Free Republic

Things Have Changed “Most people are not the enemy. They are scared, proud, lonely, overworked, and trying to protect something they love with the only map they were handed.” —LHGrey I remind you once again: history is a trickster. Sometimes things turn out, and sometimes they just turn, and these days they’re turning hard. Get this: Russia is not our mortal enemy anymore. This is not 1956 or even 1986. It is no longer the so-called Free World against the wicked Hammer and Sickle. Russia is no longer a weird political science experiment acting in defiance of human nature —...

Far-right leader George Simion tells POLITICO Romanian president Nicușor Dan will face a campaign to oust him if he keeps refusing a snap poll to end months of deadlock in Bucharest. Romanian President Nicușor Dan faces demands from allies and adversaries alike to call a snap election, the first in the country’s modern history, if his latest attempt to end five months of political paralysis fails. The key NATO and EU member has lacked a fully functioning government since the coalition collapsed in May, and lawmakers have rejected a succession of Dan’s prime ministerial nominees. Political parties are now weighing...

Britain has spent nearly $40 million on SpaceX (SPCX.O), opens new tab satellite services, deepening its reliance on Elon Musk's company for military communications despite growing European concerns about dependence on U.S. ​security infrastructure. The spending was disclosed to Reuters in response to a freedom of information request and makes Britain the first country outside the ‌U.S. to publicly acknowledge adopting Starshield, SpaceX's service for military and intelligence missions. Starlink is marketed to consumer and commercial users. Britain's defence ministry said it has about 1,000 Starshield terminals and 500 Starlink terminals. It has spent about £13 million ($17.6 million) on...

“Turkish journalist İbrahim Karagül, who is close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has published columns since the start of the Iran War envisioning the destruction of Israel at the hands of Turkey. In a March 13, 2026 column titled "If it makes that 'fatal mistake,' Turkey will invade Israel! It will burn and destroy Tel Aviv and liberate Jerusalem. You have not understood the turn of history! Our silence is dangerous! They cannot invade Iran. There will no longer be Arab-Persian wars or a sectarian war either. The 'Middle Eastern order' has collapsed. Israel is a one-day state."

From my balcony in the Judean mountains, I can see the lights of Jordan on a clear night and the skyline of Amman at sunrise. On other nights, I simply look south and east and know that the same Iranian missiles and drones from the Houthis in Yemen threatening my children and grandchildren are also threatening the mosques, holy cities, the oil fields, and the very capital that keep the House of Saud in power. That is the uncomfortable intimacy of this region. We are not friends. We are not yet even fully acknowledged as legitimate neighbors. Yet Riyadh is...

The US-Greenland-Denmark agreement has now been published. I haven’t read it, but Arnaud Bertrand has. This is his analysis of the terms, which appear very favorable to the United States, and well calculated to achieve the goal of preventing undue influence over the Arctic by any hostile power: Full text: Ok, we now have the actual text of the Greenland deal (https://whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/09/agreement-between-the-government-of-the-united-states-of-america-and-the-government-of-the-kingdom-of-denmark-together-with-the-government-of-greenland-to-amend-and-supplement-the-agreement-of-27-apri/), so we can say how it compares to the existing 1951 arrangement and who, between Trump and Denmark, lied the most in their framing of it. Long story short – which may surprise some – the Danes lied...

NATO endorsed an agreement between the US and Denmark to expand Washington's military presence in Greenland, potentially forestalling President Donald Trump's demands to take over the Arctic territory. The agreement provides a potential US veto power over Russian and Chinese investments on Greenland, makes permanent Washington's military presence, and allows for more US bases. The deal notably falls short of American ownership — an earlier demand by Trump that had strained NATO to its breaking point. The deal should "begin the process of healing," Atlantic Council experts said, though the specter of US aggression against treaty allies kicked off a...

Chechen Warlord Warns of Attacks on Russia Sat Nov 23, 1:00 PM ET By Richard Balmforth MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Chechen warlord who says he was behind last month's mass hostage-taking in Moscow warned on Saturday his group would launch new strikes in Russia if it did not pull its troops out of Chechnya (news - web sites). Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev, Russia's public enemy number one, told NATO (news - web sites) leaders in an open letter that they should put pressure on Moscow to pull out of the Muslim North Caucasus territory and start peace negotiations. "Chechen...

BREAKING NEWS: I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement with The Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland, that gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns. There will be NO COST to the United States! At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United...

Leaders across Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales are preparing for a meeting to begin the process of seceding from the United Kingdom.The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will gather on Monday to sign a deal designed to kick-start the break-up of the United Kingdom, The Telegraph can disclose.🔗: https://t.co/VeumqBREAKING:The Telegraph writes that the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will meet in Cardiff tomorrow sign a deal on starting cooperation breaking up the UK.They will demand the right to independence referendum, or in the case of Northern Ireland, on the right to become part of Ireland. After...

Jewels Jones ®@JewelsJonesLive1. Trump landed in Dublin this morning and the Irish establishment had spent a week bracing for a disaster that never came. 150 lawyers signed a letter. Protest groups organized. A message got carved into a beach. Here’s what actually happened. 🧵Sep 13, 2026·Jewels Jones ®@JewelsJonesLive·17h2. His first stop was President Catherine Connolly, a progressive who has called his Iran campaign “a deliberate assault on international law” and once described him as volatile and a bully. She greeted him with a military honor guard. He called her “terrific.” That’s how it went all day.Jewels Jones ®@JewelsJonesLive·17h3. She gave...

The U.S. and NATO are working on a novel approach to supply Ukraine with weapons using funds from NATO countries to pay for the purchase or transfer of U.S. arms, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The renewed transatlantic cooperation on Ukraine comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with Moscow's ongoing attacks on its neighbor. Trump, who initially took a more conciliatory tone toward Russia as he tried to end the more than three-year war in Ukraine, has threatened to start imposing tariffs and other measures if Moscow shows no progress toward ending the conflict...

Twilight of the Magicians: Aleksandr Dugin and the War Against the West "If the Fourth Political Practice is not able to realize the end of times, then it would be invalid. The end of days should come; but it will not come by itself. This is a task, it is not a certainty. It is active metaphysics. It is a practice.” ALEKSANDR DUGIN, THE FOURTH POLITICAL THEORY [I] The “philosopher” who has done the most to justify Russia’s war against the West is Aleksandr Dugin. He was the first to advocate a Russian invasion of Ukraine. He has also advocated...

NATO member Turkey would consider taking its relations with the China and Russia-led security bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to a higher level, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday. "Turkey's prospect of (full) membership to the organization does not imply a breakaway from any other bloc or from the West," Erdogan said, according to a transcript of remarks he made to journalists on his return flight from Kyrgyzstan. Erdogan attended a summit of the SCO, of which Turkey is a "dialog partner," in Bishkek on Tuesday. Erdogan also said on Wednesday that a mechanism is needed to permanently ensure...

Greece is set to sign a 3.1 billion euro defence agreement with Israel in Tel Aviv, marking the largest single defence export deal in Israeli history and equipping Athens with its first fully integrated, multi-layered air defence system. A Greek delegation will formalise the contract with the Israeli Defence Ministry, concluding three years of negotiations. The systems, known collectively in Greece as Achilles’ Shield, will be delivered in stages and are scheduled to reach full operational readiness within 35 months. Most of the funding will flow to Rafael Advanced Defence Systems for David’s Sling batteries capable of intercepting heavy rockets...

Polish Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Zalewski stated at NATO headquarters in Brussels that Warsaw does not want allied nuclear weapons stationed on its soil, according to Politico on August 27. This statement represents the most explicit position expressed by Polish authorities on the matter to date. Zalewski emphasized that while Poland intends to remain an active participant in NATO's collective nuclear deterrence framework, that role does not require physical deployment of nuclear warheads within Polish borders. “I would like to state clearly and openly: Poland does not want to have nuclear warheads on its territory. We want to participate in...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin ​will not attack a NATO country, and he played down media ‌reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials against such an attack earlier in the week. "He's not going to attack a NATO territory," Trump said of the Russian leader while speaking to reporters ​in the Oval Office. Earlier in the day, Trump told Axios in a ​phone interview that there would be no such attack, and that Ratcliffe, who ⁠flew to Russia on Tuesday to meet briefly with intelligence counterparts, had not ​been dispatched to...

MOSCOW, Aug ‌27 (Reuters) - Russia warned on ​Thursday that it ​could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine in response to Ukrainian attacks on targets inside Russia using long-range British cruise missiles. The warning, delivered by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a news briefing ‌in Moscow, has been made before but without such rhetorical force or urgency. Zakharova said that London was ⁠just "one step away" from becoming legally complicit — in Moscow's eyes — for what she called "terrorism" against Russian civilians and warned of "inevitable catastrophic consequences" unless Britain changed course. Her ‌reference to...

The US MIC is about making money for fatcats; Russia's MIC is about winning wars (if they cannot be avoided)...

The (relatively admirable) status of democracy in Russia...