Free Republic

A Kingdom and a Village. By Simon Morrison. Knopf; 528 pages; “Do you love Moscow?” Not long after this reviewer moved there in 2004, he was asked that question by his grizzled landlord. A bit early to know, was his cautious response. “Good,” replied the landlord. “Foreigners who say they love it here soon run back to the airport—with no luggage.” Simon Morrison of Princeton University, a devotee of the carnivorous city since the last days of the Soviet Union, is less equivocal. “Moscow is hard to love,” he acknowledges, “but I love it.” His is a love without illusions,...

Air raid alerts...Kuwait and Bahrain...Iran retaliates for earlier US attacks... At least 25 attacking Ukrainian drones shot down in the Leningrad Region...at least eight attacking Ukrainian drones...shot down in Moscow Region... Dozens of people died of thirst in the Sahara Desert... One Turkish fisherman killed, four others wounded in attack...in the Black Sea... In Israel tonight a new Channel 12 news poll saying 58 percent... Israeli soldiers killing a seven-month-old Palestinian infant and wounding his parents tonight... "they're strong, they're proud" US President Donald Trump...why Iran has not agreed... "the ball is in Trump's court" Those words from a military...

Yesterday on Fox News, my father claims he caught a headline on the scroll that said a boat had been boarded off Panama under suspicion of carrying WMDs.

Peace talks between the United States and Iran have crashed and burned like an Iranian F-14 that just ran across the gunsights of an American F-22. The Iranian regime seems to be stuck on the same line in the sand that President Trump won't back down on, and that's their nuclear program, despite the president's earlier optimistic tone on that condition. On Monday, there surfaced some reports that experts familiar with Iran are saying that there may be indications of a bug-out about to get underway. The apparent collapse of high-stakes U.S.-Iran negotiations has intensified fears that senior figures inside...

There were no neat rows of tanks or ballistic missile carriers rolling down the smooth cobbles of Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, as Russia scaled back what is usually a grand militaristic Victory Day parade celebrating the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany. 'Victory has always been and will be ours,” Putin said, addressing columns of troops. He vowed to fight on in Ukraine North Korean troops marched in the parade for the first time, a visible sign of Moscow’s deepening partnership with Pyongyang that has resulted in the deployment of over 10,000 troops to fight the war in...

Charles McGonigal may be the most corrupt FBI official in modern history—and yet somehow, his name has barely made a blip on the radar. This wasn’t some mid-level pencil-pusher. McGonigal was one of the top counterintelligence agents at the FBI’s New York field office. He was directly involved in the bureau’s most sensitive operations, including the infamous “Crossfire Hurricane” probe into (phony) Trump–Russia “collusion.” And after that whole fraudulent mess, it turns out that he was secretly taking money from a Kremlin-linked oligarch and helping shake down Albanian oligarchs on the side. You can’t make this up, right? Now here...

A Russian mogul who once called sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell his “soulmate” was found dead in a luxury Moscow apartment Monday, according to reports — just weeks after his name surfaced in the Epstein files. Umar Dzhabrailov, a Chechen businessman and former senator, was discovered lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to his head at about 3 a.m., Russian outlet Kommersant reported, citing police sources who called it a suspected suicide. Police discovered a Luger pistol lying by the 67-year-old’s body. But Dzhabrailov — who previously tried to take his life in 2020 — didn’t leave a...

Vladimir Alekseyev has been under the EU sanctions for orchestrating the novichok poisoning attack in Salisbury in 2018 that targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. A high-profile Russian general and military intelligence official has been shot several times by an unidentified gunman in Moscow on Friday. Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev was immediately taken to hospital after the attack in a residential building on the north-western outskirts of the capital. According to the reports, the assailant fled the scene. Alekseyev's condition is unknown at this time, but he is said to have survived the shooting, according to Russian...

I've been working hard this week trying to keep abreast of national and international events, and I’ve come to the conclusion that much of what is most important to know remains as yet murky and unverifiable. International DevelopmentsSome things are clear. The decades-long oppression of the people of Cuba is coming to an end within days. The country is woefully short of energy sources -- in significant part because Maduro is out and Venezuela is no longer providing it. The country is now barely existing in blackout conditions. President Trump has announced that major tariffs will be imposed on any...

According to unconfirmed reports, General Zhang Youxia, China’s vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), sent a company of troops (over a hundred or more) to the government’s Yingxi Hotel in western Beijing on 18 January. Their mission was to arrest Xi Jinping. A few hours before, the Chinese president – alerted by an informant – set in motion countermeasures. Troops under the command of Cao Qi, head of Xi’s Central Guards Bureau, ambushed Zhang’s soldiers. In the ensuing gunfight at Yangxi Hotel, nine guards were reportedly killed along with dozens of Zhang Youxia’s soldiers. Throughout China, military movements have...

Hundreds of thousands of Moscow residents are understood to be without power after Ukrainian drones attacked the city.

A teenager attacked students with a knife at a school outside Moscow on Tuesday, killing one child. The first reports appeared on several Russian Telegram channels — Baza, 112, Mash, Shot, and Ostorozhno, Novosti — which said the incident took place at a school in the settlement of Gorki-2. Russia’s Investigative Committee later confirmed the information. According to investigators, one student died in the attack. Police in the Moscow region said the victim was a 10-year-old child who had suffered stab wounds; Telegram channels reported that he was a fourth-grader. The attacker has been apprehended. Telegram channels identified him as...

US President Donald Trump has warned Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to step down or risk potential American military action, a report says. Tensions between Washington and Caracas have surged after US President Donald Trump warned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that refusal to step down voluntarily could trigger the use of American military force. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Trump delivered a stark ultimatum during a hotline call on 22 November, telling Maduro he could take the “easy way or hard way," offering safe passage to a friendly capital or face direct US action. Trump’s warning coincided with a...

The Justice Department’s announcement that former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding is all but a fait accompli. Pious, sanctimonious self-righteousness and hypocritical moralizing had long ago cost him his professional reputation.With charges of perjury and obstruction, Comey could face imprisonment. If that comes to pass, his tattered legacy will earn yet another stain.More tragically, the narcissistic leader, who was relieved of his duties by President Donald Trump soon into his first term, will continue to damage the agency I love...

The American filmmaker took part in a Q&A session via a video link, with pro-Putin Russian director Fyodor Bondarchuk moderating the conversation. Allen’s presence has sparked outrage, with Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling it "a disgrace and an insult." Oscar-winning American filmmaker Woody Allen appeared at the Moscow International Film Week yesterday, headlining the “Legends of World Cinema” programme. The 89-year-old took part in the event via a video link - rather than in person – with pro-Putin Russian director Fyodor Bondarchuk moderating the conversation. The festival’s website described the slot as an “atmosphere of a confidential dialogue” to...

Saturday marks the 86th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, an agreement concluded between Moscow and Berlin that would effectively lead to the carve up of Poland and condemn the world to six years of war. In hindsight, it is abundantly clear that a major global conflict had long been brewing, however, it was the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that is now viewed as the final treachery that would lead to war. While, in essence, the pact was billed as a non-aggression agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, it contained a secret annex that divided...

Award-winning US filmmaker Woody Allen will take part in Moscow International Film Week, according to the event's website. Kicking off this Saturday, the festival is expected to feature dozens of foreign participants. The event has attracted a large number of international attendees despite a wave of 'cancel culture' targeting Russian art and Western attempts to isolate the country's creative community. The director, screenwriter, and four-time Oscar winner will participate in the film week online, hosting a special session titled Legends of World Cinema. The session will be moderated by top Russian director and producer Fyodor Bondarchuk. Joining Allen as participants...

In May of this year the world was shocked by the Moscow City government decision to unveil a grand bas-relief of Stalin at the Taganskaya metro station in the heart of Moscow. Widely seen as a murderous dictator on a par with Hitler by westerners, Stalin is a much more complicated figure for Russians. He is responsible for the Red Terror of the 30s where millions were shot or sent to the GULAG as well as the mass deportations that still fuel hatred of Russians today in countries like Estonia that were worst affected. But for the average Russian he...

The retired CIA spy who says she led the team that helped draft the controversial 2016 U.S. intelligence community assessment on Russian election meddling has called Donald Trump a “dictator” and MAGA supporters “Nazis” — and insists that the now-discredited Steele dossier “might be true.” Susan Miller, a recently-retired CIA counterintelligence officer, has taken to social media and news media interviews in recent days to tell the story of how she was allegedly hand-picked by former CIA Director John Brennan to lead the team which helped draft the ICA in late 2016, gleefully exposing her anti-Trump sentiments. She has repeatedly...

Recent revelations from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have undermined the Deep State party line that Seth Rich’s murder was a botched robbery. This assumption hinged on the nearly universal acceptance that it was the Russians who hacked the DNC and DCCC servers in 2016. That assumption has collapsed. In the early morning hours of July 10, 2016, unknown assailants beat and then shot to death the 27-year-old DNC data analyst. This much is not in question. Everything else about Rich’s murder is. The most honest assessment of what happened to Rich came from his mother. On the day...