Free Republic

The Russians have warned us over and over again that they will use nuclear weapons if they are forced into a direct war with western powers. So why are most western leaders not taking those threats seriously? Ukraine is not worth fighting a nuclear war over. Both sides would be wise to try to find a peaceful resolution while it is still possible to do so. But instead, we continue to see escalation after escalation. In particular, the Biden administration seems determined to see how close it can go without pushing things completely over the edge. This is very foolish,...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said former President Donald Trump is “a live direct threat to the death of corruption, dishonesty, and extremism” of the Left. While appearing on Life, Liberty, & Levin, Gingrich said the allegations facing former President Donald Trump have “no parallel” because Trump is the “first person to have the courage and the willpower to take on the entire corrupt, extremist establishment. And they're fighting in the fight of their life.” “Trump is to the domestic corrupt establishment what Ronald Reagan was to the Soviet empire,” Gingrich said. "The truth is the indictment in...

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that he had intensified talks with Russia about deploying tactical nuclear weapons in his country, alleging there were plans to invade Belarus from neighboring Poland. Speaking at an annual address to lawmakers and government officials, Lukashenko said Moscow’s plans to station nuclear arms in Belarus would help “safeguard” the country, which he said was under threat from the West. “Take my word for it, I have never deceived you. They are preparing to invade Belarus, to destroy our country,” he told the audience.

After a year of combat, many of these homespun groups of volunteers are fighting with themselves and undermining the war effort. Some have wasted money or stolen valor. Others have cloaked themselves in charity while also trying to profit off the war, records show. One of the best-known Americans on the battlefield is James Vasquez. Days after the invasion, Mr. Vasquez, a Connecticut home-improvement contractor. ... he has posted battlefield videos online, at least once broadcasting his unit’s precise location to everyone, including the enemy. He used his story to solicit donations..... “I was in Kuwait during Desert Storm, and...

How Donald Trump might could actually fix the problem or come as close to that as is humanly possible in the real world...

A day later, they were again questioned — now by the FSB, Russia’s security service. “For three-and-a-half hours, they told me that I am not raising my daughter right and said they’ll take her away from me, and put me in jail,” Moskalyov told the outlet OVD-Info. Spooked, the family moved away to a nearby town. But in December, the FSB came knocking again. In Moskalyov’s telling, they raided his home, beat him and forced him to listen to the Russian anthem at full volume for hours. He was again charged with discrediting the Russian army on social media, now...

The analogy with the present crisis in Ukraine and the story of the Chinese Tangut kingdom

This war need never have happened if Kissinger’s, and many others’, proposal for a neutral, non-NATO Ukraine had been accepted by the US in 2021, as Russia reasonably requested, and if Ukraine, at America’s direction, had ceased its eight year, US-sponsored war on the Donbas Russian speakers and Russian ethnics, and had enforced the Minsk II accords.But the US Military Industrial Complex wanted a war and got one. The object: To bleed and weaken Russia with a Vietnam-like quagmire.Russia appears to be surviving US sanctions quite comfortably, as new customers pop up in Asia for its natural gas and other...

Thirty years since German reunification, the “new states” from the former East still suffer the effects of mass deindustrialization and emigration. But if reunification hasn't delivered the promises of 1990, socialists should recognize why most East Germans didn't defend the old system — and why welfare and public services aren’t enough to build a viable socialist society. Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of German reunification — a decisive event in the end of state socialism in Eastern Europe. On October 3, 1990, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), formerly one of the most enthusiastic members of the Warsaw Pact, was annexed...

In this episode of Battlegrounds, H.R. McMaster and Vladimir Milov discuss the Russian opposition, the internal and external threats to Putin’s grip on power, and the impacts of Russia’s aggression on the world.

Justice and truth are on Russia's side, President Vladimir Putin said MOSCOW, February 24./TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had made the decision to hold a special military operation in response to address of leaders of the Donbass republics. "People's republics of Donbass approached Russia with request for help. In connection<...>I made the decision to hold a special military operation. Its goal is to protect the people that are subjected to abuse, genocide from the Kiev regime for eight years, and to this end we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine and put to justice those that...

Investors rushed for safety, pushing down stocks and lifting the prices of oil, gold and government bonds, after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine and a Ukrainian official said, “The invasion has begun.” By early afternoon Thursday in Hong Kong, futures tied to the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones Industrial Average all stood more than 2% lower. Regional stock indexes also fell sharply, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropping more than 3%. Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, topped $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014, with the front-month contract rising as much as 3.3%...

Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a "military operation" in Ukraine's Donbas region He urges Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine to lay down weapons and return to their homes Putin warns that Moscow's response will be "instant" if anyone tries to take on Russia Ukraine's foreign minister accuses Russia of starting a full-scale war, and urges the UN "to do everything possible" to stop it BBC Kyiv correspondent James Waterhouse says a Ukrainian government official has given an indication of the breadth of the Russian military action so far. The official says there have been cruise missile strikes launched this morning...

A NEW Syria is emerging from the rubble of war. In Homs, which Syrians once dubbed the “capital of the revolution” against President Bashar al-Assad, the Muslim quarter and commercial district still lie in ruins, but the Christian quarter is reviving. Churches have been lavishly restored; a large crucifix hangs over the main street. “Groom of Heaven”, proclaims a billboard featuring a photo of a Christian soldier killed in the seven-year conflict. In their sermons, Orthodox patriarchs praise Mr Assad for saving one of the world’s oldest Christian communities.

Four Ronald Reagan historians have slammed the portrayal of former President Reagan in the movie "The Butler," saying that the 40th president's "attitudes toward race" as shown in the movie are inaccurate. They begin the article, "What 'The Butler' gets wrong about Ronald Reagan and race," published in The Washington Post, by recounting instances in Reagan's life when he decried racism and took a stand for the African-American community. While serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild, for example, "Ronald Reagan called upon the entertainment industry to provide greater employment for black actors." That position was controversial at the...

East Germany's secret police sold citizens to western pharmaceutical companies to use as human guinea pigs in drug trials • Tens of thousands tested with experimental drugs not approved in the West • One study of a drug for heart conditions saw six out of 17 patients die • Sinister practice exposed in disturbing new Germany documentary Former Communist East Germany secretly sold its citizens to western pharmaceutical companies to use as human guinea pigs in drug trials. Tens of thousands of sick people in the former German Democratic Republic were treated with medicines not approved in the West to...