Free Republic

The U.S. is turning to a much-criticized source as it races to secure supplies of battery metals to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles. To do so, it is homing in on cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s informal mining sector, where miners, sometimes including children, often work with no safety equipment in dangerous, hand-dug mines. Congo supplies around 70% of the world’s cobalt, a key metal in the lithium-ion batteries used in EVs, with about a third of that coming from these so-called artisanal miners. The U.S. Agency for International Development said earlier this year that it...

Russia appears to have moved to take direct control of Wagner, after months of infighting between defence officials and the private military group. Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov said on Saturday "volunteer formations" will be asked to sign contracts directly with the ministry of defence. The vaguely worded statement is widely believed to target the group. But in a furious statement on Sunday, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces would boycott the contracts. The private military group has played a major role in the war in Ukraine, fighting on the side of Russian forces. But Prigozhin, who is said...

The US military is leading a team that is helping to repair Ukraine's military hardware over the phone. These virtual exchanges often take place during battle, the Associated Press reported. Ukrainian troops, meanwhile, are pushing artillery systems to the limits to keep Russia at bay.

The US has been mostly silent, other than issuing a few meek statementsIt is difficult to understand what US President Joe Biden’s administration is doing in northern Syria, where its allies the Syrian Kurds have been bombed to high heaven by Turkish forces. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted that he also intends to mount a land operation against America’s partners there. Although Turkey for some time had been bombing and assassinating members of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), this current offensive is different. It is designed to deal the Kurds a fatal blow. What is incomprehensible is that...

Saudi Arabia has executed 12 people in 10 days despite the Crown Prince's promise to cut down on such form of punishment, according to a human rights organisation. Reprieve said the defendants, all males, were sentenced to death after being imprisoned for non-violent drug offences. According to the non-profit organisation, which gathered data on this week's executions, most of the defendants were beheaded with a sword. Three of the men executed were Pakistani, four Syrian, two Jordanian and three Saudi, Reprieve said. Another man from Jordan was reportedly transferred to a prison wing and is due to be executed on...

UKRAINE has been handing out "surrender cards" to Russian soldiers containing secret codes with advice on how they can return home alive, reports have claimed. The cards feature a message in Russian for Vlad's invading forces, as well as a QR code on the back with links to further information on how soldiers can surrender to Ukraine. Pictures of the cards supposedly being distributed widely among Russian forces by Ukraine were shared on social media. One side of the card is in the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag. The headline reads: "YOUR TICKET TO A PEACEFUL LIFE."...

The Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive around the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine starting on Sept. 6 destroyed half of the best tank division in the best tank army in the Russian armed forces. A hundred wrecked or captured tanks in a hundred furious hours. That’s how much destruction the Ukrainians inflicted on the Russian 4th Guards Tank Division, part of the elite 1st Guards Tank Army, the Russian army’s best armor formation. Now the 1st GTA is retreating north in order to preserve what remains of its front-line divisions. But the damage the tank army has suffered could have lasting...

Air raid sirens were heard in Mitrovica in northern Kosovo on Sunday afternoon, with reports by local media indicating that a large presence of emergency vehicles was seen throughout the area. The sirens were stopped after three hours, according to local reports. The sirens come as Kosovo officials prepared to require Serbians visiting Kosovo to replace their Serbian passports with a temporary ID while in the country and to require Serbian license plates in the country to be replaced with Kosovar license plates. The decision was made as a reciprocatory move to similar requirements already issued for Kosovars when they...

The United States on Tuesday warned Turkey against launching a new military operation in northern Syria, saying the uneasy NATO ally would be putting US troops at risk. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that Turkey would soon launch a new military operation into northern Syria to create a 30-kilometer (19-mile) "security zone" along the border. "We are deeply concerned about reports and discussions of potential increased military activity in northern Syria and, in particular, its impact on the civilian population," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. "We condemn any escalation. We support maintenance of the current cease-fire...

My first experience of combat as a Marine was in Mogadishu, Somalia in the '90s and then subsequently I was in the first Marine division during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. I have completed tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, been involved in the evacuation of civilians from Libya in 2011 and commanded a special operations task force against the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2016...I have a greater respect for the ethical behavior of the Islamic State than I do for the Russians. That is no exaggeration.

Feb. 18, Russian occupying forces violated the cease-fire 12 times, while 10 of them involved the use of 122-mm artillery systems, 120- and 82-mm mortars. Overall the enemy fired 117 shells and mortar rounds. The attacks at Ukrainian strong points also involved anti-tank missile systems, infantry fighting vehicles, various types of grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms. As reported, within the action area of Skhid semistrategic group the enemy committed six attacks at the JFO positions with - 122-mm artillery, anti-tank guided missiles and heavy machine guns - in the area of Lebedynske; - 122-mm artillery and 120-mm...

The protection of Palestinian civilians could be improved by the deployment of U.N.-mandated armed forces or unarmed observers, a beefed-up U.N. civilian presence or expanded U.N. assistance, Secretary-General António Guterres wrote in a report on Friday. The United Nations General Assembly requested the report in a resolution adopted in June that condemned Israel for excessive force against Palestinian civilians and denounced the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israeli civilian areas, but did not mention Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza. The resolution asked for proposals to ensure “the safety, protection and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under...