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.








