Free Republic

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has it fundamentally right: The war Vladimir Putin launched in February 2022 is part of a global struggle that will only grow unless the West wakes up. Putin’s goal is to challenge NATO supremacy, to rebuild the Soviet empire of old. Vlad already is busy fracturing the alliance, and undermining NATO members on his doorsteps (he’s slamming Finland with a new wave of “asylum seekers” from the Mideast, for instance). The three support each other not just materially (Chinese supplies and Iranian drones to Russia; Russian and Iranian oil to China, etc.), but also cooperate in...

US unilateralism has wrecked the chances of peace in the Middle East, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, told a crisis Brics meeting on Gaza as he attempted to woo leaders of the global south. The virtual meeting of 11 nations, convened by South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, came as Arab foreign ministers toured capitals to drum up support for a fresh UN security council resolution mandating Israel to introduce a full ceasefire and end what they say are breaches of international humanitarian law. ...Putin told the Brics meeting that the US was undermining the chances of peace by trying to...

"It's a vast country, but there are not enough people. Not even mentioning the economy...We really need more people, this is obvious, everyone admits it," [Patriarch Kirill] said... Authorities have also started to restrict access to abortion pills and emergency contraception amid a surge in demand that followed the beginning of the war in Ukraine... Russia for decades has been experiencing a population decline, and this appears to have worsened amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, with high casualty rates and men fleeing the country to avoid being conscripted to fight... It is estimated that Russia's population will fall to...