Free Republic

Editor's Note: This piece was coauthored by Bruce Abramson.It’s hard to miss the stakes for America in November’s election. President Trump and the GOP base inhabit a starkly different world than do Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and progressive Democrats. That difference transcends mere policy debate; America’s political parties operate on different moral planes. In no foreign context is that moral divergence clearer than the Middle East. Two recent events illuminate the gap: The Biden-led 2020 Democrat Platform, and the UAE/Israel pact that President Trump brokered. The election will determine whether the Middle East continues on the path towards stability and...

The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah has fired rockets from Lebanon into Israel for a second day while the Israeli military has sent troops into the south of the country, as Lebanon is dragged into the war between US, Israel and Iran. Israel has also carried out air strikes that have killed dozens of people, according to Lebanese health officials. On Monday, after the regional conflict spread to Lebanon, thousands of residents fled villages in the south and, in Beirut, displaced families gathered in the city's Martyrs' Square and on the promenade along the Mediterranean.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned Monday that World War III "will undoubtedly begin" if President Trump persists in his "insane course" of regime change. Following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Medvedev predicted Iran will pursue nuclear weapons "with triple the energy" and dismissed European reactions as "toadyism. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev issued a stark warning Monday that continued US efforts to topple foreign governments will inevitably trigger global conflict. Speaking to state news agency Tass, Medvedev declared that if President Donald Trump "continues his insane course of criminally changing political regimes, it will...

Russia is one of the biggest winners in the early days of the largest U.S. military confrontation in decades, as Iranian missiles deplete stocks of Patriot interceptors that Ukraine needs for its defense. Even before the Iran campaign, production bottlenecks in the U.S.-made Patriot system had drained Ukraine’s reserves and left European allies on yearslong waiting lists. Those shortfalls have allowed Russia to punch through gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses, devastating its power infrastructure and casting Ukrainian cities into blackouts.

In today’s world, there are 193 countries in the UN. The large majority of those countries will vote consistently against the United States on measures that come before the General Assembly. Then again, the international system that counts is not the UN, but rather the U.S.-led commercial and legal order of alliances and trade. Almost all of the 193 UN member countries participate willingly in that system, to their great benefit. They may oppose the U.S. on many issues, and they may have disputes with their immediate neighbors, but they don’t make themselves constant troublemakers threatening to disrupt world peace...

Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen agents who worked on the case investigating Donald Trump for taking top-secret materials to his Mar-a-Lago residence after his first term was over. Those agents have now been revealed to be part of an elite group specializing in assessing threats from Iran, according to two reports. Multiple sources with knowledge of the personnel move told the New York Sun and confirmed to MS Now that the layoffs impacted the counterespionage group tasked with investigating threats from foreign adversaries out of Iran just days before the US bombed its leaders. Trump green-lit...

Estimates suggest that at least 370-400 people have safely sought refuge in Azerbaijan after crossing the Astara border checkpoint. Some 100 of those were Azerbaijani nationals with the rest being expats from 19 different countries. The Astara Border Crossing between Iran and Azerbaijan has seen increased traffic over the last few days by foreign nations, as many continue to seek an exit from Tehran amid continued US and Israeli attacks. The increased crossing traffic comes after the Azerbaijani government announced on Saturday that it would open the crossing to enable its nationals trapped in Iran to safely evacuate, as well...

A Russian mogul who once called sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell his “soulmate” was found dead in a luxury Moscow apartment Monday, just weeks after his name surfaced in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

A Russian mogul who once called sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell his “soulmate” was found dead in a luxury Moscow apartment Monday, according to reports — just weeks after his name surfaced in the Epstein files. Umar Dzhabrailov, a Chechen businessman and former senator, was discovered lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to his head at about 3 a.m., Russian outlet Kommersant reported, citing police sources who called it a suspected suicide. Police discovered a Luger pistol lying by the 67-year-old’s body. But Dzhabrailov — who previously tried to take his life in 2020 — didn’t leave a...

Ukraine's government says Russia indicated during recent talks in Geneva that it could accept U.S.-backed security guarantees as part of a potential post-war settlement, though major differences remain unresolved. On Saturday, Kyrylo Budanov, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a televised interview that Russian representatives signaled openness to security guarantees proposed by the United States, reported Reuters. "At the last talks, the Russian side said for example that they would accept the security guarantees offered to Ukraine by the United States," Budanov said.

With brilliant intelligence and close U.S. and Israeli cooperation and coordination, Operation Epic fury is systematically dismantling the terrorist regime of Iran’s ayatollahs. And as if in a game of chess, the war has reshaped the Middle East, (a consistent source of hostilities), into a more peaceful and orderly part of the world. It has also demolished fears of Russian and Chinese intervention on behalf of the regime. (Russia’s too broke and China’s grasp is less than its reach.) Indeed China, which depended on Iran and Venezuelan oil, is unlikely to make good for a while if ever on its...

France's official reaction to the Iran War is one of opposition to Iran's nuclear program and its human rights record... On Friday the European Commission unilaterally and provisionally implementing the MERCOSUR trade deal vehemently opposed by French farmers. The deal will allow France to be flooded with agricultural products from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay... A tweaking of the French cabinet this week the departure of the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati... A diplomatic standoff this week between French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and US Ambassador Charles Kushner. The row over US government social media posting in the name...

Former Pentagon adviser Douglas Macgregor argues the West misread Russia’s strength and that large-scale arms supplies failed to shift the Ukraine conflict. The West is still unwilling to abandon its course of prolonging the conflict in Ukraine, clinging to the belief that sustained pressure will eventually weaken Russia. That assessment was voiced by former Pentagon adviser Douglas Macgregor in an interview with the Swiss publication Die Weltwoche. According to Macgregor, political circles in several European countries remain convinced that Russia is fragile and nearing collapse. He argued that such assumptions bear little resemblance to reality and reflect a profound misreading...

Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Trump administration is pressing Kyiv to agree to painful territorial concessions as the price for peace. In a draft peace agreement first reported by Axios in November, the administration proposed that the entire regions of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk be recognized as de facto Russian territory and that Russia retain control of the parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia its forces now occupy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing back, refusing to do anything that would violate his country’s territorial integrity. Yet the realities of the battlefield are not on his side....

Russia says it has handed over the remains of 1,000 soldiers to Ukraine and has received the bodies of 35 Russian soldiers in return. Vladimir Medinsky, a top aide of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced the exchange of bodies in a short announcement on Telegram. He gave no details, but included an image showing bodies being unloaded from a truck. Hours later, Ukraine said it had received 1,000 bodies which, "according to prior information from the Russian side, may belong to Ukrainian defenders".

KYIV, Ukraine, and MOSCOW — When the Kremlin launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the assumption in Moscow, and much of the West, was that Russian forces would take the country in a matter of days. Instead, what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" has become the biggest land war in Europe since World War II and has lasted longer than the Soviet army's fight against Nazi Germany. Russia's war on Ukraine is a grinding war of attrition. Ukraine has managed to hold a much larger army to minimal gains while adjusting to a life under constant...

Ukraine has regained control of 400 square kilometres of territory, including eight settlements, along a section of the southern frontline since the end of January, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has said. Syrskyi's statement on Monday did not make clear how much of the newly secured territory had previously been under Russian control and how much lay in "grey zone" areas not firmly held by either side. The rare battlefield gains in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region stand in contrast to the broader trend of slow and costly Russian advances across the frontlines over the past two and a half years, as the...

Russian authorities say divers have recovered the bodies of seven Chinese tourists and a Russian driver who died after their mini-bus plunged under the ice to the bottom of Lake Baikal in Siberia. Irkutsk regional Governor Igor Kobzev offered his "deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims". He earlier said one Chinese tourist had managed to escape. The depth at the site of Friday's accident was 18m (59ft), and the divers had to use underwater cameras to search for the bodies. Baikal - the world's deepest lake with a maximum depth of 1,642m (5,387ft) - is a...

Poland's withdrawal from landmine ban convention threatens escalation — Russian MFA "Beyond weakening the Convention itself, these steps could set off a domino effect, with other countries following suit," Maria Zakharova said MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. Warsaw's withdrawal from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention could trigger a "domino effect" and escalate tensions in Europe, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a comment. "The consequences of such actions will soon become apparent. Beyond weakening the Convention itself, these steps could set off a domino effect, with other countries following suit," the diplomat said. "At the same time, some EU...

New Mexico Department of Justice opening an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's... Five people killed in three separate avalanche... California Governor Democrat Gavin Newsom endorsing legislation to ban social media for under... Three more killed in the latest US military... Ukrainian cruise missile attack deep inside Russia...11 people wounded... "Your tariff taxes wreaked havoc on farmers...I demand a refund of $1,700 for every family..."...Illinois Governor J.N Pritzker...letter to President... White House leaking out the notion...Trump is open to some sort of "compromise" with Iran... Trump Administration rolling back emissions rules for coal-fired power plants... US and Chinese warplanes were in a...