Free Republic

Summary: Strategic analysis by former US Marine Intelligence Officer and UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter. His analysis is structured into three main parts:Thesis: Ukraine/NATO Fooled Around and will Find Out (FAFO) 1. How we got here. Ukraine/NATO Fooled Around; the war is predicated on the 2008 move to invite Ukraine into NATO, and the 2014 coup. The United States played a major role in how this war started.2. Where we are at. Russia is in a training phase of the main force-- it has not engaged yet. 300k mobilized (not part of the peacetime force) + another 100-180K volunteers. Ukraine...

Russian tax revenue from crude oil and petroleum products plummeted by 48% in February from a year earlier due to the much lower price of Russia’s flagship crude grade after the EU banned imports of Russian oil, according to Bloomberg estimates based on official Russian data. Total tax revenues from oil and natural gas dipped by 46% year over year to $6.9 billion (521 billion Russian rubles) in February, per data from the Russian Finance Ministry published on Friday. Russia’s revenues from crude oil and oil products alone crumbled by 48% annually to $4.8 billion (361 billion rubles), according to...