Free Republic

The United States has a history of putting rivals on the world stage in a corner economically, obligating them to make the first moves to war.One of the most famous examples of this strategy came on July 26, 1941.On that date, President Franklin Roosevelt introduced sweeping economic sanctions and asset seizures against Japan.Advertisement - story continues belowAs a result of those sanctions, “Japan lost access to three-fourths of its overseas trade and 88 percent of its imported oil,” according to History.Needing oil to maintain its military might, Japan had little choice but to declare war on the West and mobilize...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

On episode 8 of the show we are joined by Dmitry Kulikov, a Russian political scientist, publicist and political consultant. Expert of the State Duma Committee of the Russian Federation on CIS Affairs and Relations with Compatriots. Film producer, TV and radio presenter. Very interesting look at how a noted Russian sees the Ukraine special military operation, the United States and our relationship with Russia past and present. Russians believe that they are actually at war with the United States, not Ukraine and that the U.S. will continue the war until the last Ukrainian in a bid to weaken Russia....

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said there is no need for more massive strikes on Ukraine, days after the heaviest bombardment of the country since the war began. He said most designated targets of the strikes had been hit, adding that it was not his aim to destroy Ukraine. Moscow's goal of mobilising 300,000 men would be met within two weeks, he said. Mr Putin's words come as Russian forces seem stalled and Ukraine advances, almost eight months since the invasion. Speaking to journalists after a summit with regional leaders in Kazakhstan's capital Astana, the Russian leader said that the...

Ukrainian defenders shoot down more and more Iranian kamikaze drones. This was stated by the Secretary of the National Security Council, Oleksii Danilov, in an interview with NT, Censor.NET. "Regarding the "martyrs". Unfortunately, yes, sometimes they break through. Our anti-aircraft forces, and other units that are involved in this process already reaches 85-90%, depending on the day. They launch a lot of them," he explained. Danilov also called on Ukrainians to go to shelter during an air raid.

Remember I wrote that “Russian collaborators” (those who couldn’t get out in time) were being subjected to repression by Ukrainian forces? Let’s back up a bit. The “mass graves” discovered in “newly liberated” areas of east Ukraine have FIZZLED. As with the last go-round near Kiev, the MSM quickly lost interest….. …..The U.S. Government never “officially” accused Russia of any particular/specific war crimes….. …..And the matter was not pursued actively (or at all) by the International Criminal Court. Translation: It was all just a bunch of crap, like everything else. Just a bunch of crap, fed to morons. One difference...

Dennis "Denny" Doyle, who served as mayor of Beaverton, Ore. from 2009 to 2021, pled guilty in federal court on Tuesday to illegal possession of child pornography. "You know, we make mistakes," Doyle said on his way out of the courtroom.Several of the images in Doyle's possession were of children under the age of 12. The children in these images had been identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as "known sexually exploited minors."

Bombshell insights from Scott Ritter. Putin appoints General Sergey "General Armageddon," as new commander of SMO. US Silent on massive assault on Ukraine, but fretting about Saudi - Russia deal. Reports of Russian dead simply not possible. Regime change means, all the way to Kiev.

The Russian leadership is open to a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden. If Washington were to offer a meeting at the G20 summit, Moscow would consider it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Russian state television. According to him, the Kremlin would also be prepared to “listen to any proposals for peace talks” – for example, mediated by Turkey. However, he could not say in advance where this process would lead, Lavrov explained. He then further qualified that there had been no proposals to get in touch with the USA.

Russia’s TASS News Service released photos on Tuesday of a NATO Seafox mine disposal unmanned underwater drone was found during a scheduled visual inspection of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in November 2015. Russia accused NATO of attempting to blow up the pipeline in 2015. The incident made international headlines at the time. Via KimDotCom.

"More and more brazen attacks are being launched against Russia and Washington is doing little to hide US fingerprints. Why? The Biden Administration seems to be moving us closer to nuclear war over Ukraine and Biden himself seems to know it. Last week he said, Putin “is not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons…” For the “first time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use [of nuclear weapons] if in fact things continue down the path they are going.” So the question is if...

Retired Admiral Mike Mullen is advising the Biden administration to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine as World War 3 becomes a real possibility. Mullen, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, is saying that Biden should back off on the reckless talk and get to working on diplomacy.

Mi>The western narrative of a ‘losing Russia’ has just been decimated by Moscow’s blitzkrieg against Ukraine and its foreign-backed terror operations The terror attack on Krymskiy Most – the Crimea Bridge – was the proverbial straw that broke the Eurasian camel’s back. Russian President Vladimir Putin neatly summarized it: “This is a terrorist attack aimed at destroying the critical civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation.”The head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, confirmed face-to-face with Putin that Terror on the Bridge was carried out by the SBU – Ukrainian special services.Bastrykin told Putin, “we have already established the route...

Germany has promised to transfer to Ukraine 100 Soviet-made tanks, which will be delivered from Greece and Slovakia in a “circular scheme”. This was stated by German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, reports CNN. Head of the German Defense Ministry During a visit to the German military stationed in Lithuania, the German military announced additional deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, including the IRIS-T air defense system and 100 tanks from Greece and Slovakia. The website of the German government reports that queues for delivery to Ukraine: 4 IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile systems 2 MARS II multiple launch rocket systems with ammunition; 4...

On Saturday, the Ukrainians hit the Kerch Strait Bridge, which leads from Russia to Crimea, with something—a missile, explosives planted by naval commandos, a truck laden with explosives. No one who knows is saying for sure.(snip)The tactical questions of how the Ukrainians pulled off this strike and of whether lasting damage has occurred are interesting and important but currently unresolvable publicly. What can, however, be more profitably discussed is what this tells us about where the Russia-Ukraine war is headed. “Battles are the principal milestones of secular history,” Winston Churchill wrote in his biography of the Duke of Marlborough. The...

Russia's “partial mobilization” and its sham referendums to justify the annexation of four provinces in Eastern Ukraine create new sources of uncertainty about the future course of the war. Yet Russia's actions should also produce a rare moment of strategic clarity for Ukraine's partners: No viable path to negotiated peace remains, and any result short of Ukrainian victory will be, in the long run, a worse outcome for the rules-based international order. The third, and more politically significant, alternative falls somewhere between the first two. This camp decries Russia's barbarity and lauds Ukrainians' bravery while, at same time, worrying about...

⚡️#BREAKING Ukraine blows up border bridges with Belarus – Minsk— TPYXA ⚡ Middle East 🇸🇩 🇮🇷 🇷🇺 (@MEPaper1090) October 9, 2022⚡️Representatives of #Ukraine's territorial defense are coming to the border, aiming at the border guards of Belarus and shooting in the air, head of Belarusian border committe says— TPYXA ⚡ Middle East 🇸🇩 🇮🇷 🇷🇺 (@MEPaper1090) October 9, 2022

“Early retirement” is a strange way to describe a 44-year-old’s acceptance of a new government role, but for Mikk Marran, Estonia’s spymaster, it feels a lot like that. As of next month he will no longer helm Välisluureamet, the Baltic state’s foreign intelligence service, which, long before Vladimir Putin’s faltering invasion of Ukraine, was at the forefront of assessing the threats and capabilities of a resurgent and revanchist Russia.(snip) According to one former high-ranking U.S. intelligence officer, “Estonia punches far above its weight on Russian affairs. The respect for Marran and his service in the U.S. intelligence community is quite...

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday called the attack that damaged the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea “a terrorist act” masterminded by Ukrainian special services.The Kerch Bridge, which holds important strategic and symbolic value to Russia in its faltering war in Ukraine, was hit a day earlier by what Moscow has said was a truck bomb. Road and rail traffic on the bridge were temporarily halted, damaging a vital supply route for the Kremlin’s forces.“There’s no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure...

ahead of meeting of his Security Council tomorrow - but the Kremlin tries to plays down Western fears retaliation will include nuclear weapons Russian president Vladimir Putin says the explosion at the Kerch bridge in Crimea was 'an act of terrosim' The president said today the blast was 'devised, carried out and ordered by the Ukrainian special services' He made the statement a day before he is due to meet with his top defence chiefs in his Security Council The bridge had been a pet project of Putin's after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and key in the war...