Free Republic

The past year or more has seen China’s position on the world stage change quite a bit. The nation’s increasingly aggressive stance toward Taiwan and the rapid expansion of its military and economic influence across the Pacific has left many western nations on edge. And, of course, China’s continued support of Russia during the invasion of Ukraine puts them at odds with all of NATO and the rest of our allies. That’s why it was rather surprising to see German Chancellor Olaf Scholz flying to Beijing this week to meet with Xi Jinping. Scholz clearly wanted to talk about renewed...

A group of 30 left-wing legislators on Tuesday withdrew a letter sent a day earlier calling on President Biden to negotiate directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war on Ukraine — after several signatories running for re-election objected to its release nearly four months after it was written.The Congressional Progress Caucus hereby withdraws its recent letter to the White House regarding Ukraine,” the group’s chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) wrote in a statement Tuesday. “The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting.” Though she blamed unnamed employees for the letter’s...

The Russian leadership is open to a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden. If Washington were to offer a meeting at the G20 summit, Moscow would consider it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Russian state television. According to him, the Kremlin would also be prepared to “listen to any proposals for peace talks” – for example, mediated by Turkey. However, he could not say in advance where this process would lead, Lavrov explained. He then further qualified that there had been no proposals to get in touch with the USA.

According to Polishchuk, Moscow is ready to accept intermediary services at peace talks on the terms that “Kyiv has already rejected.”Read also: Negotiations have no chance of ending Russia’s war against Ukraine, says Germany“Many countries are currently offering their mediation in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine,” Polishchuk said.“There is no shortage of intermediary services, and we’re not refusing them.”

Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Melnyk told billionaire Elon Musk to “*— off” after the SpaceX and Tesla CEO proposed Ukraine give up some territory and hold new elections in contested regions to end the war with Russia. Musk tweeted out a poll on Monday asking respondents to weigh in on his proposal to end the war: redoing elections of annexed region under United Nations supervision, giving up the Crimean peninsula to Russia and maintaining Ukraine as a neutral country between Russia and the West.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, explaining the reasons behind his country’s refusal to negotiate with Moscow, compared Russia to an insatiable “cachalot” who would not understand the language of diplomacy.In a Friday interview with the Wall Street Journal, Zelensky responded to the recent remarks of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, who said earlier this week that Russia and Ukraine could have ended their conflict in March if Kiev had not withdrawn from negotiations.

What is Britain’s interest in Ukraine? Why are we shovelling weapons and equipment into that country, despite the fact that our national budget is stretched to bursting and our own armed forces have for many years been starved of money, men and kit? If we were a proper open society, surely this question would be asked all the time. But it is not. So I am asking it now, as the Ukraine war threatens to ignite the whole of Europe and has already brought us closer to actual nuclear warfare than we have ever been.

China on Wednesday called on Ukraine and Russia to kick-start peace talks just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated the war by mobilizing conscripts to join the fight. "We call on the parties concerned to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation and find a solution that accommodates all parties’ legitimate security concerns," Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Wenbin told reporters. "We also hope the international community will create conditions and space for that."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented a five-point “formula for peace” between him and invading Russia during the United Nations General Assembly debate on Wednesday, identifying the first step as “punishment.” Zelensky addressed the forum from Kyiv, a move that the Assembly voted to allow by 101 members to seven. Zelensky named and shamed the seven — the communist nations of Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Nicaragua, plus Russia and Russian proxy Bashar al-Assad’s Syria — accusing them of fearing his words.

The emir of Qatar on Wednesday made an urgent appeal to Russia and the West, saying his nation will not be able to re-supply Europe with enough liquefied natural gas to stave off an energy crisis this winter, and urged both parties to bring a speedy end to the war. In an exclusive interview with French news outlet Le Point, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani emphasized that although gas and oil supply chains struggled before the Kremlin's invasion in February, the war has taken a severe toll on the industry. "We want to help Europe, and we will supply...

Pope Francis has been steadfast in his opposition to the war in Ukraine, decrying the violence that it has wrought on innocent civilians. At the same time, the pope suggested there was blame for the war to go around beyond Russia and Vladimir Putin. On Tuesday, an Italian newspaper published an interview with Francis where he declined to state what he believed was Putin’s exact motivations for launching the war against Ukraine on Feb. 24. However, the pope suggested that the West could bear some responsibility for what he says may have been its provocation of Putin. "Maybe it was...

Washington should assist in promoting a Russian-Ukrainian dialogue for peace instead of working towards including Russia in its list of state sponsors of terrorism, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Monday. "The US should create favorable conditions to advance Russian-Ukrainian peace talks. Washington should take steps to facilitate a political settlement to the crisis in Ukraine," he said at a briefing replying to a question by TASS as to how officials in Beijing view the US government’s intention of labeling Russia as a sponsor of terrorism.The Chinese diplomat said Beijing sees a peace deal as the only effective...

Politicians from Western countries are beginning to push Ukraine to conclude peace with Russia on terms favorable to the Russian side. At that, Kiev does not know anything about this, since it is not invited to discussions. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made the corresponding statement, Ukrainian Pravda reports."Everyone really wants to push us as much as possible to some result that is definitely not desired for us, because we have not been asked yet, but beneficial for certain parties that have their own interests," the head of state said.Zelenskyy noted that fatigue from the war in Ukraine is growing in...

Campus Watch Research Originally published under the title "Georgetown University Whitewashes Islamism and Smears the West (again)." [Caption] Erdoan Shipoli (l) and John Esposito (r) of Georgetown Univ. use their positions to whitewash Islamism and attack Western civilization. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was former President George W. Bush's "teacher at Yale," stated Erdoan A. Shipoli at an April 27 Georgetown University webinar. While Rice was indeed a child prodigy on the piano, her intellectual prowess was not quite so grand as to land her an Ivy League teaching position as an adolescent. Born in 1954, she was only...

A Christian woman approached me recently with a rather emotional expression and asked me if I had heard the latest news reports about the various upheavals in the news with all that’s happening around the world. “Can you believe what is happening?” she asked. “Every day is a bad-news day. With certain nations having nuclear capacity. Terrorists could take over, and some mad Ayatollah could launch us into nuclear war.” Shaking her head, she said, “I am really scared. Things are spinning out of control.” Right now, people are fearful all over the world. We are seeing the fulfillment of...

Russia and Ukraine could hold a new round of peace talks as soon as Monday, according to Ukrainian authorities — with US officials crediting the crippling economic sanctions against the Kremlin for the move. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Sunday that both parties are working with mediators from Israel and Turkey to sort out potential topics of discussion — including a cease-fire and a withdrawal of Russian troops — and where and when the talks would be held.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov say Russia will halt military action if Kiev meets four conditions. In an interview on Monday, Peskov said Moscow could “end war immediately” if Ukraine agreed to sign a neutrality agreement that would bar it from entering NATO, recognized Crimea as Russian, recognized the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent, and ceased all military action.Russia claims it will stop the war immediately if Ukraine agrees to: - cease military action - change constitution to enshrine neutrality - recognize Crimea as Russian territory - recognize the Russian-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent stateshttps://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1500832884004831232

When the Bush Administration announced in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would be eligible for NATO membership, I knew it was a terrible idea. Nearly two decades after the end of both the Warsaw Pact and the Cold War, expanding NATO made no sense. NATO itself made no sense. Explaining my “no” vote on a bill to endorse the expansion, I said at the time: NATO is an organization whose purpose ended with the end of its Warsaw Pact adversary… This current round of NATO expansion is a political reward to governments in Georgia and Ukraine that came to power...