Deep breath.  Yesterday, CTH noted to pay close attention to the Finland-Russia border region and the areas in/around St Petersburg.  There has been a visible coordination between Finland and Ukraine in the attacks against Russia.  I would not be surprised to hear this terrorist crossed that border region.

A Lt Col in the Russian Airforce was killed immediately when a car bomb exploded that also severely injured his wife.  As you are reading this there are also reports of thousands of Ukraine civilians fleeing Kiev ahead of Russia’s predicted retaliation.  The serviceman was killed in an area heavily occupied by military personnel and their families.

This is the fourth car bomb in the past few months and the seventh Ukraine car/parcel bombing in the last few years. Zelenskyy is in Moldova today organizing new attacks against Russia.

RUSSIA – A senior Russian officer has been killed by a car bomb in St Petersburg, Russian media reported.

Footage posted on Telegram showed emergency workers and police flooding a street littered with the debris of an exploded vehicle and cordoning it off from the public.

An explosion sounded at around 10am near a Magnit supermarket in the suburban neighbourhood of Shushary, killing the lieutenant colonel and badly injuring his wife, according to Fontanka, a St Petersburg news publication, which cited eyewitnesses.

The outlet claimed that both had lost their legs in the blast, which took place as they began driving away from their home. (read more)

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Western media are reporting that CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow, Russia, to warn his Russian counterpart Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), about striking back against Baltic states. {CITATION} However, that’s only half of the story.

Director Ratcliffe wasn’t simply telling Naryshkin not to hit back; he was telling Naryshkin that European NATO provocations against the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (between Poland and Lithuania) were not ‘fully’ sanctioned by the United States. {CITATION Aug 18}

EU NATO members have been conducting provocative military operations and psychological warfare via NATO exercises all around Kaliningrad. They have been getting more aggressive with each series of maneuvers.  The Trump administration (DoW) recently removed the head of U.S-NATO operations over this background strategy. What the western media will not tell us is that Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, commander of the Army’s V Corps, was removed from command over this planned operation {citation Aug 7}.

Apparently, European NATO is increasingly trying to provoke expanded conflict with Russia, while President Trump and CIA Director John Ratcliffe attempt to tamp down the problems being created.  This is all connected to the expanded drone activity recently reported in media (Germany – Leipzig airport and Romania citations}, which looks increasingly like covert Ukraine intelligence operations.  There are some reports that western intelligence linked Russia to the Leipzig airport drone, so perhaps Director Ratcliffe also carried that intelligence message.

The bottom line is there’s a lot of sketchy ‘fog of war’ stuff happening, and U.S. intelligence has a responsibility to the Trump administration to try and contain any significant issues involving escalation.  Hence, Ratcliffe’s message saying we are not trying to provoke you, so don’t put us in a situation where we end up defending NATO because you retaliate against all of this activity happening outside Ukraine’s borders.

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Barbara Boyd does a solid job connecting the recent U.S-Canada trade friction to the globalist plans of Mark Carney in alignment with the European Union.  The goal is to create and maintain broad opposition to the geopolitical reset underway as an outcome of President Trump’s larger and nationalistic economic agenda.

This is worth the watch as many of the background happenings are interconnected, yet few people are putting it all together. Barbara Boyd argues that the most dangerous escalation is the proxy war with Russia, highlighting Russia’s warning that direct British involvement in strikes on Russian territory could make Britain a combatant.

She says the UK has long driven the ¹Ukraine conflict and that Trump has sought peace while Britain and Europe resist, relying on war production amid failing economies. The episode focuses on Canada’s Mark Carney as a key spokesman for a permanent-warfare economic strategy, detailing his global financial roles and Canada’s creation of a Defense Security and Resilience Bank to fund defense mobilization without citizen involvement.

Boyd also describes Carney’s actions against the U.S., including trade disputes, deeper EU alignment, and Arctic defense plans. She claims a coordinated “chaos” and “psychological warfare” campaign targets U.S. voters ahead of the midterms.  WATCH:

¹There is little doubt European NATO countries, led by the U.K, France and Germany, are stimulating and supporting increased direct military conflict against Russia.  We are beginning to see not-so-covert events happening in/around border nations with Russia -carried out by Ukraine- that continue to raise the stakes.

Moldova, Romania and now Finland are starting to become increasingly visible as launch regions for Ukraine drone attacks into Russia. Meanwhile the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (between Lithuania and Poland) is surrounded by provocative NATO military activity. Keep watching.

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Hopefully CTH readers have followed this story close enough to be able to predict where it ends. The White House has released an official and scathing press release outlining the lengthy and long-term issues with Canada and trade disputes.

WHITE HOUSE – Canada has been ripping off the United States for decades — and President Donald J. Trump is done letting them get away with it. Last week, the U.S. offered Canada the most preferential market access of any country on Earth, with deep cuts on steel, aluminum, autos, lumber, and more. Instead of partnership, Canada chose unreasonable demands, walk-backs, and flat-out rejection.

The record of Canadian abuse is clear and deliberate:

• FACT: Canada is joined only by the People’s Republic of China in choosing retaliation over negotiation. Their continued discriminatory treatment of U.S. commerce has burdened American workers, farmers, and businesses.
• FACT: Canada alone imposed discriminatory 25% tariffs and company-specific quotas on U.S. motor vehicles — measures applied to no other country. As a result, U.S. vehicle exports to Canada crashed 22% over the last year.
• FACT: Canada banned American wine, beer, and spirits in nearly every province and territory — while other countries have faced no such restrictions. As a result, U.S. alcohol exports to Canada collapsed 81% in a single year.
• FACT: Canada locks out U.S. dairy with tariff-rate quotas far more restrictive than those given to Europe, plus over-quota tariffs of nearly 300% — rates so extreme they function as a near-total ban and rank among the highest agricultural tariffs in the developed world.

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Every time he has the opportunity, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney reminds the world he views Canada as a part of Europe.  As the trade conflict between the USA and Canada deepens, Mark Carney looks toward Europe for a financial and security lifeline.

During remarks earlier today Commonwealth Prime Minister Carney noted his intention to join with Europe this fall for increased economic and national security.  This is an alignment the former Bank of England head has been operating since his installation. [X Link]

🇨🇦🇪🇺 I will condense my many tweets on the subject here:
– Europe’s financial and banking system is about to collapse due to insufficient collateral.
– The war in Ukraine was meant to collapse Russia and take its resources for the needed collateral.
– The war in Ukraine failed,…

— Northern Sceptic (@NSceptic11501) August 24, 2026

From my perspective this is Commonwealth banker Carney’s financial hedge against the looming USMCA termination.

Carney will be counting on U.K and EU financial support when the Canadian dollar declines quickly.  You might remember the Bank of Canada warning about this.

May 2026: – […] 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.

To be clear, the FSR is not about what we expect will happen. It is an assessment of how existing vulnerabilities—or pockets of stress—could amplify shocks and ultimately spread across the financial system.” (more)

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As most would anticipate, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected the request for a Ukraine election made by former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

Zelenskyy noted that Fedorov himself might challenge the ‘new democracy‘ regime of Zelenskyy, and therefore the risks are too great.

(via Politico) – Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday flatly rejected a call by his former defense chief to send the country to the ballot box.

“I believe that during a war like this, elections in general pose major risks,” Zelenskyy told journalists — including POLITICO — behind closed doors.

A vote “right now would be a tsunami for the state, one that would divide Ukraine,” the Ukrainian president said. He added that his strategy is “to bring the country to the end of the war and preserve an independent and sovereign state.”

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The timing of these events is remarkable. Almost so remarkable that one might think they are intentionally sequenced.

It started yesterday when the very popular former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov issued a striking warning about Ukraine’s government, corruption, and the need to develop an immediate mechanism for elections even while the war against Russia continues.

There is a great deal of support for Mykhailo Fedorov within Ukraine, as many people see him as a stronger and yet more pragmatic representative of the people.  Fedorov holds strongest support from those under 50 years old, and yesterday he diplomatically called for Ukraine to organize elections in order to retain position as a democracy.

VIA CBS – The former defense minister acknowledged the difficulties of holding a vote during the war, including how to ensure soldiers, people who live near the front line and Ukrainians who fled the war can cast their ballots.  “This is complex. … But complexity does not mean impossibility,” Fedorov said. (Citation)

In the background, the frustration of the Ukrainian people is bubbling up to the surface. In part because the hunters the Zelenskyy regime has hired to go find conscripts are now seen as living a life of indulgence.  The conscript hunters who take the men off the streets are earning $150k targeting their own people for forced military service. The people are furious.

Simultaneous to this public statement about elections released by Fedorov, the anti-corruptions agencies in Ukraine announced investigations directly related to Zelenskyy’s government itself.  It looks like Fedorov knew this was coming.

UKRAINE – Ukraine’s ⁠anti-graft agencies ​said on Wednesday ​they had uncovered a group including a presidential official ​that ‌had laundered ⁠150 million hryvnias ($3.35 ‌million) used to pay for bail ⁠in an energy corruption scheme.

Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies launched a ​special operation against lawmakers and presidential advisers on Wednesday, hours before a key vote in parliament for a new defence ​minister ‌aimed at cementing a shake-up by President ⁠Volodymyr Zelensky.

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35-year-old Ukraine Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov was removed from his position about a month ago.  Despite being heralded as the reason for Ukraine’s successful defense and strikes against Russia, there was internal friction about control of the war spending (ie ‘procurement). The old guard military leaders were unwilling to give up their ability to enrich themselves and their families, Fedorov was removed by President Zelenskyy.

In this CBS interview with Fedorov the young outsider, who is still connected to the war effort and holds strong relationships with both Palantir (Alex Karp) and SpaceX (Elon Musk), outlines the current status of the conflict and gives his predictions on what comes next.

Fedorov states that Ukraine ballistic missiles should be online within three to six months.  He also predicts the ground conflict will be fully autonomous within a year, with robots and drones engaged in most of the combat operations.  As a consequence, Eastern Ukraine is now the real time proving ground for an entirely new type of technological warfare.

The interview is interesting both from a narrative perspective, the Hollywood-lite construct which includes elements of the former ‘find Kony’ performances, the youthful drama – David vs Goliath, the handsome characters etc., and from a perspective of Fedorov’s contemplative responses.  WATCH:

When Fedorov speaks of “destroying 200 Russians” (6:28 of video), he is speaking about destroying the 200 Wildberries warehouses the Ukraine government is convinced will result in the collapse the Russian economy.

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The White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing released an extensive report this week identifying the major nations who enable China to transship goods into the U.S market in an effort to avoid tariffs.  [REPORT HERE]

Within the report several nations and regions are identified as being used by Chinese manufacturers to avoid U.S. customs and duty enforcement mechanisms.  However, both Canada and Mexico are cited as primary enablers of the process.

[SOURCE HERE]

The issue strikes at the heart of the problem identified long ago with the NAFTA agreement, and the problem only worsens when the USMCA provisions on country of origin are not enforced.

When you remove oil and lumber, the majority of Canada’s manufactured exports to the USA contain Chinese component parts and this has been the source of much friction in the current trade negotiations.  The manufacturing supply chain within all free trade agreements only works when the source of component goods is accurately recorded.

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I’m just making a note on this story because it seems to align with other events in the ongoing Ukraine vs Russia narrative assembly, recently discussed.

The initial story, usually the most accurate {source}, stated that at an area within the Leipzig/Halle Airport complex in Germany, a small tour group noticed a drone flying low to the ground in/around the area where cargo planes are located.  Leipzig is used by NATO as a cargo airport to deliver weapons.

The driver of the bus got out, pushed the drone to the ground and called airport authorities to notify them.  The drone was located near the area where two Ukrainian Antonov aircraft were located.  The airport houses two Ukraine Antonov aircraft not being used, and three Russian Antonov’s’ grounded and stored since EU sanctions.

The drone was a quadcopter type, with limited distance capabilities. Inspection of the drone revealed it carried 800 grams of explosive material and a faulty detonator. The drone was taken into custody by airport authorities.

As the initial report was made the airport triggered standard security practices rerouting cargo planes.  A rerouted DHL cargo carrier then encountered another drone about 400 meters in altitude, which hit the nose of the plane.  The plane diverted to Hannover and landed without issue.

This quadcopter drone at Leipzig Airport happens on the same day that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy accused Russia of attacking a street vendor in Kherson, Ukraine, with an almost identical drone.

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