Free Republic

CIA Director Bill Burns made an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia this week where he reportedly aired Washington's frustrations over Riyadh's opening to Iran and Syria through mediation brokered by US rivals China and Russia. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official confirmed the trip to Al-Monitor. “Director Burns traveled to Saudi Arabia where he met with intelligence counterparts and country leaders on issues of shared interest," the US official said. The official did not disclose the exact day of the trip but said that Burns discussed intelligence cooperation, especially in the area of counterterrorism. The CIA director met...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his doors are closed for US ambassador to Ankara Jeff Flake following the diplomat's meeting with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the presidential candidate for the opposition alliance. "What is (US President Joe) Biden's envoy doing? He goes and meets with Mr. Kemal. Shame on you, use your brain," Erdogan was quoted as saying by Turkey's Star newspaper on Sunday amid growing tension between Washington and Ankara. "You are an ambassador. Your interlocutor here is the president. How will you ask for a meeting with the president after this," Erdogan asserted, adding that his doors were now...

A court in Kyiv on Saturday put Metropolitan Pavlo, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, under house arrest for 60 days, Ukrainian news media reported. The Ukrainian government has led a crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine. Earlier on Saturday, the Security Service of Ukraine, known as SBU, notified Pavlo that he was suspected of two criminal offenses: inciting inter-religious enmity and justifying Russian aggression. "The law and the responsibility for violating it are the...

When Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met in Moscow last month, China sent a cautionary rebuke to Russia about nuclear threats against Ukraine in a clear message to avoid nuclear war. Putin, who on several occasions had threatened to launch atomic weapons in retaliation against various battlefield escalations, signed onto a no use of nuclear weapons statement in a joint communique. Or at least he did for a few hours. Among the pledges listed, China and Russia agreed that “All nuclear-weapon states should refrain from deploying nuclear weapons abroad.” But no sooner had Xi left Moscow...

It is quite interesting how 'western' political memes are created and spread. China’s New Vassal - How the War in Ukraine Turned Moscow Into Beijing’s Junior Partner - Aug 9, 2022 - Foreign Affairs China used to be Russia’s junior partner. Ukraine changed that. - Feb 24, 2023 - MSNBC Russia Becoming China's 'Junior' Partner - Bolton - Mar 13, 2023 - MENAFN Fatalism is not an option for addressing China-Russia relations - Mar 17, 2023 - Brookings > China’s leaders appear guided by three top objectives in their approach to Russia. The first is to lock Russia in for...

Bakhmut is encircled. All roads in and out of it are under Russian artillery fire. Over the last three days fighting has largely stopped there. No one seems to know why the operation was halted. There are unconfirmed claims that Ukraine is preparing a counterattack to free Bakhmut from its encirclement. That attack is supposed to go off as soon as the muddy ground has dried up a bit. Meanwhile other encirclement has taken place in Avdiivka: Avdiivka (Ukrainian: Авдіївка, IPA: [ɐu̯ˈd(j)ijiu̯kɐ]; is a city of regional significance in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The city is located in the center of...

The second Russia-Africa international parliamentary conference in Moscow brought together more than forty delegations from the continent. The first conference of 2019 was attended by participants from 36 countries. The growing number of participants confirms the special nature of the friendship ties between Russia and Africa. The two-day conference will conclude on March 20, as a prelude to a major Russia-Africa summit to be held on July 27-28, 2023 in St. Petersburg. The consultative forum aims to develop parliamentary cooperation between Russia and African states in the context of the emerging multipolar world. The two sides plan to synchronize their...

Archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to restore diplomatic relations, a dramatic breakthrough brokered by China after years of soaring tensions between the Middle Eastern powerhouses. The deal, which will see the two leading oil producers reopen embassies in each other’s capitals, was sealed during a meeting in Beijing — a boost to China's efforts to rival the United States as a broker on the global stage. The agreement could put a damper on Israel's ongoing work to normalize relations with its Arab neighbors, and complicate U.S. and other Western powers' bid to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Saudi-Iran...

MOSCOW, March 9 – RIA Novosti. The newspaper specifically asked the US administration’s largest commodity traders not to be afraid of deals on the supply of Russian oil, which is bought and sold at a ceiling price. Finance Times With reference to informed sources. According to the publication, representatives of the US Treasury Department met with executives of trading companies Trafigura and Gunvor. While Washington has never objected to the trade of Russian oil within the ceilings agreed by the G7, major oil traders have been wary of the market.

Ukrainian forces are pulling out of Bakhmut and the battle for the small Donetsk city is nearly finished. So what happens next? There appear to be two stages to the Bakhmut pullout. The first started perhaps a month ago, though that isn’t certain. The troops pulled out comprised foreign fighters and Yellow Armband troops. The Russians say they have not seen any foreign fighters for about a month. Most of these were said to be from Georgia and Abkhazia. (Abkhazia is the area in Georgia carved out by the Russians and declared an independent entity.) The Yellow Armband troops are...

London CNN — Russian oil is still finding its way to buyers around the world. But even those who spend their days tracking its movement across oceans struggle to work out exactly who is ferrying it. As Western sanctions against Russia have escalated over its invasion of Ukraine, more ships have joined an existing fleet of mysterious tankers, ready to facilitate Russia’s oil exports. Industry insiders estimate the size of that “shadow” fleet at roughly 600 vessels, or about 10% of the global number of large tankers. And numbers continue to climb. Who owns and operates many of these ships...

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - The United States is sounding out close allies about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on China if Beijing provides military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to four U.S. officials and other sources. The consultations, which are still at a preliminary stage, are intended to drum up support from a range of countries, especially those in the wealthy Group of 7 (G7), to coordinate support for any possible restrictions. It was not clear what specific sanctions Washington will propose. The conversations have not been previously disclosed. The U.S. Treasury Department, a...

Some 10,000 to 20,000 troops comprising the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut are now trapped. Reports say that the city is operationally encircled with diminishing chance of a breakout. To the west of Bakhmut is a lot of open country and not much to prevent a Russian advance all the way to the Dnieper River. There is no hard evidence yet that the Ukrainian army has prepared a second line of defense. This means the way may be open for a possible major offensive by Russian forces. Whether that will happen and what Russia’s goals are remain to be seen. Most...

The U.S. dollar enjoys the world reserve currency status due to numerous factors. Legal and investor security, an open and transparent market, as well as independent institutions with checks and balances that limit political power and strengthen the country’s currency in relative terms. No, a country does not have a world reserve currency due to military power. No one accepted the kopek when the Soviet Union ruled half the world. For a fiat currency to be a world reserve it needs to be widely accepted as unit of measure, method of payment and reserve of value. The problem is that...

From the Reuters summary of Saturday, February 19, 2022: Russia's President Vladimir Putin was set to oversee exercises by strategic nuclear missile forces on Saturday as Western leaders gathered in Munich, fearful that he could order troops massed on Ukraine's border to invade at any time. Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine declared a full military mobilisation, a day after ordering women and children to evacuate to Russia, citing the threat of an imminent attack by Ukrainian forces. Kyiv flatly denied the accusation and Washington said it was part of Russia's plan to create a pretext for an invasion of...

After the 2014 coup in Kiev the dully elected President Yanukovich had fled the country. His supporters in parliament were afraid and would no show up for further assemblies. The incoming U.S. selected government immediately set out to suppress the Russian speaking parts of Ukraine. The first move of the rump parliament, now dominated by right-wing people from west Ukraine, was to prohibit the Russian language for official business. The ethnic Russian population in the east and southeast was opposed to the coup and rebelled against it. The new government tried to oppress it by military means. But a lot...

In early 2022 Ukraine had finished the preparations for an overwhelming attack on the renegade People Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LNR). Half of the Ukrainian army, some 120,000 men recruited and trained during the last 7 years, were stationed near the ceasefire line and ready to go. On the opposing side only some 40,000 men were under arms. They would have little chance to withstand an onslaught. Russia could not let a Ukrainian attack happen. If Ukraine could regain the renegade provinces it would have been able to join NATO. Russian public opinion was decisively on the...

Chinese investment and interest in Russia’s Arctic natural resources continues unabated. In addition to receiving regular shipments of LNG and crude oil, one of China’s major engineering and construction companies is partnering with Russian Titanium Resources to develop a massive mineral deposit in the Russian Arctic. Russian Titanium Resources (Rustitan) and China Communications and Construction Company signed an agreement for the development of the Pizhemskoye mining project in the Komi Republic. The cooperation extends beyond the mining of titanium and includes a host of related infrastructure development including expansion of the Arctic deep water port of Indiga and construction of...

Last week, following two days of heavy fighting along the southern front in Ukraine, I concluded that the expected push from the south into the back of the Ukrainian forces at the Donetzk frontline, was finally happening. Ukraine - Russian Army Activates Southern Front I was wrong. I, and other analysts following the war, had been deceived by the sudden rush of news from that frontline. It said that Russian forces made progress in a large number of towns. But nearly as soon as I had published my peace that news died down. In the following days nothing happened but...

On Monday CBS launched a story about classified papers found in a former office of president Biden. I am curious why the story came out and why it came out now. "U.S. attorney reviewing documents marked classified from Joe Biden's vice presidency found at Biden think tank Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned the U.S. attorney in Chicago to review documents marked classified that were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, two sources with knowledge of the inquiry told CBS News. The roughly 10 documents are from President Biden's vice-presidential office at the...