Free Republic

At the peak of his power, Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he could use his energy weapon to impose his will across Europe. Now Moldova — with a population of only 2.5 million — is emerging as the last truly vulnerable energy target in his flailing campaign to destabilize governments in the neighborhood taking a pro-EU trajectory. But no matter how hard Putin tries to turn the energy screws to topple the administration, Moldova’s government is doggedly resisting. Only last week Russian missile strikes triggered blackouts in half the country and last month Gazprom slashed gas supplies by a third,...

​President Biden lost his temper and raised his voice on the phone with​ Volodymyr Zelensky when the Ukrainian president continued to press for more aid even after Biden signed off on $1 billion worth of military assistance earlier this year, according to a report Monday. ​ The phone call in June, one of many between the two leaders, turned testy when Zelensky began listing what else Kyiv needed and wasn’t getting​ shortly after Biden announced the aid package, NBC News reported.​ The commander-in-chief reportedly blew his stack ​and, with his voice rising, reminded Zelensky of the generosity of the American...

Shmyhal said this on the air of the national telethon, Ukrainian News Agency reports."We held very good talks with the German government, as well as with parliamentarians and leaders of the German political forces and said that Germany will increase the allocation for military aid to Ukraine next year. The Finance Minister has promised to increase this from EUR 690 million to more than EUR 2 billion," he said.The Prime Minister noted that the increase in aid was discussed with members of the Bundestag and directly with German Finance Minister Christian Lindner.As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on October 11,...

Can Brussels raid the tens of billions of euros in Russian assets frozen by the European Union to pay for Ukraine’s recovery? This thorny legal question is currently under examination by the EU Commission as the cash-strapped bloc looks for potentially €18 billion ($18 billion) next year to keep Ukraine afloat as it fends off Moscow’s invasion. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission's president, told reporters on Tuesday in Berlin that she had set up a task force to both map what assets exist as well as the preconditions that must be met to seize them. “The will is...

Zelensky has shown a remarkable ability to consistently inspire Ukrainians and maintain a strong emotional connection to the country and its people. Interestingly, pioneering research conducted years ago by the World War II-era Office of Strategic Services (OSS) continues to inform current thinking on leadership. The OSS, the predecessor to the CIA, sought out decades ago to find some way to quantify and best understand the mix of attributes necessary to become a great leader. “Are leaders born or made? I believe the answer is both,” said Mike Mears, a now-retired senior member of the intelligence community who evaluated and...

The recent ceremony of accession of four Ukrainian regions to Russia brought a speech from President Putin that outlined the reasons behind Russia’s current struggles, the character and identity of its foes and, more importantly, laid the groundwork for Russia’s next level of confrontation with the West beyond the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine. In his speech, Putin clearly defined the present fight as a worldwide battle in which Russia plays a leading role against the Deep State that ultimately runs the West and which uses all available tools – including military, economic, cultural, and social – in its attempt...

The presidential press office of Ukraine accused global media outlets of “nuclear hysteria” on Thursday for sharing remarks made by President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he asked the world for “preemptive strikes” on Russia to avoid nuclear war. Zelensky made the remarks during a question and answer session with the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, on Thursday, asserting that NATO had a responsibility to “make it impossible for Russia to use nuclear weapons.

Fresh off the successful color revolution coup by the globalists in Ukraine, American neocons saw their opportunity to push for a proxy war with Russia. Two of the most infamous and disgraced lawmakers in U.S. history – Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and now-deceased John McCain (R-AZ) – spread propaganda for the coming conflict while visiting a group of Ukrainian troops. “Your fight is our fight. 2017 will be the year of offense. All of us will go back to Washington, and we will push the case against Russia. Enough of Russian aggression. It is time for them to pay a...

In a Sunday editorial in the state-owned Global Times, Beijing warned that allowing the country into the alliance—as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested—would lead to an inevitable escalation in the conflict, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to use nuclear arms against the West. While unlikely—U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan stated in a White House press briefing last week that NATO should delay talks on allowing the country into the alliance—the newspaper warned "all European countries will tremble under the shadow of a possible nuclear war" should it take place, and called for the Western alliance to withdraw...

A sprawling disinformation network originating in Russia sought to use hundreds of fake social media accounts and dozens of sham news websites to spread the Kremlin’s talking points about the invasion of Ukraine, Facebook parent company Meta said Tuesday. The company, which also owns Instagram, said it identified and disabled the operation before it was able to gain a large audience. Nonetheless, Facebook said it was the largest and most complex Russian propaganda effort that it has found since the invasion began. The operation involved more than 60 websites created to mimic legitimate news sites including the Guardian newspaper in...

Russian-installed officials in occupied regions of Ukraine reported huge majorities on Tuesday in favour of becoming part of Russia after five days of voting in so-called referendums that Kyiv and the West denounced as a sham. Hastily arranged votes had taken place in four areas - the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and to the south Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - that make up about 15% of Ukrainian territory. Luhansk authorities said 98.4% of people there had voted to join Russia. In Zaporizhzhia, a Russian-appointed official put the figure at 93.1%. In Kherson, the head of the voting committee put...

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration announced $1.1 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine on Wednesday, bringing the U.S. commitment to more than $16.2 billion since Russia’s invasion in late February. The announcement of the upcoming aid package, the 22nd such installment, follows referendums held in four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine that are backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The votes, widely viewed as rigged and illegitimate, are to determine if Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson should become part of Russia. They’ve been criticized as a scheme by Putin to pave the way for Moscow to announce it has annexed...

The continent's most powerful economy and its most powerful military are failing to meet the moment. Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent decision to partially mobilize Russian reservists represents a significant escalation in his war against Ukraine. Over the coming weeks and months, this could inject as many as 300,000 additional Russian troops into the Kremlin's war effort--and just as Ukraine has achieved some battlefield success. Increased Western assistance is vital for Kyiv to leverage and expand its gains and build up defensive positions, before additional Russian forces enter the fight. But not all Western powers have been pulling their weight...

Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni has won Italy's election, according to exit polls, and is on course to become the country's first female prime minister. If they are confirmed, Ms Meloni will aim to form Italy's most right-wing government since World War Two. That will alarm much of Europe as Italy is the EU's third-biggest economy. She is predicted to win between 22-26% of the vote, says a Rai exit poll, ahead of her closest rival Enrico Letta from the centre left. That dominance was underlined by the first projection from Rai, which gave her more than a quarter of the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation” that there can be no stability in Europe until Russian president Vladimir Putin is removed from power. Zelenskyy said, “Yesterday, President Putin said they will win Ukraine in three days, but now it’s seven months. Today, it’s seven months since Russia occupied- tried to occupy Ukraine, but they couldn’t.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday implored an audience at the Venice Film Festival to resist indifference to his country’s conflict with Russia as the months-long war rages on. Appearing on the festival’s Sala Grande screen, Zelensky told the global film industry audience that Russia is staging “a primitive plot in three acts for the world to make three dramatic mistakes. To get used to the war. To put up with the war. To forget about the war.” More than half a year since Russia first invaded, the war in Ukraine is “a drama based on real-life events” that is...

Russia is reportedly buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea to shore up its arsenal in its ongoing war with Ukraine. The New York Times reported on Monday, citing newly declassified U.S. intelligence, which lacked detail on the type of North Korean weaponry being sent to Russia, as well as the scale and timing of their shipment. The Times quoted a Washington official as saying that Moscow was expected to seek additional purchases of military equipment from Pyongyang in the future. Other global media outlets also issued similar reports, with the Associated Press citing a U.S. official...

The Kremlin has issued its sharpest comments about cutting off Russia's natural-gas flow to Europe via the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Monday, saying supplies wwould not resume until the "collective West" lifts sanctions against Moscow. "Problems with gas supply arose because of the sanctions imposed on our country by Western states, including Germany and Britain," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov during a conference call, Reuters reported on Monday. "We see incessant attempts to shift responsibility and blame onto us. We categorically reject this and insist that the collective West – in this case, the EU, Canada, the UK...

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss how stocks opened after Labor Day as Ukrainian President Zelensky virtually rings the opening bell.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is the bookmakers' favorite to become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, but the Kremlin is unlikely to be betting on a different British approach to relations with Moscow, or the war in Ukraine, should she take over from incumbent Boris Johnson. Although enjoying less support among fellow Conservative Party MPs, Truss's greater popularity among grassroots Tories than Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the final run-off has seen Betfair put her odds-on 4/6 to win. If successful, she will be the face of the British response to the war in Ukraine during which she...