attacking

Iran has put the price of oil at stake by attacking it with drones

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The world stage is Monday, a Monday marked by Iran bombing by the United States and Israel last Saturday. Iran has not sat idly byresponding with something it has already used in the past: suicide drones to attack bases of the allies of the aggressor countries. They have attacked Dubaibut also Saudi Arabia, causing the closure of one of the key refineries globally: Ras Tanura. And the result is -another- earthquake in the world market. In short. A few hours ago, Saudi Arabia and Aramco (the oil company) made the decision to stop production at the refinery Ras Tanura. The decision came when Saudi defenses intercepted several remains of Iranian drones. They did not impact, but their remains have caused some fires within the storage facilities of the power plant. Ras Tanura. We are talking about some of the largest refineries in the world, with an estimated capacity of about 550,000 barrels per day. Its closure implies that the export operations associated with the complex stop, which is addition to the closure of other energy infrastructures in the region, such as gas infrastructure in Israel and Kurdistan. As pointed out Bloombergthe problem is that Ras Tanura is one of the key refineries in the transportation fuel segment, specifically diesel, and not only have operations stopped, but very close is one of Aramco’s largest export terminals for refined products. This is the Strait of Hormuz, with dozens of ships waiting Hormuz. Uncertainty and military operations are once again causing the Strait of Hormuz to become abuzz. Hormuz is, after Malacca, the second largest oil corridor in the worldand a disturbance in normal functioning causes the entire chain to wobble. Uncertainty is causing a monumental bottleneck with ships stopped on both sides of the strait, waits that do not know when they will end, rescheduling, diversions to other ports and, ultimately, chaos in oil transportation. Impact. And you can already guess how the market is responding. Crude oil is one of the economic thermometers today, and the initial reaction has been as expected: a strong rise in prices. The barrel has risen around 10% in some markets after learning of the closure of the refinery, but it is already estimated that they could rise more than 20% if the situation continues and the strait closes. How much? Well, it is currently around $80, more than $100, according to some analysts, and it depends on how long the situation lasts that we begin to see how this price increase affects the fuel market. Vital. It is not the first time that refineries in the area have been attacked. They have become essential enclaves in the country’s economy, but also in global geopolitics. As pointed out Reuterssuch an attack is not just another military action, “it marks a significant escalation in violence.” It implies that Iran has the Gulf’s energy infrastructure in its sights because it knows its importance to the economy of the entire globe. And, evidently, an attack on its plants could cause Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors to join the US and Israeli military operations against Iran. Now, Iran has also been ‘touched’ by that basic infrastructure for its economy. The country is the third largest producer in OPEC and on February 28, explosions were reported on the island of Kharg, where process 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports. In the end, it is one more example of the domino effect and the fragile nature of the supply chain for a basic good. It’s just a part of a perfect storm whose consequences are far from reaching their ceiling. Images | MarineTrafficUS Army, VALGO In xataka | Europe believed it had won the gas war against Russia. Now it faces a much more uncomfortable reality: its dependence on the United States.

Ukraine has entered an inexplicable phase, that of its drones attacking Russians at absurd distances

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In every modern war there has been a moment when technology brutally shortened the distance between the front and death. In fact, it already happened with the machine gun in 1914 or with the precision artillery at the end of the 20th century. In Ukraine, everything indicates that is going through now that same turning point, one in which the combat stops being deep and maneuverable and becomes immediate, constant and suffocating. Drones as a dominant weapon. The figures from the Ukrainian war have made it crystal clear that drones are no longer a complement, but the main cause of death and destruction, responsible for between 70% and 80% of casualties on both sides according to European intelligence services. This massive lethality has transformed the conflict into something very more dynamic at a tactical levelbut also more rigid strategically, because the omnipresence of drones makes it extremely difficult for either army to achieve a decisive break from the front. The result is a war of attrition in which each meter is paid dearly and where the balance increasingly depends on industrial, technological and foreign political support. War underfoot. In this context, Ukrainian drones are operating at distances that just a year ago would have seemed absurd, attacking Russian infantry at just over one kilometer from the frontliterally and as rthey knew the controls in Insider, “under the feet” of their own positions. The use of elite drone units to strike so close reflects the extreme pressure on defensive lines and the need to stop Russian assaults before they reach the trenches, one of the deadliest scenarios for Ukrainian soldiers. Low-level air warfare has thus become a direct extension of hand-to-hand combat, with drones acting as the last barrier before human contact. Kamikaze combat. It is a war, and the doctrinal ideal is still to destroy the enemy several kilometers away, when it concentrates or prepares to attack, but the reality of the front has pushed Ukraine to use its best operators in immediate deletion tasks. More and more combat drones are dedicated to attack infantry instead of high-value logistics or systems, a very clear sign that combat has become shortermore reactive and closer to sacrifice. This drift towards an almost kamikaze logic does not respond to a tactical preference, but to the urgent need to save positions and gain time. Russia adapts. At the same time and as we have countedRussia has been closing the gap in drone warfare from the end of 2024adapting quickly and betting on mass productionand the recruitment of technical talent. The plans to manufacture tens of thousands of drones per year and active search for students with technological profiles show that Moscow assumes that mastery of the air at very low altitude is key to sustaining its ground offensive. This adaptation explains why the front has become so lethal and compressed, with both sides forced to operate under a constant threat from the sky. A question of distance. As the 20th century progressed, military evolution was marked by the elongation of the battlefield: improvements in aviation, missiles and precision weapons They allowed the enemy to be hit further and further away, reducing the need for direct contact. However, the war in Ukraine is reversing that logicbecause drones, cheap and everywhere, have compressed combat to unimaginable distances. The result is another historical paradox: there has never been so much capacity to destroy at long range, but it has never been so dangerous to be so close to the frontwith flying machines that turn every advanced meter into an immediate risk. War blocked by technology. In short, the enormous effectiveness of drones is making war, if possible, a little bloodieralthough less decisive. The saturation of the battlefield with sensors and flying munitions punishes any movement and reduces strategic maneuver options, turning the conflict into a protracted fight where industrial resistance and western support They outweigh local tactical victories. In this scenario, Ukraine fights ever closer, ever faster and, most disturbing of all, increasingly with less margin of errorin a battle where the distance between living and dying is already measured in seconds and meters. Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, National Police of Ukraine In Xataka | 1,418 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine: the war has already lasted longer than the Soviet fight against Hitler In Xataka | The latest camouflages of Russian troops confirm an open secret: the war in Ukraine is the most Looney Tunes in history

The generals in the Ukraine War have ceased to be human. There are drones giving drones before attacking

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The technological jump that is being given in the Ukraine War exceeds any forecast to a Unexpected speed. Of machines capturing and prisoners He went to drones attacking on your own In weeks. Now, these robots crews capable of coordinating on their own have a devastating weapon that makes them more unpredictable: an AI capable of generating military controls between algorithms, and several programs that multiply their scope. The jump of the swarms. Yes, the swarms of driven drones by artificial intelligence They are moving from promise to operational practice: software as Nemyx, from Auterionconverts compatible platforms into a coordinated force that maneuver, decides and attacks collectively to saturate defenses. In fact, United States will send 33,000 “attack kits” Updateable to Ukraine, a symptom that armies assume that intelligent volume (many cheap, connected and freelancer) can tip the balance on the battlefield. How they work. Actually, the key is not a “more capable” drone, but many drones that cooperate Like an organism: They share information, roles are distributed (one being the closest to a “general”), they reconfigure before interference and elude defenses with coordinated routes and attack times. Thus, a single operator controls multiple vectors, decision -making is automated at the tactical level and the resulting “precision mass” overwhelms radars, missiles and anti -aircraft artillery with whiter than they can manage. The Ukrainian ecosystem. Had the weekend The Financial Times than auterion has presented his “drone swarm strike engine” (Nemyx) as an app on his operating system to add drones to swarm with A simple updatewhile Helsing (next to Systematic) announces swarm capabilities directed by Ia. In parallel, Ukrainian companies Like Swarmer They claim to have intervened in 82,000 operations, with software that allows a group to approach Russian positions and choose autonomously The time to attack, materializing a trend initiated in 2016 with microdrones launched by F-18 and accelerated by Chinese demonstrations of great swarms since 2017. The Ukrainian advantage. Ukraine has A massive file operational video (including a classified base called Universal Military Dataset) that feeds models of autonomy and learning, an asset that its companies consider decisive. In addition, the opening of software and standards allows Integrate platforms In “weeks or days”, not in “months or years”, lowering the entrance barrier for diverse manufacturers and shortening the innovation cycle against adversaries. Ukrainian drone R18 Of the waves to learning. For his part, Russia It has improved Its effectiveness grouping long -range Shahed attacks, but that looks more like coordinated waves than a “intelligent” swarm. The new generation introduces Learning and coordination Distributed, eliminates the dependence of a single communications relay and allows each drone to adjust its behavior in real time, so saturation is not only quantitative but also tactically adaptive. Cust manufactures several drones of the Skvorets FPV family, some with a high degree of automation The Russian jump. Plus: Russia has announced An advance that could transform war with drones: thanks to the orbit systemdeveloped by the Cust consortium (a network of More than 200 startups That has broken with the slowness of the traditional defense industry), the FPV operators would no longer have to approach the front. Instead of risking artillery or kamikaze drones, they could control devices From hundreds of kilometerseven from Moscow, while first -line soldiers only briefly display drones from backpacks. Train an hour. The system uses artificial intelligence algorithms and neural networks for Identify, track and attack Objectives, making the operator more than a pilot. According to their designers, the necessary training passes four weeks to just an hour, a jump that is real democratizes the lethal piloting capacity. Technology would allow Russia to maintain its rhythm of massive drones (more than 30,000 delivered in 2024) at the same time that protects its most valuable staff, operators, considered even more important than tanquistas in the Ukrainian points system. Skvorets evolution. They remembered in Forbes that Cust has demonstrated industrial pragmatism: from the basic skvorets, with loads of 3 to 4 kilos and reach of more than 10 km, versions have emerged With thermal cameras, reusable recognition models, the Skvorets-Z variant with automatic objective block and the skvorets pro with such automated functions that it can be handled by a pilot without experience. They have even developed a Naval model launched From robotic vessels, which shows that the concept of remote control was already mature before orbit. In other words, if Orbita works as statedthe roles change: there will be no operators in improvised basements near the front, but in remote, invisible and untouchable control centers. Drones could be thrown by infantry soldiers, unmanned land vehicles or autonomous vessels, while the attack decision is validated from rear. Ethics and legality. Expanding the framework of all these advances, the power of all these systems tension the principle of significant human control. In the case of the Ukrainian side, European developers They underline that the operator maintains the authorization of whites and the supervision of lethality, in line with doctrines and limitations of international law, but the border between tactical automation and full autonomy It is blurred As the algorithms assume more flight decisions, objective allocation and attack synchronization. For its part, in the Russian case Orbit announces A future where “Bots on Earth” will replace the “Boots on Earth”, where FPV duels will be fought Between guided machines at a distance and not between nearby combatants. In an immediate horizon, the classic operator by handing a drone a few kilometers from the enemy might seem as obsolete and exposed as a cavalry rider in the middle of the battle of the 21st century. Image | National Guard of Ukraine/Twitter, TrydenceCust In Xataka | Machines capturing and prisoners were the preserve of science fiction. Until the war in Ukraine arrived In Xataka | Something unprecedented in Ukraine is happening: combat drones do not need humans to coordinate and attack

It is not that the war is asymmetric, is that Russia is attacking with thermobárica and Ukraine with pellet shaheds with pellets

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The Ukraine War has been a pioneer in the massive drone usebut over the months the devices have had updates that have made them machines increasingly lethal. One of them was recently counted on the use of the double impact After the arrival of the Shahed. Now Russia has multiplied the scope of its deadliest weapon, and Ukraine can barely answer. Thermobaric load. The war in Ukraine has entered an even more dangerous phase with the growing use by Russia of Unidirectional Attack drones equipped with thermobárica ojas. These devices, commonly known Cempty pumpsthey disperse a cloud of aerosol fuel before detonating, generating an explosion that reaches temperatures greater than 2,000 ºC and that, in addition to razing structures, consumes the oxygen of the environment and causes devastating effects on human bodies. According to testimonies collected in Ukraine, such as that of Commander Oleksiy of the Territorial Defense Forces, the explosive burdens that were previously around 40 kg have reached 90 kgduplicating its destructive capacity. Although his unit has not yet managed to reduce these larger drones, their appearance in military reports since end of last year Point out a significant change in the danger scale. These systems can not only destroy several -story houses and buildings, but they are particularly lethal in closed spaces, where the expansive wave and vacuum caused have devastating effects. Russian adaptation. The use of thermobaric ammunition is not new in Russian military doctrine. They were already denounced in previous conflicts as in Afghanistan and Chehenia, and more recently in the first bars of the large -scale invasion of Ukraine with systems such as the RuncoCohetes TOS-1A. However, the novelty now lies in the delivery medium: Russia has begun to integrate this type of weapons into Shahed-136 dronescapable of “loungeing” about an objective before impacting. This tactical transformation allows Moscow Expand the number of high -power attacks without depending on larger and more vulnerable platforms to radars. According to Kateryna Stepanenko, from the War Study Institute, this adaptation has allowed Russia to intensify the bombings to civil infrastructureas recently happened In Járkovalready military positions in the front. The most disturbing thing is that these weapons, being integrated into modest but precise platforms, allow much greater and, of course, more difficult to intercept than conventional systems. Limited responses. In response to this growing threat, Ukraine has intensified its efforts to neutralize production centers of these explosives. In early July, the Ukrainian army attacked a Russian factory dedicated to the manufacture of Thermobárica ojivas for Shahedin an attempt to stop the supply in origin. In this way, the magnitude of the challenge does nothing but grow. Moscow has begun to launch massive attacks combining hundreds of missiles, explosive drones and lure systems designed to exhaust Kyiv’s anti -aircraft defense reserves. In a single day, the Ukrainian Air Force reported a Attack with almost 270 drones and artifact lure, of which they managed to demolish approximately two thirds. Although these interception percentages are high, the constant saturation of these attacks puts in tension defensive capabilities of Ukraine, which cannot replace its air defense systems with the same speed with which Russia can manufacture its kamikaze drones. A new solution: pellets. They counted in Insider that the Ukrainian defense is forming a new type of rifle ammunition. Unlike traditional projectiles, these bullets Anti -Didstock 5.56 mm They contain a load that, after traveling a certain distance, is fragmented into multiple pellets, increasing the probability of impacting small aerial targets. Developed by The Brave1 programpart of the Ukrainian military innovation ecosystem, these ammunition seek to replace the current tactics of demolishing drones with 12 caliber shotguns, a method that requires units transporting additional weapons and dangerously approaching the target. With these ammunition, the infantry soldier will be able to use his standard weapon to face aerial threats more quickly, safely and efficiently, which represents a key adaptation in the tactical evolution of the conflict. New ammunition. The new Ukrainian design, which has not been in detail, is described as a personalized design eye dispersed dense fragments at high speed, allowing the shooter to cover a larger volume with a single shot. This type of ammunition transforms the conventional rifle into a portable anti -aircraft defense tool, compact and available for any infant, without the need for specialized resentment or additional logistics. The declared objective is that each soldier in the front can carry this type of cartridges and react quickly to sudden aerial threats. Artisanal solution Interestingly, the idea of Anti -Didron bullets is not exclusive to Ukraine. Russia too has experienced with improvised versions, with cartridges of 5.45 mm modified for AK Rifles. The ammunition carries a thermoretractile tube that contains four pellets, designed to disperse after the shot. In fact, several videos They show Russian soldiers manually manufacturing these projectiles, cutting tips and assembling the tubes in impromptu tables. The initiative reflects the same urgency for counteracting drones without depending on sophisticated, expensive or scarce systems. The future and ethical dilemma. Regarding the integration of Thermobaric ammunition In drones, not only expands the scale of the conflict, but also raises new legal and moral dilemmas. These weapons, for their ability to cause indiscriminate damage and extreme suffering, have been Controversy object in human rights organizations. Its systematic use in urban areas could be considered a war crime if the deliberate intention of attacking civilians is demonstrated. However, beyond the legal aspect, what is manifested is a dangerous technical evolution: Russia has managed to combine three key elements (lethality, low cost and high availability) in a formula that can redefine conventional war. While Ukraine and Western Allies They seek to counteract This threat through preventive attacks, improvements in detection systems and the development of new countermeasures, the technological career between attacker and defender is accelerating alarmingly, and increasingly asymmetric. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian cities and their population continue to pay the highest price, exposed to a type of offensive that combines Surgical precision with a level of destruction comparable … Read more

Israel is not only attacking Iran with missiles. He also just steal 90 million dollars in cryptocurrencies

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It is not much less cryptocurrency theft more large in historybut those 90 million dollars are especially significant for whom they are involved and why. Those involved They are Israel and Iran. And why, unfortunately, The war that they maintain both nations. Israel hacking to Iran. The war between Israel and Iran is intensified, and does not only New and striking tactics On the battlefield. It also does it through cyber warmen. A group called Gonjeshke Darande, (predatory sparrow, in a translation from the Persian) Hackeo has been attributed of the Iranian market of Cryptodivisas Nobitex. Possible link to Israel. There is no definitive evidence of a direct link between the Government of Israel and this grip hacker, Sophos experts indicate. Rafe Pilling, Director of Intelligence of Threats in that firm, explained that the cyber attack had all the characteristics of an attack supported by a government. 90? Millions of dollars. The Hacker Group has achieved according to The Guardian steal 90 million dollars, although the page of the Wikipedia Persian edition It indicates that the robbery amounted to 3.76 billion rials, about 47 million dollars, although that money may be stolen from one of the two troonscan wallets destination From Gonjeshke Darende they have also threatened to publish both the company’s internea information and the source code of its cryptodivsis purchase platform. The final amount is not entirely clear, and According to Cointegraph It is exceeding 81.7 million dollars. Cold purses, safe. The attack, They support Nobitexhas allowed to steal the cryptocurrencies of the “hot” purses of the platform, used to facilitate daily transactions. He has not affected cold, safer purses. Nubitex blocked access to the platform as soon as they and those responsible say that “all damages will be compensated through the insurance fund.” In a later message They have revealed that the impact of the attack is “more complex than it was initially estimated.” And above, Internet cuts. From Nobitex they explain that their capacity to respond to cyber attack has also been affected by the cuts in the country’s internet infrastructure, “together with limited access to the facilities due to the current national crisis.” They hope to recover and restore their services in the next 4 or 5 days, but in the meantime the platform is still unable to be accessed. A hacking with political motivation.Yehor Rudytsia, security researcher at the Hacken firm, said in Cintelegraph how this cyber attack is more “a political statement than a robbery with economic motivation.” In fact, according to The Guardian the hackers have “burned” those funds storing them in custom addresses (“Vanity Addresses“) that they do not have a known private password or possibility of recovering. For example, a purse such as” 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Transferring cryptocurrencies to this type of addresses is actually destroying them voluntarily by leaving them blocked forever. The hackers have used directions with variations of the term “Jo *** Osterrorists”. Image | Wikipedia | Art Rachen In Xataka | Iran and Israel are starting another war in the background: that of the false images created with AI

China has responded to US tariffs attacking one of its weak points: rare earths

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As expected, the Chinese government has not been left with a crossed arms before The tariffs prepared by the USA. Just 24 hours after Donald Trump releases the taxes to be applied to The importation of most products Coming from abroad, the administration led by Xi Jinping has responded. And he has done it with forcefulness. On April 10 China will impose a 34% tariff to all imports from the US. The choice of that day is not casual. And is that the tariffs approved by the Donald Trump administration will take effect on April 9. Just a day before. Presumably the Chinese government has chosen to keep a few days of margin in the hope of reaching an agreement with its American counterpart and relax a little tension. China has decided to press the US more than ever with rare earths China’s response to the US does not only go through new tariffs; He has also chosen to suspend the import licenses of the products belonging to six US companies, as well as imposing more controls on the export of some rare earths. This is not at all the first time that the Xi Jinping government decides to pressure the US and its allies establishing limitations to the export of these raw materials. In fact, on December 21, 2023 the Chinese administration decided to restrict export of some of its rare earth processing technologies, shaping a maneuver that pursues defend their strategic interests in full confrontation with the US and its allies. And at the beginning of December 2024 He chose to prohibit The export of critical minerals to the US. On December 21, 2023, the Chinese administration decided to restrict the export of some of its rare earth processing technologies Among them are three essential chemical elements for the semiconductor industry (Gallium, Germanio and Antimony), as well as some materials that are characterized by their extreme hardness, and which, therefore, can be used for military applications. An important note before moving forward: Rare earths are a real treasure. To this peculiar group of chemical elements belong some metals as elusive and with names as suggestive as neodymium, promised, gadolinium, ititrium or scandio, among others. Some of them are relatively scarce, and, in addition, they are not usually found purely in nature, but what makes them so special are their physicochemical properties. Its characteristics are beyond the reach of the other elements of the periodic table, which has caused that during the last decades they are consolidated as A very valuable resource In numerous industries, especially in those of semiconductors, electronics and renewable energies. This is the reason why rare earths They are so important to the US. We still do not know what reach the new export controls of the rare earths that the Ministry of Commerce of China has just approved, but as soon as we have more information we will include it in this article. The cards are on the table. The US and China still have five days ahead to reach an agreement before their new taxes enter into force. We will see if they are really willing to relax the tension. Even if it’s just a bit. Image | Lio voo More information | CN Wire In Xataka | The US will not be able to contain the technological development of China. Experts from the chips industry forecast it

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