Olha Stefanishyna says she resigned. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says she was removed.  Regardless of which storyline is accurate, the Ukraine Ambassador to the United States is no longer in position.  There is no replacement.

Stefanishyna is also under investigation for her connection with financial irregularities involving the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, although she has not been formally charged, yet.

The Western narrative, which has continuously looked like an intelligence community shaping, says that U.S. relations with the government of Ukraine have never been stronger.  The reality seems to be something else entirely.

Aug 3 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, in a decree published on Monday.

Stefanishyna had been in her job for nearly a year. Her departure had been expected for several weeks.

Her departure coincides with a shake-up in recent weeks of top officials, including the replacement of the prime minister and defence minister. A reshuffle of Ukraine’s diplomatic and ambassadorial appointments is also expected.

Stefanishyna, writing on Facebook, said the decision to leave her post was “my own decision, driven by personal circumstances … ” and said she had accomplished much during her time in the post. (read more)

I am not going to belabor the points, because I’m told by most my review of the data is incorrect. However, once again, I would simply point out the distinct difference between the preferred Western narrative and the reality of events as they unfold.

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The Security Assistance Group (SAG) is a unit of NATO command operated in Germany that specifically focuses on the military training and development in support of Ukraine.  The U.S. is transitioning out of SAG leadership and handing the responsibility to Europe or Canada.

EUROPE – Another NATO member will eventually take over running the Security Assistance Group, according to a U.S official and three people familiar with the plan, which has played a central role in equipping and training Ukrainian troops since the full-scale Russian invasion began. But the removal of U.S. leadership from a pivotal program on the continent reinforces the extent to which America is distancing itself from European partners.

The move will mean the U.S. no longer helps shape what Ukraine’s future military will look like. It follows a swath of changes the Trump administration has made to the decades-old alliance. The Pentagon has reduced the number of American officers running commands in Europe and canceled some rotations. Officials are reassessing troops stationed on the continent and warning countries they won’t receive assistance unless their defense spending increases.

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CTH is very happy to see President Trump pause his consideration of giving Ukraine Patriot and Tomahawk missile system technology and licenses.  As noted by President Trump there is always a possibility of those systems being used against the USA if the conflict shifts and Ukraine becomes our enemy.

Germany and Ukraine have been asking for Tomahawks (offensive missile systems), while mostly Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been requesting the Patriot (defensive) missiles.  Both systems are closely guarded, held and maintained by strict security protocols in the U.S. military arsenal.

President Trump responded to the question during his Camp David cabinet meeting (prompted):

Zelenskyy likely did himself no favors when he announced his intention to build missile and drone factories in the U.K.  No doubt several Trump administration officials noted that statement and contrast it against Zelenskyy’s requests.

It would be exceptionally risky for the USA to allow Patriot and Tomahawk systems to be built in the U.K. as the secrecy behind the technology would certainly leak and our strategic advantage lost.  It should be remembered that both the U.K and Ukraine were part of the political system attempting to remove President Trump from office.

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Well, well, well.  There it is. Even if it is clouded in Reuters News doublespeak and coded language, the answer to the big question about why Zelenskyy fired the most effective military leader is right there.  The key words are, “military procurement system”; or in common language “military spending.”

It never made sense; the 35-year-old Defense Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, was heralded as turning the tide of the war in favor of Ukraine through his adaption of technology, specifically drones, and his very close relationship to Alex Karp of Palantir, a military contractor.  Fedorov was young, smart, strategic and exceptionally capable.  Yet, Zelenskyy fired him.

Now the real motive for dispatching Mykhailo Fedorov surfaces in his interview with Reuters.  Fedorov had taken control of how the military funding was being spent, and as a result, all of those Ukraine government officials and military generals who were pocketing money, redirecting funds, giving indulgences to their families and stealing resources were blocked.

The corruption is so widespread, Zelenskyy had no choice except to eliminate the guy taking control of the payments, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

(July 29 – Reuters) – Former Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, in an interview published on Wednesday, said his efforts to overhaul the military’s procurement system were the main reason behind his dismissal this ​month in a military and political shake-up.

Fedorov, a technical expert seen by many ‌as an agent for change in the nearly 4-1/2-year-old war against Russia, told the media outlet Ukrainska Pravda that the proposed changes met resistance from officials inside and around the ministry.

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Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis are refusing to support Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for full senate confirmation.

President Trump notes he will not accept the threats and blackmail from both outgoing senators and will renominate Todd Blanche if needed after the two senators are removed from office.

[Via Truth Social] – “Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it! He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time. However, John Cornyn, of Texas, and Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action, are refusing to vote for this Great Nominee, who will remain, in any event, as Acting.

Remember, both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland, and others, too numerous to mention. I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd’s name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office.”

~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

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The behavior of the U.S. senators clamoring to be with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reflects a certain level of disconnect that needs to be witnessed to be realized.

Senators, grown adults awaiting Zelenskyy’s arrival, clinging to every word, clamoring to be first in line for his reception, competing against each other for time standing next to him, the entire event was grotesque and creepy.  WATCH:

Shortly after the guided tour of the upper chamber, the Golden Child was carried on a gilded chariot into the viewing chamber while trumpets blared, senators took turns bringing forth their taxpayer funded indulgences, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen knelt down at his feet and peeled Zelenskyy’s grapes.  Yeah, that’s the vibe.

The “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026” was then advanced by the Senate in an 86 to 12 procedural vote teeing up the bill for final passage in the Senate later this week. However, I would challenge people to READ THE BILL, it’s only 61-pages.

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We have been warning for several years about the “new democratic norms” being established on a very totalitarian system of control; specifically, the control of information.

The need for control is a reaction to fear.

Finland is announcing that they will sever their international internet link that is connected to Russia, seemingly wanting to build a virtual wall between Russia and the ‘west’, or at least part of a virtual Iron Curtain they can control.

[SOURCE]

Four decades ago, the voice of freedom was heard saying, “tear down this wall.” Today, the modern version of European democracy is taking action akin to saying, “we must rebuild these walls.”

This is a very dangerous approach because a desire to stop discussion, a demand to stop the free flow of challenging ideas, an approach to silence – as opposed to winning the argument, is the exact opposite of freedom; it is the activity of totalitarian dictatorships.

We used to have Radio Free Europe in order to send ideas and information about the inherent value of freedom over the walls to what we called ‘oppressed’ people.  Now, the baseline of modern western values is to do exactly the opposite, to block information that may come from the other side of the curtain.

Reasonably intelligent people might ask, what exactly is it the Europeans fear?

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We understand, Pete.

We understand.

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The entire system is bloated and needs to be eliminated. However, I will just note for the record; no one ever talked about the staffing level at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence until Director Tulsi Gabbard was appointed to head the agency and for the first time in history utilized the legislatively created power of the office over the entire Intelligence Community.

Several years ago, CTH was outlining the unrealized power of the office; we even went further and explained in detail what changes that office could make to rein in the larger Intelligence Community, including the CIA, and not a single person in DC was ever concerned about ODNI staffing level.  Suddenly Gabbard started making changes, big changes, like removing the National Intelligence Council from the CIA and simultaneously the DC system started shouting about reducing the office.  It’s a little, well, ironic I guess, in a DC way.

Today, Acting DNI Bill Pulte notes another round of staff removals:

[SOURCE]

WASHINGTON DC – […] Pulte’s announcement of a 30 percent cut, depending on the baseline for when the dismissals started, could amount to the elimination of more than 300 staff at the ODNI, which is charged with coordinating intelligence collected by the other 17 members of the U.S. spy community and overseeing their budgets. It comes the same day the Senate is expected to vote on his full-time replacement, current top Manhattan federal prosecutor Jay Clayton, as the next head of the ODNI.

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It has been said that all wars are “bankers wars,” however, against the modern era of inverted fascism where corporations tell the govt what policies take priority, the more accurate truism ‘is all wars being controlled by money’, not necessarily banks.

The European Commission has constructed a very special kind of proactive financing for Ukraine that doesn’t require them to give their own €uros to the historically corrupt country.  Partly because the EU doesn’t have their own money, and partly because everything the EU does in the sphere of finance is always a false construct, what the EU put together was a financial system based on sanctioned, confiscated (ie stolen) Russian sovereign wealth funds {citation}.

As part of the sanction regime, the EU and western NATO alliance seized roughly €250 billion, $300 billion USD, in Russian sovereign wealth assets.  As long as the USA was financing the Ukraine government and war effort, those funds sat on the sidelines undiscussed.  However, once the USA stopped writing checks to Ukraine an alternate finance system was needed.

What the EU (Ursula von der Leyen) put together was a finance package using the confiscated $300 billion in the Russian sovereign wealth fund as collateral for loans to Ukraine.  The EU would send the money to Ukraine as a loan that did not have a payback mechanism. Instead, the thinking goes that when the negotiations for a ceasefire take place, Russia would be forced to give up the confiscated $300 billion as part of a reparations package to Ukraine.

Ukraine doesn’t have to pay back the loans because Russia will be forced to give up their sovereign wealth fund, and those funds will repay the loans.  That’s the way the EU financing of Ukraine is set up. {SOURCE}  The EU isn’t giving Ukraine EU money; the EU is giving Ukraine the Russian wealth fund money.

Now, immediately you can see a few problems.

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