In addition to being the main economic engine in Europe, Germany is the epicenter of the European Union’s overall goal to chase the green energy agenda.

For the past several years Germany has been deconstructing their fossil fuel energy production and replacing it with far more expensive alternatives.  This has led to large increases in overall energy prices, and downstream increases in manufacturing costs.

The consequences have been snowballing throughout 2025, while cheap competitive alternatives coming into the EU from China have compounded their problem.  Recently a survey of major industries was conducted in Germany to determine the forecast for 2026, the results are not good.

Approximately half of the industrial sectors in Germany are anticipating job losses, cuts or layoffs this year.

22 out of 46 business associations are preparing to downsize their labor force.  Only 9 of the 46 are expected to increase hiring.

At a top-line this looks bad.  However, when you look at the sectors contracting versus the sectors stable or expanding, you suddenly realize there is a bigger geopolitical problem within the forecast.

Job losses are expected in auto manufacturing, the textile sector, wood and paper fabrication.  Job gains are expected in aerospace, shipbuilding and defense production – i.e. the war machinery.

When the largest and most developed industrial economy in Europe is pinning its economic survival on war machinery, a particular momentum is created.  It is never a good outcome for Europe when Germany becomes reliant on war to maintain employment.

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Do you remember when President Trump’s emissary Steve Witkoff recently revealed how the CIA was deliberately misinforming him and the U.S negotiating group about the status of Hamas? {GO DEEP} Essentially Witkoff shared that in mid-east negotiations, in real time as the events unfolded, the CIA was generating false intelligence reports that were complete fabrications disconnected from the reality of the events unfolding on the ground.

Well, if you remember that recent example, then this report leaked to Reuters starts to make sense.

According to “six sources familiar with U.S. intelligence” the CIA is generating reports that Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin intends to march all the way through Ukraine to the Polish border: thereby taking control of the entire country.

According to the “six sources familiar with U.S. intelligence,” President Trump is ignoring their intelligence reports.  This would be a little funny, if the consequences of this rogue Global Intelligence Apparatus were not worrisome.  However, given the fact that no head of state in any western country can be sure the Intelligence Community is not operating independently, the Reuters report takes on context.

As the story is told, four months ago U.S. intelligence told President Trump that Putin was going to invade Europe.  For some reason President Trump, Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff ignored them.  Perhaps now we discover the benefit of having the former chair of the senate intelligence committee as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.

WASHINGTON/PARIS, Dec 19 (Reuters) – U.S. intelligence reports continue to warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to capture all of Ukraine and reclaim parts of Europe that belonged to the former Soviet empire, six sources familiar with U.S. intelligence said, even as negotiators seek an end to the war that would leave Russia with far less territory.

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President Trump had previously said that Zelenskyy has until Christmas to make a decision on the negotiated ceasefire and peace plan organized over weeks of discussions between the U.S., Ukraine and Russian intermediaries.

Ukraine President Zelenskyy then rushed to Paris, London, Brussels and Rome to coordinate with European stakeholder interests. [Notably, he never prioritized discussion of the proposal with the people of Ukraine.]

Zelenskyy then announced his European partners were close to finalizing a counterproposal deal.

Interestingly, the leaders of Germany, U.K., France and Ukraine then leak they had a 2-hour phone call with President Trump.  It’s interesting, because President Trump chose to stay quiet about the call as the “coalition of the willing” plotted their next move to keep the USA attached to their collective destiny.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they “agreed that this was a critical moment – for Ukraine, its people and for shared security across the Euro-Atlantic region”. A White House official confirmed the call took place but did not give details. {link}

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer spoke with the other heads of state, declaring that they were at a “critical moment,” according to a spokesperson for Downing Street. “The Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to the president of the United States, Donald Trump, the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz today,” they said. {link}

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz then announces the “coalition of the willing”, which is specifically Germany, Great Britain and France, will reassemble with President Zelenskyy to solidify the next steps in the “security guarantee” part of their proposal. Previously, the trio would only commit to be “willing” if the USA agreed to protect their military forces on the non-NATO territory of Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine, together with American and European partners, is working on three separate documents related to security and the country’s postwar development. {link}

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President Trump sat down for an extensive interview with Dasha Burns of Politico.  Despite the ideological outlook of Politico, the interview itself was remarkably absent of combative antagonism. The result is a good review of the current positions of President Trump as they relate to the rest of the world.

The Ukraine-Russia conflict is the immediate issue that is discussed within the interview.  President Trump answers some direct questions about who is currently most responsible for continuing the conflict and is asked his opinion directly on Ukraine not holding elections.

President Trump notes Russian President Vladimir Putin is in the strongest position within the conflict and carries the strongest leverage into any ceasefire negotiations.  Trump also frames the need for the bloodshed to end with a much greater sense of urgency than any of the EU leaders or Zelenskyy.  Additionally sharing the opinion that Ukraine needs to have an election to showcase the will of the Ukrainian people in the leadership of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  WATCH:

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Yesterday, Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy traveled to London to meet with British PM Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

As expected, part of the Zelenskyy meeting with the “coalition of the willing” included a briefing by Ukraine negotiator Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, who held detailed consultations for three days last week in Miami with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

President Zelenskyy then departed London traveling with his media entourage to Brussels for the next round of discussions with the European Union stakeholders, financiers and politicians. During the trip Zelenskyy told his media stenographers, “Under our laws, under international law — and under moral law — we have no right to give anything away. That is what we are fighting for.”

The U.K, France and Germany support Zelenskyy’s position that he is not going to concede any territory to the Russian Federation, specifically the 30% of the Donbas area in Eastern Ukraine currently at the heart of the physical conflict.

The 30% issue surrounds the Donetsk region in Ukraine, which includes the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Russia is currently pushing deep into fortified Ukraine resistance in this region with a population of around 100,000. Zelenskyy claims losing this area would allow Putin to invade the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions.

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Following three days of negotiations in Florida (Thur, Fri, Sat) between President Trump emissaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and Ukraine emissaries Rustem Umierov and Andrii Hnatov, the group then held a 2-hour phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

No substantial progress was reported.  However, military officials Umierov and Hnatov then flew to meet Zelenskyy in London where French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are assembled to discuss alternatives to ending the conflict.

Starmer, Macron and Merz form the core of the “coalition of the willing,” an EU group who have unilaterally proclaimed they were willing to send the military of the U.K, France and Germany into Ukraine so long as President Trump would backstop their troops with promises of U.S. intervention if things went badly.  Trump would not make that commitment.

Zelenskyy Inc, Macron, Starmer and Merz do not want to end the proxy fight against Russia.  Together with the EU leadership of NATO, the coalition of the willing want to retain the conflict.  However, the problem for the four leaders is that without strong USA support, the citizens of their EU countries will rise up against them.

Even with NATO missiles and transferred technological assistance, they ultimately need the American military in order to ensure Putin doesn’t squish them.  President Trump wants the proxy war to end – loggerheads are reached.

Russian President Vladimir Putin does not seem to be paying too much attention to the bureaucratic speeches and instead is continuing forward advancement [SEE HERE] to secure the territory in Ukraine with or without a negotiated settlement.

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On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump emissaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with the Ukraine negotiating team in Florida to further discuss acceptable terms for a broader ceasefire and end to the war.

Still trying to recover from corruption charges against his senior presidential team, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not at the talks. Instead, the Ukraine delegation was led by State Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, while Zelenskyy went to Paris for an emotional support session with Emmanuel Macron.

Secretary Rubio and Secretary Umerov spoke before and after their 5-hour negotiation session.  Secretary Rubio emphasized the main topic as securing the long-term future of Ukraine both from a security position and from an economic prosperity position.

This state security aspect comes as the Ukraine delegation is facing pressure to accept, they will lose most -if not all- of the Donbas region to Russia. “The end goal is obviously not just the end of the war. Obviously, that’s central and fundamental,” Rubio said. “It’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.”

In better-than-expected news, the EU is now saying they will not comply with any removal of sanctions against Russia.  If the U.S-Russia and Ukraine work out a negotiated settlement that permits legal or economic relief for Vladimir Putin, the European Union will not agree and will instead make up their own decision on the issues.

Europe is holding this position as a threat, because President Trump is not fully consulting with them on all the granular details.  However, this is the type of threat that is exactly beneficial to what appears to be the long-term strategy of Trump.

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On the sidelines of a trade and economic discussion with the govt of Kyrgyzstan and the CSTO summit, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin took questions from media about the Ukraine -vs- Russia conflict.

Now, due to the significance of his remarks, and keeping in mind these responses are in the Russian language, it becomes important for WESTERN READERS to evaluate the translation.  Vladimir Putin speaks in direct terms that are often not understood in western translation, the nuance within the translation is important.

That said, I am going through the remarks; I will share the video and ongoing translation while extrapolating against the known backdrop of communication as shared by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Emissary Steve Witkoff and ultimately, President Donald Trump.

It appears that Russian President Putin is expecting the arrival of a U.S. delegation to Moscow, likely Witkoff, Saturday, Sunday or Monday (early next week).  This aligns with the prior statements of President Trump during remarks aboard Air Force One.

In general, and in the specifically official nuance that Russian President Vladimir Putin is known for, Putin affirmed that Steve Witkoff and Yury Ushakov are key “informal” negotiators. Each emissary from each leader allowed space for plain language discussions.  Witkoff represents the voice of Donald Trump, and Ushakov representing the voice of Vladimir Putin.

Witkoff and Ushakov can meet and discuss the reality of things without concern for the noise of diplomatic stakeholders. Both men are closely trusted advisors of their principals, Trump and Putin.  When the elements of their discussions need to transfer to formal contexts, Witkoff/Trump bring aboard Secretary Rubio while Ushakov/Putin bring in Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.  The official teams transfer the common language objective into diplomatic details.

As to the status of the current conflict from the Russian perspective.  Vladimir Putin was brutally honest and pragmatic in his remarks.

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President Donald Trump gave U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, all the tools and leverage needed to bring the Swiss govt to a substantive trade agreement.  The pressure was too much to bear, so Switzerland quickly negotiated a deal.

In the background President Trump’s global trade reset has been seriously damaging for the Swiss industrial economy.  The EU overall, Germany specifically and China, have stopped purchasing precision Swiss industrial machinery.

It’s not the direct tariffs against Swiss precision machinery itself that created the pressure, but rather the tariffs against nations who purchased the Swiss precision machinery.

China was a big purchaser of the Swiss machinery, until Beijing stole enough intellectual property to develop their own precision machining capacity.  Slowly China didn’t need Switzerland.

Germany and the EU economy then began to contract as the Trump tariffs bit hard against their exports to the USA.

Simultaneously, Chinese EV production started replacing more expensive European EV production, and the tooling purchases within the auto industry began contracting within Switzerland.

As things unfolded, the forecast for the future of the Swiss economy started to become very clear; their precision industrial exports were going to continue contracting.  Something needed to change, and fast.

Ambassador Jamieson Greer announces a major free trade agreement with Switzerland {SEE HERE} and the White House provides a fact sheet {SEE HERE}. A joint statement is then released:

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International politics can be boring at times, but the one constant in an ever-changing universe is the hubris of the European Union.

With President Trump outlining the breakthrough negotiations for a peace agreement in Gaza, Emmanuel Macron (France), Keir Starmer (U.K) and Friedrich Merz (Germany) call an urgent meeting of EU Foreign Ministers to organize their strategy to take over the Gaza “Board of Peace.”

EUROPE – Now that Donald Trump’s peace deal has the green light, European powers want a seat at the table.

As the news broke that Israel and Hamas had agreed the first phase of a ceasefire plan, French President Emmanuel Macron sent a rapid call out to other European allies and Arab nations to meet in Paris.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul both broke away from a U.K.-hosted summit on the Western Balkans to meet fellow ministers in France.

[…] The trio of countries known as the “E3” is likely to argue for a representative on the “Board of Peace,” the body that will oversee the transitional governance of Gaza by a Palestinian committee. (read more)

At a topline review the demands of the EU are pure hubris.  However, when you review the underlying background of the EU state actors, the events are more appropriately considered pathetic.

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