Free Republic

By nature’s curious design, I was born an optimist — though in some obscure recess of my soul a cynic curls and whispers his dry, inconvenient truths. I believe neither in immaculate conceptions nor second comings, and certainly not in the benevolence of Russian rulers. The fragile hope entertained by some, that they might one day act with reason, springs from a naïve faith in miracles, and miracles stand at odds with both nature and common sense. At all times, under all tsars, commissars, and the latest Kremlin grotesques, Russian rulers, with rare exceptions, have acted not for the benefit...

In one of the largest overnight strikes since the war began, Russia unleashed some 614 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles across Ukraine, killing one, injuring dozens and destroying an American-owned electronics company less than an hour from two NATO borders, officials confirmed Thursday morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said the strike on the private U.S. company, which involved "several" cruise missiles, was "very telling" following President Donald Trump’s attempts to force Moscow to end its invasion.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, at Tuesday's briefing, criticized the "left-wing media" and "failed foreign policy establishment" for "actively rooting against the president in his pursuit of peace in Ukraine." KAROLINE LEAVITT: For one thing that has absolutely not changed is the media's negative and downright false coverage of President Trump and his foreign policy accomplishments. From the beginning of this entire process, much of the left-wing media has been actively rooting against the President of the United States in the pursuit of peace. Initially, the media ridiculously claimed that President Trump was somehow beholden to Russia for even...

Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Sunday that it would be “impossible” for Kyiv to cede territory to Russia and reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire.Speaking from the European Commission headquarters in Brussels ahead of his planned sit-down with President Donald Trump in the United States on Monday, Zelensky appeared set to maintain his maximalist position towards the war with Russia, and seemingly shoot down officially recognising Moscow’s territorial gains in exchange for a peace agreement.“Putin has many demands, but we do not know all of them. And if there are really as many as we heard, then it will...

Western arms makers aren't just sending weapons to Ukraine these days; they're moving in. As Russia's war drags on, NATO defense companies are opening offices, setting up new production lines, and working closely with Ukrainian partners inside the country at war. For Ukraine, the payoff is that it gets faster, more customized firepower. For the West, it's access to something money can't usually buy: real-time lessons in modern warfare. Ukraine's defense industry is offering hard-earned insights, and NATO countries are able to bring those secrets home before they need to use them themselves. Talking with Business Insider, representatives of Ukraine's...

Ukrainians have had enough of Zelensky.During the three and a half years of the war in Ukraine, the western Globalist politicians and the obedient mainstream media have painted Volodymyr Zelensky as the defender of democracy, a historical, mythological figure comparable to WW2’s Winston Churchill.Then, of course, came Donald J. Trump, calling him ‘a moderately successful comedian’, ‘the greatest salesman on earth’, and ‘a dictator, with no elections’.Now, even as Trump promised Kiev air defenses with new Patriot batteries and is threatening Russia’s Vladimir Putin with sanctions, a Spectator article shows Ukraine about to be ‘engulfed in a critical military, political...

For 40 cruel and bloody months, Ukraine has fought the Russian invader. Since February 2022, when Moscow’s full-scale, countrywide onslaught began, its people have faced relentless, devastating attacks. Tens of thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have lost their homes. Ukraine’s industries, shops, schools, hospitals and power stations burn, its fertile farmlands are laid waste. Its children are orphaned, traumatised or abducted. Despite repeated appeals, the world has failed to stop the carnage. And yet Ukraine, outnumbered and outgunned, has continued to fight back. Ukrainian heroism amid horror has become so familiar, it’s almost taken for granted. But as...

The war in Ukraine has thrust advanced air defense systems like the Patriot missile into the spotlight, creating a unique confluence of geopolitical urgency and defense sector opportunity. As Russia's relentless drone and missile strikes escalate, Ukraine's reliance on Western military aid has exposed both the strategic importance of advanced air defense systems and the fragile global supply chains supporting their production. For investors, this dynamic presents a compelling narrative of growth for defense contractors—but also risks tied to production bottlenecks and shifting geopolitical alliances. The Demand Surge: Patriots as the New “Must-Have” Asset The U.S. decision to pause Patriot...

Republican lawmakers are slamming the Trump administration’s decision to halt some U.S. missile and munitions shipments to Ukraine, warning it risks emboldening Russia at a pivotal point in the war.Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, said he would be “aggressively looking into this matter” following the White House’s acknowledgment that the Pentagon froze deliveries of critical air defense weapons due to concerns over shrinking U.S. stockpiles.“We must build up our own defense industrial base here in the U.S. while simultaneously providing the needed assistance to our allies who are defending their freedom from a brutal invading...

The US Army is considering scrapping General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) management of three new 155mm artillery round production lines in Mesquite, Texas, according to a “show cause” letter obtained by Breaking Defense. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the heavy use of artillery, the Army rushed to bolster 155mm production and produce 100,000 shells per month. As part of that broader push, it opened a new government-owned facility in Texas, tapping GD-OTS to operate it and stand up three Universal Artillery Projectile Lines (UAPL) to produce the metal parts for artillery projectiles, including the shell...

Israel has urged the United States over the past two days to join its newly launched military campaign against Iran, but the US is currently not considering such a move, reports Axios, citing Israeli and American officials. In the past 48 hours, Israel asked US President Donald Trump’s administration to join its attack against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and military sites, two Israeli officials told the news site. A US official confirmed Israel’s request and said the Trump administration is not currently considering joining the conflict, the report reads. ...

CAIRO: Iran has warned the United States, United Kingdom and France that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help stop Tehran’s strikes on Israel, Iran state media reported on Saturday.

... Iranian nuclear proliferation is not just an existential threat to Israel, but also an American problem. We've let it go on for too long.

Ukraine's defense industry is urging the West to abandon its longtime fixation on high-end, expensive weaponry in favor of cheaper, mass-produced arms, the kind needed to survive and win a grinding war of attrition against an adversary like Russia. Serhiy Goncharov, the CEO of the National Association of Ukrainian Defense Industries — which represents about 100 Ukrainian companies — told Business Insider the West's long-standing focus on fielding limited numbers of cutting-edge systems could be a serious disadvantage in a protracted conflict. Those systems are good to have, but mass is key. The war in Ukraine shows that instead of...

The recent drone attack on Russian nuclear bombers doesn’t mean much strategically, in military terms. Bomber aircraft are an early 20th century technology used to deliver and drop bombs on targets, only because the bombs couldn’t get there themselves. Today, Russia has hypersonic missiles that are entirely self-directed; and they are up to ten times faster than any aircraft that could deliver them. Fighters and bombers are antiquated last-generation relics. They create some symbolic prestige and that’s about all.Moreover, even if all of Russia’s bombers were disabled, how would that stop them from launching weapons from submarines, ships, or silos?...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is using President Trump’s legislative agenda to “secretly explode” the Pentagon’s budget by adding $150 billion in military spending onto the national debt. “This bill is going to spend $300 billion in the first two years … $300 billion on military and border,” Paul, a critic of the House-passed version of the GOP mega bill, told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow in an interview on Wednesday. Paul said the spending cuts in the bill amount to $1.5 trillion over 10 years or about $150 billion per year. “In the first year...

Nearly one million Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the country’s war against Ukraine, according to a new study, a staggering toll as Russia’s three-year assault on its neighbor grinds on. The study, published on Tuesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that close to 400,000 Ukrainian troops have also been killed or wounded since the war began. That would put the overall casualty figure, for Russian and Ukrainian troops combined, at almost 1.4 million. Officials cautioned that casualty figures were difficult to estimate because Moscow is believed to routinely undercount its war...

On Monday’s “Alex Marlow Show,” host and Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow discussed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rebuffing host Margaret Brennan on inflation Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Bessent said, “When we were here in March, you said there was going to be big inflation. There hasn’t been any inflation. Actually, the inflation numbers are the best in four years. So why don’t we stop trying to say this could happen, wait and see what does happen.” Marlow said, “This is the exact same thing with the egg prices. We were told the egg prices are not coming down and...

Two serious and literally life or death questions: Since when did trying to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people — including countless children — become something to be criticized? Conversely, when did sending hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers into the teeth of the Russian war machine with absolutely no plausible plan to win become the untouchable go-to policy of certain neoconservatives, many on the left and a fair number of editorial writers?I thought of these questions while reading two recent columns. The first is by Rich Lowry from the New York Post, titled “Trump is getting...

HELSINKI, May 19 (Reuters) - Finland will supply 90 million euros ($101.35 million) of ammunition to Ukraine by using proceeds from Russian financial assets frozen by the European Union after Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022, the Finnish defence ministry said on Monday.The EU has estimated that 210 billion euros of the roughly $300 billion worth of frozen Russian assets are held in the 27-nation bloc, mainly in the form of government bonds that Russia's central bank had stored as reserves.HELSINKI, May 19 (Reuters) - Finland will supply 90 million euros ($101.35 million) of ammunition to Ukraine by using proceeds from...