Free Republic

Over two years on from the invasion of Ukraine, Russia is the most sanctioned nation in the world. And yet the country’s economy is set to grow faster than any G7 democracy this year. How is this possible? Back in 2022, Boris Johnson vowed to ‘squeeze Russia from the global economy piece by piece, day by day and week by week’. President Joe Biden promised that sanctions would ‘impose a severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time’. Yet these dire warnings never materialised: Russia’s economy has proved resilient in the face of sanctions. Moscow’s flexibility in...

A few years ago, a friend of mine was sent to Kiev by the British government to teach Ukrainians about the Western democratic system. His pupils were young reformers from western Ukraine, affiliated to the Conservative party. When they produced a manifesto containing 15 pages of impenetrable waffle, he gently suggested boiling their electoral message down to one salient point. What was it, he wondered? A moment of furrowed brows produced the lapidary and nonchalant reply, 'To expel all Jews from our country.' It is in the west of Ukraine that support is strongest for the man who is being...

Attack Iran, US chief ordered British By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 30/06/2004) America's military commander in Iraq ordered British troops to prepare a full-scale ground offensive against Iranian forces that had crossed the border and grabbed disputed territory, a senior officer has disclosed. An attack would almost certainly have provoked open conflict with Iran. But the British chose instead to resolve the matter through diplomatic channels. Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez "If we had attacked the Iranian positions, all hell would have broken loose," a defence source said yesterday. "We would have had the Iranians to our front and the...

JERUSALEM POST OWNERS RESIGN; FACE CORRUPTION CHARGES Post To Be Sold, Management Reshuffled Jerusalem Post Publisher Tom Rose, Editor Bret Stephens To Be Replaced By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer New York-----November 17........ Under heavy pressure from investors, Conrad Black will step down as chief executive of Hollinger International Inc., publisher of the Jerusalem Post and Chicago Sun-Times, and the company may be sold after an internal investigation found that fees had been improperly paid to Black and other senior executives. Several other executives are also leaving Hollinger as part of a management shakeup the company announced early Monday. David...