Free Republic

Russia is “a gas station masquerading as a country,” the noted warmonger John McCain once said. This astoundingly disrespectful statement by a major US political figure says much about the condescending and diplomatically destructive attitudes of US elites towards Russia since 1991.But Russia’s size, vast stores of critical resources, military might (especially nukes), and tenacious cultural conservatism mean that it will be a significant force in the world for some time. The West could have benefited greatly from a peaceful integration of this enormous country into Europe, but it chose another route. More honestly, the United States chose another route.After...

Forty second clip belowCol. Douglas Macgregor discusses question with Judge Nap

In theory, the BBC is supposed to be independent of the British government because the network is funded by fees paid by viewers, but most everyone understands that the BBC and the UK government are partners in narrative control, regardless of protestations to the contrary. And for evidence of that close relationship, look no further than a story about monitoring Russian submarin activity that appeared in almost identical form on the BBC’s website as a site run by the Royal Navy. Jimmy and America’s comedian Kurt Metzger discuss how the only “state-affiliated” media outlets that get censored by social media...

MOSCOW, 25 July. /TASS/. The FSB of Russia disrupted the operation of the Ukrainian military intelligence to hijack the planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was supervised by the NATO special services. This was reported to TASS on Monday at the Center for Public Relations (CSP) of the FSB of Russia. "The Federal Security Service uncovered and stopped the operation of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine to hijack combat aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, supervised by NATO special services," the CSO noted. The FSB reported that "Ukrainian military intelligence officers, acting on...

"The war in Ukraine is in its sixth month, and there’s no end in sight. Here’s what we know… Almost everything you heard about the war in Ukraine from U.S. media over the course of March, April and May was a lie. **** It’s not that I’m pro-Russian — I’m not. I’m pro-truth. And I don’t defend the Russian invasion in any way (although I do understand it). Even Bloomberg and The New York Times are now starting to admit that the war is a lost cause for Ukraine and the U.S. economy is suffering from sanctions aimed at Russia....

Ukraine has long been considered the most corrupt nation in Europe, and was widely recognized as such by American media outlets – right up until Russia invaded and suddenly Ukraine had to be “reimagined” as a paragon of democracy and a plucky underdog in the fight for freedom. Now that the Ukrainians appear likely to lose the war, however, mainstream outlets like NPR are rediscovering Ukraine’s rank corruption and reporting the truth again – but unfortunately too late to stop the tens of billions of dollars in military aid that’s been shipped off. Jimmy and America’s comedian Kurt Metzger discuss...

Lina al-Hathloul is an activist from Saudi Arabia whose sister, Loujain, was imprisoned and tortured from 2018 to 2021. She traveled to Washington this week to explain to policymakers just how devastating it is that President Joe Biden has traveled to the Middle East to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, known as MBS. “The thing is, Saudi Arabia is now a police state. So whatever reforms they brag about having, concretely, it really depends on the will of MBS,” Lina al-Hathloul told me. “It’s a dictatorship and a dark era for Saudi that we’ve never experienced...

Leaked audio from days after the 2016 election, before Trump’s inauguration—Biden calls Poroshenko, then head of state of Ukraine, and threatens him with assassination if he cooperates with the incoming Trump administration.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer presses Saudi diplomat Adel al-Jubeir, who was in the room during President Joe Biden's meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Video at source.

Throughout his 20-plus year rule, Vladimir Putin has consolidated power through graft, intimidation, manipulation of the Russian legal system, and forcefully silencing critics. Putin’s ability to sustain subservience and loyalty to his authority is no small feat, especially in a political culture of ruthless power politics. His reputation as a master tactician abroad has also been carefully cultivated, if not exaggerated.

Temperatures would plunge in a bigger shift than the last Ice Age and crops would fail around the world after nuclear war erupted, a study has shown. The after-effects would be long-lasting with oceans taking hundreds of years to recover, and fishing devastated, the researchers warn. Professor Cheryl Harrison, of Louisiana State University, said: "It doesn't matter who is bombing whom. It can be India and Pakistan or NATO and Russia. Once the smoke is released into the upper atmosphere, it spreads globally and affects everyone." In all the simulated scenarios, nuclear firestorms would release soot and smoke into the...

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Wednesday that a breakthrough had been reached in the agreements and a coordination center would be established in Turkey that will oversee the comings and goings of merchant vessels. Officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the U.N. will be involved in the coordinating efforts, the minister said. According to the preliminary plan, Russia would agree to a cease-fire to allow three Ukrainian ports to be opened in the Black Sea to allow for safe passage, first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The merchant ships would be escorted by Ukrainian naval vessels which would...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stormed off and headed home early after being snubbed by other diplomats at the G20 summit — who refused to take a group photo with him over his nation’s invasion of Ukraine. Foreign ministers who gathered in Bali, Indonesia, this week, did not pose for a traditional “family”-style group photo, after several of them reportedly refused to be pictured with Vladimir Putin’s chief envoy. The Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken led the photo-op boycott.

A document released by a news outlet on Tuesday reportedly shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered that his government destroy all the documents related to the nation’s biolabs being run in collaboration with the Hunter Biden-connected firm Metabiota. NBC may have actually caught this destruction on camera. ...

The Russian president is delivering his speech at the annual SPIEF business forum in St. Petersburg. His address is dedicated to the future of Russia and the rest of the world in the wake of renewed pressure from western sanctions against Moscow. Addressing the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the unipolar world has come to an end despite all of its beneficiaries' attempts to preserve it at any cost. The president added that following the end of the Cold War, the US declared its national interests to be "sacred" and not to be...

As the situation in Donbass (East Ukraine) worsens for Ukrainian forces, as reports are now leaking from Kyiv that Ukraine is losing 1,000 troops a day, the State Department has essentially admitted American mercenaries have been captured by Russian forces in-country. Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, from Hartselle, Alabama are currently “missing” from the battlefield, however, their precise fate is as yet unconfirmed, according to a State Department official, reported Zero Hedge.White House national security spokesman John Kirby didn’t confirm the reports, but strongly hinted that it’s the administration’s belief they were...

Colllapse of Ukrainian military and US foreign policy. Speaker notes that top economic advisors need to attempt to explain nature of reality to Breadline Joe Biden and if he ignores them (most likely case), resign and take their case to the world. Present policy is not worth sacrificinig the United States over.

The euphoria that accompanied Ukraine’s unforeseen early victories against bumbling Russian troops is fading as Moscow adapts its tactics, recovers its stride and asserts its overwhelming firepower against heavily outgunned Ukrainian forces. Around 200 Ukrainian soldiers are now being killed every day, up from 100 late last month, an aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the BBC on Friday — meaning that as many as 1,000 Ukrainians are being taken out of the fight every day, including those who are injured. But the odds against the Ukrainians are starting to look overwhelming, said Danylyuk, the government adviser. “The Russians are...

Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov chastised Western powers in an article published in Russia's International Affairs magazine on Tuesday, ahead of events in Europe to mark the D-Day landings on the Nazi-occupied Normandy coast. "False interpretations of history are being introduced into the Western education system with mystifications and pseudo-historical theories designed to belittle the feat of our ancestors," Lavrov wrote. "Young people are being told that the main credit in victory over Nazism and liberation of Europe goes not to the Soviet troops, but to the West due to the landing in Normandy, which took place less than a...

Ukrainians! Defenders! Every year on June 1 we celebrate Children's Day. A special day when adults pay special attention to the rights of children, safety and development of our kids. But since February 24, everything has changed in our country. And literally every day now is a day of protection for us. Protection of all our people, children, our future. Protection of a free country where every child can, when he or she grows up, live the life he or she wants. Without coercion and oppression. Everyone sees what Russia brings to Ukraine and what it wants to bring to...