Free Republic

Serving or former Russian soldiers have been geolocated in Syria, bloggers have said today, suggesting the Kremlin's operation stretches well beyond it's air campaign. The Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group of Russian investigative bloggers, used social media to locate serving or ex-soldiers in the country. CIT's investigation seems to provide further proof of a Russian ground presence after images from social media accounts appearing to show military personnel in locations across Syria were revealed in September.

Moscow requires major companies to move information to servers in Russia by start of next year A Russian law could place the personal data of millions of Internet users, including Americans, at risk if international digital companies comply by the start of next year, analysts say. The law, enacted last year, requires digital companies to store the personal information of Russians in servers on Russian soil. While officials in Moscow have cited concerns that Russians’ information could be vulnerable to foreign intelligence services such as the National Security Agency (NSA) if it is located outside the country’s borders, critics of...

US Navy say "light in the West Coast sky" was a Trident II (D5) missile test at sea from the submarine "Kentucky" www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xLmB81v-BI

WASHINGTON – U.S. authorities on Tuesday proposed the first-ever federal regulations to cut the potent greenhouse gas methane by limiting emissions from the oil and gas industry. The four-part proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency is part of President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan, aimed at reducing pollution that is hastening human-caused climate change. However, the suggested changes will not, on their own, get the United States to its goal of cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, officials said. “We do project that our proposal will achieve...

The controversial satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is under fire again, this time from Russia, AFP reported Friday. According to the news agency, the Kremlin angrily condemned the magazine for publishing political cartoons on the Metrojet plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula in which 224 people died, most of them Russian tourists. "In our country we can sum this up in a single word, sacrilege," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. "This has nothing to do with democracy or self-expression. It is sacrilege," he added. The Kremlin spokesman called the cartoons "unacceptable" but said Russia would not make an...

Late in September, we brought you "US Readies Battle Plans For Baltic War With Russia" in which we described a series of thought experiments undertaken by The Pentagon in an effort to determine what the likely outcome would be should something go horribly "wrong" on the way to landing the US in a shooting war with Russia in the Balkans. The results of those thought experiments were not encouraging.

History, Identity and Holodomor Denial: Russia’s continued assault on Ukraine Holodomor Memorial in Washington D.C. as final touches are made in preparation for its official opening on November 7. (State Dept./D.A. Peterson) 2015/11/07 • Analysis & Opinion, History, News, Op-ed On Saturday November 7, a long-awaited memorial to a little-known modern genocide will be dedicated in Washington D.C. It will be accompanied by an exhibit at Union Station aimed at raising awareness among Americans of what Ukrainians call the Holodomor, literally “death by hunger,” an engineered famine which took the lives of anywhere from 4 to 10 million Ukrainians in...

WASHINGTON — Mikhail Lesin, a former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin who helped found the English-language news service Russia Today, has been found dead in an upscale Washington hotel room. The Russian Embassy in Washington on Friday confirmed the death of Lesin, whose body was discovered Thursday. Russia Today reported on its website that Lesin, 57, died of a heart attack. Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Officer Sean Hickman said that officers were called to the Dupont Circle Hotel about 11:30 a.m. Thursday and found a man dead. Russian Embassy spokesman Yury Melnik confirmed that the man was Lesin. Russia...

Billionaire Paul Singer, best known in politics for his backing of Jewish and LGBT causes, has backed Florida Senator Marco Rubio in the GOP presidential race. The biggest donor in the 2014 race, Singer's LGBT activism is due to the orientation of his son, Andrew. The elder Singer has created at least two groups dedicated to protecting the state of Israel, loosening immigration laws, and expanding the role of government in promoting the LGBT community's goals. Rubio's star has risen since last week's GOP debate, especially with potential competitors for donors either leaving the race, such as Wisconsin governor Scott...

- The Thomson flight from London Stansted only took evasive action - The pilot had spotted the missile speeding through the air - Holidaymakers were not told they had been seconds from disaster - It was just two months before a Metrojet plane crash in Sinai, killing 224 A British plane carrying 189 passengers came within 1,000ft of a rocket as it approached Sharm El Sheikh, it emerged last night. The Thomson flight from London Stansted only took evasive action after the pilot spotted the missile speeding through the air. The jet landed safely, and holidaymakers were not told they...

An American researcher says it is highly likely that the United States is responsible for the crash of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt this week. On Saturday, the Airbus A321-200 broke up in midair and crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing 224 people on board. An investigation is underway to find out how the disaster happened; however, the airline has said that technical faults or human errors could not have caused the tragic crash. "New information from sources with contacts in the CIA are reporting that the US recently sold ships to Egypt in return for a drone base...

The Russian Defense Ministry denies US allegations that Russian warplanes in Syria are bombing regions, which are out of President Assad’s control, rather than terrorist infrastructure, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday. He explained that US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told Congress hearings held earlier that the Russian air group in Syria delivered most of its strikes at regions which were no longer under the control of President Assad’s regime rather than at terrorists. "If we analyze what various US officials say, there is an impression that the location of terrorist-held facilities is the most...

Days before he was elected to the Russian presidency in 2000, Vladimir Putin told the BBC that Russia was “part of European culture” and that he “would not rule out” the possibility of it joining Nato. “I cannot imagine my own country in isolation from Europe and what we often call the civilised world,” said Putin, who was still acting president after Boris Yeltsin’s sudden resignation on New Year’s Eve 1999. A generation later, as Putin marks the 15th anniversary of acceding to power on 7 May 2000, Russia has changed beyond all recognition from the chaotic, open free-for-all it...

Governor Backs Eminent Domain For Pipelines Posted 10:11 pm, November 2, 2015, by Aaron Brilbeck, Updated at 10:16pm, November 2, 2015 DES MOINES, Iowa -- This week, the Iowa Utilities Board will discuss whether to use eminent domain to seize property from landowners to use for a massive oil pipeline. Dakota Access, LLC wants to use the land for an underground pipeline that would carry roughly a half million barrels of crude oil from North Dakota, through Iowa and to a distribution center in Illinois. Governor Branstad says he believes eminent domain can and should be used for some pipeline...

Russia says Syria 'opposition' guided warplanes to bombing targets AFP 22 hours ago Moscow (AFP) - Russian jets bombed 24 targets in Syria Tuesday using coordinates supplied by "opposition representatives" -- the first time Moscow has claimed to work with opposition groups since the start of its air offensive. "The coordinates of all of these targets were given to us by opposition representatives," senior military official Andrei Kartapolov said, without specifying which groups Moscow had cooperated with. Kartapolov said Moscow's jets hit targets close to Palmyra, Deir Ezzor, Ithriya and eastern Aleppo with assistance from the opposition, destroying "terrorist" command...

Putin and Netanyahu to strike deal on Leviathan gas field The Australian October 20, 2015 12:00AM Russia wants to be the major partner in Israel’s offshore ­Leviathan natural gas field in the eastern Mediterranean, a top ­Israeli foreign affairs analyst said in Sydney yesterday. Ehud Yaari, the senior Middle East commentator for ­Israel’s Channel Two news, said “everybody regrets” a deal was not done with Woodside and that until now Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ruled out a Gazprom deal. Gazprom bid for a stake in the project in 2012 but was beaten by Woodside, which pulled out of...

President Obama mocked Republican candidates who suggested they'll be tough with Vladimir Putin but “can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators at a debate” during a speech on Monday. Obama stated, "Have you noticed that every one of these candidates say, 'You know, Obama's weak, he's — people — Putin's kicking sand in his face, when I talk to Putin, he's going to straighten out. Just looking at him, I'm going to - he's going to be'? And then it turns out, they can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators at a debate."

The weakest President since Jimmy Carter, the "man" who won the Olympic gold medal for Flexibility to Foreign Leaders, mocked the GOP candidates for their response to what is widely accepted as an astonishingly inept and biased set of debate moderators. Obama sneered: "Let me tell you, if you can't handle those guys then I don't think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about it." Ha ha ha, cooed the idiots in the audience. A couple of things about that. Firstly, the GOP candidates handled the left wing CBNC stooges beautifully. The candidates successfully put the...

Germany now is somewhere at the edge of anarchy and sliding towards civil war, or to become a "banana republic without any government," says Hansjoerg Mueller of the Alternative for Germany party. Bavarian official Peter Dreier called German Chancellor Angela Merkel to tell her personally that if Germany welcomes a million refugees, his town of Landshut will only take in around 1,800. Any extra will be put on buses and sent to her Chancellery in Berlin. RT: He says he's going to send them to Berlin, but does he have the power? Hansjoerg Mueller: The person who wants to send...

PHOTOS: Syrian Rebels Put Caged Women on Roofs to Deter Russian Airstrikes Published 9:06 am EST, November 2, 2015 By Sam Prince A new photo series released by an unknown group of Syrian rebels shows Alawite Muslim women locked in cages on top of roofs to help deter airstrikes by Russians. Rebel groups other than ISIS in the region the Free Syrian Army, the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda, and many others. All are fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime, which is currently being propped up by Russia and spearheaded by Putin. Assad himself is Alawite. Click on for the photos.