Free Republic

By contributing to the war in Ukraine, the Trudeau government is — perhaps unwittingly — marching us all down the road to Armageddon. This is by no means hyperbole. Even the academics who rule the Doomsday Clock have set the dial at 90 seconds to midnight. We used to hear all about that clock during the height of the Cold War, when liberals thought President Ronald Reagan was going to start bombing Moscow. But 90 seconds is closer than it's ever been. I have little patience for people — usually those with no defence experience or expertise — who insist...

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.

From day one of the war in Ukraine, the most powerful argument against unrestrained western intervention in the conflict has been the danger of catastrophic escalation into an all-out war between Nato and Russia.So far, western governments have shied away from a truly existential confrontation with Russia. But the threat remains that continuing western military aid to Ukraine will provoke Russian countermeasures that could turn Moscow’s proxy war with Nato into a direct military conflict.Western hawks have long argued the danger of escalation is illusory. In an op-ed for the New York Times, former British diplomat Nigel Gould-Davies claimed “Putin...

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump · 11h FIRST COME THE TANKS, THEN COME THE NUKES. Get this crazy war ended, NOW. So easy to do! Jan 26, 2023, 5:44 AM

Ukrainian officials last night said they expect Western allies to provide their armed forces with long-range missiles after the UK, US, Germany and several other nations agreed to send battalions of tanks long-sought by Kyiv. Presidential advisor Mikhailo Podolyak told The Daily Telegraph: 'Right now we are seeing a sharp change in sentiment among the political elites of European countries... we will reach, I am sure, no doubt, an agreement on long-range missiles.' In a devastating blow to the Kremlin, nine countries joined Britain yesterday in agreeing to send tanks to destroy Russia's forces in eastern Ukraine. The coalition came...

The decision to move forward with providing the tanks marks a reversal for the Biden administration, which had been resisting pressure from Germany to send them to Ukraine. President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that the United States is sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in its war against Russia. The U.S. will also provide the necessary training and supplies needed to operate and run these tanks, he said. NBC News reported the development Tuesday. The president said sending the tanks will "enhance Ukraine’s capacity to defend its territory and achieve its strategic objectives" because they are "the most capable...

Ukraine is finally getting the Western-made tanks that it wants, but there's still a few big items on its wishlist. Kyiv says the next thing it wants is fighter jets. "We have new tasks ahead: Western-type fighter jets, sanctions, Peace Formula implementation," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said after Germany announced on Wednesday it would send Leopard 2 main battle tanks, a decision that followed weeks of mounting pressure by European countries. Yuriy Sak, an advisor to the Ukrainian defense minister, concurred, telling Reuters that "the next big hurdle will now be the fighter jets." Some others, however, have pointed...

The Pentagon has given a tacit endorsement of Ukraine’s long-range attacks on targets inside Russia after President Putin’s multiple missile strikes against Kyiv’s critical infrastructure. Since daily assaults on civilians began in October, the Pentagon has revised its threat assessment of the war in Ukraine. Crucially, this includes new judgments about whether arms shipments to Kyiv might lead to a military confrontation between Russia and Nato. This represents a significant development in the nine-month war between Ukraine and Russia, with Washington now likelier to supply Kyiv with longer-range weapons. “We’re still using the same escalatory calculations but the fear of...

While Europe correctly perceives that some sectors of the U.S. economy are raking in profits at the expense of Europe, the economy of the United States is showing clear signs of a retracting economy on multiple fronts.

The Associated Press has fired the journalist who reported a story that Russian-fired missiles crossed into Poland after it was revealed that Ukraine likely fired the projectiles, according to a report.

On Tuesday, a coalition of progressive Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives announced that it would be withdrawing its letter to Joe Biden calling for the White House to lead peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. As reported by Axios, the move comes just one day after the group of 30 lawmakers first released the letter, with signatories including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). The sudden about-face appeared to be the result of backlash against the lawmakers, who suggested that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine might be the only option left for bringing about an...

The Biden administration has just announced yet another new weapons package for Ukraine worth $600 million, which now brings to total US military aid pledged since the start of the conflict to $15.1 billion. Crucially, in this case the arms are being sent under the presidential drawdown authority, which allows the White House to take arms directly from US military stockpiles for use by foreign allied forces. The administration confirmed it was the 21st time it drew from Pentagon stockpiles. The Guardian details, “Joe Biden authorized the latest assistance using his Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to authorize...

Russian forces have conducted a series of operations against the U.S.-led coalition in Syria this month, including one this week at a strategically located base in the southern part of the country, U.S. military officials said. The Russian actions have alarmed U.S. military officials, who are concerned that a miscalculation might escalate into an unintended conflict between the U.S. and Russian forces in Syria. Tensions between the two countries are already high following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and American efforts to arm the Ukraine military to defeat Russian forces there. On Wednesday, Russia carried out airstrikes at the...

But the U.S. hasn’t provided nearly enough launchers to blunt the Russian equipment advantage. Ohio Republican Rob Portman, who is co-chairman of the Senate Ukraine caucus, on the Senate floor this week offered a blunt assessment of the facts on the ground: Brutal fighting continues in Severodonetsk, where the Russians are making grinding progress, and the Luhansk region could fall within weeks if the Ukrainians can’t get longer-range artillery. “Because the Russians have more artillery than the Ukrainians and their weapons have longer ranges,” the Senator explained, “the Russian forces concentrate massive firepower on Ukrainian positions at distances, which the...

Blurry fotos at source. Dumskaya - Odessa news says it`s one of the three Admiral Grigorovich class frigates but they don`t know which one.

Much attention has been justifiably directed at the remarkable performance of both military and consumer UAVs in assisting Ukraine’s efforts to rebuff invading Russian forces. But soon, news may also be generated by drone boats similarly turning the tides for Ukraine defenses in coastal waters of the Black Sea. As part of its additional $800 million military aid package the US announced last week, the Department of Defense said it will be providing Ukraine with drone boats – better known as uncrewed surface vessels (USV) – for use against attacking Russian Navy craft in the Black Sea. The US Navy...

President Biden on Wednesday announced $800 million in new lethal aid for Ukraine, bolstering U.S. support to the ex-Soviet nation as it ends the third week fighting Russian forces. The latest tranche — part of the nearly $14 billion Congress appropriated for Ukrainian aid which Biden signed into law a day prior — brings the U.S. government’s total pledge of military assistance for the embattled nation to $1 billion in the past week and $2 billion since Biden took office. ...

Houthi rebels in Yemen say they have captured a large number of Saudi troops after a major attack near the border between the two countries. A Houthi spokesman told the BBC that three Saudi brigades had surrendered near the Saudi town of Najran. He said thousands of soldiers had been captured and many others killed. Saudi officials have not confirmed the claim. The operation was the largest of its kind since the conflict began, the spokesman said. Colonel Yahiya Sarea said Saudi forces had suffered "huge losses in life and machinery". All those captured would be paraded on the Houthi-run...

Syrian President Bashar Assad met on Tuesday in Damascus with an unnamed senior Iranian official to discuss ways to cope with Israeli airstrikes in the war-torn country, reported regime-affiliated Syrian newspaper Al-Watan. According to the report, the Iranian official also discussed with Assad the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan and presented Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s plan to contend with it. The report comes against the backdrop of recent attacks on pro-Iranian forces in Syria, some which have been attributed to Israel though it denies involvement. In other cases, Israel has taken responsibility for attacks in Syria. In the...

...twenty-one sailors from the M/T Kokuka Courageous who had abandoned their ship after discovering a probable unexploded limpet mine on their hull... At 4:10 p.m. local time an IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) Gashti Class patrol boat approached the M/T Kokuka Courageous and was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine from the M/T Kokuka Courageous (video attached). The United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we will defend our interests.