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Mold, Sewage, and Rot in the Barracks: How Did the US Military Sink So Low?

ANALYSIS by John “Wolf” Wagner Mold, raw sewage, broken windows, and fire systems that don’t work. The Government Accountability Office recently highlighted these and other severe problems plaguing military barracks across the services. The problems also include non-existent maintenance and repairs, poor cleaning services, a lack of accountability, and more. …

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In Cold War Moscow, a Moment of Hope at a Freezing Airfield

by Rick Kiernan, The War Horse On Oct. 28, 1991, I settled into an hours-long commercial flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Moscow. By year’s end, the iconic Soviet flag would fly over the Kremlin for the final time, silently signaling the collapse of the USSR after nearly seven decades. I …

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Eyewitnesses to War: Villagers Kept Record of Who Died Inside Airless ‘Dungeon of Death’ in Ukraine

by Mark Krutov, RFE/RL The elderly and sick died quietly. Crowded with hundreds of others held captive by Russian soldiers for four weeks in an airless, unsanitary school basement in Yahidne, a village in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, the ill and the frail were particularly vulnerable. Several could …

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How The KGB Caught America’s ‘Volkswagen Spy’: A Story of Cold War Espionage

by Amos Chapple A photo album sitting on the shelves of Ukraine’s KGB archives reveals how an amateur U.S. spy was captured more than 60 years ago.  In the summer of 1961, a quiet, serious American student named Marvin Makinen pulled up to the Soviet border in a Volkswagen car. The …

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Air National Guardsman Applied for Fake Hitman Job on Parody Website

by Susan Katz Keating Another member of the Air National Guard has been hit with criminal charges – this time, not for leaking classified documents. It has to do with murder-for-hire. A Tennessee man who serves in the Air National Guard agreed to kill someone for a client who actually …

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Prigozhin Funeral a ‘Special Burial Operation,’ Held in Secret

by Mike Eckel The cloak-and-dagger uncertainty surrounding the funeral prompted a popular quip to circulate among Russian journalists: just as the Ukraine war has been euphemized by the Kremlin as a “special military operation,” Prigozhin’s funeral should be considered a “special burial operation.” For two months after launching the greatest challenge to …

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Putin, Prigozhin, and a Fiery Plane Crash: What to Watch Next as the Wagner Group Saga Unfolds

by Mike Eckel Three days after an Embraer 600 passenger jet linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin broke up and slammed into the ground north of Moscow, there is still no final clarity on the fate of the Wagner Group founder. President Vladimir Putin suggested Prigozhin was dead in comments on August …

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Russian ‘Tulip’ Mega-Mortar Being Used in Ukraine

A massive 1970’s-era Russian mega-mortar called the ‘Tulip’ has been seen on the battlefield in Ukraine. The Russian 2S4 Tyulpan is the largest self-propelled mortar in the world – with footage of the 30-ton beast appearing on social media claiming to show it being used by Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk region. …

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Callsign ‘Wagner’: Dmitry Utkin Gave His Name to Mercenary Group, Was Passenger Aboard Fatal Plane Crash

by Robert Coalson “Wagner is a cruel fellow,” a Wagner officer told RFE/RL in 2018, speaking of senior mercenary field commander Dmitry Utkin, whose call sign was Wagner. “He’s no fool.” When a private jet that Russian aviation authorities said was carrying Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin crashed on August 23 en route …

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In World War II, a Secret Weapons Factory Was Hidden Beneath British Parliament

It’s a story that’s been mostly forgotten for decades… until now. During the Second World War, British Parliament had a secret war factory underneath the House of Commons. Workshops forming the ‘Westminster Munitions Unit’ were set up in the basement beneath the Central Lobby. British armed forces news cameras have …

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