Free Republic

Russia's energy ministry has proposed restricting flights over Russian energy facilities, the Vedomosti daily reported on Monday, after a spate of Ukraine-linked attacks this month on oil infrastructure. The newspaper said that under the plan, only aircraft deployed to protect energy facilities, and planes of top Russian officials or of visiting foreign officials would be allowed to fly with special permission in the designated zones. Russia's energy ministry did not immediately comment on the report. Russian air defences thwarted a drone attack on Monday on the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, regional governor Mikhail...

The skies over Washington DC were chaotic Sunday as a small plane flew overhead. Some reports indicate it even made it over the White House with Joe Biden inside. Sonic booms were being reported as explosions in the nation’s capital. F-16s were scrambled and the plane later crashed in rural Virginia. There is no confirmation that the plane was shot down by the military. According to The Gateway Pundit: "The plane that flew over Washington, D.C. Sunday afternoon and crashed in rural Virginia was allowed to fly almost right over the White House, according to flight tracking. The Capitol was...

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenskyy is calling for nothing less than World War III, and our feckless incompetent Republican leaders look like they’re ready to give it to him!

Sen. Lindsey Graham, while insisting he does not want to see U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine, Sunday called for a no-fly zone to be instituted over the war-torn country if Russian President Vladimir Putin orders a chemical weapons strike, as that would be a war crime. The South Carolina Republican also during an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo," accused President Joe Biden of having "folded" on the question of sending former Soviet MiG fighters from Poland into Ukraine and rejected the president's contention that allowing the jets would mean the beginning of "World...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday urged countries uncomfortable with his proposal to establish a no-fly zone over his country – effectively requiring foreign countries to shoot down Russian planes – to consider, instead, offering Ukraine more weapons. The suggestion is a dramatic change in tone from Zelensky’s remarks on Saturday, in which he told NATO countries that Ukrainian civilians will “die because of you” and called them “weak” for rejecting the responsibility of implementing a no-fly zone.

FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO KURT VOLKER: Well, I think there are ways to do this that mitigate those risks, if not- doesn't eliminate the risk, but mitigates the risk of direct conflict with Russia. First off, I think we have to recognize that the civilian casualties and the horrific scenes that we just saw are going to get worse. They're not going to get better. There's going to be massive airstrikes against Kyiv, against other cities, and it's going to be absolutely devastating. So if we can prevent that from a humanitarian point of view, I think we- we...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed NATO on Friday for ruling out a no-fly zone over his country saying the Western military alliance knew further Russian aggression was likely. Earlier Friday, NATO rejected Ukraine’s request to impose a no-fly zone to halt Russia’s bombing, but Western allies did warn President Vladimir Putin of fresh sanctions if he does not stop the war. “Knowing that new strikes and casualties are inevitable, NATO deliberately decided not to close the sky over Ukraine,” Zelensky said in a video published by the presidency. “We believe that the NATO countries themselves have created a narrative that...

President Volodymyr Zelensky has slammed NATO as “weak” for refusing to enforce a no-fly zone in Ukraine, saying it will bear responsibility for future Ukrainian deaths. Speaking at a public press conference, the Ukrainian president branded a recent NATO summit on the war in Ukraine “weak” and “confused” and evidence that “not everyone considers the struggle for freedom to be Europe’s number one goal.” “Knowing that new strikes and casualties are inevitable, NATO deliberately decided NOT to close the sky over Ukraine,” he railed. “We believe that NATO countries themselves have created a narrative that the closure of the sky...

The United Kingdom will not send soldiers to wage war upon Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. Appearing in Tapa, Estonia alongside NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and Estonian PM Kaja Kallas, Boris Johnson said that while the past week had brought with it “scenes we hoped we would never see again” in Europe, he would not send British forces into the fray in Ukraine.

Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said Friday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that “at the invitation of Ukraine” we should declare Ukraine a no-fly zone “enforced by NATO and the United States.” Kinzinger said, “The Ukrainian people are fighting much harder than I think Putin expected. But they will be outmatched and outgunned ultimately by somebody that is very willing to lose his own troops, and he doesn’t care, Vladimir Putin.”

Khobar Towers June 23, 2006 The Wall Street Journal Louis J. Freeh Ten years ago this Sunday, acting under direct orders from senior Iranian government leaders, the Saudi Hezbollah detonated a 25,000-pound TNT bomb that killed 19 U.S. airmen in their dormitory at Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The blast wave destroyed Building 131 and grievously wounded hundreds of additional Air Force personnel. It also killed an unknown number of Saudi civilians in a nearby park. The 19 Americans murdered were members of the 4404th Wing, who were risking their lives to enforce the no-fly zone over southern Iraq....

The no-fly zone for drones around airports is to be extended following the disruption at Gatwick in December, the government says. From 13 March it will be illegal to fly a drone within three miles of an airport, rather than the current 0.6-mile (1km) exclusion zone. The government also said it wants police to have new stop and search powers to tackle drone misuse. The government said the new stop and search powers would apply to people suspected of using drones maliciously nears airports. The powers, to be included in the government's new Drones Bill, would also allow police to...

Over a career that has taken him to Afghanistan and Iraq, Col. Patrick Duggan has seen the lethal power of drones. Now, as a base commander in the nation’s capital, he is worried that frequent illegal flights buzzing over Washington could pose a threat. In the middle of a federal no-fly zone for drones, in some of the most sensitive and restricted airspace in the United States, technicians working with Duggan recorded nearly 100 drone sightings over two months last summer. And that was just around two Army posts he oversees. Many of the operators were probably oblivious to the...

Well, that didn't take long. A "senior Obama administration official" is breaking ranks to call out his boss in Time magazine about Libya.In an article published online Sunday night, Time writer Massimo Calabresi buries the lede by holding the bombshell quotes until the fourth paragraph, preferring to write about himself the first three.The quotes have the official all but calling Obama a liar over his stated reasons for going to war in Libya. The article also has the official saying Obama is knowingly taking a "huge gamble" because al Qaeda has cells in Libya that could benefit from the the...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday backed a call from Turkey for a no-fly zone over parts of Syria, saying it would alleviate the situation of displaced Syrians. "In the current situation it would be helpful, if there could be such an area, where none of the parties are allowed to launch aerial attacks, that is to say, a kind of no-fly zone," she told the daily Stuttgarter Zeitung, when asked about opening up such areas to host people fleeing fighting in the war-torn country. Merkel's call came on the same day that the Luftwaffe (German air force) confirmed Russian...

We may not like reality but reality is reality none-the-less Some of our more bellicose presidential candidates want a no-fly zone in Syria. Some are adamant about it, and some are nonchalant but make no mistake however they express it a no-fly zone in Syria is not a tool in the war against ISIS. ISIS doesn’t have an air force. A no-fly zone in Syria can only be aimed at Russia who is flying in the area of the desired zone and the air force of the legitimate government of Syria. Now we may say that the government of Bashar...

Many folks have been saying that the U.S. should establish a no-fly zone in Syria, and shoot down any Russian plane that violates that zone. Now Fox News is reporting that French planes have joined Russian planes in the attack on ISIS. Suppose John, Ben, and Hillary had their way. Would the U.S. have to also shoot down any French plane that violated the zone?

Wednesday on the “Simon Conway Show,” Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said the United States should establish a no-fly zone at the Turkish-Syrian border and shoot down any Russian plane that enters it. Carson said, “If they do come into that area—after you have given them adequate warning, after we’ve talked to Putin—you shoot them down. Absolutely.” he added, “Whatever happens next, we deal with it. But we can’t continue backing down because in the long run, that will hurt us.”

In response to the European Union’s plan to label Israeli products manufactured in Judea and Samaria, MK Miki Zohar (Likud) has submitted a bill to the Knesset that would see products from countries that label Israeli products being labeled themselves. “We will label every product which comes from a country which is boycotting us. I think it would be appropriate if the public knows that the country that sends the product to us is daring to boycott us," Zohar told Arutz Sheva about his initiative on Sunday. .....

- The Thomson flight from London Stansted only took evasive action - The pilot had spotted the missile speeding through the air - Holidaymakers were not told they had been seconds from disaster - It was just two months before a Metrojet plane crash in Sinai, killing 224 A British plane carrying 189 passengers came within 1,000ft of a rocket as it approached Sharm El Sheikh, it emerged last night. The Thomson flight from London Stansted only took evasive action after the pilot spotted the missile speeding through the air. The jet landed safely, and holidaymakers were not told they...