Free Republic

Vladimir Putin mobilised more than 150,000 troops and an armada of ships yesterday for a drill to test the combat readiness of forces in western Russia as tensions over Ukraine continue to grow. In addition to the soldiers – nearly twice the British Army’s manpower after planned cuts – 880 tanks, 210 aircraft and 80 warships will take part in the operation. The manoeuvres raised fears that the Russian president may be planning to send forces into Ukraine after the toppling of its Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych.

Russia and Poland played out a 1-1 draw in perhaps the most feared match of Euro 2012 from a security standpoint. The two countries have a long history of military invasions and occupations and supporters from both sides seemed intent on continuing those hostile relations. Prior to the match, approximately 100 fans from both sides were involved in various fights around Warsaw, resulting in 56 arrests and 10 injuries.

A disaster awaits us, one more devastating and detrimental to our existence than anything we have before encountered. While Obama sits in Chicago picking over the rancid carcass of the Clinton administration in hopes of finding another stooge to fill his cabinet, to our south a storm is brewing. The Russian Bear, now fully awakened from its decades long hibernation, is once again seeking to extend its influence and military might into the western hemisphere. The danger we face from the sinful alliance between the Russians and that criminal Chaves poses a threat not only to US hegemony in our...

Now in their 70s and 80s, children of the victims of Josef Stalin's political repressions remembered one of the darkest pages of Russia's history at a ceremony Wednesday in central Moscow. Several hundred people laid flowers and lit candles to honor the victims of the Great Purge of 1937, when millions were labeled "enemies of the state" and executed without trial or sent to labor camps. The 70th anniversary comes as the Kremlin, focused on restoring Russians' pride in their Soviet-era history, has been trying to soften public perception of Stalin's rule and hushing up the full horror of his...

Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp's mass wedding. "They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must not happen to Russia". Obediently, couples move to a special section of dormitory tents arranged in a heart-shape and called the Love Oasis, where they can start procreating for the motherland. With its relentlessly upbeat tone, bizarre ideas and tight control, it sounds like a weird indoctrination session for a phoney religious cult. But this organisation - known as "Nashi", meaning "Ours" - is youth movement run by Vladimir Putin's Kremlin that has become a...