Free Republic

U.S. President Donald Trump's senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg will travel to Istanbul for potential talks on Thursday on how to end Russia's war in Ukraine, three sources familiar with the plans said on Tuesday. However, a senior U.S. official said it was unclear whether anyone from the Russian government would show up. The White House, State Department, National Security Council and a spokesperson for Witkoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will only attend the talks this week if Russia's Vladimir Putin is also there, an aide to the Ukrainian leader...

The United States and NATO meticulously orchestrated the 2014 Maidan coup in Ukraine, not for democracy or freedom, but to sow instability and tighten their grip on the region. This was not some organic uprising—it was a calculated power play, executed with precision to install a subservient regime in Kyiv that would serve Western interests at any cost. At the center of this geopolitical sabotage was Victoria Nuland, a seasoned operative of Washington’s relentless regime-change machine. For decades, she has been a key player in US interventions across the globe, leaving a trail of shattered nations and bloodshed in her...

Trump and his MAGA allies are already targeting the four major pillars of resistance to Trump during his first term. As we prepare for Trump’s second regime — which promises to be far worse than the first — it’s important to do what we can to protect and fortify these four centers of opposition. 1. Universities University faculties are dedicated to finding and exposing the truth — which has often meant calling out Trump’s lies. But Trump has warned that he’ll change the criteria for university accrediting in order to force university faculties into line...... 2. Nonprofits America’s nonprofits have...

Europe's gas imports from Russia overtook supplies from the US for the first time in almost two years in May, despite the region's efforts to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels since the full scale invasion of Ukraine. While one-off factors drove the reversal, it highlights the difficulty of further reducing Europe's dependence on gas from Russia, with several eastern European countries still relying on imports from their neighbour.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it lost access to many world markets, including much of Europe. Countries like Germany, which for years had relied on Russian gas and oil, now turned sharply away and sought to rid themselves of any vestiges of Russian dependence. (Source) Into the breach stepped China. Always thirsty for new supplies of gas and oil, China quickly notified Russia that it was interested in receiving Russian gas and in developing a pipeline from Siberia for that gas. (Source). Recently, however, that lifeline looks more like a noose, at least for Russia. Beijing is taking...

Dramatic video shows Kyiv's propeller-driven Yak-52 hunting down a Russian drone. UKRAINE are using WW2-style planes to hunt down Russian drones on the battlefield in a blow to Vladimir Putin's increasingly desperate war effort. Air Marshal Greg Bagwell, a retired RAF commander, told The Sun Ukraine has taken inspiration from Britain's famous Spitfires and are making headway in the skies against Vlad's meatgrinder troops. In a scene reminiscent of WW2, dramatic video showed Kyiv's propeller-driven Yak-52 plane in an intense dogfight with a Russian drone in the sky above southern Ukraine in April. The 1970s two-seater training aircraft chased Vlad's...

A Ukrainian missile attack triggered a fire on Monday in the Russian-held northeastern city of Luhansk, the latest in a series of strikes near the city, the regional Russia-installed governor said. Leonid Pasechnik, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the strike was made with cluster munitions. "A fire has broken out as a result of the attack," Pasechnik said. Pasechnik said information on casualties was being clarified. Russia's Tass news agency, quoting emergency services, said there had been injuries. There was no official Ukrainian comment. Ukrainian media and war bloggers posted a picture of what they described as a...

SUMMARY Around 137 Russian helicopters have been confirmed lost in the Ukrainian war. The upper bound of Russian helicopter losses claimed by Ukraine is 325; the lower bound of visually confirmed losses is 105. Russia has lost around 10% of its helicopter fleet, mostly attack helicopters like the Ka-52 "Alligator." The fog of war and exaggerated claims on both sides make it difficult to know exactly how much military equipment has been lost during the Full-Scale Russian Invasion of Ukraine. However, today is the information age and this war is being filmed like never before. Over a hundred fixed-wing Russian...

Published on Dec 16, 2015 BACKGROUND: In the dead of night after 2am this morning, Congressional leadership unveiled a more than 2,000 page 'omnibus' year-end funding bill which would, among other things: fully-fund the President's refugee expansion; fully-fund sanctuary cities; fully-fund the resettlement of illegal aliens youth and their families crossing the border; lock-in tax credits for illegal aliens; and quadruple the highly controversial H-2B foreign worker visa being used to replace Americans as truck drivers, construction workers, theme park employees, and in blue collar jobs across the nation. Sessions, the Chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee, issued a statement about...