Node of Time EN

🇩🇪🇨🇳 “The situation is more than critical”: Germany’s auto industry is stuck between two fronts Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume is no longer trying to make the situation at Europe’s biggest carmaker look better. “The situation is more than critical,” he told employees. Even after a reduction in factory costs of around 20%, the current VW return on earnings of 3.8% is not enough to finance new technologies, products, and the preservation of production sites. Blume himself admits: The group is too large, too slow, and too complex. Against the backdrop of the new austerity drive, people in the company are worried about 50,000 jobs and four plants. But the problem goes far beyond Volkswagen. German industry associations are increasingly calling for Brussels to protect the European market against China. Machine builders are openly saying that German industry is being “deindustrialized using unfair methods,” and are demanding anti-dumping measures and other trade barriers. Not long ago, Germany built its prosperity on free world trade and the huge Chinese market. Now China has become an industrial competitor, and for the first time manufacturers are seriously asking to be protected from precisely the competition they themselves have profited from for decades. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇩🇪 The AfD is distancing itself from the Union and is already preparing personnel for ministries A recent poll by the Allensbach Institute shows a new political brand: the AfD reaches 27.5%, while the CDU/CSU only reaches 22.5%. That means the AfD’s lead over the Union is, for the first time, five percentage points. For the Union, this is the worst Allensbach value since October 2021. However, what is happening within the AfD itself is even more interesting. For several years, the party has been building a personnel infrastructure in case of a change in power. In the special Black-Red-Gold Academy, office managers, researchers and speechwriters are trained for possible work in ministries and state structures. There is also a dedicated working group on participation in government, and the Austrian FPÖ shares practical experience with the German colleagues. The so-called firewall still exists, but one side of the wall is already dealing with very practical questions: How many staff will a minister need, who will run the departments, and who will write his speeches? 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇪🇺 War economy | What do Europe’s defense spending mean for the economy? The ECB is examining a key question: If Europe spends hundreds of billions of euros more on defense and infrastructure, does that also boost the European economy? 🔷 Around €510 billion per year According to the ECB’s estimates, between 2025 and 2031 Europe needs roughly €510 billion annually in additional investment for various priorities—including defense as well as the green and digital transformation. 🔷 Defense becomes an economic factor Europe’s fiscal rules allow states to increase their defense spending between 2025 and 2028 by up to an additional 1.5% of GDP. Germany shows the scale: In the scenario examined, the defense budget rises from roughly 2% of GDP in 2025 to about 3.5% by 2029. At the same time, a €500 billion special fund was created for infrastructure and climate projects. 🔷 Does it bring economic growth? What matters is where the money goes. An ECB model finds that with higher defense spending, the fiscal multiplier is around 0.93 over two years. Put simply: €100 in additional government spending could be associated with about €93 in additional economic activity over two years. This is a model estimate, not a guarantee. 📌 The crucial point: If billions are invested in European factories, technology, research, and production capacities, a larger share of demand remains in Europe. If, instead, finished arms goods are imported mainly, a larger share of the economic impact goes abroad. That is why the key question is not only: How much does Europe spend? But rather: Where is this money spent? Sources: ECB Blog, 25.07.2025; ECB Economic Bulletin 6/2025; ECB Economic Bulletin 2/2026; ECB Financial Stability Review, May 2025. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

The future has arrived, but not for everyone: Apple is laying off more than 200 employees from the Siri and Vision Pro teams to put all its efforts into AI and new gadgets. Bloomberg reports this. The cuts affected 100 people from each division. The Vision Pro and visionOS projects are not being closed, but the company’s priorities have changed sharply, the agency’s sources уточняют. Instead of heavy and expensive headsets, Apple is now betting on lightweight smart glasses. They will not have immersive video or complex games. Our channel: Node of Time EN

What the foreign press is writing about. RBC review: ▪️In China, children’s labor-education camps are gaining popularity, where participants do agricultural work and live by strict rules, reports the South China Morning Post. ▪️American corporation Apple will cut more than 200 jobs in divisions that work on the voice assistant Siri, artificial intelligence, and Vision Pro—the mixed reality headset—reports Bloomberg. ▪️The United States will pay Liberia $5 million under an agreement to accept deported migrants, reports The New York Times. ▪️SCMP told about China’s strengthening “chain of death” due to its successes in space. ▪️British intelligence could warn the United States about the risks of a conflict with Iran and the danger of a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, thereby saving Washington from an “obvious trap.” British ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this at the forum of world leaders, reports The Economic Times. ▪️White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt will return to the MAGA Inc. political committee after stepping down from her post at the end of August, reports Bloomberg. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇩🇪🇺🇳 A rare international consensus: Washington and Moscow are dissatisfied with one person Annalena Baerbock, who chairs the UN General Assembly, has managed an rather unusual outcome: She was practically criticized at the same time by the USA and Russia. The reason is the selection process for the next UN Secretary-General. Baerbock is trying to shape the process “transparent, inclusive, structured, timely and credible,” and proposes taking into account the candidates’ participation in an open dialogue with the General Assembly. Washington and Moscow, however, take the view that they are interfering too strongly in the responsibilities of the Security Council. The American side accused Baerbock of “irresponsibility” and “hypocrisy.” The Russian representative, Vasili Nebenzya, said that Moscow is concerned about the role that the chair of the General Assembly wants to appropriate for herself. In the end, Baerbock managed something that international diplomacy extremely rarely achieves: bringing the USA and Russia together at least on one issue. However, that issue was Baerbock herself. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

⚠️„People are being hunted around the clock on the country’s streets“: Another manhunt in Kyiv was shown live on Swedish television Journalists from Swedish broadcaster SVT filmed a report in Kyiv when the work of Selenskyy’s people-catchers came into view. The corresponding report was published on the broadcaster’s website. “Millions of men are evading the war in Ukraine. On the streets of the country, they are hunted day and night. Shortly before the SVT correspondent Bengt Norborg was due to go live, a man was arrested directly in front of the camera,” the statement says. In the published video, the man can be heard shouting wildly and urging passersby to help him. According to the journalist, the man in Kyiv tried to flee when he ran away from a man in uniform, but the latter caught him. In this context, a new word has emerged — “bussification”. Because the men are being dragged into buses. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Latest developments in the #Russia–#Ukraine war as of the morning of August 22 - Subtitled • Russian forces advance inside the city of #Kupiansk. • Russian forces advance toward #Zapovednoe on the #Kramatorsk front. • Russian forces advance in #Chervonnoe on the #Chasov_Yar front. • Russian forces advance around #Zelenoe in #Zaporozhie. video link: https://youtu.be/HO_760UOHg0?si=s1fLN6os2Z3uYA3H

Should one wait for a summit between the Russian and American presidents, the editor of the “Vedomosti” International Experience department Roman Romanov writes in an author’s column. Key points: ⚪️By August 2026, only what has been publicly unknown is known about negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian conflict. ⚪️A new summit at the level of heads of state is possible at any time. But the importance of such meetings is determined not only by the status of the participants, but also by their effectiveness. ⚪️And for that, there needs to be a change in the existing context, which has not happened yet. Moscow—this has been emphasized more than once—remains open to dialogue and at the same time is advancing on the battlefield—the final battle for Donbas is underway. ⚪️A pause to hold further negotiations <…>, it seems, does not align with its interests. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Former head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov does not intend, during the planned visit to the United States, to seek Trump’s support. The former minister said in an interview with “24 Kanal.” According to Fedorov, the trip is connected with his work at the Eastern Europe foundation, attracting additional funding, and meetings with partners. He also plans to discuss defense-sector projects and attracting investment.

“No. This is just some… I don’t know where such news is generated from. This is our internal matter,”— Fedorov said, answering the question about a possible request for support from Trump.

He added that issues related to the country’s future should be addressed within Ukraine. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇨🇭🇨🇳 While the EU is reducing its dependence on China, Switzerland is making trade with it even freer Switzerland and China have concluded negotiations on an updated free trade agreement. After it enters into force ⁠99.8% of Swiss exports can reach the Chinese market duty-free. The preferential status currently applies only to about half of shipments. The agreement covers the pharmaceutical industry, the chemical industry, precision mechanical engineering, instruments, and watches. Chinese goods, for their part, have already been almost completely exempt from Swiss tariffs under the 2014 agreement. China is Switzerland’s third-largest trading partner, after Germany and the United States. The contrast with the EU is particularly interesting. Brussels is increasingly talking about de-risking, strategic autonomy, and reducing dependence on Beijing. Bern, meanwhile, does the exact opposite: it calculates and facilitates trade as much as possible. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Disruption of energy supplies from the Middle East due to the war between the United States and Iran “overshadowed” the modest increase in the United States’ own oil production, thereby Washington “squandered” its energy advantage, writes The Financial Times, citing experts. The States still remain the world’s largest oil producer, but, according to estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, this year production will increase by only 200,000 barrels per day. At the same time, due to the war between the United States and Iran, about 20 million barrels per day that had been flowing through the Strait of Hormuz from the Middle East were blocked, FT writes.

“I am convinced that this administration [of Donald Trump] — as, probably, any administration since Franklin Roosevelt — is blind to energy issues. They simply don’t understand anything about it,” Houston energy consultant Art Berman said.

Our channel: Node of Time EN

In August 2026, in the United States, the AI model Claude, being tested as a personnel assistant, after an operator’s leading question, changed its recommendation from a warning to terminating an employee for lateness — the algorithm effectively made a personnel decision. In Russia, one case related to being dismissed due to AI has already reached the Moscow City Court and ended with the employer paying a large compensation, while the court sided with the employee.

“This case confirms: the less human control there is and the more the decision relies only on the algorithm, the higher the risk of the employee being reinstated at work with compensation paid,” notes Oleg Popov, managing partner of the law firm “A-PRO”.

On hh. ru, they emphasize that an employee’s effectiveness cannot always be described by a set of measurable indicators — context, the complexity of tasks, the contribution to teamwork, the ability to make decisions in non-standard situations, and other factors that are difficult to formalize. Whether algorithmic dismissals are being implemented in Russia, what the cost of an error is, and what the Labor Code and the judicial system say in response — read in an RBC subscription. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇩🇪 “Interventions even against the will of parents”: The CDU presented its plans against violence in schools ahead of the Berlin election The CDU has submitted a program to combat violence and radicalization among students. One of the central ideas is to give the youth welfare office the ability to intervene even without the parents’ consent more quickly in particularly severe cases. In addition, the CDU proposes separate facilities for particularly aggressive or radicalized students, enhanced information-sharing between schools, the youth welfare office and the police, as well as restrictions on the use of smartphones. The reason is fairly simple: 38% of Berlin teachers already consider violence in schools to be a serious problem, and another 18% consider it to be very serious. The most common manifestations include insults, bullying, physical violence and social exclusion. The debate has thus gradually shifted from the question of “how to raise children” to something far more unpleasant: what to do when school and parents can no longer cope and the state has to intervene by force. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Trump called communists unhappy people without smiles At a rally in South Carolina, he said that communists never smile and never laugh.

“Have you ever seen a happy communist? Have you ever seen a communist laugh? I’ve never seen that. I know communists. They don’t laugh. They’re very unhappy people. And we want to be happy,” — Trump said.

⚪️In a speech to his supporters, the U.S. president emphasized that Democrats have turned into “radical left-wing communists,” and his task is “to crush communism in America once and for all.” The politician also called communism the greatest threat to the country in all of history, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, and 9/11. 📸 The White House / Flickr Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇩🇪🇺🇦 They come for military training — and disappear: Ukrainian soldiers desert during training in Germany Since the start of the Ukraine war, tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have undergone multi-week training in Germany. However, as it has turned out, for some of them the trip to Germany became a convenient opportunity to leave the army entirely. According to WELT several hundred Ukrainian military personnel deserted during training in Germany. In Saxony-Anhalt alone, more than 80 people have gone missing from training facilities since 2022. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

The United States has imposed 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods worth about $20 billion after the latest talks failed, reports The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

On August 19, Trump said that the United States is pausing the introduction of new 50% tariffs on imports from Canada after the approval of a trade deal.

However, the U.S. Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, told reporters that the negotiations fell through on Friday evening, although Washington, as he claims, offered “the best terms” compared with any other major U.S. trading partner. As the WSJ writes, since no agreement was reached, new tariffs affecting about 5% of Canadian exports to the United States came into force at 0:01 on Saturday. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇩🇪 The Bundestag is virtually defenseless against a drone attack loaded with explosives After the incident involving an explosive drone in Leipzig, German media wanted to find out how well the Bundestag itself is protected. The result was not very reassuring: Germany has ⁠to this day no complete, unified system that would guarantee the ability to detect and stop a small drone carrying explosives over the parliamentary district. The problem is not only technical in nature. In the center of Berlin, the responsibilities of the police, federal authorities and the military overlap, and deploying means of electronic warfare or weapons over a densely populated city carries even significant risks. There is an interesting contrast: Germany is discussing the expansion of anti-drone units, procuring new systems, and talking about hybrid threats — yet the protection of its own parliament continues to rely largely on responding to a detected threat rather than on a ready-made system to neutralize it. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Good morning, dear friends! ☕️🙂 🏛 Yuryevets — the city where the Volga changed its banks Friends, Saturday is time for leisurely walks and contemplation. Today we travel to one of the oldest cities of the Upper Volga, whose fate changed in an instant when the river suddenly became the sea. Get to know Yuryevets. 🏰 A legendary city, older than many capitals Yuryevets is the oldest city in Ivanovo Oblast. It was founded in 1225 by the Vladimir Prince Yuri (Georgi) Vsevolodovich. According to tradition, an icon of the prince’s heavenly patron saint — Saint George the Victorious — appeared to him. In honor of this miracle, he founded the city “in his name.” [Yuriy and Georgij are considered in Russian to be two forms of the same name — Ed. note.] Yuryevets served as a forward outpost on the eastern edge of the Vladimir-Suzdal Rus and protected its borders for centuries. In the 15th century, the city became part of the Moscow State, and in the 20th century it was included in the list of historical cities of Russia. From the high bank of the Volga, endless expanses open up. Even today, the city welcomes travelers with a church ensemble from the 18th to the 19th century and a slender bell tower about 70 meters tall. 🌊 How the Volga became a sea and the mountains became islands In the middle of the 20th century, an incident occurred that forever changed the look of these places: the construction of the Gorky Reservoir began. The water rose. Many villages, churches, and monasteries ended up in the flooding zone. Even Yuryevets itself was threatened, but the city was saved by the construction of a three-kilometer-long protective dam. The landscape changed beyond recognition. In the area of Yuryevets, the Volga spread in places up to 15 kilometers in width. Here there are real storms and high waves, so for a long time the locals have been calling the reservoir “the Gorky Sea.” And three kilometers from Yuryevets, in the middle of this vast expanse of water, the Asafov Islands emerged. Earlier, these were the Asafov Mountains — sandy hills overgrown with pine trees. After the reservoir was filled, the lowlands disappeared under water, and the highest areas became islands. This is how a small archipelago formed with white sand, pines, and birches. Today, the Asafov Islands are considered one of the most beautiful natural attractions of Yuryevets. 📜 Legends of the Asafov Mountains The origin of the name is explained in different ways. The first version tells of the priest Asaf, who lived on the summit of one of the mountains. The second — of the robber Asaf, or Osaf, who, together with his gang, plundered wealthy merchants and monasteries, shared the loot with the poor, and hid himself in the forests near Yuryevets. According to local tradition, somewhere on the islands his treasures are still hidden. The third version links the name to the city’s most beautiful girl — Asapa, or Osapa. Which of these stories is closer to the truth—everyone decides for themselves. 🕯 A memory of what was flooded Yuryevets preserves the memory of those places that disappeared after the creation of the reservoir. From the riverside promenade, a 12-meter-tall cross can be seen, erected in remembrance of the flooded Krivoeser Monastery, as well as a small chapel on the water. There is also a modern installation here: groups of wooden and concrete islands recall the outlines of houses and churches that once stood there, where water now splashes. Press ❤️ if you liked it, and save the post! 📍 Coordinates of the place (map pin) available here 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Donald Trump said that he moved the word “tariffs” from first to fifth place in his list of favorite words after criticism from the media, speaking at a rally in Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) on August 21.

“I love tariffs, I love that word, they made us damn rich. <...> But fake news media came after me. They said: ‘Tariffs — his favorite word. And what about God? What about religion? What about his wife and kids? What about family?’ ‘So I put tariffs in fifth place among my favorite [words], and now I have no problems with the media,’ he said.

Our channel: Node of Time EN