Free Republic

"China's state-owned banks are tightening curbs on funding to Russian clients as they fear being subjected to secondary sanctions from the U.S., according to a Tuesday report by Bloomberg... "...Chris Weafer, chief executive officer of strategic consultants Macro-Advisory Ltd., which focuses on Russia and the Eurasia region, previously told Newsweek that Russia should be wary of this increased reliance on China. "While China is eagerly buying energy and materials and selling Chinese-made goods to the Russia market, all of which suits Beijing, there is very little investment coming into Russia, certainly nothing like enough to replace the lost investment from...

"Russia's state energy holding company, Inter RAO, has started restricting electricity supplies to China after Vladimir Putin's key ally and trading partner rejected a price hike. "The dispute stems from China facing severe electricity problems due to droughts and limits on increasing domestic coal production, while Russia is trying to offset the slump in its currency, which has hurt export revenues. "One expert told Newsweek that China is displaying a "hard-nosed" negotiating approach over Russia's demand and that it's in a strong bargaining position.... ... ... "...Chinese energy firms and the state have always been famously hard-nosed and very patient...

"Chinese media outlets this week shared a new geographic map from China's state-owned standard map service that shows Russian territory as part of China. "The map, which is said to have been approved by Beijing and was released by China's Ministry of Natural Resources, comes as Western observers have speculated that the relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping has become strained. "Shortly before Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he and Xi signed a "no limits" partnership agreement, but Chinese officials have since publicly called for a peaceful resolution to the war....

"China, India, Brazil and several other states close to Russia have unexpectedly voted for a UN Resolution which strongly censures Moscow. "On April 26, China unexpectedly voted in favor of a UN resolution that acknowledges Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and emphasizes the need to respect the independence and territorial integrity of all states... "...Recognizing also that the unprecedented challenges now facing Europe following the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and against Georgia prior to that, and the cessation of the membership of the Russian Federation in the Council of Europe, call for strengthened cooperation between the United...

“I was thrift shopping for dorm stuff. The cashier appeared to be one of the most unhappy, maddest people ever”. I was thrift shopping for dorm stuff. The cashier appeared to be one of the most unhappy, maddest people ever. I was six people deep in the line and it seemed like she got more and more exasperated with each passing customer. She was especially incensed when one of my unmarked items needed a price check. It sent this poor woman toppling right over the edge and I bore the brunt of her fall. But as she rang up my...

"The Biden administration has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity during the war in Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris said in her speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. "Driving the news: The Biden administration has already accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine. But it's the first time the U.S. has formally concluded that Russian forces are committing crimes against humanity. Secretary of State Tony Blinken said the U.S. reserves such "determinations for the most egregious crimes." "The U.S. determination comes just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine..."

"Why does the world need a Ukrainian victory? 1. To halt atrocity. Russia's occupation is genocidal. Wherever the Ukrainians recover territory, they save lives, and re-establish the principle that people have a right not to be tortured, deported, and murdered. 2. To preserve the international legal order. Its basis is that one country may not invade another and annex its territory, as Russia seeks to do. Russia's war of aggression is obviously illegal, but the legal order does not defend itself. 3. To end an era of empire. This could be the last war fought on the colonial logic that...

russian claims to kill, torture, rape and destroy for Jesus

"Debts are awkward, especially debts of gratitude. When we owe others too much, we can find it hard to express our appreciation. If we are not reflective, we might minimize our debt, or simply forget it. If we think highly of ourselves, we might ignore a debt to someone we regard as less important. In the worst case, we can resent the people who have helped us, and portray them in a negative light, just to avoid the feeling that we, too, are vulnerable people who sometimes need a helping hand. "Americans (and many others) owe Ukrainians a huge debt...

"Opposition among the Russian population to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine is at its highest level, according to one survey. "The poll by the private survey agencies Russian Field and Chronicles has given a snapshot of public opinion about what the Kremlin dubs a "special military operation" which is at odds with official Russian government polls... "...The results found that Russian support for the war "continues to fall" and had reached "a historic minimum." It said that the declared support for the war was just over a half, or 51 percent, compared with 55 percent in July and a high...

"A Russian state TV host and his guest engaged in an exchange where the two discussed drowning, raping, and burning Ukrainians... "Over there every piece of s*** little house, there are masses of awful, monstrous little houses. They s*** all over the Carpathian Mountains. [The] Carpathian Mountains are disgusting…Shove them right into those huts and burn them up," Krasovsky said...." Russian State TV Boss Says Drown Ukrainian Children, Burn Families Alive

'Ukraine is ‘defending all of us’ from Putin - Timothy Snyder Interview' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qdvjslwvIU

Ever wonder where you beliefs were on the LIBERAL versus CONSERVATIVE scale. Here is an easy way to find out by taking this short 25 question The following quiz was written by Victor Kamber and Bradley S. O'Leary and appeared in the October 28-30, 1994 issue of USA Weekend. Before you vote in the next election, take this quick, quiz to see where - and with whom - you really stand. political quiz

Robert Bidinotto cannot say the Republican Party lost so badly on Election Day because it had lost its soul. Mr. Bidinotto, a New Castle native and editor-in-chief of The New Individualist, is unsure if this party had a soul. But he is sure it doesn't have a core philosophy. He believes the GOP can recover -- if it's the advocate of the individual. "Conservatives never dared to fully embrace individualism," says Bidinotto, who studied economics at Grove City College in Mercer. "Conservatism has no central defining principle. Conservatives cannot make up their minds if they are champions of the individual...

In a typically thorough, fair-minded, well-written article, the Washington Post's Dan Balz examines the indications that despite many predictions, Rudy Giuliani has a serious chance to win the Republican presidential nomination. You might have read a similar though at the time necessarily more speculative analysis six months ago. It seemed to be the rule from 1980 to 2000 that only abortion opponents could win the Republican presidential nomination (just as it seemed to be the rule from 1984 to 2004 that only supporters of abortion rights could win the Democratic presidential nomination). But rules in politics don't always last forever....

The Weekly Standard's Noemie Emery looks at a subject we've written a lot about over the past few weeks: social conservatives who are considering backing Rudy Giuliani for president despite his disagreeing with them on abortion. Emery argues that Republicans are "making a deal": The deal in the works has been carefully crafted to make sure that no one loses too much. Conservatives would be getting a pro-choice nominee, but one who would not push a pro-choice agenda, and one who would give them (as far as presidents can be sure in these matters) the kind of judges they long...

Pennsylvania may just have given the Republican Party, and Rudy Giuliani in particular, some desperately needed good news. It came in the form of polling results provided by the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College. The Keystone Poll found that if Pennsylvania residents decided today among the leading 2008 presidential contenders, either Giuliani or Sen. John McCain would defeat either Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama. Giuliani leads Clinton 53 percent to 37 percent, and he leads Obama 52 percent to 32 percent. McCain trumps Clinton 45 percent to 41 percent and Obama 43 percent to...

…For a national hero leading in most early presidential polls, Rudy Giuliani has received remarkably little respect from the political intelligentsia. At least until recently it's been conventional wisdom that the former New York City mayor can't win the Republican nomination: He was too late gearing up a campaign organization, the pundits say. He has too much personal baggage. He's too liberal on social issues…. …The counterargument in two words: Charlie Crist. In the state that's probably the best microcosm of America, Crist didn't just win last year's gubernatorial primary running as a moderate on social issues. He pulverized by...

Dick Morris & Eileen McGann in 1,179 words tried to explain what John McCain’s problem is, why he is not gaining any traction among Republican voters. And the Morrises (she is his wife) missed!... …Nope. Wrong. Two words: McCain-Feingold. The fundamental difference between McCain 2000 and McCain 2008 is that he put his name on a law that forbids people from speaking out against their congressman within 60 days of an election. Wrong on abortion? That has not stopped Rudy or Mitt. Wrong on gay marriage? Rudy lived with a gay couple after his second wife kicked him out of...

Individual freedom, property rights, free trade and limited government are not exactly core values of either major party today, but they were the philosophical and political stuff America was founded on. Brian Doherty, a Reason magazine editor, has written “Radicals for Capitalism,” a “freewheeling” history of the post-World War II libertarian movement whose brilliant, principled and always outnumbered thinkers -- lead by icons Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Friedrich Hayek, Murray Rothbard and Ludwig von Mises -- have greatly influenced American politics and public policy. I talked to Doherty Feb. 21 by phone from Los Angeles. What's a quick synopsis of...