Free Republic

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine could restore its borders from before Russia’s invasion and that he believes NATO member countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace, escalating his rhetoric against the Kremlin as its war in Ukraine drags on. Taken together, Trump’s remarks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly about shooting down Russian aircraft and his later post on Truth Social about Ukraine’s borders seemed to reflect a significant shift in his attitude toward Moscow and what the end of the intractable conflict might look like. His comments on Ukraine’s borders...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter NATO territory, shortly after nations in the Western military alliance condemned Moscow for violating Estonian airspace. "Yes I do," Trump told reporters when asked about whether he would support such moves. Trump made the comments to reporters before a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. More to follow...

Baltic incidents—drones, airspace brushes, GNSS spoofing—could cascade into a NATO–Russia war driven by fear, honor, and interest. Opening phases likely favor NATO in air and sea with superior ISR, EW, and standoff fires; Russia counters with missiles, dense air defenses, cyber, and navigation attacks. Two plausible endgames emerge: a non-nuclear grind to an armistice shaped by attrition and political risk, or limited nuclear use to coerce termination, shattering the taboo and accelerating crisis instability.

Three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets lingered in NATO-member Estonia's airspace for several minutes on Friday, according to Estonian authorities. Italian F-35s responded. Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal said on Friday evening that the government has requested NATO Article 4 consultations with the alliance's allies following an airspace violation by Russian jets. "This morning, 3 Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace. NATO fighters responded, and the Russian planes were forced to flee," Michal wrote in a post on X. "Such violation is totally unacceptable." Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the jets entered Estonian airspace and lingered over the Gulf of...

ISLAMABAD, April 28 (Reuters) - Pakistan's defence minister said on Monday that a military incursion by neighbouring India was imminent in the aftermath of a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir last week, as tensions rise between the two nuclear-armed nations. The militant attack killed 26 people and triggered outrage in Hindu-majority India, along with calls for action against Muslim-majority Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of backing militancy in Kashmir, a region both claim and have fought two wars over. "We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions...

The United States of America intends to assign a special name to the military mission in Ukraine and put an active American general at its head. This fact is direct evidence that Washington intends to switch to direct intervention, which may also mean the transfer of American military contingent to Ukraine in order to conduct special military operations, which significantly increases the escalation in the region. Information on this subject is published by The Wall Street Journal. As follows from the data presented, Washington will unite into a single mission and appoint a responsible high-ranking officer who will lead the...

The 40th anniversary of "Dr. Strangelove" prompts some Cold War reminiscences. Jean Jacques Rousseau said that God is a comedian playing to an audience that is afraid to laugh. In his film "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," Stanley Kubrick, to some a "god" in the pantheon of cinema, made us laugh out loud at thermonuclear war. I am a surviving member of the cast, and in this 40th anniversary year of the film, I am pleased to share some of my experiences in making "Strangelove." Kubrick based his initial script on "Red...