Free Republic

Sen. Lindsey Graham, while insisting he does not want to see U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine, Sunday called for a no-fly zone to be instituted over the war-torn country if Russian President Vladimir Putin orders a chemical weapons strike, as that would be a war crime. The South Carolina Republican also during an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo," accused President Joe Biden of having "folded" on the question of sending former Soviet MiG fighters from Poland into Ukraine and rejected the president's contention that allowing the jets would mean the beginning of "World...

There are a host of Republicans writing to Biden that he should send planes to Ukraine. These people in Washington are always quick to spill the blood of other people’s children – not their own. I find it appalling that you do not hear a single world that Zelensky should compromise on anything. His refusal to let the two provinces be independent which was promised them in the Minsk Agreement back in 2014 is unnecessarily putting his entire country at risk for some antiquated theory of imperialism. It was the USSR that drew the borders of Ukraine. It was not...

Russian and Ukrainian officials gave their most upbeat assessments yet on Sunday of progress in their talks on the war in Ukraine, suggesting there could be positive results within days. Separately, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Russia was showing signs of willingness to engage in substantive negotiations about ending a conflict in which thousands have died. More than 2.5 million people have fled. -snip- RIA news agency quoted a Russian delegate, Leonid Slutsky, as saying the talks had made substantial progress. "According to my personal expectations, this progress may grow in the coming days into a joint...

A Russian warship that attacked Snake Island in a video that went viral for its portrayal of Ukrainian defiance has been destroyed, according to new reports. Just days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Russian warship Vasily Bykov ordered Ukrainian soldiers manning a Black Sea outpost on Snake Island to surrender. What happened next made headlines around the world. "I suggest you surrender your weapons and capitulate," the Russian warship captain said. The Ukrainians manning the island had no plans to surrender. "Russian warship, go f*** yourself," the Ukrainian soldier said. The portrayal of defiance went viral, airing on cable news...

The B-52 sorties traveled from the United Kingdom to Romania and back. Here's why.. On Friday, March 4, American B-52 bombers flew a patrol from the UK, over Germany to Romania, and back. The bombers stayed within uncontested NATO airspace for the entire route, and the patrol was repeated on Monday, March 7. The sorties were unremarkable in many ways, except this time the flights took place against the shadow of Russia’s war on Ukraine. In light of that war, which the US has adamantly committed to not fighting, what was the most iconic Cold War bomber doing flying over...

Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) Tweeted: #Russia’s devastating war on #Ukraine is now well in its 2nd week. Hundreds killed. 1.5 million refugees. Untold humanitarian damage. But you know what @amnesty still has as their Facebook cover profile? Perhaps a change of priorities is in order @AgnesCallamard?https://t.co/QrkAbSspL0 ( Mar 6, 2022).

Mariupol, Ukraine: More than 2,100 residents of Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol have been killed since hostilities began, the local authorities said Sunday. "As of today, 2,187 Mariupol residents have died from attacks by Russia," the city council posted on Telegram.

President Joe Biden is sending his national security adviser for talks with a senior Chinese official in Rome on Monday as concerns grow that China is amplifying Russian disinformation in the Ukraine war and may help Russia evade punishment from economic sanctions. The talks between national security adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi will center on "efforts to manage the competition between our two countries and discuss the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on regional and global security," said Emily Horne, speaking for the White House national security council.

Second Sunday of Lent Luke 9:28b-36 Friends, today’s Gospel recounts the story of the Transfiguration. Here, the glorified Jesus represents the fulfillment of the Old Testament revelation, symbolized by Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, representing the prophets. Let’s look at the two basic divisions. God gave the Torah, the Law, to his people, in order that they might become a priestly people, a holy nation, a people set apart, in the hopes that they would then function as a sort of magnet to the rest of the world. But the Law didn’t take. From the very beginning, the people...

Real time update on equipment losses from both sides based on videos/photos. The invaders lost 11 additional tanks in the past 24 hours for a total of 204. US estimated 1200 total tanks at the onset of war. Running total 3/13 - 204 3/12 - 193 3/11 - 187 3/10 - 164 3/9 - 156 3/8 - 149 3/7 - 140 3/6 - 120 3/5 - 108 As noted on the website: "This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here."

India is stepping closer to setting up an alternative payments system to maintain its trade with Russia, identifying a potential bank, as a top panel examining the issue recommended prioritising edible oil and fertiliser imports as well as payments owed to India, an official aware of the development has said…. The top interministerial panel has been tasked with scrutinizing the impact of a barrage of economic sanctions imposed by the West on Russia on India’s economy. It is led by economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth and includes the ministries of food and consumer affairs, fertilizers, commerce, external affairs and petroleum....

**SNIP** The lithium car battery issue is twofold. First, there is clear concern around the level of virgin raw material mining needed for their manufacture. This reliance on metals and minerals as the foundation of this technology presents significant environmental and social issues. However, there are now increased efforts to reduce this through the development of new technologies. **SNIP** Most electric vehicles run on lithium-ion batteries. Each cell of a lithium battery generates electricity when its lithium ions move from one side (the anode) through an electrolyte to the other side (the cathode). The lithium in the anode is cheap...

A nuclear war would be disastrous for the earth’s climate, according to a recent piece in the Atlantic that drew harsh criticism for its focus on the harms posed to the environment by a potential nuclear exchange resulting from the current conflict in Ukraine. The Wednesday essay, titled “On Top of Everything Else, Nuclear War Would Be a Climate Problem,” was penned by Atlantic staff writer Robinson Meyer and began by noting climate change is often associated with energy policy.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on this week’s broadcast of FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that it was “deplorable” that President Joe Biden did not give fighter jets to Ukraine. Graham said, “I’m calling for the crushing of the Russian economy even though our war and fight is not with the Russian people. It is with Putin. The only way this war ends is with Putin going to jail or being taken out by his own people. How do you make that happen? You have to help the Ukrainians.”

Since February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine, 1.68 million people have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border into Poland, the Border Guard (SG) tweeted on Sunday morning. The SG wrote on Twitter that, on Saturday, Border Guard officers carried out 79,800 border checks on people entering Poland from Ukraine. The Border Guard also said that the number of arrivals by 7:00 a.m., on Sunday, reached 16,800 people.

Russians face two main problems: cancellations of their flights home by airlines that have stopped flying to Russia, and suspension of financial services, particularly by credit card companies that have joined sanctions against Moscow.

A military drone that apparently flew all the way from the Ukrainian war zone over three European NATO-member states before crashing in an urban zone of the Croatian capital was armed with an explosive device, Croatia’s defense minister said Sunday. The Soviet-made aircraft crossed Romania and Hungary before entering Croatia, slamming into a field near a student dormitory late Thursday. About 40 parked cars were damaged in the large explosion, but no one was injured. “Traces of explosives and clues suggesting that this was not a reconnaissance aircraft were found. We found parts of an air bomb,” Croatian Defense Minister...

The Chinese foreign minister called Moscow the "most important strategic partner" to Beijing as war rages between Russia and Ukraine for the 12th day. "No matter how perilous the international landscape, we will maintain our strategic focus and promote the development of a comprehensive China-Russia partnership in the new era," Wang Yi told reporters Monday at a news conference of the annual meeting of China’s ceremonial parliament.… The friendship between the two peoples is iron clad," he said and noted that Chinese ties to Russia constitute "one of the most crucial bilateral relationships in the world."

Ukraine says it has restored a broken power line to the Chernobyl power plant, the scene of a nuclear meltdown in 1986, which is held by Russian troops. Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that “heroes” from the national power grid company managed to restore the connection. The power is used to run pumps which keep spent nuclear fuel cool to prevent radiation leaks. Ukraine said Wednesday that power had been cut to the site and that there was enough diesel fuel to run on-site generators for 48 hours. The International Atomic Energy Agency played down concerns, saying it saw little...

On Saturday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Live,” Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) stated that only “the last 75 cents” of the increase in gas prices is due to Russia, but the rest is due to OPEC, oil prices will remain high until “we get the Saudis to backfill” Russian oil, and he can’t see himself supporting the Keystone pipeline. Sherman said, [relevant remarks begin around 2:45] “Well, the last 75 cents is because of what Putin has done. Prior to that, it’s what OPEC has done, constrained supply. And the fact is that the United States is...