Earlier today Russia announced they would pause all military strikes against Kiev, Ukraine for three days, as Trump administration emissaries for peace Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner conduct sensitive negotiations.  The duo is meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow today.

Shortly thereafter, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also announced he would pause any drone strikes into Russia as the diplomatic effort gets underway.  Both Kushner and Witkoff are expected to arrive in Kiev for that side of the discussions tomorrow.

Kushner and Witkoff were met at the Moscow airport by Russian emissary Kiril Dmitriev.

Today happens to be Moscow City Day, a celebration of the 879^th anniversary of the founding of Moscow.

Witkoff and Kushner then traveled to the Kremlin for talks with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.  The U.S. delegation is said to be carrying a new peace proposal from the White House. The meeting comes amid continued international attention on diplomatic efforts involving Russia and the United States, including discussions surrounding the war in Ukraine and broader relations between Washington and Moscow.

[The Kremlin is back on YouTube 👀🤔]

Something about these specific negotiations and the timing therein is different.  Today Witkoff and Kushner meet with Vladimir Putin following a visit by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to the Kremlin where he met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

Approximately three days after the Ratcliffe visit to Moscow, Russia began targeting specific missile and ammunition warehouses in Kiev with exceptional accuracy.  Some of the targeted buildings were in residential areas, much to the surprise of Ukraine President Zelenskyy, who claimed he was unaware of their location.  The ammunition storage strikes created massive explosions in Kiev resulting in numerous casualties.

Russia maintained an intensive 24/7 barrage using drones and missiles for four consecutive days.  Meanwhile, without sharing any evidence, Germany claimed Russia was conducting “hybrid attacks” throughout Europe.  Again, there is no evidence to support this claim, which was promoted by European NATO allies yet refuted by local authorities in each of the examples cited.

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Volkswagen is a case study in self-destruction as a result of EU ‘climate’ politics and German auto company decision-making.  The decision to chase climate policy created European legislation that set quotas, limits and fines on automakers who did not shift to electric vehicles.  German automakers then chose to purchase carbon credits from China, who then use those sales to further discount exported EVs into the German market.

Simultaneously, Volkswagen opened up operation in China allowing their technology to be captured by Chinese auto makers who turned around and duplicated the technology at a much lower price.  Once the manufacturing was at full speed, China stopped purchasing Volkswagen autos.

The partly state-owned German automaker Volkswagen announced today [SEE HERE] their survival as a company now requires the elimination of 100,000 jobs in Germany with the closure of plants in Emden, Zwickau, Hanover and the Audi site in Neckarsulm.  Volkswagen will not be the last German company to suffer this fate as Mercedes is now 20% owned by Chinese EV company Geely.

The German auto workers do not have a choice. They no longer have a solid consumer base for their vehicles, and China continues to export low price EVs into the European market.  Every euro in tariffs against Beijing is offset by the euros the auto companies spend purchasing Chinese carbon credits to avoid European fines. They cannot get out of the spiral.

GERMANY – The car company Volkswagen has approved controversial plans to shed 100,000 jobs in a battle for survival as it faces fierce competition from Chinese rivals.

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It is an unfortunate reality that leaders of Ukraine military, intelligence and security services are more concerned with money, affluence, exotic cars and beachfront villas in Europe than functionally carrying out the duty. Alas, that is the nature of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has very little control over it.

A few days ago, a shootout in the capital between rival powers of the Ukraine Intelligence Service (SBU) and Ukraine Military Intelligence (HUR) broke out bringing increased embarrassment to an already tenuous situation {citation}.  Therefore, it does not come as a surprise today when an explosive drone that hit the headquarters of SBU security chief Oleksandr Poklad is argued amid Ukraine rank and file to have originated from within.

However, Ukraine President Zelenskyy is quick to point fingers at Russia for the drone that flew in the window of SBU Chief Poklad. I mean, what else could Zelenskyy say and still retain some semblance of face-saving toward the NATO alliance he is dependent on.

Up to this point, Russia has never targeted a specific Ukraine leader for assassination; Zelenskyy’s constant visibility is seemingly confirmation of this lack of interest.  But Zelenskyy is certain that Russia tried to kill Oleksandr Poklad. Go figure.

UKRAINE – A Russian drone has hit the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) during a strike in the heart of Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

The unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into the SBU headquarters on Friday afternoon, targeting a room used by security chief Oleksandr Poklad.  It is not clear whether Poklad was in the building, but Zelensky said he had since spoken to him to order an “appropriate, tangible response”.

“The drone was aimed directly at the office of the Head of the Security Service in that building,” Zelensky confirmed. It suggests Russia’s new drones are growing in accuracy and signals Moscow could step up strikes before possible US mediation talks this weekend.

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Sometimes you can get so far into the rabbit hole that you just need to transmit the signal and let others figure it out.  So, here’s some sketchy stuff that doesn’t make sense, but then again…

You might remember my mentioning that something was odd after Zelenskyy visited London in early June and then a series of unexplained events started happening.  Well, maybe what I am about to share connects to that, or maybe it’s just my imagination.

It all started when I took the announcement of De Nederlandsche Bank transferring gold from Canada and the USA, then overlaid their reported timeline with other stuff I have been tracking.  According to the announcement: “Between March and August 2026, approximately 86 tonnes of gold were transferred from the combined total of approximately 313 tonnes held in the United States and Canada to London.” {source}

Now, mind you the official public notice just happened yesterday, Sept 2nd.

Between March and August 2026?  A very interesting set of dates, considering the Dutch claim their move was due to uncertainty with the USA and Canada economic and trade positions, yet those economic/trade positions were not tenuous until very late August.

Why move gold out of Canada in March?

Here’s the interesting timing.  Do you remember when Canada reported a 0.0% GDP growth in the first quarter, and technically that put them into a defined recession.  That narrative was not in the interests of Mark Carney who was -perhaps not coincidentally- repeatedly visiting the EU after taking up the leadership position for the “new, middle-power world order.”  In fact, the Canadian GDP result was widely reported and a sore spot for Carney’s govt.

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For those waiting patiently for the USMCA termination announcement, this is a potential indication and/or signal of pendency.

When President Trump and USTR Jamieson Greer send the official notification, a six-month countdown clock begins running.  As of right now there are no official statements that indicate the likely triggering, it’s a guess.  However, there are datapoints aligning in that direction.

[SOURCE]

No one outside our assembly has contemplated the termination of the USMCA (CUSMA) or what would occur in the aftermath; however, the Bank of Canada has gamed out the financial consequences, briefly in their forward guidance. The ramifications are significant, perhaps more significant than any other global trade announcement.

[…] “it more likely that a new shock or a combination of shocks could cause several vulnerabilities to crystalize at once. If this were to happen, these vulnerabilities could interact and reinforce each other. 

A cascading series of events could cause a sharp loss of investor confidence and lead to a spike in demand for liquidity or rapid asset sales. Funding markets could come under pressure, and stress could spread more broadly.” [SOURCE]

I suggest we keep a close eye on all U.S-Mexico discussions, as well as geopolitical leverage points that might surface in the U.S-Mexico relationship. My best guess is that once the U.S. and Mexico come to renewed terms on the ‘USMCA’ as a potential bilateral free trade agreement, that will be the moment when the planets are aligned for the termination notification.

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Considering that European NATO partners are urgently trying to expand the Ukraine conflict and assemble a united NATO war effort against the Russian Federation, it is worth reviewing the current position of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin held a press conference on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan.  A transcript is below:

Olga Knyazeva: Today, very much attention is given to our contacts with the United States. The CIA director has reportedly visited [Moscow] to offer trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine talks.

Do you think we need any negotiation tracks now or possibly new intermediaries, including American ones?

Vladimir Putin: First, communication between our intelligence services is maintained at all times. You may have noticed that we have recently handed over to the American side an American citizen who was serving a prison term in Russia. We did that for health and humanitarian reasons. He is a simple guy, a drinker and a brawler with health problems, so we sent him home to get medical assistance.

It was my first point. Communication is and was always maintained, even in the most difficult periods of the Cold War, and even more so now. Direct contacts are also maintained between the senior officials of our intelligence services.

As for expanding the number of negotiators, we believe that negotiations, any kind of negotiations, should be primarily filled with concrete content. If anyone is making or can make a practical contribution to this process, we are all for it.

The only thing we would like to avoid is to carry on a senseless process. If anyone can make a positive contribution to this negotiating process, which has been frozen to some extent, as we see this, we would not be against this. But this requires the involvement of specialists, the military and diplomats, of course.

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Within 12 hours of the Friday announcement that Canada had walked away from trade discussions with the U.S, we were able to piece together what the four points were.  Several people disagreed and claimed something else was involved.  Today, Prime Minister Mark Carney affirmed specifically the accuracy of those four points.

While Prime Minister Carney used his verbose gaslighting to describe them, you can listen for yourself.  It boiled down to four issues: [1] U.S. streaming services writing code for “search engines” in the French language (cultural issue). [2] The U.S. having a right to reject a trade deal made by Canada with a non-market economy, ie. CHINA. [3] Removal of tariffs on Canadian assembled heavy trucks, semi-trucks and industrial trucks (not in the auto sector). [4] Canada demanding 5% of gross revenues from U.S. tech platforms, with an attitude that U.S. controls North American trade.

You can listen to his own words describing these issues.  WATCH:

The United States must, as a matter of U.S. national security and survival, immediately cut all trade ties with Canada completely.  I’ll explain why this is so critical and important.

The most appropriate metaphor is the drowning victim (Canada) with an intentionally placed anchor on its foot (China), now becoming a threat to the rescue swimmer (USA).   If we don’t cut ties, we risk our own livelihood.

Here’s the four counterpoints:

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There was a reason why CTH focused on the Leipzig-Halle Airport “drone attack” in Germany on August 5th. {GO DEEP}  There have been numerous indications the EU-NATO members, driven by Germany, France and the U.K. have been increasingly trying to expand the Ukraine war effort and pull in direct military engagement against Russia.

The Leipzig-Halle airport drone held all of the conspicuous indications of a false flag attack that did not stem from Russia.  The quadcopter drone was a limited range battery powered small drone carrying a rudimentary IED type explosive.  It needed to be operated and controlled by someone very close to the area, and the cargo area of the airport is a closed-loop security zone.

Nothing about the method, timing or location of the “drone attack” spoke to any value or importance for Russian interests in the Ukraine conflict. However, for expanding the war propaganda purposes the created narrative holds value.  The Leipzig-Halle drone operation was more than likely carried out by the same country who bombed the Nordstream pipeline. That was Ukraine.

Today, using the airport “drone attack” as a justification, Germany is accusing Russia of expanding a hybrid war against NATO and Germany is testing whether the full NATO alliance is willing to join them in military combat operations against Russia.  “German defense entrepreneur Stefan Thumann argued sabotage operations carried out by Moscow against his country are an “act of war … controlled and coordinated here by the Russian armed forces.” {source}

European NATO allies were quick to pick up the catchphrase “hybrid war” with statements from NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte, EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen, Finland President Alexander Stubb, Italian President Giorgia Meloni and many more.  Coordinated and timed to happen in unison, the EU-NATO nations now align to expand their war footing against Russia.  All of this was/is easily predictable.  This is by design.

Simultaneous with this announcement and statements from within Germany, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now threatens all airline travel in Russia, in an obvious attempt to influence airline insurance carriers and shut down Russian civilian airspace.  However, if you have followed the pattern with us over the past several years, what should be expected next is alarming.

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For about a year CTH has predicted Chinese auto manufacturers BYD and GEELY would take over shuttered auto plants in Canada.  Specifically, six months ago, against the backdrop warning of Stellantis, Toyota and Honda telling the Canadian government that without the USMCA they would shift auto production to the USA, CTH predicted BYD and GEELY would make moves on those closed facilities.

The move by China is easy to predict.  Prime Minister Mark Carney has opened the door to Chinese EVs.  It would be in Beijing’s best interest to retool and take control of closed plants to begin mass production in North America.

Chinese EV manufacturing in Canada serves two purposes.

First, they would not be limited in production to the cars that remain in Canada as part of the agreement.  Factually, China would use their Canadian footprint as an export hub into Europe and save money on current distribution.   Remember, Europe is losing their auto manufacturing base to China and Germany is laying off 100,000+ auto workers.

Second, the appearance of Chinese auto manufacturing in North America would put pressure on the United States to permit their cheap EVs to enter the market.

Today Bloomberg is reporting exactly what we predicted.  Chinese automaker BYD (Build Your Dream) is asking local officials about the currently idled Stellantis auto plant.  Things are following a very predictable timeline.

BLOOMBERG – Chinese carmaker BYD Co. inquired about taking over an idled Stellantis NV plant in the Toronto suburbs, according to a local politician, signaling possible global interest in Canadian auto hubs in the midst of a trade battle with the US.

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Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin has been remarkably reserved and selective in his targeting, considering the scale and capability of the massively armed nation to obliterate Ukraine metropolitan areas.

Russia absorbed all the Ukraine attacks on Wildberries warehouses for all the reasons CTH previously noted.  Ukraine was convinced by western intelligence analysis that destroying the roughly 200 Wildberries distribution centers would cripple the Russian consumer economy.  However, increased strikes did not yield the desired results. Duh.

Ukraine then added Ozon to the target list, another online retailer for everyday items similar to Amazon (even with similar name).

Ukraine began targeting Ozon warehouse and distribution centers shortly before they began more parcel and car bomb attacks against strategic Russian military officers.

It’s almost like Western intelligence do not understand how resilient Russian consumers are.  Russia is considerably analog in an almost exclusively western digital world.  Perhaps that’s the disconnect, but I would think with the cultural connections between both nations, Ukraine would know better.

Then again, is it really Ukraine strategizing the war?

Regardless, Vladimir Putin has now taken the restrictions away from dual use infrastructure in/around Kyiv, and for the past two days Russia has continued to launch relentless volleys of missiles and drones at Kyiv warehouses.  Overall, during the two days of Russian attacks, 17 warehouse facilities, 16 private houses, three apartment buildings and 16 vehicles were damaged in Kyiv region. {source} It’s the retaliatory version of FAFO.

Western Ukraine (Kyiv region) is very ‘western’, very western.  Eastern Ukraine, not so much.  Suddenly the nightclubs, dance clubs and entertainment districts in/around Kyiv (Kiev) are empty.

What is now beginning to be shared on background alternative media is the scope of exodus from Ukraine (picture above left).  Thousands of Ukrainians are now fleeing every day.

KYIVPOST -Russian forces struck Nova Poshta warehouse facilities in the Kyiv region early Friday, Aug. 28, then hit the same site twice more as firefighters were battling the resulting blaze, local authorities said.

The initial strike targeted warehouses in the Bilohorodka community, damaging a nearby production facility in Sviatopetrivske, according to Anton Ovsiienko, head of the Bilohorodka village council.

Nearly an hour later, while emergency crews were still fighting the fire, Russian forces launched two more strikes at the same location. Firefighters and other specialists managed to move to a safer area before the additional impacts, Ovsiienko said.

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