Free Republic

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called to "destroy the ruble and crush the Russian oil and gas sector" in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. Graham made the call in a tweet thread posted after Putin's national address in which he recognized the independence of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic areas of Ukraine. "When it comes to thugs like Putin disrupting world order and destroying democracies – enough is enough," Graham wrote. RUSSIA-UKRAINE: PUTIN TO RECOGNIZE INDEPENDENCE OF UKRAINIAN BREAKAWAY REGIONS: LIVE UPDATES "Putin’s decision to declare eastern Donetsk and Luhansk as independent regions...

Over 9,000 people died in the Baltic Sea on January 30, 1945, in an attempt to evade the Red Army. The Wilhelm Gustloff was the largest shipwreck in history, but little is known about the catastrophe seven decades on. At around 9 p.m. on January 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler was speaking to the German people. In the packed dining hall of the luxury liner "Wilhelm Gustloff," as in most of the rest of the country, a radio was broadcasting Hitler's address, but the thousands of refugees from Pomerania and East and West Prussia who had struggled onto the ship weren't...

What ended World War II? For nearly seven decades, the American public has accepted one version of the events that led to Japan’s surrender. By the middle of 1945, the war in Europe was over, and it was clear that the Japanese could hold no reasonable hope of victory. After years of grueling battle, fighting island to island across the Pacific, Japan’s Navy and Air Force were all but destroyed. The production of materiel was faltering, completely overmatched by American industry, and the Japanese people were starving. A full-scale invasion of Japan itself would mean hundreds of thousands of dead...

If the objective of the West was the destruction of Nazi Germany, it was a "smashing" success. But why destroy Hitler? If to liberate Germans, it was not worth it. After all, the Germans voted Hitler in. If it was to keep Hitler out of Western Europe, why declare war on him and draw him into Western Europe? If it was to keep Hitler out of Central and Eastern Europe, then, inevitably, Stalin would inherit Central and Eastern Europe. Was that worth fighting a world war – with 50 million dead?