Free Republic

May 20 (UPI) -- A proposed new Russian law doing away with soldier age restrictions suggests the country is struggling to sustain military troop requirements for its war on Ukraine. Two members of the United Russia Party introduced the proposed law. Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian state Duma, co-authored the bill with his deputy Andrey Krasov to allow people over 40 to join the military. Russians aged 18-40 and foreigners aged 18-30 can sign up for military contracts now. Russians older than 40 would be able to sign up for first military contracts under the proposed law, according to...

A "Special Military Operation" vs a "Peoples War" Russia is not fighting a war, but a Special Military Operation, as its government calls it. This has severe implications as to the actual force it can bring to bear. Add to that its conscription system is only a limited version of historical conscription systems. Ukraine however is fighting something much closer to a 19th-20th century total war, a whole-society resistance. It is not perfect in this, but given the public will, which seems to be present, they can and almost certainly have raised larger numbers than Russia has or can, unless...

More than half of Americans view right-wing militia groups as a threat to the U.S., with a third saying they pose an "immediate and serious threat" to the country, according to a poll from The Economist/YouGov. The poll was taken following the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. Members of known right-wing extremist groups including the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and the Three-Percenters, have been charged in connection with the attack.

Is this Field Day?” I asked through my car window on a chilly, rainy April morning in central Michigan in 2008. A lone man dressed in head-to-toe camouflage, whose hand was casually resting on an AK-47 rifle strapped across his chest, nodded and stepped aside on the narrow road. I drove ahead to a parking area next to an old, red brick farmhouse and several acres of soybeans. About 50 people were gathering at a spot where the fields met a wooded bog. I was outside the village of Bancroft, at what was indeed the Michigan Militia’s annual Field Day...

All the right moves….. We can expect the national media to go bananas as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken a bold step in advancement of federalism with authorization and funding for the formation of a state militia known as the Florida State Guard During an event today in Pensacola Florida, the governor announced the creation of three new state-centric armories to support the new state guard units. One in the former airbase at Homestead, one in Gainesville and one in Malabar. As noted in the release, “The establishment of the Florida State Guard will further support those emergency response...

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is subpoenaing the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, going directly after the right-wing groups as well as their leaders. A Tuesday set of subpoenas seeks documents from the extremist and militia groups along with testimony from Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys during the attack on the Capitol, as well as Elmer Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers.

Defense official says if the Oklahoma National Guard doesn’t comply with COVID vaccine requirements, they will no longer be “maintaining national recognition,” thus, state will no longer have a National Guard, but rather a state militia – VOA Pentagon correspondent.

The FBI under former director Robert Mueller stands accused of staging a hoax in Madisonville, Tennessee in 2010 to falsely entrap a man on a rare gun charge — and that case is now used as precedent to prosecute a January 6 protester on the same rare gun charge. Evidence provided to National File suggests that Mueller’s FBI completely invented the details of a supposed militia attempt to take over a courthouse, framing a man named Darren Wesley Huff. One of Mueller’s top deputies is alleged to have provided a false statement that contradicts numerous other sworn statements and evidence...

The tony, bucolic town of Dublin, Ohio would be one of the last places in America expected to host a convention of white supremacist militiamen. Nestled along the Scioto River, the Columbus suburb’s biggest claim to fame is hosting the PGA’s annual Memorial Golf tournament every summer.But in June 2020, days after the nation was roiled by Black Lives Matter looting and rioting, a man from Wisconsin named Stephen Robeson sponsored a “National Militia Conference” at a Dublin hotel. (Yes, that was the real name of the event.) According to BuzzFeed’s exceptional July 2021 investigative report on the FBI-led plot...

Kabul: The Taliban have blown up the statue of a Shiite militia leader who had fought against them during Afghanistan’s civil war in the 1990s, according to photos circulating on social media Wednesday. “So Taliban have blown up slain Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari’s statue in Bamiyan. Last time they executed him, blew up the giant statues of Buddha and all historical and archaeological sites. Too much of ‘general amnesty’,” tweeted Saleem Javed, a human rights activist. The statue depicted Abdul Ali Mazari, a militia leader killed by the Taliban in 1996, when the Islamic militants seized power from rival...

This is the moment cops confronted the leader of Rise of the Moors and he refused to drop his weapons when the citizen militia refueled at the side of Massachusetts interstate - sparking a nine-hour armed stand-off. Police body camera footage showed Massachusetts State Police approaching two cars with their hazard lights on parked on the shoulder of Interstate-95, near the town of Wakefield, around 1.30am on July 3. The group of heavily armed men were refilling gas tanks with their own fuel and told law enforcement that they were headed to Maine for 'training.' Bodycam footage taken by a...

The Culpeper Flag is often mistaken as a modern variation of the iconic “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsden Flag – and rightly so. What many don’t know is that the Culpeper Flag was inspired by its Gadsden counterpart, and both have become touchstones of the Second Amendment Movement. While remarkably similar to its Gadsden relative, the flag of the Culpeper Minutemen is arguably cooler – and significantly more obscure. While it has the same coiled rattlesnake and “Don’t Tread on Me” legend, the Culpeper Flag is white, it carries the additional motto “Liberty or Death,” and when historically correct, a...

Amid a heavy state police presence, the first “Rise of the Moors” member appearing Tuesday in Malden District Court on several firearms charges after a highway standoff in Wakefield repeatedly objected to a judge’s basic questions, declined to be interviewed by a public defender and insisted he had the “right to bear arms.”

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is warning of a possible violent militia rally on July 4 in Washington, D.C., according to a law enforcement document obtained by Yahoo News. The report, dated July 1 and produced by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, says that FBI reporting indicates that suspected violent extremists may be planning to attend a large public gathering for the July 4 holiday on Capitol Hill. As of mid-June, a private social media platform contained a discussion from four suspected militia members about the “Million Man Patriots Gathering,” the DHS report...

The United States militia is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. And while the militia movement of today is widely known, its history – and the history of independent Constitutional militias stretching back to the dawn of the republic – is far less well known. Why does this matter nowadays? Because understanding the historical roots of America's militias helps modern-day members appreciate the role they play in our federal system of government. Because since inception, militias have been tasked with stopping those who hold public office from exceeding their authority or those seeking to enact legislation outside of...

The nation of Taiwan faces the increasing likelihood of invasion by Mainland China and may have to face it alone. Taiwan must therefore take steps on its own to deter an invasion and to demonstrate the intention to resist it as long as possible if it comes. In 2019, demonstrators in Hong Kong carried American and British flags as well as at least one poster reading, "We need Second Amendment." Beijing long ago foreclosed that option for Hong Kong, but Taiwan may still have time to adopt a firearms policy acceptable to its people and government, while contributing to its...

... In the meantime, more Patriot militiamen were gathering at various bottlenecks along Battle Road to set up ambushes, the first being at Meriam’s Corner where the British had to cross a small bridge. On the open road, most of the soldiers marched in a column five men wide, while other troops known as flankers fanned out like wings on a bird to protect the column by keeping the Patriots out of accurate range. Of course, at a bridge the flankers had to join the main column so they could cross as well, which allowed the Patriots to come closer....

Over the last three years, FRONTLINE has collaborated with ProPublica to investigate the rise of extremism in America. In the aftermath of the assault on the U.S. Capitol, FRONTLINE and ProPublica team up again to examine how far-right groups were emboldened and encouraged by former President Trump and how individuals were radicalized and brought into the political landscape.

Three known members of the Wolverine Watchmen will stand trial but will not be charged with terrorism for allegedly participating in the plot to storm the state capitol and kidnap lawmakers. Joseph Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar, who is not pictured, were in court Monday. They are three of the several men arrested on domestic terrorism charges for the plot against the state capitol and state lawmakers, including the governor. The judge Monday ruled against the terrorism charge, but each man still faces at least 20 years in prison for other charges. The attorney general says she will explore...

U.S. Capitol Police officials said Wednesday they have "obtained intelligence that shows a possible plot to breach the Capitol by an identified militia group on Thursday, March 4" -- the date that far-right conspiracy theorists believe former President Donald Trump will return to power. The intelligence, which an FBI bulletin said could involve the "Three Percenters" group, which prosecutors call extremist, is being taken "seriously," the Capitol Police officials said in a statement posted on Twitter. "Our Department is working with our local, state, and federal partners to stop any threats to the Capitol. We are taking the intelligence seriously....