Free Republic

In March 2022 I predicted some consequences of the sanctions imposed on Russia: The first [map] shows the countries which banned Russian airplanes from their airspace. Russia in turn denied its airspace to operators from those countries. It will cost quite a bit for U.S. and EU airlines as their flight times and cost to and from Asia, which typically fly through Russian airspace, will now increase. Carriers from Asian countries will now easily out-compete U.S. and European airlines on these routes. bigger As British media reported yesterday: British Airways is temporarily scrapping flights to Beijing until at least next...

Why Should Russia Worry About Ukraine's Breakthrough? New Drone Images from Russia Ukraine War https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbQDDmVH7dQ The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the recent developments on the battlefield, as of 2nd September 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-556-summary/ [two summaries per week, released on Wednesday and Sunday] *** Great interactive maps with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

A desperate Vladimir Putin will seek to massively boost mobilisation by sending more troops to fight in Ukraine, and impose martial law in many Russian cities, it was forecast today. Yet the draconian moves could trigger a coup from within the elite even before his 'poor health' incapacitates him, says one expert. And he is now using body doubles who are so like him, it is impossible to tell the difference, it is claimed. The scheme comes as Putin's men were forced to retreat from Kherson last week This comes as the first train arrived in the liberated city since...

Ukraine is the Holy Grail of international corruption. That $40 billion can be a game-changer for only two classes of people: First, the US military-industrial complex, and second, a bunch of Ukrainian oligarchs and neo-connish NGOs, that will corner the black market for weapons and humanitarian aid, and then launder the profits in the Cayman Islands. A quick breakdown of the $40 billion reveals $8.7 billion will go to replenish the US weapons stockpile (thus not going to Ukraine at all); $3.9 billion for USEUCOM (the ‘office’ that dictates military tactics to Kiev); $5 billion for a fuzzy, unspecified “global...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday Ukraine will be getting $215 million in emergency food assistance, with more aid expected in the future. During a United Nations meeting on global food security, Blinken noted the “greatest global food security crisis of our time” caused by factors including the pandemic and climate adding that the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the issue. “Today, given the urgency of the crisis, we’re announcing another $215 million in new emergency food assistance. And we’ll do much more,” Blinken said.

utin announced Russia forces were launching an offensive against Ukraine in a video that aired early on Thursday morning in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military offensive against Ukraine in a video that aired early on Thursday morning in Russia. Putin said Russia had decided to launch a "special military action" against Ukraine, with reports of explosions and flares coming minutes afterwards in Ukraine. The state-run Russian RIA news agency said the offensive would begin in the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine, also claiming that Putin does not have plans to occupy Ukraine. Russia for months denied plans...

"We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere and its support for hostile regimes including Syria and Iran, and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and the defense of civilization itself," he said. Trump reiterated his criticism of low defense spending levels by many European nations and praised Poland for meeting the alliance's target of spending 2 percent of economic output on defense. "To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated not merely with words but with its...

China and Russia have separately condemned what they see as destabilizing U.S. military moves near their respective borders, and have jointly called for intensifying their already growing strategic partnership. In a statement published Tuesday by the Chinese Defense Ministry, People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command spokesperson Senior Colonel Shi Yi slammed the passage of the U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius through the Taiwan Strait that separates the Chinese mainland from the self-ruling island claimed by the central government in Beijing. "This action of the U.S. side created security risks and undermined regional stability," Shi said. "The troops...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a leading ally of President Donald Trump, told reporters in a brief conference call after a meeting with the president on Wednesday that Trump is planning withdrawals of U.S. forces from Syria and Afghanistan and will instead reinvest U.S. resources wasted there in rebuilding the United States. In Syria, U.S. armed forces have been fighting the Islamic State or ISIS, a terrorist group that once controlled significant territory and resources, but the administration insists that ISIS has been defeated. As such, Trump is moving to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria. In Afghanistan, U.S. troops have...

AUSTIN, Texas — U.S. leaders say Vladimir Putin used a familiar cyber playbook to “muck around” in the midterm elections last month, but intelligence officials and key lawmakers believe a much more sinister, potentially devastating threat lies just down the road — one that represents an attack on reality itself. Policy insiders and senators of both parties believe the Russian president or other actors hostile to the U.S. will rely on “deep fakes” to throw the 2020 presidential election cycle into chaos, taking their campaign to influence American voters and destabilize society to a new level. The eerie process, which...

President Donald Trump is canceling his G-20 summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, Trump announced in a tweet on Thursday. Putin and Trump were set to meet on Saturday at the summit of world leaders in Argentina, the Kremlin said this week. Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting.... 17.2K 11:34 AM - Nov 29, 2018

Many homosexuals were drawn to the promise of Marxism. There was a certain tolerance and even gay liberation in the early years of the Soviet Union, before homosexuality was re-criminalized in 1933 and the community went back underground. "Gay Soviet history almost doesn’t exist," said Fiks, sitting at a desk in New York’s Winkleman Gallery on a windy Sunday in February. "The older generation didn’t do a lot of talking." Fiks plucked the title for his exhibit, "Homosexuality Is Stalin’s Atom Bomb to Destroy America," from a 1953 article by Cold War pundit Arthur Guy Matthews. "In the U.S., I...

Russia's poisoning of a former spy in Britain is part of a Kremlin strategy to divide the West by conducting covert operations and then fomenting doubt and disagreement over who's responsible, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said. It was part of a pattern seen in Russia's actions, Mattis said, starting in Ukraine in 2014, where he said Moscow sent armed men without insignias into Crimea and has provided fighters and weapons under cover to Ukrainian separatists. Mattis said Russia's subterfuge continued through covert efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. "They take the insignia off soldiers' uniforms and...

News Russia claims Syrian rebels planning Idlib chemical weapons attack The Kremlin has claimed that rebels are planning a chemical weapons attack with the intent of blaming it on Syria. Russia also says a British contractor is helping the militants... Russia's Defense Ministry said Saturday that Syrian rebels are planning a chemical weapons attack, with the aim of blaming it on the Syrian government to provoke a military response from the West. The ministry issued a statement quoting unnamed sources claiming that the jihadi group Levant Liberation Committee — also known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — is preparing an attack...

Russia has said it was planning to invite France, Germany and Turkey to an upcoming summit on the war in Syria as the war-torn country's military launched an operation to retake the final rebel-held province. Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu Monday to discuss what the Russian Foreign Ministry described as "preparations for a four-lateral summit of the Russian, Turkish, German and French leaders on the Syrian settlement that is planned to be held soon," according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency. The two men would discuss solving the crisis in Syria "through maintaining...

Militants from the Islamic State (IS) group have been evacuated from an enclave in the southern suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus, activists say. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a temporary ceasefire had come into effect following heavy bombardment by the Syrian military. ...army operations in the area were nearing their end and insurgent lines were collapsing. Al-Ikhbariya TV said a new plan is underway to storm IS-held areas in Hajar al-Aswad, near Yarmouk. The channel’s area correspondent said the coming hours would be “decisive” for restoring government control in Hajar al-Aswad, but didn’t mention Yarmouk. President...

The United States, European Union countries, Canada and Ukraine expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats on Monday in response to Russia's alleged use of a nerve agent to poison a former Russian spy living in the United Kingdom. President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats the US identified as intelligence agents and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle, the most forceful action Trump has taken against Russia to date. Of those being expelled, 48 of the alleged intelligence agents work at the Russian embassy in Washington and 12 are posted at the United...

The White House says it "stands in solidarity" with "its closest ally" the UK and supports its decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats. PM Theresa May said the diplomats would be expelled after Moscow refused to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent was used on a former spy in the UK. Moscow continues to deny any involvement in the attack.

The Turkish foreign minister says Turkey and the United States have reached an agreement on a plan to jointly station Turkish and U.S. forces in the Syrian Kurdish-held town of Manbij. Washington has not confirmed any such plan — and a small contingent of U.S. forces is already in Manbij. Turkey is riled by U.S. support to the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the YPG, and accuses the U.S. of allegedly not fulfilling a promise to move the Syrian Kurdish fighters in Manbij east of the Euphrates River. Ankara has threatened to expand its current offensive in northern Syria to...

The number of Putin's supporters in major cities has declined markedly Photo: Maksim Stulov / Vedomosti An unexpected trend was revealed by sociologists in cities with a population of over one million people, where a quarter of voters live. According to VTsIOM's data published last week, the rating of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin in Moscow and St. Petersburg for the month fell by more than 12 percentage points - from 69.7% on January 10 to 57.1% on February 18. In other cities with a million population, the fall of the rating by the same 12 percentage points happened before the...