Free Republic

Russia does not seek to absorb all of Ukraine, as the Russians have "returned" five regions and Crimea, obtaining what they need, states the US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. The Special Envoy emphasized the importance of reaching a fair agreement for Ukraine, but stressed that the US and Western countries cannot allow this country to drag them into a Third World War. He added that this is not his personal opinion, but the policy of President Donald Trump. When asked by the journalist about the plans of the UK and several other European countries to send...

President Trump on Tuesday granted a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road drug marketplace and a cult hero in the cryptocurrency and libertarian worlds. In doing so, Mr. Trump fulfilled a promise that he made repeatedly on the campaign trail as he courted political contributions from the crypto industry, which spent more than $100 million to influence the outcome of the election. A Bitcoin pioneer, Mr. Ulbricht, 40, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2015, after he was convicted on charges that included distributing narcotics on the internet. “I just...

In less than 24 hours part of Ukraine becomes part of Russia and NATO just held a secret meeting to ramp up the war. Vladimir Putin pointed the finger directly at the U.S. for its attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. Germany is on the brink of collapse as German energy experts point to coming blackouts.

All four regions have said their word; they voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining Russia.

Starting last month Ukrainian lawmakers began seeking to implement severe consequences for those participating in Russia-sponsored referendums in occupied territories of Ukraine. For example, a law is being pushed through parliament which criminalizes obtaining a Russian passport in temporarily occupied territories, Ukrainian sources reported last week, according to Yahoo News. Proposed possible punishments have included losing Ukrainian citizenship, or even lengthy jail sentences. But other officials have argued for a more compromising approach given the necessity of survival in occupied areas. But now the Ukrainian government has reiterated its willingness to impose steep penalties for even participating in any Kremlin-sponsored...

Eurowanker governments waiting around for Ukraine to die ======================================== "Translation: MOSCOW, August 16 – RIA Novosti. Western curators have practically written off the Kyiv regime and are already planning the partition of Ukraine, Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Colonel-General Volodymyr Matveev said at the Moscow Conference on International Security. “Obviously, the West is not concerned about the fate of the Kyiv regime. As can be seen from the information received by the SVR, Western curators have almost written it off and are in full swing developing plans for the division and occupation of at least part of the Ukrainian lands,” he...

RUSSIA's "outdated weapons" have proven to be no match for Ukrainian defences as the latest intelligence report from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) shows 55 percent of Russian-backed forces have been wiped out in the Donbas region. With the focus of the conflict heavily concentrated in the Donbas region in and around the strategic industrial city of Severodonetsk, Ukraine has called on the west to supply extra weapons to defend the territory. Russia has announced it has all but captured the city as heavy shelling continues, however, the cost of the operation has taken its toll on Russian personnel, with...

Two former federal agents accused of stealing bitcoins have been charged with wire fraud, money laundering and related offenses, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. Carl Force, a former special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Shaun Bridges, a former Secret Service special agent, were both part of a Baltimore task force investigating Silk Road, the online marketplace often labeled the eBay of the drug trade. Force was given the task of establishing communications with Ross Ulbricht, aka "Dread Pirate Roberts," the San Francisco man who has been linked to Silk Road. Ulbricht was convicted last month...

MOSCOW (AP) — Authorities say a bomb planted under or inside a car has killed a senior Ukrainian military intelligence officer in the country’s capital. Photos from the scene showed the mangled vehicle in the middle of a Kiev intersection. Police say the car’s driver was killed immediately and two passers-by were slightly injured in the Tuesday morning blast. The Defense Ministry identified the victim as Col. Maxim Shapoval of the Chief Directorate of Intelligence. Ukrainian media reported that Shapoval was chief of military intelligence’s special forces.

On the eve of Angela Merkel and François Hollande's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) made a concrete push for Putin's vision of eastern Ukraine. The self-proclaimed, largely unrecognized DPR moved closer to unifying with the other region that has forcefully broken away by declaring itself the legal successor of a 1918 self-proclaimed Soviet republic. "We, the deputies of the Donetsk People's Republic, aware of our responsibility before the past and paving the road for the future, proclaim the continuation of the tradition of the Donetsk-Krivoy-Rog Republic and announce that the state of Donetsk...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California violated the Clean Air Act when it decided nine years ago that no regulations were necessary to cut smog-forming compounds in farm and commercial pesticides, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton's decision means that lawyers for environmental groups and the state will meet to discuss possible remedies for the pollution. Lawyers for both groups have been ordered to file briefs in 20 days. "The bottom line is that the state should have had regulations in place to have a 20 percent reduction of these emissions in five basins by this year," said...