Free Republic

Justice and truth are on Russia's side, President Vladimir Putin said MOSCOW, February 24./TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had made the decision to hold a special military operation in response to address of leaders of the Donbass republics. "People's republics of Donbass approached Russia with request for help. In connection<...>I made the decision to hold a special military operation. Its goal is to protect the people that are subjected to abuse, genocide from the Kiev regime for eight years, and to this end we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine and put to justice those that...

Investors rushed for safety, pushing down stocks and lifting the prices of oil, gold and government bonds, after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine and a Ukrainian official said, “The invasion has begun.” By early afternoon Thursday in Hong Kong, futures tied to the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones Industrial Average all stood more than 2% lower. Regional stock indexes also fell sharply, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropping more than 3%. Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, topped $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014, with the front-month contract rising as much as 3.3%...

Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a "military operation" in Ukraine's Donbas region He urges Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine to lay down weapons and return to their homes Putin warns that Moscow's response will be "instant" if anyone tries to take on Russia Ukraine's foreign minister accuses Russia of starting a full-scale war, and urges the UN "to do everything possible" to stop it BBC Kyiv correspondent James Waterhouse says a Ukrainian government official has given an indication of the breadth of the Russian military action so far. The official says there have been cruise missile strikes launched this morning...

One of the truly funny "street" gags about the Soviet press, was a fairly commonplace play-on-words that spread throughout the old Soviet block of nations many, many years ago. It went something like this: "There is no Pravda in Izvestia, and no Izvestia in Pravda," which meant, ”There is no Truth in the News; and no News in the Truth." Well, First Amendment fans -- apparently not much has changed! During his recent demi-summit with Valdimir Putin, when President George Bush raised free press issues and other democracy-related issues with this former head of the KGB, Putin actually brought up...