Free Republic

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said Sunday that the U.S. handling of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine represents a "shameful" chapter of American history. "I'm ashamed of my country, I'm ashamed of my president and I'm ashamed of myself that I haven't done more to help these people," McCain said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." He also had harsh words for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, whom McCain said "legitimized for the first time in 70 years the dismemberment of a country in Europe." Merkel and Hollande helped broker a recent cease-fire between...

Mikhail Gorbachev accuses the United States of drawing Russia into a new Cold War saying he fears hostilities could escalate into armed conflict. The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has accused the United States of drawing Russia into a new Cold War and said he feared hostilities could escalate into armed conflict. The United States "has already drawn us into a new Cold War, trying openly to achieve its main idea of triumphalism," Mr Gorbachev said in an interview with the Interfax news agency. "Where will that lead all of us? A Cold War is already being waged openly. What's...

Nusra Front is the Sunni Muslim al-Qaida offshoot which is currently fighting the Iranian-backed axis of Bashar Assad and Hezbollah in Syria. Israel has opened its borders with Syria in order to provide medical treatment to Nusra Front and al-Qaida fighters wounded in the ongoing civil war, according to The Wall Street Journal. The prominent American newspaper reported that Nusra Front, the Sunni Muslim al-Qaida offshoot which is currently fighting the Iranian-backed axis of Bashar Assad and Hezbollah, "hasn't bothered Israel since seizing the border area last summer" along the Golan Heights.

The Russian leader has been missing, prompting speculation he’s deathly ill—but Italian and Swiss media says he’s just been in Lugano for the birth of his baby. Russian president Vladimir Putin appears to be back at the Kremlin after a mysterious disappearance that had people wondering if the Russian leader might be seriously ill or at risk of a coup. But a Swiss newspaper says the Russian playboy was just in Lugano for the birth of his lovechild. In an article titled Es ist ein Mädchen! or “It’s a Girl,” the paper Bilk claims that Putin and his alleged 32-year-old...

From Russia, with love child. Vladimir Putin hasn’t been seen in public for more than a week — and rampant speculation over the Russian president’s whereabouts took a wild turn on Friday with reports he was in Switzerland for the birth of his secret daughter. “Es ist ein Madchen!” or “It’s a Girl!” screamed a headline from the Swiss newspaper Blick, which had him in Lugano to witness the arrival of his child with Alina Kabaeva, 31, a retired Olympic gymnast who served in the Russian parliament and now works for a media company. The paper reported that Putin’s daughter...

Link to Bloomberg: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-13/being-a-daddy-might-be-good-for-putin

From Vitaly Klim's facebook. Friends from Moscow reported: since yesterday, since around 11.03.14: 40 minutes and to date, the core functions of the Office of the RUSSIAN FEDERATION Dmitry Medvedev, are in control of the ARMED FORCES of the RUSSIAN FEDERATION. Noticed increased appearances of "member-carriers" [slang for chauffeured limousines of the government people] accompanied by TRAFFIC POLICE and security to the Kremlin and the Russian Government, and the Kremlin and Moscow itself, marked by unprecedented activity of the helicopter flights. Today, on several occasions landing helicopters were also seen on the territory of Hospital at the Office of the...

Staunton, February 17 – Most analysts have become so focused on Vladimir Putin’s use of “hybrid war” that they do not take into consideration that he could choose to wage a conventional war in some places, and most of these same analysts are also guilty of evaluating the Baltic countries as if Moscow would use the same and common strategy against them. But Marius Laurinavičius, an analyst at the Vilnius Center for Research on Eastern Europe, points out that Moscow could very well employ a “hybrid” war strategy against Estonia and Latvia but use a “conventional” against Lithuania in order...

RIGA - NATO commanders have given the green-light for the creation of rapid-response force command and control centres in the Baltics and three other countries, National Armed Forces Commander Raimonds Graube confirmed to Latvian Radio. According to the portal lsm.lv, this means that a new unit will be set up in Latvia, and this unit will man and operate the new command and control centre. The unit will be responsible for logistics and organisational exercises, as well as receiving rapid-response forces in crisis situations. NATO already has a rapid-response force model in place, however, after Russia’s aggression in Ukraine —...

Increasingly frequent snap military drills being carried out by Russia near its eastern European neighbors could be part of a strategy that will open the door for a Russian offensive on the Baltic States, according to defence expert Martin Hurt, deputy director at Estonia’s International Center for Defence and Security. The Lithuanian and Estonian defense ministries have expressed alarm at the increased military activity, and drawn comparisons to moves prior to the Russian invasion of Crimea. Commenting on Russia’s announcement last week that its armed forces will not cease holding snap military exercises, Hurt, who has previously worked for Estonia’s...

2,000 Russian special troops and 500 armed units are taking part of the military drills in Pskov region, near Estonia-Russia border. According to Russian Defense Ministry, the exercises are part of Russian Airborne Forces tactical drill. More than 1,500 servicemen will be airdropped during the training which is expected to last until February 27. Martin Hurt, an Estonian defense expert at the International Centre for Defense and Security, said to Newsweek magazine that the increasingly frequent snap military drills being carried out by Russia near its neighbours could be part of a strategy that will open the door for a...

FSB, the Russian Federal Security Service, is planning to study the Russian-language skills of ethnic Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Ukrainians. FSB has published a tender to study the linguistics of Russian regions and the post communist countries. The study will ask ten men to read out texts in Russian, which will be recorded and analyzed. The results will be used to compile an atlas of the modern Russian language.

Alexander Lukashenko wants the Chief of General Staff to report on the plans of special operations, the readiness of the Armed Forces to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country in order to prevent anyone from attempts to impose military pressure on Belarus.

MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko would like to expand cooperation with Latvia and other European Union member states without any prejudices. The Belarusian head of state made this statement as he met with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics on 20 February, BelTA has learned. “There are issues that we have to keep in mind all the time, discuss them and, if possible, find acceptable solutions. I have never had and hopefully will never have any prejudices against Latvia. We have always managed to find common ground with our partners, in particular, in trade and economy. I...

Russia's quick and dirty annexation of Crimea, carried out under the watchful gaze of barely disguised Russian special forces, remains a bitter bone of contention a year on. By the West it is regarded as an act of unilateral Russian aggression that triggered a wider Ukrainian crisis. The Russian narrative remains that it was a justified reaction to the illegal overthrow of Ukraine's president by pro-Western mobs in Kiev, and the perceived threat that a new Ukrainian government could nationalize its historic naval base in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

(Reuters) - Poland intends to send military instructors to train Ukrainian soldiers, with the final decision expected next month, an advisor to the Polish defence minister said.

London (CNN)—Western relations with Russia will never again be the same after the war in Ukraine, Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday. "We are faced with a different Russia. I want to warn against the fact that some people see this as something that is going to pass. The situation has changed. And it has changed profoundly." There is "no going back to some sort of normality or some sort of back to normal business. Because that normality does not exist."

Russian police have detained journalist Dmitry Shipilov hours after the publication of his interview with an advocate of greater autonomy for Siberian provinces.

Russia has become a danger to Britain and the country must be prepared to take steps to defend itself and its allies, the former head of MI6 says. Sir John Sawers, who recently retired after five years as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Russia poses a "state to state threat".

NICOSIA, Cyprus – Cyprus' president on Monday sharply rebuked the U.S. ambassador on the Mediterranean island for a tweet he claims linked his visit to Russia to the assassination of opposition figure Boris Nemtsov. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades concluded a four-day visit to Russia on Feb. 28, hours after Nemtsov was killed. U.S. Ambassador John Koenig asked on Twitter: "What do people in #Cyprus think about the week in Russia as seen from here? Anastasiades visit and statements, #Nemtsov assassination?"