conflict

Strangely enough, Iran is exporting more oil now in the middle of the war than before the conflict

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The global crude oil market is experiencing “the largest supply disruption in history,” as the International Energy Agency warns. But the almost total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz hides a brutal irony: the same waters that are closed to the rest of the world are being used by Iran to export more oil than it sold before the war. The incessant flow. Far from paralyzing, the Iranian export machinery has accelerated. According to data from Kpler, In recent days, ships have loaded a daily average of 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, surpassing the barrier of the 2 million daily they exported in February. The big question is where all this crude oil is going. The answer is unanimous: towards China. A graph of Statista illustrates that the Asian giant It is, by an overwhelming margin, Iran’s largest buyer, accounting for 90.8% of its oil exports in 2024. Since the war began in late February, at least 11.7 to 12 million barrels have crossed the strait bound for China, according to estimates from TankerTrackers and Kpler collected by CNBC. In fact, how to detail Wall Street Journal, There is an anecdote that borders on the surreal to illustrate this situation: small Chinese tankers navigate the strait communicating by shortwave radio with the Revolutionary Guard. “We are a Chinese ship. We are going to pass; we are friendly,” they announce in English to ensure safe passage. A question of survival. As an expert explains consulted by Deutsche WelleChina has become the “indispensable lifeline” for Iranian exports in a context of harsh Western sanctions. This has created a “parallel market” where independent Chinese refiners buy discounted crude oil by operating outside the US financial system, according to the agency Anadolu. However, global panic is evident. The crisis promptly shot up oil prices close to $120 per barrel, levels not seen in four years. The impact has been such that, how to explain BloombergBeijing has ordered its refineries to cancel export shipments of refined fuel to ensure domestic supply in the face of the volatility of the conflict. The dilemma of Kharg Island. Although the United States and Israel have bombed thousands of military and strategic targets in Iranian territory, there is one enclave that remains mysteriously intact: Kharg Island. This small piece of land, just about 20 square kilometers, is the true jewel in the energy crown, channeling 90% of the country’s crude oil exports. According to analysts Guardian and France 24the answer is economic terror: an attack on Kharg could catapult the price of a barrel to $150, sending global markets into a “nose dive.” Also, how my colleague Carlos Prego explains in Xatakadestroying the facilities would deprive a hypothetical successor government of the main source of income necessary to rebuild the country once the war ends. Iranian evasion tactics. Iran’s export success is not based only on military intimidation, but on complex sanctions evasion engineering. According to The Wall Street Journalthe regime uses a “shadow fleet” made up of old oil tankers that sail without tracking systems and under false flags, such as those of Comoros or Guyana. On a financial level, the sophistication is just as high. Intelligence documents revealed by Euractiv show that Iran uses shell companies in China to carry out euro-denominated transactions, moving hundreds of millions through accounts at European banks such as Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas. Simultaneously, a report of ACAMS exposes how the Revolutionary Guard uses the cryptocurrency ecosystem (with multi-million dollar transactions in stablecoins such as USDT) to launder money and finance their affinity groups without going through traditional banking. Finally, although Iran is trying to diversify its departures using the Jask terminal in the Gulf of Oman – thus avoiding the Strait of Hormuz -, CNBC warns of its extreme inefficiency: Loading a supertanker there can take up to 10 days, compared to the one or two days it takes in Kharg. Triumph in the midst of chaos. The conflict in the Middle East has drawn a counterintuitive scenario. While the large producers of the Persian Gulf are bleeding economically due to the paralysis of trade routes, Iran has capitalized on the chaos. The panic of a global energy collapse acts as an invisible shield that protects the island of Kharg from Western bombing. Under this umbrella of armed immunity, war has not suffocated the Islamic Republic; On the contrary, it has given it a maritime monopoly that allows its ghost fleet to continue feeding insatiable Chinese demand in broad daylight. Image | Photo by Fredrick F. on Unsplash Xataka | China just found a hole in the US’s quietest weapon: an algorithm has hacked its B-2s in Iran, and they have the audio

Cloudflare is planted in Italy due to blockades. In Spain, the conflict with LaLiga points to the same underlying problem

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We are witnessing firsthand how what began as an offensive against unauthorized party broadcasts has transformed into something much broader, a dispute over who can decide which parts of the internet are turned off and how. In Italy and Spain, judicial and administrative resolutions that apply current legislation are endorsing or ordering measures that operate at the network level, measures that, as they are now being applied, may not distinguish between an infringing service and legitimate services that share infrastructure. This scenario has brought to the fore cloudflarea company whose name has been sneaking into the technology conversation for some time. Here we must be clear. What unites the cases of Italy and Spain is not the type of content, but the logic that supports them: to stop the unauthorized dissemination of matches, it has been decided to act where the network becomes vulnerable, in the intermediaries that connect the public with the servers. It is not a button in the hands of a government, but rather a fit between laws, judges or regulators, rights holders and different actors who execute the measure. That strategy allows you to block quickly and with massive range, but it also has collateral damage. Behind every block there is a clear sequence. In Spain, LaLiga takes its requests before a judge and it is the courts that authorize the operators to execute the cuts. In Italy, rights holders enter domains and IPs into Piracy Shield and it is AGCOMthe Italian telecommunications and media regulator, who reviews these signs and converts them into administrative orders that providers must apply. When an authority orders a block, it is not simply saying “close this page”, it is choosing at what point in the journey the connection between the user and the server is interrupted, according to the limits established by current legislation. This can be done by preventing the website name from being translated into a technical address, directly blocking that address, or asking an intermediary to stop serving the data. In this invisible journey there is a particularly sensitive piece, the system that translates website names into technical addresses that computers can understand. Every time we type a URL or tap a link, a DNS resolver responds with the correct IP so the connection can be established. If this translation is interrupted, the page is no longer accessible even if the server continues to function. That is why DNS has become a very attractive lever for blocking, because it allows access to be cut off quickly and without directly touching the content. What is 1.1.1.1 and why is it in the center. Among the many DNS services that exist, there are some open to the public that do not belong to any national operator, and the best known is 1.1.1.1, managed by Cloudflare. It serves as a widely used public DNS resolver that users and applications use to translate domain names into IP addresses. That scale is what makes it especially sensitive in this debate, because any intervention on it is not limited to a country or a specific network, but can have much broader effects. A modem with network cables The company explains For years it has been able to comply with court orders that force it to act on specific clients or on its distribution network, because there it is controlling its own service within a jurisdiction. What it rejects is modifying open tools such as its public DNS by administrative decisions of a single country. In his approach, that would mean that a national authority could change how a basic piece of the internet works for users around the world. Italy, the Piracy Shield system and controversies. The Italian model does not just cut individual pages, but entire pieces of the route along which traffic circulates. Through Piracy Shield domains and IPs are ordered to be blocked and, according to the regulator itselfthe framework also expressly includes public DNS services and VPN providers as obligated parties when they are involved in the accessibility of that content. Cloudflare Global Network Map The problem is not only that the system blocks a lot, but how it does it and with what margin for rectification. Its quick reaction logic prioritizes cutting access while the event is happening, and that increases the risk of affecting third parties when acting on shared parts of the network. AGCOM quotes as balance that since February 2024, more than 65,000 FQDNs, that is, fully qualified domain names and about 14,000 IPs, have been disabled. That clash took concrete form at the end of 2025. In a decision taken on December 29 and recently notifiedAGCOM imposed a penalty of more than 14 million euros on Cloudflare for failing to comply with a previous order issued on February 18, 2025. According to the regulator, the company had to deactivate the DNS resolution of certain domains and the routing of traffic to IP addresses indicated through Piracy Shield, or apply equivalent measures to prevent users from accessing that content. Spain, the judicial path. As we mentioned above, in Spain the system is not based on an administrative regulator, but on a resolution from a commercial court obtained by LaLiga. On December 18, 2024, the Commercial Court No. 6 of Barcelona authorized blocking measures against addresses used to broadcast matches without rights. On March 26, 2025, that same court rejected the challenges and left the order in force. That is what allows access operators to execute these blocks during matches under the direct legal coverage of a judge. The way that order is executed in practice explains many of the complaints that have arisen in Spain. Access providers block entire IP addresses, not just specific domains. This mechanism explains why so many legitimate services end up dragged down by these blocks. Instead of deactivating a specific domain, operators sever an entire IP address, which is often shared by hundreds or thousands of websites. It’s a bit like boarding up the entrance to a building … Read more

Something has gone wrong in the European automotive industry. The conflict over Nexperia already threatens to paralyze factories

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The European automotive industry is beginning to tighten. Manufacturers have received a clear signal that something is not right: Nexperia, one of the main chip suppliers, can no longer guarantee deliveries. Sector associations warn that the room for maneuver is very limited. This is not a technical problem or a strike, but rather the chain effect of an international dispute that threatens to affect the very foundations of a key industry for the Old Continent. It was on October 16 when the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) officially warned of possible production stoppages if the Nexperia supply interruption was not resolved immediately. According to ACEA, the affected chips are used in electronic control units and current inventories will only last a few weeks. The turning point: a blacklist. At the end of September there was a movement that many in the sector identify as the trigger for the current crisis. The United States Bureau of Industry and Security updated his List of Entities to extend restrictions to subsidiaries controlled by already sanctioned companies. Nexperia, owned by Wingtech, thus fell under the scope of the measures. Since then, tensions have accelerated: The Dutch Government intervened in the company and China responded by blocking the export of certain components. Now, Nexperia’s role in the automotive industry is less showy than that of the large chip manufacturers, but essential. Its chips are integrated into electronic modules and control units (ECUs) of many of the vehicles produced in Europe. The company, based in the Netherlands and with a strong presence in Asia, is characterized by its volume and reliability. Precisely for this reason, the inability to maintain deliveries has ignited both sides of the supply chain. The impact in Europe. Initial warnings have been transformed into contingency plans. ACEA calls for a coordinated response between European authorities and the affected countries, aware that the supply chain is going through a delicate point. In Germany, CNBC points outVolkswagen has formed a special team to evaluate possible risks and keep communications open with its suppliers. One of Nexperia’s facilities in Guangdong The company tries to gain margin with a new supplier. “We have an alternative supplier that could compensate for Nexperia’s lack of semiconductors,” explained to Handelsblatt Christian Vollmer, responsible for Production of the VW brand. According to the media, conversations with that company have been underway for weeks. Although the discovery gives some oxygen, the transition will not be immediate and the risk of interruptions remains on the table. The group assures that, for now, there is no operational impact, but they admit that the scenario could change in the short term. The echo crosses the Atlantic. Concern has also reached the United States. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which brings together manufacturers such as General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen, called for a quick resolution of the conflict. Its CEO, John Bozzella, warned Reuters that if chip shipping “does not resume soon,” auto production “will be affected in the United States and other countries.” Some companies in the group recognize that their plants could notice the impact starting next month. Japan takes positions before the coup. Japan is also bracing for impact. The Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) explained that its members have received notifications from Nexperia warning of supply interruptions. According to the organization, the affected chips are part of the control systems of numerous models and their shortage could have consequences for global production. Mitsubishi Electric, which has had agreements with Nexperia since 2023, assured that it is already studying substitutes. A geopolitical board that is already sneaking onto the assembly line. The Nexperia case is no longer understood only as an industrial problem. The intervention of the Dutch Government and the confrontation with its Chinese subsidiary have turned the company into the new point of friction between Europe, Beijing and Washington. The Netherlands justified its decision by the need to protect the strategic supply of semiconductors, while China defended that its subsidiary acts in accordance with local legislation. At the center of the dispute, Nexperia is trying to maintain its activity under two increasingly opposing regulatory frameworks. The factories are on guard. The next few weeks will be decisive in measuring the real scope of the conflict. Manufacturers adjust their inventories and review alternative suppliers, while sector associations maintain diplomatic pressure to unblock the situation. From Sweden, Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson explained to the Financial Times thatalthough his company, owned by the Chinese group Geely, does not face immediate problems, “there will be some factories that will have to stop.” He believes that the key is to react quickly and apply the lessons learned from the semiconductor crisis during the pandemic. Images | Nexperia | Caesar Salazar In Xataka | I also carried the bike in the car anyway. Until the DGT reminded me that it could fine me 200 euros

The Chinese subsidiary of Nexperia has just broken ranks with its parent company in the Netherlands. And that takes the conflict to another level.

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Nexperia has gone from being unknown to becoming the new focus of tension in the technological war between the West and China. The company, with Chinese capital but based in the Netherlands, has been intervened by the Dutch Governmentwhich alleges national security reasons. And its impact could soon be felt in sectors as sensitive as automobiles and consumer electronics. The movement is not minor: Nexperia controls an extensive network of factories and assembly centers in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Malaysia and China, all important for the global semiconductor chain. Since the Netherlands took over governance of the company at the beginning of the month, a key question has arisen: how far does its control over those international operations really extend? Different laws, one company: Nexperia, caught between Europe and China The answer, at least in part, we already have. Nexperia operations in China have recalled that They work “independently” from the Dutch headquarters. A gesture that not only challenges this European authority, but adds a new layer of uncertainty to an industry that continues to suffer the consequences of the chip crisis. The statement released by Nexperia China on October 17 through its official channel WeChat marks a turning point in the dispute. In the text, signed by all the group’s operating entities in the country, the company reaffirms its autonomy from the headquarters in the Netherlands and remembers that its activity is governed exclusively by Chinese legislation. The document clearly establishes that the legal representative has exclusive authority to make decisions and approve any instructions from abroad: “Nexperia companies in China are independent companies that operate in accordance with national laws. The legal representative has exclusive authority to make decisions and approve any external instructions. No employee is obliged to follow orders coming from outside without their express consent.” The Dutch headquarters, for its part, has denied that “independence” and has attributed it to unauthorized information and actions, which adds another chapter to the internal clash. A ban on exporting its products from China has put European manufacturers on alert, especially the automotive industry, which depends on Nexperia chips for the operation of numerous electronic components. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) warned last week that the situation could cause production stops if supply is not restored in the coming weeks. According to the organization, current stocks would barely cover a few assembly cycles and approving new suppliers would take months, a period incompatible with market demand. One of Nexperia’s facilities in Guangdong Nexperia’s weight in the semiconductor chain is best understood by looking at how its production is organized. Although the headquarters and operational management are located in the Netherlands, much of the group’s added value comes from Asia. Its assembly and test plants in China, the Philippines and Malaysia manage enormous production volumes that supply both the Asian market and Europe. The coming weeks will be marked by the search for a fragile balance between regulators and governments. Nexperia has confirmed that it is in talks with China’s Ministry of Commerce to reverse the export blockade, while the Netherlands retains control of its governance. The question is whether the company will be able to operate normally. without violating either of the two legal frameworks. For now, the signals are mixed: production continues, but under an environment of uncertainty that leaves manufacturers waiting for a quick outcome. Images | Nexperia In Xataka | The problem is not that Europe has “expropriated” Nexperia from a Chinese company: it is that it approved its sale just a year ago

In 48 hours the Gaza conflict will take a 360 degree turn. And some options were science fiction just a few days ago

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Trump, accompanied by Netanyahu, has presented An ambitious plan of peace that seeks to end almost two years of war in Gaza, releasing Israeli hostages and opening a reconstruction process under international supervision. Its scheme demands the surrender of Hamas, the total disarmament and its political exclusion, offering in return the release of about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and the massive entry of humanitarian aid. TO Your ultimatum He has hours left for the conflict of a 360 degree turn. An unexpected plan. Unlike previous proposals that were limited to partial truces, the one now intends a definitive cessation of hostilities, with a period of just 72 hours (now about 48) so that Hamas delivers all captives. Israel would keep troops in A safety corridor Within Gaza and in damping areas, but it would commit to partial replication, while a Palestinian Technical Committee Under the tutelage of A “Board of Peace” chaired by Trump and with Tony Blair in a prominent role. The project, prepared in consultations with Israel, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has been qualified by the White House as the most realistic route to close the war and redraw the future of the strip. The concessions to Netanyahu. Netanyahu achieved, to a large extent, Impose your conditions: Hamas would be out of any future administration, the Palestinian authority would only have a hypothetical role subject to drastic reforms, and the creation of a Palestinian state would be deferred to an indefinite horizon. If you want, for the Israeli prime minister, internationally cornered after European recognitions of a Palestinian State and after the Boicot in the United Nationsit was a kind of Rare Diplomatic Victoria: together with Trump he was able to show that he still controls the times and that Washington supports his “total victory” strategy. The right. However, this same position opens cracks within Israel, where the radical right accuses the government of Claudicar by accepting a plan with Symbolic concessions to the Palestinian cause and with the introduction of foreign forces in Gaza. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir They have warned that could demolish the coalition if the agreement becomes a definitive peace that freezes the military offensive, which predicts political turbulence that Netanyahu tries to dodge with procedure maneuvers, such as avoiding taking the entire plan to the vote of the security cabinet. The pressure on Hamas. For Hamas, The proposal is lethal In political terms: he would mean the end of his domain in Gaza after almost two decades, the disarmament of his brigades and the delivery of his last hostages without guarantees of future influence. Even so, the group faces an unpublished pressure: Türkiye, Qatar and Egypt have expressed support for the plan and warn that Hamas’s time runs out. Many analysts They point that the direction of the militia seeks a “decent landing” that saves part of its paintings and avoid total annihilation, but any acceptance of the agreement would mean cross the red lines He has always proclaimed, especially the maintenance of his armed arm. In that context, Trump launched that public ultimatum: “Three or four days” to answer, accompanied by the threat that Hamas will “pay in hell” if he rejects the offer. The dilemma for Islamist leaders is clear: giving and surviving politically in exile or resisting and risking that Israel resumes an even more devastating offensive. The Arab mediators. In this case, Arab countries have gone from rhetoric to direct involvement. Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar have transmitted to Washington and Israel A list of conditions: No to the annexation of Gaza, not to the forced displacement of Palestinians, not to new settlements, and yes to a horizon of Palestinian self -determination. Although Trump’s plan does not fully satisfy these demands, he has incorporated concessions as the mention of a possible “credible route towards Palestinian self -determination” if the Palestinian authority undertakes reforms. The paradox is that the authority itself, weakened and discredited, has Backed the plan With enthusiasm, accepting to review your textbooks, eliminate payments to prisoners and open to international scrutiny in order not to be excluded. For Arab states, the priority is close the war frontcontain humanitarian drift and keep the prospects for the solution of two states alive, even in a rhetorical framework. Internal risks in Israel. We said it before, the agreement threatens to fracture The Israeli coalition. While the centrist opposition supports him as a realistic basis to recover hostages and stop the war, the ultra -nationalist parties perceive it as an inadmissible assignment. The fear of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir is that to accept international forces and a Palestinian administration, even if it is technocratic, EROSIONE ISRAELI CONTROL and leave the door open to a future Palestinian state. Netanyahu tries to keep the Delicate balance: Present the agreement as a triumph in Washington and before the international community, but reassuring its right -wing base ensuring that Israel will retain military presence in Gaza and will never allow a sovereign Palestinian state. This double discourse reflects the fragility of your government, increasingly dependent on maintaining the security narrative against external demands. Trump’s disappointment. The change in tone of Trump himself to Israel does not cease to be striking. In private And in recent statements, the US president has shown An unusual anger with Netanyahu for unilateral attacks that have put the mediation of Washington, such as the bombardment in Doha against Hamas leaders when a fire was discussed. Trump se Feel disappointed So consider a lack of reciprocity: while he has sustained Israel in the international arena, Netanyahu has acted so that weakens the strategy North American diplomatic. This disenchantment, also applicable To the “Russian friend” In the Ukraine War, explains the Plan turnwhich is no longer just a blank check for Israel, but a frame with commitments and deadlines, in which it is even mentioned, even if it is vaguely, the perspective of a Palestinian state. Gaza under international administration. Thus, things, the plan also opens the … Read more

A rate conflict that leaves other airlines hole

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The IAG group airline takes advantage Ryanair’s withdrawal to expand your offer in the archipelago 5% during the winter season. The measure includes 116 additional flights and the change to planes with greater capacity on its Canary Routes. The perfect opportunity. Only 24 hours after Ryanair announced The cut Of 400,000 squares in the Canary Islands for its conflict with the Aena Rates, Iberia Express has taken the opposite step. The company will add about 30,000 additional seats Between October 2025 and January 2026, which represents an increase of 5% compared to the initially scheduled. 30,000 extra places. The plan includes 116 additional flights and more than 150 aircraft changes for others of greater capacity, mainly A321neo models. Tenerife Norte will be the great beneficiary with more than 15,000 additional places and up to 8 daily frequencies with Madrid, precisely the airport most hit by Ryanair’s withdrawal. Gran Canaria adds almost 8,300 more seats and will operate 10 daily frequencies with the capital, while the rest of the islands total 4,500 additional places among all. Beyond opportunism. The airline assures that the movement is not just reagent. “This increase in capacity in the Canary Islands reflects the firm commitment we have acquired with the islands since the beginning of our operations,” says Isabel Rodríguez, commercial director of Iberia Express. The company emphasizes that optimizes the use of its fleet to take advantage of the fact that around 21% of its Canarian passengers fly in connection with other destinations through Madrid. THE PRICE WAR. To accompany the increase in capacity, Iberia Express has launched its ‘Express Days’ campaign with prices from 13 euros for Canarian residents and from 20 euros for the rest of the passengers on the Madrid-Gran Canaria route. A strategy that seeks to stimulate demand after summer peak months and compete directly with cheap flights that characterized Ryanair’s offer. The fight between Ryanair and Aena. Ryanair’s decision to reduce 400,000 places in the Canary Islands is part of a broader offensive. The Irish airline will eliminate one million seats in regional airports and will cancel 36 direct routes in Your tension escalation with Aena For airport rates. The cuts include the complete closure of its base in Santiago de Compostela, the suspension of all flights to Vigo since January 2026 and the end of the operations in Tenerife Norte, precisely where Iberia Express now concentrates its greatest reinforcement. The justification of the tariff war. Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair, has attributed These measures to the 6.62% increase in airport rates that AENA will apply. “We cannot justify a continuous investment in airports whose growth is blocked by excessive and uncommunchanting rates,” Wilson said. For his part, Aena responded hard, accusing Ryanair of practicing “Phariseism, bad education and blackmail” through its president, Maurici Lucena. With the withdrawal of Ryanair, key connections disappear and a capacity hole is generated than other airlines, such as Iberia Express, are willing to fill. Cover image | Gabor Koszegi In Xataka | Lack of a hole, prize on the payroll: Ryanair will upload the prize for employees who discover too large handbags

that of drones that sow terror in countries outside the conflict

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In the War of Ukraine we had seen drones throwing drones To tear down other drones, drone swarms stopping and prisoners To recruits, even drones acting practically on your own Thanks to the AI. But what we had not seen so far is that a drone lost the course and ended up arriving as far as a country outside the contest to impact. A drone in Estonia. Yes, the war in Ukraine has crossed borders disturbing. In Estonia, about 80 kilometers from the Russian border, a farmer found the Remains of a drone of Ukrainian attack that deviated from its target and exploded in its field without causing injuries or serious damage. According to the internal security of the Baltic Country, everything indicates that the aircraft, which intended Attack Russian facilities In St. Petersburg, he was diverted by the intense Electronic War Operations and the powerful GPS blockade that Moscow uses systematically in the border region. The incident is the first known entry of a Ukrainian drone in the territory of a non -belligerent country since 2022, underlining the Fragility of borders European air before the technological pulse between both sides. A vulnerability and electronic warfare. The director of the Estonian Security Service, Margo Palloson, explained that the device rushed in the middle of the night, diverting from the corridor planned due to the russian countermeasures of Spoofing and Jamming. Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur insisted in which these incidents are not isolated: Ukrainian drones have begun to end in Lithuania and Latvia, and another fell the same day In the Russian part of Lake Peipus, a few kilometers from Estonia. Russia has turned its borders into an invisible wall of electronic interference that affects both military and civil aviation, with potentially catastrophic consequences. The Ukrainian drone was found about 80 km within the Estonian territory Climbing in the Baltic region. The same day of the incident in Estonia, Ukraine attacked With drones, the Novatek Gasist Complex in UST-Luga, the largest producer of liquefied gas in Russia, located just 30 kilometers from Estonia. The Images of the explosions and the subsequent fire showed kyiv’s growing capacity to hit Russian critical infrastructures in the interior of the country. The geographical proximity has turned Estonia and the rest of the Baltic into involuntary witnesses of An climb that raises the exposure of the region to accidents and collateral damage, As is already happening In Poland, Romania, Moldova or Bulgaria with drones fallen in fields or near populations. Drone impact on Estonia Detect low flight drones. Plus: Estonias authorities recognize that the incident reveals the urgent need to strengthen detection capabilities. Attack drones fly very low to avoid radars, which makes them almost invisible. Prime Minister Kristen Michal claimed A layer defense system capable of covering all angles, although experts warn that absolute coverage is impossible. Countries as Poland They have chosen to invest in aerostatos with descending vision radars, a system that would allow not only drones, but also cruise missiles and aircraft that fly at low level. However, maintain permanent alert with aerial media, such as Awacs aircraftis extremely expensive in personnel and resources. The echo in Poland. The fall of the Ukrainian drone coincides with a growing pattern of accidental incursions. Poland denounced A Russian military drone, with a Chinese manufacturing engine, fell into A corn field Near Osiny, southeast of Warsaw. Warsaw also recalled That Russia never recognizes this type of facts, although Moldova has suffered eight similar incidents, Romania three, Lithuania others, Latvia Dos and Bulgaria one. These episodes, added to the constant Russian bombings against Ukraine, have forced NATO fighters take off repeatedly to control the risks in the airspace of the alliance. Effects on civil aviation. The diversion of Ukrainian drone also affected Civil air traffic. A passenger plane from Sharm el Sheikh and bound for St. Petersburg had to Emergency land in Amarin for the temporary closure of the Puckovo airport after drone attack. It is not a isolated: The International Civil Aviation Organization warned that Russian GPS interferences in the Baltic are a serious threat to civil flights in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Sweden. European countries such as France, Netherlands or Sweden They denounced Last year before the UIT that the Russian stations of Moscow, Kaliningrad and Pavlovka interfered with European satellite systems, even affecting the television signal and supplanting emissions with war propaganda. United Kingdom confirmed That an official flight with the then Minister of Defense Grant Shapps suffered GPS alterations on the Russian enclave of Kalinningrad, on a day in which more than 500 aircraft recorded similar blockages. An increasingly dangerous career. If you want, the backdrop of this incident is the accelerated race between kyiv and Moscow for displaying long -range armament. Ukraine develops new generation drones and missiles Like flamingoa land cruise missile with a scope of 3,000 kilometers and an explosive head of more than one ton, which would make it the most destructive projectile of its arsenal. Russia, meanwhile, progresses In drones and missiles more and more sophisticated and numerous. The objective is to intensify the war of long distance attacks, which multiplies the probability of projectiles to end up impacting outside the combat zone, causing an unwanted climb and a greater risk of involvement for NATO countries. Image | Er, Google Earth In Xataka | Ukraine has just opened the tanks used by Russia. The surprise is capital: West has manufactured them In Xataka | The war in Ukraine is lasting so much that it is affecting unthinkable sectors: construction and housing

China did not intervene in the war to protect Iranian oil. Because your plan is longer than the conflict

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For years, the relationship between China and Iran has been underpinned by a constant oil flow. However, the recent conflict between Iran and Israel caused Beijing He ordered his ships to turn in the Ormuz Strait. A seemingly technical gesture revealed something deeper: the limits of Chinese energy diplomacy. From partner to spectator. The recent climb between Iran and Israel, which included direct attacks and cross reprisalshe tested the link between China and the Islamic Republic. Although a truce promoted by Washington was declared, these weeks the gaze was set on this part of the planet. In that context, the international community looked towards Beijing, waiting for a clear gesture of support or at least mediation. But China opted for a prudent position: verbal sentences, called to dialogue, routine statements in the UN, According to Apnews. No military support, technical assistance, or real involvement. And that caught the attention, especially for what is at stake: between 80% and 90% of the oil that will export ends in Chinese refineries, which represents approximately 1.2 million barrels per day, According to France 24. Even so, Beijing chose diplomatic silence before the conflict. China is not the United States. And it does not intend to be either. While the United States maintains a network of military basesnaval fleets and strategic alliances in the Middle East, China has no comparable presence. Your only regional base It is in Yibutiand his attempts to expand to Oman or the Arab Emirates have been stopped, in part, by Washington’s pressure. As He explained The Interpreter, China has opted for a non -intervention policy. Its diplomacy in the region is pragmatic, transactional, guided by commercial interests rather than ideological affinities. “China’s footprint in the Gulf is commercial, it is not ready for combat,” said Craig Singleton, of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. For his part, William Figueroa, expert in China-Iran of the University of Groningen, It has been overwhelming In The Washington Post: “China has no capacity to militarily influence this conflict. Nor does it benefit from a broader war.” Although it is a matter of pragmatism. From Beijing, Zhu Feng, Dean of International Relations at Nanjing University, He has remarked In AP News that volatility in the Middle East “directly affects China’s economic security.” However, that does not mean that it will be absent. His greater diplomatic letter In the region was the 2023 agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, negotiated in Beijing. Although he was read as a Chinese geopolitical triumph, The Interpretter He has nuanced: “The distension had already been brewing with the help of Kuwait, Iraq and Oman. China simply gave him the final touch.” That discreet presence in the diplomatic field contrasts with its constancy in another key front: the energy. China has continued buying Iranian raw at reduced prices, Taking advantage of Tehran isolation For US sanctions. As has reported on their networks The journalist, Bachar el Halabi after the recent US bombings against Iranian nuclear facilities, oil exports to China did not stop, and in fact, they reached record levels. However, the relationship is fragile. In 2020, Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadineyad criticized the agreement of 25 -year cooperation between the two countries for considering it opaque and suspicious. Rumors about alleged Chinese military bases in Iran They circulated in the local pressfeeding distrust. When there is a dependency. This week, Reuters He has revealed that Washington has authorized that ethane cargoes – a key natural gas for the petrochemical industry – are loaded in US ports to China, as long as they do not end in Iranian territory. The operation, according to the letter released by the Office of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce, is approved under the condition that the product is not discharged or redirected towards Iran. It may seem a bureaucratic technicalism, but it really says much more. This type of movements exposes how the United States continues to set the rules of the global energy game, even when it comes to exchanges between its two main strategic rivals. For China, the message is clear: its energy trade with Iran is still under surveillance. And for Iran, the warning is even more evident: Any attempt to avoid economic isolation, even indirectly, can be blocked from afar. The dragon rhetoric. Beijing wants to be a global referee, but he is behaving as a spectator. A recent example is the Defense Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (OCS), held in Qingdao, where Chinese Minister Dong Jun spoke of a world in “chaos and instability,” According to Deutsche Welle. The meeting was attended by their counterparts from Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Belarus. China projected symbolic power, but did not offer concrete solutions. In fact, even when they will threatened to close the Ormuz Strait – where 20% of the world crude, vital for China – pekin transits only the diplomatic tone, without major consequences. And, as multiple analysts explain, China has little appetite for risk. It is not yet willing to “risk the neck” in others. As It has concluded Craig Singleton in AP News, “When missiles fly, the so promoted ‘Strategic Association’ of China with Iran is reduced to communications. Beijing wants Iranian Iranian oil and headlines as a peacemaker, but let Washington load with the risks of hard power.” A strategic patience. China remains a key actor of the global economic order, but its energy diplomacy does not obey improvisation or shyness. On the contrary, its caution in the Middle East can be a symptom of a deeper strategy: observe, resist external pressure and prepare the terrain before intervening seriously. Beijing is not dragged by the logic of immediate power. He knows that in regions as volatile as Middle East, the cost of acting too soon may be greater than waiting. His silence, far from being absence, can be part of a longer play. Because oil unites, yes, but it also marks the rhythm of a power that is not in a hurry, … Read more

There are almost no images of the conflict between Israel and Iran. That is why we are starting to generate them with ia

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At the user level, the popularization of artificial intelligence is leading to everyday uses (of cheat until helping us Organize the day) already debates that affect us all (ecological, labor and Ethics). But its use is also in the hands of governments and, when they conflict, artificial intelligence becomes a valuable weapon of soft war and propaganda on a global scale. He Wask between Iran and Israel He is leaving us a few examples. The images about these lines are not real. They are generated by AI. When the Gulf War in 1991 It was said that it would be the first war that we would see live, and now we are prolonging that same idea but taken to the extreme … and seasoned with manipulation of information through artificial intelligences. Images and videos disseminated in social networks and messaging apps, where we can see live bombings, but where not everything is real. These are images of some assumptions F-35 demolished by the Iranian army, data backed by the news of the country. Israel denied it quickly. And you just have to take a look at the second photo to see that it is false: what absurd size does that hunt have? And the buildings in the lower corner are smaller than people. That did not prevent thousands of people from spreading the images in their accounts, giving them by legitimate. And also videos. The arrival of the potent I see 3 Google has helped generate videos in line with these photos. The Tehran Times, means of Iranian communication, disseminates videos where it is presumed to gigantic missiles that do not exist. How do we know? I have left the seeing water mark in the video. Something similar happened with a supposed bombardment in Tel Avivwhose images are easy to identify as generated by AI. The person responsible for all of them is the account 3AMelyonnwhich is defined as “artificial intelligence resistance”, and whose videos are also spread on Telegram. With the permission of the high positions. These actions are not always a matter of disinformation in networks. Iran’s supreme leader, Sayyid Ali Khamenei, tweet images of Iranian missiles to Israel generated by chatgptand the Israeli defense minister generates Genuine visual garbage (which The Anglo -Saxons call ‘Ai Slop’) of propaganda type of which Facebook and other networks crowd. It is not strange that the leaders of both sides join the iconographic war: it is a way not only to spread harmful propaganda for the other side, but to supply the informative limitations suffered by citizens. Please, only AI. In fact, there is another reason for the dissemination of propaganda through AI to be backed by the respective governments of Iran and Israel: when citizens spread images of killings in the cities, it was feared that with these videos they would give strategic clues to the other side. AI is a way to ensure that no one takes advantage of those videos. According to 404 mediaIsrael requested from its citizens in a statement by social networks: “The enemy examines these documents to improve their objectives. Be responsible, do not share locations on the network.” AI thus becomes a tool to share propaganda that is not strategically sensitive. How to identify artificial intelligence. The companies that create the generative tools are responsible for marking the results that their IASs yield. In addition to easily visible and editable water marks, Google AI includes an invisible, Synthidbut it has a problem set: you have to download the video that may appear, for example, on social networks, and then upload it to the Synthid platform. They are minutes, perhaps lost hours, during which perhaps the false video has reached millions of people. A very valuable time in terms of propaganda. Header | 404Media In Xataka | Welcome to the “mcdonaldization” of AI: we have cheap chatbots for mass, and ultra -premium products for the elite

If something did not need the Ukraine War it was to enliven the conflict in an occupied nuclear power plant. Russia thinks different

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The paradox of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is that it has been closed for three years and everyone wants to “open.” Without going far, the United States was the last nation to hint that it would be delighted to restart her. The problem is that it is in Ukraine, although Taken by Russiaand in the middle of a war whose end does not stick. Moscow knows that he has an energy pressure tool, but some satellite images have revealed much more. The space betrays. The story took this week The New York Times. Through new satellite images analyzed by Greenpeace and verified by the American environment, it has been revealed that Russia is building more than 80 kilometers of electric lines in the south busy of Ukraine with the aim of connecting the Zaporiyia nuclear plant to its own energy network. Covert reopening. This maneuver, until now without Russian official confirmation, represents the clearest signal until the intention of Moscow’s intention to reactivate and exploit the largest central in Europe, forcibly in the first bars of the invasion. Although its six reactors were gradually turned off (the last in 2023) for security reasons and due to nearby fightingRussia seems determined to return it to operationchallenging the warnings of international experts that consider that operating it under these conditions would be a nuclear risk first order. The Russian Plan seeks surround the current damage In the old 750 kilowol lines that connected the central with the Ukrainian network, two of which are going through areas under Kyiv control, and two others that have been useless or deteriorated by the war. Unprecedented use. If specified, this would be the First time in history in that a power at war restarts and uses an occupied nuclear plant for its own energy benefit. Russia, through the state Rosatom, has openly shown Your ambition: its general director He said recently that the dream of reactivating Zaporiyia is still alive and that there is already a technical plan to return the plant to full capacity. The Russian intention does not seem to maintain territorial control of the complex, but to integrate it directly into the national electricity network, possibly and According to the Timesconnecting it with the Russian region of Rostov, which would require even more infrastructure. As we said at the beginning, the United States proposed a peace plan that included the return of the plant to Ukraine under international management (specifically American), In an attempt to avoid its use as a geopolitical tool. Russia He rejected sharply said option. Various risks. No doubt, we don’t talk about simply pressing the “ignition” button. In fact, the possibility of reactivating the central has awakened alarms Among nuclear experts. Since his shot, much of the Ukrainian technical staff has fled, leaving the plant No qualified operators. In addition, the Kajovka dam hole months ago (widely attributed to Russia), it eliminated the main source of water from the reactor refrigeration system and spent fuel, raising thermal and fusion risks in case of a failure. For its part, the Minister of Energy of Ukraine He warned that any Russian unilateral attempt to restart reactors could have unpredictable consequences. To all this is added The possibility of sabotage, military attacks or operational failures in a plant already located in an active combat zone. The consequences of a nuclear escape would not be limited to the region: the impact on the environment, human health and the energy stability of Europe would be unpredictable (and possibly devastating). A high voltage piece. As we have coming countingthe status of the Zaporiyia plant has become a power sheet in the peace negotiations. While Russia progresses (slowly) in her Technical reconnectionThe United States and its allies press to include their status in the terms of any future solution. The satellite images Recent, which reveal transmission lines advancing near the town of Shevchenko and towards a key substation linked to the complex, confirm that Moscow not only wants to retain control, but to turn the plant into a Active source of energy for your network. If you want also, snapshots from space reveal a deeper strategy: to consolidate the economic and energy control of the territories occupied as part of a Possible post -stroke. However, any attempt by Moscow to reactivate the plant without international consensus not only defies the rules of war law, but also brings us an unpublished threshold of nuclear insecurity. Image | Planet Labs, Via Greenpeace In Xataka | The largest nuclear power plant in Europe has been closed by the war in Ukraine. Now the United States wants to reopen In Xataka | We already know a hole that Russia has left in Ukraine: the Chernobil shield is still open and there is no money to close it

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