President Donald Trump and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin held a one-hour phone call today, discussing the latest round of negotiations between U.S. Emissaries Steve Witkoff, Jared Kusher and their Russian counterparts.

Obviously, for us at CTH it makes no sense to read manipulative U.S. media reports of the Russian perspective on the phone call, when we can just read the Russian readout for ourselves.  You deserve better.  So, here it is:

[PRESS RELEASE] – Aide to the President Yury Ushakov: President Vladimir Putin had another telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump. In their customary respectful and business-like manner, the leaders exchanged opinions on the trips made by US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kiev on September 5–6.

The telephone conversation lasted exactly one hour. It was constructive and quite frank. As you understand, the conversation itself is confidential, so I am not at liberty to share with you many important details and nuances.

The outcome of the visit by said US representatives was assessed as positive. The work through this channel and some others will continue.

Clearly, the conversation centered on Ukrainian settlement. Donald Trump directly communicated the desirability of bringing the conflict to an end as soon as possible, as it would immediately open up prospects – impressive and far-reaching ones at that – for the ​full restoration of relations between the U.S. and Russia. In his view, this would have a particular impact on trade and economic ties, promising huge ‌benefits for ⁠both nations. Donald Trump is keen to see a breakthrough achieved during his presidency.

President Putin supported this approach in the context of potentially building a constructive partnership between the two great powers and praised the mediation efforts by the US and Donald Trump personally with respect to finding solutions to the Ukrainian conflict. An objective and extensive analysis of the current developments in the special military operation was provided, along with our vision of the overall progress on the battlefield and achieving the goals and objectives of the special military operation. Speaking of which, actual tangible actions that the Americans could take to expedite the cessation of the hostilities were outlined.

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Earlier today Secretary Rubio briefed the media pool from Homestead Air Reserve Base [😁] as he prepared for a trip to Latin America.  For the specific purpose and intents of the trip, Secretary Rubio directed the media attention to the Western Hemisphere approach outlined in the 2026 National Security Strategy [See Page, 15].

The video and transcript are below:

[Transcript] – SECRETARY RUBIO:  So this is an important trip, obviously.  We’re going to go visit three countries strongly aligned with the United States.  We have a lot of common interests with them, both taking on regional transnational criminal terrorism and also economic engagements.  We’re hoping to wrap up good, solid trade deals with all three of these countries in the foreseeable future.  And of course, a lot of strong cultural links.

So I think it’s part of a trend that you’re seeing in the Western Hemisphere of alignment with the U.S. and U.S. interests.  If you read our National Security Strategy – I’m sure all of you have read it very carefully page by page – it outlines one of our priorities is strengthening our presence in the Western Hemisphere.  And I think this trip and these meetings, as much as anything else, is continuing to further that goal as part of that strategy.

QUESTION:  Secretary Rubio, why not travel to Venezuela on this trip?  As you mentioned, this is all about the Western Hemisphere.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko is essentially the equivalent of the U.S. Attorney General.  Keep in mind the Prosecutor General is the office responsible for prosecuting all the Ukraine government officials engaged in corruption, fraud and bribery.

Last week the Ukraine anti-corruption agencies, ​NABU and SAPO, said they had discovered a criminally corrupt operation running from the Prosecutor General’s office.

Today, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko resigned.  Go figure.

VIA REUTERS – Sept 8 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s prosecutor general said on Monday he had offered his resignation citing political reasons, in the latest sign of ​disunity in the senior ranks of the Ukrainian ruling ‌elite.

“This is a political decision, and I have made it consciously. I do not want the position of Prosecutor General to be used as ​an instrument of political confrontation,” Ruslan Kravchenko said in ​a statement on Telegram late on Monday, without elaborating.

Kravchenko ⁠thanked President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, ​and asked them to accept his resignation.

Ukraine’s anti-graft agencies, the ​NABU and SAPO, said last week they had uncovered a criminal organisation dealing with fraudulent call centres which was allegedly arranged by an official within ​the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Kravchenko has denied he was involved in ​the alleged scheme. “My position regarding the accusations remains unchanged,” he said in ‌his ⁠Telegram post. (read more)

A few weeks ago, Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko resigned.  She too was under a corruption investigation.

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Bombardier airplane manufacturing sells approximately 55% of its products inside the United States. The company is based in Montreal and manufacturers the airliners mainly in Ottawa; however, component parts are made in the USA and also Mexico.

The company has a history of being heavily dependent on Canadian government subsidies and bailouts.

Bombardier employs approximately 5,000 U.S. workers and 12,000 Canadian workers but is also heavily dependent on sales to the USA to maintain over half their business.  On the eve of Canada’s retaliatory tariffs against the U.S, President Trump is now recommending a boycott of the airliner.  The U.S. airline builder Gulfstream has been blocked from sales in Canada by regulatory slow walking, a non-tariff barrier.

“NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren’t good enough! Over 50% of their revenue comes from the United States — They live off American Buyers, American Companies, American Airports, and American Service — All while Canada blocks our GREAT American Banks, and Companies, throughout the U.S.A. They even blocked Gulfstream Aerospace from doing business in Canada — Completely unjust and unfair! That Era is OVER! If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a “piggybank.” BUY AMERICAN. FLY ON AMERICAN AIRLINERS. ENJOY AMERICAN LIQUOR AND BEVERAGES. SAIL ON LAKE AMERICA. AMERICA FIRST! Thank you for your attention to this matter.” 

~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

There is a reciprocity justification for Bombardier sales restrictions in the USA considering the non-tariff barriers that U.S. company Gulfstream faces against their Canadian competition.  It will be interesting to see if the Dept of Commerce or USTR enact a regulatory barrier.

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Susan Kokinda from Promethean Action PAC picks up on the nuance within the comments from Kirill Dmitriev upon the U.S. delegation meeting in Moscow.

Promethean Action – “The Kremlin released rare footage of a high-level meeting between Vladimir Putin and Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, followed by their first trip to Kyiv this term and a comparatively restrained response from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signaling revived U.S. diplomacy on Ukraine. The script argues Putin views the American team as a more trusted broker than European leaders and notes a recent sequence of engagements, including CIA Director Ratcliffe’s public Moscow visit and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s G20 outreach to Russia’s finance minister.

With Kirill Dmitriev present, Moscow described detailed discussions of major U.S.-Russia economic projects, alongside claims that Bessent is choking off offshore and banking channels funding Ukraine via Europe, the UK, and Canada. It then pivots to Argentina’s renewed Malvinas/Falklands push as Trump publicly and reportedly reconsiders automatic U.S. support for British sovereignty, recalling internal U.S. divisions during the 1982 war.”

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Labor Day hits a little different this year, as there are elements outside our assembly seeking to fracture the coalition of pragmatic conservatives. The noise is louder, the distractions more intense and the stakes of resetting the economic balance sheet in favor of Main Street are higher. For all of those reasons and more, it seems more difficult to keep moving forward with economic nationalism as the roadmap.

However, we remind ourselves that everything of great purpose comes from within, and from a loving God. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said:

“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.”

It’s Labor Day in America.  We pause and celebrate work, productivity, problem solving, and the value of our workforce. A nation built on ingenuity – so long as we tend the flickering flame of liberty. So, to all of you who do not take part in the grand lies and manipulations that surround us, THANK YOU!

No other nation on earth was conceived to allow people to manifest their own destiny while keeping government out of their lives. The vision, the premise and the purpose, was to allow you the freedom to determine your place in life; and even, at any time, change that determination and strike off in an entirely new direction.

Our American labor and aspirations would not be pre-determined by caste, tier, creed or social status; but rather by our personal vision for our own future. The right of self-determination. This is a uniquely American attribute.

Labor Day is a moment when we reflect on the value of work, the great benefit of endeavors achieved, the pride in accomplishment -regardless of scale- amid this thing we call life. But ultimately, all of these considerations have absolutely nothing to do with the money we assemble in the process.  We ain’t taking any of it with us folks.

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Against the popular uprisings currently taking place in Great Britain, this interview takes on additional context. Last week, just before the civil protests broke out on the shores of the U.K, President Trump sat down for an interview with GB News about issues and current events that hit both sides of the Atlantic.

President Trump answers questions about topics that pertain to both the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as the interconnectivity of the relationship to the United States.  The interview is pragmatic, focused and deliberate as President Trump presents his perspectives on the challenges that face both nations.

Obviously one of the key policy issues facing the U.K is the topic of migration, and President Trump puts the issue into a factual framework of government accepting the problem. These are choices being made by political leadership against the interests of their citizens. The interviewer, Bev Turner, is fraught with political correctness and somewhat stunned by President Trump’s lack of pretense.  WATCH:

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**BUMPED by Request** History has a tendency to rhyme.

There is one move on the geopolitical chessboard that can put all of the U.S. and President Trump’s problems into an immediate checkmate.  However, the forces against the alignment are significant. If President Trump can end the Ukraine-Russia conflict and end the sanctions regime against Russia, everything changes.

Bringing Russian oil, gas and natural resources back into the global economy not only removes all leverage held by Iran, but it also wipes out intransigent resistance against the geopolitical reset and upends over a hundred years of EU and Commonwealth financial manipulation.

Not only does the Iran problem immediately shift, but so too does any/all leverage carried by Canada on behalf of London and the broader commonwealth structure.  With a U.S-Russia strategic economic alliance, something factually stated at the end of every message from Moscow, the dynamics of global structures is entirely different.  However, all the oppositional interests are well aware of the consequence and their actions reflect it.

The United States and Russia ended World War II.  A U.S-Russia alliance would change everything.

Who would benefit from such a strategic partnership?  The USA, Russia, India, China, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States (GCC), ASEAN countries and even Japan and the Caribbean, including Cuba.

Who would oppose such a seismic shift?  The U.K, specifically the financial constructs within the City of London, Canada, the EU-NATO states, all the Commonwealth countries and the Five-Eyes group (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.K and the U.S. Intelligence Community).

Now we have appropriate context for the dynamic of the issue, along with context for exactly why all oppositional elements are conducting current activity.  A strategic partnership between the U.S. and Russia represents an existential threat to all the old systems – everything.

The first step would be solving the Ukraine-Russia conflict. So, let’s look at that problem specifically and how a transactional approach might frame the four corners of an end to it.

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