Free Republic

According to US President Joe Biden, America’s commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is “sacred.” To be fair, NATO has proved to be one of the most enduring multilateral military alliances in history. Yet the mission it was designed for, to defend Western Europe from a Soviet invasion during the Cold War, has been over for decades. Like most bureaucracies, however, NATO did not go away when it had helped to achieve an astonishingly bloodless victory in the Cold War. Instead, like most bureaucracies, it mutated and expanded. The Soviet threat was gone after the Cold War, yet the...

(AFP) – President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Friday to do everything to defeat Russia this year, as the first Leopard tanks arrived in Ukraine on the anniversary of the start of Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. Street protests against the Russian invasion were held in many European capitals to mark the anniversary, and fresh Western sanctions targeted Russia’s banks, military industry and semiconductor access.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised President Biden for his surprise trip to Kyiv on Monday for talks in the war-torn capital city just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Historic. Timely. Brave. I welcomed @POTUS in Kyiv as Russian full-scale aggression approaches its one-year mark,” Zelensky said on Twitter. “I am thankful to the U.S. for standing with Ukraine and for our strong partnership. We are determined to work together to ensure Ukraine’s victory.” Biden in Kyiv announced another half-billion dollars in aid to Ukraine and gave remarks on unity in the face of Russian...

When will the US stop flooding Ukraine with arms and money? According to Biden National Security spokesman John Kirby, spokesman, he “doesn’t know”. That comment came during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” FNC host Shannon Bream brought up the matter by asking him when the aid packages would end, saying: “Despite the question that’s being asked increasingly on Capitol Hill, and there’s gonna be another fight over another round of aid, we’re about $200 billion into this so far. There are questions about where the US commitment ends to this. I mean, we had a couple of lawmakers just...

Through Fiscal Year 2022, the United States federal government has spent and obligated $8 trillion dollars on the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. This figure includes: direct Congressional war appropriations; war-related increases to the Pentagon base budget; veterans care and disability; increases in the homeland security budget; interest payments on direct war borrowing; foreign assistance spending; and estimated future obligations for veterans’ care. This total omits many other expenses, such as the macroeconomic costs to the US economy; the opportunity costs of not investing war dollars in alternative sectors; future interest on war borrowing; and local government...

The United States continues to lead the world in contributions to Ukraine with nearly $200 billion in promised or sent aid, as the U.S. ally continues its fight against Russia.According to the Ukrainian government, the U.S. leads all countries with $196 billion in total military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine between Jan. 24, 2022 through Nov. 20, 2022. Germany has sent the second-most funds, with $172 billion sent in that span.In that same span, the rest of the world has contributed less than $75 billion of total aid, with most of that sum coming from the United Kingdom ($28.2...

Ukraine needs from 40 to 48 billion US dollars in financing to support the economy in 2023, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.She also noted that the IMF is working on a program with Ukraine and supports it in conducting a “war economy”. The work is being carried out jointly with the USA and the EU.The IMF chief previously described the invasion of Ukraine as the “single most important negative factor” for the economy in 2022.

Wow! I'm looking through twitter and I see a lot of conservatives calling out or turning on the Military Industrial Complex something I've not seen in a long time. Anyone else seeing it? It also looks like Republicans in the House are prepared to cut the defense budget and to clip the wings of the MIC! This is glorious and long overdue...

For the first time ever, the military aid will include longer-range missiles, according to Reuters. Reuters reported: The United States is readying more than $2 billion worth of military aid for Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time as well as other munitions and weapons, two U.S. officials briefed on the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The weapons aid is expected to be announced as soon as this week, the officials said. It is also expected to include support equipment for Patriot air defense systems, precision guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank weapons, they added.

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The United States is readying more than $2 billion worth of military aid for Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time as well as other munitions and weapons, two U.S. officials briefed on the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.The weapons aid is expected to be announced as soon as this week, the officials said. It is also expected to include support equipment for Patriot air defense systems, precision guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank weapons, they added.One of the officials said a portion of the package, expected to be $1.725 billion,...

A load of more than 60 Bradley fighting vehicles departed South Carolina for Ukraine last week as part of the latest $2.5 billion package in military aid that the Biden administration announced earlier this month. The armored vehicle, named after World War II Gen. Omar Bradley, is operated by three crew members and can transport up to seven infantry around the battlefield. It's outfitted with a 25mm automatic cannon, as well as a 7.62 Coaxial Machine Gun and an anti-tank missile launcher. "The Bradley is a very powerful vehicle that we are providing to the Ukrainians," Army Lt. Col. Rebecca...

On Sunday, former Walmart CEO Bill Simon joined "Fox & Friends Weekend" to warn Americans of the detrimental impact corporate layoffs could have on the U.S.'s feeble economy. "It's crazy right now. We're stuck in this loop of, wage inflation, product inflation, and cost inflation. And it's just that cycle keeps going. And I think, unfortunately, an inevitable byproduct of some of the Fed's moves and as the necessary medicine we have to take to kind of cool things down and get the inflation back under control on some of these layoffs that are coming," Simon explained to co-host Will...

During a monologue on his radio show Polny Kontakt (Full Contact), which gradually grew in volume as it went along, Solovyov raged...He said that he had previously warned that Adolf Hitler would be "rehabilitated"..."Berlin, Paris, Madrid, London, Washington should be on fire," he said..."Did we destroy a single base on NATO territory? No. Did we conduct strikes against the vile Polish dogs?...Then why the heck do we have a stockpile of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons? To be afraid to use it?"

The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sought Sunday to tamp down speculation that the new GOP majority will be less likely to fund aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, though he did suggest some members of his party may need to be convinced about the need to continue US support. “I think there’s enough support on both sides of the aisle. Majority in the Democratic Party, majority in the Republican,” Texas Rep. Michael McCaul told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” referring to aid to Ukraine. But he added, “We have to educate...

he U.S. and allied countries around the world are sending armored vehicles, advanced air defenses and billions of dollars in other weapons to Ukraine in hopes of quickly bolstering its forces ahead of a potential Russian offensive later this year. The latest tranche of American aid was unveiled Thursday, including a brigade's worth of armored Stryker vehicles, and was valued at $2.5 billion -- following a $3 billion package with Bradley Fighting Vehicles on Jan. 6. Defense leaders from about 50 countries huddled at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday to discuss the aid and the path forward."Russia is...

President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, announced another $2.5 billion in military aid for Ukraine on Thursday and said the United States “will stand united with Ukraine for as long as it takes.” The most recent aid package comes after Congress awarded $45 billion to Ukraine in the massive $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that Biden signed into law last month, bringing the total amount of U.S. aid sent to Ukraine to over $110 billion. Interestingly, the $45 billion Congress awarded was $8 billion more than the $37 billion that Biden’s administration requested. “Pursuant to a delegation of...

former U.S. military official has outlined a road map for Ukraine to pursue efforts to "lease out" a mercenary air force from the U.S. government as the country struggles to maintain air superiority in its war with Russia.

U.S. armed forces will begin training up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers on the sophisticated Patriot missile system next week at Fort Sill, Okla., a defense official confirmed for Fox News Tuesday. The training is expected to take several months, though it will still be an expedited process in comparison to roughly year-long program the Patriot missile system traditionally takes. "The longer those troops are off the line – they're not actually engaged in combat – and so [the U.S. is] trying to work with Ukrainians to see what we can do to accelerate the training timeline," Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen....

The Biden administration is preparing to announce a roughly $2.5 billion military aid package for Ukraine that is expected to include dozens of Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, according to two people familiar with the decision, as the Pentagon intensifies its support ahead of an expected counteroffensive against entrenched Russian forces. The war has entered a phase, U.S. officials have said, that will require Ukrainian units to attack enemy forces in a concerted way, using tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and aviation in what is known as combined arms warfare. Bradleys and Strykers would significantly bolster their firepower and allow soldiers...