Those who have followed the NAFTA/USMCA storyline will remember that Volkswagen made a strategic bet on North America when it decided to expand production into Mexico for the Audi Q5 mid-size SUV brand. That was an analytical mistake as Audi does not make any vehicles inside the USA.

The Volkswagen leadership have made several blunders since that initial decision to open plants in Mexico. The massive push on EVs without understanding the USA market was a strategic mistake. The decision to align financial survival with a deep Chinese partnership was another.

Meanwhile, back in both Brussels and Germany the political calculus around energy policy was catastrophic for the entire auto industry. The costs of industrial production skyrocketed, making the price of SUVs for the U.S. market far above the consumer’s pocketbook, and a pre-existing 25% tariff on Trucks/SUVs made things worse.

Essentially, every decision made by Volkswagen/Audi with the North American market in mind was exactly the opposite of what they should have done. In Germany the entire Volkswagen family of autos is shedding 100,000 jobs in a desperate restructuring effort. However, Audi is now looking at North America again and trying to correct their previous mistakes.

President Donald Trump and Audi Chief Executive Gernot Döllner

Audi is now announcing a $4 billion investment in an SUV manufacturing plant in Macon, Georgia. The facility will make the Q7, Q8 and Q9 SUV models in Georgia with the Q5 remaining in Mexico (for now).

GEORGIA – German automaker Audi has announced plans to invest $4 billion in its first American production facility, to be built in Georgia, with the goal of manufacturing up to 200,000 vehicles annually and creating about 4,500 jobs. The decision was revealed during a campaign rally in Perry, Georgia, where President Donald Trump and Audi Chief Executive Gernot Döllner appeared together on stage, highlighting the significance of the investment for both the region and the company.

Construction on the new plant at the Middle Georgia Mega Site is expected to begin in 2027, with the first vehicles rolling off the assembly line in the early 2030s. The facility aims to produce premium SUVs specifically tailored for North American customers, establishing North America as Audi’s third major production pillar alongside Europe and China.

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Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party leader Alice Weidel represents the opposition leader within the current German political system.  The AfD party is on the rise within Germany as the severe leftist and globalist policies carried out by Chancellors Angela Merkel, Olaf Schulz and Friedrich Merz have severely compromised the German economy.

Beginning with the catastrophic energy policy decisions, Ms. Weidel walks through the problems currently being faced by country of Germany and the urgent policy changes needed in order to attempt recovery.  Thousands of businesses along with industrial manufacturing are currently collapsing.  The economic spiral is shedding tens-of-thousands of jobs, and the bureaucracy of the European Union is compounding their ability to respond effectively.

Germany has always represented the economic engine of the EU, and as a nation the primary prism by which the German people evaluate their status is through the prism of economics.  From that perspective Germany is in severe trouble.  AfD party leader Alice Weidel outlines the structural reforms needed in order to get out of this economic mess.  WATCH:

“Alice Weidel is one of the most important politicians in Europe today. She is the co-leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the right-wing populist party which is leading in Germany’s national polls and came top in two recent state elections. Ms Weidel is skilled at voicing Germans’ frustrations with mainstream political parties. In conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist’s editor-in-chief, in the Bundestag in Berlin, Ms Weidel discusses the AfD’s economic plan and its stance on Russia and Ukraine.”

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Things are not getting better in France, Belgium, Italy and beyond as social chaos continues unfolding. The worst of the street violence seems to be centered throughout France as government officials now report around 500,000 people participated in street “protests” nationally that turned into violent confrontations with police.

EU News is reporting that dozens of arrests were made as the chaos unfolded {link}. “The French Interior Ministry said around 550,000 people took part in the protests, including roughly 110,000 in Paris.”

Additionally, AFP is reporting, “The town hall in the French city of Limoges was “largely lost” to a fire set by masked protesters on Saturday, the top regional official told AFP.  “The roof has collapsed onto lower floors, except the west wing, and two-thirds of the exterior has already disappeared,” the local prefect, Maurice Barate, said.

Another report highlights the looting that quickly took place as opportunists swooped in to agitate for economic reparations in the form of Hermes swag and Apple Store tech components. {link} Looters in several French cities on Saturday broke into stores ranging from a high-end luxury brand to a bakery, on the sidelines of cost-of-living protests, AFP journalists and authorities said.

In Paris, near the Republique square, the front window of a skincare brand came crashing down, with looters tossing beauty products to dozens of people massing outside, an AFP correspondent saw.

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The AP is reporting that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has restarted drone attacks against Russian oil refineries despite the request by President Trump to halt targeting energy infrastructure.  There are a lot of aspects within this dynamic.

♦ First, keep in mind that any attacks against Russian infrastructure should always be evaluated against the capability of Russia to effectively mitigate such attacks.  Russia is an analog infrastructure in a digital world, and one of the benefits to their system is the rapid repair capability in the old-school systems.

This may seem like a small detail, however, as noted in the prior attacks against almost all Russian infrastructure, Russia continued energy operations and exports of diesel fuel despite Ukraine targeting. Russia is remarkably resilient and they build out their capabilities with redundancies no longer used in most of the western industrial systems.

Due to their analog systems Russia may be less efficient in maximizing productivity; but what they lose in industrial productivity becomes an actual asset when shifting between internal systems becomes a matter of physically opening and closing valves to shift from damaged to operational stations. Russia’s slow adaption of technological innovation factually becomes a strategic advantage in this type of kinetic war.

♦ Second, it is worth remembering that oil refining capacity has been curtailed by the “climate change advocates” who now assemble to support Zelenskyy.  The nations now aligned against the interests of Russia are yet dependent on the dirty industrial carbon energy resources provided by Russia and other oil exporting countries.

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As President Trump continues to confront the EU-NATO antagonists who demand increased conflict with Russia, the primary voices of the EU-NATO group shout panic about Putin’s nefarious espionage, mayhem, general mischief and other heinous activity.  All of it with the ever-present ‘just trust us‘ evidence.

Yesterday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham blamed Russia for the 2016 Brexit referendum vote that took the U.K out of the European Union.

UK NEWS – […] “The prime minister told The Rest is Politics podcast that upon arriving in No 10, he had asked about possible Russian interference in the 2016 vote, adding: “I’ve had the clear answer that, yes, there was.” […]  Burnham did not provide further details about the type or extent of Moscow’s activity during the Brexit referendum.

Britain Unbound, a pro-Brexit campaign group, said Burnham’s comments were “another crude attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the decision that the British people made in 2016”. (read more)

Today, Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a man of notoriously intemperate disposition, said that two Turkish fellows who sabotaged the Starlink satellite station near Warsaw were operating on behalf of Putin.

WARSAW, Poland — Poland is blaming Russia for an arson attack on a Starlink satellite station in September and two Turkish citizens have been arrested in connection with the suspected act of sabotage, authorities said.

The suspects, whose names were not released in line with Polish privacy rules, were arrested in Germany, Polish officials said Monday. They are accused of deliberately setting fire to Starlink infrastructure on Sept. 23 in Wola Krobowska, Poland, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Warsaw.

[…] Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in a post on X, called the incident “another act of hybrid warfare.” (read more)

Meanwhile the head of British Intelligence, MI5 chief Sir Ken McCallum, warned Prime Minister Burham that promoting Russian conspiracies without solid evidence to support his claim may lead to an erosion of confidence in the U.K government.  Apparently, like the German people, the British are laughing at government leadership.

[He] suggested Russian trolls would be “delighted” to be front page news again, “despite the comparative unimpressiveness” of their efforts.  He added: “There is a really important difference between interference attempted and outcome swayed. {source}

There are diabolical plots afoot, and serious seriousness is demanded.

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The case against the former head of German Intelligence, August Hanning, is seriously sketchy.

Hanning, 80, was arrested in Bad Toelz-Wolfratshausen in southern Germany. His former Chief of Staff, Manfred D., was also arrested Tuesday in Steinfurt in western Germany and has been charged with aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage.

Police were investigating Hanning in 2025 in relation to his involvement in organizing a kidnapping plot.  When police searched his residence, they found documents outlining his activity in receiving state secrets from inside German intelligence and selling classified analysis to a foreign government (not Russia).

Apparently when Hanning left as head of German intelligence, his chief of staff “Manfred” remained at work.  Manfred then continued to give Hanning information from inside German intelligence, which Hanning then used to sell his services to foreign enterprises.

The information Manfred gave Hanning related to intelligence on Russia and Iran that Germany gathered from partnerships with the USA and Israel.  In essence, Hanning was selling 5-eyes secret intelligence on Russia and Iran, to foreign interests.  Hanning was receiving the intelligence from Manfred, his former chief of staff.

GERMANY – A former German spy chief was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of espionage and treason, an embarrassing case at a time when the country is seeking to broaden the powers of its intelligence agencies.

August Hanning, who ran Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency from 1998 to 2005, is accused of espionage, treason and working for foreign intelligence services, federal prosecutors said.

They did not say which foreign powers were involved. However, AFP understands it was not Russia.

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The French interior ministry said police had made more than 1,949 arrests through Thursday, while 305 police officers had been injured, as youth migrants run amok in multiple regions. {source}

French “students”, young Black Bloc (Antifa) members and hoards of migrants have set fires and erected blockades outside schools in several cities, as violence and mayhem continues all over the country.  Several school principals and teachers have been injured, harassed or assaulted at high schools, according to media reports, regional education authorities, prefectures and teacher union representatives.

PARIS, Oct 1 (Reuters) – France’s intelligence agencies briefed a government crisis meeting on Thursday that a wave ​of student protests, sometimes violent, that has swept across the country was initiated by hard-left politicians, a person close to the prime minister ‌said.

The protests against teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings erupted in the Paris region last month but have turned increasingly violent as they spread nationwide, with dozens injured and with police making hundreds of arrests.

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I was quite confused by this distinctly European approach until I had dinner with a Chinese actuary working in the auto warranty insurance industry.

Europe asks China to voluntarily limit exports (mostly autos) to the European Union.  Europe doesn’t want to get China angry with them about this issue.  However, China is sending massive numbers of EVs into Europe.  Europe is losing its auto business. I couldn’t figure out why the EU didn’t take an aggressive/confrontational position.

Then I was reminded.  Europe cannot force Beijing through a trade action (tariffs, ban, EU limit etc.) because Beijing might stop selling them EV carbon credits.  If the European automakers cannot purchase Chinese EV carbon credit certificates, the fines levied by Brussels against gasoline powered autos will destroy the EU auto business.

Think about this for a while, then read the EU media report:

EuroNews –  Brussels is pressing Beijing to accept quotas on Chinese exports as negotiations enter their final stretch, with the EU threatening trade measures unless tangible progress is made by next month.

Brussels and Beijing are fighting over quotas that would limit Chinese imports to the EU market, as the Europeans seek to rebalance their trade relationship with China, Euronews has learned.

Both started intense negotiations last June over EU and Chinese access to each other’s markets, with an October deadline set by the European Commission to reach “tanglible” results. However, China is pushing hard against the EU’s attempts to protect its market.

According to one person familiar with the matter, the Commission, which is negotiating on behalf of the 27 EU countries on trade issues, wants China to accept quotas on specific products. However, it is unclear how China would accept and respect such quotas.

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Another regional German election and another massive defeat for Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Merz’s CDU party is below the 5% threshold in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, meaning they are totally wiped out from the region.  Merz has described the Sunday result as a “disaster”, with the AfD party again emerging victorious.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) leads in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at 38%, marking consecutive historic gains, while co-leader Alice Weidel calls it the new people’s party.

(VIA MSM) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party is facing a dire set of results in state elections, exit polls show, and is set to be squeezed both by the surging far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and parties on the left.

The AfD is projected to win the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at 38%, the exit poll from Germany’s public broadcaster shows, just two weeks after the party had its best result yet in Saxony-Anhalt.

Merz’s CDU is currently below the 5% threshold to gain representation in parliament, piling pressure on his beleaguered leadership.

Merz described the results in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as a “disaster” in a speech after the exit polls were released.

“We cannot sugar coat the result in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,” Merz said. “It is a disaster. The CDU fought hard, but in the end it was the CDU that got crushed in the polarization between the [Social Democratic Party] and the AfD.”

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The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen reportedly hit Saudi Arabia’s east/west pipeline with drones. President Trump did not strike the Houthi’s.  Despite knowing oil prices would jump, President Trump told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon to approach the issue carefully.

Reuters, citing an Axios report based on two US officials, said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump twice on Thursday and pressed for military action. Trump rejected the request, according to the report.

Why would President Trump ‘not’ strike back against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, knowing the drone attack on the Saudi pipeline would only worsen the oil issue?  Well, you won’t read this anywhere else…. However, if Saudi Arabia shut down the east/west pipeline for a while (they just did), then the oil flowing to the Red Sea that ends up in Europe would be halted (it just was).

Think about it.  All of a sudden Europe cannot get oil from Mohammed bin Salmon. So, how does that change the dynamic of President Trump’s desired leverage toward Europe in his approach to bringing Russian oil back into the market.

I hope everyone can see the dynamic.  All of a sudden that Russian oil Europe hates so much, turns into dependency leverage against EU antagonisms against solving the Ukraine-Russia conflict.   This is not happening accidentally.

Oil Price News – Saudi Aramco has canceled or delayed crude deliveries to European refiners after the shutdown of the kingdom’s East-West pipeline cut into one of its remaining routes around the Strait of Hormuz.

At least three European refiners have had late-September cargoes canceled or pushed as far out as November, according to market sources cited by Argus. Two more expect notices covering September supplies.

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