Free Republic

Russia’s foreign minister has told the UN that Ukraine’s proposed peace plan and the latest proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative were “not realistic”. Sergei Lavrov spoke at a press conference on 23 September after a week of intense global diplomacy at the annual gathering of world leaders at UN headquarters in New York where Ukraine and its western allies sought to drum up support for Kyiv. “It is completely not feasible,” Lavrov said of a 10-point peace blueprint promoted by Kyiv. “It is not possible to implement this. It’s not realistic and everybody understands this but, at...

Vladimir Putin has massed roughly 100,000 troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine and issued a list of unreasonable demands to the United States and NATO. Last week, President Joe Biden infamously admitted he expects Putin to send troops over the border. Time is always on the Russian leader’s side. Putin’s dictatorship has overlapped five American presidents. He reportedly told then-President George W. Bush in 2008, “Ukraine is not even a country. Part of its territory is in Eastern Europe and the greater part was given to us.” Putin recently deployed forces to Kazakhstan, ostensibly to quell anti-government protests in the...

The Kremlin remains determined to establish itself as a hegemonic great power, and to follow the domestic as well as international priorities that have underpinned that objective since Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency in 2012. But Russia’s wider public has become less committed to the Kremlin agenda. The unknown of what happens when Vladimir Putin’s second term as president ends by 2024 weighs on the public mind. That alone attracts attention to domestic questions rather than international issues. The succession to Putin, whenever it is to happen, is not just about who it might be but also what that...

The Venezuelan Navy illegally entered the waters of Guyana this weekend and forced a ship contracted by Exxon Mobil to conduct oil research in the area to vacate, The incident, which Guyanese authorities angrily denounced and vowed to bring to the attention of the United Nations, reignites a feud Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro began with the neighboring country in 2015, claiming as much as two-thirds of Guyana itself belonged to Venezuela. Guyana has repeatedly noted that Venezuela signed an agreement in 1899 on the territory in question and no disputes remain as to who owns that land. Exxon Mobil...

University of California, Irvine has banned the “imperialist” American flag in “inclusive” spaces. Portions of the official resolution read: Whereas flags not only serve as symbols of patriotism or weapons for nationalism, but also construct cultural mythologies and narratives that in turn charge nationalistic sentiments.Whereas the American flag has been flown in instances of colonialism and imperialism.Whereas symbolism has negative and positive aspects that are interpreted differently by individuals.Whereas designing a culturally inclusive space is taken seriously by ASUCIWhereas the removal of barriers is the best option at promoting an inclusive space.Whereas it is a psychological effect for individuals to...

MOSCOW, March 26. /ITAR-TASS/. The level of Russian electoral support to incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin has reached the figures of the country’s presidential elections in 2004 for the first time, the presidential rating peak is caused by his responsible actions in view of current crisis in Ukraine, political experts told Itar-Tass in comments on the Public Opinion Fund (FOM) survey results made public on Wednesday. The FOM sociological survey conducted on March 23 showed that 64% of Russians would vote for Putin, if presidential elections were held next Sunday. Sociologists polled three thousand respondents in 64 Russian constituent entities....

There’s not a lot to like about Vladimir Putin: he’s autocratic, vain and runs a corrupt government. And he doesn’t give a fig for human rights. The repression in Chechnya, the jailing of the businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the Pussy Riot protestors, the murders of journalist Anna Politkovskaya and of Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy – all this happened on Putin’s watch. Who would not be on the side of the 100,000 people who turned out on Moscow’s streets last winter to protest against Putin’s election to a third term as president and to demand fair elections and an honest...

The Obama RecordThe Obama Record: The chief executive who swore to faithfully execute the nation's laws picks those he'll ignore and makes up others through regulation and executive order. He sees no need for a Congress or Constitution. Maybe it's because Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts stumbled a bit in leading President Obama through the oath of office that the president doesn't feel bound by it. But through the awkwardness these words were heard: "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to...

DAMASCUS, Syria – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attacked Israel Thursday during his visit to Syria, calling it an imperialist nation that annihilates other people. ... "Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace," he said, according to the Arabic translation of his remarks to reporters. In comments carried by Venezuelan state television, he also accused Israel of being part of imperialist efforts to divide the Middle East. "The entire world knows it. Why was the state of Israel created? ... To divide. To impede the unity of the Arab world. To assure the presence of...

The US and its European allies are ­preparing to plant a high-profile figure in the heart of the Kabul government in a direct challenge to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, the Guardian has learned. The creation of a new chief executive or prime ministerial role is aimed at bypassing Karzai. In a further dilution of his power, it is proposed that money be diverted from the Kabul government to the provinces. Many US and European officials have become disillusioned with the extent of the corruption and incompetence in the Karzai government, but most now believe there are no credible alternatives,...

Imperialist America… that’s what a lot of media & educator types say. But do they ever stop to wonder what a real imperialistic America would be like? If I was the American Emperor, I would institute the following: 1. Abortion would be declared murder, and abortionists prosecuted as such. 2. Perjury, to convict the innocent would carry the penalty of the crime the innocent was accused of. a. If people conspired to frame someone for murder, and testified that way, even if he was found not-guilty, the accusers would face capital punishment. 3. Corruption of public officials would be a...

Pro-whaling nations call anti-whalers 'imperialists'; Japan suggests quitting IWC Pro-whaling nations issued a draft statement Thursday accusing anti-whaling countries of "imperialism" for imposing a ban on commercial hunts, and Japan threatened to quit the International Whaling Commission unless it is reformed. The statements came at the end of a three-day conference in Japan aimed at reforming the IWC. The meeting, however, was boycotted by half the commission's membership, including anti-whaling nations the United States, Britain and Australia. Japan and other pro-whaling countries argue the IWC is too polarized to be effective and has strayed from its original purpose of managing...

Hong Kong, 23 June (AKI) - This week's Middle East tour by Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, is a rare visit by a top Beijing official to the region, signals China's growing diplomatic ambitions and its quest to secure oil supplies for its energy-hungry, rapidly expanding economy. It's a change of focus for Beijing; for decades, China's communist rulers, including Mao Tse-tung, focused their diplomatic attentions on Africa, where China promoted itself as a sort of guiding light for the Third World and a bulwark against the neo-colonialist tendencies of the West. China also sought to isolate its tiny rival,...

ALGIERS, Algeria - France called for improved ties with Algeria but refused to take responsibility Wednesday for the deaths of thousands of people in an uprising against the French occupiers 60 years ago. The violence apparently began during a celebration of the end of World War II on May 8, 1945, when demonstrators in the town of Setif unfurled an Algerian flag banned by the French. As police began confiscating the flags, the crowds turned on the French, killing about two dozen of them. The uprising spread and the response by French colonial troops grew increasingly harsh in the weeks...

The original architects of the U.S. empire—long before its celebration by today’s neoconservatives—understood the importance of legitimacy in the neo-colonialist enterprise. In order to achieve some degree of legitimacy, it was important to create a native stooge—what some call a “comprador”—heavily dependent upon American power to govern in the interests of the U.S. government. In Iraq we have had the proverbial “Three Stooges,” as in the movies, often beating up on each other. The first of these was Saddam Hussein, who was essential in helping evict the British from control in Iraq and then in attacking Iran, but who became...

I’d love to have a talk about the current situation in the Ukraine with my left-wing friends, but I don’t think they would be interested, and probably not even capable of an intelligent discussion. Not only is the Ukraine so far off and seemingly unimportant to them, the intricacies of its politics defy the usual “left” vs. “right” stereotypes. I truly believe that many long-time lefties pine for the days of the Soviet Union. It gave them a glimmer of hope for world-wide socialism in their otherwise very comfortable, cushy, American lives. Too much guilt about living in the midst...

April 26, 2004 'Empire' -- A Losing Political Issue by Christopher PrebleChristopher Preble is a member of the Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy (www.realisticforeignpolicy.org) and the director of foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.Not quite a year ago, when the euphoria over the U.S. military's sweeping victory over Saddam Hussein's armies was at its high point, Washington was consumed with talk of empire."No need to run away from the label," wrote Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations, "America's destiny is to police the world." Harvard's Michael Ignatieff agreed. "Imperialism doesn't stop being necessary," he said, "just...

The American Street has sized up best the new paradoxes of foreign policy. The events following 9/11 created an "empire" industry — millions of words written by pundits claiming that by intervening in Afghanistan and Iraq America was now a hegemon. The charge was that we are a world bully of sorts, intent on controlling the globe and ignoring the admonitions of more sober folk like the Europeans. Yet even as university professors and consultants cling to such regurgitated and discredited postcolonial theories and Chomskyite drivel, the American profile abroad has made such conventional exegesis obsolete. In fact, we are...

Exactly the crap I would expect from a jingoist. The "foreign aid" your government doles out with TAXPAYER money is nothing but a bribe so that narconazis can pour poisons on the crops and drinking water of Columbian villagers. It gaurantees that South Americans SLAVE labourers will make pennies to hand sew Liz Claiborne jackets that retail for nearly $200 at a department store here in America. It gaurantees that Nike and GAP can use Indonesian children to make clothes and shoes that are so expensive they will never be able to afford them if they worked their entire lives....