When reviewing the production, it is important to remember – when Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to an assembly in English, his audience is not in the room in Munich. Zelenskyy is speaking to America, through the scripted remarks.

When Zelenskyy is scripted to speak to Europe, he speaks Ukrainian.  When Zelenskyy is scripted to speak to America, he speaks English. This production pattern is consistent.

President Zelenskyy spoke to the Munich Security Conference after speaking to President Trump, after speaking to Secretary Rubio and after Vice-President JD Vance stunned the European audience by calling out their weak and fearful framework of democracy.  All of that is in the background of his remarks.

Acting as if he were a NATO member, he’s not, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy tells the European audience they need to plan for the U.S. to pull-back from NATO, and the European Union needs to assemble a collective “European Army.”   If Europe puts an army together, not a NATO army, but an independent European army, then the French, Germans, Dutch, Norwegians, Italians etc., can send their soldiers into Ukraine to join the fight against Russia.  Yeah, good luck with that.  WATCH:

The audience wasn’t exactly enthusiastic at the suggestion.

“The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that the time has come for the creation of a European army. ‘Our army alone is not enough, we need your support,’ he said, adding that the ‘old days’, when the US supported Europe ‘just because it always had’, are over. He told attendees he would not take Nato membership for Ukraine off the table and insisted that no decisions should be taken on ending Russia’s war without the involvement of Kyiv and Europe.”

Zelensky also told the European leaders at the Munich Security Conference that Russia, Belarus and North Korea are planning a full scale, nuclear invasion of Europe. He urged Europe to take preemptive action.  The full video is below:

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As expected, initial direct talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are being planned to take place in Saudi Arabia.  Saudi King Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) will be the key emissary to coordinate the agenda.

WASHINGTON DC – U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio held a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Feb. 15, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Building on the Feb. 12 phone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States, the foreign ministers agreed to maintain a communication channel to address accumulated issues in Russian-American relations,” a readout from the Russian Foreign Ministry read.

“This is aimed at removing the unilateral barriers inherited from the previous administration that hinder mutually beneficial trade, economic, and investment cooperation.”

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Together with cabinet members from Commerce, the EPA and Energy, President Trump signed two executive orders today and holds yet another lengthy impromptu press conference.

The first XO was an order to remove federal COVID-19 mandates in education. No more COVID vaccines are federally mandated for school attendance.  The second XO is targeting the energy sector to unleash American energy independence [SEE HERE]. The Energy XO encompasses the revitalization of energy infrastructure and creating access to federal energy resources.

Additionally, keeping with a new process of holding impromptu press availabilities, President Trump took several questions from the media about ongoing current events including the meetings taking place in Europe around the Russia -v- Ukraine conflict.  WATCH:

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The press availability allows President Trump to speak directly to events as they unfold. It is remarkable transparency that cuts through the ability of the media to frame current issues.  A very smart communication strategy.

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I have written about the Trump Doctrine for several years; however, as we enter this critical inflection moment perhaps a revisit is worthwhile to consider.

What you will notice from President Trump’s responses to questions during foreign leader engagements is the unique nature of his honesty.   In the most consequential of ways, President Trump is the most consequential foreign policy leader in generations.   We forget that during Trump’s first term in office, the headlines about North and South Korea were not about conflict, but rather about the possibility of unification on the Korean peninsula.

♦President Trump’s foreign policy approach brought North and South Korea together away from the table of conflict.  ♦President Trump’s foreign policy approach brought Serbia and Kosovo together away from the table of conflict.  ♦President Trump’s foreign policy rallied the Gulf Cooperation Council to stop Qatar’s support for Islamic extremists via the Muslim Brotherhood. ♦President Trump’s foreign policy brought Turkey and the Kurdish forces together away from war and conflict.  ♦President Trump’s foreign policy created a ceasefire to stop the bloodshed in Syria.  President Trump mediated a cessation of hostilities between India & Pakistan in the Kashmir region. ♦President Trump’s foreign policy brought Israel and the UAE together… and then Bahrain… and then Sudan in the Abraham Accords.

President Trump executes a unique doctrine of sorts, where national security is achieved by leveraging U.S. economic power. It is a fundamental shift in approaching both allies and adversaries; summarized within the oft repeated phrase: “economic security is national security.”

The Trump Doctrine using economics to achieve national security objectives and global peace is a fundamental paradigm shift.  Modern U.S. history provides no easy reference for the effective outcome.

President Trump doesn’t just represent an office or title, nor does he simply represent the majority of the American people; President Trump’s voice is the voice of every ordinary person, what the non-English speaking world defines as “simple people,” and he channels a global message from the majority to the top of the highest power structures.

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A little detail from behind the wire.  I was asked very recently for my thoughts on why President Trump is a giant of influence in world leadership, my response was simple:  President Trump’s power is bottom up, historic global power structures are top down.

President Trump doesn’t just represent an office or title, nor does he simply represent the majority of the American people; President Trump’s voice is the voice of every ordinary person, what the non-English speaking world defines as “simple people,” and he channels a global message from the majority to the top of the highest power structures.

Smart leaders like Vladimir Putin recognize this power source, and they don’t challenge it – they align with it.  Stupid leaders, those who do not recognize their national nakedness like Emmanuel Macron, attempt to avoid & manipulate it.  The Make America Great Again doctrine is a borderless goal, empowering people to make their own lives great.

(VIA ABC) – […] Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday he stands by his comments from Brussels earlier this week on it being unrealistic for Ukraine to be offered NATO membership as part of a settlement, for it to regain its pre-2014 territory, or for U.S. troops to enter the country to keep the peace. 

“My job today, and in Brussels, was to introduce realism to the conversation – the reality that returning to 2014 borders as part of a negotiated settlement is unlikely; the reality of U.S. troops in Ukraine is unlikely; the reality of Ukraine membership in NATO as a part of a negotiated settlement unlikely. And I stand by the comments that I made on that first day in the Ukraine Contact Group,” Hegseth said at a press conference in Poland Friday. (source)

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UPDATE: Transcript Added

Shortly, Vice-President JD Vance is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Germany, at the Munich Security Conference.

The meeting was originally scheduled to take place this morning, however, a member of the Ukrainian delegation confirmed that their meeting will now take place after 5 p.m. local time in Munich (approximately 11 a.m. ET). Vice-President Vance delivered remarks earlier to the Munich conference.

If you do nothing else today ….  WATCH THIS SPEECH!

It is very interesting that JD Vance brought up the recent Romanian election and the nullification of the result by European courts.  Vance shot an arrow directly into the heart of the hypocrisy of ‘democracy’ as defined by the European control agents (essentially EU intel).  Within the remarks, Vance alludes to missing elections in Ukraine and other various anti-democratic activities that have been recently visible in the EU.

“There is no security if you are afraid of the voices of your own people,” Vance said.  Continuing, “if you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing the American people can do to assist you.” WATCH:

You can hear a pin drop as Vice President Vance, tells the EU bureaucrats exactly how their activity is undemocratic, totalitarian and against the will of the majority of the people they are supposed to represent.

This is a seismic confrontation between JD Vance, President Trump representing the true cause of liberty, and the EU elites who believe they know better than the proles underneath them with their pesky demands for freedom.  Congratulations to JD Vance and President Trump for pulling no punches.  This is awesome.

[Transcript]  “One of the things that I wanted to talk about today is, of course, our shared values. And, you know, it’s great to be back in Germany. As you heard earlier, I was here last year as United States senator. I saw Foreign Secretary David Lammy and joked that both of us last year had different jobs than we have now. But now it’s time for all of our countries, for all of us who have been fortunate enough to be given political power by our respective peoples, to use it wisely to improve their lives.”

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If you read the Zelenskyy statement yesterday following the phone call with President Trump, you would notice the seemingly detached nature of his comments.  Almost as if Zelenskyy was a bystander awaiting further instructions.

Apparently, the European Union, various NATO members and likely some DoS/CIA operatives bent his ear.  24 hours later, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now says it is critical for Ukraine to participate in any discussion on the future of Ukraine.

(Via AP) – […] In his first comments to journalists since Trump held individual calls first with Putin and then Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader conceded that it was “not very pleasant” that the American president spoke first to Putin. But he said the main issue was to “not allow everything to go according to Putin’s plan.”

“We cannot accept it, as an independent country, any agreements (made) without us,” Zelenskyy said as he visited a nuclear power plant in western Ukraine.

While Trump was noncommittal on Wednesday, he offered some reassurances on Thursday when asked by reporters whether Ukrainians would have a seat at the table in U.S. negotiations with Russia. “Of course they would,” Trump said. “I mean, they’re part of it. We would have Ukraine, we have Russia, and we’ll have other people involved too.”

During the conversation with Trump on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said, the U.S. president told him he wanted to speak to both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders at the same time.

“He never mentioned in a conversation that Putin and Russia was a priority. We, today, trust these words. For us it is very important to preserve the support of the United States of America,” Zelenskyy said. (read more)

NATO, the U.K and the European Commission are not happy that President Trump and Russian President Putin may end up framing the terms of a peace deal that ends the war in Ukraine. The EU, the U.K, Blackrock and JP Morgan are expecting financial gains; President Trump dismissing their claims and efforts while simultaneously demanding surety for any further U.S. funding has left the EU very angry.

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Today, President Donald J Trump signed an executive order triggering the first ever system of “reciprocal trade tariffs,” a seismic change in U.S. trade policy that will also consider the respective nation’s VAT (Value Added Tax) tariff.

Within the executive order [as outlined], the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative will consider foreign industry subsidies, and non-monetary tariff barriers as part of the determination of the tariff levied.  This is a stunning shift in U.S trade agreements that will cut through all the angles being deployed to avoid U.S. tariffs and block U.S exports into their country.

The policy will pressure foreign nations to lower their trade barriers to U.S. goods and eliminate disparity in foreign trade agreements.  One big example will be the impact on the EU through the continuing Marshall Plan.  The EU will now face reciprocal tariffs and no longer benefit from one-way tariff acceptance. There are obviously no tariffs on products made inside the USA.

With “reciprocal tariffs” the Commerce Dept and USTR will now determine the trade imbalances with each individual country and will evaluate each FTA (Free Trade Agreement), one-by-one to deconflict the trade imbalance.  Direct tariffs, subsidies, regulatory hurdles, non-monetary trade barriers and hidden export subsidies will be addressed as part of the reciprocity evaluation.  This is a completely new dynamic in the era of modern global trade and economics.

During the executive order signing event, President Trump took questions from the media. WATCH:

Between now and April 1st, each individual trade agreement will be evaluated with consideration for all facets of the cost for American companies to export to the evaluated nation.  Direct tariffs, Value Added Taxes (VAT), state subsidies and non-monetary regulatory tariff barriers, will be determined for each nation.  That nation will then be made aware of the tariff against each sector within their export system to the United States.

Effective April 2, 2025, President Trump will then have the tariff data provided by the USTR and Secretary of Commerce. President Trump will determine when the reciprocal tariff will be triggered and will likely engage in discussions with the leaders of the foreign nations.

These fireside chat-style impromptu pressers during executive order signings are awesome.  The revolutionary change in government transparency and communication is, well, quite literally historic and stunning.  The media can ask questions in real-time as the specific policy is implemented and explained, while simultaneously the ability of the media to shape an anti-Trump policy narrative is removed.

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If you have followed the arc of Tech, Peter Thiel recruiting JD Vance, the creation of Palantir, the funding of Vance’s senatorial run, and eventually the roadmap to connect Vance to Trump, this is a video speech you absolutely must not miss. JD Vance was sent to the AI Summit for a reason.

JD Vance talks at the AI summit in Paris, France, about his core mission, his core purpose inside current political influence. This is the very origin of his legacy, unfolding in real time. Vice-President JD Vance talks about Artificial Intelligence, the future and the Trump administration position.

Vice President JD Vance warned European leaders against heavily regulating U.S. tech companies and said excessive efforts by the European Union to regulate artificial intelligence could stymie its growth, during an AI summit in Paris Tuesday that marks his first foreign trip since taking office. WATCH:

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Do you feel more or less confident about the future, having watched these remarks?

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In an interview with President Trump, the New York Post reveals President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have begun discussions. You can read the article here. However, as would be expected, it is short on details.

This is a critical dynamic because the larger question that will not be pondered by Western media, but will weigh heavily in the background of President Trump’s perspective is, “is it too late?”

Staying in close contact with friends in Russia, it is apparent to me from the reality on the ground as well as the datapoints from all political angles, that President Putin is no longer in a position to feel any impact from non-military geopolitical pressure.  Quite simply the consideration in the mind of Russian President Putin is something entirely different than it was a few years, or even a few months ago.

The Western economic sanctions against Russia have failed.  There is no outward pressure or internal concern about Western financial and economic sanctions any longer.  The Russian economy (govt) and the Russian people (civic society) in aggregate have now organized their economy and their consumer reality without further need for Western connection.

At this point, Putin almost certainly doesn’t care if the sanctions remain.  Those pressure points are now moot to Russian interest, and in many ways the outcome has been beneficial from an economic nationalist perspective.  While the most severe Western sanctions ever delivered in history, did – at first, create a problem for Russia; those problems are now resolved.

Factually, it may sound silly but McDonalds in Russia is better without McDonald’s Inc controlling it.  Starbucks in Russia is now better delivering better products, under Russian management under a new name.  The products and systems of commerce the Russian people initially missed, have all been replaced and new connections to finance have been established with commercial allies outside the zone of western influence.

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