Free Republic

Ukraine is on its way to being able to “stand on its own feet” militarily, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday, noting that more than 20 other countries have pledged to maintain their own military and financial aid to the country even if the U.S. were to withdraw its support under a different president. Blinken for the first time directly addressed the possibility that former President Donald Trump could win the November election and back away from commitments to Ukraine. Trump’s public comments have varied between criticizing U.S. backing for Ukraine’s defense and supporting it, while his running mate,...

Now is the summer of Republican content. The G.O.P. is confident and unified. Donald Trump has held a consistent and widening lead over President Biden in all the battleground states. Never Trumpers have been exiled, purged or converted. The Supreme Court has eased many of Trump’s legal travails while his felony convictions in New York seem to have inflicted only minimal political damage — if they didn’t actually help him. Best of all for Republicans, a diminished Joe Biden seems determined to stay in the race, leading a dispirited and divided party that thinks of its presumptive nominee as one...

The 32-members of NATO on Wednesday formally declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership in the Western military alliance, offering a bare but more binding assurance of protection once its war with Russia ends. NATO member countries individually and in Wednesday’s joint statement from their summit in Washington announced a series of steps aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s defenses. That includes the U.S., the Netherlands and Denmark announcing that the first NATO-provided F-16s would be in the hands of Ukrainian military pilots by this summer. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted his appreciation of the effort to strengthen his air force,...

The outgoing head of the British Army General Sir Patrick Sanders has warned that NATO may only have five years to prepare for war. General Sir Patrick warned that the world was facing one of its most dangerous moments since 1945 when the world was last at war and that the alliance may have until the end of this decade to be ready. Sir Patrick also highlighted that despite performing well in some areas, the UK’s armed forces were also underfunded and overstretched. His warnings come at a time of rising global tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s warnings...

The need for stability and experience should eliminate the young MAGA-in-a-hurry types like Sen. J.D. Vance or Members of the House. As the GOP convention nears, and voters focus on the election, the race remains closer than it should be given Mr. Biden’s infirmities. Swing voters still worry about Mr. Trump and the possibility of four more years of turmoil. The former President can help his campaign, and the country, by projecting stability and calm. We know many readers will think this is impossible, and maybe it is. Yet he showed admirable restraint after the debate last week, letting Democrats...

My sources have confirmed that not only did Russia make a stop in Cuba, but China is also present, and they are constructing spy installations to watch what is going to take place, especially with our elections. Most likely, they will put missiles in Cuba in retaliation for this Proxy War to conquer Russia. Guess what! This is two Pi Cycles from 1962 (2024) – right on schedule. They are well aware that Biden is NOT running the country. This is in the hands of the Neocons, and both Garland and Blinken just so happen to be Ukrainian Jews with...

Kyiv has been told that, before it can join Nato, it must fix its problems with corruption. These are very real: the latest Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Ukraine below Belarus and Kazakhstan. But that is not the true reason why there will be no good news on accession for Zelensky at Nato’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington next week.The simple reality is that very few in Nato wants to let Ukraine in, despite endless platitudes including a declaration by the North Atlantic Council at Vilnius last year that “Ukraine’s future is in Nato”. There has been discussion about taking that...

Honored to speak at the #FreeIran2024 World Summit. Told the Iranian resistance, change is coming because of all of you. The winds of change are blowing in Iran, stronger than ever before. The enduring hope for a free Iran can never be extinguished and the people of Iran will someday be free! No oppressive regime can last forever. Inside every human heart is an unquenchable fire that burns to be free. Just as the Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of its own sins, so too will be the fate of the oppressors of Iran. #FreeIran2024

President Biden has repeatedly and rightfully described the stakes in this November’s presidential election as nothing less than the future of American democracy. Donald Trump has proved himself to be a significant jeopardy to that democracy — an erratic and self-interested figure unworthy of the public trust. He systematically attempted to undermine the integrity of elections. His supporters have described, publicly, a 2025 agenda that would give him the power to carry out the most extreme of his promises and threats. If he is returned to office, he has vowed to be a different kind of president, unrestrained by the...

The only practicable way to avoid another near-one million dead and wounded would be a settlement, however unpopular. Nearly eleven months ago, in August 2023, the New York Times reported that U.S. officials had estimated that some 500,000 Russians and Ukrainians had been killed, wounded, or missing in the then 18-month Ukrainian War. Both Russia and Ukraine underreport their losses. Hundreds of thousands of additional casualties have followed in the 28 months of fighting. In the West, the mere mention of a negotiated settlement is considered a dangerous appeasement of Russia’s flagrant aggression. In Russia, anything short of victory would...

The nation lacks the processes and systems to conduct a military draft in response to a near-peer conflict, according to a new report by a think tank based in Washington, D.C. The United States ended conscription in 1973, relying since on the all-volunteer force. But all U.S. males ages 18 to 25 are still required to register with the Selective Service System in case a draft is ever needed again. "To be clear, this report is not advocating for implementation of a draft," states the Center for a New American Security report, which was released June 18. "Rather, it is...

Russian Sources are reporting that an Incident has occurred over the Black Sea, which possibly involved the Downing of a U.S. Surveillance Drone by the Russian Air Force.

“We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong but when they are weak,” declared Ronald Reagan at the 1980 Republican National Convention. “It is then that tyrants are tempted,” he added, summing up his conviction that peace could only be secured through strength. Until Donald Trump followed in Reagan’s footsteps as the GOP’s standard-bearer, this formulation was axiomatic on the American right. But Trump’s careless rhetoric — which often flirted with isolationism and flattered America’s sworn enemies in Moscow and Pyongyang — emboldened the Republican Party’s isolationist wing. In an op-ed endorsing...

Frontline: The War in Ukraine and Global Security "If Putin loses Crimea, he could lose power." The failure of Putin's S-300 and S-400 air defenses has put Crimea at risk for Russia says Maj. Gen. Chip Chapman speaking to Kate Gerbeau on Frontline. The failure of Putin's S-300 and S-400 air defences has put Crimea at risk for Russia says Maj. Gen. Chip Chapman speaking to Kate Gerbeau on Frontline.

@MLiamMcCollum Candace Owens endorses Vivek Ramaswamy or Thomas Massie for Trump’s VP pick and says she will not vote for Trump if he picks a neocon like Nikki Haley, Tom Cotton, or Mike Pompeo

I want to direct your attention to a Joe Cunningham essay in which he posits that the Chinese military is in trouble. He’s almost certainly right. The problem with communism is that it reduces societies to the lowest common denominator of any behavior and, as people scrabble for advancement in a controlled system, it invites corruption. Writing at Red State, Cunningham points out purges and problems regarding China’s military:The Chinese President is calling for “deep reflection” among his military forces as he renews his focus on corruption, which has plagued China in recent months. His call comes after what the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a provision that would require women to register for Selective Service, marking a significant potential change in military policy. On page three of the NDAA, under the heading of “Strengthening the Joint Force and Defense Workforce,” the Military Selective Service Act would be amended to require the registration of women for Selective Service. While some lawmakers oppose the measure, others argue it would benefit the government. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) voiced his concerns during a committee meeting. “I just think it’s wrong to say to women,...

As RedState reported Sunday, the Biden White House, campaign, and surrogates for former President Barack Obama are furiously trying to spin a troubling Saturday incident involving President Biden freezing up and having to be led off a stage by Obama as a deceptive nothingburger. (snip) In the aftermath of the disturbing clips from the Saturday fundraiser, conservative actress Patricia Heaton said what needed to be said about Jill and Joe at this stage of the game - via her Twitter/X account: "[This] isn’t about politics anymore. He is clearly incapacitated. This is very bad optics and even more, bad for...

This interview by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner is buckets of interesting and simultaneously very revealing. Playing along with the big club intelligence game as framed by Margaret Brennan, HPSCI Chairman Turner showcases his weasel nature and alignment with the worst actors in the Intelligence Community from the outset. Watch it closely and you will notice that Turner frames national intelligence activity as a political product. ..... Snip..... Representative Mike Turner really is one of the worst members of congress. I would rank Turner’s corrupt and Machiavellian status right next to SSCI Chairman Mark Warner. Turner will defend the...

Every day is a Charlottesville now, but hardly anyone notices. The small central Virginia city is a metonymy for the 2017 white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally that created national shock waves and rocked the presidency of Donald J. Trump. The antisemitic rhetoric and menacing nature of that event — in a different, left-wing form — are being replicated all over the country in openly hateful pro-Hamas protests. Outside the White House last weekend, anti-Israel protesters wore terrorist headbands; chanted for Hamas and Hezbollah to “kill another solider now” and “kill another Zionist now”; held up signs urging another “intifada,”...