Free Republic

Consider a thought experiment. Imagine the US Congress paid a freshman representative his full salary, gave him immunity from criminal prosecution, and then quietly arranged for him to skip 98% of all floor votes so that no voter could ever discover what he actually believed. Now imagine that same representative ran for governor on the promise that he was “just like the incumbent, minus the corruption,” while powerful institutions spent billions creating the conditions for his victory. You would call that election interference. When the European Union did precisely this in Hungary, the Western press called it democracy. On...

See that guy above? His name is Akos, and I’ve been seeing him around ever since I moved to Hungary. Big man with a big heart, loves Orban. There he was last night at the Fidesz Party’s election gathering, bathed in orange light (orange is the party color), waiting for the first election results to come in. (snip) The thing is, Magyar is not a figure of the political Left, which remains unpopular in Hungary. What he basically offered voters is “Orban, but without the corruption.” On the key issues that infuriate Brussels about Orban’s Hungary — his hardline on...

Summary of Video Transcript Victor Davis Hanson suggested letting NATO "die on the vine" by putting into it exactly the amount of effort that Canada does, while making bilateral deals with European countries that support the U.S., in this video for "The Daily Signal." "Even though they have a $22 trillion GDP, apparently they don’t want to invest that in their own defense," he said. "And they don’t want us to use it when we need it." "What’s the future? Do we get out of NATO? I don’t think we do. I think we just let it die on the...

Orbán offered his support to Putin, likening his assistance to that of a mouse helping a lion in a well-known Hungarian fable, according to a phone conversation transcript obtained by news agency Bloomberg. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reportedly offered Russian President Vladimir Putin his friendship and assistance, including by hosting peace talks in Budapest, in a phone call last year adding to concerns about Hungary's ties with Moscow. The news was first reported by US news agency Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing a transcript from a bilateral call in October 2025 from the Hungarian government. “Yesterday, our friendship reached such heights...

Hungarians go to the polls on Sunday in a vote that could bring down long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and have significant repercussions for the rest of Europe, the US and Russia. Most polls favour Péter Magyar, who formed a grassroots party after splitting from the ruling Fidesz party, but the night before the vote Orbán was in defiant mood. "We are going to achieve such a victory that will surprise everyone, perhaps even ourselves," he told several thousand supporters in a small square on Budapest's Castle Hill. Voting takes place from 06:00-19:00 (04:00-17:00 GMT) and results will start to...

Four years after the liberation of Bucha, the town remains a central reference point for understanding the nature of the war in Ukraine and the limits of current diplomatic efforts. The events that followed the withdrawal of Russian forces in March 2022, when hundreds of civilians were found dead across the Kyiv suburb and the wider region, continue to shape how Ukraine defines both security and peace. Bucha has become more than a historical episode. It functions as a political and moral benchmark in discussions about any future settlement. Ukrainian authorities report over 400 civilian deaths in the town itself...

Iran has likely earned $139 million per day by selling its flagship Iran Light crude so far in March, according to Bloomberg calculations based on export estimates by Tankertrackers.com and prices for Iranian Light. The estimated daily revenues were nearly $25 million higher compared to the average of $115 million daily proceeds from Iranian Light in February, according to Bloomberg's calculations. Iran is benefiting in several ways from the Hormuz crisis. First, its tankers are transiting the Strait of Hormuz while most other Gulf oil supply is still trapped. Then, the massive supply shock from the Middle East has hiked...

Beriev A-50U radar planes are Russia’s eyes in the sky. As Ukraine knocks out more of the A-50Us, Russian forces are slowly going blind. Russia went to war in February 2022 with potentially just seven Beriev A-50U radar planes The A-50Us use top-mounted radars to watch for Ukrainian warplanes and drones In a series of attacks going back three years, the Ukrainians may have knocked out more than half of the A-50Us A drone strike last week reportedly damaged a fourth A-50U on the ground in western Russia Sortieing drones deep inside Russia on 17 March, Ukrainian forces may have...

https://fakti.bg/en/world/1040027-ukraine- The Supreme Court of Ukraine recognized for the first time a de facto marriage between two men, UNIAN reported, quoted by tsn.ua. The men in question are Zoryan Kissa, first secretary of the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel, and Timur Levchuk, a social activist. This was reported by the non-governmental organization Insight LGBTQ (NGO "Insight"). „Opponents of equality tried to interfere in the personal lives of two people and annul their victory. But the country's highest court gave a clear answer – a third-party organization that has no connection with the couple cannot simply come and annul decision concerning their...

Robert Fico 🇸🇰@RobertFicoSVKREACTION OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC, ROBERT FICO, TO THE BLACKMAILING BEHAVIOR OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKYYI express full solidarity with the Prime Minister of Hungary, @PM_ViktorOrban. If the Ukrainian president continues like this, it may happen that other EU member states will also block the 90-billion loan for Ukraine.And I officially ask all the highest representatives of the European Union and I will be very specific: 👉🏻 the President of the European Commission, @vonderleyen👉🏻 the President of the European Council, @eucopresident👉🏻 and also the so-called EU foreign affairs chief, @kajakallas☝🏻 to distance themselves from these...

"This is the proportional response that Russia has the right to," the Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman stressedMOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. A nuclear strike on targets in Ukraine, as well as in France and the United Kingdom, would be considered lawful and justified in the event that London and Paris provide Kiev with nuclear capabilities, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Max, commenting on Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service’s (SVR) reports about such plans by the two European countries. According to Medvedev, this information "radically changes the situation." "This is a direct transfer of nuclear weapons to a...

Ukraine is outmatched by Russian forces and requires significantly more infantry and weapons if it hopes to win the war, according to military intelligence and independent battlefield monitors. Although Moscow is paying an extraordinary price for comparatively minimal gains, western officials believe the country can sustain at least another year of war at the current rate of attrition. On Tuesday it will be four years since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After months of incremental advances, it appears to be on the verge of capturing a series of strategic locations in Ukraine’s so-called “fortress belt” and is expanding...

When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine surpassed 1,418 days last month, it officially exceeded a historic milestone — the same span of time it took Moscow to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II. And unlike the Red Army that pushed all the way to Berlin eight decades ago in what it called the Great Patriotic War, Russia’s 4-year-old, all-out invasion of its neighbor is still struggling to fully capture Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland. After Moscow failed to seize the capital of Kyiv and install a puppet government in February 2022, the conflict turned into trench warfare with tremendous cost....

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson says that the UK and its allies should deploy non-combat troops to Ukraine right now, to "flip a switch" in Russian President Vladimir Putin's head. Speaking exclusively to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg alongside the former head of the military, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, Johnson said troops should be sent to peaceful regions in non-fighting roles. He said: "If we can have a plan for boots on the ground after the war, after Putin has condescended to have a ceasefire, then why not do it now?" The UK government is currently working with its allies to...

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has arrived in Kyiv and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "Maidan Nezalezhnosti. The People’s Memorial of National Remembrance," Zelenskyy wrote Tuesday on X. "A memorial honoring our heroes, warriors, our people who defended Ukraine against the enemy, fought, and made the ultimate sacrifice in this war. Together with @SecGenNATO Mark Rutte, we honored the memory of fallen Ukrainian defenders today. Eternal honor to our warriors. "Eternal gratitude for their sacrifice and for defending the country. It is our duty to preserve the memory of our fallen heroes." Rutte's visit comes after Russia attacked Ukraine...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has claimed that President Vladimir Putin's state residence in the Novgorod region was the target of a Ukrainian drone attack overnight into Monday, and said it would have implications for the peace negotiations.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the claim as "typical Russian lies" made because Moscow does not want to end the war.The allegation comes as U.S. President Donald Trump hailed progress toward peace following his latest talks with Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.Securing a long-sought deal on Ukraine would be a crowning moment for Trump, the self-styled global...

While President Donald Trump is negotiating with Russian and Ukrainian officials to end the war between the two countries, some in the Russian delegation are already undermining the progress.... Trump also noted how Ukraine's parliament will need to approve any peace deal with Russia. He is also willing to speak directly to the parliament to get them on board with the deal. 'I’ve offered to go and speak to their parliament,' Trump told reporters on Sunday at a press conference following his meeting with Zelensky. 'I’d have no problem with doing it.'

Last night, on October 19, a series of explosions occurred at the Novokuibyshev Oil Refinery in Russia’s Samara Region following a drone attack. Drones also struck a gas processing plant in the Russian city of Orenburg. According to eyewitnesses, black smoke rose above the Novokuibyshev refinery after the attack, and videos shared on social media show heavy smoke over the facility. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev confirmed the UAV attack but did not disclose details regarding the damage. The Novokuibyshev refinery, owned by Rosneft, is one of the key enterprises in the Samara Region, with a capacity to process up to...

Trump urged Zelenskyy to accept Russia’s terms to end the war, warning that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine if he refused

Potential supplies of these missiles will not be able to change the battlefield situation for the Kiev regime, Dmitry Peskov emphasizedMOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Potential supplies of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kiev will be a serious spiral of escalation, since such weapons can be equipped with nuclear warheads, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. "This will imply a serious spiral of escalation, which, however, will not be able to change the battlefield situation for the Kiev regime. But it is important to bear in mind in this context, putting aside various nuances, that these missiles can be equipped with...