Free Republic

Moscow’s advantage on the Ukraine battlefield is waning, experts say. But President Donald Trump seems disinclined to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin to engage in ceasefire talks.Russia’s battlefield strength in Ukraine has started to wane and it could run into serious shortages of manpower and weaponry by next year, even as President Donald Trump retreats from pressure on Moscow to end the war, according to senior U.S. and European officials and military experts. In recent days, Trump appears to have abandoned the threat of harsh financial sanctions he repeated as recently as two weeks ago if Moscow doesn’t agree...

President Donald Trump blamed Donald Jr.'s Russia meeting for the breakdown of his marriage to ex-wife Vanessa, even as he gave his blessing for his former daughter-in-law's relationship with Tiger Woods. Earlier this month, DailyMail.com exclusively broke the news that the golf icon was dating Donald Trump Jr.'s ex-wife before the couple went public in a social media post on March 23. The president, who teed it up with the 15-time major winner before jetting into New Orleans for the Super Bowl last month, delivered his verdict on golf's newest power couple Monday. 'I love Tiger and I love Vanessa....

U.S. President Donald Trump has once again kicked up a storm with his pursuit of Greenland [...] But Washington was interested in acquiring Greenland to mitigate threats emanating from the Arctic long before Trump came along, even offering Denmark $100 million in gold for the icy island shortly after the conclusion of World War II. That interest has only expanded in recent years as Russia and China step up their military and commercial activities in the Arctic, conduct joint military exercises, and invest in new weapon systems like hypersonic missiles. “Greenland is growing in importance as we find ourselves in...

As America’s bureaucratic swamp is being drained by the fearless engineers of DOGE spearheaded by Elon Musk, one name rises above the rest: Edward “BIG BALLS” Coristine. Coristine, a brilliant coder, has been making waves in Washington. At just 19, he’s already worked at Neuralink, has been spotted within key government agencies, and recently secured a senior adviser role at the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Technology—propelled by the media hysteria surrounding his moniker. The leftist media, desperate to smear him, has dug up his past, highlighting controversies and accusing him of rubbing elbows with hackers.

The liberal media were apparently still trying to suggest President Trump was a Russian asset during Tuesday’s edition of CNN This Morning. Anchor Jim Sciutto and senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen’s redux of the Russia Collusion Hoax involved them juxtaposing Trump’s desire to bring the War in Ukraine to a close with an ad put out by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). At one point, CNN even did a crossfade putting the SVR emblem over Trump’s face (pictured in this piece).

...On Thursday, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber approved a campaign to gather signatures petitioning for a vote on whether the state should leave the U.S. In a Sunday op-ed for Flash Report, a blog on California's political news, Nehring said the Kremlin was likely cheering on the latest push to get a secession referendum included on the Golden State's 2028 ballot....

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to solidify the country's comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia in his letter to President Vladimir Putin on Monday, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday. In the message, Kim sent New Year greetings to Putin and all Russians, including their troops and expressed his willingness to further step up bilateral ties, which he said the two leaders have elevated to a new height this year, through new projects, KCNA said. Kim "wished that the New Year 2025 would be recorded as the first year of victory in the 21st century when the Russian army...

Azeri president says apology isn’t enough, in confrontation that shows Moscow’s waning influence over former Soviet territories. Azerbaijan’s president accused Russia of trying to cover up its role in a plane crash that killed 38 people, delivering a harsh condemnation that signaled a reversal of the power dynamics that long saw Moscow hold sway over its former Soviet republics. President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday that Azerbaijan had laid out for the Kremlin the necessary conditions to satisfy the country, demanding that Russia take responsibility for causing the crash, provide compensation for the country and victims’ families, and bring those guilty...

The leader of Azerbaijan directly blamed Russia on Sunday for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet last week, calling on Moscow to accept responsibility and offer compensation to victims. President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Azerbaijan’s national broadcaster that a vague apology issued by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a day earlier would not suffice to preserve friendly relations between the two former Soviet states. ...“We can clearly say today that the plane was shot down by Russia,” Mr. Aliyev said in the interview, according to a summary published in English by Azerbaijan’s state news...

Vladimir Putin’s embrace of Islam reflects a broader ‘Red-Green Axis’—a dangerous alliance between authoritarian regimes and Islamic movements. Russia’s descent into deeper Islamization under Vladimir Putin’s leadership signals a dangerous convergence of authoritarianism and religious extremism, forming a “Red-Green Axis” that imperils the nation’s cultural integrity and security. This troubling alliance between Putin’s regime and Islamic authorities, exemplified by a decree from Russia’s highest Islamic council allowing religious polygamy, should alarm anyone concerned with the preservation of secular governance and national stability. Polygamy by Stealth: Eroding Russian Law Despite Russia’s legal prohibition of polygamy, Grand Mufti Ildar Alyautdinov’s recent decree...

The NIS had earlier confirmed reports that an injured North Korean soldier had been taken prisoner by Ukraine. The soldier later died from his injuries, the National Intelligence Service said.

Russia's aviation watchdog said on Thursday that all four Moscow airports and the airport in Kaluga, 160km (100 miles) southwest of Moscow, were closed temporarily, without giving the reason. "Aircraft crews, air traffic controllers and airport services are taking all necessary measures to ensure flight safety," the statement from Rosaviatsia said...

There is an oft-quoted remark from Vladimir Lenin, which in its English formulation usually reads something like: "There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” This is one of those aphorisms which has been exercised practically to death, but there are rare occasions where it perfectly fits the chaotic tempo of world events, and few cases fit the bill better than the fall of the Syrian Arab Republic and its embattled (former) President, Bashir Al-Assad. Syria was first plunged into Civil War by an escalating insurgency in 2012, and more than a decade of grueling...

President-elect Trump’s choice for special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, slammed the Russian military missile and drone attack on Christmas Day and said the U.S. is “more resolved than ever to bring peace to the region.” “Christmas should be a time of peace, yet Ukraine was brutally attacked on Christmas Day,” Kellogg wrote Wednesday on social platform X. “Launching large-scale missile and drone attacks on the day of the Lord’s birth is wrong. The world is closely watching actions on both sides. The U.S. is more resolved than ever to bring peace to the region.”

Many Ukrainians were celebrating without heat or power after Russia launched a Christmas Day assault on the country’s energy infrastructure, an act that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as “inhuman.” “Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhuman,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X early Wednesday. "Every Russian massive strike takes time to prepare. It is never a spontaneous decision. It is a conscious choice not only of targets, but also of time and date." Over 70 Russian missiles and more than a hundred drones targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with Ukrainian forces successfully shooting...

"Another massive Russian strike against Ukraine’s energy system. This Christmas terror is Putin’s response to those who spoke about illusionary 'Christmas ceasefire,'" Sybiha commented. For context, on December 11, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban proposed a Christmas truce and a large-scale prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia. "Tormented Ukraine continues to be struck by attacks against the city, which at times damage schools, hospitals, and churches. May the weapons be silenced and Christmas carols resound! Let us pray for a ceasefire on all war fronts, in Ukraine, the Holy Land, in all the Middle East and the entire world, at...

Russian President Vladimir Putin uses antisemitic rhetoric during his lengthy end-of-year press conference, accusing people including “ethnic Jews” of tearing apart the Russian Orthodox Church. “These people that are attacking the church, they are not atheists,” Putin says, addressing a question posed at the press conference. “They are absolutely faithless people, Godless people. Well, ethnically, many of them are Jews, but you haven’t seen them visit any synagogue.” -snip- The Russian Orthodox Church is widely criticized by international watchdogs for its close relationship with the Russian government. The Council of Europe recently labeled the church a propaganda tool of the...

Hping to keep tabs on the magnetic north's wandering ways, the World Magnetic Model 2025 has been released this week, revealing the latest official predicted placement of Earth's magnetic fields. This version will remain valid until late 2029, during which time we can expect to see the magnetic north pole slowly edge further toward Russia. The new version is of timely importance too as the magnetic north pole’s movement seems to be accelerating. Since the 1830s, the north magnetic pole of Earth has relocated some 2,250 kilometers (1,400 miles) across the upper stretches of the Northern Hemisphere from Canada towards...

Lines of Russian troops in desert khaki greeted President Vladimir V. Putin in Syria in 2017. Declaring that Moscow had accomplished its mission in Syria’s civil war, Mr. Putin pledged that Russia was there to stay. “If the terrorists raise their heads again,” he said on the tarmac of a Russian air base, “we will deal unprecedented strikes unlike anything they have seen.” But over the last two weeks, as the rebels that Russia called terrorists swept across Syria aiming to topple one of Russia’s closest allies, President Bashar al-Assad, those “unprecedented” strikes were nowhere to be seen. Instead, with...

Romania's constitutional court on Friday canceled the country's presidential election following allegations of Russian interference in favour of the far-right frontrunner, just two days ahead of the run-off. Georgescu, a former senior civil servant, had been due to face centrist mayor Elena Lasconi in Sunday's runoff. "It is basically a formalised coup d'etat... Our democracy is under attack," Georgescu, 62, said in a video message, calling on Romanians to "remain faithful to our common ideal. "They will not be able to stop me. And they cannot stop the Romanian people from what they want to change," he told local media....