gain access to state secrets during the worst crisis in relations with the West for more than 60 years, nine sources told Reuters. The Federal Security Service (FSB) is putting pressure on employees across government ministries not to leave Russia at all, even to visit so-called 'friendly' countries that have not imposed sanctions against Moscow, the sources said. Foreign travel was highly...

In August 1961, during a period when tensions between Washington and Moscow were at a high point, Admiral Konstantin I. Derevyanko penned a letter to Premier Krushchev. His purpose was to alert Krushchev to what the Admiral called the “nuclear romanticism” of the Soviet General Staff. The Admiral’s words still carry the force of logic and common sense and are still worthy of our attention today: Which planet do these people [the Soviet General Staff] intend to live on in the future, and to which Earth do they plan to send their troops to conquer territories?... By this indiscriminately massive...

The future of Cuba and the trajectory of communism are under threat, with citizens fighting back against the regime. Protesters are taking to the streets amid an ongoing economic crisis, making their concerns heard. Cuba’s communist leadership is facing a fierce backlash that has not been seen since similar protests in July 2021. Since the 2021 protests, it is estimated that nearly 500,000 Cubans have sought refuge in the United States. In this Sky News Digital Originals, we explore whether Cuba’s communist leadership could be about to tumble. “The Cuban regime knows the Cuban people are getting smarter and they're...

Russell Bentley, an American who fought against Ukrainian forces, is missing in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, police there said Friday, adding that a search was underway. Bentley went missing on April 8, according to police. The online news outlet Mash said he had disappeared after a district in the city of Donetsk was shelled by Ukrainian forces. Mash cited his wife as saying he had gone to see if anyone needed help but had not returned. She was quoted as saying she had found his car with his baseball cap in it along with his smashed mobile...

Iran warned United Nations Security Council envoys to expect retaliation against Israel’s apparent bombardment of a diplomatic facility in Syria that killed several Iranian military commanders. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has exercised considerable restraint, but it is imperative to acknowledge that there are limits to such forbearance,” Iranian envoy Zahra Ershadi, the regime’s deputy representative to the United Nations, said Tuesday afternoon. “The occupying regime must bear full responsibility for its consequences. Iran reserves its legitimate and inherent right under international law and the United Nations Charter to take a decisive response to such reprehensible acts.” -snip- “Do not...

The Biden Regime canceled its plan to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve because oil is “way too expensive.” Biden drained the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest level in 40 years. Now, the Biden administration is CANCELLING their plans to refill it because oil is "way too expensive." pic.twitter.com/NYqEZ2Aosa — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 3, 2024 This comes as gas prices are once again skyrocketing. Recall that Biden drained the SPR to its lowest level in 40 years. Biden sold the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to Europe, India and China. Joe Biden depleted the SPR to help China....

Gasoline production in Russia has fallen after a series of strikes by Kyiv on the country's oil refineries, figures show. Rosstat, Russia's Federal State Statistics Service, said that in the week ending March 24, the nation's production of motor petrol fell by approximately 7.4 percent to 754,600 tons compared to the week prior, when production was at 815,300 tons, local media reported. Moscow depends on its oil exports and energy industry, which make up some 30 percent of the country's budget revenues and are crucial for the funding of the war in Ukraine. Kyiv ramped up its attacks on Russian...

Covert allies? What is the relationship between ISIS-K* and the US? Recent data reveals that the perpetrators of the heinous massacre on Crocus City Hall were allegedly recruited via a Telegram channel administered by members of 'Wilayat Khorasan'*, also recognized as ISIS-K*, per a Sputnik source. As we delve deeper into the motive behind this branch of ISIS*, Sputnik has put together essential facts and clues linking the US to these notorious jihadists.

The next summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is set for July of this year in Washington, D.C., following the 75th anniversary of the alliance’s founding on April 4. The organization’s leading lights will discuss “important issues” and “provide strategic direction” for NATO. The NATO website also explains to curious readers that the organization is devoted to an “understanding” and “awareness” of the “security environment.” Those of us who have grown skeptical of NATO and its intentions can only imagine what this press release verbiage might mean, as an organization established to counter the Soviet threat during...

W5 takes an in-depth look into who Russia's oligarchs are, and whether sanctioning them would stop President Vladimir Putin's invasion in Ukraine. ...... Follow along using the transcript.

Putin Re-Elected in Historic VictoryPutin reportedly secured a monumental win with 87% of the vote, becoming Russia's longest-serving president post-Stalin.Remote electronic voting sees a world record 94% turnout, according to the territorial Election Commission.Source:… pic.twitter.com/LwfcBenHZZ— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 17, 2024

Using duplicity, deception and secret alliances, the U.K.’s inner circle of top elites led by Nathaniel Rothschild, King Edward VII, and Lord Alfred Milner backed the German Kaiser into a corner and intentionally set the Germans up to blame them for starting the First World War, when in fact it was the British who provoked the Germans to the point where war was the only option. German generals were caught strategizing several weeks ago on how to bomb Russia’s main bridge to Crimea. This would be an act of aggression that Russian President Vladimir Putin described as guaranteed to draw...

As the calendar barrels into another year and we tick away the days of February, notable anniversaries are marked off in sequence. It is now 2/22/2022 +2: two years since Putin’s address on the historic status of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, followed on 2/24/2022 by the commencement of the Special Military Operation and the spectacular resumption of history. The nature of the war changed dramatically after a kinetic and mobile opening phase. With the collapse of the negotiation process (whether thanks to Boris Johnson or not), it became clear that the only way out of the conflict would be...

MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. French neo-Nazi leader Cesar Aujard, who fought on the side of the Ukrainian military, has been liquidated near Avdeyevka, sources have told TASS. "A ringleader of French neo-Nazis, Cesar Augharome, who was taking part in hostilities on the side of the Ukrainian army, has been liquidated near Avdeyevka," the sources said. There is confirmed evidence of his connections with French secret services. Earlier, the head of the Main Operational Directorate, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Sergey Rudskoy, said that NATO military personnel, disguised as mercenaries, were operating air defense...