Unfortunately, if my memory is correct, this did not work out too well the last time. The irony thickens when you look at the brand name Volkswagen, and how they got their start.
GERMANY – Volkswagen (VWAGY) has agreed to sell its Osnabrück plant in Germany to Israeli investor Aurelius Capital and the state of Lower Saxony, paving the way for the factory to shift from car production to defense manufacturing.
Vehicle production at the plant is scheduled to end in summer 2027. Aurelius would become the majority owner alongside Lower Saxony, with the aim of preserving the site and a large part of its workforce.
The new owners plan to develop the site gradually into a competence center for security and defense solutions. Aurelius and Lower Saxony are planning an initial anchor project with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in air defense, with further industrial partnerships and projects expected to follow.
The project could involve producing air-defense systems and components for Germany and Europe. About 1,400 of the plant’s 1,800 jobs could be preserved, according to labor officials. {source}
President Donald Trump and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin held a one-hour phone call today, discussing the latest round of negotiations between U.S. Emissaries Steve Witkoff, Jared Kusher and their Russian counterparts.
Obviously, for us at CTH it makes no sense to read manipulative U.S. media reports of the Russian perspective on the phone call, when we can just read the Russian readout for ourselves. You deserve better. So, here it is:
[PRESS RELEASE] – Aide to the President Yury Ushakov: President Vladimir Putin had another telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump. In their customary respectful and business-like manner, the leaders exchanged opinions on the trips made by US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kiev on September 5–6.
The telephone conversation lasted exactly one hour. It was constructive and quite frank. As you understand, the conversation itself is confidential, so I am not at liberty to share with you many important details and nuances.
The outcome of the visit by said US representatives was assessed as positive. The work through this channel and some others will continue.
Clearly, the conversation centered on Ukrainian settlement. Donald Trump directly communicated the desirability of bringing the conflict to an end as soon as possible, as it would immediately open up prospects – impressive and far-reaching ones at that – for the full restoration of relations between the U.S. and Russia. In his view, this would have a particular impact on trade and economic ties, promising huge benefits for both nations. Donald Trump is keen to see a breakthrough achieved during his presidency.
President Putin supported this approach in the context of potentially building a constructive partnership between the two great powers and praised the mediation efforts by the US and Donald Trump personally with respect to finding solutions to the Ukrainian conflict. An objective and extensive analysis of the current developments in the special military operation was provided, along with our vision of the overall progress on the battlefield and achieving the goals and objectives of the special military operation. Speaking of which, actual tangible actions that the Americans could take to expedite the cessation of the hostilities were outlined.
Susan Kokinda from Promethean Action PAC picks up on the nuance within the comments from Kirill Dmitriev upon the U.S. delegation meeting in Moscow.
Promethean Action – “The Kremlin released rare footage of a high-level meeting between Vladimir Putin and Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, followed by their first trip to Kyiv this term and a comparatively restrained response from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signaling revived U.S. diplomacy on Ukraine. The script argues Putin views the American team as a more trusted broker than European leaders and notes a recent sequence of engagements, including CIA Director Ratcliffe’s public Moscow visit and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s G20 outreach to Russia’s finance minister.
With Kirill Dmitriev present, Moscow described detailed discussions of major U.S.-Russia economic projects, alongside claims that Bessent is choking off offshore and banking channels funding Ukraine via Europe, the UK, and Canada. It then pivots to Argentina’s renewed Malvinas/Falklands push as Trump publicly and reportedly reconsiders automatic U.S. support for British sovereignty, recalling internal U.S. divisions during the 1982 war.”
Against the popular uprisings currently taking place in Great Britain, this interview takes on additional context. Last week, just before the civil protests broke out on the shores of the U.K, President Trump sat down for an interview with GB News about issues and current events that hit both sides of the Atlantic.
President Trump answers questions about topics that pertain to both the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as the interconnectivity of the relationship to the United States. The interview is pragmatic, focused and deliberate as President Trump presents his perspectives on the challenges that face both nations.
Obviously one of the key policy issues facing the U.K is the topic of migration, and President Trump puts the issue into a factual framework of government accepting the problem. These are choices being made by political leadership against the interests of their citizens. The interviewer, Bev Turner, is fraught with political correctness and somewhat stunned by President Trump’s lack of pretense. WATCH:
First, there are many voices criticizing President Trump for the use of emissaries and negotiators during geopolitical events. CTH is not one of those voices; exactly the opposite is true. In 2024 we shared the importance of using emissaries to conduct important and strategic policy/negotiations; a direct conduit between the President and principals that matter, outside the controls of the U.S. Intelligence Community which has historically manipulated everything – including the President.
Do not forget the CIA willfully, and with specific intent, lied to Kusher/Witkoff while they were in Doha negotiating with Turkey, Egypt and Qatari leaders during critical moments in getting the Gaza situation under control {Go Deep}. Additionally, Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio is currently working on securing the western hemisphere and North American fortress; vis-a-vis a Latin-America focus.
Emissaries Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Kiev, Ukraine, to further the peace initiative. Western media then avoid noticing that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he does not have the power to make decisions. Instead, Zelenskyy says another round of talks will be required “together with the USA and the E3 countries: the United Kingdom, France, and Germany” to back him up.
Ultimately Zelenskyy is not a decisionmaker, nor has does he carry any power as an elected President. Zelenskyy has rejected all efforts to hold an election, even when demanded by his since replaced Defense Minister Fedorov. The world can see that Zelenskyy is a puppet to London and the EU-NATO group, the so-called “coalition of the willing” who manage him, which, we should remind ourselves, recently added Canada to the team.
As a consequence, both Witkoff and Kushner are attempting to negotiate with a President who does not have any decision-making power. This is unfortunate, but it is the reality of the situation and reasonably why this continues to be World War Reddit. Everything is framed around public perceptions, geopolitical interests of Europe, the needs and demands from the banking system and other elements of control.
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 879th 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.
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.
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}
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.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp and former Ukraine Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov have been collaborating jointly for over 5 years, according to the statement made by Karp. That means the Palantir-Ukraine relationship pre-dates the Russian military advance into Eastern Ukraine.
Given the nature of U.S. involvement in Ukraine, and understanding the shady and sketchy background that has been in place for quite some time, the detail of the length of time Palantir and Ukraine military have been working together is worth noting.
As Secretary of State Marco Rubio first mentioned in March 2025, …” frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia – and it needs to come to an end.” {source}
It’s also worth remembering in June 2022, the New York Times published an article saying the CIA and Pentagon special forces were organizing and conducting the NATO war effort from a secret operation center in Kyiv.
KYIV, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Palantir CEO Alex Karp will become the first major investor in a new defence technology company launched by Mykhailo Fedorov, the tech-savvy former Ukrainian defence minister who was dismissed in July.
“The new company will build on Fedorov’s experience in modern technological warfare, with its primary mission to strengthen Ukraine and develop defense technologies that can help build a safer future for the entire world,” a press release from Fedorov’s team said on Tuesday.
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.
