Free Republic

The regime of Russian leader Vladimir Putin has been able to expand its position as an energy supplier to Europe. The EU now imports more from Russia than from the United States, reports Die Welt. According to the newspaper, for the first time in almost two years, EU countries imported more gas from Russia than from the United States in one quarter. This is evidenced by the data of the Brussels-based consulting company Bruegel. According to these data, for the quarter from April to June, the EU purchased 12.7 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia, and 12.3 billion from...

Resolving historical issues is primarily in Ukraine's interest, as it will not become a member of the European Union without Poland's consent, according to the Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk. As reported, on Wednesday, August 28, during a meeting between Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, Kuleba was asked about the historical issues that "divide our countries." In response, Kuleba stated that if we start digging into history, Ukrainians and Poles could blame each other for various negative events. Therefore, it would be better for both countries to build the future together and leave...

August Hanning has claimed that there appears to have been a secret arrangement between Kiev and Warsaw Poland was likely involved in the underwater explosions that ruptured the Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022, the former president of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency has claimed. August Hanning also alleged that Warsaw has intentionally obstructed Berlin’s investigation into the incident. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the blasts, which brought an end to the supply of Russian gas to Germany via Nord Stream 1 and damaged the parallel Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which had...

Western leaders rejected Vladimir Putin’s framework for a ceasefire while backing Ukraine’s demands that Russia return all occupied territories as the basis for any potential peace agreement. The “first annual Global Peace Summit” held in the luxury Swiss resort of Burgenstock, which did not include any representatives from Moscow, concluded with the status quo essentially remaining the same, with Ukraine continuing to demand that Russia cede territory in the East and Crimea as a prerequisite for actual peace talks to begin, a likely non-starter for Vladimir Putin.

If Donald Trump wins a second term in the White House in November, NATO may fall apart, a recent wargame found. As a presidential candidate, Trump has threatened to quit NATO unless European allies contribute more, and should he carry it out Europe may decide to go it alone on defense, the game suggests. "A US policy of frustrating NATO has the potential to cause the alliance to collapse, with the EU as a candidate for eventually replacing NATO's ultimate function — defending Europe from Russia," wrote Finley Grimble, the British defense expert who designed and ran the game. The...

The Biden administration scrambled behind the scenes to prepare for the imminent possibility that Russia would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, a shocking new report revealed. In 2022, the CIA warned President Biden of a 50% change or higher that Russia would reach for its nuclear arsenal if it found its forces were decimated and the illegally annexed territory of Crimea was at risk, according to the New York Times. Those reports caused Biden to deliver his famous “Armageddon” speech at an Oct. 6, 2022, fundraiser in New York City, in which he warned, “We have not faced the...

If NATO is so much against sending troops to Ukraine, why doesn’t NATO demand that the soldiers already there be sent home? On Monday, February 26, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany would not provide its Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine because doing so would require German troops to be sent there to operate them, just as the British are operating the Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles. The British cried foul and accused Scholz of a “flagrant abuse of intelligence” – meaning that Scholz confirmed what everyone already knows, that NATO officers and trained personnel are in Ukraine...

German Chancellor Scholz stands accused of handing Russia a propaganda coup in order to smooth over his own political difficulties as he claims the presence of British and French soldiers aiding Ukrainian forces.Scholz has been accused of abusing intelligence and being a bad ally by angry NATO politicians after his remarks about the level of involvement he claims there is of the British and French in the deployment of the Storm Shadow / SCALP cruise missiles they have given to Ukraine, and which have been deployed with devastating effect.(snip)Answering questions on the subject again this week, Chancellor Scholz developed his...

1. Poland cooperated/collaborated with Hitler’s Germany.Before World War II, Polish diplomacy tried to keep good neighbourly relations with Germany. Poland’s entering into any sort of military alliance with Hitler was out of question. In the period between the First and Second World Wars, Poland found itself between two aggressive neighbours: Germany and Russia, neither of which practically recognized Polish nation’s right to have an independent state. In 1934, in Berlin, the German–Polish declaration of non-aggression was signed, which was intended to guarantee the settling of disputes by peaceful means. Even before that, in 1932, a similar non-aggression pact was signed...

All 27 European Union foreign ministers descended on Kyiv on Monday in a historic show of support after the passage of a U.S. funding bill that included no new aid for Ukraine and left future support for the war with Russia in the balance. The E.U.’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, sought to emphasize the importance of the first meeting of foreign ministers held outside the bloc. “This joint meeting of European Union foreign ministers with Ukraine in Kyiv should be understood as a clear commitment of the European Union to Ukraine and its continuous support in all dimensions — support...

Stalin's intentional silence and inaction during World War II allowed the Holocaust to unfold without any meaningful resistance or counteraction. World War II was one of the most catastrophic periods in human history, marked by unprecedented violence, genocide, and destruction. Yet, while the war's narrative is dominated by the Axis and western Allied powers, the role of the Soviet Union, particularly under Joseph Stalin, in indirectly supporting Nazi Germany's campaign of terror and conquest, often goes underreported. Drawing on several historical excerpts, this article will unpack the Soviet Union's involvement in Nazi war efforts and their failure to protect or...

German defence minister Boris Pistorius has said that the NATO Nation won't send anymore military aid to Ukraine apart from the promised packages. ... [Video at link]

Russia's mounting offensive in eastern Ukraine has left the West in panic. EU foreign affairs chief Joseph Borrell warned member nations that the war in Ukraine will be over unless the bloc finds a way to speed up provision of ammunition to Ukraine within weeks. The EU defence minister will hold a special meeting next month to discuss further military aid to Ukraine from their existing stocks. Borrell said "much more has to be done much quicker'. ...

Central European countries like Croatia, Hungary, and also recently Austria too are beginning to emerge as voices of reason in the West after their de facto New Cold War bloc’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine over the past year failed to defeat that Great Power. They rightly realize how counterproductive this NATO-led campaign has been for their collective interests, ergo why they’re urging restraint and even an outright reversal of policy at this point in time. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic is unexpectedly giving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a run for his money when it comes to being the...

BERLIN, Jan 24 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries such as Poland to do so while the U.S. may supply Abrams tanks, magazine Spiegel reported on Tuesday. A government spokesperson declined to comment. The defence ministry was not immediately available for comment. The decision concerns at least one company of Leopard 2 A6 tanks that will be provided out of Bundeswehr stocks, Spiegel said.

Top European officials have attacked President Biden's actions amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and have even questioned whether the United States remains an ally as gas prices soar and U.S. green energy policies have put Europeans into "full-blown panic mode," according to a report. European officials, speaking anonymously to Politico, accused the U.S. of "profiting" off of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and complained that green subsidies and taxes included in the Inflation Reduction Act have deteriorated relationships between the U.S. and European allies....

The U.S. Treasury and the State Department have tacitly asked major U.S. banks, including JPMorgan and Citigroup, not to refuse to cooperate with "certain strategic Russian companies" to minimize the adverse effects of sanctions. In particular, officials urged banks not to refuse to provide "basic services" (money transfers and conversion into dollars) to companies that are not directly under sanctions, such as Gazprom, Uralkali, and PhosAgro. The Biden administration has repeatedly said it wants banks and businesses to keep the money flowing to nonsanctioned sectors of Russia's economy. But the extent of its conversations with the banks hasn't been previously...

The foreign minister of Hungary, in part, blamed the current war between Ukraine and Russia on President Joe Biden in an exclusive interview Wednesday with the Daily Caller. He argued that if the 2020 election had played out differently, there would be no war. “The European economy is suffering. Europe is suffering. That is why the only solution for Europe is peace. But definitely, peace not will come with this behavior. What the U.S. administration has been showing. Why? Because in order to create peace, you would need to talk. You would need to communicate,” Szijjártó said during the interview....

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser dismissed Arne Schoenbohm as head of the BSI agency, following reports which "damaged the necessary confidence of the public in the neutrality and impartiality" of his management, the ministry said on Tuesday.... The Cyber Security Council Germany, which Mr Schoenbohm chaired until he became the head of the BSI in 2016, was prone to influence from Russian companies and even the Kremlin’s intelligence agencies, the report said. German media have reported that one of its members was a German company that is a subsidiary of a Russian cybersecurity firm founded by a former KGB agent, which...

The first statement made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her annual State of the European Union address on Wednesday was not verbal, but visual. Clad in bright blue and yellow alongside other senior politicians, she showed support for Ukraine's battle with Russia, making clear even before the speech began that the war would top the agenda. With Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska in Strasbourg for the occasion, von der Leyen pledged Europe's "unshakeable" commitment to Kyiv, sending a defiant message to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. "Putin will fail and Europe will prevail," the chief...