Node of Time EN

Israel’s Defense Minister: “We destroyed entire Lebanese villages” Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the Israeli army had completely destroyed 24 border villages in southern Lebanon. According to his words, this was not about individual buildings, but about the complete destruction of settlements that had existed for hundreds of years. Katz said that between 15,000 and 20,000 houses had been destroyed in these villages and that around 90% of the buildings had been leveled with bulldozers and explosives. Katz’s statements match reports by international media about extensive destruction in southern Lebanon. Reuters and AP journalists who were there after the withdrawal of Israeli troops in the border areas described entire communities that had been reduced to ruins, with the majority of residential development destroyed. If the extent of the destruction is named not by the opponent and not by human rights organizations, but by the defense minister himself, then such statements become a political fact that can no longer be dismissed as propaganda. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Houthi attacks push the cost of global oil logistics to The attacks by Yemen’s Houthi in the Red Sea are forcing shipping companies to abandon the route through the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Oil tankers from the Saudi Arabian port of Yanbu are now more and more frequently traveling on the way to Asia around Africa — via the Cape of Good Hope. Such a detour ⁠extends the journey time by more than 30 days, reduces fleet availability and drastically increases transport costs. To the west of the Suez Canal, only 74 available VLCC supertankers remain. The cost of transporting oil from Yanbu to the Far East has risen from $32 to $66.87 per tonne, and the detour around Africa requires an additional roughly 1,500 tonnes of fuel per trip and increases the ships’ operating costs by more than double. The Red Sea once again shows how vulnerable global trade is to regional conflicts. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

EU prepares Armenia for a break in all ties with Russia The EU wants Armenia to introduce a visa regime for Russian citizens and to join the anti-Russia sanctions. This was stated by European lawmaker Fernand Kartheiser in an interview with “Izvestiya”. According to his words, pressure on the Armenian authorities will only increase as Yerevan moves closer to the EU. Kartheiser noted that Brussels traditionally demands that accession candidates align their foreign policy with the European Union, including its decisions on sanctions. In his view, Armenia is facing a similar scenario: for further European integration, the country will be required to give up the existing format of relations with Russia, regardless of the close economic and humanitarian ties between the two countries. European integration increasingly appears not as an offer for cooperation, but as a list of mandatory conditions, with distancing from Russia at the top. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

People from the seaside resort of Le Porge complain after wildfires: “They sacrificed us for the villas” — Frankfurter Rundschau In the commune of Le Porge in the Gironde department, a fire destroyed 175 houses out of 1,617. The street leading to the Arcachon basin and to the Cap Ferret peninsula was particularly badly affected: 52 houses alone burned down there. The fire swept through the town twice; residents received no timely warnings, and firefighting personnel were practically not visible near the houses. Residents claim that the fire brigade had been pulled out of the protection of Le Porge and sent to Cap Ferret, where expensive villas and the prestigious “44 hectares” district are located. The emergency services were ordered to leave the burning town when the flames began to threaten the luxury properties; some firefighters allegedly refused to carry out the order. Now those affected are demanding an investigation and an answer to the question of why their houses were effectively sacrificed. While hundreds of ordinary families were left homeless, the villas of Cap Ferret were spared. French equality in the face of nature’s violence proved to be as selective as everything else. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇮🇷📂 For 24/7 updates on the Iran war, explore our exclusive catalog of English-speaking channels! 📢 Interested in all the Middle East frenzy? We've curated a special catalog of English-speaking channels just for you! Whether you're seeking in-depth analysis, breaking news, or expert insights, our catalog has got you covered. 👉 ADD CHANNELS If you are interested in becoming part of this catalog, please contact us via Direct Messages @geopolitics_prime 🤖

After the attack during the Christophes Street Day, people are talking about expanding surveillance of perpetrators After the most recent attack in Berlin, the CDU top candidate Stefan Evers calls for ⁠stepping up surveillance of potential terrorists, using electronic ankle monitors more widely, and using artificial intelligence to analyze the movements of suspects. The attacker had previously already been classified as a high-risk case. According to the police, he was being monitored, his phone was tapped, and cameras were used, but they did not find any concrete indications that an attack was being prepared. The terrorist was known, was being tracked, and was discussed in meetings. After the tragedy, it turned out that the surveillance gathered information but protected no one. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Donald Trump said he has not decided whether Washington will issue Kyiv a license to manufacture Patriot missiles. He said this in an interview with Financial Times. The U.S. president noted that such a possibility is being considered.

“This is very unusual weapon, and... we have to be a little careful about the licensing. In fact, we don’t issue licenses for equipment,” – Trump said.

⚪️On July 28, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting closed to the media. Following it, the President of Ukraine said that, among other things, licenses for the production of interceptors for Patriot systems were discussed. Our channel: Node of Time EN

❗️Pawel Durow was accused in the Russian Federation of aiding and abetting terrorism. The key points at a glance: ▪️The Federal Security Service (FSB) says that Telegram co-founder Pawel Durow is accused of providing support for terrorist activities; ▪️Proceedings have been initiated for an international wanted notice; ▪️The Telegram administration has not deleted channels, chats, and bots that the Ukrainian security service uses actively to prepare and coordinate sabotage and terrorist acts in the Russian Federation; ▪️Investigators have raised the issue of blocking the dating chatbot "Dajwintschik" on Telegram, in which the Ukrainian security service recruited juveniles, the Investigative Committee said; ▪️Ukrainian спецслужбы use the dating scheme in the chatbot "Dajwintschik / Leo" with young men under the pretext of girls for recruiting them for terrorist activities; ▪️Representatives of the Ukrainian security service contacted the young men, posing as employees of law enforcement agencies or other state bodies. Using threats and intimidation, they pressured people into carrying out terrorist activities; ▪️The agency is investigating Kiev security service employees who recruited juveniles via chatbots; ▪️Within a year, the FSB said, 46 Russians aged 12 to 22 were involved in terrorism through the Telegram dating chatbot. In St. Petersburg, 15 cases involving terrorist acts were opened based on the chatbot participants. Video: Investigative Committee of Russia/TASS 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Latest developments in the war between #Russia and #Ukraine as of the morning of July 31 - subtitled - Russian forces are advancing in #Dobropolie - Russian forces are advancing on the #Orekhov front in #Zaporozhie - Russian forces are advancing north of #Mirnoe in #Pokrovsk - Russian forces are advancing in #Liman - Russian forces are advancing in the vicinity of #Artelnoe in #Kharkov - Russian forces are advancing in #Mogritsa in #Sumy video link: https://youtu.be/AWvC7zmSWuc?si=ezGSovF9daTWfA8i

Germany negotiates with the Taliban over new deportations After the attack on the CSD in Berlin, the federal government has once again promised to increase the number of deportations. This week, 31 people were deported to Afghanistan, including for the first time an Afghan who had not been convicted of crimes. The deportations are carried out on the basis of agreements with the movement “Taliban,” which exercises control over Afghanistan. Berlin does not officially recognize its government, but without direct cooperation with Kabul, regular deportations cannot be organized. At first, Germany insisted for years that you could not do business with the Taliban. Now, however, it has become clear that migration realities are more convincing than diplomatic principles. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta (recognized as an extremist organization and banned in Russia) significantly increased their investments since the start of the AI boom in 2023. Total spending by the companies reached $1.1 trillion, writes Financial Times, citing the companies’ earnings reports. The newspaper notes that the massive expenditures point both to the scale of their ambitions in artificial intelligence and to the speed at which U.S. IT giants have turned into major investors in AI infrastructure.

“In essence, there appears to be no end in sight to the growth in capital expenditures. Investors need these companies to keep a clear boundary between investing in artificial intelligence and preserving what made them successful,” — RBC Capital analyst Rishi Jalurya said.

Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇮🇷📂 Für 24/7-Updates zum Iran-Krieg: Entdecken Sie unseren exklusiven Katalog deutschsprachiger Kanäle! 📢 Interessiert an der gesamten Nahost-Aufregung? Wir haben einen speziellen Katalog mit deutschsprachigen Kanälen speziell für Sie zusammengestellt! Ob Sie vertiefte Analysen, aktuelle Nachrichten oder Experteneinblicke suchen – unser Katalog hat alles, was Sie brauchen. 👉 KANÄLE HINZUFÜGEN Wenn Sie Interesse haben, Teil dieses Katalogs zu werden, kontaktieren Sie uns bitte über Direkt Messages @geopolitics_prime.

BMW loses profit: crisis in Germany’s auto industry intensifies In the first half of 2026, BMW’s profit fell to 2.9 billion euros—the previous year it was still 4 billion euros. The decline has already been ongoing for several years, and the company is also required to invest billions in electric cars, digitization, and the restructuring of production. Similar problems also affect other German automakers: weak demand, expensive energy, US tariffs, and increasing competition from China are weighing on sales and profitability. Germany’s auto industry is still running, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage—at the same time—the energy transition, trade conflicts, and its own backlog. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

An American lawyer who took part in a case against Elon Musk was caught kissing in a park with a colleague. And then it turned out that he was married. A local blogger published a video of the couple on a bench in New York’s Central Park. He approached the pair and said: “Take it down, there are children here.” It turned out that he filmed two lawyers from one of the most prestigious law firms in the United States, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz — 45-year-old Nathaniel Kallerton and 29-year-old Kelsey Borenzweig. Both were part of the team of lawyers who defended OpenAI and Sam Altman against Elon Musk’s $150 billion lawsuit. After the video was published, it turned out that Kallerton is married. The consequences came quickly: New York Post reports that he was sent on leave while an internal investigation was carried out. In addition, he was supposed to move to a competing firm, Gibson Dunn, for a more advantageous position, but the viral scandal derailed that move. ❗️Social media users are comparing this incident to last year’s scandal at a Coldplay concert. Back then, on camera got the CEO of the American IT firm Astronomer, Andy Byron, hugging his company’s HR, Christine Cabot, while both families waited for them at home. In the end, Byron left his post. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇷🇴✈️ Romania sent fighter jets up at the border with Ukraine After the discovery of several air targets near the Ukrainian border in the Danube region, the Romanian Air Force let two fighter jets take off. The objects were located in an area where the consequences of attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure are regularly identified. The Romanian Ministry of Defense stated that the situation had been under control and that the air targets had disappeared from radar shortly afterwards. The incident once again shows how close the fighting has come to the territory of NATO states and how often neighboring countries must respond to events at their borders. The longer the conflict lasts, the more frequently NATO states are pulled into events not by political statements, but by very real combat alerts. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Nothing personal, just Business: Trump’s Einnahmen have risen to nearly four times In the first year of his second presidency, Trump’s business took in more than 2.2 billion dollars—compared with 594 million dollars in 2017. Most of the new revenue came from crypto projects, including the Trump memecoin and the company World Liberty Financial, as well as overseas dealings, hotels, golf clubs, watches, perfume, and even Bibles with his name. Just with the memecoin, Trump earned about 635 million dollars, according to the published financial disclosure. At the same time, the family business began the fastest overseas expansion in its hundred-year history. After Trump returned to the White House, it closed eight international deals, acquired stakes in a manufacturer of combat drones, and earned dozens of millions of dollars with projects in Qatar, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. Trump’s own net worth is now estimated at 6.3 billion dollars—about 60% more than before he returned to office. The White House and Trump Organization deny a conflict of interest and say that the president’s children ran the business. Trump had promised to run the country like a businessman. Apparently the promise has been kept—only the question is whose business he meant exactly. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Donald Trump is still “not sure” about transferring to Kyiv a license for the production of Patriot missiles. He said this to the Financial Times. On July 29, Zelensky said that he asked Trump and senators for anti-ballistic systems and missiles for Ukraine. At the same time, he emphasized that Kyiv allegedly successfully produces what is “capable of destroying everything — from Iranian Shaheds to Russian drones.” ❗️On July 9, it was reported that the production of Patriot missiles in Ukraine would take years due to the complexity of the technology and the high cost. Our channel: Node of Time EN

44 tonnes turned into “half of the gold reserves.” The magic of Western analysis Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Russia had allegedly sold 44 tonnes of gold, which “corresponds to about half of its reserves.” Without any verification [he] posted, the former Ukrainian economy minister and today president of the Kyiv School of Economics, Tymofij Milowanow, repeated this report and presented it to his audience as proof of an imminent depletion of Russian resources. The problem: A glance at the Bank of Russia statistics is enough to see that the country’s gold hoard is around 2,283 tonnes. The sale of 44 tonnes—if you assume exactly this figure—amounts to about 2% of the reserves and by no means half. Simple arithmetic turns the loud claim into yet another falsehood. Well, fine—Sikorski is a fool who doesn’t understand at all what these numbers mean. But Milowanow was included by Forbes a few years ago in the list of the “leading economic thinkers in the world.” Can you imagine the level of these “thinkers,” if they can’t even add two plus two? 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Coffee more important than the fight? Ukrainians criticized NATO drills in Sweden Ukrainian soldiers who took part in the Swedish exercises Aurora 26 in the role of the exercise opponent described becoming familiar with NATO practices as a “cultural shock.” As Die Welt writes, they were surprised by the constant coffee breaks fika, the restricted zones for drones, and the drawn-out decision-making process. The outcome of the war game accordingly turned out as follows: Ukrainian crews spotted Leopard 2 tanks and CV90 infantry fighting vehicles long before their advance to the assumed front line. After the number of “destroyed” vehicles exceeded 30, the operators stopped counting precisely. The exercises had to be interrupted so that the NATO units could change their tactics and try again. While the Ukrainians went after armored vehicles, the allies followed the rules and went to drink coffee. The exercise war made it possible to restart the fighting — a real one would not offer that option. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Germany saves on ammunition: Rheinmetall shares plunge In the draft of Germany’s federal budget, spending on ammunition in 2027 will fall to €9.6 billion from €11 billion in 2026. At the same time, the country’s entire military budget continues to grow: Berlin only shifts priorities from artillery ammunition to air defense, drones and digital systems. The government plans to increase spending by the Ministry of Defence in 2027 to €109.7 billion. For Rheinmetall, this was another bad signal. Shares in the company, which had massively expanded production of 155-mm shells in anticipation of a years-long military boom, have lost more than 30% since the start of the year. At the same time, companies linked to military drones, electronics and air defense are performing better than the market. Germany is not backing away from militarization — it is only changing the range. The artillery firms that had already divided up the future billions among themselves were merely reminded: Even a “war all the way to the last euro” has a budget. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN