Jul 30 2025

Zelenskyy on Ropes – Ukranian Regime Grabs More Authoritarian Power Then Backtracks When Protests Erupt

Posted originally on CTH on July 29, 2025 | Sundance

The terms Ukraine and government corruption are synonymous regardless of who is funding the schemes. After Volodymyr Zelenskyy grabbed more power by stripping two key anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), of their independence, protests erupted.

European leaders immediately noticed the intent of the power move and threatened Zelenskyy with a withdrawal of support. The current dictatorship of Zelensky and his small team then quickly reversed course. However, the damage is done, and once again Ukranian corruption is center stage.

It doesn’t matter how much western intelligence agencies and pro-Ukraine western govt officials try to hide the nature of the duck represented by Zelenskyy by calling him a swan, eventually the quacking returns – the mask drops.

UKRAINE – […] Some also cautioned that the agitation could spark a popular uprising like the one that toppled then-President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. “We are now in the face of the most dangerous development in all the years since Maidan,” wrote Sevgil Musayeva, editor-in-chief of the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper. And like others, she hazarded that Zelenskyy’s powerful Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak was behind the move, amid signs that NABU is preparing cases against presidential insiders.

Eventually, with public uproar mounting, Ukraine’s president bowed to the pressure and agreed to restore the independence of the agencies — a new law turning back the clock is meant to be voted on Thursday.

Among the insiders currently under investigation are former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov and former Deputy Head of the Office of the President Rostyslav Shurma. Shurma was dismissed last year, after it emerged his brother was receiving green subsidies from the Ukrainian government for solar plants operating in Russian-occupied Donbas. Coincidentally, Shurma’s Munich home was raided by NABU investigators and German police in mid-July.

“It is critical not to lose the unity. To listen to people, to have dialogue, and so on,” Zelenskyy told reporters at a press briefing on Friday, explaining his about-face and consequent decision to restore the independence of the agencies in question.

QUACK!

[…] some civil society leaders think targeting the agencies is a sign that Zelenskyy and his clan-like group of aides are starting to panic about his poor polling numbers. As it stands, his chances of winning the next election, when it is eventually held, appear remote, with former armed forces commander General Valery Zaluzhny, who Zelenskyy fired after clashing over war strategy, seen as most likely to get elected.

[…] The street protests in Ukraine have put Zelenskyy on notice, and they’re an indication that patience is wearing thin. (read more)

Everywhere you travel in Europe the one constant amid the ordinary working-class is their knowledge that Ukraine is a bastion of political corruption. The summer coastline of Europe is full of Ukrainian govt officials and very wealthy Ukranian businessmen spending money, a lot of money, that everyone knows is coming from USA and European subsidy.

Visible Ukraine corruption is a joke amid those who cannot afford pretending and those in the service industries in the vacation resorts all along the European coast.

Making it all worse, is the in-your-face aspect of it very visible from the Ukrainians staying in luxury hotels, villas and opulent residences while sneering through their designer sunglasses. “Meh, or she, is Ukrainian,” is the simple response to the rudeness when noted.

There may be no love for Vladimir Putin within the muscle memory of some older populations within some former Soviet states. However, amid the working-class and the portion of the younger generation self-inoculated from western propaganda, opinion of Zelenskyy is even lower.

Eastern European support for the Zelenskyy regime is akin to U.S. support during the Biden regime. The pretending exists in media and government officials’ proclamations only.

Don’t kid yourself, the politicians know it.

Jul 30 2025

Canadian Officials Continue Wondering Why Trump Administration Projects Ambivalence Toward U.S-Canada Trade Deal

Posted originally on CTH on July 29, 2025 | Sundance

The reality of the U.S-Canada economic relationship and the position of President Donald Trump is not that difficult to understand if you take all the disparate datapoints and quotes from Trump and put them into context.

During a White House meeting with Mark Carney, President Trump essentially told the Canadian Prime Minister why he was in no hurry to get to a deal with Canada.

The 35% tariffs on non-USMCA goods are going to trigger on August 1st, because the main priority of Trump -looking toward Canada- is to dissolve the USMCA.

During the May 6th oval office meeting with Carney, President Trump was discussing the USMCA and said: “As you know it terminates fairly shortly. It gets renegotiated fairly shortly.” … “This was a transitional deal, and we’ll see what happens, we’re going to start renegotiating that” … “I don’t know if it serves a purpose anymore.” …. “And the biggest purpose it served was, we got rid of NAFTA.”

To understand why President Trump wants to dissolve the USMCA {SEE HERE}. To understand the technical value of dissolving the USMCA {SEE HERE}. It’s not a complicated economic analysis; it’s common sense.

Currently, approximately 60% of the traded goods and services between the U.S. and Canada are covered by the USMCA; the remaining 40% will be hit by tariffs on August 1st at a 35% rate.

When the USMCA is renegotiated, predictably dissolved in favor of two bilateral trade agreements – one for Mexico and one for Canada, all of the U.S-Canada trade sectors will be part of the enlarged free trade negotiation. As a result, there is absolutely no motive to engage in trade discussions now.

♦ President Trump’s position is essentially to talk about the details when the USMCA is dissolved; hence, the ambivalence.

Politico is noting the Canadian trade team simply doesn’t understand this. “[D]espite months of back and forth, the terms for a deal have not yet been set, a senior government source said, with the White House informing the Canadian side that Trump is more focused on securing deals with other partners like India.”

(Politico cont..) […] Earlier this month, Canada conceded that any deal with Trump is likely to include tariffs.

Carney’s government wants stability around the tariffs Trump invoked using Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.

They are crushing Canada’s auto, steel, aluminum and forestry industries. Trump also plans to hit imported copper with 50 percent tariffs starting Aug. 1 — with semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports likely to follow.

Canada ultimately wants the tariffs eliminated or lowered to a fixed level that doesn’t fluctuate, the senior government official said. “If we know what world we’re going into, then we can have better plans and policies to attract investment.”

Canada’s premiers say the unpredictability is punishing the economy.

“Private investment is not growing because everybody’s on pause,” Quebec Premier François Legault told reporters last week. “They are waiting to see what will happen. I’ve been in business — it’s about the worst thing you can have is uncertainty.” (read more)

The certainty the Canadians are looking for can be found easily if they stop pretending.

(1) U.S. tariffs against non-USMCA products from Canada will go into effect on August 1st. (2) As soon as the USMCA is reopened, it will be dissolved. (3) After the USMCA dissolution, a bilateral free trade agreement between the USA and Canada will be negotiated.

Every current effort by Canada to change the nature of the trade system, between now and the reopening of the USMCA (to dissolve it), is futile.

Again, I’m not exactly sure why this reality is so challenging for the Canadian govt to understand.