Free Republic

PARIS AND WASHINGTON — Congress is pushing for more U.S. soldiers in Europe in its fiscal 2023 draft defense policy bills as the Russian invasion of Ukraine grinds on into its fifth month.The move aligns with President Joe Biden’s June 29 remarks at the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, where he said the U.S. will establish a permanent base in Poland and will also send two additional F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the UK as well as more air defense, among other capabilities, to Italy and Germany.

Navy veteran Patrick Lancaster describes himself on Facebook as “an independent crowdfunded journalist,” but critics argue that he is a foot soldier in the Kremlin’s information war against Ukraine. The Army is inviting social media influencers to DC to learn how to reach the youths On Monday, Lancaster posted a video from the city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, which has been besieged by the Russian military for weeks. The Russians have blasted their way through the city the same way they razed other cities, including Grozny in Chechnya and Aleppo in Syria. The city’s mayor has claimed that at...

Dear Mike Le Deplorable [my Twitter handle], As part of our recent work to understand Russian-linked activities on Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we identified and suspended a number of accounts that were potentially connected to a propaganda effort by a Russian government-linked organization known as the Internet Research Agency. Consistent with our commitment to transparency, we are emailing you because we have reason to believe that you either followed one of these accounts or retweeted or liked content from these accounts during the election period. This is purely for your own information purposes, and is not related...

Between Sept. 14-20, the Russian armed forces will conduct a major exercise, ZAPAD 2017. Employing forces from various Russian commands, the exercise will test the military's ability to conduct a combined arms offensive. That's exactly the kind of operation Russia would use to invade Europe. While there's nothing new in the Russians carrying out a military exercise, this situation is different due to the scale and location of the forces involved. Russia claims under 10,000 personnel will be involved but as many as 100,000 Russian soldiers are actually expected to deploy. Their number will include armored and artillery units, and...

The U.S. Navy has launched 59 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles at a Syrian military airfield Thursday night, in retaliation for a Syrian chemical-weapons attack on its own civilians earlier this week. But make no mistake that this is a political move, not a decisive military one. Tomahawks are not the ideal weapon to do long-term damage to an airfield runway, like the one that launched the planes implicated in the chemical attack.