Free Republic

The top US military commander for the Middle East says he has presented US President Donald Trump with military plans to strike Iran and is prepared to do if so ordered. “I have provided the secretary of defense and the president a wide range of options,” Central Command head Gen. Michael Kurilla says during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. Kurilla was responding to Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, the chairman of the committee, who asked if CENTCOM was prepared to respond with overwhelming force if Iran does not permanently give up its nuclear ambitions. “I take that as...

I know no one likes to watch the Republican warmongers advocate for expanded intervention, conflict and escalated global violence as a means for them to retain power. However, this is one of those sickening points of advocacy that need to be watched and listened to very carefully.Mike McCaul is Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and he has never experienced a war he didn’t enjoy. McCaul notes he is happy for the House to receive a sanction package against Russia from Lindsey Graham that will likely be voted on in the Senate tomorrow. Last week the Senate met with...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a Wednesday interview that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s behavior is growing increasingly “desperate” as his war against Ukraine continues three years after Russia’s attempted takeover of its eastern European neighbor. “He seems to be more out of control than he used to be,” she told “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade. “He was always an imperialist, but there is something about him now that seems almost more desperate in wanting to extinguish Ukraine.” -snip- “It shows that the Ukrainians are very advanced in what they are doing in their defense industry with...

Former United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned US President Donald Trump on Saturday against recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, claiming that would be "a mistake of epic proportions." "I get the frustration … I'm not naive about what’s physically possible in this moment, but that doesn’t mean one should go and say, ‘and we are giving up for all time," Pompeo, who served as the top US diplomat during Trump's first term, stated at the Black Sea Security Forum in Odessa. "This is one of the things I hope to communicate," he added.

The Senate will likely start moving next week on a bill to place strong sanctions on Russia because it is not moving forward toward agreeing to a ceasefire in Ukraine, Sen. Lindsey Graham, the legislation's sponsor, said Friday. "Enough of talking," the South Carolina Republican told reporters while visiting Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv, reports Bloomberg News. "I would expect next week that the Senate will start moving the sanctions bill ... there are House members that are ready to move and you will see congressional action." The sanctions bill, according to a draft seen by Bloomberg, includes a 500%...

US President Donald Trump has appeared to set a two-week deadline for Vladimir Putin, threatening a different response if the Russian counterpart was still stringing him along. As the Kremlin escalated its attacks on Ukraine, Trump was asked in the Oval Office on Wednesday if he thought Putin wanted to end the war. "I can't tell you that, but I'll let you know in about two weeks," Trump told reporters, the latest amid a string of critical public remarks made by Trump about Putin. Since Sunday, Trump has written multiple posts on social media saying that Putin has gone "absolutely...

Satellite images have revealed how Moscow is bulking up its military presence on the Finnish border - in a chilling echo of pictures taken of Russian bases before Putin launched his war in Ukraine. Moscow is building troop accommodation, aircraft deployment infrastructure and refurbishing old facilities at key military bases, analysts have said, in a sign it is seeking to reinforce its capabilities in the border region. The pictures, which were obtained by Swedish broadcaster SVT from Planet Labs, suggest there has been activity at four locations inside Russia - Kamenka, Petrozavodsk, Severomorsk-2, and Olenya. In Kamenka, which is around...

President Trump’s foreign policy has been coasting so far on his verbal threats and public cajoling. But he’ll soon face moments of decision on U.S. adversaries that will echo throughout his second term and could determine his legacy The first year of presidencies often sets the tone for the events that follow on foreign policy. Joe Biden’s Afghan withdrawal gutted U.S. deterrence and convinced Vladimir Putin and Iran’s mullahs they’d meet little resistance if they sought military gains. Barack Obama let China occupy islands in the South China Sea and steal U.S. secrets with little resistance. Ronald Reagan rebuilt U.S....

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,...