Free Republic

Attacks in Russia's Muslim majority republic of Dagestan are the latest strikes in the country linked to Islamic State. One security analyst told Newsweek that the Kremlin's focus on Ukraine rather than the threat of terrorism means more such incidents are guaranteed. Russia's authorities announced a counterterrorism operation after men opened fire on Russian Orthodox churches and a synagogue in the coastal city of Derbent at around 6 p.m. Sunday. Within the same hour, another group opened fire on a traffic police post in the republic's capital of Makhachkala, about 80 miles north. "Putin's quickly losing control of the country,"...

The meat grinder/organ harvesting link...

The steady path toward World War III continues. U.S. and NATO support for Ukraine in the war with Russia has been one long failure, but that hasn’t stopped them from escalating the war with new weapons and tactics. Russia has met the escalation with its own escalation every step of the way. At what point do rational leaders in the West (if there are any left) pause, consider that the war is lost in Ukraine, deescalate and seek a treaty to end the war? There’s no sign of that yet. In fact, all of the signs point to further escalation,...

Russia is expected to significantly increase the size of its military presence in Ukraine, with an additional 200-300 thousand troops set to join their ranks, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in an interview with Reuters. The minister added that the current number of Russian forces stationed in Ukraine and along its borders stands at 500 thousand troops. Umerov emphasized the urgency of mobilizing fresh recruits to facilitate the rotation of military personnel in response to the anticipated surge in Russian troop numbers. "At this stage, we are focused on training our personnel ... pilots, we are focused on...