Free Republic

Russia has offered to help China with any potential energy shortfall, as the war in the Middle East heightens geopolitical divisions and threatens global commodity supplies. “Russia can certainly fill the resource gap that has arisen in China and other countries interested in working with us on an equal and mutually beneficial basis,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday, according to comments reported by Russian news agency Interfax. Russia’s top diplomat also commented on China and Russia’s ability to withstand the economic impact of “aggressive” U.S military operations against Iran, which have sent global oil and gas prices soaring.

According to a U.S. Central Command social media post, six merchant vessels turned around in compliance with the U.S. blockade once it went into effect Monday morning. CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins declined to provide USNI News with the names of the six ships.The Strait of Hormuz continues to be a point of contention in the ongoing war between Iran and the U.S. Iran wants control of the waterway as part of the agreement between the two countries. International maritime law treats the Strait of Hormuz as an international passage open to all, while Iran argues it is made up...

It often seems that modern day American leaders and many of the American people are eager to intervene in conflicts…Over 75 years ago, the exact opposite could be said. With Europe locked in battle, President Franklin D. Roosevelt supported the idea of America going to war, giving Great Britain the backing it needed, but FDR faced his own struggles. The United States didn’t want to intervene. During an emergency cabinet meeting called by Roosevelt immediately after the war erupted in Europe, it was agreed that the United States would remain an outside influence unless directly threatened or attacked… The United...

From fake news websites to staged political protests and bogus medical conditions, asylum seekers and the advisers helping them are using an array of fabricated evidence to bolster their fake claims. It all amounts to a sham industry, which includes charging migrants for advice on how to pose as gay to claim asylum, as exposed by the first part of our undercover investigation into the immigration system. Other techniques include paying to write articles in atheist magazines and hiring someone to pretend to be a same-sex partner. At an office off the busy Mile End Road, in east London, on...

“U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East,” said Adm. Brad Cooper; Trump: the Iran war is “very close to over.” A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer is seen during a blockade mission targeting traffic to and from Iranian ports, in an undated image released by U.S. Central Command on April 15, 2026.Source: @CENTCOM/X.( Apr. 15, 2026 / JNS ) The U.S. military has fully implemented a blockade of Iranian ports, halting maritime trade in and out of the country within 36 hours, the commander of U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday. Adm. Brad Cooper said U.S. forces “maintain maritime...

But now the Democrat from New York is feeling buoyed by his party’s unity in the latest government funding fight, as well as by President Donald Trump’s worsening political standing, and he’s brimming with confidence about Democrats’ odds of retaking the Senate, seeing as many as eight seats in play in November.

The issue is no longer whether the regime in Tehran is under strain — it clearly is — but whether Washington is preparing, consciously or not, to replace a brutal clerical dictatorship with a brutal military one. The idea that a military structure could serve as a "moderate" transitional governing authority in Iran seems to rest on the fragile assumption that professionalism leads to moderation. Regional history says otherwise. From Egypt to Pakistan, militaries that stepped in to "restore order" entrenched their own authoritarian rule. Iran offers no reason to believe it would be different.

The largest oil shock in history caused prices to surge. Now they're so high that they may be causing "demand destruction." That would mean slower economic growth. Oil prices have started to slip — but not necessarily for reasons that suggest a return to market normalcy. The International Energy Agency said Tuesday that “demand destruction” has begun to unfold. As a result of the acute energy commodity shortages stemming from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, oil appears to have reached a point where it is now so expensive that overseas businesses and households have begun curbing investment and...

Iran’s barbaric regime is set to execute its first female protester over recent protests, one of an estimated 1,600 sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic in the past year. Bita Hemmati is the first woman due to be hanged in relation to the demonstrations that broke out in January across the country and were viciously stamped out by government forces. The regime accused her of numerous charges, including using explosives and weapons, throwing objects such as concrete blocks, participating in protest gatherings, and disrupting national security, according to a Tuesday press release from the opposition National Council of Resistance...

The compact would effectively null and void votes cast in Virginia itself and only give its electoral college votes to the nationwide popular vote winner. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has signed a bill to circumvent the electoral college and have Virginia become a member of a compact between states that are looking to give their Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate that wins the popular vote instead of the candidate that voters from the state choose. Spanberger signed HB965 into law, which would effectively null and void votes cast in Virginia itself and only give its Electoral College votes...

🚨 WOW. Border Czar Tom Homan just gave the PERFECT response to Pope Leo "I'm a lifelong Catholic. I wish they'd STAY OUT of immigration, they don't know what they're talking about." "Because if they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a 9-year-old girl that got r*ped multiple times, or stood in the back of a tractor trailer with 19 dead aliens at my feet, including a 5-year-old boy that baked to death, if they understood the atrocities that happened on the open border, I think their opinion would change!" "And I welcome discussion with any of...

For a few glorious weeks in the spring of 2026, the foreign policy establishment believed it had witnessed the impossible. Iran, a nation whose air defenses had been systematically dismantled, whose navy had been reduced to wreckage on the floor of the Persian Gulf, whose supreme leader had been killed by an American strike, had somehow emerged from 38 days of devastating combat as the victor. That, at least, was the story the drive-by media told. European leaders repeated it with undisguised satisfaction. Democrats echoed it with barely concealed glee. Iran had closed the Strait of Hormuz, the world's...

A controversial American YouTuber was sentenced to half a year in a South Korean labor prison for his nuisance behavior, including posting a video of himself crudely dancing on a statue honoring World War II sex slaves. Ramsey Khalid Ismael, a self-proclaimed internet “troll” known as Johnny Somali online, was tossed into the specialized prison on Wednesday, the Korea Herald reported. Ismael, 25, had provoked citizens in South Korea by singing the North Korean national anthem, spilled noodles inside a convenience store, got into several heated arguments with strangers, and degraded the solemn “Statue of Peace,” all stunts he shared...

President Trump said that China has agreed not to send weapons to Iran amid reports it plans to give Tehran new air defense systems — and predicted Chinese leader Xi Jinping “will give me a big, fat, hug” when they meet next month. Trump further claimed Wednesday that Xi is “very happy” about his efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz, a day after officials in China slammed his blockade as “dangerous and irresponsible.” “China is very happy that I am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz. I am doing it for them, also — And the World,” Trump crowed...

A generally good summary into some of the financial issues happening in the background of the dire Straits of Hormuz. Susan Kokinda highlights UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declining to join an American blockade and claims Britain has lost control of the choke point. She details financial actions targeting Iranian money flows, including UAE arrests of IRGC-linked money changers, Treasury Secretary Bessent using Patriot Act Section 311 against a Zurich bank, and scrutiny of London-based crypto exchanges and Santander UK. She cites a UK military chief admitting Britain’s war planning has lapsed since the Cold War and links fuel disruptions...

A national effort to circumvent the Electoral College has gained another state. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a bill Monday that adds the state to the National Popular Vote Compact, an agreement among states to award their presidential electoral votes to the nationwide popular vote winner. With Virginia, the total number of states signed on to the interstate compact is now 18, plus the District of Columbia, for a total of 222 electoral votes. The compact doesn’t go into effect, though, until there are enough states signed up to reach the required 270 electoral votes to elect a president. “This...

White House deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller on Tuesday accused the Democrat party of controlling its members through blackmail. Miller told Fox News host Jesse Watters Tuesday evening that “the real” takeaway from former California Rep. Eric Swalwell’s fall from grace is the Democrats’ blackmail regime. “Swalwell is a scumbag, he’s a terrible person, the worst of the worst the lowest of the low—the most dishonest,” Miller acknowledged. “The real story here is how the Democrat Party controls its members through blackmail!” The California Democrat suspended his campaign for governor Sunday and officially resigned from Congress Tuesday...

...the Aurum Tolosanum never reached Rome. At least not in its entirety, since the silver was received, but not the gold. During its transfer to Massilia (Marseille), where it was to be shipped, it was stolen by a band of bandits who also made sure not to leave witnesses by murdering the cohort in charge of its custody. The operation was flawless; so much so that speculations about the authorship soon circulated. Who knew the caravan's itinerary and had the ability to organize a group of thieves large enough to eliminate the guards and take four hundred and fifty wagons?All...

A new ranking of top destinations for retirees to relocate trades green golf courses and sunny beaches for urban density and concrete jungles. Really. New York City ranks No. 1 in the new Geography of Prosperity Index, a ranking of 250 urban areas in America by global analytics firms HumanChange and Motivf. At the other end, the cities millions of Americans choose for retirement — pulled by warm weather, low taxes, low density, and a low cost of living — rank at or near the very bottom of this measure of urban health... The Villages in Lady Lake, Fla, for...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(4/15/26)[Prayer]A New Study For A New Year: PersonalitiesExodus 18:1-12 18 When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt; 2 Then Jethro, Moses' father in law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, 3 And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land: 4 And the name of the other...