Free Republic

An accused Russian spy who worked as a merchant banker in New York City called convicted spy Maria Butina after 30 FBI agents showed up at her apartment with a battering ram. Elena Branson, 61, who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenship, was accused of running a 'Russian propaganda center' in New York and communicating directly with President Vladimir Putin. She shared details of her encounter with the law during a cozy chat with Butina broadcast on Russian state broadcaster RT, and recalled how Butina had been one of the first people she'd contacted.

(I wanted to kick the hornet's nest, to ask a pointed question. I didn't want to rely on a single source, I tried ChatGPT, Grok, Yandex and Co-Pilot. Only two of the sources were reasonably accessible. Here are the results.) Question to Co-Pilot On a video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIU4VO7nCuY titled “The Iran War Almost Started — Here’s What Stopped It | Larry C. Johnson” on the YouTube channel “Lezzet Yöresi”, former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson commented on the issue of intelligence agencies closely allied with financial power centers projecting currency manipulation as an instrument of economic warfare: “Let's go back...

How come no one ever challenges buffoons such as Jesse Ventura?

Furious over the killing of a U.S. citizen at the hands of an ICE agent in Minneapolis, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura slammed President Donald Trump as a “draft-dodging coward” who has “destroyed the Constitution.” Ventura, an independent, former wrestler and Vietnam veteran, was at his high school alma mater Thursday to show support for it after ICE descended on the school the same day Renee Nicole Good was killed by an ICE agent. “He’s the draft dodging coward, who when it was his time to serve his country, he did what all rich white boys did. I wasn’t a...

Russia has issued a call for the remaining Ukrainian soldiers that have been surrounded in Pakovsk and Kian to surrender, noting that they have no chance of survival. And it doesn't seem as though the NATO alliance or Kiev is too concerned about the situation on the front lines as they seem more concerned about Zalinsk's latest photo op. not realizing the importance of some of these final Ukrainian strongholds and just how quickly Kiev's defensive lines are crumbling. So, what does all of this mean for the ongoing conflict and how could the possibility of tomahawks being introduced by...

"The US delegation just met with Vladimir Putin and his staff in Moscow and although there is no peace agreement yet, we seem to be one step closer to some form of “compromise” as the Russian TASS news agency puts it."

That today’s (2) peace negotiations in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine have flopped is hardly surprising. On the one hand, Russian Federation forces have conquered around 20 settlements in a single week, and their offensive on the Northern Sumy and Kharkov regions have the real potential of breaking down the undermanned and underequipped Ukrainian defenses. Mood at the Istanbul talks — Ukraine’s Defense Minister Umerov cracks a smile, while Putin’s aide Medinsky remains serious pic.twitter.com/9TDU3xBzQ3 — RT (@RT_com) June 2, 2025 But on the other hand, Ukraine arrived for the talks boosted by the success of yesterday’s drone attack on...

“Make sure the door remains closed,” the US president has quipped over a video showing France’s First Lady shoving her husband on a plane US President Donald Trump has said Emmanuel Macron is “fine” following an incident in which his wife Brigitte appeared to slap her husband aboard their plane.The footage, which quickly went viral, was filmed as the French first couple arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, on May 25 to begin a Southeast Asia tour. As the aircraft door opened, Macron was seen speaking to someone off-camera. Two arms in red sleeves then reached out and pushed his face,...

President Donald Trump's social media attacks on Vladimir Putin have prompted derision and a warning from Russian state media. Trump took to Truth Social to condemn Putin following last weekend's Russian missile and drone barrage on Ukraine which he followed up with a post that said the Russian leader is "playing with fire." But the state-run propaganda outlet RT said Trump changes his opinion frequently, while a Russian state television anchor warned that the U.S. president should keep in mind that Moscow can "destroy the world several times over."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Russian media on Thursday that former Secretary of State John Kerry approved of Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula, believing the residents were overwhelmingly in favor of “reuniting” with Russia. According to Lavrov, Kerry’s main criticism of Russia’s actions was to suggest holding another referendum to reinforce the legitimacy of annexation. Russia’s RT.com summarized Lavrov’s comments to the RBK news service: I won’t reveal a big secret if I say that John Kerry was telling me in April 2014: ‘Everything is clear. Everything happened the way the Crimean people...

0:00Introduction 1:10 What Would Happen if the US Went to War With Iran? 9:13 The Real Reason the US Invaded Iraq 15:38 The Military Power of Iran 22:25 The Global Coalition Iran Has Formed Because of the US 26:37 Is This Evil or Stupidity? 31:10 How Trump Exposed Regime Change Wars 41:37 Caldwell’s Experience in the Marine Corps 50:31 The Impact of the Iraq War on Veterans 1:00:59 How Caldwell Helped Pete Hegseth Become Secretary of Defense 1:08:21 The Real Reason Caldwell was Fired 1:11:30 Was Caldwell the Source of the Leaks? 1:22:09 How Caldwell Was Escorted Out 1:23:41 Who...

Are you guys familiar with Rumble? Some kind of alternative to Youtube? Dan Bongino Retweeted Benny @bennyjohnson I don’t normally ask this: But guys, we can’t trust corporate media. The only way to keep our voices heard is to follow creators directly. Please, I humbly ask you to follow me at Rumble. It’s kickass. I’ll be posting Daily videos there! @rumblevideo https://rumble.com/c/BennyJohnson

“Structural Engineers say that thing didn't come down in any other way than controlled demolition. Molten steel. Destruction of evidence. We want answers. What really happened on 9/11? It’s being covered up by our government..."

The Twitter Files reveal that one of the most common news sources of the Trump era was a scam, making ordinary American political conversations look like Russian spywork ... Ambitious media frauds Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair crippled the reputations of the New Republic and New York Times, respectively, by slipping years of invented news stories into their pages. Thanks to the Twitter Files, we can welcome a new member to their infamous club: Hamilton 68. If one goes by volume alone, this oft-cited neoliberal think-tank that spawned hundreds of fraudulent headlines and TV news segments may go down as...

A stunning new Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that one of the United States Navy’s top commanders was relieved of his command a few hours ago after he sent out an “email/posting” revealing that President Barack Obama was in the process of purchasing a multi-million dollar seaside luxury villa in the United Arab Emirates city (UAE) of Dubai. According to this report, the Commander of the US Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 15, Rear Admiral Rick Williams, posted a “pointed” query on 8 January [since deleted] to the US Naval Institute’s “Readiness Kill Chain” “recipients/responders”...

When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine on February 24th, it caused a lot of problems for voices on the right and the left. Putin has a lot of fans in both corners, and these fans had spent years portraying him as a tactical genius, bamboozling us all with his four-dimensional chess moves. Right up until February 23rd, these Putin stans had been assuring us that Putin would never do something as dumb as launch a full-scale invasion of a sovereign democracy. Ever since then, the right have been able to change gears on Putin fairly seamlessly. This is WAR, and...

President Trump’s Final Break With Neocon Ideology ­ February 22, 2025 ­Gen.Michael Flynn With his comments about Zelensky being a dictator and Ukraine having started the war, President Trump broke the final vestiges of longstanding neocon/military-industrial complex/Deep State control over the Presidency. President Trump spoke truth after truth, and it drove wild the foreign policy think tanks, the establishment media, and those in the Intelligence Community who thrive on lies and graft. Until yesterday, these dark forces had still hoped they could manipulate this leader of the free world to serve the interests of the War Machine. All that ended...

"A Russian state TV host and his guest engaged in an exchange where the two discussed drowning, raping, and burning Ukrainians... "Over there every piece of s*** little house, there are masses of awful, monstrous little houses. They s*** all over the Carpathian Mountains. [The] Carpathian Mountains are disgusting…Shove them right into those huts and burn them up," Krasovsky said...." Russian State TV Boss Says Drown Ukrainian Children, Burn Families Alive

Since becoming President-elect Donald Trump's choice for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard's rosy posture toward Moscow has prompted some Democratic critics to suggest that she could be "compromised," or perhaps even a "Russian asset" -- claims the ex-Hawaii representative and Army officer has forcefully denied. But former advisers to Gabbard suggest that her views on Russia and its polarizing leader, Vladimir Putin, have been shaped not by some covert intelligence recruitment as far as they know -- but instead by her unorthodox media consumption habits. Three former aides said Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022, regularly read...

Family urges war support By Matthew D. LaPlante The Salt Lake Tribune Many in her country had turned against the war. The mayor of her city was organizing a protest against the president. And the insurgents in Iraq, Amy Galvez feared, were growing bolder by the day. Galvez decided she had heard enough. Hoping her words might persuade those who support the president, the war and the troops in Iraq to assemble in a great demonstration of patriotism and support, Galvez sat at her computer and began to type. "My son, who is a resident of Salt Lake City, is...