Free Republic

Eastern Europe's arms industry is churning out guns, artillery shells and other military supplies at a pace not seen since the Cold War... [N]early a dozen government and company officials and analysts who spoke to Reuters said the conflict also presented new opportunities for the region's arms industry. Poland's...State-owned PGZ controls more than 50 companies making weapons and ammunition - from armoured transporters to unmanned air systems - and holds stakes in dozens more. It now plans to invest up to 8 billion zlotys ($1.8 billion)over the next decade, more than double its pre-war target... Other manufacturers too are increasing...

On November 14, the US Army announced that it had awarded a $521 million contract to Lockheed Martin for Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems to replenish GMLRS provided from the Department of Defense (DoD) inventory to Ukraine.

What’s happening in the nearly six-month-old Russo-Ukrainian war? It’s hard to say. Moscow expected a proverbial cakewalk and bungled its initial attack. After rebuffing Russia’s assault, the Zelensky government expanded its objectives, expressing its desire to reconquer portions of the Donbas seized by separatists with Russian support in 2014, as well as Crimea, which had been formally annexed by Moscow.In recent months, however, Russian forces have made slow progress in the Donbas and now occupy a fifth or more of Ukrainian territory. But Ukraine and its advocates have been threatening counteroffensives against Moscow’s supposedly overstretched forces. Conflicting claims have been...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House announced Friday that the U.S. is sending an additional $270 million in security assistance to Ukraine, a package that will include additional medium range rocket systems and tactical drones.

The Holy See has welcomed Iran’s efforts to reduce or convert its nuclear facilities to peaceful purposes in return for the lifting of economic sanctions. In a statement delivered to the 59th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna on Monday, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, said the Vatican “values positively” Iran’s recent agreement with the European Union and the so-called ‘P5 plus 1’ group of nations because “it considers that the way to resolve disputes and difficulties should always be that of dialogue and negotiation”.

Brothel owner who employs 80 prostitutes wins election as county commissioner in Nevada... and he's a Republican Lance Gilman is a thriving businessman with dozens of employees. That those workers include a good many prostitutes didn't faze the people of a rural Nevada county who recently elected him as a Storey County commissioner by a wide margin. The Mustang Ranch brothel owner is the first such owner to win election to public office in Nevada since prostitution was legalized here in 1971, Nevada historian Guy Rocha said. And he's believed to be the first to do so in the state's...

WITH THE MARINES IN CENTRAL IRAQ – War is a series of battles, and battles often are made of small skirmishes that determine who lives and who dies. The face-off yesterday between Gunnery Sgt. Jose A. Rodriguez and an armed Iraqi disguised in civilian clothes was such a moment of decision. The Camp Pendleton Marine fired first and survived. The approaching Iraqi fell in a field and died. "I didn't want to kill anybody, but I had to," Rodriguez said a few hours after the confrontation, which took place a few miles southeast of the Tigris River near Numaniyah. "I...