Free Republic

Iran's massive missile and drone barrage targeting Israel over the weekend is similar to Russian tactics used in frequent strikes on Ukraine, according to a new assessment, after Iran launched its first-ever direct strike from its own territory into Israel. "Iran's use of drones and missiles shows how Iran is learning from the Russians to develop increasingly dangerous and effective strike packages against Israel," the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Saturday. Russia has launched thousands of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine in nearly 26 months of all-out war in the country....

The ISW report asserts that "several indicators" suggest the attack was staged, noting that Russia recently enhanced "domestic air defense capabilities" while arguing it was "extremely unlikely" that Ukrainian drones could have thwarted "multiple layers of air defense" and be destroyed "in a way that provided spectacular imagery caught nicely on camera."..."The rapid and coherent presentation of an official Russian narrative around the strike suggests that Russia staged this incident in close proximity to the May 9th Victory Day holiday in order to frame the war as existential to its domestic audience," the ISW report states.

The unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine has exposed the folly, peril and incoherence of 21st Century Globalism. Unlike the economic globalism of the 19th and early 20th centuries that focused on the concept of free trade of goods for goods, this iteration can be characterized by allegiance to irrational environmentalism and the creation of elitist global institutions determined to mold mankind and impose regimentation on countries and their populations to ostensibly “save the planet.” The operational underpinning of 21st Century Globalism is the extortion and intimidation of nations throughout the planet to acquiesce to radical “green” policies whose true objective...

According to the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is "preparing a terrorist attack on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant," the government agency claimed Friday. According to a social media post on Twitter, the department said that a "man-made catastrophe" is planned at the plant and will be manipulated to appear as if Ukraine was responsible for it. "Putin is preparing a terrorist attack on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A man-made catastrophe is planed [sic] at the CNPP controlled by Russian forces, for which the occupiers will try to shift responsibility to Ukraine," the department wrote.

Experts have said they are baffled by the ineptitude of the tactics displayed by Russia's armies after drone footage yesterday showed a column of tanks getting picked off one-by-one in an ambush carried out by Ukraine's forces. Analysts have said Russian tank commanders allowed the Ukrainians to ambush their unit by driving down the middle of a main road leading into Kyiv - and straight into a death trap. By multiple counts, President Vladimir Putin's forces have lost more tanks than are operational in entire German army. The devastating artillery strikes came as Putin's troops inched closer to Kyiv, and...