Free Republic

By nature’s curious design, I was born an optimist — though in some obscure recess of my soul a cynic curls and whispers his dry, inconvenient truths. I believe neither in immaculate conceptions nor second comings, and certainly not in the benevolence of Russian rulers. The fragile hope entertained by some, that they might one day act with reason, springs from a naïve faith in miracles, and miracles stand at odds with both nature and common sense. At all times, under all tsars, commissars, and the latest Kremlin grotesques, Russian rulers, with rare exceptions, have acted not for the benefit...

Award-winning US filmmaker Woody Allen will take part in Moscow International Film Week, according to the event's website. Kicking off this Saturday, the festival is expected to feature dozens of foreign participants. The event has attracted a large number of international attendees despite a wave of 'cancel culture' targeting Russian art and Western attempts to isolate the country's creative community. The director, screenwriter, and four-time Oscar winner will participate in the film week online, hosting a special session titled Legends of World Cinema. The session will be moderated by top Russian director and producer Fyodor Bondarchuk. Joining Allen as participants...

While the raid was happening, a tweet appeared on Bolton’s X page. Interestingly, the post did not concern the raid at all but focused on the Ukraine-Russia war. The tweet was sent at 7:32 AM ET. As TGP readers know, the FBI entered Bolton’s Maryland home about half an hour earlier at 7 A.M ET. Bolton stated that Russia’s ultimate goal was to make Ukraine entirely a part of Russia and said the peace talks would prove futile. Moreover, he said that Trump would only hold further meetings because he wants the Nobel Peace Prize rather than a sincere desire...

he United States twice scrambled fighter jets after it detected a Russian intelligence and surveillance plane near Alaska on both Wednesday and Thursday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said. On Wednesday, two F-16s and one KC-135 tanker were launched to identify and monitor a Russian IL-20 COOT plane flying in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The next day, an E-3, two F-16s and one KC-135 tanker were sent to intercept the same type of aircraft.

Let’s assume peace in Ukraine—granted, a very big-ticket axiom. In our premise, we may include the speculation that Ukraine has ceded, de facto if not formally, at least some of the territory conquered by Russia in the course of the last three years; those who insist that something like total Ukrainian victory is achievable sound suspiciously similar to those who thought the Afghanistan occupation was indefinitely sustainable, and may be safely disregarded for the sake of the exercise.

Ukrainian forces obliterated a critical part of Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline overnight — as Kyiv fought back against Moscow’s ramped-up attacks despite ongoing peace deal talks. Ukraine bombed the Unecha oil pumping station in the Bryansk region late Thursday, according to the commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces, Robert Brovdy. Footage posted on Telegram showed a huge inferno raging at a facility with multiple fuel tanks in the wake of the strikes. Bryansk regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said Ukraine had fired HIMARS rockets and drones at the region in a combined attack, setting the energy facility ablaze

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has awarded medals to his returning and fallen troops, who fought for Russia in the war against Ukraine, as he held an emotional meeting with the families of soldiers killed on the battlefield, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). “The combat activities of overseas operational forces … proved without regret the power of the heroic [North Korean] army,” and that the “liberation of Kursk” proved the “fighting spirit of the heroes”, KCNA reported on Friday, quoting Kim. “Our army is now doing what it ought to do and what needs to...

Trump now realizes that he can't manage an end to the war. It's out of his hands. So what he's very subtly doing, and you saw all sorts of evidence of it yesterday, is pushing the responsibility for the war and for dealing with Putin onto the ha into onto into the hands of the Europeans uh and the Ukrainians who again are working very closely together. So, I think there's a fundamental change taking place..."

The return of the Russian battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov, after 26 years in refit, does not signify a significant change in naval capability, but rather symbolizes the decline of industrial capabilities. Its primary role will likely be symbolic “show-the-flag” cruises, not high-end combat. However, its status as a high-profile emblem of Russian power raises a provocative new question: Could it become a target for Ukraine’s daring special operators, similar to past attacks on the Nordstream pipeline or Russian bomber bases?

SOCAR Oil Terminal Destroyed in Odessa Despite claims from the Trump administration about the success of Monday’s meeting with Zelensky and the European pimp delegation, the prospect for a successful negotiation to end the war in Ukraine is zero. Trump continues to mistakenly believe that he simply needs to get Putin and Zelensky together, who will hammer out a deal. Trump labors under the false assumption that the war in Ukraine was caused in part by a personal tiff between Putin and Zelensky. Putin has been very clear that he will only meet with Zelensky once the details of a...

A fire has started following a drone strike at an industrial site in Russia's southern Novoshakhtinsk city, home to an oil refinery, authorities said on Thursday, as Ukraine stepped up attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure. “A fire broke out at one of the industrial enterprises in Novoshakhtinsk. Preliminarily, no one was hurt. Emergency services are working at the scene,” said Yury Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region, without specifying the target of the attack. Novoshakhtinsk refinery, which sells fuel mainly for export, has an annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of oil, or around 100,000 barrels per...

In one of the largest overnight strikes since the war began, Russia unleashed some 614 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles across Ukraine, killing one, injuring dozens and destroying an American-owned electronics company less than an hour from two NATO borders, officials confirmed Thursday morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said the strike on the private U.S. company, which involved "several" cruise missiles, was "very telling" following President Donald Trump’s attempts to force Moscow to end its invasion.

-snip- Following that post, Trump provided historical context of the United States standing up to Moscow with a Truth Social post composed of a black-and-white photo of him sticking his finger into the chest of Putin and one of President Richard Nixon sticking his finger into the chest of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Elliott Erwitt's 1959 "Kitchen Debate" photograph, showing Nixon jabbing a finger at Khrushchev, became an enduring Cold War symbol of America standing firm against Moscow. Taken at the American National Exhibition in Moscow, the impromptu exchange over communism and capitalism played out in a model kitchen —...

Summary No one has claimed responsibility for 2022 pipeline blasts Suspect used sailing yacht to carry out attack, prosecutors say Suspect arrested while holidaying with family on Adriatic coast Suspect was former Ukrainian officer, WSJ reports Ukraine has previously denied involvement BERLIN/MILAN, Aug 21 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian man was arrested at a holiday bungalow in Italy on suspicion of coordinating attacks on three Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, officials said on Thursday, a breakthrough in an episode that sharpened tensions between Russia and the West. Described by both Moscow and the West as an act of sabotage, the...

"But where we want to start is about losses, killed in action, wounded in action, missing an action. And what you'll hear me say again and again is any figures where there is incentive and there's no repercussion to lie, then be very very careful with any of this. There's a massive information war that is not only taken on board by people with no lives who do it just themselves, but there's also people with financial incentive to push information, especially on websites like this, as well as state funded propaganda as well. I've got my eye on a...

A massive Russian airstrike hit a US-owned electronics factory in Ukraine early Thursday while some 800 civilians were working there. The Flex Ltd. plant in Mukachevo, a city hundreds of miles from the front line, was engulfed in flames after being hit by two Russian Kalibr cruise missiles around 4:30 a.m., according to Ukrainian officials. The factory was not involved in the war and was just one casualty as “hundreds of drones, as well as hypersonic, ballistic, and cruise missiles, targeted civilian and energy infrastructure” in the latest Russian bombardment, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha, wrote on X. “One of...

German prosecutors say a Ukrainian man has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea, several months after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (snip) There is no evidence so far linking Ukraine, Russia or any other state to the attacks.

United States President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to explain that Kiev does not stand a good chance of winning the war against Russia if it is only permitted to defend its territory. "It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It's like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia. Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND defend,"...

The fuel shortage is becoming increasingly acute in Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine, APA reports, citing Russian "Telegram" channels. It is reported that currently in a number of Russian regions there are kilometers of queues of cars in front of gas stations, and the population complains about the low quality and high prices of fuel. Officials say that the gasoline shortage is due to ongoing repairs at a number of large oil refining plants and increased planting and harvesting work in agriculture. Regular attacks by Ukrainian drones on oil refineries also contribute to the fuel shortage.

Through an extended weekend full of summitry, President Donald Trump revived the role of diplomacy in addressing the European conflict, making the first allied contact with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin since early in the Ukraine war. Trump rejected efforts by Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders to escalate the endless proxy war against Russia. Despite his narcissistic peculiarities, the president made more progress toward peace in four days than President Joe Biden did in three years, though there is still great skepticism that the war will soon end.