Free Republic

After imposing Moscow’s will on the situation in Syria, Putin is moving on to Libya. And this new proxy conflict he is waging with the West has many of the same hallmarks of the last one: the West backs a pitiful attempt at a ‘democratic’ government with unfortunate Islamist leanings, Putin backs an authoritarian, militaristic autocrat, and ISIS sits squarely in the middle, a target of everyone’s rhetoric but too rarely of their weapons. And once again, the West is being outmaneuvered. The Western-backed government of National Accord ruling from Tripoli is anything but democratic, and is barely held together...

Sailors, spetsnaz on #BМФ #ВФ Dvinitsa 50 during its #Tartus Syria-bound Bosphorus transit pic.twitter.com/ZlH4RA93wY— Yörük Işık (@YorukIsik) June 3, 2016

Russia is now preparing an offensive in order to create a land corridor through mainland Ukraine to the Russian-occupied Crimea, according to Deputy Secretary of National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Mykhailo Koval who addressed the participants of the meeting of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Seimas of Lithuania and the Sejm and the Senate of the Republic of Poland, an UNIAN correspondent reported.

...Speaking on Echo of Moscow radio, I said I considered Vladimir Putin’s decision to run for a third presidential term to be a mistake. A regular changeover, a periodical renewal of the political establishment was essential and Putin could have set an example. “New people would appear who could move the process on. He would be leaving a legacy with much that was positive.” Oh, dear, that put the cat among the pigeons! United Russia stalwarts, rancorous Internet trolls, professional political fixers, the whole motley crew took as one to berating Gorbachev, as if I had said something subversive and...

Sergey Karaganov breaks into a broad smile when asked why his two-decades-old ideas about Moscow “protecting” Russian speakers abroad are suddenly the centre of his country’s foreign policy. “Because almost everything I have said, happened,” Mr. Karaganov said in an interview in his high-ceilinged office in the historic Kitai-Gorod district of Moscow, a short walk from Red Square. It’s Vladimir Putin who has made defending the rights of Russian-speakers wherever they live into a foreign-policy principle for the Kremlin. But in setting this interventionist new course, the Russian President borrowed heavily from the ideas of Mr. Karaganov, whom Mr. Putin...

The outcome of dueling versions of the National Defense Authorization Act could determine how much the U.S. lines Russia's pockets before what some lawmakers hope is a speedy transition to a domestically produced rocket engine. The RD-180 engine is built by NPO Energomash, a manufacturer mostly owned by the Russian Federation. It's used in the Atlas V rocket, built by Lockheed Martin and Boeing's United Launch Alliance. The House version of the NDAA approves all of the 18 requested engines. In the Senate, where there has been a lengthy battle over buying from Russia, the NDAA authorizes nine engines. Either...

In significant news that has thus far either gone under or outright unreported by the media, U.S. military advisors have “boots on the ground” in Yemen, according to a recent report in the Washington Post by Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Missy Ryan: “The Pentagon has placed a small number of U.S. advisors on the ground in Yemen to support Arab forces battling al-Qaeda, military officials said on Friday, signaling a new American role in that country’s multi-sided civil war. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. personnel had been in the country for about two weeks, supporting Yemeni and...

Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit to the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos on mount Athos sat in the chair, which previously could only occupy the Byzantine emperors. Putin said about the need to “strengthen the spiritual power of all the Orthodox” and declared the Greek mountain “a source of well-being and grace” for the Russian Orthodox world. Putin visited Athos, having participated in events in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the appearance of Russian monks on the Holy mountain. On the website of the Kremlin promptly a photo gallery, and Greek TV covered the...

Saudi authorities have arrested a man for shooting a male doctor who had helped his wife's delivery, after arguing that a female doctor should have overseen the birth. The doctor, Muhannad Al Zabn, delivered the baby in April at the King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh, Gulf News reported. The father offered his thanks to the doctor and asked to meet him at the hospital to show him his appreciation in person for the delivery. The pair proceeded to meet in the hospital garden to talk about the delivery when the father unveiled a firearm and shot at the doctor,...

Securing pilot Nadiya Savchenko's release from Russian captivity was a PR coup for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko but the outspoken woman feted as the nation's "Joan of Arc" may ultimately prove a thorn in his side. While in jail, Savchenko was named a lawmaker in what is now the main opposition party at a time of growing disillusion with the slow pace of reforms and tackling corruption. She has also condemned a key plank of Poroshenko's ceasefire deal with pro-Russian separatists granting them autonomy in eastern Ukraine. "She may just ask all those who are now in power - what...

(ANTIMEDIA) The Unites States has the world’s most powerful military — and a huge budget to match it. In fact, the U.S. spends more on defense than the next seven countries’ military budgets combined. America’s navy has been branded a “Global Force for Good,” and U.S. military operations around the world are sold to the public as freedom-by-force operations (see: Operation Iraqi Freedom). But what is the truth about America’s foreign policy? Is America truly a benevolent empire hell-bent on raining democracy-by-drone strikes around the world? To answer this question, we looked at America’s arms global deals and came to...

When will the Socialist Left government of Victoria realise that the Safe Schools program to coach children into being more ”gender fluid” is part of the Marxist Ward’s work, too?: Safe Schools Coalition co-ordin­ator Roz Ward was forced yesterday to quit her advisory role with the Victorian government and faces a university ­investigation over a Facebook post where she ­labelled the Australian flag “racist” and called for it to be replaced with a socialist red ­ensign. .....Ms Ward posted a photo of the rainbow flag on top of Parliament House on Facebook with the comment: “Now we just need to...

Russian warplanes hit a key rebel supply route to Aleppo on Sunday in Moscow's first strikes on Syria's battleground second city since a February ceasefire, a monitoring group said. "The Russian and Syrian warplanes together carried out at least 40 air strikes on the Castello road," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. "They are the heaviest air strikes there since February, and they are also the first confirmed Russian strikes since the truce began," Abdel Rahman said.(Snip)The Castello road is a key supply route for rebels leading north out of Aleppo.

Top Donald Trump advisor Stephen Miller spoke with CNN’s Brooke Baldwin today about Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy. stephen miller hillary Stephen Miller pointed out the obvious: “Honestly, I feel bad for Bernie Sanders supporters and I’ll tell you why. Thanks to super delegates, the Democratic party is on the verge of nominating the most pro-war, pro-Wall Street lawmaker in the modern history of the Democratic Party… Hillary Clinton’s platform is, I want to start wars in the Middle East and then import all the refugees into the United States and other countries without knowing who they are. That’s a recipe...

The Russian defense minister proposed on Friday that Russia and the U.S.-led coalition launch joint action against al-Qaida's branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said no agreement on such action has been made with Russia. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Moscow had proposed to Washington that the coalition call on all factions eager to abide by a cease-fire in Syria to leave the areas where the al-Qaida branch is active by May 25. Then Russia and the U.S.-led coalition could conduct joint strikes against the Nusra Front and any other...

A major Islamic researcher, highly respected in her field, has said outright ‘we are going to destroy you completely from your culture down to your biological makeup’ on a taxpayer-funded television station–a German equivalent of PBS or C-SPAN. “No more blue eyes.” “No more light hair.” This video significantly irritates me. I’ve been saying it over and over here, but Merkel is planning a total genocide of the German people by demographics. Merkel & Co. have alluded to it. The average (instead of Joe) “Mohammed on the street” has said it. Now you have a major Islamic researcher, highly respected...

For months, Scandinavian countries have accused Russian military planes and ships of slipping into their waters without permission. It’s made many Nordic governments wary of the Kremlin’s intentions in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Russia’s assertive behavior is driving Sweden and Finland — two countries that have never been part of NATO — closer to the alliance. At present, Norway, Denmark and Iceland make up NATO’s Nordic members. According to Anna Wieslander at the Atlantic Council: Denmark has played a key role, with some support from the United Kingdom, putting Baltic Sea security and the perspective of relevant...

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday criticized Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin, accusing him of placing a "time bomb" under the state, and sharply denouncing brutal repressions by the Bolshevik government. The harsh criticism of Lenin, who is still revered by communists and many others in Russia, is unusual for Putin, who in the past carefully weighed his comments about the nation's history to avoid alienating some voters. At the same time, he signaled that the government has no intention of taking Lenin's body out of his Red Square tomb, warning against "any steps that would divide the...

Moscow, May 13, Interfax - Boosting religious intolerance in certain Western countries and crisis of securing religious freedoms in zones of military conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa requires immediate reaction, the Kremlin official believes. The president's website informs that they talked about it at a session of the Council for Interaction with Religious Associations chaired by the head of the Kremlin administration Sergey Ivanov. Ivanov in his speech reminded that "today crisis in providing religious freedoms is seen in zones of military conflicts and on the territories controlled by terrorist groups in the Middle East and North...

In Putin, IOC aristocrats such as Bach thought they had found their kindred spirit, willing to pay and do anything for Olympic glory. Construct lavish and ridiculous facilities that play to the IOC's over-inflated sense of worth? Check. Suck up to IOC leadership like they are all-powerful? Check. Toss a little something extra on the side to assure the voting on host city goes smooth? Cough. Cough. The New York Times on Thursday reported the latest, and most damning, proof yet that Russia did more than just host the 2014 Winter Olympics: they conspired to fix it. Grigory Rodchenkov, the...