Russian President Vladimir Putin answered questions from the media earlier. One of the questions was about President Trump against the backdrop of peace efforts, the middle-east conflict and Ukraine.
President Putin’s response is very interesting. I am placing here as a datapoint for my own analysis without reading too much into it at the moment. All of the points are converging in one direction. WATCH:
BREAKING: Putin says he deeply respects Trump, whom he describes as a courageous person who’s trying to do the right thing by bringing about world peace.
“I believe he truly wants peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, though it may be harder than he expected.” pic.twitter.com/utXlbaiPNf
Congratulations Treepers. If you have followed the discussions [SEE HERE] you can see how we are on the cusp of a big geopolitical change. GET THE BBB PASSED and things begin to unfold. All of the datapoints go in one direction.
The timing of the Israeli judicial system against the backdrop of recent events seems to highlight the accuracy of our prior presentation about the internal political dynamics at play. [Go Deep] and [Go Deep]
According to a message of support sent by President Trump, the Israeli judiciary are now back to targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for removal.
We suspect this would not have happened, at least the timing herein, if President Trump had not just executed a bold strategic move to disconnect U.S. interests directly from the interests/influence of the Israeli government.
This response from the Israeli deep state is in alignment with our expectation.
(via Truth Social) – “BREAKING NEWS…I was shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its Greatest Moments in History, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister! Bibi and I just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land. Anybody else would have suffered losses, embarrassment, and chaos! Bibi Netanyahu was a WARRIOR, like perhaps no other Warrior in the History of Israel, and the result was something that nobody thought was possible, a complete elimination of potentially one of the biggest and most powerful Nuclear Weapons anywhere in the World, and it was going to happen, SOON!
Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff deserves a great deal of credit for what followed in the aftermath of President Trump’s final elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat. Throughout the 12-day war, Witkoff maintained a diplomatic connection to the Iranian delegation in order to position a ceasefire upon conclusion.
The Trump administration is now taking a more firm stance toward who in Iran they will accept negotiations with. As noted by Secretary Rubio, the use of intermediaries has exhausted its usefulness. While Qatar may play a role as an interlocutor to bridge the two sides, the time has come for direct face-to-face discussions with Iranian officials.
With the potential of a peace agreement and increased stability throughout the region, there is an opportunity for an expanded investment and economic zone throughout the middle east, not just in Iran. As CTH noted regarding the threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, technically it is not the Iranian government who closes the strait, but rather the maritime insurance companies who refuse to underwrite an enlarged risk. The same concept applies when the absence of conflict becomes the norm. Steve Witkoff draws attention to this background context within his remarks.
An ancillary benefit in the Russia-Ukraine conflict comes from a very public display of FAFO outcomes. None of the principle characters within NATO, the EU, the U.K nor Ukraine or Russia want to face the Godzilla FAFO strategy that President Trump is willing to deploy.
The reason why the NATO partners responded with great deference to President Trump in the Netherlands is no global observer wants to face Godzilla in FAFO mode, militarily or economically. Even before the dust settled from 70 tons of massive ordnance detonation deep underground in Iran the leaders of the world knew things would be different now.
I’m just going to outline this post as it is framed by Vice President JD Vance without anything…
JD Vance – “This is such a revealing clip. The American media is full of the least curious, least insightful people in our country.
To recap, an out of context, “low confidence” and incomplete intelligence report was selectively leaked to the media. The media reported on the findings without any real effort to figure out whether they represent any part of (much less the full) truth. The way the media has presented the report is contradicted by the IAEA, the Iranians themselves, and the administration’s political and defense leadership. More importantly, the media’s reports are contradicted by common sense.
[Vance, cont…] “To summarize: a dozen 30,000-pound bunker busters were dropped on Iran’s main nuclear site. (The other two sites that were targeted suffered heavy damage too). No one disputes they hit their targets. No one disputes the explosive or destructive power of the weapons. No one disputes that a week ago, Iran could have easily assembled a nuclear weapon and now they can’t.
The entire debate–even accepting the press’s dishonest framing–is not about whether Iran can now build a nuke. They can’t. It’s about how much rebuilding the Iranians would have to do in order to achieve a nuclear weapon. In other words, after a wildly successful military operation with no American casualties, the American media is trying to blame Donald Trump for the existence of facilities *that haven’t even been built yet.*
President Trump and his national security team held a meeting with NATO Sec.-Gen. Mark Rutte during the 2025 NATO Summit in the Hague, Netherlands, and took questions from the media.
Interestingly, NATO Secretary Mark Rutte emphasizes the new commitment from Canada repeatedly. As one of the worst offenders to adhere to their NATO obligations, and against the backdrop of tariffs and targeted trade negotiations, obviously Canada is trying to position themselves against the Trump economic agenda.
Secondly, the emphasis is again on the damage assessment from the U.S. bombing of the Iran nuclear facilities. This is critical for President Trump to break free of the intelligence community control over U.S. foreign policy expanded in the next outline. WATCH:
The NATO summit begins officially tonight in the Hague, Netherlands. However, most of the NATO members arrived early so their collective assembly could strategize a defense against the arrival of Godzilla Trump.
Unfortunately, Godzilla Trump began his journey to the EU today by using a very emphatic F-bomb directed at Iran and Israel. Netanyahu promptly apologized, reversed his antagonistic enterprise and ducked for cover. A grouchy Godzilla is not what the EU leaders want to be facing. Grimaces abound.
To appease the painfully, brutally and uncomfortably honest President Trump the EU have agreed among themselves to increase their defense spending quickly, to the very Trumpian 5% of GDP with 3.5% spent on direct military arms.
GERMANY– […] “We will decide to invest significantly more in our security,” Merz told the Bundestag ahead of the NATO leaders’ summit in The Hague. “Not to do the United States a favor — but because Russia actively threatens the freedom of the entire Euro-Atlantic area.”
A day before the speech, Berlin confirmed it would raise military spending to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2029 — Germany’s most ambitious rearmament effort since the end of the Cold War. (more)
Activist U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy previously blocked President Trump from deporting criminal illegal aliens to non-originating countries, as many countries refused to take back their criminal aliens. The administration appealed the injunction to the Supreme Court and the high court ruled in favor of the Trump administration and DHS [SCOTUS RULING HERE]
However, after the high court lifted the block, Judge Murphy doubled down on his injunction, saying the Supreme Court decision does not pertain to his order.
WASHINGTON DC– The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to swiftly deport foreigners to countries where they have no previous ties.
The justices lifted an order from a federal judge in Boston who had placed restrictions on the deportations to those countries. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy had issued a nationwide injunction that required the administration to give immigrants “meaningful” advance notice and a chance to raise objections before they are sent to so-called third countries — nations not specified in their original deportation orders. But the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to put Murphy’s injunction on hold.(more)
In response to the Supreme Court overruling his decision, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy said late Monday that his injunction blocking the deportation of certain non-citizens to South Sudan and other third-party countries “remains in full force and effect.”
If you are confused about what happened in the past 96 hours, that’s understandable.
Cliff notes. The Occam’s Razor was always accurate. President Trump didn’t want to escalate with Iran. Netanyahu forced President Trump into a supportive box with attacks against Iran. President Trump responded with a public hug to Bibi and eventually a U.S. bombing of the Iran nuclear sites. Israel was big happy. However, Trump’s emissary Steve Witkoff never stopped communicating with Iran on peace approach, and negotiated/coordinated a face-saving Iranian retaliation via a happy to oblige Qatar.
Iran retaliated against the USA support for Israel with a pre-planned attack on a U.S. base in Qatar, which was easily managed. Iran saves face against evil Trump. Meanwhile, loyal friend to Israel, Trump has facilitated the request of Bibi. Diplomacy now returns sans operational nuclear sites. No regime change. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli lobbyist Mark Levin are furious.
All the pro-war Israel-First pundits who sold a narrative of Trump duping the Iranians were wrong. Trump never wanted the conflict escalation, nor did Trump pre-plan with Netanyahu to pretend diplomacy. Pure fantasy speculation. The prior diplomatic efforts between the USA and Iran were genuine from the Trump administration, despite the duplicity from the Iranian side.
In a weakened state the Iranian regime and the Israeli government are now directed to engage in “peace and harmony,” against the new backdrop of the nuclear sites out of commission. Trump’s out. We’re done.
Jonathan Karl is not known for his pragmatic pontification, however in the framework of what comes next following the U.S. bombing of Iran, he’s correct. The next move is entirely up to Iran, and for the moment that puts the decision to escalate outside the control of President Trump.
As Karl outlines, President Trump was adamant the strikes against the Iranian nuclear sites were “one and done.” However, the underlying consideration in the background was the contingency planning for what comes next. As Karl accurately notes, this puts the power of escalation in the hands of Iran. If Iran strikes U.S. military facilities, President Trump will be pulled into a larger military response, and so – the potential for the escalation spiral begins.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl spoke to President Donald Trump about what he hopes these attacks on Iran will accomplish. WATCH:
I think most agree that we do not want to see Iran gaining nuclear weapons power. However, most Americans also do not want to get pulled into a protracted conflict in the middle east again. It is a tenuous moment.
I am not promoting the group, I am promoting the message within this video. As you watch Susan Kokinda discuss the events from the recent G7, and put the remarks by President Trump into context, you might find what she’s saying sounds incredibly familiar.
This recap may sound familiar because it is almost identical to what CTH has outlined {SEE HERE} and {SEE HERE}. So familiar in fact, it might sound as though myself and Susan Kokinda have discussed these issues; we have not. This video is the first time I have heard of her and her group, Promethean Action.
That said, what Mrs Kokinda outlines is precisely what is visible in the details of President Trump’s activity. While I might take exception to some of the lingo used, the substance of her explanation is spot on; particularly accurate is her overlay of how President Trump is approaching Russian President Vladimir Putin when contrast with Trump’s economic vision. This is well worth watching.
What Susan Kokinda says about the Senate opposition to President Trump, vis-a-vis the Big Beautiful Bill, is also accurate. It is within the BBB policy legislation that we see the springboard for the American economic revival. However, the larger program for cooperative nationalism is also why the same opponents to the BBB agenda are aligned to keep President Trump and President Putin apart.
If the USA (Technology, innovation, consumer market) forms a strategic alliance with Russia (resources, capacity, consumer market), and then negotiates a reciprocal trade and manufacturing arrangement with China (transformation to a USA manufacturing return), the geopolitical world order is economically changed. Here at home, the USA is no longer a service driven economy; a natural balance is restored. The multinationals will fight this hard. There are trillions at stake.
Russian markets open to USA goods, technology and innovation services. USA markets open to Russian raw materials and strategic partnerships. With expanded alternatives, China then has to compete for manufacturing etc. Controlled markets become free markets. The focus is on expanded economics, not war and friction.
