Free Republic

On July 25, 2023, Fox News Host Sean Hannity hosted a town hall meeting with Democrat presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. ###Kennedy summarized Germany’s reunification and America’s failure to live up to promises made to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet head of state. The promise was that NATO wouldn’t expand beyond Germany’s eastern border. Our leaders later took the position that America’s and Germany’s oral promises had no legal basis. This is not sustainable in diplomatic understandings be they made in secret or announced publicly.###The war in Ukraine had been planned for some time. Operatives in our State Department and...

Chandrayaan-3, the latest iteration of India’s ambitious mission to the moon, has successfully landed on the lunar surface — making history after its predecessor failed in 2019. The landing, which took place at the targeted time of 5:34am PT (6:04pm IST) on Wednesday over a month after the spacecraft’s launch, has made India the fourth nation globally to make a soft landing on the moon, after the former Soviet Union, the U.S. and China, and the first country to land on the lunar south pole, which remains an unexplored area that is anticipated to aid in the understanding of the...

BENGALURU, Aug 23 (Reuters) - An Indian spacecraft landed on the moon on Wednesday, the space agency said, in a mission seen as crucial to lunar exploration and India's standing as a space power, just days after a similar Russian lander crashed. For India, the successful landing marks its emergence as a space power as the government looks to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The blue-and-white Finnish flag rises outside NATO headquarters Tuesday afternoon, making Finland a member and doubling Russia’s border with the world’s biggest security alliance. The move is a strategic and political blow to President Vladimir Putin, who has long complained about NATO’s expansion toward Russia and partly used that as a justification for his country’s war with Ukraine. “What we see is that President Putin went to war against Ukraine with a declared aim to get less NATO,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. “He’s getting the exact opposite.” Like all NATO members, Finland will benefit from the...

The Ukrainian military is taking steps to return Sievierodonetsk to the full control of Ukraine and is confident that "everything will work out."Source: Oleksandr Striuk, head of the Sievierodonetsk Civil Military Administration, 24/7 national joint newscastStriuk's quote on what percentage of the city is occupied: "I would not say that it is occupied. There was some military success on the part of the orcs, who managed to enter the city and capture a fairly significant part, almost dividing it in half – if we are talking about residential areas, where they can feel confident. But our military has managed to...

Ukraine is retaking the key city of Severodonetsk in tonight's current Ukraine War Footage with The Enforcer on Day 100. For 100 days the Ukrainian Army has held back the hordes of Russian soldiers sent to invade the nation, and today we will be celebrating this during the stream, and also discussing tonight's news. The Ukrainians are holding the Russians or Pushing them back on all fronts, and have managed to recapture half of Severodonetsk over the last day. The Russians once again appear to be on the back foot which is wonderful news to add to this Day...

Russia will not immediately demand that buyers pay for its gas exports in rubles, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, promising a gradual shift and saying Russia should work on an idea to widen the list of its exports requiring ruble payment. President Vladimir Putin issued an order last week for Russian gas, which accounts for 40 percent of European needs, to paid for in rubles instead of dollars or euros. -snip- Asked whether the payments should be in rubles starting from Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Absolutely no.”

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Citizens of Russia, friends, I consider it necessary today to speak again about the tragic events in Donbass and the key aspects of ensuring the security of Russia. I will begin with what I said in my address on February 21, 2022. I spoke about our biggest concerns and worries, and about the fundamental threats which irresponsible Western politicians created for Russia consistently, rudely and unceremoniously from year to year. I am referring to the eastward expansion of NATO, which is moving its military infrastructure ever closer to the Russian border. It is a fact...

Russia's defence ministry said on Friday that the first phase of its military operation in Ukraine was mostly complete and that it would focus on completely "liberating" eastern Ukraine's Donbass region. The announcement appeared to indicate that Russia may be switching to more limited goals after running into fierce Ukrainian resistance in the first month of the war

Sounds like the Ukrainian Offensive on Kherson tonight is Confirmed. Ukrainian Forces are beginning a Large Scale Southern Offensive from the City of Mykolaiv and from the North involving Heavy Armor, Artillery and Air Assets towards the Russian Occupied City of Kherson and its Airport.

PepsiCo Inc . is exploring options for its business in Russia, including writing off the value of the unit, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would mark a turn for a company that introduced American cola to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Large Western companies are under increasing pressure to pull out of the country in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. PepsiCo is reluctant to shut down its Russian unit—which includes a large dairy business it bought for about $5 billion a decade ago—because tens of thousands of Russians depend...

McDonald’s announced Tuesday it will temporarily close 850 locations in Russia, nearly two weeks after Russian forces invaded Ukraine. CEO Chris Kempczinski wrote in a letter to franchisees and employees that the chain will pause all operations in Russia. However, it will continue to pay its 62,000 Russian employees, and its Ronald McDonald House Charities will continue to operate. In recent days, the fast-food giant has drawn criticism for staying silent on the war, given its relatively large Russian footprint. McDonald’s restaurants in Russia and Ukraine account for 2% of its systemwide sales, roughly 9% of its revenue and 3%...

Russian anger against Vladimir Putin is growing as frustrated shoppers are faced with empty shelves and thousands are arrested in antiwar protests. The Kremlin is desperately trying to crack down on any dissent to the brutal invasion of Ukraine and a total of 13,500 demonstrators have now been arrested since the war was waged. Anti-Putin sentiment is also hitting the high street with consumers told to limit the number of items in their shopping baskets as sanctions start to bite. -snip- There are suggestions that some groceries are already being rationed by Vladimir Putin who is anticipating a prolonged period...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-casualties-depict-real-disarray-within-its-military-fmr-naval-intel-officer/vi-AAUIBgO?ocid=msedgntp

Russia's invasion of Ukraine appears to have ground to a halt with no significant territory captured despite a weekend of heavy fighting, with Kyiv's men claiming to have taken out dozens of helicopters and recaptured a city this morning - sparking hopes that the unlikeliest of victories may be on the cards. Putin's men renewed their bombardments on Mariupol, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv this morning as his forces also tried to surround Kyiv in preparation for an assault, but have not significantly advanced their frontline since the city of Kherson and nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia were captured last week....

Russia said on Sunday that sovereign bond payments will depend on sanctions imposed by the West over the invasion of Ukraine, raising the spectre of its first major default on foreign bonds since the years following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

A Russian attack helicopter makes a menacing low pass over a rural village in Ukraine, its gunship fully equipped with missiles and machine guns. But, unknown to the crew of the state-of-the-art Mi-24 Hind aircraft, Ukrainian soldiers are waiting unseen in the line of trees below. -snip- Their deaths came on a day when Russian aerial forces lost as many as eight aircraft, as well as multi-role, strike and close air support aircraft and a drone. Their losses, claimed by Ukrainian military sources, provide further evidence of Russia's failure to gain air superiority – a tactical advantage that Vladimir Putin...

The move effectively cuts off Russia’s ability to book flights on its own airline. Sabre, one of the largest airline ticket booking companies in the world, is terminating its distribution agreement with Russian air carrier Aeroflot, the company announced Thursday. The move could further restrict Russian air travel, which has already seen its planes banned from most Western countries’ airspace. State-owned Aeroflot is the flag carrier and the largest airline in the Russian Federation. The airline has about 200 aircraft in its fleet and travels to 146 destinations around the world. Being shut out of online booking software could make...

Russia’s credit ratings were downgraded deep into junk territory by Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, with the duo highlighting the economic toll inflicted by wide-ranging sanctions and rising doubts about whether Moscow will honor its debts. “The severity of international sanctions in response to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine has heightened macro-financial stability risks, represents a huge shock to Russia's credit fundamentals and could undermine its willingness to service government debt,” Fitch said in a statement issued late Wednesday U.S. time. -snip- The moves mean all three of the world’s major ratings firms now judge Russian debt to be...

Ukraine has paraded captured Russian soldiers in dozens of online videos as Moscow finally admitted its forces have sustained heavy losses after pictures showing bodies of Kremlin fighters emerged. Footage posted online show tied up 'demoralised and exhausted' Russian prisoners of war captured after they failed to break through Ukrainian defences in Kyiv and Kharkiv over the weekend. Several of the videos were posted on a Telegram channel set up on Saturday by Ukraine's Interior Ministry called 'Find Your Own'. Many Russian troops claimed that they believed they were conducting training exercises in the border regions and did not know...