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.

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Unfortunately, if my memory is correct, this did not work out too well the last time.  The irony thickens when you look at the brand name Volkswagen, and how they got their start.

[SOURCE]

GERMANY – Volkswagen (VWAGY) has agreed to sell its Osnabrück plant in Germany to Israeli investor Aurelius Capital and the state of Lower Saxony, paving the way for the factory to shift from car production to defense manufacturing.

Vehicle production at the plant is scheduled to end in summer 2027. Aurelius would become the majority owner alongside Lower Saxony, with the aim of preserving the site and a large part of its workforce.

The new owners plan to develop the site gradually into a competence center for security and defense solutions. Aurelius and Lower Saxony are planning an initial anchor project with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in air defense, with further industrial partnerships and projects expected to follow.

The project could involve producing air-defense systems and components for Germany and Europe. About 1,400 of the plant’s 1,800 jobs could be preserved, according to labor officials. {source}

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Chrystia Freeland is an exceptional representative of the mindset showcased by 80% of Canadians.  During her tenure as Deputy Minister to Justin Trudeau, Freeland organized “emergency powers” to target government opposition which included the seizure of bank accounts and government control over the income of Canadian citizens they disliked.  The events described are not in question.

Current Prime Minister Mark Carney then placed Freeland as the advisor to Ukraine President Zelenskyy on the Ukraine reconstruction banking and finance agenda.  A charter member of the globalist control mechanisms within the World Economic Forum, Chrystia Freeland is currently working for Ukraine and the EU-NATO allies in the banking and finance capacity; inside the mechanics of the system that controls the financial fraud within Ukraine.

As Mark Carney is desperately trying to organize a globalist response to President Trump’s program of economic nationalism and sovereignty, Freeland travels back to the U.S. to appear on leftist media outlets and proclaim that Trump’s economic perspective is evidence of “authoritarianism.” The current Canadian approach is to try and influence domestic politics inside the United States, on behalf of the global interests opposed to Trump.

It should be noted that the activity underway by Canadian officials inside the USA is against the law in Canada.  The Canadian govt do not permit foreign influence to undermine them and have strict controls over their media. WATCH (prompted):

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Don’t lose sight of the forest while looking at the trees.  Ultimately this fear by the Canadians and others is about economics, it’s about money, it’s the “there are trillions at stake” aspect to globalism.  There are ideological components, yes; however, the ideology is evident because it is a tool. At the root of their apoplexy all of this is about control of money.

Leftists, progressives, communists et al, use money as a tool and weapon in the dynamic of their power and control.  Hence, the banking example previously in Canada.  Take away the leftist’s ability to weaponize affluence, and their influence diminishes.  Take away their money and they lose power. That’s the heart of the matter, and why President Trump’s economic approach toward geopolitics is so fundamentally against their interests.

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Earlier today U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio participated in a joint signing ceremony with Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella at a Strategic Civil Nuclear Cooperation and Critical Minerals Framework discussion. Both leaders signed the Memorandum of understanding and delivered remarks to the assembled media.

Secretary Rubio delivered the majority of his remarks in Spanish for the audience and media.  His bilingual skills come in very handy as Secretary Rubio travels Latin America carrying forth the U.S. strategic policy for the western hemisphere. Video and Transcript Below:

[Transcript] – MODERATOR:  (Via interpreter) Good afternoon.  Good afternoon.  The Presidency of Colombia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to welcome you to the – to the ceremony of two memorandums of understanding between the Government of Colombia and the Government of the U.S. of America.

We are pleased to have His Highness President Abelardo De La Espriella, who is the president of Colombia, that’s going to be in this act as the witness – as a witness of honor.  And we would also like to greet Omar Bula Escobar, who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, and His Excellency Marco Rubio, who is the Secretary of State of the United States of America, who are going to sign both agreements.

(In English) Good afternoon.  The Presidency of the Republic of Colombia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcome you to the signing ceremony of two memoranda of understanding between the Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Government of the United States of America.  We are honored by the presence of His Excellency Abelardo De La Espriella, President of the Republic of Colombia, who joins us as witness of honor.  We also welcome His Excellency Omar Bula Escobar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, and the Honorable Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the United States of America, who will sign both instruments.

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As noted by President Trump, U.S. businesses and contractors are blocked from bidding on most Canadian federal and provincial contracts for goods and services.  However, the U.S. does not restrict Canadian companies from bidding on U.S. state and federal contracts.

Effective today, that one-way benefit ends.

Keep in mind, as this Truth Social post was made, USTR Jamieson Greer is in a meeting with Canadian USMCA negotiator, Dominick LeBlanc.

(Via Truth Social) – “Everyone knows that Canada doesn’t let our Great Dairy Farmers sell into the Canadian Market, and that the only reason Canada makes Autos is because of previous disastrous Trade Agreements while other Presidents were in Office. Canada has been ripping us off for years, but what many do not realize is that the Canadian Government, including Canadian Provinces, have banned American Small Businesses and Companies from selling into their Government Procurement Markets. 

This is the case even though Canada gets broad access into the massive American Government Procurement Market, including those of our States. That is not reciprocity, it is a Canadian Trade Scam. From now on, NO RECIPROCITY – NO ACCESS! I am hereby directing the GSA, working with the USTR, to take all necessary steps to REMOVE Canadian-origin products from GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules unless Canada restores full and fair reciprocity for American Farmers and Companies. Those schedules account for more than 50 BILLION DOLLARS a year. This should have been cut off years ago, by other Administrations, like it was by mine, only to reinstituted by Sleepy Joe Biden. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

This is also a good opportunity to point out that several media reports on a Deloitte analysis of the Canadian economy, centered around what would happen if the USMCA was terminated, are fundamentally false.  The Deloitte analysis has a baseline assumption that is structurally flawed.

You can read the Deloitte Report HERE.  In the forward you will notice they ‘assume’ all trade between the U.S. and Canada continues, they assume Canada will retain “most favored nation” status, and they assume without the USMCA Canada will face a global 10% baseline tariff.  Each of these assumptions is structurally false.

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Bloomberg is reporting that EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Mark Carney are scheduled to formalize a strategic partnership with details to be delivered during remarks on September 16th.

In the big picture this does not come as a surprise as Prime Minister Mark Carney has called Canada the most European of non-European states. The ideology of the EU bureaucracy in Brussels and the Carney government in Ottawa is in full alignment. Canada yearns to be European in part to help defend the British Commonwealth from the global reset underway by U.S. President Donald Trump.

President Trump is assembling a sovereign global structure where the tentacles of the British commonwealth system are removed. A sovereign USA, China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia acting independently, albeit with each nation organizing their interests by forming bilateral trade and economic attachments with each other nation.

In essence President Trump is emphasizing ‘Nationalism’ over ‘Globalism’, where the influences of the old, mostly British or colonial systems are removed. In order to combat this strategic reset the U.K commonwealth countries Australia, New Zealand, the British Caribbean states and Canada are organizing themselves into a cluster with the European nations as “middle powers.”

According to the expressed defensive plan outlined by Prime Minister Mark Carney, the totality of the “middle powers” assembly would then be large enough to block the influences of the USA, China, Russia, India or Saudi Arabia.

This new alignment will be interesting against the geopolitical backdrop of the economically aligned G7 or G20 construct. However, there is a big upside. Given the nature of the expressed intent for collective defense and security, there is an immediate opportunity created by the assembly for the United States to exit NATO.

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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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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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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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