Free Republic

What’s next? Basically, the war is lost. If you look at all of the objectives that Putin set for the war, all of them have failed. All of them. So, continuing the war is the only way for Putin to stay in power. He wants to create extra chaos in the free world hoping that a new window will open for him. It’s really just a protracted agony. It is cynical and stupid, but Putin is willing to put thousands of civilians into graves in the months to come before the whole of Ukraine is liberated, if that will allow...

When a situation gets complicated, such as in Putin’s war on Ukraine, some analysts might observe that one side is playing chess while the other side is playing checkers. If one really wants to emphasize how outmatched one side is, an analyst might say that the other side is playing three-dimensional chess. Regular old two-dimensional chess is complicated enough, and when playing it at the grandmaster level can be labyrinthine.The game of chess is rather like war. For one thing, chess involves strategy and tactics. Given that, perhaps we can learn something about the war in Ukraine and its mastermind...

America should be embracing trade opportunities and peace vs. advocating for the neocon agenda of war with Russia. Why would we alienate a superpower when we could have open dialogue for peace and negotiate trade that would benefit all Americans?

Let’s put the events of the last 72 hours into context.On Monday and Tuesday, Russian oil refineries in NATO countries Hungary and Romania suddenly, and simultaneously, have mysterious explosions and catastrophic fires {citation}}. On Wednesday, NATO head Mark Rutte comes to visit President Trump in the White House, and at the end of the day, the same Russian company, Lukoil, whose refinery exploded in Romania, suddenly becomes sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury. These events are not disconnected.President Trump then disputes a Wall Street Journal report, further saying he did not give approval, nor does he know where NATO long-range missiles...

DONALD Trump has just blown a hole in Vladimir Putin’s warchest – and the shockwaves are already rippling through Moscow, Beijing and New Dehli. In a move branded by the Kremlin as “an act of war”, the US President slapped sweeping sanctions on Russia’s oil titans Rosneft and Lukoil – and within hours, the pain began to bite. Global oil prices surged nearly five per cent overnight, China’s state oil giants froze Russian purchases and India – Moscow’s biggest remaining lifeline — is preparing to slash imports. For Putin, the timing couldn’t be worse. His forces are still pounding Ukraine,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia belongs among the ranks of self-respecting nations and will not act under external pressure, responding to new US sanctions and Western efforts to isolate Moscow. More to come ...

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev claimed on Thursday that United States President Donald Trump, whom he described as a false peacemaker, has set himself on a "warpath" against his country by introducing new sanctions on its oil sector. "They will, of course, say he could not help but be pressured in Congress, etc. This does not change the main point: the decisions taken are an act of war against Russia," the former president wrote on Telegram. "And now, Trump has fully aligned himself with insane Europe." Moreover, Medvedev noted a "latest swing of the Trump pendulum," claiming that...

Four major state-owned Chinese oil companies have suspended their purchases of seaborne Russian oil in response to the new sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Rosneft and Lukoil, according to a Reuters report, citing anonymous trade sources. The suspension, if confirmed, would put Russia under major economic pressure to end its war on Ukraine. China is a key strategic partner of Russia. Beijing's large-scale oil purchases have aided Moscow through punishing Western sanctions related to its invasion of Ukraine. The four oil firms involved are PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, and Zhenhua Oil, per Reuters.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a genius. Adolf Hitler had an above-average IQ. Joe Biden is a half-wit. All three are fools who believed they could destroy Russia. The West’s failed Ukraine project has forced us to confront a bewildering array of what look like instances of stupidity, verging even on psychosis. Competent analysts like John Mearsheimer and Jacques Baud confirmed the obvious: total defeat for Ukraine has been inevitable from the get-go, yet the politicians and media kept telling us Ukraine was sure to win, and even if Ukraine lost, at least Putin could easily be removed from office. To me,...

The White House has hit President Putin with a “substantial” package of sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil companies in a sign of President Trump’s growing impatience over the war in Ukraine. Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, said last night: “President Putin has not come to the table in an honest and forthright manner, as we’d hoped.” Announcing a raft of new penalties, Bessent added: “Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support...

United States President Donald Trump denounced in a Truth Social post on Wednesday a report by the Wall Street Journal of the US allowing Ukraine to strike "deep into Russia" with Western-made long-range weapons as "fake news." "The US has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them!" he clarified. In the report, WSJ stated that Washington gave the green light to Kiev to attack Russia with British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles before Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last week.

Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, leading to frequent blackoutsThe Ukrainian city of Chernihiv is in total blackout following what the authorities describe as a "massive" assault by Russian missiles and drones, with hundreds of thousands of people affected.Across the wider Chernihiv region, four people are reported to have been killed as residential neighbourhoods were struck in the town of Novhorod-Siverskyi.Ten others were injured, including a 10-year-old girl.The country's most northerly region is the latest to be hit in an intensifying series of attacks on civilian infrastructure as Russia targets energy supplies, the rail network, homes and...

A planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was put on hold on Tuesday, as Moscow's rejection of an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine cast a cloud over attempts at negotiations. A senior White House official told Reuters "there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future" after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a "productive call" but opted against an in-person meeting. Trump had announced last week that he and Putin would meet soon in Hungary to try to bring an end...

I am continuing to prepare for President Donald Trump’s trip to Budapest, where he will meet with President Putin. In order to negotiate an end to the war with Ukraine, it is necessary to know for what Putin sent his soldiers there. To clarify, I am not asking “why,” but “what for.” Since the beginning of Putin’s attack on Ukraine, political scientists, psychologists, and other experts have attempted to explain the attack based on Putin’s psyche: his desire to prove to world leaders that he is the most powerful, his dream of being remembered as the “gatherer of Russian lands,”...

Russia reiterated its previous terms for reaching a peace deal with Ukraine in a private communique sent to the U.S. over the weekend known as a "non paper," two U.S. officials said. The communique reiterated Russia's demand that it take control of all of Ukraine's Donbas region, one of the officials said, a stance that effectively rejects U.S. President Donald Trump's current position that the frontlines should be frozen at their prevailing locations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with several US defense contractors this week, including Raytheon, GE, and Lockheed Martin. A few days later, major defense companies raised their full-year profit estimates significantly. Spokespeople say that tariffs have no impact on demand for the defense industry. Naturally, Ukraine is seeking duty-free defense imports on defense products paid for by other countries. Lockheed raised its profit forecast from $22.15–$22.35 per share, up from $21.70–$22.00. The revenue forecast increased to $74.25–$74.75 billion from the previous range of $73.75–$74.75 billion. CEO Jim Taiclet noted there is “unprecedented demand” for Lockheed’s F-35 fighters, CH-53K helicopters, and...

"Vladimir Putin has ordered massive, near daily missile and drone attacks which are devastating Ukraine's capacity to fight on. Brian Berletic of The New Atlas and Alexander Mercouris of The Duran join the show to break down the military and diplomatic shockwaves being sent through the West as Ukraine crumbles, as well as a new war being declared by Donald Trump that is leaving the world in shock." Not sure what the claim of a new war is about....

British Storm Shadow missiles have been used by Volodymyr Zelensky to strike an important chemical plant that produces gunpowder in southern Russia. The use of missiles supplied by Britain in Russia's Bryansk region will likely spark condemnation from Vladimir Putin's government. 'A massive combined missile and air strike was carried out, including the use of air-launched Storm Shadow missiles, which successfully penetrated the Russian air defense system,' Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement on X on Tuesday. 'This enterprise produces gunpowder, explosives, and components for rocket fuel, in particular for ammunition and missiles that the enemy uses to shell...

President Trump has denied telling President Volodymyr Zelensky he should surrender Ukraine’s entire Donbas region to Russia to end the war — but said Kyiv should give up the land already taken by Russia. Trump insisted that the two leaders “never discussed” giving up the entire region during their closed-door meeting last week, after reports claimed his White House meeting with Zelensky on Friday had descended into an explosive “shouting match.” “We never discussed that,” Trump told reporters on Sunday when pressed on whether pushed for Ukraine to accept President Vladimir Putin’s terms for a cease-fire. “We think that what...

Moscow appears to have rejected President Trump’s latest call to freeze the current state of the front lines in Ukraine, reiterating that “Russia’s stance doesn’t change.” Addressing Trump’s proposal over the weekend that the war in Ukraine end immediately and that each side keep the land they currently hold, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov scoffed at the prospect of allowing Kyiv to keep parts of the Donbas region. “This topic was repeatedly raised in various forms during contacts between Russia and the US. The Russian side answered every time, this answer is well known: the consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change,”...