Free Republic

Gala concert devoted to the 1160th anniversary of Russian statehood Vladimir Putin made a speech at a gala concert marking the 1160th anniversary of Russian statehood. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends, Today, we are marking the 1160th anniversary of Russian statehood. I would like to congratulate you on this momentous historical date that is of key importance for Russia. Veliky Novgorod, Rurikovo Settlement, Staraya (Old) Ladoga and Izborsk are the cradle of Rus, the source of our civilisation and our state, our culture and education. It is from here, from the north, that the guards of the first Russian...

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut is worried that if the GOP takes over either house of Congress in the midterm elections, that will spell the end for funding the war in Ukraine. Journalistic servants of empire Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent dutifully repeat Murphy’s words in the pages of the Washington Post, raising the alarm and fearmongering about the calamitous lack of war that might ensue if Republicans win an electoral victory. ...

The war exposed Ukraine to two of her most critical vulnerabilities – questionable legitimacy and extreme nationalism. Legitimacy derives from acceptance and recognition. However, Ukraine’s neighbors Russia, Poland, and Romania do not accept their current borders with Ukraine.###After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine got its borders within which she achieved independence and millions of Russians, Poles, Hungarians and Romanians were trapped in a newly created country.The Ukrainian problem is greatly exacerbated by the fact that unlike pluralistic societies such as the USA, Canada, Switzerland, and Russia, which are tolerant of different cultures, religions, and languages, Ukraine is not....

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has thrust himself more directly into strategic planning for the war in Ukraine in recent weeks, American officials said, including rejecting requests from his commanders on the ground that they be allowed to retreat from the vital southern city of Kherson. A withdrawal from Kherson would allow the Russian military to pull back across the Dnipro River in an orderly way, preserving its equipment and saving the lives of soldiers. But such a retreat would be another humiliating public acknowledgment of Mr. Putin’s failure in the war, and would hand a second major victory...

Vladimir Putin can call up all the troops he wants, but Russia has no way of getting those new troops the training and weapons they need to fight in Ukraine any time soon. With his invasion of Ukraine faltering badly, the Russian President on Wednesday announced the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Russian television that the country will call up 300,000 reservists. If they end up facing Ukrainian guns on the front lines, they are likely to become the newest casualties in the invasion Putin started more than seven months ago and that...

Former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute died after falling down "several flights of stairs," the institute reported. Scientist Anatoly Gerashchenko, 72, "fell from a great height," in the Russian capital as an accident. At the moment, a commission is being formed to investigate this fact, which will include representatives of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the State Labor Inspectorate in Moscow and the Moscow Aviation Institute. Gerashchenko had been the rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute, which has links to the Russian defense ministry, from 2007 to 2015. Recent reports in the Russian media said Gerashchenko had...

A 2019 Rand Corporation study commissioned by the US Army laid out exactly what the plan to undermine and weaken Russia through military support would be. The study suggested arming Ukraine, imposing sanctions on Russia, ramping up economic warfare, and taking a more aggressive and militaristic posture toward the United States international rival - all while warning this could lead to a military invasion of Ukraine. ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v1_39yAQkI The Duran Russian economy strengthens. EU economies in tatters Alex: All right, Alexander, let's take a look at the Russian economy. We haven't done an update in regards to the Russian economy for a while now. And my question to you is has it collapsed yet? Has the Russian economy collapsed as we have been hearing? Ursula von der leyen in her State of the Union address, the EU State of the Union address thing that they do. She said, and she actually said this, that the Russians are removing chips from their dishwashers and using them in military...

The imprisoned Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has slammed Vladimir Putin and an opposition group has called for nationwide protests after the Russian leader ordered a military mobilization amid the country's recent military losses in Ukraine during a Ukrainian military counteroffensive. Putin, in a televised address to the nation aired earlier on September 21, also warned the West that he isn't bluffing over using all the means at his disposal to protect Russia's territory. Navalny said Putin was sending more Russians to their death for a failing war in a video message recorded from prison and released on social media...

Alexander Avilov / Moskva News Agency Thousands of conscription-age Russian men appeared to be attempting to flee the country Wednesday as others planned how to avoid being sent to the front after President Vladimir Putin declared a partial military mobilization for the war in Ukraine. “I don't want to be cannon fodder,” one 30-year-old Muscovite who asked for anonymity to speak freely told The Moscow Times. The most obvious way for men to avoid conscription is to leave the country and Wednesday’s direct flights from Russia to Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan — nearby countries that allow Russians to enter...

Biden’s speech at the UN this morning will mark the first time in history an American president was translated to ENGLISH. ...

The White House announced the nomination of Lynne Tracy, the current U.S. ambassador to Armenia, to the post after the Russian government signed off on the choice. Such approval is generally routine but couldn't be taken for granted at a time of particularly fraught U.S.-Russian relations over Ukraine, the detention of Americans in Russia, allegations of Russian meddling in U.S. and other elections, and an escalating spat over the staffing of embassies in Washington and Moscow. Tracy, who speaks Russian, previously served as a senior adviser for Russian affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and...

Billionaire George Soros is that rare megalomaniac who not only believes he’s a god but revels in behaving like one. “It’s a sort of a disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out,” he once boasted to The Independent. This god complex, combined with his downright amorality and bizarre ideas about society, makes the 92-year-old extremely dangerous to democracies, especially America. The warning comes loud and clear in Matt Palumbo’s recent book, The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network...

ARepublican request for documents related to Joe Biden’s family’s "international business schemes," including Hunter Biden’s business deals that may be influencing U.S. foreign policy, was dismissed by House Democrats on Tuesday.

Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee have obtained bombshell documents proving that Joe Biden was deeply involved in the family business of selling American natural gas to the Chinese–while he was planning to run for President. According to multiple whistleblowers, the Biden family made promises to those who worked with them in 2017 and onward that they would “reap the rewards in a future Biden administration.” These explosive revelations “pose national security concerns,” Oversight Republicans proclaimed Tuesday night. The Biden clan enriched itself by selling the natural resources to a Chinese firm closely affiliated with the Chinese Communist...

Vladimir Putin today issued a chilling new threat to use nuclear weapons against the West, telling world leaders to back off Ukraine while warning: 'I'm not bluffing'. The desperate despot also ordered the mobilisation of 300,000 military reserves - a first in Russia since the Second World War - and gave the go-ahead for referendums to be held in occupied areas of Ukraine that would make them a part of Russia, in the Kremlin's eyes at least. He vowed to use 'all means' to defend the regions, saying: 'If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use...

Vladimir Putin today made a speech announcing that the conflict in Ukraine would be escalated, resulting in citizens attempting to leave the country. In Putin's speech, he said there would be a partial mobilization of the military. Reservists and ex-military personnel with "certain military specialties and relevant experience" will be subject to conscription, he said. Following this, according to the Russian online newspaper Lenta, flights to Armenia, Turkey and Georgia sold out. "All tickets for direct flights to Istanbul and Yerevan were sold out in a few minutes after Putin's address," the publication's Twitter page wrote in a caption. It...

President Biden is set to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York for the second time as president on Wednesday, when he will announce new U.S. investments to address global food insecurity, rebuke Russia over the war in Ukraine and tout his administration's foreign policy actions since he took office. The address comes as Mr. Biden seeks to rally global leaders to continue supporting the Ukrainian government with arms and financial aid, with the war now in its seventh month. Mr. Biden will emphasize the principle of the United Nations charter that countries cannot conquer their neighbors by...

Multiple pro-Moscow officials in Ukraine on Tuesday announced their intent to stage referendums on joining Russia, including the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin, as well as the Russia-installed official over the southern Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo. “I think that people have long been waiting for a referendum here and it will probably be a political move that will help ensure the safety of civilians,” Pushillin said Tuesday. ...

...[captioning continues:] This only exacerbates the conflict, adds to the suffering of victims & refugees. ...exacerbates food and energy sources and accelerates global inflation. All this causes damage to the vast majority of the peoples of the world. The great powers openly or tacitly position themselves in the face of the conflict in Ukraine in order to serve their hegemonic interests. Therefore it is impossible not to suspect that this war, although it seems perverse and incredible, serves the interests of the military industry."