Free Republic

When will the guerilla war against Russian occupation start? Will the Ukrainian Govt retreat to Lviv? Will Russia invade western Ukraine too? Two weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, and still no ‘decapitation’ of the Ukrainian government, no city captured except Kherson (which no non-Ukrainian had ever heard of before the war), and maybe 2,000 military dead on each side. It’s not exactly a stalemate, since the Russians have more tanks, more artillery and more air power, and they have not yet used them as aggressively as they might. So, we can use this (relative) pause in the fighting to examine...

When one discusses the real reason for the Second Amendment – the right of citizens to defend themselves against a potentially tyrannical government – inevitably someone points out the stark difference in firepower between a guerilla uprising in the United States and the United States government itself. This is not a trivial observation. The U.S. government spends more on the military than the governments of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, United Kingdom, and Japan combined. Plus, the potential of a tyrannical government is arguably upon us – with the federal government spying on its own citizens, militarizing local police...

The Los Angeles Marathon was held Sunday, starting at Dodger Stadium, winding through downtown LA and Hollywood, and finishing in Santa Monica. Part of the uniqueness of the course is the entertainment and spectacle along the route. Guerrilla street artist Sabo, added a little something extra for this year’s participants: street_19 Each of the sixteen posters copied the style of the marketing materials for the race. Here’s the logo from the race organizers: Screen Shot 2015-03-16 at 10.50.47 AM And here’s the slightly revised one that was on the bottom of each of the posters: Screen Shot 2015-03-16 at 10.51.53...

Hundreds of pom-poms and knitted items have been strung from trees and lampposts to help reduce the fear of crime in an area of Leicester. Leicestershire Police hope the "guerilla knitting" or "yarn bombing" will encourage more people to use Bede Park and Great Central Way. Some of the park's users told BBC Radio Leicester the items - including tree warmers - do not make them feel safer. But criminologist Charlotte Bilby said they could have a positive effect. 'Something silly' Ms Bilby, a senior lecturer in criminology at Northumbria University, said: "I think that making an area look cosier...

With the skyrocketing price of gasoline, it’s time to ressurect the Sticky Note Campaign. Take a pack of “Post Its” write your anti-Obama slogan and then leave one on the gas pump during your next visit. Sticky notes, as advocated at gas pumps and on stores shelves, represent what is known as “Counter propaganda”.

A DUTCH woman who joined Colombia's largest rebel group only to complain of disillusionment in a diary found in 2007 at an abandoned jungle camp has now appeared in a video pledging allegiance to the guerrillas. In a brief interview, Tanja Nijmeier, speaking in Spanish, said she was not being held against her will and was proud to belong to the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. "Just come and try to 'free' me and we'll receive you here with AK (Kalashnikov rifles],, with mines, with mortars, with everything," she said in the video, which Colombian journalist Jorge...

POLOKWANE, South Africa - Jacob Zuma, a populist whose career survived rape and corruption charges, was elected leader of the governing African National Congress on Tuesday, putting him into position to become South Africa's next president. Zuma received 2,329 votes, ahead of incumbent Thabo Mbeki's 1,505 votes, following one of the most divisive campaigns the party has seen. Chaos erupted in the hall as the results were announced, then Mbeki and Zuma mounted the stage together and embraced. Zuma had rallied ANC members who wanted a change from Mbeki, who guided post-apartheid South Africa to sustained economic growth in recent...

Israel's storied foreign-intelligence service failed to fully understand the threat posed by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, based on a view among many analysts that the guerrilla organization was an evolving political group, according to U.S. officials and private intelligence specialists. The Mossad had intelligence about most Hezbollah weapons, including rockets fired into Israel and other hardware. But the service knew little about the military and intelligence side of Hezbollah, a diverse organization made up of Islamic terrorists, conventionally armed militia forces, a charity wing and a political movement. Mossad is famous for past exploits, including the global campaign in the...

When American ground forces paused briefly during the march to Baghdad in 2003, critics of the war were quick to warn of a “quagmire,” an oblique reference to the Vietnam War. Virtually as soon as it became clear that the conflict in Iraq had become an insurgency, analogies to Vietnam began to proliferate. This development is not surprising. Critics have equated every significant American military undertaking since 1975 to Vietnam, and the fear of being trapped in a Vietnam-like war has led to the frequent demand that U.S. leaders develop not plans to win wars, but “exit strategies,” plans to get out of messes. There...

NEW DELHI, July 8: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers as they are commonly known, are providing military training to the Maoist rebels of Nepal in Bihar near the Nepalese borders. Some French trainers have also been hired, a Maoist rebel leader revealed to the South Asia Tribune.

But the true story of Iraq is far different than what some would have the American public believe. It is story of enormous sacrifice, commitment, political, and military success, and a desire for freedom on the part of the Iraqi people that in many ways parallels our own War of Independence, 230 years ago. What about America’s military successes and victories in Iraq? They are in many ways, immeasurable: A reality of the overall global war on terror. What is known is that the war — in Iraq and elsewhere — is being waged and won by the U.S. and...

Fighting Kentuckians by W. Thomas Smith Jr. It was a textbook response to ambush. Soldiers bolting from their vehicles, hitting the earthen berm on the "bad side" of the highway, and blasting away at guerrillas who were attacking a convoy of some 30 civilian tractor-trailer trucks. The natural – and usually fatal – reaction would be to hit the deck or run in the opposite direction. The infantry-school drill would be to counterattack in the direction of the ambush and attempt to gain fire superiority. Sounds frightening, but the latter almost always saves lives among the ranks of those being...

The United States topples an unsavory regime in relatively brief military action, suffering a few hundred fatalities. America then finds itself having to administer a country unaccustomed to democratic self-rule. Caught unawares by an unexpectedly robust insurgency, the United States struggles to develop and implement an effective counterinsurgency strategy. The ongoing US presidential campaign serves as a catalyst to polarize public opinion, as the insurrectionists step up their offensive in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat the incumbent Republican President. These events—from a century ago—share a number of striking parallels with the events of 2003 and 2004. The Philippine Insurrection of...

DATUK Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday chided Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for making "sensational" allegations, saying he was sad that Thailand had made light of existing diplomatic channels. The Prime Minister questioned the motive behind Thaksin's claim that Thai separatist guerillas were being trained in Kelantan. Thaksin had on Friday said that some separatists had received training at a jungle camp in Kelantan without the knowledge of the Malaysian Government. Two core members of the separatist movement in southern Thailand, Thaksin had said, had fled to Malaysia where, he claimed, the guerillas had received training. Thaksin also warned that...

Although battlefield victories are crucial, history shows that global wars have been decided on a different kind of front: the war between economic powers. World War II soldiers clashed on the beaches of Normandy and Guadalcanal, but only when the German and Japanese war industries ran out of cash and raw materials did the wheels of the Whehrmacht and the Imperial Army finally grind to a halt. The Cold War could have gone on for decades if not for the depletion of the Kremlin's coffers. The war on radical Islam is no different. Osama bin Laden plans strategies based on...

Our enemies play to their strengths "The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish ... the kind of war on which they are embarking; neither mistaking it for, nor trying to turn it into, something that is alien to its nature." — Carl Von Clausewitz On May 1, 2003, President Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq. The brief, high-tech war the administration had planned to overthrow Saddam was officially over. Shortly thereafter, the anti-Coalition Iraqis announced their presence with a bombing campaign that drove...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version April 20, 2004, 9:03 a.m. Explaining EisentragerThe Second Amendment is for individual gun owners. By Dave Kopel As the Supreme Court considers whether the U.S. Constitution protects the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay — it hears oral arguments today in the case — the central issue is the meaning of a case involving illegal combatants from World War II: Johnson v. Eisentrager. No one knows if Eisentrager will be interpreted broadly enough for the government to win the Guantanamo case. But the more the Supreme...

Ambush, murder and kidnap: another day in 'post-war' Iraq By Patrick Cockburn in Abu Ghraib 10 April 2004 First there were staccato bursts of fire from Iraqi guerrillas on the other side of the road. Then came the whoosh of RPG launchers. American soldiers on their Humvees immediately fired back with shuddering machine guns and M-16s. We rapidly drove off the road on to a piece of waste ground along with several other cars. We jumped out of the doors and lay on the ground. Bassil al-Kaissi, our driver, shouted to other Iraqis who had also taken cover: "Take off...

<p>The real story in Saddam's capture is that the Bush administration has turned loose the Special Forces to fight a covert, no-holds-barred war in Iraq.</p> <p>"A revitalized Special Forces mission is a policy victory for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, who has struggled for two years to get the military leadership to accept the strategy of what he calls 'Manhunts' -- a phrase that he has used both publicly and in internal Pentagon communications," writes Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker's Dec. 15 issue. "According to American and Israeli military and intelligence officials, Israeli commandos and intelligence units have been working closely with their American counterparts at the Special Forces training base at Fort Bragg, N.C., and in Israel to help them prepare for operations in Iraq."</p>

From MEMRI (Translated from the Original Arabic language article). Special Dispatch - Syria/Iraq In English: December 5, 2003 (Based on Nov. 4, 5 and 6 articles) Editor of Kuwaiti Daily: "Syria's Secret Service is Behind the 'Iraqi Resistance'" TRANSLATION FROM ARABIC:"The November 1, 2003 conference of foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Iraq yielded numerous articles in the Arab press condemning Syria's pro-Saddam stance. Among the authors were editor of the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa, Ahmad Al-Jarallah, and Iraqi opposition member and political commentator Dr. Riyadh Al-Amir. The following are excerpts from the articles: Iraqi Resistance, Directed by Syria’s Secret...