Free Republic

President Biden said the United States "has never seen anything like Putin’s tax on both food and gas," after the Labor Department announced Friday that inflation hit a new four-decade high in May. The Labor Department said Friday that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods, including gasoline, groceries and rent, rose 8.6% in May from a year ago. Prices jumped 1% in the one-month period from April. Those figures were both higher than the 8.3% headline figure and 0.7% monthly gain forecast by Refinitiv economists. The president, from the Port of Los Angeles...

Since progress is reportedly being made on the Russian-Turkish talks to open up a “grain corridor” in the Black Sea, it makes sense why Moscow might have ordered its naval forces to pull back a bit to show that it’s negotiating in good faith, although there hasn’t yet been any confirmation from the Kremlin about this. Kiev claimed that its forces coerced the Russian navy to “retreat” 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian Coast, though this development hasn’t been independently confirmed. In the event that there’s any credibility to Moscow’s reported naval movements, then it’s unlikely that they were done under...

The almost 1,000 companies that have opted to pull out of Russia following its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine are not just benefiting from a reputational boost. They are also being rewarded by financial markets, while those who remain behind are being punished.

One hundred days of all-out war has been plenty of time to get acquainted with the Russian troops. Their lackluster combat performance, artillery barrages against cities, treatment of civilians, intercepted messages home, and interviews with dozens of civilians around Ukraine allow one to put together a mosaic portrait of the invaders. It’s not a flattering image. Many of the soldiers are dirt-poor and badly educated, with many growing up without access to modern amenities. Many joined the armed forces because they have no future in their backwater towns. The majority have bad training, low morale and no faith in their...

The buckets of cold water Turkey is pouring on Finland and Sweden’s bids to join NATO may be coming from the sea around the shore of Cyprus, the divided Mediterranean island that is a bargaining chip for the Turkish president, Tayyip Erdogan. There is mounting evidence that Turkey could be using its status as a member of NATO to wield its veto power over the anticipated accession to the alliance of the two Nordic countries as a lever to force the international community to confer legitimacy on its de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. London’s Sunday Express recently reported...

{UPDATE} As has been discussed at length, initial reports were incorrect and this was almost certainly a Ukrainian MIG-29. Photos at the scene of the crash and reports from reliable UAF sources have confirmed this. We apologize for the error and will do our best to ensure information is as accurate as we can before reporting. In those cases we still manage to get something wrong, we will acknowledge and correct it.

Ukraine keeps all Russian prisoners of war in full compliance with the Geneva Convention, and has also set up a camp for them in one of the western regions. Those prisoners of war for whom there are no close expectations regarding the exchange are held there. The censor reports, this information is reported by UNIAN with reference to the minister of Justice Denis Malyuska. "We work in full compliance with the Geneva Convention. We have created a special camp for prisoners of war in the west of Ukraine, where those prisoners of war are held for whom there are no...

Politicians from Western countries are beginning to push Ukraine to conclude peace with Russia on terms favorable to the Russian side. At that, Kiev does not know anything about this, since it is not invited to discussions. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made the corresponding statement, Ukrainian Pravda reports."Everyone really wants to push us as much as possible to some result that is definitely not desired for us, because we have not been asked yet, but beneficial for certain parties that have their own interests," the head of state said.Zelenskyy noted that fatigue from the war in Ukraine is growing in...