Free Republic

May 27 was a dark day for Ukraine. That was the day Lyman, the last free town north of the Donets River in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas River, finally fell to Russian forces. Capturing Lyman helped the Russian army to consolidate its position in Donbas and secure supply lines across the region. Lyman was a domino. As it fell, it knocked down Severodonetsk, the last free city east of the Donets. And as Severodonetsk fell, it toppled Lysychansk, its twin city on the opposite side of the river. Nearly four months later, the dominos are falling in the opposite direction. A...

Advisory - Story has been withdrawn - Multiple bodies found at mass burial site in Ukraine's Izium with rope around necks

New research from University College London (now formally known as London’s Global University) warns that so-called “green energy” and the political push behind it is driving a shortage of sulfuric acid, a fertilizer component also found in lithium-ion batteries. Published in Geographic Journal, the study reveals that upwards of 80 percent of the global supply of sulfur comes from the desulfurization of fossil fuels, which the climate brigade has pronounced as evil because they are supposedly heavy polluters.The push to “decarbonize” the planet in order to cool it and prevent global warming and climate change is making sulfur much harder...

CHISNAU, Sept. 18 (Reuters)-At least 5,000 people rallied in Moldova's capital on Sunday, demanding the resignation of the government and pro-Western President Maia Sandu...

Germany’s public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, has revised its code of conduct to require support for Israel’s right to exist, and employees who fail to do so may now be fired. The move announced Sept. 1 preceded a court order last week that DW reinstate a former employee fired who was fired after the company determined she had made comments about Israel that could be construed as antisemitic. In all, seven employees from the broadcaster’s Arabic service were let go last year on similar grounds, and so far two have successfully sued DW for reinstatement. The revised conduct code appears to...

President Biden's latest climate appointee studied at a Chinese Communist Party-controlled university that conducts research for the People's Liberation Army. Biden this week tapped Dr. Yue (Nina) Chen to serve as chief climate risk officer for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, where she will develop "climate risk management frameworks for the federal banking system." Chen earned her chemical engineering degree from Tsinghua University, which one think tank deems a "very high risk" because of its involvement in a "high level of defense research and alleged involvement in cyberattacks" on behalf of the Chinese military. Tsinghua conducts research...

President Biden has once again warned President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia against using unconventional or nuclear weapons to try to turn the tide of the war in Moscow’s favor, saying that such an action would “change the face of war unlike anything since World War II.” Speaking in an interview with the CBS News program “60 Minutes” that is scheduled to air on Sunday, Mr. Biden said that the United States’ response would be “consequential,” though he declined to go into detail. “You think I would tell you if I knew exactly what it would be? Of course I’m...

Another excellent presentation from my favorite Military Analyst, Scott Ritter. Though this one offers a new twist in the first 1/2 hr. of the program. Ritter passionately answers a question from a viewer about his criminal conviction in great detail and makes clear he is not guilty. Years of appeals that are still in progress. This is the first time I have seen him address this question.

Bluntly challenged by Indian Prime Minister Nerandra Modi over the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Russia would strive to stop the conflict “as soon as possible” but then blamed Ukraine for refusing to negotiate, though Putin ordered the invasion and his troops are still occupying a large swath of Ukrainian territory. Putin’s remarks came during an appearance with Modi, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where they are attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In a stunning public rebuke, Modi told Putin: “Today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 sparked the beginning of an intensified war between the two forces. Now, the richest man in Ukraine, Rinat Akhmedov, set out to build shelters for Ukrainian soldiers as the war raged on with all of its devastations. According to Bloomberg's report, a Ukrainian steelworks controlled by billionaire Akhmetov has started constructing prefabricated dugouts and transporting them to soldiers engaged in front-line combat with Russia. WAR CAPSULES According to steel manufacturer Metinvest Holding LLC, the capsules can resist impacts from 150-millimeter rounds after being buried 1.5 meters (5 feet) beneath the surface. They...

Mike Adams: Interview with Gonzalo Lyra in two partsSame thing I'm seeing from all intelligent sources: Ukies have rolled and walked into a gigantic Russian trap and suffered huge losses for it while taking over a couple of militarily worthless villages and inflicting very light if any damage on Russians. Meanwhile, Europe is being devastated by the boomerang effect of anti-Russian sanctions which are not harming Russia at all.

(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) The White House has revoked its support for the Eastern Mediterranean pipeline, a 1,900km project that will transport natural gas from an Israeli-owned offshore drilling site to Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus, The Gatestone Institute reported. The Biden administration discussed the decision with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan but apparently did not include the pipeline’s main beneficiaries—Israel, Greece, Egypt or Cyprus—in the talks. The White House said the EastMed pipeline will harm its “climate goals” and escalate tensions in the region without serving viable economic interests, Keep Talking Greece reported. Erdoğan has opposed the EastMed pipeline because...

Biden's decision — reportedly coordinated with Turkey but reached without consulting Israel, Greece or Cyprus, the main countries involved in the project — undercuts three of the strongest American allies in the Mediterranean region.EastMed's cancellation — variously described as a "disastrous decision," a "strategic mistake" and an act of "appeasement" of Erdoğan — represents a major geopolitical victory for the Turkish strongman.The EastMed pipeline has been in the works for more than a decade. The Israel-Greece-Cyprus project — joined by Bulgaria, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia — has long been seen as a way to diversify natural gas supplies...

Over the roughly two decades that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been in power, he's dedicated a lot of time and money to building up and modernizing Russia's military. In the process, Putin garnered a reputation as a force to be reckoned with and was widely viewed as one of the most powerful leaders in the world. But the war in Ukraine has decimated the Russian military that Putin spent years building, while raising questions about his grip on power, Russia experts and military analysts told Insider. "Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic defeat. So far the Kremlin...

Could Russia still fight NATO? The war in Ukraine has proved catastrophic for the Russian military thus far. In almost seven months of war, the Russian forces have suffered one humiliating defeat after another, losing tens of thousands of troops in the process and thousands of pieces of equipment. As a result, the capabilities of the Russian military have been seriously degraded, and Moscow’s ability to fight the U.S. and NATO has been dramatically degraded.

The first statement made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her annual State of the European Union address on Wednesday was not verbal, but visual. Clad in bright blue and yellow alongside other senior politicians, she showed support for Ukraine's battle with Russia, making clear even before the speech began that the war would top the agenda. With Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska in Strasbourg for the occasion, von der Leyen pledged Europe's "unshakeable" commitment to Kyiv, sending a defiant message to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. "Putin will fail and Europe will prevail," the chief...

China and Russia aim to lead the world towards a new international order, according to one of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) highest-ranking diplomats. “The Chinese side is willing to work with the Russian side to continuously implement high-level strategic cooperation between the two countries, safeguard common interests, and promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction,” said CCP Politburo member Yang Jiechi, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry. “The relationship between the two countries has always been on the right track, and both sides firmly support each other on issues relating...

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit will be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from Thursday to Friday. The summit has received particular attention from the international community. Fifteen heads of state, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will attend the summit. This is the first face-to-face discussion between leaders of the SCO member states since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The meeting will include Iran as the ninth member of the SCO and issue the Samarkand Declaration to expound the SCO's position on a series of international issues. As the world's largest...

All have fallen for the believe that the Ukrainian rapid advance has caused a Russian defeat. That however is not the case. The main Russian forces had already left the area. What was left were sentry guards of the Luhansk People’s Republic and a few companies of the Russian National Guard which is more or less a police force. That is why the ‘western’ official talking with Reuters is quite cautious with his assessment: “There’s an ongoing debate about the nature of the Russian drawdown, however it’s likely that in strict military terms, this was a withdrawal, ordered and sanctioned...

The Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive around the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine starting on Sept. 6 destroyed half of the best tank division in the best tank army in the Russian armed forces. A hundred wrecked or captured tanks in a hundred furious hours. That’s how much destruction the Ukrainians inflicted on the Russian 4th Guards Tank Division, part of the elite 1st Guards Tank Army, the Russian army’s best armor formation. Now the 1st GTA is retreating north in order to preserve what remains of its front-line divisions. But the damage the tank army has suffered could have lasting...