Free Republic

Milos Vucevic resigns following mass anti-corruption demonstrations triggered by station roof collapse in which 15 died. “The resignation of the prime minister is too little, too late. This is now a major political crisis. It is growing every day. The tragedy at the train station was the trigger. “It is illustrative of all the problems that Serbia faces – institutions not doing their jobs, the government lying to people. There are issues about state capture and freedom of the media – it’s about all these things.”

Satellite imagery shows clear indications that Russia’s increasingly anticipated withdrawal of forces from its Tartus naval base in Syria has finally started. Complete loss of access to the facility, where Russian vehicles and materiel have been massing there for weeks already, would be a major blow to the Kremlin. The Russian military has already been steadily drawing down its posture at Khmeimim Air Base in Syria amid persistent questions about the future of its presence in the country as a whole since the sudden fall of dictator Bashar Al Assad last year. Satellite imagery taken on January 25 that TWZ...

Mr. President, I believe that the CIA is providing you inaccurate, false intelligence about Russia’s casualties and the condition of its economy. If you hope to realize your goal of opening negotiations with President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, you must be equipped with the best information available.You have been briefed that Russia has suffered devastating losses — as many as 800,000 casualties — and that Russia’s economy is weak and fragile. Data from open sources paint a diametrically opposite picture.One of the best open sources for information about Russian casualties is Mediazona:Mediazona (Russian:...

Le Cercle is a shadowy network of global elites that makes the CIA look like the DMV. Bilderberg recently announced plans to be more open and friendly to the press — but what about Le Cercle? If Bilderberg is the shadowy conference everyone whispers about, Le Cercle is the one that doesn’t even make it into the conversation. For many readers, this may be the first time you’ve encountered the name. Founded in 1952, this corrupt cabal operates with a level of secrecy that makes the Bilderberg Group seem almost transparent by comparison. Smaller, spookier, and infinitely more secretive, Le...

The walls are closing in on Ukraine’s President Zelensky. In a meeting with allies in Germany this week, the embattled leader requested NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine. “Our goal is to find as many instruments as possible to force Russia into peace. I believe that such deployment of partners’ contingents is one of the best instruments. Let’s be more practical in making it possible.” Nothing about this proposal is “practical”. Even if Zelensky is speaking about peacekeeping troops as part of a settlement, which isn’t clear, it’s still a fundamentally crazy idea. Simply put, it would bring us...

On March 5, 2022, the wreck of the sailing ship Endurance was found in the depths of the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica. This, of course, was the vessel lost in Ernest Shackelton’s third expedition to Antarctica, which became trapped in the ice and sank in 1915. The story of that expedition is an extraordinary tale of human fortitude - with the Endurance lost to the ice, Shackleton’s crew evacuated to a loose ice flow where they camped for nearly 500 days, drifting about the Antarctic seas, before making a desperate dash across the open ocean in an...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his generals have an artful knack for keeping the Russian military bear off-balance. On Sunday, they renewed their offensive in the Russian Kursk Oblast, once again catching the Russian high command, Kremlin, and many pundits by surprise. Reports of a demoralized Ukrainian army fighting to retain terrain captured during the August Kursk offensive — of which at least 40 percent has been lost — have circulated among western media and Russian milbloggers since November. So too reports that Ukraine’s 155th Mechanized Brigade — trained and equipped by France — was under-resourced in “first person view...

A top Iranian general has accused Russia of lying to Tehran by saying its jets were attacking Syrian rebels while they were instead bombing the open desert. In a rare break from Iran's diplomatic line on Syria, Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati partially blamed Moscow for the fall of Bashar Assad's government during a speech at a mosque in Tehran. An audio recording of the speech was published on Tuesday by Abdullah Abdi, a journalist in Geneva who reports on Iran. "We were defeated, and defeated very badly. We took a very big blow, and it's been very difficult," Esbati said...

Syria’s former media chief and top aide to Bashar al-Assad said that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have “tricked” the ousted Syrian president in his final days as leader. Speaking to Mazeej Studios, a podcast produced by Saudi channel Al Arabiya, Kamel Saqr said that Assad was in Moscow in late November, just over a week before Syrian rebels captured Damascus. According to him, the rebels had already captured much of Aleppo by the time Assad met Putin on Friday 29 November. There, Saqr said Assad asked for Putin’s support in helping Iran transport equipment and support to strengthen his...

Recent reports in the Arabic and Turkish media and social media claim that Turkey intends to establish new military bases in Syria as part of a defense agreement with the new Syrian government formed by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) under the leadership of Ahmed Al-Sharaa (aka Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani). Turkey has been the primary supporter of HTS, which has a jihadist background “Damascus and Ankara are drafting a mutual defense agreement that includes the establishment of two bases in Homs and Damascus and the deployment of an air defense system against Israeli attacks.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologizes to Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, for what the Kremlin said was a “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25. Putin tells Aliyev that Russian air defense was active when an Azerbaijani Airlines plane tried to land in Grozny before it crashed in a phone call, the Kremlin says. “During this time, Grozny, (the town of) Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and Russian air defense was repelling these attacks,” the Kremlin says Putin told Aliyev, without explicitly acknowledging that...

As harrowing details emerge of the last moments of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432, which crashed on Wednesday in Aktau, the flight crew who did their best to save the passengers until the last moment are being hailed as heroes. -snip- Government sources have told Euronews that the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airports despite the pilots’ requests for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan. According to data, the plane’s GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight path above the sea. -snip- Remarkable airmanship...

Azerbaijani government sources have exclusively confirmed to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Aktau on Wednesday. According to the sources, the missile was fired at Flight 8432 during drone air activity above Grozny, and the shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight. Government sources have told Euronews that the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airports despite the pilots’ requests for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan. According...

Azeri president says apology isn’t enough, in confrontation that shows Moscow’s waning influence over former Soviet territories. Azerbaijan’s president accused Russia of trying to cover up its role in a plane crash that killed 38 people, delivering a harsh condemnation that signaled a reversal of the power dynamics that long saw Moscow hold sway over its former Soviet republics. President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday that Azerbaijan had laid out for the Kremlin the necessary conditions to satisfy the country, demanding that Russia take responsibility for causing the crash, provide compensation for the country and victims’ families, and bring those guilty...

The leader of Azerbaijan directly blamed Russia on Sunday for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet last week, calling on Moscow to accept responsibility and offer compensation to victims. President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Azerbaijan’s national broadcaster that a vague apology issued by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a day earlier would not suffice to preserve friendly relations between the two former Soviet states. ...“We can clearly say today that the plane was shot down by Russia,” Mr. Aliyev said in the interview, according to a summary published in English by Azerbaijan’s state news...

Russia reportedly attempted to make the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in to the sea by refusing permission to let it land after a missile attack before jamming its navigation system. A Russian surface-to-air missile struck the flight on Christmas Day, causing the airliner to crash in Kazakhstan - a tragedy which claimed the lives of 38 people. Sources told Euronews that the missile was fired at Flight 8432 amid drone air activity above Grozny, the Chechen capital, citing a preliminary investigation. They said the pilot was blocked from landing at any Russian airports despite making emergency pleas, and was instead...

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called on Russia to “admit its guilt” for unintentionally shooting down an Azerbaijani airliner, an incident that killed 38 people and injured 29. - snip- “First, the Russian side must apologise to Azerbaijan. Second, it must acknowledge its guilt. Third, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility and compensation must be paid to the Azerbaijani state as well as to the injured passengers and crew members. These are our conditions,” he said, adding that the first demand had already been addressed with Putin’s apology. Putin and Aliyev spoke by telephone call again on...

Late tonight a missile from Yemen intercepted by Israeli air defenses... "Don't you think we should release the names of the representatives? I do" That's Republican Congressman Thomas Massie... British Politics the Reform UK Party celebrating a milestone in membership... Israel's Attorney General directing police to open an investigation in Sara Netanyahu the wife of Prime Minister... Israel's El Al airline suspending flights between Tel Aviv and Moscow... A police official in Mozambique says six thousand prisoners were freed in disturbances at prisons in the capital city... At least three killed in a bus crash in Norway... The new government...

Russia’s aviation chief said Friday that a Ukrainian drone attack was under way in the region of Chechnya at the time an Azerbaijani airliner attempted to land before diverting to Kazakhstan and crashing there earlier this week... Yadrov, the Russian aviation chief, said that as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones were targeting Grozny, prompting authorities to close the area for air traffic. Yadrov said that after the captain made two unsuccessful attempts to land in Grozny, he was offered other airports as an alternative but decided to fly to Aktau across the...

"Democracy Dies in Darkness" according to the Washington Post, but when democracy is annulled in broad daylight Politico thinks it is no big deal as long as it is the election of a candidate they oppose that is being cancelled.Such is the attitude of the European edition of Politico towards the Romanian presidential election that was cancelled by that country's Constitutional Court due to what they claimed was interference by Russia on social media. On Wednesday, Politico's Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing gleefully reported in a six-paragraph brief that "Romanian appeals court upholds scrubbing fishy presidential election."