Free Republic

Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday that its fighter jets did not come into contact with a U.S. drone that crashed into the Black Sea earlier, claiming instead that the drone crashed due to "sharp maneuvering". "The Russian fighters did not use their onboard weapons, did not come into contact with the UAV and returned safely to their home airfield," the defence ministry said.

We all know how this has played out. This summer Russia started monkeying with the natural gas supply to Germany and the rest of Europe, claiming there was some technical problem that required maintenance. Then they cut the gas off completely and not long after that someone blew up the Nord Stream pipeline. The result of all this has been a huge spike in energy prices in Europe and concern that there might not be enough gas to heat homes this winter.But here we are in late October and the situation is looking very different. For one thing, Europe has...

PARIS (AP) — Leaders of three French energy companies on Sunday called on the French public to immediately reduce consumption of fuel, oil, electricity and gas amid shortages and soaring prices due to Russia’s supply cuts and the war in Ukraine. “The effort must be immediate, collective and massive,” the leaders of the three companies, TotalEnergies, EDF and Engie said in a rare joint statement that was published in the French weekly Journal du Dimanche. “Every gesture counts,” the statement said. Russia has cut — and in some case shut off — gas supplies to several European Union countries in...