Free Republic

Why do unfair elections even matter? Putin’s regime represents - “competitive authoritarianism.” Elections in hybrid systems like Russia are not designed to determine who rules, but rather to signal the regime’s power and resilience to potential challengers. Elections in these polities are often marred by abuses of state power, but they are nonetheless held and can be bitterly fought. It is tempting to disregard the results of such elections because of the extent to which they are manipulated by elites in power. Yet counterintuitively, the level of state control over the electoral process is itself a reason to pay close...

Trump did not collude with Russia to win the election. On the contrary, the evidence continually proves it was in fact the Democrats, the passive GOP establishment, the media, and the Deep State which have in fact been the ones exhibiting Russia-style, KGB copy-cat behavior. It was Democrats like Hillary Clinton who gave 20% of our uranium away in exchange for $145 million of Russian oligarch donations to the Clinton Foundation. (And this is just one example. As nobody seems to want to talk about how much money she herself invested in Russian projects and their nascent tech sector.) So,...

It is now well over a year since Vladimir Putin's Russia passed 'anti-missionary' laws and more than 180 cases have since been brought. Activities ranging from prayer meetings in homes, posting worship times on a religious website and praying in the presence of other citizens have been interpreted as 'missionary activity' with Christians making up the vast majority of the law's victims. One case is that of Donald Ossewaarde, an American Baptist preacher living in Oryol, who was expelled for hosting a church meeting in his house. Having lost appeals throughout the Russian judiciary system, Ossewaarde's case is now with...

The Pentagon’s new defense strategy calls for aggressive steps to counter Russia and China, directing the military to retrain its attention on great-power competition after nearly two decades of focusing primarily on Islamist militants and "rogue" nations. The Obama-era Quadrennial Defense Review called for “preserving strategic stability” with Moscow and Beijing and took a rosier view of the prospects for further nuclear arms reductions in partnership with Russia. Now, the new document asserts in blunt language, both Russia and China must be the U.S. armed forces’ "principal priorities." “The erosion of our military advantage is the problem that the strategy...

An ex-KGB chief linked to the unverified dossier on President Donald Trump was reportedly found dead in the back of his car Dec. 26 under mysterious circumstances. Oleg Erovinkin, a former KGB general, was “found in a black Lexus… [and] a large-scale investigation has been commenced in the area,” Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency reports. The cause of death has been established as a heart attack, but media speculation suggest foul play, according to The Telegraph. Erovinkin was an aide to Igor Sechin, a former deputy prime minister and current head of the state-owned oil company Rosneft, which is...

Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin may have been reticent to celebrate the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution, but it had no qualms about celebrating a hundred years since the founding of the Cheka, Lenin’s political police, on Dec. 20. Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and a veteran of the old Soviet KGB, was predictable in his message. His agency was, he claimed, “free from political influence.” It “does not serve any party or group interest” and even its bloody-handed past was nowhere near as reprehensible as assumed. Yes, he conceded, it was the engine of Stalin’s Great Terror,...

A group of Russian scientists have sounded the alarm over what they said were attempts by the head of the security service to openly justify Stalin’s mass purges, the first such attempt in decades. In an open letter published by Kommersant broadsheet, more than 30 academics slammed Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the FSB security service – the successor to the feared KGB – for seeking to legitimise the mass purges known as the Great Terror. Historians estimate about one million people perished in Stalin’s purges in the 1930s out of around 20 million who died under his three-decade rule...

Kaspersky no longer legal on US public sector networks President Trump has signed into law an order banning the use of Kaspersky Lab products within US government organisations. For months, government officials have been clearing the Moscow-based cyber security company's products from the networks of US federal agencies, a task that is now more-or-less completed. Kaspersky has been accused of allowing its anti-virus software to be used by Russian intelligence to exfiltrate information from the PCs of US government officials, although little evidence has been presented to back-up such claims. The ban is included in a new defense policy spending...

National security insiders are trying to claim treason for the fact that President Donald Trump’s transition team discussed potentially setting up a phone call with the Russian ambassador to the United States.Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin have met publicly on several occasions, and Russia maintains an active embassy in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.The Hill reported: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn spoke with a “senior official” in President Trump’s transition team at the Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss what he should communicate to the Russian ambassador in a highly-scrutinized series of phone calls in December of 2016,...

"Anyone who grew up with the Eastern Orthodox Church (in my case, the Greek Orthodox Church in New York) will get a good laugh at Vladimir Putin pretending to be a Christian during his first Easter as Russian ruler..." "The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has been, since its reconstitution during WWII, an instrument of the state. The best illustration of this is probably the 1949 “Greetings from the clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church to the leader of the nations of the USSR, the Generalissimus Joseph Stalin on his 70th birthday.” It states, in part: "Witnessing at every...

This amazing monastery, which containing relics from empty tomb of Jesus Christ, was originally built by the Russian Church's most controversial leader, and now restored in all its gloryNew Jerusalem Monastery, founded in 1656 by Patriarch Nikon, remains one of Russia's holiest places. This patriarch's reforms to church services sparked a major schism in the Russian Church, creating the sect of Old Believers. While Patriarch Nikon may still be one of the most controversial figures of Russian Church history, one thing we can all agree upon is the beauty of his colossal monastery. President Putin was very impressed by its...

Sean Brian Townsend is an independent researcher in the field of information and computer security, a member and the spokesman of the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance. He explains how Kaspersky Lab and the FSB hacked and leaked the secret NSA tools under the guise of The Shadow Brokers hacker group. These leaks became the origin of WannaCry, NotPetya, and BadRabbit ransomware attacks. The editors of InformNapalm may not share the opinions of the authors in the [opinion] section, and does not alter the original style of the articles. Antivirus software – myths and reality The activities of antivirus (AV) companies are...

Don't be fooled by outward appearances. The Russians are mighty clever when it comes to sophisticated acts of deception. The KGB and its successor the FSB were/are notorious for it. From the Russian Orthodox Church's website... WCC welcomes meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill for unity and peace 12 February 2016 Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), has issued a statement on behalf of the Council hailing the historic meeting of Pope Francis, pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, and Patriarch Kirill, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.The two leaders...

As an outsider, I can’t help but wonder whether the pope and the USCCB were particularly provoked by Weinandy’s suggestion that Jesus had allowed this controversy in order “to manifest just how weak is the faith of many within the Church, even among too many of her bishops.” Catholics will have to make up their own minds—but I’ll admit I have questions about the faith of Pope Francis, which seems, if not weak, at least different from that of the Catholic tradition. Even before the release of Amoris Laetitia in March 2016, Francis had caused many to question his fidelity...

Newly declassified documents confirm Moscow always knew to play the American left like a fiddle. President Trump recently authorized a mass declassification of documents relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. Among the material subsequently released, one document that instantly grabbed headlines was a December 1966 FBI memo reporting the reaction of Soviet and Communist Party USA officials to the Kennedy shooting. The document was headlined in (among other publications) the New York Post, which, in turn, was flagged at the top of the Drudge Report, which attracted a lot of readers. Old JFK conspiracy...

The Soviet Union theorized that President Lyndon B. Johnson could have been behind JFK’s assassination — and also feared Moscow could be blamed and attacked, according to documents in a major release of files related to Kennedy’s slaying on Thursday. The Dec. 1, 1966, FBI memo, which relayed unconfirmed speculation, noted that sources said the KGB “was in possession of data purporting to indicate President Johnson was responsible for the assassination of the late President John F. Kennedy.” The memo, which was forwarded to the White House by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover with the all-caps title “REACTION OF SOVIET...

President Trump delayed on Thursday evening the release of thousands of pages of classified documents related to the John F. Kennedy assassination, bowing to pressure from the CIA, FBI and other federal agencies still seeking to keep some final secrets about the nearly 54-year-old investigation. The president allowed the immediate release of 2,800 records by the National Archives, following a last-minute scramble to meet a 25-year legal deadline. After lobbying by national security officials, the remaining documents will be reviewed during a 180-day period. In a memo released by the White House, Trump said: “I am ordering today that the...

[I begin] with the story of a series of Socialist scholars conferences that Barack Obama attended when he lived in New York City between the years 1983 and 1985. And when I finally reconstructed what had gone on at these Socialist conferences that Barack Obama attended, I truly was amazed because what I saw was a kind of map of Barack Obama’s entire subsequent political career. It was at this Socialist conferences in New York in the mid-’80s that Barack Obama encountered the groups, the strategies, and the mentors who would guide him throughout his entire political career. [T]hese Socialist...

THE Vatican said today it accepted the decision by a Turkish court to release Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to kill the late pope John Paul II in 1981. "With legal issues, the Holy See leaves it up to the courts with competence in these areas," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. He said the Vatican had only learned of the court's decision from press agencies and had not been given prior notice. Agca, 48, is expected to be released between Tuesday and Sunday, Turkish officials told the Anatolia news agency. He was a 23-year-old far-right militant on the...

MEHMET Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to kill pope John Paul II in 1981, was freed yesterday after almost 25 years behind bars, but may soon return to jail amid legal confusion over his early release. Less than six hours after Agca walked out of the high-security Kartal prison on Istanbul's Asian shore, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said he would order a review of the case as a debate raged among jurists over whether his release was legally sound. Mr Cicek hinted that the 48-year-old Agca, who served 19 years in Italy for shooting and seriously wounding the pope...