Free Republic

Russian billionaire Yuri Milner announces most comprehensive hunt for alien life.You could say that the silence has been deafening. Since its beginnings more than half a century ago, the dedicated search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has failed to detect the presence of alien civilizations. But at London’s Royal Society today (20 July), Russian billionaire Yuri Milner announced a shot in the arm for SETI: a US$100-million decadal project to provide the most comprehensive hunt for alien communications so far. The initiative, called Breakthrough Listen, will see radio telescopes at Green Bank in West Virginia, the Parkes Observatory in Australia, and...

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian military aircraft crashed Monday while taking off on a nighttime training flight and both pilots were killed, the Defense Ministry said. It was the fifth accident involving a Russian military aircraft in the past month, but the first with fatalities. The Su-24 bomber crashed while taking off from an airfield in the Khabarovsk region in Russia's Far East at 9:35 p.m. local time, the ministry said in a statement. Shortly after leaving the runway, the plane banked sharply to the left and struck the ground, the ministry said.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said after Friday's talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that a prospective Russian natural gas pipeline should help Greece service its debt, but the Kremlin said the question of direct Russian financial aid to Greece was not discussed. Speaking of the pipeline deal at a meeting with top executives of global news agencies, including The Associated Press, which began nearly three hours behind schedule at around midnight, Putin said he saw no support for the Greeks from the EU. "If EU wants Greece to pay its debts it should be...

President Obama and other world leaders said Sunday there would be no lifting on the economic sanctions against Russia until it reaches a formal peace agreement with the Ukraine. Obama said they were "standing up to Russian aggression." The leaders were meeting in the small German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the annual conference of the "Group of Seven" leading democratic industrial powers, also known as the G-7. World leaders from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Canada, were present. It was the second year in a row Russia was barred from attending. In a joint press conference with...

The Chinese government has allowed the ordination of Russian Orthodox priests, for the first time in 60 years, the AsiaNews service reports. Metropolitan Hilarion, who heads the external-affairs department of the Moscow patriarchate, announced the ordinations after his return from a visit to China. His trip came shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Moscow, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Metropolitan Hilarion reported “very constructive talks” with government officials in Beijing, adding that China is a society that properly values the “role of culture, traditions and the moral factor in shaping the lives of...

Full Title: Was 19th Century apewoman a yeti? 6ft 6in Russian serf who could outrun a horse was 'not human', according to DNA tests Witnesses said Zana the apewoman had the 'characteristics of a wild animal' She was allegedly trapped in Caucusus mountains and covered in thick hair Had 'enormous athletic power' and she could infamously outrun a horse A genetics professor has analysed DNA of six of her living descendants Hundreds of explorers, theorists and fantasists have spent their lives searching for the infamous 'big-foot'. But a leading geneticist believes he has found evidence to prove that it...

Today the Russian navy possesses around 270 warships including surface combatants, amphibious ships, submarines, and auxiliaries. On paper, that is. But that count includes many ships that are inactive and in poor material condition plus scores of small patrol vessels with very limited combat capability. Of the 270 ships, just 125 or so are in a working state. And of those 125, only around 45 are oceangoing surface warships or submarines that are in good shape and deployable. All the above figures come from Dr. Dmitry Gorenburg of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. By...

Being gay is dangerous business in Russia, but it’s especially risky when you troll the country’s leading opponent of gay rights. The owners of a St. Petersburg lesbian nightclub, raided today by police, are learning that lesson. Infinity is a “girls-only” nightclub for “St. Petersburg’s most stylish young women.” On February 1, one of the club’s owners and several of her friends were flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, when they spotted Vitaly Milonov, a lawmaker famous for initiating Russia’s crackdown on LGBT rights. Not fans of his conservative politics, the girls photographed themselves kissing one another in front of...

Last spring, when hostilities broke out in eastern Ukraine, Starodubov felt an itch to go fight. The United States was backing a war against his ethnic Russian kin -- "You don't need a fortune-teller to know that," he asserts, offering no details -- and he was desperate to put his military skills to use. [....] 'Normal Nationalists' In St. Petersburg -- where Starodubov is currently recovering from a frontline injury, under the watchful eye of his new wife, Larisa, a Donbas native -- recruitment and training organizations have mushroomed since the start of the war. They include Imperial Legion, the...

<p>FORT STEWART, Georgia — The U.S. Army is sending more than 3,000 Fort Stewart soldiers to Europe to help assure American allies in the region and deter Russian aggression in Ukraine.</p> <p>Officials at the southeast Georgia Army post said Tuesday that soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division will deploy next month.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq took the unusual step of issuing an explanation for a missile warhead discovered yesterday by UN arms inspectors -- before the monitors themselves made the news public. The inspectors found the abandoned case of a small rocket and a "modified, damaged and abandoned warhead" at a missile parts factory south of Baghdad, the Iraqi News Agency said, describing it as a Russian-made Luna -- a short-range rocket permitted under UN resolutions. Iraq, however, rarely reports on what the inspectors find. The report appeared timed to give Iraq's version of events before the discovery was publicized by...

After 16 hours of peace talks, Putin has agreed to new ceasefire terms with Ukraine starting February 15, 2015. The ceasefire terms included the removal of Russian heavy weapons from Ukraine. Many are still cautious about the agreement especially after hearing reports that over 100 armored Russian military vehicles crossed into East Ukraine in the late evening. Business Insider reported: About 50 tanks, 40 missile systems, and 40 armored vehicles crossed overnight into eastern Ukraine from Russia via the Izvaryne border crossing into the separatist Luhansk region, a Kiev military spokesman said on Thursday. Armored columns of Russian-speaking soldiers without...

A Pentagon think tank conducted a study that claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin has Asperger's syndrome, "an autistic disorder which affects all of his decisions," according to a report. Putin's "neurological development was significantly interrupted in infancy," wrote Brenda Connors, an expert in movement-pattern analysis at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. She added that movements reveal "the Russian President carries a neurological abnormality."

Russian spies operating a cell in New York were trying to find ways to cause an economic meltdown, according to court documents. The three men allegedly wanted to ‘destabilise’ high frequency trading systems, which were blamed for the Wall St ‘Flash Crash’ of 2010. snip The FBI began investigating the men in 2010 after ten Russian spies living in the US were arrested, including red-haired femme fatale Anna Chapman. Last night the exposure of the latest spy ring threatened to turn into a diplomatic row as Russia said there was no evidence against the trio. Prosecutors in New York named...

Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobny allegedly conspired to gather intelligence on behalf of Russia and to recruit Americans. Federal prosecutors in New York have unveiled criminal charges against three men for their alleged involvement in a spying scheme for Russia’s foreign intelligence service. According to a criminal complaint, Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy conspired in the United States to gather intelligence on behalf of Russia and to recruit New York City residents to help. The conspiracy ran from 2012 to the present, and during that time, Buryakov worked at a bank, Sporyshev was a Russian trade...

Havana (AFP) - A Russian intelligence warship docked in Havana on Tuesday, a day before the start of historic US-Cuba talks aimed at normalizing diplomatic relations. There was nothing stealthy about the arrival of the Viktor Leonov CCB-175, which was moored to a pier in Old Havana where cruise ships often dock. But the visit was not officially announced by Cuban authorities. US officials in Washington played down the presence of the Russian vessel, saying it was perfectly legal and not at all out of the ordinary. "It's not unprecedented. It's not unusual. It's not alarming," a defense official told...

Russia’s third Borei-class nuclear-powered submarine Vladimir Monomakh has officially become part of the Russian Navy. Armed with Bulava ballistic missiles, the SSBNs of this class are the planet’s most advanced nuclear deterrence tool. Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=877_1419144372#6lpwsZ5c7V7SzrzT.99

F-16's from RNAF (Royal Netherlands Air Force) operating from Malbork airbase in Poland. Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1b2_1418215345#Efxk1rGWZmuVFsAM.99

Link to video For 20 years, the Russians took a survival drilling pistol kit with them into space.  Then they ran out of ammunition.  The YouTube video above does a good job of highlighting the pistol and kit.  Such an item would likely be a "collector's and curio" item in the United States, as no ammunition is available for the shotgun barrels and very few were made.   Some enterprising importer would do well to get a couple of dozen thrown into a Russian import container of rifles and shotguns.   Collectors in the United States would gobble them up!  The shotgun...

NATO detected and monitored four groups of Russian military aircraft conducting significant military manoeuvers in European airspace over the Baltic Sea, North Sea/Atlantic Ocean, and Black Sea on 28 and 29 October 2014. These sizable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace Eight Russian Aircraft Intercepted over North Sea / Atlantic Ocean on 29 October 2014 At approximately 3:00 a.m. CET on 29 October, NATO radars detected and tracked eight Russian aircraft flying in formation over the North Sea. F-16 aircraft from the Royal Norwegian Air Force were scrambled, intercepted and identified the Russian aircraft,...