Free Republic

The blueprint details how as many as 800,000 German, U.S. and other NATO troops would be ferried eastward toward the front line. It maps the ports, rivers, railways and roads they would travel, and how they would be supplied and protected on the way.

The leaders of Germany, France and the United Kingdom have welcomed the US effort to end the war in Ukraine but stressed that any agreement affecting Europe must involve its partners, underscoring sharp divergences with Washington's 28-point peace plan.In a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they valued the Trump administration's push to broker an end to the conflict, a German government spokesman said.At the same time, the leaders underlined that "any agreement affecting European states, the European Union or NATO requires the...

Donald Trump's blockbuster peace deal for Ukraine includes unprecedented NATO-style security guarantees, sources have revealed.The president backed a 28-point draft proposal - based on the Gaza deal - that would treat an attack on Ukraine as one on the entire 'transatlantic community.'But the deal, delivered to Kyiv last night, sparked a ferocious backlash as it demands Volodmyr Zelensky cede territory, slash troops and hold elections within 100 days.Washington has threatened to cut intelligence sharing and weapons supplies to press it into agreeing the proposal, sources told Reuters. 'They want to stop the war and want Ukraine to pay the price,'...

Germany should take over the historically American role of Nato Europe commander, Donald Trump’s envoy to the Western alliance has suggested. Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to Nato, said he hoped Germany would one day volunteer for the prestigious role of Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He told the Berlin Security Conference: “I look forward to the day when Germany comes to the United States and says that we’re ready to take over the Supreme Allied Commander position. I think we’re a long way away from that, but I look forward to those discussions.” Since Nato was founded in 1949, the...

President Donald Trump designated Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally on Tuesday, opening opportunities for more defense trade and security cooperation between the United States and its key partner in the Middle East. Trump made the announcement at a dinner for visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after they held talks that included the signing of a strategic defense agreement “Tonight, I'm pleased to announce that we're taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally," Trump said in a speech at the gathering. Saudi Arabia becomes the 20th major...

This address was delivered to the European Parliament in Brussels on November 11, 2025. Europe is in deep trouble today, mainly because of the Ukraine war, which has played a key role in undermining what had been a largely peaceful region. Unfortunately, the situation is not likely to improve in the years ahead. In fact, Europe is likely to be less stable moving forward than it is today. The present situation in Europe stands in marked contrast to the unprecedented stability that Europe enjoyed during the unipolar moment, which ran from roughly 1992, after the Soviet Union collapsed, until 2017,...

President Donald Trump is facing a pivotal decision that could define the next phase of his Middle East policy: whether to allow Turkish troops into Gaza as part of a U.S.-backed stabilization force. The move, which Ankara is lobbying for, has triggered alarm in Israel and among Arab allies who view Turkey’s ambitions and Islamist ties as a threat to regional stability. According to Middle East Eye, Turkey is preparing a brigade of at least 2,000 soldiers drawn from multiple branches of its military to join the mission once a U.N. Security Council mandate is approved. Israel has flatly rejected...

The gnawing and weeping and gnashing of teeth in Washington, DC, over the recent US troop drawdown in NATO’s eastern flank has been quite an ordeal to witness from afar. One would think that President Donald Trump had finally fulfilled the wishes of some of his biggest supporters and abandoned NATO. But that isn’t quite what happened. Indeed, the decision not to replace one of its rotational brigades, the United States Army’s Second Infantry Brigade Combat Team from the 101st Airborne Division that had been operating out of Mihail Kogǎlniceanu Air Base in Romania is not at all that controversial....

Let’s put the events of the last 72 hours into context.On Monday and Tuesday, Russian oil refineries in NATO countries Hungary and Romania suddenly, and simultaneously, have mysterious explosions and catastrophic fires {citation}}. On Wednesday, NATO head Mark Rutte comes to visit President Trump in the White House, and at the end of the day, the same Russian company, Lukoil, whose refinery exploded in Romania, suddenly becomes sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury. These events are not disconnected.President Trump then disputes a Wall Street Journal report, further saying he did not give approval, nor does he know where NATO long-range missiles...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is not “afraid” of Donald Trump unlike other western leaders and dismissed reports that their last meeting in Washington was volatile, adding that he had good relations with the US president. He also said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian that King Charles had helped build relations with Trump and described the British monarch as “very supportive” of Ukraine. The Ukrainian president denied claims Trump had tossed maps of the battlefield aside in a stormy exchange in October at the White House, where he had arrived hoping to secure supplies of US Tomahawk cruise...

Shortly after October 7, 2023, Israeli forces sorting through the remains of the 1,200 people killed during the deadliest attack on Israel since the 1973 Yom Kippur war recovered drones that Hamas and other Iranian proxies had used to target Israeli civilians. Officials found that the unmanned aerial vehicles contained multiple U.S.-origin electronic components, and further investigation showed that these parts had been procured by Chinese firms then transferred to Iranian front companies, which in turn passed them on to Hamas. The Iranians distributed U.S.-made technology bought by the Chinese to other proxies as well, including the Houthi rebels, who...

NATO and some of America's allies in the transatlantic alliance have sought to ease concerns over the Trump administration's move to reduce the U.S. military's presence in Europe amid Russia's ongoing assault on Ukraine and as it's accused of ramping up hybrid warfare against NATO nations. The Pentagon announced Thursday that it was reducing the number of U.S. troops deployed in Eastern Europe. U.S. officials told CBS News that around 700 U.S. airborne troops who have been deployed in Germany, Romania and Poland would come home and not be replaced. In a statement, the U.S. Army Europe and Africa said...

SNIPIn August 2025, a federal jury convicted Jinchao Wei, an active-duty U.S. Navy sailor stationed at San Diego's naval base, on multiple counts of espionage and illegal export of defense-related technical data to the Chinese government. Wei "agreed to sell Navy secrets to a Chinese intelligence officer for $12,000," according to the Department of Justice.Weeks earlier, the DOJ charged two Chinese citizens with acting as agents of China's Ministry of State Security for recruiting U.S. military personnel and gathering intelligence. In March, the DOJ also announced a series of charges against 12 Chinese nationals for conducting a sweeping cyber-espionage...

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy’s latest White House visit to secure Tomahawk missiles reportedly devolved into a contentious “shouting match” with President Trump. According to anonymous sources, Trump, fresh off a phone call with Vladimir Putin, made a stunning reversal. He allegedly pressured Zelenskiy to surrender the entire Donbas region, warning that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine otherwise. Trump was said to have cursed, tossed aside battlefield maps, and repeated Russian talking points verbatim, including calling the conflict a “special military operation.”

Donald Trump is working on establishing a Ukraine victory fund which will be bankrolled by fresh tariffs on China. The US president instructed Scott Bessent, his treasury secretary, to float the plan to European counterparts ahead of Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington DC on Friday. Mr Trump, who previously claimed Mr Zelensky did not “hold the cards” for a military victory, is increasingly losing patience with Vladimir Putin, and his proposal for a Ukraine war shift marks a significant change in his position. His language was mimicked by Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defence, who told a meeting of...

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Moscow on Wednesday that the United States and its allies would "impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression" if the war in Ukraine does not come to an end. "If we must take this step, the U.S. War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do," Hegseth said at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group of Kyiv's allies at NATO headquarters. Hegseth did not elaborate. His comments came as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is considering a request by Ukraine for long-range Tomahawk...

President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that Spain be expelled from NATO over its failure to match the higher defense spending requirement he has engineered. "We had one laggard, it was Spain," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "They have no excuse not to do this, but that's all right. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO frankly." In June, the 32-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreed to massively boost defense spending over the next decade under pressure from Trump, who at the time threatened to punish Madrid on trade for resisting the new target of five percent of...

When Finland joined NATO in 2023, the small Nordic nation brought with it one of Europe’s most comprehensive defense systems, built over decades of preparing for the worst along its border with Russia. Instead of a large standing army, Finland relies on universal conscription, a vast trained reserve pool, and a society where everyone has a role in national defense. As Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo put it in 2025: “By joining NATO, Finland strengthened its own security, but also the stability and security of the whole Alliance. We have over 1,300 kilometers of border with Russia, but we also...

An analysis of the Russo-Urainian War in 2025. I look at events essentially from the draw down in Kursk to the overall trajectory of the combat lines. Finally, I take a look at constraints on the west and challenges faced.