Within media reporting there is usually a ring of truth, albeit spun into a fake news narrative. President Trump famously said, “the reports are real, the news is fake.” I suspect this report today about CIA Director John Ratcliffe being more involved in the Ukraine-Russia conflict negotiations is a prime example.

We’ll start here: “CIA director John Ratcliffe is preparing to take a bigger role in U.S. negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, U.S. officials have told their European counterparts, in a bid to jump-start moribund diplomatic efforts to end the four-and-a-half-year-long war,” the Financial Times reports.

“The move comes as the White House is considering paring back the involvement of U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have been leading the talks with Moscow and Kyiv.” {Source)

I suspect the first paragraph is accurate, and I suspect the second paragraph is entirely fake news.  That opinion seems verified by the White House refuting the Financial Times report.  Pay attention to what they actually refute:

“This entire story is totally fake news attributed to low-level, anonymous ‘sources’ who have no idea what they are talking about. None of these supposed conversations are happening. Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner continue to work incredibly hard towards a peace agreement, and the President trusts them fully to lead negotiations on behalf of the United States. It’s a shame that Financial Times has devolved into a left-wing gossip rag that has zero interest in reporting accurate information.” ~White House, Anna Kelly

I have a theory on this, and generally I don’t get out in advance of things – preferring to wait, assemble data, and then citing the backstory in the full context outline.  However, this story is different. There’s a geopolitical clock ticking and I suspect events will unfold rather quickly, so it’s worth peeking around the corner in advance of the picture emerging.

To start, understand the Russian psychology and how the Kremlin specifically presents their positions.  Russians don’t do small talk at all. If a Russian has nothing to say, if they perceive no value or transactional purpose in words, they stay quiet.

Russians speak when there is value in the conversation. Russians do not do small talk; that’s a western attribute.

That’s why when the Kremlin quickly broadcast video of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner immediately meeting with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin and top aide Ushakov, it seemed odd.  Letting the cameras roll while Witkoff, Kushner and Putin himself engaged in small talk diplomatic introductions was very odd. Beyond odd.  That’s the thing that interested observers noted was unusual.  Something was different.

Then came the follow-up.  President Trump speaking with President Putin for an hour, and the specific wording used by Ushakov to describe the conversation itself.  There were several points of interest in how the readout was worded, with particular interest to these paragraphs:

[…] “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.”… {source, Kremlin}

I am very confident that President Trump is looking at Russia as a mechanism to solve the Iran conflict and beyond. {GO DEEP} That’s why the “trade and economic ties, promising huge benefits for both nations,” directly attributed to President Trump, is part of the readout.

Then you get to the more surprising part. “[Russia’s] 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.”  President Putin outlined tangible actions “Americans could take.”  Putting that in a readout of a call between Trump and Putin is quite remarkable.

I suspect that Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump had a very honest conversation about the overall conflict, and when President Trump brings up the restoration of the economic relationship as well as the removal of sanctions, Putin then challenged Trump.

Russian President Putin doesn’t believe that President Trump or any other U.S. President actually controls the mechanisms of government.  This opinion is underlined and emphasized when it comes to the U.S. Intelligence Community and the CIA.

Putin has long stated that no U.S. President controls the CIA, and Putin has said while he never views the U.S. President or the people of America as his enemy, the CIA are the problem.  Putin views the CIA as the real control mechanism within the U.S. government.

America is not Russia’s enemy, the CIA is.  That’s Putin’s perspective in a nutshell.

When it was revealed how the FBI, ODNI and CIA had targeted candidate Donald Trump and later President Trump, Vladimir Putin used this reference point in all of his statements about “Russiagate” as an I-told-you-so point of emphasis.  Putin has a long-held belief that U.S. intelligence agencies operated outside the framework of government, and the “Russiagate” operation against Trump proved it. At least that was his public perspective.

There is nothing evident to sway Putin’s perspective and opinion toward President Trump in term-2.  Putin doesn’t believe Trump controls the intelligence agencies, and Putin certainly doesn’t believe Trump controls the CIA.

Now, put that Putin-Trump phone call (use the readout as a reference) together with the report today that CIA Director John Ratcliffe will take a “greater role in Russia-Ukraine talks.”

I suspect that President Trump discussed the benefits to Russia of rejoining the world economy, the removal of sanctions, the financial benefits from the sale of Russian oil and gas and the geopolitical benefits of Russia and the United States forming a strategic relationship.  However, I also suspect that Putin returned that outlook by telling President Trump he was not in control of USIC and as a consequence really not in control of the U.S relationship with NATO.

Obviously, President Trump would counter that he was in control of the USIC and all the downstream institutions, but Putin would be incredulous to the possibility.  History is on the side of Putin and DNI Gabbard could only achieve so much.

[‘Sure, if you are really in control – then do XXXX’] which in a readout becomes “actual tangible actions that the Americans could take.”

“CIA director John Ratcliffe is preparing to take a bigger role in U.S. negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, U.S. officials have told their European counterparts, in a bid to jump-start moribund diplomatic efforts to end the four-and-a-half-year-long war,” the Financial Times reports.

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