Free Republic

Thursday’s talks in Turkey between Moscow and Kyiv will serve as the latest test of whether Vladimir Putin is serious about a cease-fire deal. And if Putin fails, President Donald Trump faces a test of his own. The prez expressed optimism that “some pretty good news” will emerge from the negotiations. Yet Moscow has feigned an interest in peace before, only to show its real stripes. Remember, Putin was the one who started this war and who’s broken past cease-fire terms. As long as he believes he can gain some advantage, he’ll keep up his attacks — no matter what...

WASHINGTON — Russia could be forced to end the war in Ukraine because it will run out of money to pay its troops, according to experts at the DC-based Institute for the Study of War. The country has burned through roughly half of its $106 billion liquid sovereign-wealth fund, which is used to pay troops’ salaries and new recruits bonuses, experts said. Moscow can likely only afford another 12 to 16 months of fighting at its current pace, with about 30,000 to 45,000 Russian troops killed or injured in Ukraine each month since its 2022 invasion began, ISW’s Russia team...

Fox News host Mark Levin, a longtime supporter of President Trump, is breaking with the commander-in-chief over his recent attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, warning Trump that “MAGA doesn’t support Putin.” Speaking on the Mark Levin Show on Wednesday, Levin offered a rare criticism of the president as he backed Zelensky for maintaining order in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in 2022. Levin’s segment appeared to be a direct response to Trump’s claims that Zelensky is a dictator that the Ukrainian leader is stopping free elections and only has a very low approval rating. The Fox News host said both...

Predictably enough, the Ukrainian government has objected to its exclusion from the peace talks Trump administration officials held with their Russian counterparts this week in Riyadh and, for its trouble, is getting slammed by what is supposed to be its ally, the United States. In breathtaking remarks to reporters, President Trump poured contempt on Ukraine for its frustration. “But today I heard, ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years,” Trump said of Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine. “You should’ve ended it in three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a...

According to Pamela Geller, “The terrorist Abu Mohammed al-Jolani had a ten million dollar bounty on his head for killing Americans in Iraq. Biden removed the bounty when his guerilla army took over Syria.” As Geller puts it “We have roughly two thousand soldiers in Syria. Why?”. yet another reason to withdraw American troops from Syria. Geller cites Bill Roggio as stating “The US State Department removed the $10 million reward for Abu Mohammad al Jolani, the Specially Designated Global Terrorist who leads Haytat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), which State describes as an Al Qaeda branch. The bounty on Jolani...

Unfortunately, The Trump Cabinet Will Likely Expand the Surveillance StateDecember 25, 2024 | SundanceThe surveillance state is an outcropping of the Fourth Branch of Government, which is, essentially, the unelected intelligence community in control of our government.The surveillance state comes from the creation of the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) which is an entirely inward-looking agency. Prior to the Patriot Act, the surveillance sweep searching for terror threats focused outward, looking outside the U.S borders. The Patriot Act took the surveillance sweep a full 360 degrees and looked inside the Homeland for terror threats. Hence, DHS was created.The office of...

All four Georgian opposition parties that secured seats in the October general elections on Thursday have rejected the legitimacy of the upcoming presidential elections on Saturday, calling the parliamentary vote “rigged” and reaffirming incumbent President Salome Zourabichvili as the country’s "sole legitimate leader". In a joint statement, the Unity National Movement, Coalition for Change, and Strong Georgia condemned the forthcoming elections, while the Gakharia for Georgia group expressed its stance in a separate message. Incumbent President Zourabichvili, the last one to have been elected by popular vote, will see her term expire next week. The opposition’s joint statement claimed the...

One day after Democrats fumed about his absence on the world stage and from his own administration, retiring President Biden has announced he will roll out even “more student debt cancellation,” work to “achieve a ceasefire in Gaza with the hostages released” and send further military assistance to Ukraine, according to an internal White House memo. The memo from Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients, which was addressed to all White House staff, outlined the 46th president’s foreign and domestic priorities for his remaining 42-day “sprint” before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office, a copy of the memo obtained by The...

On Monday, when asked what the Biden administration is telling Ukrainian counterparts about what will happen once Biden leaves office, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told ABC This Week: Well, first what I’m saying is we’re going to do everything in our power for these 50 days to get Ukraine all the tools we possibly can to strengthen their position on the battlefield so they’ll be stronger at the negotiating table. And President Biden directed me to oversee a massive surge in the military equipment that we are delivering to Ukraine so that we have spent every dollar that Congress...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.” Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday’s Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro.

President Joe Biden's administration will allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to strike deep into Russian territory, three sources familiar with the matter said, in a significant change to Washington's policy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, the sources said, without revealing details due to operational security concerns. The White House declined to comment. The move by the United States two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20 follows months of requests by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to allow Ukraine's military to use U.S. weapons to hit...

Exit poll results showed 79% of Jewish voters backing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, compared with 21% who said they’d voted for the Republican, former President Donald Trump. More responses are still being added to the poll, which was conducted by a consortium of national media outlets, and the results could change. If the current split holds, it would represent yet another election cycle in which Republican claims that Jews would flock to their candidate because of Israel or antisemitism did not pan out.Edison Research, which conducts the poll for the consortium, surveyed voters in 10 states: Arizona,...

Two British music producers have flown to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris, describing Donald Trump’s allyship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as “terrifying” for the UK. Dan Glatman and Jon Cohen landed on Thursday in Pennsylvania, a battleground swing state, joining an army of volunteers knocking on doors and engaging with voters ahead of polling day on Tuesday. The London-born pair have no vote or stake in the US election, but 52-year-old Mr Cohen told the PA news agency it was becoming impossible to overlook when the “stakes are so high”. Mr Cohen, whose producing credits include Joss...

Another day, another hoax. The mainstream media’s relentless campaign to misrepresent former President Donald Trump has reached new heights. In a Friday appearance on CNN, so-called conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg falsely claimed that Trump suggested a firing squad execution for former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). President Trump had criticized Cheney’s hawkish foreign policy views during an interview with Tucker Carlson on Thursday, condemning her stance on “endless wars.” At no point did Trump imply or suggest any such violent intentions toward Cheney—he merely called her out for her support of prolonged conflicts. Goldberg, however, attacked Trump with an inflammatory conclusion,...

The disgraced Jonah Goldberg’s latest act of liberal fascism involves him lying about Donald Trump on CNN and then claiming it was Donald Trump who made him lie. Not-So-Little Lord Fauntleroy grows more pathetic and self-loathing by the day. We all know what former President Trump said about Liz Cheney on Thursday. There was nothing ambiguous about what he said or what he meant: Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Let’s see how she feels about it, you know when the guns are trained on her face. You know, they’re all war...

CNN — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is in talks with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to join him on the trail in the final days of the 2024 race as he seeks to broaden his appeal among female voters, two sources familiar with the talks told CNN. No events have been finalized, however, some of the discussions have centered on a potential joint appearance at a Fox News town hall in late October, the sources said. The talks were first reported by The Bulwark. Trump has held a number of town halls moderated by prominent Republican women, including...

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that while he’s not a huge fan of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “over the last month, he’s gone against world opinion and American opinion on a whole range of issues, and he’s been absolutely right” in a way that has “served world peace” by weakening terrorist groups, and so those calling for him to declare victory in the wake of the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar should accept they don’t have the same intelligence as Israel and Netanyahu has “been making some right calls over the last...

Apart from joining NATO, Ukraine’s only option would be nuclear weapons, Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the European Council earlier this week while discussing what needs to be done to protect the eastern European country still fending off Moscow's invasion. “Who gave up nuclear weapons? All of them? ... Ukraine. Who is fighting today? Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. As one can imagine, the statement had a ballistic impact. Later that day, in a meeting with NATO top chief Mark Rutte, Zelenskyy had to explain that Ukraine has never discussed preparing to produce any nuclear weapons or to build a nuclear bomb.

The Biden administration rang up a budget topping $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2024, up more than 8% from the previous year and the third highest on record. Interest expense for the year totaled $1.16 trillion, the first time that figure has topped the trillion-dollar level. The Biden administration rang up a budget deficit topping $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2024, up more than 8% from the previous year ... the shortfall totaled $1.833 trillion, $138 billion higher than a year ago. ... The deficit came despite record receipts of $4.9 trillion, which fell well short of outlays of $6.75 trillion. Government...

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Israel should “destroy” Iran’s nuclear weapons program during a Wednesday appearance on NewsNation. Iran launched nearly 200 missiles into Israel on Tuesday in response to a series of targeted killings carried out by Israel that have left several leaders of militia groups alligned with Tehran dead. Israel is widely expected to launch strikes on Iran in response to the Tuesday attack. Bolton, a hawk who served as former President Trump’s national security adviser before breaking with him, argued for an aggressive approach. “Israel should destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons program. There...