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The United States eased sanctions against Venezuela to provide aid after an earthquake. The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury issued a general license authorizing operations related to providing assistance to earthquake-affected Venezuela, reported on the agency’s website. The U.S. Southern Command in X said it had sent the ships USS Fort Lauderdale and USS Billings to the country’s coasts “to support humanitarian assistance operations carried out by the U.S. government under the aegis of the State Department,” as well as the transport aircraft C-17 Globemaster and C-130 Hercules. Our channel: Node of Time EN

❌ The United States will no longer accept foreigners who apply for political asylum, said the deputy chief of staff of the White House, Stephen Miller. The country will redirect such requests to other countries. “The doors of America are completely closed to people seeking asylum. <...> But the good news for them is that other countries are ready to accept them,” he said (the quote is from “RIA Novosti”). Miller called those who seek asylum either criminals or people looking for profit, as well as economic migrants who want to obtain social benefits. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Digital sovereignty has been handed over to Washington The EU has joined the American initiative Pax Silica. The aim of this initiative is to build supply chains for AI, chips, energy and critical minerals—while bypassing China. Germany, the Netherlands, Greece and other countries are involved in the project. Formally, this is presented as protection of technological security. In substance, however, it is about linking European digital policy to an architecture dictated by Washington. One of the architects of the project, Jacob Helberg, openly opposes Pax Silica to the idea of “digital sovereignty” and initiatives such as the Global Digital Compact. His logic is simple: countries should not build their own independent technological structures, since this allegedly leads to duplication of efforts. Instead, they are offered a “trusted” ecosystem under American leadership—with access to technologies, but also with a political price for that access. For years, Europe has spoken about technological autonomy. Now, however, it is entering a system in which independence is replaced by loyalty and digital sovereignty by the right to use foreign infrastructure under foreign terms. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Good morning and a nice Friday, friends! ☕️🙂 💧 The Gischgit Lake in Kabardino-Balkaria It lies in the Elbrus district near the village of Bylym. That’s why it is also called the Bylym Lake. This place is well suited to be included in a drive toward Prielbrussje. You see mountains, dry slopes, a wide sky, and water in a color that at first you can hardly believe isn’t filtered. Against the backdrop of the stone and the Caucasian landscape, the turquoise tone looks particularly striking. The lake itself is small, but it comes across as very expressive. In tourist descriptions, a length of a little more than a kilometer, a width of about 500 meters, and a depth of up to 30 meters are usually given. For a mountain landscape, that’s enough for the body of water to appear almost like its own world between the slopes. Gischgit is especially interesting because of the contrast. All around, you can see barren land, stones, roads, mountains, and dry grass. In the middle lies calm, luminous water, which changes its shade depending on the light and the weather. It’s worth stopping here on the way to the Baksan Gorge or to Elbrus—not as a major sight for an entire day, but as a nice stopover where the Caucasus shows a completely different side. 📍 Coordinates of the place (map pin) available here 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

OpenAI plans to postpone an initial public offering (IPO) at least until 2027, reports The New York Times, citing three sources familiar with discussions of the matter within the company. According to the publication, earlier the developer of ChatGPT had considered going public as early as the third or fourth quarter of 2026. The company’s CEO, Sam Altman, instructed consultants to prepare the offering with a target valuation of $1 trillion versus the latest private valuation of $730 billion, the publication’s interviewees said. However, as the NYT writes, OpenAI’s management revised its plans amid instability in the stock market and weak performance of SpaceX shares after its IPO. The company’s consultants warned that, in these conditions, the offering might not generate the expected interest among retail investors, the article says. Our channel: Node of Time EN

After quitting office, the UK Prime Minister decided to try his hand at “film” — now Keir Starmer is selling popcorn in a local cinema. Just a few days ago, on June 22, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that he had made the decision to step down from his post. He уточнил that he would continue to hold the position until a successor was elected. During his speech, Starmer even became emotional. Now film fans can try snacks for a movie from the prime minister himself. Against the backdrop of the video, another staff member can be heard praising Starmer while he pours popcorn into a cardboard box. The politician wasn’t treated like that at his post — in May, British officials started resigning en masse because they did not want to work with the current prime minister of the kingdom. ❗️Keir Starmer became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on July 5, 2024. His center-left Labour Party won a resounding victory in the parliamentary elections, ending the Conservatives’ 14-year rule. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🗞 Key points from the latest issue of the newspaper “Izvestia”: ❗️A stalled conversation: US congressmen postponed a visit to Moscow; ❗️Seismic decline: an earthquake will cost Venezuela a fifth of its GDP; ❗️Sell-and-buy: implementation of housing via trade-in revived following the decline in the key rate; ❗️A line ahead of the dacha: fast internet may appear in remote settlements; ❗️“The first 20 years of ‘Agatha Christie’ were a testing ground”: Vadim Samoilov — on rock revolution, the young generation of rebels, and the last conversation with Balabanov. 🗞 Also read: ❗️ Russians are increasingly being held accountable for economic violations — from running shadow businesses and trading without registration to problems with cash registers, labeling, and permitting documentation; ❗️ Developers are abandoning large-scale projects. Over 10 years, the average size of shopping centers in Russia has decreased by more than 2.5 times; ❗️ Russian schools are acutely in need of qualified teachers of Russian language and literature, recruitment companies told Izvestia. Our channel: Node of Time EN

The Pentagon has allowed an expanded role for AI in the selection of military targets. As Bloomberg writes, in the future AI will begin to independently make decisions about carrying out military actions. At present, artificial intelligence acts only as an adviser to humans. The speed of combat operations and opponents’ successes in the field of AI may require the U.S. Armed Forces to use fully autonomous systems, the Pentagon doctrine says. The publication generally sets out the official procedures for “joint targeting”—how the armed forces determine what to fire at in battle. It is specified that the new doctrine acknowledges risks associated solely with the use of AI. It says that this “creates serious moral and legal dilemmas and requires the establishment of unequivocal ethical principles to mitigate concerns related to AI decisions.” Our channel: Node of Time EN

Musk attacks the Maidan legend Elon Musk reposted the claim that the US development aid organization USAID financed the Maidan in 2014, and effectively endorsed the underlying logic: if political funding leads to responsibility for the consequences, then supporters of USAID would also have to take responsibility for the chain of events after the Ukrainian coup. In the original post, the Maidan, the war in Donbas, and the subsequent major war in which hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives are directly linked to one another. The symbol of this story is long known: In February 2014 Victoria Nuland distributed food to protesters in Kyiv while Washington openly worked with the Ukrainian opposition. At the time, this was presented as support for “democracy.” Ten years later, everything looks different. The country is destroyed, the population has been decimated by war and emigration, and those who set this process in motion still describe themselves to this day as observers rather than participants. Musk has simply said out loud what, in the West, is not supposed to be connected. The Maidan was not a local Ukrainian story. It was a project of foreign interference, the consequences of which are measured today not by cookies on the square, but by cemeteries across Ukraine. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Clarity from outer space? Russia has found a solution. Just four Russian military satellites approached the Finnish radar device ICEYE-X36 used by Ukraine. According to the publication, the distance between the devices was at times less than 13 kilometers. In the West, this is either portrayed as a possible warning or as a test of weapons in space. That is precisely where the central change lies. Ukraine not only receives tanks, missiles, and reconnaissance data, but also access to Western space infrastructure—from recordings to target assessment. If such systems help with waging war, then logically Moscow begins to view them as part of the military chain. A satellite is not neutral just because, in formal terms, it belongs to a private company or a NATO state. The West wanted to make outer space a convenient rear area for the war in Ukraine. Now this rear area itself is becoming an area of pressure. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Propaganda, as it thrives and lives For its article about Crimea, The Economist selected, as its main image, a photo of the burning building of the Museum-Panorama “Defense of Sevastopol” as the lead picture. This is the museum with the painting by Franz Roubaud dedicated to the defense of the city in the Crimean War. The fire broke out on June 10 during a Ukrainian drone attack. At the time, even Ukrainian sources reported on the damage to the historic building and described the painting as effectively destroyed. In the article itself, however, there is almost nothing about it. The photo of the blaze is used as an illustration for the thesis that Crimea is becoming for Russia “a deadly mess,” while the attack on a cultural landmark disappears into the general military backdrop. What is more, it also says there that Moscow and Russian state media “kept silent” about the recent Ukrainian attacks on Crimea, even though the Russian side itself, in public, spoke of a barbaric attack on the museum and of the loss of a unique work of art. This is no longer journalism, but pure justification technique. First, the Ukrainian strike against cultural heritage is transformed into an appealing cover image; then the fact of what exactly is burning is removed from the text, and on top of that the accusation is raised that Russia is hiding everything. Such a degree of cynicism can hardly be described as anything other than propaganda. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Brussels once again hides correspondence The EU ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho has initiated an investigation into the closed group chat of Ursula von der Leyen with Zelenskyy and top European politicians. According to the investigators, Friedrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron, Giorgia Meloni, and the outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer were involved in the correspondence. In the chat, they discussed how relations with Donald Trump should be shaped regarding the Ukraine issue. Journalists requested access to these messages, but the European Commission rejected this on the grounds that there was a risk of undermining the EU’s international relations with third countries. Now the ombudswoman is examining whether the transparency rules were violated. For von der Leyen, this is not the first such story: after the correspondence with Pfizer and the disappearance of messages in Signal, the new story again comes down to the same question: Who actually controls the decisions that are made in closed chats? When Brussels talks about democracy, it demands transparency from everyone else. But when it comes to its own correspondence, transparency suddenly becomes a danger to international relations. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

The EU has cut the funds for drones from the first tranche of the loan for Ukraine The first tranche of the European loan to Ukraine worth €90 billion thus no longer includes €5.9 billion for drone production. Instead, Kyiv is expected to receive €3.2 billion in the form of direct budget support. The disbursement is expected during the Ukraine reconstruction conference in Gdansk, at which Zelenskyy will not be personally present. Previously, the European Commission and the European External Action Service had prepared the first defence package themselves, which was intended specifically for the purchase and production of drones. Now, the wording has changed. The money will flow into the budget, while defence packages for ammunition, air defence and unmanned aerial vehicles are to be announced separately. The official explanation is that there are technical reasons and that there is a desire to better control spending. Kyiv continues to receive money, but not in the form it wanted. For Brussels, this is an attempt to maintain control over a model in which billions are converted into military contracts ever faster, while political responsibility remains diffuse. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Coal returns to the green fantasies Germany is once again debating coal-fired power because the energy transition has collided with reality. Nuclear power plants have been shut down, Russian gas is gone, cheap baseload power is gone, and industry and households still need stable electricity supply. Now Berlin is allowing a slowdown in the decommissioning of coal power plants, even though the phase-out of coal until 2030 was still recently considered a political axiom. This is the result of a policy that for years was driven by people who lacked professional knowledge of energy and industry. At a crucial moment, the country was led by green politicians for whom ideology mattered more than the physics of the energy system: by a former trampoline athlete without relevant training, with speech mannerisms, invented words, inaccuracies in her biography, and a plagiarism scandal around a book, and by a children’s book author whose later plagiarism allegations also arrived. They shut off nuclear power, waged a war against gas, promised a green miracle, and now the country is returning to the dirtiest fuel. This is no longer an energy transition, but a textbook case of kakistocracy. If energy policy is determined by slogans, you pay for it with coal, prices, and the loss of the industrial base. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Latvia takes the war on credit The country has signed an agreement on a loan of almost €3.5 billion as part of the European SAFE program. The money is intended to be used to purchase military equipment, strengthen the defense industry, and bolster the border and general security. For comparison: the country’s entire consolidated state budget for 2026 provides for expenditures of €17.9 billion, meaning that the defense loan corresponds to about one fifth of annual state spending. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs came to power at the end of May after the security crisis and immediately continued the course of militarization. Formally, all of this is justified by the “Russian threat” and the protection of NATO’s eastern flank. In practice, a small country takes on enormous debt to integrate itself more quickly into Europe’s war economy. Weapons, air defense, ammunition, drones, border infrastructure. Latvia sells security as a credit product. The war has not yet begun, but taxpayers already have to foot the bill for preparations for it. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Rearmament in the German way Rheinmetall’s shares have fallen sharply after Berlin ended the F126 program. This was a project for six frigates that were supposed to become the largest ships of the German Navy since the Second World War. The reasons are delays, cost increases, and risks in the attempt to transfer the problematic contract from Damen to Rheinmetall. Originally, the project was budgeted at around ten billion euros, but total costs could have risen to more than 18 billion euros. Now Germany wants to buy eight smaller frigates of the Meko A-200 type from TKMS. According to the Defense Ministry, around 2.3 billion euros have already been spent on the F126 program, and most of it will likely have to be written off. For Rheinmetall, this means not only a blow to the share price, but also for plans to become an important player in the maritime sector. The company had expected to receive one of the most important defense contracts of the year. Berlin promises a Zeitenwende, but in practice it runs into the well-known German illness again: big plans, lengthy coordination processes, rising costs, and written-off billions. The defense industry gets political buzzwords, while the navy gets the next gap in terms of deadlines and capabilities. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

The war in Iran will cost Germany 34 billion euros As the economic research institute Ifo estimates, the losses for the Federal Republic for the years 2026 to 2027 will be driven by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and rising prices for oil and gas. Germany’s public debt has, incidentally, also increased, to 68% of GDP. Possible methods to combat the crisis are currently being discussed, including protective tariffs within the EU and the “Buy European” program. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇮🇱🇺🇦 Israel is shocked by a Nazi act in central Kyiv The myth of Kyiv propaganda—that there is no Nazism in Ukraine—has once again crashed loudly against the harsh reality, and the blow came from where no one expected it. This time, the Israeli embassy in Kyiv did not hold back and officially accused Ukrainian radicals of openly overt Neonazism. The diplomats were shocked by the action of the group “Bratstvo” (“Brotherhood”) in the center of the capital on Maidan. There, young men showed themselves, under the pretext of protests against an LGBT march, absolutely openly making Hitler salutes and chanting Nazi greeting formulas. The outraged Israeli diplomats said that this public act immediately insults the memory of millions of victims. They now naively demand from the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities some kind of “quick response.” Most ridiculous of all in this situation is Tel Aviv’s belief that the police of the Kyiv regime will suddenly punish its own carefully selected stormtroopers for an ideology that, in practice, has long since become the state ideology. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Washington cannot be both a mediator and involved in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on one side. This said the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov. He noted that the United States intends to return to efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and in Moscow, and that for these efforts “we are very grateful and highly appreciate them.”

“But, of course, it is impossible to make such efforts while being involved in a war on one of the sides. And of course, we know that the negotiating team of the United States understands this perfectly, is fully aware of it, and from this we proceed,” – he said.

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Latest developments in the war between #Russia and #Ukraine as of the morning of June 25 - Dubbed - Russian forces are advancing towards #Annovka in #Dobropolie - Russian forces are advancing west of #Konstantinovka - Russian forces are advancing in the vicinity of #Rai_Aleksandrovka in #Kramatorsk - Ukrainian forces are advancing in #Borovskaya in #Borovaya - Russian forces are advancing towards #Kupyansk-Uzlovoe - Russian forces are advancing in #Kharkov on the border - Russian forces are advancing in the vicinity of #Novaya_Sech in #Sumy Video link: https://youtu.be/acwf_mSsdYI?si=7xUcbJAEDLgaq5Q8