Free Republic

You don’t get to pick a fight and then blame the person trying to peacefully resolve it. The American foreign policy establishment that brought us the war in Ukraine now claims that it is Donald Trump’s war. We’ve seen this movie before. When the war in Vietnam became unpopular and seemingly unwinnable, the “best and the brightest” of the Kennedy–Johnson administration that escalated America’s involvement in the war, and their supporters among the foreign policy establishment, called it “Nixon’s war” when the new president took office in 1969. Now, neoconservative writer Hal Brands, a member in good standing with the...

President Trump is unhappy with Vladimir Putin. The Russian isn’t heeding the President’s entreaties to stop the killing in Ukraine, and Mr. Trump is nonplussed. “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. Separately, Mr. Trump told reporters: “I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot...

Syrian opposition fighters have reached the suburbs of the Damascus capital for the first time since the region was recaptured by government troops in 2018, as president Bashar al-Assad's regime nears collapse. One resident said the city was on edge, with security forces on the streets and many shops running out of staple foods. The Syrian army withdrew from much of the country's south on Saturday but later said it was fortifying positions in the Damascus suburbs and in the south. Syria's state news agency denied reports that Assad had already fled to Russia claiming he continued to govern from...

From the beginning, the United States provided $5 billion to fund the Ukrainian Revolution in 2014. The US-installed interim government launched the civil war against the Donbas on US instructions. Then in 2014, Obama signed a bill authorizing lethal aid to be provided to Kiev. Then in 2015, NATO Commander General Philip Breedlove favors military aid to Ukraine. The US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, John Kerry, and General Martin Dempsey of the Joint Chiefs agreed. The West has been planning war against Russia using Ukraine as cannon fodder from the very start. The Neocons are a third party unto...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

Former President Donald Trump addressed an audience gathered at his Mar-a-Lago club and estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday night for the Log Cabin Republicans’ Spirit of Lincoln gala, the conservative LGBTQ group’s flagship event. “We are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting hard,” Trump said. “Last night, we had over 450 LGBT conservatives and our straight allies join us for another amazing Spirit of Lincoln gala,” Log Cabin Republicans President Charles Moran told the Washington Blade. “While the speakers and award honorees spanned the conservative spectrum, all of them, including President Trump, articulated a...

Nearly 1,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in one day in Ukraine, Kyiv has claimed, marking the deadliest day for Vladimir Putin since his troops invaded eight months ago. Ukrainian forces have been making gains across Russian-occupied areas, with fighting intensifying in the country's east and in the southern city of Kherson. -snip- And in yet another example of his forces' incompetence, video shows panic-stricken Russian soldiers fleeing a Ukrainian attack on an armoured vehicle - only for it to flip over and fling the troops into the air. Footage, apparently from Kherson, shows Russian soldiers running towards an armoured...

US President Joe Biden’s administration will soon release its National Security Strategy, which is being revised in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The document will no doubt trigger a renewed debate about how the United States should gear up for a new cold war against Russia and China. But before we plunge into a global great-power competition, it’s worth recalling Biden’s promise to create a “foreign policy for the middle class” and take a look at what most concerns Americans.US President Joe Biden’s administration will soon release its National Security Strategy, which is being revised in the wake...

It would be easy to underestimate Valeriy Zaluzhny. When not in uniform, the general prefers T-shirts and shorts that match his easygoing sense of humor. When he first heard from aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in late July 2021 that he was being tapped to lead the country’s armed forces, his stunned response was, “What do you mean?” As it sank in that he would become commander in chief, he tells TIME in his first interview since the Russian invasion began, he felt as if he had been punched “not just below the belt but straight into a knockout.”...

Ukrainian officials announced on Friday that they had exhumed more than 400 bodies at a mass burial site near Izium, Kharkiv region, from which Russian troops recently retreated after a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Many of those buried there, they said, apparently died a violent death — bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, ropes around their necks, broken bones and gunshot wounds; some men had their genitalia severed. VOA Eastern Europe Bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze visited the site.

The war exposed Ukraine to two of her most critical vulnerabilities – questionable legitimacy and extreme nationalism. Legitimacy derives from acceptance and recognition. However, Ukraine’s neighbors Russia, Poland, and Romania do not accept their current borders with Ukraine.###After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine got its borders within which she achieved independence and millions of Russians, Poles, Hungarians and Romanians were trapped in a newly created country.The Ukrainian problem is greatly exacerbated by the fact that unlike pluralistic societies such as the USA, Canada, Switzerland, and Russia, which are tolerant of different cultures, religions, and languages, Ukraine is not....

Vladimir Putin can call up all the troops he wants, but Russia has no way of getting those new troops the training and weapons they need to fight in Ukraine any time soon. With his invasion of Ukraine faltering badly, the Russian President on Wednesday announced the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Russian television that the country will call up 300,000 reservists. If they end up facing Ukrainian guns on the front lines, they are likely to become the newest casualties in the invasion Putin started more than seven months ago and that...

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov emphasized on Friday at a conference that it is not in Moscow's interest to have an open conflict with the United States or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).Ryabkov expressed concerns over Russia's current relations with the two, stating that they are "near-zero levels." He shared that "America is incapable of negotiating in principle and, together with a number of NATO capitals, is directly pushing Kiev to transfer military operations to our territory, intending to fight to the last Ukrainian" so as to impose "a strategic defeat" on Russia.He further underscored that Moscow is...

"...On the surface, this would appear to be simply about weapons. However, buried in this funding is up to a billion dollars earmarked to pay the salaries and pensions of Ukrainian government workers and soldiers. This isn’t a one-time payment – the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has indicated that up to $7 billion per month will be needed to keep Ukraine functioning. While most US citizens might not blanch at the thought of their taxpayer dollars being used to underwrite Ukrainian soldiers and civil servants, the reality is that much of this money will be deployed to pay...

ARGYLE, Texas — His famous name shadows George P. Bush, the only member of the dynastic political clan now in public office, as he enters the final days of an uphill campaign to unseat Texas’ attorney general. To some Texans, the Bush family name is a badge of integrity, harking back to a bygone era of rectitude and respectful political debate. To others, it is the disqualifying mark of a Republican old guard that failed the party and betrayed its last president, Donald J. Trump. Mr. Bush would like to make the campaign about the two-term Republican incumbent, Ken Paxton,...

@seanhannity The Republican party owes it to Americans to not just describe the problem, but fix it @LindseyGrahamSC Segment...

Retired Four Star General Barry McCaffrey who now serves as a "military analyst" for MSNBC tweeted out footage of fighting in Ukraine that was actually a clip from a video game. On Monday, retired four-star general and MSNBC "military analyst" Barry R. McCaffrey posted a clip of video game footage to Twitter. Alongside it he claimed it was a display of strength from Ukraine's air defense. It's actually footage from a video game. The clip in question came from YouTube's "shorts" section, and is titled "Russian MiG-29's Get Shot Down By Air Defense System | Arma 3 #Shorts #Airdefense #Arma3."...

Vladimir Putin is leading Russia towards a 'total collapse' and 'civil war', according to a Federal Security Service (FSB) agent. The FSB insider also claimed that the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov will exploit the ensuing political chaos to create an "Emirate of the Caucasus" on Russian territory. In a letter to the Russian human rights campaigner, Vladimir Osechkin, the FSB agent predicts Putin's army will fail in achieving its objectives in the Battle for the Donbas. This in turn will have serious political and security consequences for Putin and ultimately could lead to the breakup of Russia as a unified...

In a New York Times op-ed, Russian President Vladimir Putin takes issue with President Obama's reference to American exceptionalism during his speech on Syria on Tuesday, calling the notion "extremely dangerous "It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States," Putin wrote. "Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan 'you’re either with us or against us.' "We must stop using the language...

An ex-KGB agent who defected to the West has said 'paranoid' and 'insane' Putin is likely to be suffering from Parkinson's and early stage dementia, but added that members of his inner circle may be kept in the dark about his physical state. Boris Karpichkov former KBG agent who defected from Russia, told The Sun that Putin was 'insane' and becoming 'obsessed by paranoid ideas'. 'He sees literally everyone, including those inside the Russian security services and even inside his close inner circle, to be "traitors"', he said. Putin may be keeping those closest to him unaware of his health...