Free Republic

Four years into Myanmar’s civil war, the conflict remains far from a resolution. The military regime, reeling from devastating losses, is in deep trouble. It has lost effective control of roughly three-quarters of the country’s territory; surrendered key strategic bases, including two regional military commands, to advancing resistance forces; and now faces a hollowing out of its ranks as defections and demoralization spread. But even though opposition forces have made significant gains nationwide, they have yet to penetrate the military’s stronghold in the center of the country. Opposition forces share the amorphous goal of making the country a federal democratic...

We all know that President Donald Trump has the capacity to say stupid things every now and then, which is not (by the way) unique to him. Joe Biden took non compos mentis and babbling idiocy to a whole new level, and then of course there was Kamala. But I digress. Back to Trump. During his first administration, for instance, the dumbest things President Trump both said and did were in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. On April 23, 2020, during a White House coronavirus task force briefing, Trump made comments that sparked widespread mockery (deserved in my...

In a move likely to cause considerable offense in the White House, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has compared US President Donald Trump’s “America First” concept to Nazi propaganda. This provocative statement from Russia’s top diplomat offers an indication of the mood in Moscow as the United States and Russia engage in preliminary talks over a possible deal to end the invasion of Ukraine. In an article published on February 4 by the Russia in Global Affairs journal, Lavrov accused the US of undermining the international order with “cowboy attacks,” and claimed that the rhetoric of the Trump administration was...

The United States' 'America First' policy has disturbing similarities to the slogan 'Germany above all' used by the Nazis to assert national superiority over others, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned. In an op-ed for the magazine 'Russia in Global Affairs' published on Tuesday, Lavrov argued that Washington's approach undermines the UN Charter and the post-war global order built on sovereign equality. He noted that this principle was enshrined in the Yalta-Potsdam agreements signed in 1945 by the USSR, US, and UK, shaping the modern international system. With the administration of US President Donald Trump back in power, Washington's...

Diplomacy Never Works—Until It DoesFiction has a peculiar way of speaking the truth that real-world politics often refuses to admit. In the season finale of The Diplomat, Hal Wyler delivers a strikingly raw monologue about the maddening, soul-crushing, yet absolutely necessary practice of diplomacy. His words ring with a hard-earned cynicism: diplomacy is a slog, an exercise in endless repetition, a near-certain failure—until, suddenly, it isn’t. Until it cracks open the door to peace. This is not a utopian fantasy; it is the brutal reality of statecraft. And it is precisely why Tulsi Gabbard’s willingness to talk to Bashar al-Assad...

There is an oft-quoted remark from Vladimir Lenin, which in its English formulation usually reads something like: "There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” This is one of those aphorisms which has been exercised practically to death, but there are rare occasions where it perfectly fits the chaotic tempo of world events, and few cases fit the bill better than the fall of the Syrian Arab Republic and its embattled (former) President, Bashir Al-Assad. Syria was first plunged into Civil War by an escalating insurgency in 2012, and more than a decade of grueling...

A bill has been submitted to the State Duma that prescribes a mechanism for excluding organizations, including foreign and international ones, from the list of terrorist ones. The package of documents has been published in the Duma database. In the explanatory note, the authors of the initiative indicate that Russian legislation has a mechanism for judicial prohibition of the activities of such organizations and their inclusion in a single federal list. (snip) On October 7, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that Russia is working to exclude the Afghan Taliban group(the organization is recognized as terrorist and banned in the...

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Russian National Security Council, has arrived in Kabul at the head of a high-level delegation for talks with senior Taliban officials. This marks the highest-ranking Russian delegation to visit Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.

Analysis In an unprecedented joint public appearance, CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore assert the enduring strength of their intelligence agencies Last week, the heads of major Western intelligence agencies made a striking public appearance, first with a provocative op-ed and then in a high-profile interview with the Financial Times editor. Although some questions remained unanswered, their statements provided critical insights into their covert and overt operations. William Joseph Burns, Director of the CIA, and Richard Peter Moore, head of MI6/SIS, both distinguished diplomats before their current roles, asserted with conviction that their organisations are more formidable...

After the Israeli army carried out an attack in southern Beirut, representatives from Hamas, Yemeni Houthis, Iran, and the Russian Federation promptly responded. Moscow: In a stern statement, the Russian government condemned the Israeli action, calling it a “dangerous escalation” that threatens regional stability. The Russian Foreign Ministry urged Israel to cease its military operations immediately and called for international mediation to prevent further conflict. “We strongly oppose any actions that exacerbate tensions and lead to the loss of civilian lives,” the statement read. Russia also reaffirmed its support for a two-state solution and called for renewed efforts towards peace...

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday declared Friday, Aug 2, a day of national mourning over the killing of the head of Hamas' political bureau Ismail Haniyeh. "In order to show our support for the Palestinian Cause and our solidarity with our Palestinian siblings, a day of national mourning was declared tomorrow (August 2 Friday) due to Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh's martyrdom," he said on social media platform X.

The Turkish ministry of foreign affairs has condemned the killing of Hamas political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh in an attack in Tehran and offered condolences to the Palestinian people. In a statement released on X, the Turkish ministry of foreign affairs, Hakan Fidan stated, “We condemn the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Chief of the Hamas Political Bureau, in a heinous attack in Tehran.” “We express our condolences to the Palestinian people, hundreds of thousands of whom, like Haniyeh, have been martyred to live peacefully in their homeland under the roof of their state,” he added. -snip- Unacceptable political murder: Russia...

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today strongly condemned the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the Palestinian group Hamas, in a drone strike on his residence in Tehran, saying it undermines prospects of ending the conflict in Gaza. At a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov stated that the attack was detrimental to peace efforts in the region and risked destabilising the situation. “We strongly condemn this attack, which resulted in Mr. Haniyeh’s death. Such actions undermine attempts to establish peace in the region and could significantly destabilise an already tense situation,” he emphasised. In a separate...

Russia on Wednesday condemned the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, calling it an "unacceptable political murder" that will exacerbate regional tension. "This is all very bad. This is an absolutely unacceptable political murder, and it will lead to further escalation of tensions," Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Russia's state-run news agency, RIA Novosti.

The Kremlin said it “strongly condemns” the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran after the militant group announced his death early Wednesday. Hamas said the political leader was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the inauguration ceremony of the country’s new president. The group vowed that the killing would “not go unanswered.” “We believe that such actions are directed against attempts to establish peace in the region and can significantly destabilize an already tense situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. His comments mirrored those issued earlier by the Russian Foreign...

Russia has sent a stark warning to Israel over its war in Gaza as Moscow's Foreign Minister says the IDF cannot destroy Hamas. Sergei Lavrov said it is "unrealistic" to believe that Israel can dismantle the Palestinian group because of its "support in the Muslim world." -snip- The Kremlin has hosted Hamas in Moscow twice since the war broke out after the brutal October 7 attack.

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration was slammed Monday for offering its sympathies to the Iranian people over the deaths of the oppressive theocracy’s president and foreign minister in a weekend helicopter crash. “The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran,” the State Department said in an emailed statement on Monday.\ ...

House conservatives have stymied proposed supplemental funding packages for Ukraine since the fall. But their justifications for further delays in delivering military aid to Kyiv got little oxygen during an April 17 defense budget hearing before a key appropriations panel. “With Mr. Putin saying very openly and repeatedly that he wants to restore the old Soviet Union, all of the nation states, in Eastern Europe especially, are looking to us,” House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said, referring to the Russian leader’s demands seeking no further NATO expansion, no missiles on Russia’s borders, and a return of...

The next summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is set for July of this year in Washington, D.C., following the 75th anniversary of the alliance’s founding on April 4. The organization’s leading lights will discuss “important issues” and “provide strategic direction” for NATO. The NATO website also explains to curious readers that the organization is devoted to an “understanding” and “awareness” of the “security environment.” Those of us who have grown skeptical of NATO and its intentions can only imagine what this press release verbiage might mean, as an organization established to counter the Soviet threat during...

Note: I apologize in advance for the potentially rambling nature of this piece, which is something of a stream of consciousness geostrategic meditation. It’s possible that this is too abstract to be interesting. If so, please berate me in the comments. I am a great lover of chess. While no more than a middling player myself, I am endlessly entertained by the seemingly countless variations and strategic contrivances that the world’s great players can create from that same, familiar beginning. Despite being an old game (the rules that we know today emerged in 15th Century Europe), it has resisted the...