Free Republic

A growing list of human rights violators and authoritarian regimes around the world published messages congratulating Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on his overwhelming “victory” in a three-day sham presidential election that concluded on Sunday. Leaders such as genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-un, and the heads of Russia’s satellites in Latin America – Cuba’s figurehead “president” Miguel Díaz-Canel and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro – extended their support and confidence in Putin after securing another six years in power through a largely ceremonial “election” with no meaningful opposition voices on the ballot and widespread reports of...

The United Nations General Assembly’s general debate begins on Tuesday, expected to bring over 140 leaders to New York to discuss this year’s theme of “restoring trust” – and resist Western pressure for the Ukraine war to dominate the conversation. The General Assembly typically offers presidents and other world leaders a vague theme as a discussion prompt – this year, “Rebuilding Trust and Reigniting Solidarity” – but otherwise lets them decide what global problems to emphasize. This year, observers predict many speakers, particularly those whose countries are allied or friendly with Russia, will choose to use their platforms to divert...

Russian leader Vladimir Putin marked his 70th birthday on Friday with congratulations from the fellow authoritarian leaders of Cuba and Kyrgyzstan and a full “work” schedule, according to the Kremlin. The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry observed the day by sharing a recent quote from Putin predicting the “collapse of Western hegemony” on Twitter, illustrated by a photo of Putin wearing sunglasses.

Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko told the U.K. Daily Mail in an article published Wednesday that Ukrainian “intelligence services” were killing Ukrainians suspected of collaborating with the Russian military “like pigs” in areas where Kyiv has pushed back the ongoing invasion.The British newspaper highlighted multiple examples of individuals — civilians with backgrounds such as chicken farm security guard and alleged pedophile — currently in Ukrainian custody and facing prosecution for aiding the Russian invasion. Those cases, where some form of legal process appears to be in place, contrast significantly with Gerashchenko’s insistence that Ukrainian law does not protect collaborators...

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face each other in a runoff race having come in second and first place, respectively, in Sunday’s presidential election.

The Taliban jihadist terror organization celebrated the final withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan on Wednesday, the anniversary of the occasion, with fireworks and a celebration at Bagram Air Base, formerly America’s largest military facility in the country. As they did on August 15, the day of their seizure of Kabul, the Taliban declared Wednesday a national holiday and organized a series of ceremonies across the country to mark the departure of American troops.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin railed against American “exceptionalism” and “moral degradation” on Monday during the country’s annual “Victory Day” parade, celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany that Moscow claims for itself. The Putin regime has for years denied any significant American contributions to ending World War II – going as far as to declare the legendary D-Day landing of American troops at Normandy “not a game-changer” – instead giving all the credit for the fall of Adolf Hitler to the communist Soviet Union under mass murderer Joseph Stalin. Russia marks its contributions to World War II on May 9 with...

Videos surfacing on social media in the past week from Shanghai – and rapidly deleted on government-controlled sites like Weibo – show mounting desperation as a poorly planned coronavirus lockdown leaves the heart of China’s economy with rotting food and a lack of basic necessities. Many of the videos surfacing on Weibo, China’s most popular micro-blogging platform, cannot be independently verified and disappear shortly after they appear, but translators outside of the country have saved and circulated them, painting a picture of a growing catastrophe alongside anonymous warnings from farms and food distributors that their supplies are rotting while people...

At the top of the list of accusers is the head of the radical leftist New Democratic Party, Fidel Castro sympathizer Jagmeet Singh, who has attributed the popularity and success of the “Freedom Convoy” to “Trumpism” and “foreign actors,” without evidence. (snip) Writing at the Globe and Mail on Tuesday, columnist Gary Mason adopted Singh’s terminology and branded the Canadian civil rights protesters with the 2016 terminology “alt-right,” describing the entire concept of “freedom” as having been hijacked by extremists and no longer legitimate.

President-elect Joe Biden has made clear in his staffing plans and public remarks that he intends to return America to many of the foreign policy positions championed by his former boss, President Barack Obama. While American mainstream media has largely cheered this – and glowered at President Donald Trump for defending his achievements by making regression more difficult under Biden – many of America’s allies, and some of its foes, around the world are making moves suggesting they expect a full return to the state of global affairs in 2016. The Obama administration’s foreign policy was defined by the tension...

Right wing shock chick Frances Martel is obviously on the look out for a gig at the Daily Caller because she just penned one of the most brown nosing job applications I have ever seen in her recent Palin hit piece at Mediaite.