Free Republic

The Western media has again fallen for the dubious propaganda of US stooges in Ukraine, writes John Laughland. There was a time when the left was in favour of revolution, while the right stood unambiguously for the authority of the state. Not any more. This week two British newspapers - the anti-Iraq war Independent and the pro-Iraq war Telegraph - excitedly announced a "revolution" in Ukraine, while in the US the right-wing Washington Times welcomed "the people versus the power". Whether it is Albania in 1997, Serbia in 2000, Georgia last November or Ukraine now, our media regularly peddle the...

Last year I was working on an article about foreign fighters and volunteers in Ukraine... Among the people I interviewed: Ryan Wesley Routh, the 58-year-old man whom the F.B.I. is investigating in what it is calling an assassination attempt... Mr. Routh, who had spent some time in Ukraine trying to raise support for the war, was seeking recruits from among Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban... There were a few complications. Mr. Routh, a former construction worker from Greensboro, N. C., said he never fought in Ukraine himself — he was too old and had no military experience. *** When...

Teresa Heinz Kerry: A Potential First Lady With Maltese Family Ties- Vincent Camilleri Friday, September 12, 2003 ‘Of all the potential First Ladies in recent history, she is certainly the most accomplished.’ This is how Vogue Magazine described Teresa Heinz Kerry in its March 2003 edition. I had the honour to meet and have a very pleasant conversation with Ms Heinz Kerry in 1987. It happened in Vienna, where I was posted as head of the Maltese delegation to the CSCE Follow-Up meeting, during a diplomatic reception hosted by ambassador Warren Zimmermann, head of the US delegation to the conference....

"“Putin’s Asymmetrical Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for U.S. National Security,” finds that President Trump’s refusal to publicly acknowledge the threat posed by the Russian government has hampered efforts to mobilize our government, strengthen our institutions, and work with our European allies to counter Putin’s interference in democracies abroad. Never before in American history has so clear a threat to national security been so clearly ignored by a U.S. president, and without a strong U.S. response, institutions and elections here and throughout Europe will remain vulnerable to the Kremlin’s aggressive and sophisticated malign influence operations."

Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP ========================================================= Fox News has reported that the alleged suspect in the second Trump assassination attempt is Ryan Wesley Routh, as we reported earlier. He allegedly aimed a rifle through the fence on the golf course where Trump was. He was about 300-500 yards away. Law enforcement claimed he had an AK-47 with a scope and a Go-Pro camera at the fence. He also had a bag with ceramic plates. The Secret Service fired at him and he fled in a black SUV. A citizen saw him and took a picture of his license which...

During a hearing on anti-semitism today, Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) claimed that those who “espouse hate” are not protected under the First Amendment, and called for the federal government to be “more aggressive” in its efforts to combat hateful rhetoric. Senator Cardin serves as the Chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is also referred to as the Helsinki Commission. […] On Dec. 13, the Helsinki Commission held a hearing entitled, “The Alarming Rise of Anti-Semitism and Its Threat to Democracy.” During the hearing, Cardin stated, “If you espouse hate, if you espouse violence, you’re...

The Washington Post’s fact-checking department has yet again quietly updated — rather than corrected — its most-read story, which contained glaring errors about first son Hunter Biden’s laptop and an infamous dinner involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi. Glenn Kessler, the paper’s chief fact-checker, has made six updates and authored an entirely new article about The Post’s bombshell reports in October 2020 and May 2021 that revealed Hunter Biden introduced his father to Pozharskyi at Café Milano in Georgetown months after joining the natural gas firm’s board. The initial fact check relied on statements from Andrew...

Belarus's foreign minister Vladimir Makei was poisoned in a Kremlin sting operation, extraordinary new reports have claimed. The veteran diplomat and former spy died suddenly yesterday amid claims he was in secret contact with the West concerning the war in Ukraine and preventing Belarus from being incorporated into Russia by Vladimir Putin. A video shows Makei, 64, looking healthy on a Belarus military cargo plane last week shortly before he died. He wasn't known to suffer from any chronic illness. -snip- Makei was this week due to attend an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Poland...

Swiss mull moves over Russia’s aggression against Ukraine Protesters in Ukraine Demonstrators march in Odessa, Ukraine, on Sunday, marking the date on which, eight years ago, more than a hundred people were killed during Ukraine's Maidan revolution. Waving national flags and placards with slogans such as 'No Putin, No Cry', they said they had come out to demonstrate against a potential Russian invasion and that they were prepared to defend their city if needed. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved The Swiss foreign ministry has accused Russia of breaking international law and violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty...

When Americans went to the polls four years ago, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) deployed 44 observers, a quarter of whom came from countries deemed by a leading democracy watchdog to be “not free” or “partly free.” This year, the OSCE plans to send more than ten times that number — and some civil rights groups in the U.S. say even that won’t be enough. Following a “needs assessment” visit earlier this year, the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) decided to send 100 long-term and 400 short-term observers to monitor the November...

OSCE says it currently has no precedent for an armed mission Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug says that a decision on the possible deployment of an armed OSCE mission in Donbas, Ukraine's east, should have the backing of all 57 OSCE participating states during the OSCE Permanent Council. "The SMM is an unarmed monitoring mission. We are not a party to this conflict. We do not take sides. We do in fact have the political backing of all 57 OSCE participating states, representing every conceivable position and view in relation to this conflict. Our only objective is to bring...

Further attacks against Ukrainian forces near Avdiivka, Maryinka, Luhanske Russian-backed militants continue intensive shelling of Ukrainian army positions near the town of Avdiivka in Donetsk regions, reports the press centre of Anti-Terrorist Operation. "The illegal military groups do not stop their shelling of Ukrainian troops in the combat zone. Today we recorded eight cases of enemy's violating the ceasefire," the press centre said. Read also More Ukrainian servicemen wounded in Donbas The most aggressive militant attacks were observed in the direction of Donetsk, including the city suburbs. The Russian-backed militants used small arms, grenade launchers, heavy-calibre machine guns, and 82mm-calibre...

John Kerry Secretary of State Kombank Arena Belgrade, Serbia December 3, 2015 SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary-General, colleagues, all. Before I address the priorities of the OSCE, let me just, first of all, say thank you to Sergey for his condolences to the American people regarding the events, and I want to express my personal condolences to the families of the victims of yesterday’s shooting in San Bernardino, California..... [....] And my friends, all you have to do is listen to that list and you understand that a year ago President Obama said we...

The Kremlin isn’t sending just any troops to prop up the Assad regime. It’s dispatching units that spearheaded Russia’s slow-rolling invasion of Ukraine.Reuters confirmed Wednesday what The Daily Beast first reported last week—not only have Russian troops been deployed to Syria but they are indeed taking part in active combat operations, although against which of the manifold enemies of the Assad regime remains unclear.U.S. government sources told the news agency that two tank landing ships, aircraft and naval infantry forces have arrived in Syria in the past 24 hours, with the largest buildup occurring in Latakia, the northwest coastal province...

A fragile cease-fire monitored by the OSCE in the southeastern Ukrainian village of Shyrokyne collapsed after just three days of quiet. Correspondent Zinaida Burskaya of RFE/RL’s Current Time TV was with volunteer fighters of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion as renewed fighting broke out on April 18.

Bill Clinton back at centre of ethics debateBy Alex Spillius Last Updated: 3:02am GMT 01/02/2008 Bill Clinton used his influence with the president of Kazakhstan to help a business friend gain a lucrative uranium mining deal, it has been claimed. Bill Clinton: influence The report in the New York Times will raise concerns about possible conflicts of interest that the former president could face if he returns to the White House as "first gentleman" and raised the spectre of the financial scandals that dogged the Clintons in the White House. Mr Clinton has already began cutting his links to Ron...

The Ukrainian government needs to find a “fine line” that would allow it to both protect free speech and fight Kremlin propaganda, a top official of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe said in an interview with the Kyiv Post. There has been a debate in Ukraine on whether pro-Kremlin media, which are inciting Russia’s war against Ukraine and fabricating lies, should be banned. While some argue that they are a threat to national security, others condemn such measures as an attack on free speech. “The Ukrainian government needs to find a very fine line with the help...

OSCE Representative appalled by death of Russian photographer in eastern Ukraine, calls for all killings and attacks on journalists to be investigated VIENNA, 3 September 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said today she was appalled to learn about the death of Russian photographer Andrei Stenin, and she urged the Ukrainian authorities to investigate the circumstances of his death. Stenin, a photographer with the state-run Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, was reported missing on 5 August while covering the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine (see http://www.osce.org/fom/122534). His remains were just recently discovered near Snizhne, in...

While Moscow hails him for being an efficient mediator, Kyiv insists that Lukin sent the order to militiamen in Sloviansk from their Russian bosses. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) released a transcript of an intercepted telephone conversation between Lukin and Igor Strelkov, head of the pro-Russian self-defense of Sloviansk. According to the SBU, Strelkov’s real name is Igor Girkin, a Russian national and colonel of Russian Military Intelligence. “I’m in Donetsk right now, in good company… You do sort of have a general idea about the task that I’ve been given, don’t you?” Lukin said. “Yes, I know, I’ve been warned…...

SBU: Russia behind kidnapping of OSCE military observers (VIDEO) Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) released a video that implicates Russia in the kidnapping of eight military observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The video allegedly shows telephone conversations between Russian Military Intelligence Colonel Igor Girkin – who allegedly leads the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine – and Vladimir Lukin, special representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Officials in Moscow have constantly denied involvement in the pro-Russian separatist movement in eastern Ukraine. However, the conversation recordings show Girkin and Lukin coordinating their actions while discussing a pending OSCE...