Free Republic

Russian president Vladimir Putin was expected to give a speech at 6pm London time from Moscow potentially announcing the official declaration of war in Ukraine to defend Russian-occupied territories, but kept the world waiting on Tuesday night. Russian news channel that announced the speech deleted their posts around two hours after the Russian leader was set to begin what would have been his first international announcement since the country’s invasion of Ukraine on February 25. It appeared as though the Russian leader had cancelled his speech, pushing it back to Wednesday, according to a Telegram account run by political analyst...

LONDON — Lines at neighboring borders and protests are just some of the scenes in Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s call for partial military mobilization. Last week, Putin ordered up to 300,000 Russians to serve in the invasion of Ukraine that began in February. Since then, thousands of citizens have fled the country to bordering nations, including Georgia and Mongolia. A satellite image of the Russia-Georgia border taken on Tuesday shows a multitude of cars and people waiting at the crossing. According to Russian state news outlet Tass, more than 5,000 cars had created the traffic jam, which was up...

Rosneft Germany will be placed under ‘trustee administration’ Germany has today announced it is taking control of three Russian-owned refineries. The Federal Network Agency, the German electricity and gas regulator has said it has been appointed fiduciary of Berlin-based Rosneft Deutschland GmbH and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH. It has been reported that the decision has been to help the country secure energy supply ahead of a predicted ‘tough’ winter. Germany’s regulator said: “The fiduciary management, ordered on the basis of the Energy Security Act, means that the original owner no longer has authority to issue instructions. “The fiduciary is...

A judge who allegedly helped an illegal alien evade capture has herself been arrested by federal authorities, just one week after another judge received a lifetime ban from the bench for harboring an MS-13 gang member in his own home. Judge Hannah Dugan was cuffed by FBI agents on Friday after helping the individual “evade arrest,” according to a statement by Director Kash Patel. She is charged with knowingly misdirecting federal officers away from the illegal immigrant as he hid in the courthouse. “The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence...

ICE - NYC says a confirmed Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang member who was caught & released at the TX border in September 2022 was repeatedly protected by sanctuary policies & released from local custody after being arrested on gun charges in NYC this year. ICE says Javier Jose Albornoz Marchan, a 22-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela, was arrested for shoplifting in Woodbridge in January. ICE placed a detainer on him two days later, but says the Middlesex County Jail in NJ ignore it and released him the same day. In March, NYPD arrested him for more serious crimes: criminal...

Russia does not seek to absorb all of Ukraine, as the Russians have "returned" five regions and Crimea, obtaining what they need, states the US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. The Special Envoy emphasized the importance of reaching a fair agreement for Ukraine, but stressed that the US and Western countries cannot allow this country to drag them into a Third World War. He added that this is not his personal opinion, but the policy of President Donald Trump. When asked by the journalist about the plans of the UK and several other European countries to send...

FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Tuesday the extradition of an alleged MS-13 leader to the United States after his arrest in Mexico, marking a significant victory in the fight against international gang violence. The individual, who had been on the FBI's Most Wanted list, is accused of leading violent operations of "several offenses for his alleged role in ordering numerous acts of violence against civilians and rival gang members, as well as his role in drug distribution and extortion schemes in the United States and El Salvador." Patel praised the successful extradition as a testament to the collaboration between...

More frightening than the speech, is the willingness of Americans to gorge on the rhetoric. I actually missed Biden’s Thursday-night speech in real-time, but when I woke up yesterday morning, I discovered that what I thought were memes, were actually soundbites and unmanipulated images. Staging by Leni Riefenstahl. pic.twitter.com/IGRFT11jA1 — Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) September 2, 2022 (Leni Riefenstahl was a German cinema star who aided in the production of Nazi propaganda.) The lighting and staging of Biden’s speech evoked pure dystopia — all I could see was the wicked High Chancellor Adam Sutler from the film V for Vendetta. No...

Hillary Clinton revealed she and her husband Bill Clinton once accidentally left their daughter at the Kremlin during a state visit to Russia years ago. The former First Lady appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, alongside her daughter Chelsea Clinton, 42, on Tuesday night. As part of the interview, the pair took part in a Mother Daughter Challenge, where they had to answer a series of questions asked by Fallon. At one point during the segment, Clinton, 74, was asked about her “craziest family vacation memory.” Taking a second to think, the mom-of-one remembered the time she and...

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, one of the few conservatives to win a presidency anywhere in the world this year, urged the United Nations in his speech on Tuesday to “stand together in solidarity” and defend freedom from wherever a threat may arise. Yoon’s remarks, his first address to the annual General Assembly debate, echoed much of what he told Koreans in his inauguration speech in May. On that occasion, he used the word “freedom” 35 times; to the United Nations, he said “freedom” a mere 18 times, according to the organization’s official English-language transcript. Unlike many other heads of...

Russia has reportedly warned that those who protest Vladimir Putin's decision to call up reservists to fight in Ukraine will be drafted into the military. Protests are planned to take place across the country on Wednesday evening, opposing Putin's decree to partially mobilize Russia's armed forces. Russian media outlets have warned that anyone taking part in "illegal rallies" will be subject to military conscription, according to Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. Top Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov shared a post on Telegram outlining the measures.

Did Putin’s frogmen blow up Europe’s gas supplies? Western leaders blame ‘deliberate’ sabotage after Nordsteam pipe from Russia ruptured off Sweden causing 3000ft-wide bubbles and sending prices spiking Three leaks reported in Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines near Danish island last night and this morning Pipelines are leaking gas into the Baltic Sea, with one area more than 3,000ft wide churning with bubbles Danish PM Mette Frederiksen has said her government believes the leaks were caused by 'deliberate actions' Ukraine also pointed the finger at Moscow, describing the incident as a 'terrorist attack and act of aggression' Latvian Defence...

Poland and Norway opened a new gas pipeline via Denmark on Tuesday, hailed as a much-needed alternative to Russian-controlled routes. At a ceremony in Poland, Norway’s Energy Minister Terje Aasland said the opening of Baltic Pipe was “a milestone on the important path towards European independence”... Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said it “marks a crucial geopolitical step for all of us.” “Putin uses Russian energy as a weapon to destabilise Europe, to divide us. He cannot be allowed to succeed,” Ms Frederiksen said, referring to the Russian president. Poland, one of the fiercest advocates in Europe of isolating Moscow,...

Slovakia's parliament on Tuesday ratified the entry of Finland and Sweden to NATO, becoming one of the last countries to back the military alliance's expansion... NATO's 30 members have been ratifying their entry since accession protocols were signed in July. With Slovakia's vote, only Hungary and Turkey remain to approve the expansion... Hungary's parliament has the motion on Finland and Sweden's NATO membership on its agenda, but no date is set as lawmakers return after a summer recess.

The organization, CSTO, is a Russian-led security alliance that includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan “Radicals from Central Asia have accounted for a notable share of recent Islamic State-inspired or -directed plots and attacks in the United States, Europe, Turkey, and Iran,” Lucas Webber and Riccardo Valle wrote in a Hudson Institute analysis last year. In September 2022, ISKP – which vehemently opposes Russia’s support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria – claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the Russian embassy in Kabul which left six dead. Despite repeatedly warnings from foreign sources – including the U.S....

Chris Kaba, who was elevated to George Floyd-esque martyrdom status in Britain after being killed during an altercation with police in 2022, has now been revealed to have been a serial violent criminal offender and a member of one of London’s most feared gangs, which put out a hit on a police officer following Kaba’s death. In September 2022, Kaba was stopped by police over suspicion that his car was tied to a firearms offence the previous day. Rather than complying with the officers, Kaba refused to leave his vehicle and ultimately used his car as a “battering ram” against...

Nathan Wade, the Georgia lawyer tapped to prosecute former President Donald Trump by his onetime lover, Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis, had extensive communications with the Biden-Harris White House, new records show. Wade billed the Fulton County office for hours of meetings with the White House, the congressional January 6 committee, and other D.C. officials, according to records obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and released Monday. The committee released a transcript of an interview with Wade, which was compelled by subpoena, in which he said that Willis was preparing to prosecute Trump even before she took office, and that...

The Manhattan apartment and Southampton mansion of a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin were raided by federal agents on Thursday, according to the FBI and a report. An FBI spokesperson confirmed agents “conducted law enforcement activity” at the Upper East Side high-rise and Long Island estate linked to billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, but declined to comment further. FBI officials and Homeland Security Investigation agents were seen carrying boxes out of Vekselberg’s 515 Park Ave. apartment building and his Southampton mansion at 19 Duck Pond Lane, according to NBC New York, which first reported the searches. The US...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) uncovered records showing Rashad Robinson, the President of the George Soros-funded, far-left organization Color of Change, visited the Biden-Harris White House a whopping sixteen times and had four meetings with President Biden and four meetings with Vice President Harris, according to official White House visitor log records:

Late on an October morning in a quiet neighborhood near Daytona Beach, Florida. FBI agent Steve Friend sits in his kitchen, fidgeting. He’s a wiry, energetic man, built like a marathoner, not muscled up but exuding fitness, not a sitter. This is not a person meant for desk work, much less staying home all day. But as a whistleblower whose name has been all over media after a complaint about statistical manipulation and other problems in the January 6th investigations, this will be his lot for a while. By that morning, the first rush of news stories about Friend’s case...