Free Republic

WASHINGTON — A Soviet-born U.S. entrepreneur has unveiled in California a revolutionary blimp prototype that he says will fly with the precision of a helicopter and that could transform the shipping industry, according to U.S. media reports. The Aeroscraft airship, brainchild of Worldwide Aeros founder and CEO Igor Pasternak, successfully underwent tethered testing Saturday, according to technology website Gizmag. Gizmag published photographs showing the 81.07 meter long and 29.56 meter wide craft, under development since 2006, lifting off the ground and remaining under control while attached to a cord. Pasternak, who was born in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan...

WASHINGTON, August 2 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – Politics, it has been said, makes strange bedfellows. Now, as US gay rights groups protest against Russia’s new laws on homosexuality, conservatives across America have quietly begun to align themselves with the Russian government in a rare union that defies a long history of animosity. “Russia could be a great ally for conservatives, on issues like defending the family, abortions, even strengthening marriage and promoting more children,” said Larry Jacobs, managing director the World Congress of Families, an Illinois-based organization that promotes traditional family values in the US and abroad,...

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev criticized Sunday the West's interference in the Middle East, describing it as a "bull in a china shop." In an interview with RT, Medvedev said he agreed with the interviewer that the West often purposefully pushed whole nations to the point of no return, beyond which it was very difficult to convince the warring sides to attempt negotiations. "Our Western partners sometimes behave like a bull in a china shop — they squeeze in, crush everything and then don't know what to do next. I often find myself astonished at their analysts and how inconsistent their...

LONDON, June 16 (R-Sport) – Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson denied Sunday that the Russian president stole a Super Bowl ring belonging to New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft and added that Putin is prepared to send Kraft a replacement worth the same amount of money. Kraft told an awards gala in New York on Thursday that Putin swiped the 124-diamond ring during a 2005 meeting in St. Petersburg. Kraft's account disputes the story he gave eight years ago when he said he handed the ring over as a gift. “I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he...

Russian foreign minister supports delaying U.S.-Russian arms control treaty ratification By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer March 26, 2003 MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Wednesday that he supported legislators' attempts to postpone ratification of a key U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaty. Ivanov stressed that he was not withdrawing support from the agreement, called the Treaty of Moscow, only that he felt it was not the right time for a vote with war going on in Iraq. "Maybe now is not the right moment psychologically to bring this document up for ratification,'' Ivanov said. "If we wait...