Speaking to reporters in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Secretary Rubio delivered remarks about central Asia and the importance of the region to U.S. interests.  Central Asia, the “stans”, are a significant opportunity due to their location between Asia and the Federation of Russia.

Secretary Rubio answered a question about the Ukraine-Russia conflict by saying the United States will continue looking for opportunities to help end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Rubio said the war has brought enormous loss of life and destruction, warning of the risk of escalation and the possibility of the conflict spreading into another country.

Rubio stressed that diplomacy requires continued efforts and said the ultimate test will be whether Russia and Ukraine are willing to make concessions to reach a deal. The Secretary of State also addressed Ukraine’s use of Star Shield and said the United States remains focused on ending the war.  WATCH:

As both Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio is a key person to watch on the issues surrounding Ukraine specifically because of his prior tenure on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).  Remember, the CIA and USAID were the originators of the 2014 Maidan revolution and later the installation of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  Rubio is one of the key people who knows exactly what the U.S. influence operation was inside Ukraine.

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CTH doesn’t put as much weight on the strategic planning of President Trump as outlined by the folks at Promethean Action.  The results Trump achieves may end up at the same destination, but Trump’s geopolitical map to get there is not as predictable as Mike Steger may propose.

That said, there is some good insight as Steger interprets what he believes is in the background of President Trump’s larger objective with the Ukraine-Russia conflict in general, and with Russia specifically.

In this Sunday Overview, Mike Steger breaks down Trump’s broader strategy toward Russia, Ukraine, and Europe, examining how energy agreements, economic reconstruction, and security guarantees could lay the foundation for a new international order. As European governments face mounting debt and political pressure, Mike examines Volodymyr Zelensky, Marine Le Pen, Alice Weidel, and the growing debate over Europe’s economic future. Drawing on Otto von Bismarck, World War I, British geopolitics, and the American System, Mike explores why he believes Trump’s strategy could reverse more than a century of conflict and usher in a new era of industrial growth and Western civilization.  WATCH:

Chapters:

00:00 Trump’s Strategy to Reshape Europe
01:10 The Three Pillars of Trump’s Peace Plan
02:30 Trump’s Economic Pressure Campaign
04:10 Ukraine and Europe’s Financial Crisis

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Factually, CTH is very comfortable, perhaps even optimistic, to see President Trump take a full wolverine position toward the insufferable position of Zelenskyy. ♦ TRUMP: IN PROCESS OF NEGOTIATING PEACE BETWEEN RUSSIA,UKRAINE ♦ TRUMP: ZELENSKYY USING DIESEL REFINERIES IN RUSSIA AS A TARGET ♦ TRUMP: ZELENSKYY DOESN’T WANT TO END THIS WAR ♦ TRUMP: I WANT THIS WAR END

President Trump delivers this message via Truth Social:

“My decision on Russia is a very simple one. I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table. Great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations!

Signing that document at this time will do that, and I can sign it later, or any time that I want! Perhaps more importantly, Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way, and will, unless stupid people get in the way.

Lastly, Zelenskyy is using Diesel Refineries in Russia as a target, knowing that these attacks are seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States. Farmers, ranchers, and businesses of all kinds are suffering greatly from this, but Russia is, nevertheless, sending, at a low price, millions of barrels of diesel to the World. Zelenskyy doesn’t care, and frankly, with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him, and that Crooked Joe Biden gave him in the past, he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did. He could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now. His country is in shambles, a large portion of his land is lost, his oceans and seas are gone, and his male population is low, wounded, and/or dead. I WANT THIS WAR END! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

~President DONALD J. TRUMP

Zelenskyy responds via his X Account:

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Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent appears on NBC’s Meet the Press to discuss the current status of the economy and ongoing geopolitical events.  Within the interview [Video and Transcript Below] Secretary Bessent notes that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is coordinating closely with both British King Charles and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, needs to be very careful about the malicious lies he is speaking to U.S. audiences. WATCH: 

[Transcript] – KRISTEN WELKER: Welcome back. Joining me now is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Secretary Bessent, welcome back to Meet the Press.

SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Kristen, good to be with you.

KRISTEN WELKER: It’s great to have you back. Let’s start on inflation, these new inflation numbers we got this week. Consumer prices rose in September at the fastest pace in five months, to 3.7%. Are the president’s policies driving up inflation?

SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Kristen, we have an energy shock. And if you look underneath the hood in the numbers, core inflation has been very flat before this month, and it’d been down for four months in a row. So core inflation is down. The food is below the Fed’s targets. The prescription drugs have had the biggest decrease in history. Rents are down. So this is an energy shock. We will get to the other side of the Iran conflict, and those prices will come down.

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Again, there are multiple dynamics unfolding inside this story.  However, as to the central component of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy complaining about hampered access to Starlink and/or Starshield, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sets the record straight.

Ukraine has never had access to the U.S. military version of Starshield; providing that level of guidance access would be akin to the United States being in direct conflict with Russia using a proprietary U.S. military system. This is not our circus and not our war; there is no need for U.S. military conflict with Russia.

Because Ukraine does not have that access, it is now revealed that Zelenskyy has been using Starlink, a commercially available satellite system – but that system is not permitted by SpaceX to be used for military efforts.  This is almost certainly where the relationship between Elon Musk and former Ukraine Defense Minister Michael Fedorov comes into play. Fedorov is no longer in the Ukraine govt.   WATCH:

Rubio notes that Zelenskyy’s claims against the White House are nonsense.  The White House has not interfered or instructed the military about the use of Starshield because Ukraine has never had Starshield to use.  If Ukraine has been violating the terms of service by weaponizing Starlink (they have) then the commercial provider can act independently to block or stop that access. [Full Transcript Below]

In the background of this storyline, we should always remember that about a month ago Russia finalized their own upgraded satellite system that covers Russia and eastern Europe.  It is widely suspected the increased accuracy of Russian targeting inside Ukraine is specifically because of their own enhanced capabilities, which now highlights the vulnerability of Ukraine if they do not have weaponize their Starlink access and the new desperation therein.

Bottom line, Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to highlight his mastery of cutting through the nonsense and staying focused on the priorities of the administration with messaging that cuts through the media chafe.  Rubio excels in this role far beyond prior expectations. Very impressive.

On the topic of his travel to the “stans”, watch carefully. This is connected to the overall Russia/Central Asia agenda.

Transcript Below:

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The New York Times {SEE HERE} is leading a charge of multiple U.S. media outlets to rage-bait Americans on the issue of President Trump exempting Russia from a new sanctions regime.

Let me start with a positive.  Despite the massive amount of years-long gaslighting, lying and narrative engineering by the overwhelming majority of American media and political punditry, the majority of Americans don’t want U.S. sanctions against Russia [37% vs 54%].  Why?  Because most Americans have a keen sense of manipulation.

This is one of the reasons why I believe the current effort to create an impeachment narrative against President Trump, again using the Ukraine conflict as the source material, will fail.  Yes, the majority of elected politicians support Ukraine and oppose Russia, but the majority of the American people don’t align with the politicians.

More than a week ago we noted the Trump decision to enter a diesel sales agreement with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin was very predictable.  Even when President Trump signed HR5334 the Lindsey Graham Russian Sanctions bill, we noted how it was written to the benefit of President Trump by Lindsey Graham himself. {GO DEEP}

Indeed, with Europe purchasing Russian energy from Vladimir Putin, one of the great ironies within the latest Russian sanctions bill was the requirement and authorization to tariff Europe at a 500% rate for violating the sanctions bill.  Yes, that is correct, inside this bill congress authorized President Trump to massively raise tariffs on Europe or anyone else who was purchasing Russian energy products.

As a consequence, if President Trump doesn’t take an action to pause or exempt Russia from these latest sanctions regime, then he will end up hitting almost all the NATO allies with 500% tariffs.  However, the media don’t want to draw attention to that aspect as it doesn’t fit their narrative {NYT ARTICLE HERE}.

It did not come as a surprise to me to see President Trump sign an executive order to “waive the application of any sanctions provision” [Executive order here].  Lindsey Graham knew the bottom-line goal of President Trump was to stop the killing, stop the fighting between Ukraine and Russia, and Graham himself created the ability of waivers in the sanction regime specifically so that Trump would have maximum flexibility in providing economic carrots to Russia.

The waiver option is in HR5334 specifically so that President Trump can use it…. And so, he did, DUH!  And Lindsey Graham knew he would. And the media are going bananas.

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Glenn Beck interviewed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer last week.  Within the interview USTR Greer walks through some of the current geopolitical issues surrounding trade and MAGAnomics beginning with Iran, oil and gas prices, the diesel fuel agreement with Russia, then ongoing trade friction with Canada and a perspective on European industrial manufacturing.  Well worth watching:

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Today, President Donald Trump is speaking at a midterm MAGA rally at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena at 2 p.m., marking the president’s second appearance in the Greater Cincinnati area in two weeks.  Livestream Links Below:

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Jay Clayton, Director of National Intelligence and Super Intelligence Force Chairman, joined CNBC to discuss the key takeaways from the SI task force’s first meeting, the state of the AI tech race, an OpenAI espionage case, and more.

DNI Clayton outlines the current status of the SI taskforce and how the Trump administration is setting parameters for development standards. It is an interesting conversation about the current regulatory status of SI.

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Clayton notes the conversations within the United States have value as this technology is advancing.

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President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a rally in Dalton, Georgia. The president will appear with Senate candidate Mike Collins and gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson as part of his effort to boost Republican enthusiasm in an election that could reshape the final years of his second presidency.

The anticipated start time is 3:00pm ET with Livestream Links Below:

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