Free Republic

As the invasion of Ukraine stretches past the two-week mark, sanctions are slowly ratcheting up and companies around the globe are suspending their business operations in Russia. Domestic operations there are feeling the heat too, with Lada being forced to halt production, reports the Wall Street Journal. Lada is owned by AvtoVAZ, having been founded in 1966 as one of the primary automakers within what was then the USSR. The company's plants were once largely self-sustaining during the days of the so-called Iron Curtain. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the opening up of trade with Russia, French...

The Russian government issued antihoarding measures and price controls, amid a slew of punishing economic sanctions from the West. Authorities said major retail chains could restrict the sale of a number of “socially important goods,” such as food staples, and limit how high they mark up their prices. The measures were aimed at possible speculation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said Saturday.

Just as oil prices soared above $115 per barrel and European gas prices moved up to $60 per mmBtu, coal markets have been suffering through some turmoil of their own. Global coal prices surged some 30% in one week, primarily triggered by fears of Russia’s coal supply not hitting the market as several rounds of US/EU/UK sanctions made it complicated to arrange financial lines with Russian sellers. The Asian Newcastle benchmark futures contract rose to $440 per metric tonne, with Europe’s API2 March ’22 contract trading at the same levels. Moreover, Europe’s futures prices point to a prolonged period of...

Russia has banned foreign currency sales for six months, its latest measure to attempt to avert a deep economic crisis and run on the Russian ruble. The Central Bank said Tuesday night that banks and brokers would be prohibited from selling dollars, euros and other foreign currency in exchange for rubles until at least Sept. 9, 2022. The regulator added that Russians who have existing foreign currency accounts would be allowed to withdraw up to $10,000 — in U.S. dollars only — over the next six months, with the rest of their holdings only accessible in rubles. The Russian currency...

The Florida state Senate on Tuesday passed a parents rights bill, a media-maligned piece of legislation that will prohibit primary school teachers from talking about sexual orientation with children in pre-K through third grade. Senate passage of the Parental Rights in Education bill by a vote of 21-17 marks a milestone in parents’ efforts across the nation to fight back against the radical left in the classroom. The legislation also represents a model for other states to use as they push back the woke tides. The Florida House of Representatives passed the legislation last month, 69-47. It now goes to...

“The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich” (Proverbs 10:3 KJV).

To virtue signal against Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, many Americans, companies, and organizations have taken to cancelling anything or anyone with connections to Russia. Bars have stopped serving vodka. The Met got rid of a Russian opera singer. Now, an orchestra has cancelled Tchaikovsky.Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky has been dead for over 128 years, but that doesn’t prevent him from being hit by Ukraine Justice Warriors at the Cardiff Philharmonic. They had an all-Tchaikovsky program planned for this week but have changed the program in light of the Russian invasion.Tchaikovsky is cancelled now https://t.co/c2czaH1xkl— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 9, 2022According...

TEL AVIV - Russian-Israeli oligarch Leonid Nevzlin announced on Tuesday that he planned to give up his Russian passport in protest of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "Everything that Putin touches dies," Nevzlin wrote in a Facebook post. "I am against the war. I am against the occupation. I am against the genocide of the Ukrainian people." Nevzlin was among the first prominent Russian oligarchs to establish self-imposed exile in Israel, fleeing what he has described as a campaign of politically-motivated persecution by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2003, Nevzlin fled Russia for Israel amid a Kremlin-backed investigation into his Yukos...

GUATEMALA CITY -- Guatemalan lawmakers have increased prison sentences for women who have abortions, bucking a recent trend in Latin America toward expanding access to the procedures. As some of Latin America’s largest countries — Mexico, Argentina, Colombia — have expanded abortion access in the past two years, there remain countries where conservative religious trends continue to hold sway. Late Tuesday — International Women’s Day — Guatemala’s Congress passed a “Protection of Life and Family” law that also targeted the LGBTQ community. On Wednesday, which Guatemala’s Congress declared “Life and Family Day,” President Alejandro Giammattei said in a speech at...

"Putin's war is causing gas prices to rise, but this is no excuse for large oil companies to pad their bottom line with war-fueled profits," tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) along with an MSNBC video of her explaining her stance. "Senate Democrats are watching closely—and already working on a windfall profits tax." Warren also said that she gets "supply and demand—that prices go up" but that "profit margins should not go up, that's just oil companies gouging."What she calls "gouging" is actually demand adjusting to supply. She also forgets that higher profit margins strongly incentivize entrepreneurs to supply more of...

With temperatures set to plunge in Ukraine in the coming days, Russian soldiers in the 40-mile convoy of tanks could freeze to death. Glen Grant, a senior defence expert at the Baltic Security Foundation, told Newsweek that the tanks will turn into huge refrigerators for the Russian army if they are not running the engine. "The boys won't wait, they will get out, start walking to the forest, and give themselves up to avoid freezing to death," Grant added. The concerns have been raised as the convoy, heading towards Ukraine capital Kyiv, has slowed down amid the war. It is...

Earlier this year, a phrase was trending because Bari Weiss used it on a talk show: “I’m done with Covid.” Many people cheered simply because the subject has been the source of vast oppression for billions of people for two years. There are two ways to be over Covid. One way is to do what the memo from the consultants of the Democratic National Committee suggested: declare the war won and move on. For political reasons. Deaths attributed to Covid nationally are higher now than they were in the summer of 2020 when the whole country was locked down. They...

On the night of March 9, Ukrainian nationalists delivered about 80 tonnes of ammonia to the populated locality of Zolochev, northwest of Kharkov, Igor Konashenkov said MOSCOW, March 9./TASS/. Nationalists are plotting provocations in Ukraine involving toxic substances in order to pin the blame for alleged use of chemical weapons on Russia...

The Chinese regime has accused the U.S. military of running “dangerous” biological labs in Ukraine, appearing to echo a Russian disinformation narrative forming part of Moscow’s efforts to justify its invasion of Ukraine.“Lately US biological labs in Ukraine have indeed attracted much attention,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a March 7 regular briefing. “Russia has found during its military operations that the US uses these facilities to conduct bio-military plans.”Zhao then went on to claim that U.S. data showed that the Pentagon controlled 26 labs and other facilities in Ukraine, adding that “All dangerous pathogens in Ukraine...

Considering all the claims of "Russian Propaganda", very few are discussing the real aim of Russian propaganda for the last several decades, which is the green energy agenda. There are a few articles in mainstream media about anti-fracking and other minor topics but I am having problems finding articles discussing the big picture of this push to get the West to adopt a green energy approach.

Tennis player Novak Djokovic announced Wednesday he will not be competing in the Indian Wells Open or Miami Open, citing his unvaccinated status in face of rules by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on requiring vaccines for noncitizens to enter the United States.“While I was automatically listed in the [Indian Wells Open] and [Miami Open] draw I knew it would be unlikely I’d be able to travel,” he wrote. “The CDC has confirmed that regulations won’t be changing so I won’t be able to play in the US. Good luck to those playing in these great tournaments.”In...

(The opinions expressed in guest op-eds are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.)Throughout Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, he pledged to tackle America’s student debt crisis by reducing the cost of attending college and canceling up to $10,000 of debt per borrower.More than a year into his presidency, Mr. Biden has come up short on both counts. Not only have he and Democrats in Congress failed to pass legislation forgiving student loan debt, data compiled by U.S. News & World Report indicate that “tuition rates at both private and public National Universities have...

Despite cracking down on media outlets and forcing them to disseminate only the Kremlin-approved messaging about his military offensive against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin does not seem to have as tight a stranglehold on the narrative as he would like. Indeed, it appears that over the long term, the Russian populace might still be consuming information that contradicts what his government is propagating.Putin has not only tightened his grip on news media networks in Russia, he has also blocked Twitter and Facebook — to prevent the citizenry from viewing information coming from outside the country. He has also prevented...

One of the dumbest stories currently happening in the country involves the Parental Rights in Education bill, which recently made it through the Florida legislature. It is now headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk, and he’s promised to sign it into law.So, why is a bill that simply provides more power to parents and more accountability to educators being so maligned? The answer is that it dares to disallow teaching sexual and gender ideology to Pre-K through third-grade students (that translates to ages 3-7). I know — the absolute horror of small children not being exposed to such things without...

The husband and father of the Ukrainian woman and two children killed by mortar fire as they tried to escape shelling outside Kyiv Sunday learned of his family’s murder on Twitter, according to a report. Mom Tatiana Perebeinis, 43, kids Mykyta, 18; Alisa, 9; and Anatoly Berezhnyi, 26 — a church volunteer who was helping them escape — were killed by Russian forces as they ran across a damaged bridge in Irpin. A photo of their bodies strewn across the pavement led Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to promise he would kill “every bastard” responsible for the indiscriminate civilian slaughter.