Free Republic

The United States will face "dangerous consequences" if it presses on with growing military aid to Ukraine rather than backing a proposed Russian settlement that would see Moscow take over swathes of territory, the man serving as Russian President Vladimir Putin's top diplomat for 20 years said in exclusive responses to Newsweek questions. Well over two and a half years after Putin ordered a "special military operation" against Ukraine, invading the country in what has become the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Kremlin offers a viable blueprint to end the...

Russia will train its troops in Ukraine to use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield, Moscow has said.The training exercises will involve Iskander-M ballistic missiles and various aircraft, Moscow’s defence ministry said in a statement published on the Telegram messaging app.“During the exercise, issues of preparing units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons will be worked out,” it said.“As part of this exercise, the personnel of the missile formations of the Southern and Central military districts will work out combat training tasks of obtaining special training ammunition for the Iskander-M...

Vladimir Putin today issued a chilling new threat to use nuclear weapons against the West, telling world leaders to back off Ukraine while warning: 'I'm not bluffing'. The desperate despot also ordered the mobilisation of 300,000 military reserves - a first in Russia since the Second World War - and gave the go-ahead for referendums to be held in occupied areas of Ukraine that would make them a part of Russia, in the Kremlin's eyes at least. He vowed to use 'all means' to defend the regions, saying: 'If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use...

Tensions are mounting around the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, an isolated but strategically significant territory on the Baltic coast that could soon be dragged into the Kremlin’s war. Russia has reacted furiously after Lithuania banned the passage of sanctioned goods across its territory and into Kaliningrad. But Lithuania says it is merely upholding European Union sanctions, and the European bloc has backed it. The row now threatens to escalate strains between Moscow and the EU, which has unveiled several packages of sanctions on Russian goods. Here’s what you need to know about Kaliningrad, its history and its importance to Russia....

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Tuesday he is not “bluffing” on Senate Republicans’ stand on the debt ceiling. McConnell told Punchbowl News that Republicans will not help the Democrat-controlled Congress raise the debt ceiling, which is required for the government to continue operating alongside a bill to fund the government.

House Democrats are launching an aggressive media campaign on Tuesday to accompany former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony on Capitol Hill Wednesday regarding his investigation into alleged Russian collusion and obstruction, according to a report. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office has turned Mueller’s 448-page report — which found no criminal conspiracy with Russia and declined to make an assessment on obstruction — into a six-page document highlighting what they consider to be its most damning findings, The Hill reported. The six-page document, dubbed “Exposing the Truth,” will be distributed Tuesday to Democrat lawmakers to guide their “outreach to voters,” according...

Washington (CNN)House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler on Sunday said Robert Mueller's report presents "very substantial evidence" that President Donald Trump is "guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors" -- an impeachable offense. "We have to ... let Mueller present those facts to the American people, and then see where we go from there, because the administration must be held accountable," Nadler, whose committee would lead impeachment proceedings, said on "Fox News Sunday." Mueller, the former special counsel for the Department of Justice and former director of the FBI, will testify before Congress on July 24 after House Democrats issued a subpoena...

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that he is “confident” special counsel Robert Mueller will testify before his committee “soon.” Nadler also reiterated that the committee would subpoena Mueller for testimony “if we have to,” and underscored Democrats’ demand that his appearance be public and not behind closed doors. “Let’s just say that I’m confident he’ll come in soon,” Nadler told reporters in the U.S. Capitol. When asked whether he would subpoena Mueller, Nadler replied, “We will if we have to.” Nadler’s remarks come one week after Mueller delivered his first public statement on his investigation into...

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y) said Friday that special counsel Robert Mueller will not be testifying before his panel next week. Nadler told reporters that the committee is still negotiating over his testimony with the Justice Department and Mueller but expects him to appear. “He will come at some point. If it’s necessary, we will subpoena him,” Nadler said. Democrats had originally hoped Mueller would testify on May 15.

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday that President Donald Trump is “becoming self-impeachable” because of his administration's noncompliance with subpoenas and other requests by House chairs. “The point is that every single day, whether it’s obstruction, obstruction, obstruction - obstruction of having people come to the table with facts, ignoring subpoenas. ... Every single day, the president is making a case - he’s becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things that he is doing,” she said at a Washington Post Live event in Washington. According to three lawmakers, Pelosi made a similar comment to House...

We know from History that Obama bluffed on the red line he drew over Syria....he is bluffing the weak knee republican leadership like he threatened Syria....

This week felt like déjà vu all over again for immigration activists who held hunger strikes ahead of Christmas break. The House and Senate, one of the least productive to ever set foot in the nation's Capitol, left Washington this week to go on vacation without bringing forward a vote on reform. Again. But activists aren't the only ones fed up with Congress’ inaction on immigration reform. The country's largest states—California, New York, and Texas—have been looking for ways to take matters into their own hands when it comes to granting rights to undocumented residents. In New York, State Senator...

Joe Biden also said the US remained committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Barack Obama's threats to use military force to prevent Iran securing a nuclear weapon are more than idle bluffs, vice-president Joe Biden told the biggest pro-Israeli lobbying group Aipac on Monday.Biden said that while the US preferred a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Iran, a military option remained on the table."The president of the United States cannot, and does not, bluff. President Barack Obama is not bluffing," Biden told the audience in Washington.Israel is seeking assurances of support...

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has relentlessly warned that Iran poses an imminent nuclear threat, but most Israelis are sanguine, believing it won't happen or that Israel can handle it. Yes, Iran is a dangerous regime, most say. But even as some get new gas masks and repair their bomb shelters, more than half say they think Mr. Netanyahu's statements about launching an Israeli strike on Iran are a bluff intended to pressure the US to do the job instead.

Iranian navy soldiers take part in a military exercise in the Strait of Homruz on Wednesday Tensions between the United States and Iran have dangerously ratcheted up as naval officials with America's Fifth Fleet warned any attempt by Iran to close a strategically vital oil route through the Strait of Hormuz would "not be tolerated". The news heightens a sense of growing crisis in the Persian Gulf after two days of threats by senior Iranian figures that they might shut down the important trade route in response to any future international sanctions against the country's oil exports. "Anyone who threatens...

NEW YORK (AP) - The Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday threatened to sue conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for writing in a column that the civil rights leader played a role in two New York race riots. In a column published by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday about his derailed bid to become part-owner of the St. Louis Rams, he accuses Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson of making comments that helped get him booted from a group that was trying to buy the NFL team. Limbaugh derided Sharpton as having played "a leading role in the 1991 Crown...

AGENTS of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it.

BEIRUT: In his third televised speech since the Israeli war on Lebanon, Hizbullah secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the resistance would use all possible means to defend Lebanese territory."Hizbullah is strong enough to achieve victory over the Israelis," he said. "The enemy cannot impose on us when and where to attack or how to react.""We will continue. We still have a lot more and we are just at the beginning," Nasrallah said in a taped appearance aired on Sunday evening. "We promise them surprises in [any] confrontation.""In the beginning, we started to act calmly, we focused on Israeli military...

Flash News:

<p>Moscow - Ayman al-Zawahri, al Qaeda's No. 2 man, has bragged that the terrorist group bought suitcase nuclear bombs from former Soviet nuclear scientists in Moscow and Central Asia, but experts on Russia's nuclear program dismiss the statements, saying Osama bin Laden's deputy is bluffing.</p>