drones

No drones, no snipers. Wild boar hunters in Barcelona have a simpler natural remedy: a homemade recipe

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In 2022, a wild boar broke in on a terrace in Cadaqués and took several bags of food in front of dozens of tourists who recorded it with their cell phones while the animal walked between tables as if it had been living there for years. For many residents it was the definitive confirmation that wild boars were no longer occasionally entering the cities: they were beginning to behave like any other inhabitant. Barcelona and the impossible war. It we count a few days ago. Barcelona has been trying for years to contain the expansion of wild boars with health campaigns, population controls, forest surveillance and increasingly sophisticated protocols. However, the animals they keep moving forward street by street from Collserola to the urban heart of the city. The last episode has been especially symbolic: a specimen appeared calmly rummaging through garbage containers on Casanova Street, crossing the street for the first time. psychological frontier of the Gran Via and approaching the Raval. The image perfectly summarizes the underlying problem. While administrations and technicians deploy complex devices to control African swine fever and empty entire forest areas, wild boars continue to enter Barcelona attracted by something much more basic: easy food, accumulated garbage and urban waste converted into a permanent night buffet. The city as a new wild ecosystem. He Eixample case It reflects the extent to which the wild boar has stopped behaving like a strictly forest animal. Neighbors in the area had been reporting saturated containers for weeks, leftover food scattered on the street and a constant accumulation of dirt that attracted rats and other pests. The wild boar simply ended up occupying the last step of that urban food chain. The paradox is that, despite the thousands of copies captured and slaughtered around Collserola to contain swine feverthe city continues to offer exactly what these animals need to lose their fear of the human environment: easy access to food and the absence of predators. The result is a species increasingly accustomed to traffic, lights and densely populated neighborhoods, capable of crossing half of Barcelona during the early hours of the morning with absolute normality. The real secret remains the smell. The most striking thing is that, while Barcelona deploys health protocols, forest controls and institutional campaigns, many hunters have been using methods for years. much more rudimentary to attract wild boars. He viral success of homemade recipes based on anise, fermented corn, sugary soft drinks or sweet mixtures demonstrates the extent to which the animal’s behavior continues to be guided by extremely simple impulses. The strong smell of anise sprayed on cereal or the acidic aroma of fermentation act like a magnet for wild boars, which quickly locate any easy caloric source. This logic also explains what is happening in Barcelona: in the end, technology matters less than the ability to control access to organic waste. the city can deploy surveillance, sanitary sacrifices and mobility restrictions, but as long as there are points where garbage overflows and waste accumulates, it will continue to offer exactly the same stimulus as those improvised feedlots used in the mountains. Fauna altering a big city. I counted the weekend The World that the expansion of the problem is already beginning to have consequences that go far beyond neighborhood coexistence. The outbreak of African swine fever detected in Catalan wild boars has forced sanitary restrictions to be activated that have even ended up affecting the filming of large international productions. the movie The Last Druidstarring Russell Crowe, had to paralyze part of its production in Sant Cugat due to the limitations imposed in forest areas near the health outbreak. The episode illustrates the extent to which wild boar overpopulation has ceased to be a strictly environmental or agricultural problem and has become in a phenomenon with economic, urban and logistical impact. What began as the occasional presence of animals in the limits of Collserola is even beginning to interfere with industrial and cultural activities linked to the territory. Increasingly difficult coexistence. The big problem for Barcelona is that everything indicates that this situation It’s not temporary. Wild boars adapt extremely quickly to urban environments because they find constant food, less hunting pressure and relatively safe refuges in parks, open fields and peripheral green areas. At the same time, cities generate enormous amounts of accessible waste every night. The combination is explosive: animals increasingly trusting entering neighborhoods densely populated while administrations try to balance health control, animal welfare and citizen security. And there appears the great irony of the entire story. After massive campaigns, forestry devices and complex protocols, the battle against wild boars continues to revolve around something very ancient and elemental: the smell of food. Image | x In Xataka | The technological war that we see in Ukraine has an unexpected replica in Barcelona: this time the enemy is thousands of wild boars In Xataka | Lead has its days numbered in hunting. The problem is that no one really knows how to replace it.

In the era of drones and smart missiles, the US has recovered a relic of the First World War: the bayonet

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In the middle of the Iraq war, a group of British soldiers launched a bayonet charge against Iraqi militiamen near Al Amara. The scene seemed like something out of another century, but the British Army considered it a tactical success in the middle of a modern combat already marked by night vision, digital communications and advanced weaponry. The unexpected return of the bayonet. More than 20 years have passed since the scene described, but they counted in a report in Insider that, in an era dominated by FPV drones, electronic warfare, artificial intelligence and guided missiles, the United States Army has decided to bring back something that seems straight out of the trenches of World War I: indeed, the bayonet. The US Army Ranger School, one of the toughest training programs on the planet, has incorporated new hand-to-hand assaults with this war tool within its extreme combat circuits. As? Apparently, soldiers must advance through smoke, tunnels, trenches and physical obstacles while attacking humanoid targets with knives mounted on the end of the rifle. At first glance it seems like an absurd military anachronism in the digital age. However, for the Pentagon the decision responds precisely to the type of war What do you think can happen? in the future. The Pentagon obsession. The war in Ukraine and other recent conflicts have shown something which is of great concern to Western military strategists: modern battlefields depend on extremely vulnerable networks, communications, GPS, drones and electronic sensors. Jamming, electronic warfare attacks, and combat chaos can isolate entire units in a matter of minutes. In this scenario, the US Army fears that soldiers accustomed to operating surrounded by technology lose capacity to continue fighting when screens, communications or air support disappear. That’s why Ranger School now insists on training something a lot. most basic and brutal: move forward, endure fear, maintain physical cohesion with teammates and continue attacking even in extreme situations of exhaustion and disorientation. A relic that never disappeared. The truth is that, although the bayonet is associated above all to suicidal charges of the First World War, never completely disappeared of modern armies. American troops still used it in Korea and Vietnamand British soldiers and US Marines set it again during particularly violent urban combat in Iraq in 2004. Its current value is not so much in the weapon itself as in what it represents psychologically. Military historians have been pointing out for years that the bayonet works especially like a tool to train aggression, discipline and the ability to continue fighting under extreme fear. It forces the soldier to accept something that modern technological warfare sometimes hides: that many combats still end at very short distances and in deeply chaotic conditions. Recovering very old ideas. The movement is especially striking because it arrives just when the war seems more futuristic than ever. Ukraine and Russia have filled the front autonomous droneselectronic interference and constant surveillance from the air. But precisely that same technological saturation is producing an unexpected effect: combat once again becomes extremely disorderly when communications fail or units become isolated. In many sectors of the Ukrainian front, soldiers survive entire days under drones and artillery hardly any contact of course with higher commands. The Pentagon appears to have drawn an uncomfortable conclusion from that experience: The more technological war becomes, the more important it becomes for a soldier to be able to keep fighting even when all that technology disappears. The fear of blackout. Plus: America’s new military obsession is not just about developing better drones or missiles, but about preparing troops capable of operating when the entire digital ecosystem collapsesif it does. The bayonet symbolizes precisely that idea. Not because the Army expects massive loads like those of 1916but because it represents the ultimate survival level military: keep moving forward when there is nothing else left. Ultimately, the decision reflects a very current paradox. The more sophisticated modern wars become, the more armies fear the moment when they will once again resemble something much more ancient, physical and primitive. Image | Joey Rhodes/US Army In Xataka | The United States has 54 billion euros for its army and a very precise place to invest it: in drones In Xataka | A soldier can and should disobey an illegal order. The problem that Anthropic faces is that an AI does not

one where snipers and drones are eliminating thousands of wild boars

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In November 2025, the Generalitat came to deploy to the UME, drones and police controls around Collserola after finding dozens of dead wild boars near Barcelona. What started with two infected animals ended up turning the city’s forests into a huge crawl area sanitary. A city at war. For years, wild boars were a growing nuisance in Barcelona and its metropolitan area: animals that rummaged through garbage, crossed roads or appeared in housing estates next to Collserola. In 2026 the situation completely changed scale. The detection of African swine fever turned part of Catalonia into a huge health perimeter where the Generalitat began to unfold a response typical of an emergency operation. Ground zero around Cerdanyola was surrounded by fencesclosures of wildlife passages, collective traps and access restrictions. More than 1,900 troops work on the ground while drones, canine units and specialized companies “comb” forests and peri-urban areas looking for corpses, sick animals and groups of wild boars. I was counting a few days ago The Country that the political language stopped seeming environmental to approach that of a military campaign: “empty” entire areas, “eradicate” outbreaks and contain the spread of the virus before it reaches the Catalan pork industry. The massive hunting of thousands of animals. The magnitude of the operation explains to what extent the Generalitat considers the situation a strategic threat. The initial objective was to eliminate between 8,000 and 10,000 wild boars in the 20-kilometer radius around the outbreak detected in November 2025. The figure was later adjusted about 6,000 animals only within the critical perimeter, while the general plan aims to reduce the entire wild boar population in Catalonia by half, estimated between 120,000 and 180,000 specimens. Since January they have already sacrificed more than 26,000 animals throughout the community. In some points of the so-called “ground zero” there would be barely twenty wild boars left after months of continuous captures. He deployment includes hundreds of traps, Pig Brig nets, thermal visors, closures of wildlife crossings and constant controls to prevent animals from crossing natural corridors around Barcelona. Snipers, hunters and wildlife control companies. One of the most striking elements of the entire crisis is how hunters have gone from being a socially questioned figure to becoming in essential piece of the operation. Some act practically as specialized shooters in forested and peri-urban areas where drones perform poorly and animals move near inhabited areas. Many describe night shifts with thermal visorshigh-capacity traps and rifles prepared to shoot any specimen that appears in front of the viewer. The Generalitat has even started financing fuel, veterinary assistance for capture dogs and specialized material. At the same time, the Government has hired companies accustomed to operating in urban and peri-urban environments, especially in Collserola and other spaces where wild boars have become accustomed to coexisting with the city. The result is increasingly reminiscent of a permanent campaign wildlife control deployed around a large European capital. A gigantic economic threat. Behind this offensive there is a fear much greater than the overpopulation of wild boars itself. Catalonia concentrates an essential part of the pork industry Spanish and the expansion of African swine fever could cause a multimillion-dollar blow to exports, farms and international markets. Japan and the Philippines already restrictions have been applied and the Government fears losing health credibility if the virus escapes the controlled perimeter. That is why the institutional discourse insists so much in “biosecurity” and the need to act extremely quickly. The Catalan administration defends that it is not an ideological or political decision, but rather a a mandatory response to avoid an economic collapse. The pressure is so high that a debate has even been opened about accelerating the marketing of game meat to absorb the tens of thousands of catches and keep the system economically viable. The battle inside Collserola. The big problem for the authorities is that the war against wild boars is taking place in one of the environments most complex possible: a huge metropolitan area of ​​four million inhabitants. Collserola functions as a natural refuge and motion runner for animals accustomed for years to living next to housing estates, roads and peripheral neighborhoods. Some areas are so wooded that not even drones They allow us to accurately calculate how many copies remain. Technicians recognize that total control is extremely difficult and that is why restrictions on mobility and access to the natural environment remain in force months after the start of the crisis. Meanwhile, they continue new positives appearing week after week, fueling the feeling that the Generalitat is in a race against time to prevent the outbreak from spreading definitively beyond Barcelona. The city-nature relationship. The crisis has also left an uncomfortable image about how the relationship between big cities and wildlife has changed. For years, Barcelona lived with a growing population of wild boars that learned to take advantage of garbage, parks and urbanized areas. The animals lost their fear of people while administrations tried to manage the problem without resorting to massive slaughter campaigns. The african swine fever It broke that balance suddenly. Now the city lives surrounded by controls, restrictions and capture operations where police, hunters, veterinarians and wildlife specialists participate. The scene of teams searching forests with dogs, nets and rifles a few kilometers from densely populated areas has ended up projecting a strange sensation: that of a great European capital converted into the epicenter of a health war against thousands of wild animals. Image | Pexels In Xataka | The problem is not that 100 wild boars in Barcelona have swine fever. The problem is that we don’t know how it got there. In Xataka | The Argentine sea hid one of the most disturbing animals in the world: an 11-meter-long “ghost jellyfish”

Satellite images reveal how much Russia fears Ukraine’s drones. 7,000 km away they are covering their nuclear missiles

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The British Navy discovered something truly absurd during naval tests in 1945: a single flock of birds could appear on the radar with a signature similar to that of enemy aircraft. Eight decades later, some of the most sophisticated military systems on the planet clash again to the same problem: Tiny, cheap threats that are difficult to distinguish before it is too late. The drone war against the Russian nuclear arsenal. They counted this week in Naval News that satellite images taken over the Russian submarine base of Rybachiy, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, reveal the extent to which drone warfare in Ukraine is altering Russian military logic even thousands of kilometers from the front. to some 7,400 kilometers of Ukrainetwo strategic nuclear submarines of the Borei class They have appeared completely covered with anti-drone nets while they remain docked in port. The scene is shocking because these submarines are part of the core of Russian nuclear deterrent: each one carries 16 Bulava ballistic missiles capable of launching intercontinental nuclear attacks. However, even that geographical distance no longer seems sufficient for Moscow to feel completely safe from possible surprise Ukrainian operations. From the Black Sea to the Pacific nuclear fleet. The evolution reflects how drones have ceased to be an exclusively tactical problem and have become a strategic threat. Russia had been installing for some time cages, nets and metal structures improvised on ships and patrol boats in the Black Sea to try to stop Ukrainian FPV attacks. Now that same logic has reached some of the most sensitive platforms in its entire military arsenal. The fear does not seem to focus so much on drones launched directly from Ukraine, something practically impossible at such a distance, but on covert operations similar to those that have already hit Russian targets very far from the front. The idea of ​​small cheap drones reaching multi-million dollar strategic assets It has even begun to modify the protection of nuclear submarines. A small threat capable of altering the strategic balance. The nets observed on the Borei do not hide the submarines from satellites nor do they serve as conventional camouflage. Its function It’s purely defensive.: prevent light drones from approaching, landing on the deck or launching explosive charges at vulnerable points, especially on hatches and exposed systems while the submarines are on the surface. Russia had already installed similar protections on some Baltic and Arctic submarines, but on Rybachiy the coverage is much more extensive and envelops practically the entire vessel. There is no doubt, the image conveys a certainly powerful conclusion: the Kremlin already considers it plausible that cheap, improvised and difficult to detect attacks could threaten even part of its nuclear triad. The great psychological change of the war in Ukraine. Beyond the real effectiveness of these networks, the important detail is rather psychological and strategic. Ukraine has managed to get Russia to dedicate resources, time and defensive concern to bases located on the other end of the continent Eurasian. For decades, the logic of nuclear deterrence assumed that submarines hidden in remote bases were virtually untouchable except in an all-out war between great powers. And this is where drones have begun to erode that sense of immunity. The war in Ukraine is showing that a country with limited resources can force a nuclear superpower to cover with mesh improvised some of their most important systems for fear of unexpected attacks. When “nuclear” fears the cheapest. In short, the image of nuclear submarines protected with networks recalls the extent to which the Ukrainian conflict is transforming modern military rules. Platforms designed to survive atomic wars, operate under the ocean for months, and launch intercontinental missiles now also have to worry about cheap quadcopters, commercial explosives, and improvised attacks. Of course, Russia still maintains a huge nuclear and naval advantagebut the proliferation of drones is altering something much more difficult to measure than weapons: the feeling of (in)security. And when even the most remote nuclear bases begin to be armored against small drones, it means that the war in Ukraine has already changed the global perception of military vulnerability. Image | Vantor In Xataka | Once again, Ukraine has opened a missile launched by Russia. Once again, surprising manufacturers have been found In Xataka | Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer.

The war in Ukraine has entered such a crazy phase that soldiers are shooting at their own drones

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In 1943, during a night mission over Europe, several British pilots returned convinced that they had been pursued by strange luminous objects that appeared and disappeared around their planes. Some thought it was a secret German weapon, others thought it was nervous breakdowns caused by the stress of combat. Decades later, that aerial confusion He continues to remember a disturbing idea: there are moments in wars where the problem is no longer just the enemy. A schizophrenic heaven. They counted on Insider that the war in Ukraine has entered such a phaseDrone Aturation that, in many sectors of the front, soldiers no longer know what aircraft flies over their heads or who controls it. The consequence is an almost absurd situation even by military standards: Ukrainian troops shooting against their own drones for pure survival, operators cutting with scissors fiber optic cables without knowing if they belong to the enemy or a friendly unit and electronic warfare systems blocking any signal that appears in the air even if that means disabling their own equipment. The battlefield has become so crowded with small flying devices, jammers and data links that distinguishing between ally and enemy takes mere seconds. If something approaches too quickly, the automatic reaction is to destroy it first and ask later. Disposable drones due to excess. Part of the problem stems from how both sides have transformed the drone into a mass consumption weapon. These are no longer expensive and scarce platforms like those used by Western powers a decade ago, but rather relatively cheap systems manufactured at enormous speed and designed to be constantly lost. Russia and Ukraine consume drones in such gigantic amounts that losses due to friendly fire have been integrated almost as another operational cost. Units expect to lose devices due to interference, coordination errors, enemy jamming or simply because a nervous soldier open fire against any object that buzzes near your position. The result is a combat environment where technological saturation has begun to generate chaos even within one’s own side. The new logic: destroy them before they exist. This uncontrolled explosion in the use of drones is also pushing the war towards a new strategic stage: attack the factories before the devices in flight. Russia and Ukraine have understood that intercepting drones one by one is no longer enough when both produce thousands of systems continuously. That’s why the long range attacks attacks against industrial plants, logistics centers and component manufacturers have multiplied in recent months. Ukraine is hitting Russian facilities linked to Shahed drones, sensors, navigation modules and jam-resistant electronic systems, as Russia seeks destroy Ukrainian workshops where FPV drones or long-range attack devices capable of penetrating hundreds of kilometers into Russian territory are assembled. The logic begins to look less like a conventional war and more like a permanent industrial hunt. Electronics don’t keep up. The problem for both sides is that technological adaptation it moves too fast. Each defensive upgrade generates an immediate modification to enemy drones. Interference systems stop working when faced with fiber optic links. GPS locks lose effectiveness against new navigation modules. Drones incorporate more autonomy, greater processing capacity and increasing resistance to electronic countermeasures. In parallel, Ukraine and Russia they use satellite intelligencepattern analysis and constant recognition to locate production centers, antennas, warehouses and logistics chains. The front already It doesn’t end in the trenches.: continues hundreds or thousands of kilometers behind, inside factories, industrial parks and supply networks that have become priority military targets. A machine out of control. The most disturbing thing is that this dynamic gives the sensation of having partially independent of the soldiers themselves. There is drones attacking dronesautomatic systems jamming any available signal, operators trying coordinate safe corridors so that their own devices are not demolished and entire factories turned into objectives daily to sustain a rate of losses that seems impossible to absorb. If you like, the war in Ukraine is still a war of artillery and attrition, but it is also transforming into something much stranger: an aerial ecosystem saturated with cheap and disposable machines where survival depends on react before identifying. And when an army ends up shooting at its own drones because there are too many devices in the sky to distinguish them, it means that the conflict has crossed a whole new frontier. And crazy. Image | mod-gov-ua In Xataka | Ukraine has found a new way to assault buildings occupied by Russia: sending a robot with a 300-kilogram surprise In Xataka | The war in Ukraine is being filled with “Mad Max” ships: metal screens and nets against FPV drones in the Black Sea

Dubai has come to the same conclusion as Russia. To protect your oil from drones there is something better than missiles: giant cages

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In World War II, the British discovered something disconcerting when analyzing the German bombings on its industrial cities: many times it was not necessary to completely destroy a refinery or factory to paralyze it for weeks. It was enough to hit some few vulnerable points to cause fires, disruptions and a disproportionate economic effect. Eight decades later, that same logic once again dominates another war, only now the weapon that attempts to find those weak points fits in an operator’s backpack and costs a fraction of an anti-aircraft missile. Dubai is located in Ukraine. For years, the United Arab Emirates built its security around a very specific idea: cutting-edge technology, advanced anti-aircraft systems and one of the most sophisticated defensive architectures in the Middle East were enough to protect the country’s energy heart. The war with Iran has begun dismantle that trust. After enduring hundreds of missiles and more than 2,200 Iranian drones, Dubai and Abu Dhabi have reached an uncomfortable conclusion that Russia learned before in Ukraine: in the face of cheap, numerous and persistent drones, it is sometimes more effective to raise huge metal structures over oil deposits than spending multimillion-dollar interceptors trying to destroy every threat in the air. The images that appeared near Dubai International Airport show precisely that: those gigantic “cope cages” surrounding fuel tanks, a scene that until recently seemed exclusive to Russian refineries attacked by Ukrainian drones, or in the films of George Miller. The cheap drone war. The problem facing the Emirates has less to do with the individual sophistication of each drone than with the economic logic of the conflict. Iran has demonstrated that it can launch massive waves of Shahed-136-type UAVs and other relatively cheap attack munitions against extremely expensive infrastructure and difficult to replace. Even when air defenses work, the economic drain It’s starting to be absurd: Shooting down low-cost drones using advanced interceptor missiles turns defense into a financially unsustainable battle. That’s where these appear giant metal cages. They are not designed to stop ballistic missiles or complex attacks, but to create a physical separation that reduces the damage of suicide drones or improvised munitions before reaching fuel depots, pipelines or critical facilities. A brutally simple solution, and precisely for this reason it is beginning to spread. Russia led the way. Because what the Emirates is doing now has been going on for years. happening in Russia. Since Ukraine began hitting refineries, oil depots and military bases with long-range drones, Moscow began to cover facilities strategic with nets, metal mesh and improvised structures. What was initially derided as a desperate solution ended up evolving in a defensive system relatively common around vulnerable assets. The logic is simple: an FPV drone or a Shahed does not need to completely destroy a facility to cause a huge problem, it is enough a precise impact on a tank, a pipe or a critical point to cause fires, interruptions and million-dollar costs. The Emirates, despite having practically unlimited resources compared to Russia, is discovering exactly the same structural vulnerability. The difference is that now these cages appear next to the most futuristic skyscrapers and financial centers in the Gulf. Oil as a strategic objective. Iran has focused a good part of its attacks precisely on the Emirati energy heart. Facilities such as the Fujairah oil port or the Habshan gas plant have suffered damage that will take months to fully repair. That explains why the country has accelerated visible defensive measures even after the partial ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. Because the threat has not disappeared. In fact, one of the most disturbing aspects of the conflict is that the attacks continued even after the truce announcements, reinforcing the feeling that any critical infrastructure can become a target again with very little notice. In this context, protecting refineries and warehouses no longer depends only on radars or anti-missile batteries, it also implies physically harden facilities, assume partial impacts and prevent a relatively cheap drone from causing a national energy disaster. The Pentagon changes its mentality. The expansion of these improvised defenses also reflects a broader doctrinal shift within of the US military itself. For years, many officials in Washington considered inefficient invest large amounts of money in physically shielding bases, hangars or critical facilities from cheap drones. Ukraine, Russia and now the Middle East are completely changing that perception. Shortly before the war between Iran and the United States broke out, the Pentagon published new guidelines precisely recommending networks, cables and other passive physical defenses to protect strategic infrastructures. The reasoning is beginning to be difficult to ignore: in an era of massive and cheap dronesthe survival of multi-million dollar facilities may depend less on futuristic systems and more on simple, ugly and gigantic industrial solutions. Dubai, probably one of the most recognizable symbols of global technological modernity, has just assumed exactly that reality. Image | x In Xataka | Every time the US takes stock of Iran’s arsenal and capabilities, it realizes something: it has destroyed very little. In Xataka | Suddenly, a military outpost sprouted up in the Iraq desert: it was Israel in its bombing campaign of Iran

While everyone was looking at Hormuz, Russia has found a much bigger secret route. And drones do not stop arriving in Iran

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During the Cold War, Western intelligence services came to suspect that some Soviet freighters that apparently transported grain or machinery were actually hiding military equipment and technology sensitive under false covers. The problem was that, once inside certain internal routes controlled by Moscow and its allies, tracking them became extraordinarily difficult even for the greatest naval powers on the planet. While the world watches Hormuz. For months, the Strait of Hormuz has become the perfect symbol of Western pressure on Iran: US aircraft carriers, oil tankers diverting routes, marine insurance fired and constant threats on one of the great energy bottlenecks on the planet. However, while all international attention was focused there, Russia and Iran have been consolidating a much less visible and probably much more uncomfortable route for Washington: the Caspian Sea. It The New York Times said the weekend. This enormous space of inland water in northern Iran, usually ignored in geopolitical analyses, is being transformed into a true strategic highway to move goods, drones, military components and technology away from the direct reach of the United States. The photo. The most revealing image came when Israel bombed the Iranian port of Bandar Anzali, in the heart of the Caspian, in one of the most significant attacks of its campaign against Iran. The target was not in the Persian Gulf or Hormuz, but hundreds of kilometers further north. It was a clear sign that real logistical warfare no longer revolves solely around the most famous strait on the planet. The route that keeps Iran alive. The importance of the Caspian for Tehran has grown spectacularly since the pressure on Hormuz intensified. Russian and Iranian ships now transport wheat, corn, sunflower oil, animal feed and all kinds of of essential supplies who previously arrived via more vulnerable routes. Four Iranian Caspian ports are working at full capacity to absorb this growing traffic, while Moscow has begun to redirect millions of tons of goods that previously crossed the Black Sea. It turns out that the true strategic core is not in the cereal. According to US officials, Russia is using that route to send drone components to Iran to help it rebuild part of the arsenal lost during the last fighting with Israel and the United States. The relationship is especially symbolic because for years It was Iran that supplied Russia with Shahed drones for the war in Ukraine. Now the flow has partially reversed: Moscow manufactures its own versions under license and returns technology, components and military expertise to Tehran using the Caspian as a protected corridor. A perfect sea to avoid sanctions. The great advantage of the Caspian for Russia and Iran is that it is an extraordinarily difficult to control from outside. Unlike the Persian Gulf, where the US naval presence dominates much of the maritime traffic, in the Caspian they can only operate the five coastal countries. The United States cannot intercept ships there or impose direct blockades. Furthermore, a large part of the ships sail with transponders offdisappearing from satellite tracking systems and feeding an increasingly opaque network of “ghost ships.” In fact, Western analysts describe the Caspian as the ideal place for discreet military transfers and sanctions evasion. Dark shipping traffic has skyrocketed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and both Moscow and Tehran have perfected methods to hide real shipments, routes and operators. It is no coincidence that Ukraine attacked the Russian port of Olya in 2024, accusing it of being a logistics center for the transfer of Iranian drone components. Nor that Israel Bandar Anzali will hit. Everyone seems to have understood that a logistical rearguard is being built there that is much more resistant than it appears. Moscow’s strategic obsession. Plus: for the Kremlin, the Caspian is not just a temporary solution derived from sanctions or the war in Ukraine. Russia and Iran have two decades imagining a gigantic trade corridor that connects the Baltic with the Indian Ocean, crossing Russia, the Caspian and Iran to avoid routes controlled by the West. The project includes new portsrailway lines and renewal of aging fleets, although many of these plans remain on paper due to lack of resources and the geographical difficulties of the Caspian. Still, the war has accelerated the strategic logic behind that idea: creating an alternative system of commercial and military circulation outside the reach of Western sanctions. For Putin, furthermore, the balance is delicate. Needs to support Iran as a regional ally and military partner, but do so in an all-too-visible way could deteriorate even more so its relationship with Washington and with several Arab countries important for Russian energy trade. The Caspian offers precisely that: sufficient support, but far from the media and military focus that Hormuz dominates. America’s great blind spot. Much of the Western concern arises from a very uncomfortable feeling: for years, the Caspian hardly occupied any space in American strategic planning. Experts in Washington recognize that the region functions almost like a black hole diplomat divided between different military commands and bureaucratic departments. Thus, while the world observed aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf or drones over Ukraine, Russia and Iran took advantage of an immense, opaque and difficult to monitor geographic space to weave a logistics network that connects both conflicts. The problem for the United States is not that the Caspian completely replaces Hormuz, because it cannot do so, especially in massive oil exports. The real problem is that even under extreme military pressure, sanctions and naval blockades, Iran continues to find ways to stay connectedrearm and receive outside support. And each drone, each component and each shipment that silently crosses the Caspian reinforces an increasingly evident idea: while everyone was looking at the Strait of Hormuz, Russia and Iran they were building an alternative route much more difficult to stop. Image | PexelsNASA In Xataka | We sensed that Iran’s attacks on the US had been important. In reality, they were devastating In Xataka | While the whole world looks at … Read more

China is successfully replacing a 19th century industry with drones: skyscraper window cleaners

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When we think of skyscrapers, the Western culture in which we have grown up makes us inevitably associate them with the United States and iconic skylines in cinema such as New York or Chicago, but the current reality is very different: China is the country that breaks the cord, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitatthe world’s leading authority on the classification of tall buildings: it is home to more than half of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. This architectural explosion has created an unprecedented maintenance challenge: having to clean millions of square meters of glass and metal facades. What started as a need for manpower has become a testing ground for advanced robotics and unmanned aviation thanks to a state plan called “Robot+” that automates tasks to compensate labor shortage. One of the most striking recent examples: automated cleaning from Nanchang Railway Station. Goodbye to human window cleaners. The traditional Spider-Man of buildings is disappearing and it makes perfect sense: the risk of accidents and the climatic conditions of cities like Shanghai or Guangzhou have made this profession increasingly less attractive for new generations, so cleaning companies it is difficult for them to find relief: the perfect scenario for automation. Furthermore, the data from cleaning drones is compelling: going from being able to clean 200 square meters a day to 10,000 with a cost between 10 and 20% less, according to the Wuhan startup Aero Technology collected by China Daily. Drones are best suited to difficult outdoors such as corners and nooks and work even on rainy or windy days without risk. And when finished, the drone uses its camera to capture images of the clean surface, which it transmits to ground personnel for review. If it doesn’t comply, give it a review. Why is it important. We have already glimpsed some of the advantages of automating cleaning at height, but one is truly essential: safety. According to the WHOfalls are the second global cause of death due to unintentional injuries, only behind traffic accidents, with about 684,000 deaths annually. In the specific workplace, they constitute one of the main risks in sectors such as construction or industry. especially dangerous are the falls in height. In the United States, OSHA data They return that falls represent between 35 and 39% of construction-related deaths. In Spain, falls from height represented in 2024 12.2% of all work-related deaths during work hours in all sectors and this year alone they cost the lives of 79 people in the Spanish state alone. The other big advantage is price: less labor, less operating time because they clean faster, lower equipment costs, and lower insurance premiums. Aero Technology quantifies savings between 10 and 20% compared to traditional methods, although the drone company Apex is more optimistic for your business, raising the range of savings up to 30 or 50% (although the reason is probably that you consider assemblies like scaffolding). Regarding water consumption, a study by Shanghai University of Engineering has shown which spends 21.8% less. Context. China faces the worst possible scenario in this framework: it is the country with the most skyscrapers in the world, it has a lot of air pollution that quickly dirtys its facades and it also suffers labor shortage for manual jobs. Although if we are looking for pioneers in the drone cleaning segment we have to go to the North American one. Surname born 2014, the Elevation from the Swiss Aerotain AG back in 2015 or the Norwegian KTV Working Dronethe owner and mistress of drone window cleaning is China. China had been preparing the ground for years, as demonstrated by different academic research papers on glass and facade cleaning robotsas this of cable-driven parallel robots from Tsinghua University or this other of fan-powered cleaning robots from the Harbin Institute of Technology. The Asian giant has the academic ecosystem, state financial support and an obvious need. Said and done: China was the one who democratized technology, moving from prototypes and more or less “artisanal” devices to large-scale production with scalable industrial systems and companies like DJI, UAEAV and Foxtech. Today they already produce between 80-90% of the world’s commercial drones and lead an industry that in 2024 was valued at 248 million dollars and has a projection of 1,257 million by 2033. according to Growth Market Reports. The substitutes. China has developed a complete industrial ecosystem that is essentially divided into two major technological aspects. On the one hand, high-pressure cleaning drones that are connected to water pumps that are on the ground, such as the DJI M400 or the solutions of Foxtech Robotics. On the other hand, autonomous climbing robots with sensors and AI navigation (such as robot vacuum cleaners) such as those from OneMovecapable of detecting and adapting to variations in façade surfaces. In between, variants in the form of projects with hybrid platforms such as that of Skybotics Technology Limited or wired parallel systems that offer high precision, such as this from the Faculty of Engineering of Shanghai University with three degrees of freedom. Some of the technologies that can be found in this type of robots are adaptive joints to reduce wind discomfort or “zero distance” spraying to increase pressure, both present in the DJI M400one of the most popular in the sector. Yes, but. Although facade cleaning robots are a revolution for the sector, they are not a panacea: they work best on flat surfaces, they have height restrictions (typically between 60 and 120 meters for wired systems) and although they have more margin than human labor to operate in worse weather conditions, they are not infallible. Finally, the initial cost is significant, which constitutes a barrier to entry for smaller companies because it is not only the drone, it is also extra auxiliary elements such as pumping stations, batteries, software or safety certifications. For example, only the complete Lucid Bots Sherpa kit It costs $75,000.which leads to opting for solutions such as renting or leasing. In any case, and … Read more

The US says the war is over… while kamikaze missiles and drones fly

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During the so-called “Tanker War” between Iran and Iraq, several maritime companies arrived to paint flags of other countries on their ships and to change names and registrations almost overnight to try to cross the Persian Gulf without being attacked. Even so, many crews they kept sailing convinced that any mistake, radar or strange movement could turn a routine commercial trip into an improvised combat zone. The most uncertain war. The situation around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz has become a paradox that is difficult to sustain. A few hours ago, the White House insisted on stating that the war ended weeks ago. In fact, Marco Rubio assures that the “Epic Fury” operation has already concluded while Trump now speaks of the conflict as a luck of “miniwar” or a temporary episode where the small and last quarrels are ending… It happens that at the same time they continue flying drones and missilesUS ships continue to intercept Iranian attacks and forces from both countries they continue to cross fire throughout the Gulf. In other words, Washington is trying to sell the idea that the conflict is already in the diplomatic phase while almost daily military actions continue to occur on the ground, especially in the United Arab Emirates, where incidents of bombings They are almost daily. How to block Hormuz without closing it completely. Iran’s great trick has not been to destroy American fleets, but to turn the strait into a place too dangerous for normal trade. Although practically every day some ships They cross the area escorted In the US, traffic remains well below pre-war levels because shipping companies and insurers continue to see the move as a risky bet. Iran thus maintains enormous pressure on the global economy without the need to impose an absolute blockade, using limited attacks, constant threats and the permanent feeling that any transit can end in an incident military. The failure of the US plan. Trump presented “Project Freedom” as the operation that would demonstrate that Washington Hormuz could reopen by force and restore freedom of navigation. However, the plan barely managed to move a few ships before to be paused less than two days after starting. The president’s decision American reflects Washington’s big problem: protecting the strait requires taking constant military risks, but abandoning the operation leaves Iran with the capacity to continue conditioning global energy trade. USA has been trapped between avoiding another major war in the Middle East and not seeming incapable of imposing its own strategy. The truce works like a limited and controlled war. The truth is that on paper there is a ceasefire, but in practice both countries continue to act as if the conflict will remain open. The Pentagon describes the Iranian attacks as “harassment” below the threshold of a new all-out war, allowing Trump to avoid a major escalation. Meanwhile, Iran continues launching limited attacks and testing how far he can escalate the situation without provoking a massive American response. The result is a kind of hybrid war where officially there is no war… but neither is there peace. Arab allies begin to distrust the US. The Iranian attacks on the United Arab Emirates have caused a growing concern among the Gulf monarchies. Many governments in the region perceive that Trump is more focused on getting out of the conflict than on responding harshly to Tehran, even after of new releases of missiles and drones. The feeling is that hosting US bases can make those countries in priority objectivess without necessarily guaranteeing total protection. That doubt is also beginning to spread among European and Asian allies who observe how Washington continually redefines what it considers a real war. China has become the key diplomatic player. Amid the partial blockade of Hormuz, Beijing tries keep balance between its relationship with Iran and the need to stabilize energy markets. United States is putting pressure on China to convince Tehran to fully reopen the strait, especially before the next meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping. The problem is that China continues buying iranian oil and rejects part of the US sanctions, although at the same time the rise in energy prices is seriously damaging its economy. That makes Beijing an indispensable actor for any negotiated solution. Iran believes time is on its side. The Iranian leadership seems convinced that the United States wants to avoid another long war in the Middle East at all costs, and possibly that is why it is using that perception to increase little by little the pressure. Tehran keeps attacks limited, keeps Hormuz partially closed and continues to show it can still disrupt world markets without crossing a red line definitive. The result is a most unprecedented situation, one where Washington tries to declare victory and turn the page, while Iran continues using military threat as a daily trading tool. Image | USN, Mostafa Tehrani In Xataka | Neom has stopped being science fiction thanks to the war in Iran: from a futuristic city to the great logistical shortcut that bypasses Hormuz In Xataka | The strangest plan of the war is ready: guide the 1,000 ships trapped in Hormuz hoping that no one will shoot

Ukraine is bringing its drones dangerously close to Moscow. And he is doing it with an unusual weapon: Grand Theft Auto V

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In 2002, during a US military exercise known like Millennium Challengea retired general managed to surprise to a technologically superior fleet using unconventional tactics and unexpected means, and did so to the point of virtually “sinking” several ships in a matter of minutes. That simulation left an uncomfortable conclusion For many strategists: in certain scenarios, it is not always whoever has the most means who wins, but whoever best understands how to adapt to new forms of combat. From video games to the real battlefield. The story They told Insider. Apparently, Ukraine has found a totally unexpected way to accelerate the training of drone pilots and perfect its field of action: video gamesand in particular in the environment achieved by Rockstar in Grand Theft Auto Vwhere operators perfect reflexes, coordination and decision-making in simulated scenarios. This practice does not replace military training, rather it complements it, and reveals the extent to which modern warfare is absorbing skills born outside the traditional sphereincorporating a generation accustomed to controls, screens and virtual environments. What begins as a simulation ends up moving to real operations where there is no margin for error, consolidating a combat model in which the line between game and war turns increasingly diffuse. Drones are approaching Moscow. In parallel to this training with GTAV, the range of the Ukrainian drones has been growing steadily until reaching areas ever closer to the political heart of Russia. They remembered in Forbes that deep attacks inside Russian territory, some a few kilometers away of the Kremlin, are breaking the perception of invulnerability that protected Moscow for years. The campaign does not seek only to destroy objectives, but to demonstrate penetration capacity and generate constant pressure that forces us to redistribute defenses and assume that the conflict is no longer far away, but increasingly closer. Victory Day under a new shadow. Yes, because the proximity of May 9, one of the most symbolic events For the Kremlin, it adds a particularly delicate dimension to this development. The parade is not only a military display, but a key piece in Russia’s narrative of power and control, and any alteration, even indirect, would have a disproportionate impact. The fact that it is being contemplated reduce its scale or modify Its format reflects the extent to which the drone threat has changed the strategic calculus, turning a celebration designed to project force into a potential point of vulnerability. A defense saturated and tested. The truth is that although Moscow remains one of the most protected spaces of the world, the accumulation of attacks is straining your systems defensive. Multiple layers of air defense, designed to intercept threats, now face a constant stream of drones seeking to overwhelm them, identify gaps, and wear them down over time. This approach does not depend on a single decisive blow, but on prolonged pressure that forces Russia to defend more and more points at the same time, progressively eroding its response capacity. Putin, more isolated and more protected. In fact, this week they explained in the Financial Times that, in this context, security around Vladimir Putin has visibly tightened, reflecting growing concern about possible attacks, including those carried out with drones. How much? Apparently, the president has reduced their movements, spend more time in bunkers and operate under stricter security protocols, while their environment is subjected to increasingly rigorous controls. This evolution not only responds to physical risks, but also to the need to preserve an image of control at a time when the conflict begins to feel closer to the center of power. The psychological war that accompanies technological warfare. Beyond the material impact, the Ukrainian drone campaign is having a increasing psychological effectboth in the political elite and in Russian society. Each raid that breaks through defenses reinforces the idea that no place is completely safe, weakening a narrative built on distance and control. If you want too, while drones continue to advance and pilots train even in virtual worlds like GTAVthe war enters a phase where the perception of risk it’s so important as the real damage, and where the pressure on Moscow increases just when it most needs to project stability. Image | Wiki In Xataka | Ukraine has just opened the last Russian missile and is still amazed: the real enemy has a “friendly” face In Xataka | Russia has named Ukraine’s most fearsome drone: they call it Zhduns and it doesn’t need to show itself, just wait

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