Free Republic

President Donald Trump has ordered the creation of new federal and military “specialized units,” framed as a move to ensure public safety in Washington, D.C., and beyond. In the order signed on Monday, he directed federal agencies and the Pentagon to hire, train, and equip rapid-response forces for deployment in the capital, “other cities,” and, potentially, “nationwide.”The order, titled “Additional Measures to Address the Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia,” builds on Executive Order 14333 of August 11, which first declared a “crime emergency.”Trump justified the latest move by claiming that “rampant violence and disorder” threaten the federal government...

FOUR Russian airfields housing Putin's nuke bombers have reportedly been blitzed in an extraordinary drone strike - wiping out at least 40 aircraft. Ukrainian drones - reportedly launched from lorries inside Russia - targeted airbases in Belaya, Diaghilevo, Olenya and Ivanovo as part of a daring operation codenamed "Spiderweb".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stormed off and headed home early after being snubbed by other diplomats at the G20 summit — who refused to take a group photo with him over his nation’s invasion of Ukraine. Foreign ministers who gathered in Bali, Indonesia, this week, did not pose for a traditional “family”-style group photo, after several of them reportedly refused to be pictured with Vladimir Putin’s chief envoy. The Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken led the photo-op boycott.

Russia’s capture of the strategic city of Lysychansk means the front line in Ukraine’s east will shift as Russian forces regroup before pushing further south and west, military analysts and Ukrainian officers said Sunday, ensuring that the next phase of the battle will be just as bloody as the last. To take Lysychansk and its neighboring city of Sievierodonetsk, Russian forces moved in from the north, east and west and created a pocket of territory that became indefensible toward the end of June. Now those Russian forces are in a position to attempt a similar maneuver on other Ukrainian-held cities...

So, the G-7 leaders are in agreement, more war with Russia. Without actually saying exactly that, that was the main takeaway from he meeting of the most feckless leaders in the world. They also pledged $600 billion they don’t have to fund global infrastructure projects to ‘combat China’s Belt and Road Initiative.’ One wonders where all this money and, in the case of Europe, energy is going to come from to fund all of this. But the question I’ve had from the beginning of this obvious war of attrition the West wants to impose on Russia is the following: Do...