Free Republic

More and more the United States views Russia’s war on Ukraine as a pivotal episode in a global contest that pits Washington not only against Moscow but against a group of active adversaries – with China at the group’s core. At a briefing convened by the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee last week, China shared top billing with Russia and the conflict in Ukraine as a talking point. In particular, attention centered on China’s military plans vis-a-vis a possible takeover of Taiwan. The two top intelligence agency heads – civilian and military – put China atop a list of four...

An ad from Calvin Klein on Mother's Day featuring a pregnant transgender man and his trans partner has sparked a wave of backlash on social media. “Today, in support of women and mothers all over the world, we’re spotlighting the realities of new families," the company wrote in the caption of a Sunday Instagram post highlighting the campaign, which features three nontraditional families — including Brazilian reality stars Erika Fernandes and Roberto Bete. “Erika Fernandes and Roberto Bete are expecting parents from Brazil. Roberto is due to give birth to his and Erika's son Noah any day now,” the caption...

Coffee futures in New York jumped Wednesday as new weather forecasts show the world’s largest producer has increased frost risks in top growing areas. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published new forecasts that show low temperatures in Cerrado, Parana state, and Mogiana could record below 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) by May 16. In the south of Minas Gerais and Guaxupe, temperatures may trend even lower through May 19. All of the regions listed are top-producing areas for arabica beans. Global coffee reporter & independent analyst Maja Wallengren said, “intense new cold front starting to move into all...

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - U.S. government officials in March asked Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras whether it could increase crude output after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent global prices soaring, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. They came away empty-handed, the sources said. Officials at Petrobras, formally Petroleo Brasileiro SA, said output levels were a function of business strategy rather than diplomacy and also that a significant short-term production boost would not be logistically possible, the sources said. "We are ... doing everything possible with our allies and partners to mitigate the economic impacts of Russian...

Soaring prices for industrial fertilizer have forced one of Brazil’s largest farmers to initiate plans to reduce nutrient spreading on fields by at least a quarter in 2022-23, according to Bloomberg. SLC Agricola SA, which manages soybeans, corn, and cotton fields in an area larger than the state of Delaware, will reduce the use of fertilizer by 20% and 25%, Chief Executive Officer Aurelio Pavinato said. Pavinato’s planned reduction of fertilizer comes as prices have soared to record highs due to shortages stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said fewer nutrients won’t necessarily affect crop production yet. “It’s...

The latest example of G-20 countries not bowing down to US pressure to halt trade relations with Russia comes from South America. On Tuesday, in response to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s request for Brazil to increase more food exports, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro asked the WTO not to sever trade flows with Russia. He said there are 27 Russian vessels hauling fertilizer to Brazil. Now, why would Bolsonaro go against the wishes of the US and EU politicians to eliminate trade with Russia? Well, the South American country imports more than 85% of its fertilizer demand....

The non-issuance of visas to India continues to irk thousands of Pakistani Americans as the former remains hell bent to grind an axe with Pakistanis, regardless of borders or their new nationalities. At the moment, there are an estimated 500,000 Pakistani Americans in the US and the rate of their continually burgeoning numbers makes them the second fastest growing group of Asian immigrants in the US. According to the Pew Research Centre, the entire population of Asian Americans, which includes Pakistanis, is among those in the highest income bracket as well as the best educated in the country. However, despite...

Ever since the international community aimed to punish the Iranian regime for its illicit nuclear activities and its support of global terrorism and regional warmongering, Tehran has tried to find ways to sidestep the sanctions regime through money laundering, smuggling and hostage taking. In March 2021, in his new year’s address and three months before installing Ebrahim Raisi as the new president, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei gave instructions about how to steer the regime away from being vulnerable to sanctions. “Our emphatic advice to the officials of our country, whether those who are now in office or...

Washington: India's total purchase of oil from Russia in a month is probably less than what Europe does in an afternoon, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. "I noticed you refer to oil purchases. If you are looking at energy purchases from Russia, I would suggest that your attention should be focused on Europe. We do buy some energy, which is necessary for our energy security. But I suspect looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon," Jaishankar told a reporter when asked about India's oil...

Izabella da Silva, an 11-year old girl died four days after being inoculated with the vaccine against COVID19. According to reports, the girl was being threatened by the direction of the school where she studied. Izabella, was a healthy girl, without any comorbidities, in perfect health, and her parents did not want to vaccinate her. But the school's management pressured her, threatening to make a complaint to the guardianship council, as directed by the Paraná Public Ministry, that she could be removed from her parents care, said the deputy during a speech to the Legislative Assembly of Paraná.

Since the West has declared a hybrid war against Russia, Moscow has to search for opportunities in other regions, the diplomat said. The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) will be at the heart of a new world order, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said. "In all respects ... these countries will become the basis of a new world order," the deputy foreign minister told RT when asked whether the BRICS countries would take a more important role in the world. Russia is working to establish contacts with any country that is interested in cooperation, he...

System set up outside Iran’s borders conducted tens of billions in banned trade, according to documents, intelligence officials WASHINGTON—Iran established a clandestine banking and finance system to handle tens of billions of dollars in annual trade banned under U.S.-led sanctions, enabling Tehran to endure the economic siege and giving it leverage in multilateral nuclear talks, according to Western diplomats, intelligence officials and documents. The system, which comprises accounts in foreign commercial banks, proxy companies registered outside the country, firms that coordinate the banned trade, and a transaction clearinghouse within Iran, has helped Tehran resist the Biden administration’s pressure to rejoin...

Breaking News: Police In Calgary, Alberta Obtain Court Injunction To Crack Down On COVID Freedom Protest In City Tomorrow... A Trucker's Freedom Rally underway in Canada tonight at the Vaughan Mills Mall outside Toronto...tomorrow the protest continues at the Ontario legislature in downtown Toronto. Breaking News: Baby Cyrus Anderson Returned Home In Idaho... Its Friday night in the USA but already Saturday in Australia where "Worldwide Day of Freedom" protests are underway... Peoples Convoy Carries On In Washington With Police Messing Up Capital Traffic Multiple Groups On Highways One Group Enters Downtown Near White House Convoy Will Continue In The...

There’s no question in our minds a global food crisis is emerging. The last example is Russia’s freeze on fertilizer exports will complicate agricultural production in Brazil. Fertilizer costs before Russia invaded Ukraine were already high. The invasion made everything worse as Moscow’s protectionism has crimped exports of the nutrients critical for growing all sorts of farm goods. No other nation in the world relies on foreign fertilizer than Brazil. According to Bloomberg, the South American country imports more than 85% of its fertilizer demand. Russia is its top supplier, and Belarus provides 28% of the total. “Restraining fertilizer consumption...

The very basis of the US superpower status- The dollar as only world reserve currency is under threat.The Colder War is a book by Canadian Author Marin Katusa—who is the Head of the energy division of investment advisory service Casey Research and this is a video describing some points of discussion.What makes the US dollar unique is the fact that since the early 1970s it has been, with a few notable exceptions, the only currency used to buy and sell oil on the global market. This began in the 1970s when US President Nixon’s administration began negotiations with the government...

"Investigative journalists doing their jobs should dig deep, into Pelosi's role in the controversial, $280-million, federal-funded Hunters Point Shipyard affair - in relation to her alleged role as an investor in a real estate investment called PRESIDIO PARTNERS. Look past the fact that the 936-acre site, of which about 443 acres are not polluted - Hunter Point is the largest tract of undeveloped land in San Francisco. Roll Call stated that in early 2004, Murtha “reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the City of San Francisco” and that “Laurence...

Credit: skeleton by Maurício Silva Garcia; photo and composition by Rodrigo Temp MüllerPaleontologists from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM) published a study in the scientific periodic Gondwana Research describing the new fossilized specimen.The oldest dinosaurs have been excavated from fossiliferous layers with approximately 233 million years from Brazil and Argentina. Furthermore, some older Argentinean deposits revealed remains of dinosaur precursors, which provide crucial data on the origin of "true" dinosaurs. These creatures lived approximately 236 million years ago and were small, with no more than 1 meter in length.Whereas the fossil record of dinosaur precursors is relatively...

Summary Existing scholarship has not systematically examined BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) as a rising power de-dollarization coalition, despite the group developing multiple de-dollarization initiatives to reduce currency risk and bypass US sanctions. To fill this gap, this study develops a 'Pathways to De-dollarization' framework and applies it to analyze the institutional and market mechanisms that BRICS countries have created at the BRICS, sub-BRICS, and BRICS Plus levels. This framework identifies the leaders and followers of the BRICS de-dollarization coalition, assesses its robustness, and discerns how BRICS mobilizes other stakeholders. The authors employ process tracing, content analysis, semi-structured interviews, archival research, and...

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Sunday, adding that Brazil would "adopt a neutral stance on Ukraine" and will not impose sanctions on Russia. He also pointed out that Brazil is dependent on Russian fertilizer, and that action against Moscow "could bring serious harm to agriculture in Brazil." He added that he was in support of peace — "but we don't want to bring more problems to Brazil."

I first saw Olavo de Carvalho years ago on a program called Update Brazil, which covered the global fight against communism. The video is gone now, the whole channel purged by YouTube. The host was Allan dos Santos, an excellent anti-communist journalist who is now being persecuted and blacklisted by Brazil's far-left Supreme Court. Also on the show were the brilliant American analysts, Jeff Nyquist and Diana West. The fourth person was the only one I didn't recognize. An old and playful Brazilian man. He seemed quirky. Maybe a blogger and friend of Allan's. It was actually Olavo de Carvalho,...