Free Republic

Fox News host Tucker Carlson gives his take on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and American worship of Zelenskyy on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.' #FoxNews #tucker

I was fooled about Volodymyr Zelensky.Yes, even I. When I'm wrong, I like to admit it. And I was horribly wrong.How wrong was I and about the entire war in Ukraine?Last March, I called Zelensky a courageous "Hebrew warrior." How's that? Worse yet, I jumped to conclusions about his war.I apologize.I even compared him to biblical heroes from the book of Judges. Sheesh! Was I ever wrong about him.I was too quick to believe the media – something I rarely do. My whole career trained me against it.But today, seeing is believing.So what has he done wrong? It's legion. Zelensky...

US President Joe Biden’s administration will soon release its National Security Strategy, which is being revised in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The document will no doubt trigger a renewed debate about how the United States should gear up for a new cold war against Russia and China. But before we plunge into a global great-power competition, it’s worth recalling Biden’s promise to create a “foreign policy for the middle class” and take a look at what most concerns Americans.US President Joe Biden’s administration will soon release its National Security Strategy, which is being revised in the wake...

It would be easy to underestimate Valeriy Zaluzhny. When not in uniform, the general prefers T-shirts and shorts that match his easygoing sense of humor. When he first heard from aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in late July 2021 that he was being tapped to lead the country’s armed forces, his stunned response was, “What do you mean?” As it sank in that he would become commander in chief, he tells TIME in his first interview since the Russian invasion began, he felt as if he had been punched “not just below the belt but straight into a knockout.”...

Voting in internationally criticised referendums for four Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories to become part of Russia has continued into its third day despite shelling by Ukrainian forces. ...

My initial introduction to the CIA was through the medium of film and literature. The spy versus spy mystique was alluringly romantic, with a definite ‘good versus evil’ vibe. I grew up, after all, during the Cold War, where the ‘red menace’ permeated every fiber of American popular culture. I opted to serve my country in the military, and not as a spy, receiving a commission in the Marine Corps in 1984 as an intelligence officer. My specialty was combat, not espionage, and it seemed that my path and that of the premier American intelligence agency were never to cross....

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation” that there can be no stability in Europe until Russian president Vladimir Putin is removed from power. Zelenskyy said, “Yesterday, President Putin said they will win Ukraine in three days, but now it’s seven months. Today, it’s seven months since Russia occupied- tried to occupy Ukraine, but they couldn’t.”

Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has defended Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, saying Russia's leader was "pushed" into the conflict."The war in Ukraine is the tip of the iceberg of a conflict aimed at reshaping the world order," she said earlier this month. "So we have to fight this battle."

The war exposed Ukraine to two of her most critical vulnerabilities – questionable legitimacy and extreme nationalism. Legitimacy derives from acceptance and recognition. However, Ukraine’s neighbors Russia, Poland, and Romania do not accept their current borders with Ukraine.###After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine got its borders within which she achieved independence and millions of Russians, Poles, Hungarians and Romanians were trapped in a newly created country.The Ukrainian problem is greatly exacerbated by the fact that unlike pluralistic societies such as the USA, Canada, Switzerland, and Russia, which are tolerant of different cultures, religions, and languages, Ukraine is not....

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has thrust himself more directly into strategic planning for the war in Ukraine in recent weeks, American officials said, including rejecting requests from his commanders on the ground that they be allowed to retreat from the vital southern city of Kherson. A withdrawal from Kherson would allow the Russian military to pull back across the Dnipro River in an orderly way, preserving its equipment and saving the lives of soldiers. But such a retreat would be another humiliating public acknowledgment of Mr. Putin’s failure in the war, and would hand a second major victory...

Vladimir Putin can call up all the troops he wants, but Russia has no way of getting those new troops the training and weapons they need to fight in Ukraine any time soon. With his invasion of Ukraine faltering badly, the Russian President on Wednesday announced the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Russian television that the country will call up 300,000 reservists. If they end up facing Ukrainian guns on the front lines, they are likely to become the newest casualties in the invasion Putin started more than seven months ago and that...

Former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute died after falling down "several flights of stairs," the institute reported. Scientist Anatoly Gerashchenko, 72, "fell from a great height," in the Russian capital as an accident. At the moment, a commission is being formed to investigate this fact, which will include representatives of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the State Labor Inspectorate in Moscow and the Moscow Aviation Institute. Gerashchenko had been the rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute, which has links to the Russian defense ministry, from 2007 to 2015. Recent reports in the Russian media said Gerashchenko had...

Multiple pro-Moscow officials in Ukraine on Tuesday announced their intent to stage referendums on joining Russia, including the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin, as well as the Russia-installed official over the southern Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo. “I think that people have long been waiting for a referendum here and it will probably be a political move that will help ensure the safety of civilians,” Pushillin said Tuesday. ...

Advisory - Story has been withdrawn - Multiple bodies found at mass burial site in Ukraine's Izium with rope around necks

Click here to see ISW’s interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This map is updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report. The Kremlin acknowledged its defeat in Kharkiv Oblast, the first time Moscow has openly recognized a defeat since the start of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Kremlin officials and state media propagandists are extensively discussing the reasons for the Russian defeat in Kharkiv Oblast, a marked change from their previous pattern of reporting on exaggerated or fabricated Russian successes with limited detail.[1] The Kremlin never admitted that Russia was defeated around Kyiv or,...

It started with Crimea and it will end with Crimea. The grinding war of attrition is into its seventh month with no peace settlement on the horizon. Before the invasion, the issue of Crimea did not top the international agenda. It was not even included in the infamous Minsk Accords and the work of the Trilateral Contact Group, forcing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to look for new formats to voice the Crimea case loud and clear. In turn, Putin legitimised the illegal annexation through false historical narratives, nurturing it with recognition from his authoritarian friends. International actors expressed their traditional concern...

All have fallen for the believe that the Ukrainian rapid advance has caused a Russian defeat. That however is not the case. The main Russian forces had already left the area. What was left were sentry guards of the Luhansk People’s Republic and a few companies of the Russian National Guard which is more or less a police force. That is why the ‘western’ official talking with Reuters is quite cautious with his assessment: “There’s an ongoing debate about the nature of the Russian drawdown, however it’s likely that in strict military terms, this was a withdrawal, ordered and sanctioned...

Roughly 2 hours in length (Excellent summary, with detailed maps, for those wanting the latest news)

The Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive around the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine starting on Sept. 6 destroyed half of the best tank division in the best tank army in the Russian armed forces. A hundred wrecked or captured tanks in a hundred furious hours. That’s how much destruction the Ukrainians inflicted on the Russian 4th Guards Tank Division, part of the elite 1st Guards Tank Army, the Russian army’s best armor formation. Now the 1st GTA is retreating north in order to preserve what remains of its front-line divisions. But the damage the tank army has suffered could have lasting...

KYIV, Ukraine — A powerful attack on a Russian air base in occupied Crimea was the work of Ukrainian special forces, a Ukrainian government official told The Washington Post on Wednesday, suggesting an increasingly important role for covert forces operating deep behind enemy lines as the country expands efforts to expel Russian troops. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, did not disclose details of how Tuesday’s attack was carried out. The attack marks a significant escalation in the nearly six-month-old war, demonstrating a new ability by...