The story of Stephen Hubbard reflects that he is a rather unusual fellow of considerable travel.  The 74-year-old American was released from Russian prison on humanitarian grounds following requests by the U.S. government, state department and President Trump himself.

Stephen Hubbard was a former schoolteacher who taught English in Japan, retired then went to Cyprus where he met a Ukrainian woman Inna and eventually moved to the eastern Ukraine city of Izyum.  After the Russian Federation took control of Izyum, Hubbard was accused of engaging in Mercenary activity saying he manned a Ukraine checkpoint during the conflict. {source}

In April 2022 Hubbard was arrested.  He was convicted by a Moscow court in October 2024 and sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison.  Yesterday he received a pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he was released on humanitarian grounds as the Trump administration was negotiating a peace settlement.

STEVE WITKOFF -“Today, Stephen Hubbard is free and headed back home to his family.

Stephen is a proud American citizen, retired teacher, and U.S. Air Force veteran who loves our country.

Now, he is on his way back to a family who loves him, a President who never gave up on him, and a nation that proudly welcomes him home.

It was my honor to be with Stephen in St. Petersburg today before he departed for the United States. President Trump called Stephen to check on him and reaffirm his unwavering commitment to bringing all Americans wrongfully detained home.

Stephen joins more than 110 Americans who [President Trump] has freed since returning to office, including Robert Gilman, Ksenia Karelina, and Marc Fogel.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivers remarks to the media from Mumbai, India.  During the remarks Secretary Rubio answers questions about Starlink, Starshield, Elon Musk, Steve Witkoff, Ukraine negotiations, Russia, Iran, India and current geopolitical events.

The video and transcript are below:

[Transcript] – SECRETARY RUBIO:  What’s up?  All right, let’s go.

QUESTION:  Sir, The Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk is the one who made the decision to throttle Starshield and catch Ukraine off-guard.  Is this something you were aware of?  Can you —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Starlink.

QUESTION:  Starlink and Starshield.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Okay, again, there’s this – all this confusion.  These are two separate programs, okay?  Starlink is a commercial – Starlink is the receivers you put on the roof of your house and you use for – it’s used for commercial purposes.  It’s not a military system, although it could be used in order to guide drones and things of this nature and so forth.  And then Starshield is different.  It’s a unique defense product that is sold and operated through the Department of War, as an example.  It’s two different items and it’s important to distinguish one from the other.

I have not seen The Wall Street Journal reporting because I have not read it.  I know that what – so I’m not familiar with the story that you’re referring to.  But Starlink is a private company.  They have a contract.  They have contractual terms upon how that technology can be used.  The important point is we cannot direct a private company as to the decisions they make or not make.  What I can tell you with certainty is the President of the United States nor anyone in our system ever requested that any changes to that system be made, and that’s what we said repeatedly.  I don’t know what the story reflects, but that is the case.

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Tonight, President Donald Trump will deliver remarks at a midterm campaign rally at Pitt-Greenville Airport in Greenville, North Carolina.  The anticipated start time for President Trump is 7:00pm ET, livestream links below:

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Following remarks outlining successful results from the Federal Fraud Taskforce initiative, President Trump took questions from the assembled press pool.  WATCH: 

President Trump noted the federal government savings from fraud prevention will help stop the spending deficit within the federal budget. The scale of fraud is substantial and efforts to prosecute those who take advantage of federal subsidy programs is having a great deal of success.

President Trump also answered questions about Ukraine, Russia, NATO, European mass migration from third-world countries, the riots in France and more.

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This is a very interesting public presser from Ukraine President Zelenskyy, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and a subdued Finnish President Alexander Stubb.  This press event follows President Trump Emissary Steve Witkoff meeting with Zelenskyy, Stoere and Stubb.

Steve Witkoff leaves Norway and is going to St Petersburg to meet with Russian Federation Vladimir Putin tomorrow.

When asked why Witkoff was not present {10:00}, the host PM Jonas Stoere says, “this is a press conference among political leaders,” and then quickly moves on.  Both Stoere and Stubb are very subdued from their prior public statements that put themselves in opposition to the U.S. Trump administration and now suddenly reverse and say it is important for them to remain engaged with the USA effort and for all EU nations to support discussions with Russia.

Following Stubb {@13:00} Zelenskyy notes that Witkoff traveling to meet with Putin tomorrow is very important, and he is very happy that “early warning systems” are working and “it’s great.”  Zelenskyy repeated referenced the call with Secretary Marco Rubio in outlining a shift in tone that is suddenly very appreciative of the USA support.  A very curious shift.  WATCH:

As previously noted, there is an early plan for China (Xi), Russia (Putin) and the USA (Trump) to meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit next month in China.  Little man Zelenskyy clarifies his prior comments about a trilateral meeting by saying that his comments were directed to a possible U.S, Russia, Ukraine trilateral meeting and not the APEC sideline.

At 16:00 Peter Baker (NYT) obviously notes the tone change visible in this presser and asks about what is going on?  Baker was taken aback when Zelenskyy, Stubb and Stoere affirm the positive and constructive meeting with Steve Witkoff, and “there is nothing to gain” by looking at things said yesterday, said Stoere.

Finland President Stubb joins with very complimentary statements of Steve Witkoff affirming his belief this meeting has clarified a lot of issues that now lead toward peace.   “Today was a big success” Stubb emphasized as the press conference concludes.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio answers questions from media while visiting India.  The major focus of the questions to Rubio surrounded Ukraine and the conflicting stories from Zelenskyy.

Secretary Rubio noted he had just completed a 45-minute phone call with Zelenskyy where Rubio talked to the Ukraine President about his continued promotion of false reports to media about U.S. support and assistance.  As noted, Rubio emphasized nothing substantive has changed in the U.S. support profile with Ukraine and President Trump has not modified any security arrangement at all.  Zelenskyy is just making stuff up.

Rubio noted that Ukraine is targeting U.S. commercial shipping in the Black Sea and that has to stop. That was part of the phone call.  Additionally, Rubio emphasized how Ukraine officials are just “making stuff up” for some reason, that can best be considered a Ukraine political operation against the Trump White House.  WATCH:

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Many Americans wonder why Ukraine is a central issue in the USA midterm election.  To those voices I would remind them that all aligned individuals and organizations who support the premise of Ukraine are core adversaries to the America-First doctrine.  At the end of every anti-Trump voice, is an alignment with Ukraine. At this point it’s impossible to ignore. Once you see it you can never unsee it.

There is a very specific way that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly describes contacts with the U.S. administration when he is unable to manipulate the narrative within the conversation. What follows below is an example of that.

Note the difference in Zelenskyy’s tone.

[SOURCE]

The reality of dealing with a person skilled in diplomatic clarity (Rubio) is unnerving to those who are skilled at diplomatic political theater (Zelenskyy); their tone retreats, because the conversation is no longer swirling around pretense.

Zelenskyy, feeling empowered due to the anti-Trump elements that support him, speaks in a passive-aggressive tone and a disrespectful manner when generally talking about the Trump administration.

Zelenskyy’s prism is very narrow, self-centered, combative and bitter when he anticipates not getting his demands met. The most common reference for this expressed mindset is a teenage daughter who wants something indulgent, but her Mom/Dad is not willing to give in to the demands and expectations.  The daughter’s sympathetic friends are codependent enablers.

In the latest development, Zelenskyy is traveling to Oslo, Norway, where he will be surrounded by his codependents as he meets yet again with President Trump’s Emissary Steve Witkoff.  Why Norway? Why does Zelenskyy need to be surrounded by EU enablers when discussing terms and conditions?  The media always pretends not to notice this pattern.

In Norway Zelenskyy will be supported by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and Finland’s President Alexander Stubb.  I would remind readers that it was Norwegian PM Stoere who previously claimed Russia had attacked Zelenskyy’s airplane in Moldova with a drone strike – that nonsense was entirely made up yet spread by EU media quickly.

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Today, President Donald J. Trump travels to Kansas to deliver remarks at a midterm campaign rally at the Heartland Credit Union Arena in Park City, Kansas (Wichita metro area).  The anticipated start time is 7:30pm ET with Livestream Links Below:

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President Trump answers questions from the assembled press pool as he departs the White House for a midterm rally in Wichita, Kansas.

During the remarks President Trump said he would be open to a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping on the subject of nuclear weapons and disarmament therein.  It has been rumored the three leaders may be meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in China.

Additional questions surrounded the current status of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  This is a must watch to understand the current geopolitical events unfolding. WATCH:

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There are, as best I can fathom, three possible options for what you are about to read from Texas Senator John Cornyn.

The outgoing senator sent this public statement via his X Account:

[SOURCE]

It is the official position of the United States government that Ukraine has never had access to the “Starshield” global satellite system used by the United States military for communication and global guidance targeting.  Giving Ukraine access to Starshield would be akin to the United States operating missile and drone targeting of nuclear armed Russia.

For obvious reasons the U.S. government would not want to escalate to direct military conflict with a nuclear-armed power.

Senator John Cornyn is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Cornyn has been a long-time tenured member of the Republican Senatorial Leadership Team.  There are three options behind this X message:

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