☕️ THE MAP BENDER ☙ Friday, March 14, 2025 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Ukraine talks inch forward as Putin and Trump negotiate and clueless media spirals into outrage; Trump stirs chaos with Canada/Greenland musings—NATO nods along; German lab-leak bombshell drops; more.

Good morning, C&C, it’s Friday! In today’s roundup: Ukraine negotiations progress as the Russian and U.S. presidents circle each other in delicate bargaining dance while clueless media stares off into outrage space; Trump shakes up the world again with musings about annexing Canada and Greenland— with NATO’s tacit agreement; and bombshell classified German lab-leak report makes the major media.

🌍 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🌍

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Every so often, we should pause to reflect on how different our world has become from that of our parents. Yesterday, literally the entire planet watched the three leaders involved in a world-shaking conflict separately trade back-and-forth public comments. And then corporate media made up wild, bias-projecting, interpretive fairy tales about what they said. One wonders how much truth our parents, deprived of real-time video, used to get in their morning news. Anyway, the Wall Street Journal ran its truth-flipped story under the sly headline, “Putin Rejects Immediate Cease-Fire in Ukraine.”

CLIP: Putin agrees with the general cease-fire framework but many questions remain (2:10).

You can hardly say he rejected the deal. He partially agreed— it was a deal half-full.

Looking prototypically bored —but at least wearing a suit— Russian President Vladimir Putin somnolently told frantic reporters that, “We agree with the proposals for the cease fire. But our position is based on the assumption that the cease-fire would lead to a long-term peace that removes the initial reasons for the crisis.” He then posed a long series of rhetorical questions.

For instance, Russia is currently rounding up defeated Ukrainian soldiers burrowed in the forests of its own Kursk territory. So under a cease-fire, what happens to them? Do they just walk out and regroup for another round, so Russia will have to defeat them again? Are they required to surrender? Or do they sit tight in their hidey-holes indefinitely?

Who exactly shall monitor this sprawling 600-mile contact line? Are those monitors ready to go right now? And, will the U.S. pause military aid during the cease-fire, or just use the lull to re-arm Ukraine?

Given these unanswered but critical questions, Putin reasonably said that Russia wants a cease-fire, a real one, but the current proposal is short of necessary details important to the Russians. Putin did not just leave it hanging; he proposed a call directly between himself and President Trump— omitting Kiev, which was a nod to the fact that everybody knows the Ukrainians are no longer calling the shots.

All that context was missing from the many corporate media articles. They all quoted cherry-picked parts of Putin’s answer. But none linked to the video of his actual comments, which was only about three minutes long. The Journal transformed the Russian president’s straightforward answer, which essentially said “okay, but we still have work to do, let’s talk” into a fake narrative of flat rejection.

For his unimportant part, Zelensky responded in a solo selfie-video, whining that President Putin was just faking it and was only trying to drag things out. In a wonderfully apt metaphor, Martial Law Administrator Zelensky was the only one of the three leaders to appear alone. Get it?

Corporate media completely missed the irony and credulously adopted Zelenksy’s take.

But President Trump got it. In answering a reporter’s question at the White House, Trump acknowledged that Putin had raised some good questions.

CLIP: President Trump says we’d like to see a cease-fire from Russia, acknowledges that issues remain (2:03).

In remarks with reporters, Trump allowed that a few thorny issues remain. “There’s a power plant involved; a very big power plant,” President Trump acknowledged, referring to the Zaporozhia nuclear facility— the largest in Europe, currently under Russian control. Mirroring Putin’s rhetorical questioning, he continued, “Who’s gonna get this and that? It’s not an easy process.”

Trump expressed partial agreement with Putin, saying, “You don’t want to waste time with a cease-fire if it’s not gonna mean anything.” And then he casually complained about the broken-record Ukrainians, saying with easygoing exasperation that “They discussed NATO and being in NATO, and everybody knows what the answer to that is.”

A reporter queried President Trump about Putin’s suggestion for that they talk. Unlike sour corporate media, Trump expressed optimism: “He did say that today, it was a very promising statement. He put out a very promising statement, but it wasn’t complete. But yeah, I’d love to meet with him or talk to him. Every day, people are getting killed.”

But Trump also consistently pressed for a quick agreement. Time is of the essence.

In other words, right under the noses of cross-eyed corporate media, who somehow manage to find the truth less often than blind squirrels find acorns, President Trump and President Putin are actually negotiating.

🚀 About 25 years ago (sigh), I “vacationed” in India (don’t ask). It was a fascinating excursion. Indians are world-class negotiators. Everything is up for haggling. A bottle of water? The vendor always demands more than the price on the label. If you play the game, you’ll walk away paying half.

But my real education came at the Taj Mahal. Stepping off the air-conditioned tour bus into a wall of sticky heat and acrid dust, I was instantly mobbed by a swarm of wild-eyed vendors hawking postcards, plastic trinkets, and knock-off Rolexes. They shouted prices over each other, thrusting their wares toward my hands, grinning like they already had me.

I learned fast: never ever say “no, thanks.” To an Indian street vendor, no, thanks is not a rejection—it’s an opening bid. If you say “no,” they’ll chase you around like a flock of squawking seagulls surrounding a terrified toddler holding a bag of sandwich bread.

The only real escape from the game of extended refusals is feigning boredom. No eye contact. No glancing at their wares, no hesitation. Just keep walking.

The point is that, in any negotiation, so long as the sides are still talking, they’re still bargaining. The moronic media missed it, but Trump didn’t: Putin’s request for a call wasn’t a rejection. It was an offer to dicker. Trump answered that he was open to it. Right now, neither leader is acting too eager. Both are coyly feigning mild interest, and are still communicating indirectly through cut-outs—namely, the clueless media.

It’s classic positional bargaining. He who offers first loses.

How did our media become so blind to how the world actually works? Are they really that dense? Or do they prefer narrative over reporting—missing the highest-stakes negotiation in modern history because it doesn’t fit the script? Media don’t see themselves as mere witnesses like the rest of us. They delusionally fancy themselves as the authors of events.

Fortunately, in this digital age, we can listen for ourselves. We don’t need the WSJ’s creative writing. We can ignore corporate media like an Indian street vendor—no eye contact, no engagement. Just keep walking.

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Yesterday, the Global News Kingston (a Canadian paper) ran an eye-popping story headlined, “Trump threatens to acquire Canada, Greenland while next to NATO chief.” In a month packed with jaw-dropping developments, this might be the most astonishing. Trump isn’t letting go of his Canada and Greenland ambitions, and this time, he was clearer than ever—while sitting right next to a nodding, smiling Mark Rutte, the head of NATO.

During an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, a reporter asked President Trump about his plans to “take over Greenland.” Trump thoughtfully and succinctly replied, “I think it will happen.”

Denmark, which technically owns Greenland, is halfway across the planet. Trump openly questioned what Denmark has to do with it at all. “Denmark’s very far away and really has nothing to do with it. What happened? A boat landed there 200 years ago or something, and they say they have rights to it. I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is, actually.”

It was most hilarious because it’s another classic Trump inversion. For decades, globalists and progressives have decried colonialism at top volume. Now, Trump has them flipping their script to defend Denmark’s colonial rule over Greenland. It’s an exquisite mega-troll.

Trump delicately invoked a military option. “We have a couple of bases on Greenland already and quite a few soldiers," he said, before pointing to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and saying “maybe you'll see more and more soldiers go in there.” Chuckling, he added, “Pete—don’t answer that!”

Instead of confronting President Trump, NATO chief Rutte noddingly agreed that the Arctic is critical for Western security. The Secretary General kept praising President Trump, for one thing or another, and maniacally laughing at all his jokes. Rutte allowed that Arctic security was indeed an important goal— and agreed it was a goal to be pursued “under U.S. leadership.”

Then Trump turned to his idea of a Canada takeover, explaining how bringing our northern neighbor into the U.S. would just make sense. “This would be the most incredible country visually,” he said. “If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it, between Canada and the U.S., just a straight artificial line. Somebody did it a long time ago, many many decades ago, and it makes no sense.”

Rutte said nothing about the possibility of the U.S. threatening Canada— a founding NATO member. He’s not the only one. The Global News reminded readers that, while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in the White House a few weeks ago, a reporter asked him about Canadian annexation and Starmer refused to comment, accusing the reporter of “trying to find a divide between us that doesn’t exist.”

🔥 The flummoxed Canadians don’t know what to think or where to turn. Like our Democrats, they’re just trying to keep their heads above water in a storm of tariffs and half-joking invasion threats. Is Trump serious? If not, it’s the longest-running joke in geopolitical history. Is he negotiating? If so, he’s doing it in the most heavy-handed, impolite, and thoroughly un-Canadian way possible.

And will NATO rescue them? Apparently, NATO’s not interested. “Under U.S. leadership,” Rutte pledged, grinning like a man who knows exactly where his paycheck comes from.

I won’t pretend to know Trump’s actual endgame here. Sometimes, I marvel at the sheer surreality of life in 2025. But one thing is clear: The relentless drumbeat of Trump’s musings about annexing Greenland and Canada has thrown a magnificent shadow over the Ukraine negotiations. How can anyone clutch their pearls over Russia invading Ukraine for its security reasons while Trump is casually debating whether a Danish canoe was enough to stake its claim to Greenland? Or maybe Greenland is still up for grabs?

We call shotgun.

One more observation on Rutte’s butt-kissing. The international media is buzzing with the idea that Europe has “figured out” Trump—just flatter him, and he’ll be more generous. Their theory? Trump craves praise, doesn’t hold grudges, and rewards loyalty. Say nice things, and you get what you want.

Criticize him, and you get a digital artillery barrage of mean tweets. So the elite European playbook says: butter him up, avoid public criticism, and reap the benefits.

They completely miss the brilliance of Trump’s strategy. He’s not rewarding obsequiousness—he’s rewarding cooperation and the positive press that comes with it. As the headlines about Rutte’s meeting prove, Trump himself is elevated every time NATO’s chief offers a passive endorsement. Whether Rutte meant it or not is irrelevant.

The words of flattery themselves have power. Trump is creating consensus.

In under two months, Trump has converted defiant NATO creatures who were taking oaths to resist to the last bureaucrat into fawning assistants.

Where is it all going? Who knows—we’re off the map. Even better, Trump isn’t just off the map. He’s ripping up the maps.

Remember that scene from The Matrix where the bald, spoon-bending student tells Neo, there is no spoon? Well, Neo, there is no map, either.

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The truth continues trickling out. On Wednesday, the UK Daily Mail ran a story headlined, Trump admin given bombshell intelligence from ally that Covid was lab-made... and proof of new China program. Nothing about the facts should surprise you— but you may be surprised that this time, the story also appeared in the BBC, Reuters, and other corporate media outlets. Reuters’ story was even topped by a stock jab photo.

The German version of the CIA —der BND— gave a secret report to U.S. intelligence agencies in December. The report, concluding with 85% certainty that covid was made in the Wuhan lab, provided previously-unseen evidence in the form of unpublished research reports written by scientists working in the lab. But even that admission buried the lede.

A critical distinction the fake-news media has deliberately blurred for years is the key difference between a dangerous virus that leaks from a lab, or a dangerous virus that was made in the lab. The two concepts are related—but their implications are vastly different.

Over the past two years, as the media has crept ever closer to just admitting Covid leaked from Wuhan, they’ve carefully sidestepped the bigger question: was it a naturally occurring virus that spilled out due to sloppy lab safety? Or was it deliberately engineered—a much more sinister possibility, one that raises disturbing but important questions about motive.

Independent researchers have long pointed to viral features suggesting artificial origins—its furin cleavage site, embedded HIV segments, human-optimized receptor binding domain, and the conspicuous absence of gradual adaptation in humans. But this BND report marks the first official acknowledgment—at a very high level of confidence—that SARS-CoV-2 was an artificial virus.

The Daily Mail’s story also revealed the Germans had this intelligence since 2020, raising more pressing questions: Why weren’t public officials more forthcoming when this information mattered? Why did they hold back better intelligence when it could have changed the course of events?

The story quoted Dr. Richard Ebright, a Rutgers University professor, who said, “The main points are clear: All informed persons - without exception - knew by early 2020 that SARS-CoV-2 likely entered humans through a research-related incident in Wuhan.” It is no longer just a lab leak. It has evolved into a “research-related incident.”

Ebright was blunt: “the scientific establishment and the intelligence agencies of the US and Germany withheld information from the public and policy makers.” Not unsurprisingly, the BND report also alleged that the Chinese are continuing the research. Were covid’s lab origins withheld so that the research could continue uninterrupted? Did some agency worry that, if the public and officials found out, the plug would be pulled?

But the plug must be pulled. And fast. But were there even darker motivations behind what has undeniably become the greatest cover-up in human history?

Each new revelation, exposed unwillingly in drops and squirts, adds to the mounting stack of damning evidence. As the government censorship complex encounters its rapid unscheduled dissassembly, more and better information continues to emerge. At what late date will it finally be enough?

Soon, we hope. “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26.

Progress.

Have a fantastic Friday! Coffee & Covid will be back tomorrow, on schedule, to deliver the latest essential news and commentary.

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