military

We have been telling ourselves for decades that we have the Internet thanks to military research. The problem is that it is false

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It is difficult to imagine that something as impressive as the Internet could be summarized just over 40 years ago in a single page. The map of germ of the internet, ARPANETtook up no more than a DIN A4 sheet of paper and reflected the less than 50 computers that at the beginning of the Internet were connected to each other. But even more curious is the story of how ARPANET was born, which may not be as you have been told. It all happened almost midnight on October 29, 1969, in a small room at the University of California (UCLA), and with a message that only said “it“. The true origin Search the Internet about its history (from the Internet itself), and you will find that the most common thing is to talk about its military origin. Technically it is correct since ARPANET was developed by the ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency), an institution that depended on the US Department of Defense. But the reasons were not military even though One of the minds behind some of the ideas that helped create ARPANET, Paul Baran, worked precisely with the motivation that cold war between the US and the USSR would not end with a blockade and destruction of the communications and control structures of the US army in the event of a nuclear attack. You will indeed find many references to this idea, which results in a story that makes for an entertaining movie. hollywood but in reality it was not exactly with that motivation that ARPANET was born. In the 1960s, within ARPA there was the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO), at that time focused on taking full advantage of computers within the administration. Robert Taylor, one of the fathers of the Internet, began his career as director of the IPTO in 1966, and proposed to the then director of ARPA the possibility of connecting computers together to optimize their use. With this structure of networked computers (an idea that he took from the previous works of JCR Lickliderpioneer in 1962 by proposing the possibility of interconnecting equipment with each other) the ARPA could better manage your budget for computers and not distribute efforts uselessly but concentrate them on a few but very powerful computers connected to each other which would allow resources and results to be shared between researchers and centers. “lo”, first message between computers on the network Taylor was not limited to the resource of sharing computers and results between centers as an advantage of his ARPANET. If the idea worked, the agency was ensuring that it could use more computer models of different types without the compatibility or use of terminals to access them being a nightmare, while at the same time allowing the creation of protection against failures, so that with the non-centralized network structure proposed, if one computer failed, the others could continue working. Taylor’s initial proposal consisted of a test network with four nodes that they could expand if the results proved them right. ARPANET was born. The Internet was on the way. If you are passing through California, a recommended visit is in room 3420 Boelter Hall at the University (UCLA). Do not look for it as such because after being forgotten and until its use as a common room, it was recently restored and became part of the Kleinrock Center for Internet Studies (KCIS). Much of the history and documents are concentrated there (there is no waste of original presentation of ARPANET) and equipment that allowed the first node to be established between computers. But it’s actually a fantastic tribute to Leonard Kleinrocka professor who in 1969, right from that small room at the university, sent the first message on ARPANET. It was 10:30 at night on October 29, 1969 when, from the SDS Sigma 7 computer in said room, Professor Kleinrock sent the LOGIN message to the SDS 940 computer at the Stanford Research Institute, the computer with which he was connected in a basic way. The message remained a curious “lo” since there was a transmission failureand it was not until an hour later that the initial transmission could be completed. The first connection had occurred between the first two computers within the ARPANET. Two weeks later there were 4 interconnected teams, and in two years, almost seventy. And no one could stop this revolution. In Xataka | In 1995 ‘Toy Story’ forever changed the way animated films are made. He did it with rudimentary computers In Xataka | In 1969, humans set foot on the Moon for the first time. He did it thanks to a computer less powerful than your cell phone

BTS returns after its members have gone through military service. Now the real war begins: get tickets

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After almost four years of silence, the flagship group of the k-pop phenomenon returns. And he does it in a big way: announcing a world tour of unprecedented dimensions that will travel through 34 countries between April 2026 and March 2027. The announcement was made at midnight on January 13 and marks the official return of the South Korean group after complete mandatory military service of all its members, with a new album scheduled for March that will be their first joint work since 2022. A huge tour. The magnitude of the event transcends the merely musical. The tour will begin with multiple dates in Goyang (South Korea) and Tokyo before traveling across all continents, culminating in Manila in March 2027. The group’s website It also anticipates additional dates in Japan, the Middle East “and more regions”, suggesting that the final scale could be even higher than initially announced. A different panorama. The world of Korean pop that welcomes BTS in 2026 has experienced a radical metamorphosis compared to how they left it in 2022. What was then an emerging phenomenon in the West has been established as mainstream global cultural. When BTS momentarily disappeared, a phenomenon like ‘The K-Pop hunters‘, a film that became the most viewed in the history of Netflix and whose soundtrack dominated the sales charts for weeks. Every day we are more. BTS’s competition has intensified dramatically. Groups like Stray Kids have broken multiple records previously held by BTS: with eight consecutive albums debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 (compared to six for BTS), they have become the group with the most number one albums of any band of the 21st century. Seventeen was the best-selling K-Pop artist in 2025 and his world tour generated $142 million. The evolution of the genre has also transcended linguistic and national borders. Katseyethe global group created through a collaboration between Hybe and Geffen Records, represents this new direction: formed after a selection process that attracted 120,000 applicants from around the world, its six members hail from the United States, the Philippines, South Korea and Switzerland. Her repertoire was documented in the Netflix series ‘Pop Academy: KATSEYE’, and her repertoire is mainly composed of songs in English, aimed at the Western market. And let’s not forget that ‘APT.’Blackpink and Bruno Mars’ Rosé’s 2024 hit, was a best-seller with Grammy nominations. How are the sales? The BTS tour comes amid a deeply deteriorated ticket sales outlook. The last three years have shown that the global technological infrastructure for mass events is facing systematic crises. It all started with Taylor Swift’s debacle with Ticketmaster in November 2022, when the pre-sale of ‘The Eras Tour’ collapsed the system: the platform received 3.5 billion requests on the day of the sale, causing millions of users to be expelled with error messages after hours of waiting. The controversy ended up in the US Senate and Live Nation’s monopolistic dominance in the industry was questioned. Dramas in Europe. The Oasis case, in 2024, showed that Europe was not exempt from similar problems. Tickets advertised at 150 pounds escalated to 355 because of dynamic pricing, and he had to intervene on the issue the british competition authority. In Spain, the most notable cases have been those of Rosalía and Bad Bunnyseasoned with presence of banking institutions giving favored treatment to their clients. K-pop, in short, has not been immune: Blackpink had its own difficulties with the topic, and although the random selection system characteristic of K-pop is fairer, it also generates brutal speculative secondary markets. The strategic dimension. Furthermore, the return of BTS transcends the merely artistic to become a corporate rescue operation. Hybe, the group’s parent company, has seen its position shake during the hiatus of its main assets: the controversy with NewJeans, which we already explained hereeroded market confidence, and the reputational scars are on the table. The ensuing legal battle publicly exposed internal tensions over the treatment of artists and corporate practices. The key is BTS. However, BTS has potential that many of the groups that have continued their legacy cannot replicate. To begin with, they arrived first: they were the ones who transformed K-pop from an Asian niche into a global phenomenon mainstream. They are considered pioneers. But in addition, their fan base has matured economically: ARMYs, as they call themselves, who were 16-20 years old in 2018 are now 23-27, with significantly greater purchasing power. A test return. The BTS tour poses a definitive test for the infrastructure of live music in 2026. Will current anti-bot systems be enough to cope with unprecedented demand? The US BOTS Act of 2016 imposes fines of up to $16,000, and The European Union banned ticketing bots in 2019. But there is much more to take into account, such as international coordination that requires synchronizing not only ticketing technology but also radically different laws, with different regulations for secondary markets, for example. A real challenge that will put one of the biggest musical events in the world to the test. In Xataka | The economic phenomenon of BTS is so gigantic that you can now invest in them on the stock market

The most advanced Spanish military satellite suffered an impact in space more than a week ago. There are still no clear explanations

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For years, Spain has invested millions of euros in building a space communications system designed for extreme scenarios, from military operations to international emergencies. One of its pillars, the satellite SpainSat NG II, It took off in October with everything as planned and within a program presented as the most ambitious in Spanish space history. However, something happened very soon during its transfer to its orbital position. More than a week after an incident was acknowledged, what surrounds the satellite’s true status is a combination of minimal data and silence that leaves many questions open. An aging statement. The only thing confirmed so far comes from a statement released by Indra January 2, 2026in which it is recognized that the satellite suffered the “impact of a space particle” during its transfer to the final orbit. The incident occurred about 50,000 kilometers from Earth, still an intermediate phase of the journey to its geostationary position. Since then, the technical team is analyzing the available data to determine the extent of the damage, but no assessment of its operational status or the actual consequences of the impact has been made public. The launch of SpainSat NG II took place on the night of October 23 in the United States, already in the early hours of the 24th in Spain, aboard a Falcon 9 bound for a geostationary transfer orbit. From there, the satellite had to complete a journey of several months until reaching its final position about 36,000 kilometers from Earth, a process that, according to the CEO of Hisdesat told Euronews, usually takes between five and six months. The impact recognized by Indra occurred in that intermediate phase of the journey, when the satellite had not yet reached its final operational orbit. The reaction. In that same statement, Indra explained that Hisdesat, operator and owner of the satellite, had activated a contingency plan to guarantee that the committed services are not affected. The formulation fits with the logic of a two-satellite system, which seeks to ensure continuity of service even in the event of unforeseen incidents. However, the specific measures adopted and the current degree of dependence on the affected satellite within the program as a whole have not been detailed, which limits the ability to evaluate the real scope of this response. Twin units. SpainSat NG II is not an isolated satellite, but one of the two central pieces of a system conceived as a long-term strategic infrastructure. Along with his twin, the SpainSat NG Iis part of a program promoted by the Ministry of Defense with an investment of more than 2,000 million eurosintended to provide Spain with its own secure communications. The first satellite has already been operational since the summer, while the second was to complete the system, a context that explains the attention that any anomaly in its deployment has generated. The secrets of the satellite. From a technical point of view, SpainSat NG II represents a notable leap over previous generations of government communications satellites. Built by Airbus on the Eurostar Neo platformthe satellite has dimensions close to seven meters and a mass of around six tons. Its payload incorporates an X-band active antenna system that, according to Airbus, offers the equivalent functionality of 16 traditional antennas and allows coverage to be dynamically adapted up to 1,000 times per second, a capacity designed for changing and demanding operating scenarios. More questions than answers. With the information available, the range of scenarios remains wide. An impact from a space particle can result in minor damage without operational consequences, but also in a more serious impact that forces the functions to be limited or the deployment of the satellite to be reconsidered. Indra has even left open the option of a replacement if necessary, and maintains that, in that case, the satellite would be replaced as soon as possible. The absence of specific technical data makes it impossible to know whether this is a controlled incident or a problem with deeper implications. Given the lack of public updates, from Xataka we have contacted Indra to find out if there was any news about the status of the satellite. The company’s press office has responded to us that, for now, they have no details to share about what happened. That silence prolongs the uncertainty around a strategic system that has not yet entered service and leaves open key questions about the real scope of the impact. Images | Airbus (1, 2) | Thales In Xataka | We already have an official date for the United States’ return to the Moon: it is imminent and mired in a sea of ​​doubts

The artificial intelligence race is pushing the US towards an unexpected energy solution: looking to the military sphere

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The artificial intelligence race is not only being fought in laboratories, chips or data centers, it is increasingly being played in the field of energy. In the United States, the accelerated growth of electrical demand associated with AI has exposed a barely visible fragility: the network is not expanding at the same pace as technological ambitions. This imbalance is forcing us to look beyond conventional solutions and reopen debates that seemed closed, including some that connect directly with the military sphere. What has been put on the table. HGP has submitted an application formal to the United States Department of Energy to redirect two nuclear reactors removed from Navy ships to a civil project linked to data centers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The request was channeled through a letter addressed to the Department’s own Office of Energy Dominance Financing, and is part of the so-called Genesis Mission promoted from the White House. According to the documentation, the installation could provide between 450 and 520 megawatts of continuous electricity, aimed at intensive and stable consumption. The main argument in favor of this idea is time. Faced with the construction of new civil reactors, whether large plants or smaller designs, which tend to move on long schedules, or the start-up of large gas plants, also conditioned by permits and infrastructure, the reuse of existing reactors is proposed as a way to gain speed. The logic is simple: start from equipment that is already manufactured and tested, and convert it into a firm supply for the network. It is, at least on paper, a way to add base power while other solutions mature. Behind the scenes of the proposal. The initiative does not come from a newly created startup or from an unknown actor in the energy sector. HGP Intelligent Energy It is a recently created division, but it is presented as part of a developer with previous experience in the US market, supported, according to the company itself, in energy storage projects, electric mobility and development of network-scale assets. At the helm is Gregory Alvaro Forero, president of the division, which appears on your LinkedIn profile as president of HGP Storage since November 2013. That detail helps frame the approach outside of the improvised company pattern. What technology would be reused and at what price. The reactors cited in the proposal come from the US naval nuclear fleet, where aircraft carriers operate with two reactors and submarines typically operate with one. Models A4W, manufactured by Westinghouse, and S8G, developed by General Electric, are mentioned. Adaptation for civil use would have an estimated cost of between one and four million dollars per megawatt, and the project would also require between 1.8 and 2.1 billion dollars in private capital for associated infrastructure. The proposal includes revenue sharing with the Government, a fund for future decommissioning and the intention to request a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, with a first phase “as soon as 2029”. Just because the idea sounds direct doesn’t mean the path is. Bloomberg notes that Reusing military reactors for civilian use would be unexplored territory, and inevitable questions arise: how is it authorized, who operates, under what standards and with what responsibilities if something fails. Coordination between federal agencies and regulators also comes into play, as well as the logistics of moving and adapting equipment designed for ships, not a grid-connected plant. For now, everything remains at the proposal level. Energy sovereignty as a security argument. HGP tries to support its approach with a framework that goes beyond electricity for data centers. In its materials, the company summarizes the idea with an explicit equation, “Energy Supply Chain Sovereignty = National Defense,” and links supply chain resilience to the country’s ability to secure strategic infrastructure, even noting how geopolitical events or social media posts by managers can affect operations and investments. It is the story with which it seeks political and institutional legitimacy. To reinforce the idea that naval nuclear is not synonymous with improvisation, the context of the World Association of Nuclear Operators enters. According to WANOthe US Navy has accumulated more than 6,200 reactor-years of experience without radiological incidents, with 526 reactor cores, as of 2021. The association attributes that history to the standardization of systems, maintenance and quality of training. It is a relevant fact for the public debate, but it does not close it: a solid record in a military environment does not automatically imply that the jump to civilian use will be immediate or easy. Images | General Dynamics Electric Boat | Igor Omilaev | İsmail Enes Ayhan In Xataka | The race to bring data centers to space promises a lot. Physics says otherwise Images | General Dynamics Electric Boat | Igor Omilaev | İsmail Enes Ayhan In Xataka | The race to bring data centers to space promises a lot. Physics says otherwise

the reason is due to Russia and a new military corridor

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For years, the Finnish Arctic Circle has been reinvented as a theme park permanent winter, reindeer and northern lights, converted in global destination for those looking for an eternal Christmas and an experience carefully designed around the myth of Santa Claus. But there are always more surprises in Santa’s house, and an element that no one expected has just arrived in Finnish Lapland and that changes everything: Europe rearming itself. Santa and war. Rovaniemiinternationally promoted as the official home of Santa Claus, has been one of the great icons of the world for years. european arctic tourisma place where Christmas has become in permanent industry and where the experience is carefully designed for visitors from all over the world. However, this winter season the city is experiencing a silent but profound transformation: along with sledding, reindeer safaris and festive lights, the capital of Finnish Lapland has been filled with NATO soldiers who train for a scenario that until recently seemed unthinkable. Thousands of allied soldiers have recently passed through the area to maneuvers in Rovajärvithe largest training camp in Western Europe, located just 88 km from the Russian border, making Rovaniemi a a key point of the new security architecture of northern Europe. The longest and most sensitive border. The reason for this deployment is geographical and strategic. Finland shares almost 1,500 km of border with Russiaone of the largest and most complex in the entire Atlantic Alliance, and more than a quarter of it runs through the sparsely populated Lapland. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finnish intelligence services and military commanders have warned that Moscow is strengthening its infrastructure and its presence on the other side of the border, especially around the Kola Peninsula, a key enclave due to its enormous concentration of nuclear capabilities. The forecast in Helsinki is that, once the war in Ukraine ends, Russia can redeploy troops towards the north and adopt a much more robust stance towards Finland, structurally raising the level of tension in the region. NATO umbrella. Finland does not start from scratch in this defensive logic. His history and their relationship with Russia have marked for decades a culture of constant preparation, with national defense integrated into the Constitution itself and a conscription system widely accepted by society. However, the entry into NATO in 2023 It has meant a qualitative change: the country has gone from a defense designed in a national key to being part of a collective system that requires interoperability, allied presence and joint planning. This shift has translated into international cooperation much more intensethe opening of a new Allied command at Mikkeli and the designation of Rovaniemi as a future base of the Forward Land Forces, the Swedish-led battle group intended to reinforce the Alliance’s eastern flank. Military exercises in the Arctic. It we have counted before. While the tourists fill the Santa Claus Village and cameras capture idyllic scenes of snow and lights, a few kilometers away carry out military exercises of great technical and logistical complexity. Maneuvers like Lapland Steel 25held after other large multinational exercises, bring together Finnish, Swedish and British troops who train in extreme conditions, combining armor, helicopters, infantry and movement on skis in frozen forests and deep snow. Although a specific scenario is not officially tested, the maps and orientation of the exercises clearly reflect the type of threat that is in mind, making visible direct connection between the seemingly remote environment of the Arctic and high-intensity conventional warfare. A mentalized population. For many young Finns who serve in the military, in many cases voluntarily, the possibility of conflict is no longer an option. a distant abstraction. counted on a report in the Guardian that soldiers and conscripts assume extreme physical effort, endless marches and the weight of equipment as part of a collective responsibility, convinced that preparation is the best guarantee against uncertainty. The commanders describe the current situation as a new cold war, marked by the melting of the Arctic, the opening of new routes and natural resources and the rrenewed interest from Russia to ensure both its strategic deterrence and its economic assets in the north, in a context of prolonged and structural competition. Deterrence as a political message. The intensification of joint exercises and coordination between Finland, Sweden and Norway seeks more than just improving military capabilities: it seeks to send a clear political signal of cohesion, commitment and responsiveness. The bet is to avoid conflict precisely by demonstrating that any aggression would have a high cost and a collective response. In that delicate balance, Rovaniemi has become a powerful symbol of today’s Europe: a place where the imagery of peace, childhood and Christmas now coexists with bunkers, military aircraft and strategic planning, remembering that even in the extreme north of the continent, security has ceased to be a backdrop and has become a central priority. Image | Matias CalloneRawPixel, Tom Corser, BORN In Xataka | In the midst of rearmament, Europe has realized an unimportant detail: it does not have enough bullets In Xataka | France and Germany have just approved an unprecedented rearmament against the Russian threat: one hundreds of kilometers from Earth

Italy snuck a bridge between Sicily and Calabria into NATO as “military spending.” Not even tanks can cross it

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The hyperbolic idea of a mega suspension bridge record to unite the Italian peninsula with Sicily is something that the Romans already dreamed of. We are talking about an infrastructure that, if carried out, would become the largest suspension bridge on the planet. However, its chronicle as the driving force of rearmament in Europe is comparable to the project of underwater tunnel between Spain and North Africa. The old dream of the Strait. The ambition to link Sicily with the Italian peninsula by means of what would be the longest suspension bridge in the world reappeared at the center of the national debate not as a technical proposal, but as a head-on crash between political power and institutional control. Although the project It has been orbiting the imagination of different governments for decades, it was the combination of Matteo Salvini’s personal impulse and the political will of Giorgia Meloni’s executive that tried to reactivate it with an extraordinary sense of urgency. However, that speed caused the breakup: the Court of Accounts, constitutional guarantor of the control of public spending and compliance with national and European standards, rejected the file considering that the 2005 competition could not legally support a work that has tripled its estimated cost, that presents significant documentary gaps and that could violate essential rules of competition and environmental evaluation. Stand by. The decision made a few weeks ago, preventive and not definitiveexposed deep fissures in the management of the project, where political urgency prevailed over internal technical warnings from the Ministry of Transportation itself, which had requested more time to complete the documentation. The duel for two. The government’s reaction was immediate and furious. Meloni accused The judges were accused of overstepping their bounds and Salvini, who had turned the bridge into a symbol of his political survival, denounced a political gesture disguised as a technical judgment. They both had to moderate tone after recognizing that, although the Court of Auditors does not have the “final word”, its reservations are binding in the sense of raising the political responsibility of the executive: if the government decides to move forward without satisfying its objections, the Court will register the reservations and send them to Parliament, leaving an official record of the risks, including legal, budgetary and procedural ones. Continue without permissions. This warning is especially important given the possibility of future litigation promoted by groups opposed to the work. Still, the law allows the government go ahead even without the full endorsement of the institution, a path that Meloni and Salvini do not rule out, although aware that putting maximum pressure on the Court could open an institutional fracture that is difficult to manage and increase the likelihood that the courts will overthrow the project in later phases. The figures and the promises. The bridge 3.7 kilometers It is not just an infrastructure: it is a political symbol. Salvini presents it as a public work most important in the worldcapable of regenerating southern Italy, generating more than 36,000 jobs, stimulating economic growth of more than 23 billion euros and reducing crossing times across the Strait ten minutes away. But these arguments compete with other factors: its cost has escalated from the 3.8 billion expected in 2005. up to 13.5 billion current, and the Sicilian railway routes remain precarious. Furthermore, the local population asks before improvements in internal mobility that an iconic megaproject and the seismic risks of the Strait, one of the most active points in the Mediterranean, still lack a fully convincing technical response. For Salvini, however, abandoning the project would mean accepting a decline in his influence within the Italian right, especially at a time when Meloni dominates the political scene and his own bases are looking for evidence that he retains capacity. The technical fissures. The decision of the Court of Auditors was based on concrete elements: missing or poorly presented documentation, procedural shortcuts, inconsistencies between old figures and current projections, doubts about compliance with European procurement standards and an environmental file that, according to the judgesis based on claims of “imperative public interest” without the required technical support. The institution denounced that part of the essential documents They weren’t even pointed out. by the ministry, forcing the magistrates themselves to identify them. In parallel, the ministry’s technicians had warned Salvini months before that the precipitation could lead to exactly this scenario. The minister decided move forward anywayaware that delaying the process would have meant admitting that the work schedule set for the end of the year was impossible to meet. That political obstinacy is now turning against him, in the form of doubts about his ability to manage such a monumental project. The labyrinth of the contest. The most explosive element for the immediate future of the bridge is the question of the tender. Salvini opted to reactivate the contract awarded in 2005 to Eurolink consortiumled by Webuild and accompanied by companies from Spain and Japan, precisely to avoid a new contest. In 2012, when the project was paralyzed, the consortium demanded 700 million euros in compensation, which it will only withdraw if works resume. But the judges have pointed out that financial changes and uncertainty about the updated cost could force a new tender, which would delay the work for years, perhaps more than a decade. Environmental objections. The government tried to shield the project with a document that proclaimed reasons of public interest imperative to overcome environmental obstacles, but the Court of Accounts he replied that these justifications lack solid technical support and do not adequately detail the impact on extremely sensitive coastal and marine areas. Thus we arrive at the executive’s attempt to present the bridge as an infrastructure of strategic value. for NATO (arguing that it would facilitate rapid movement of troops in the central Mediterranean), an idea that was welcomed with skepticism and even irony: for regional experts, the bridge would be “at most a military objective,” not an operational tool. The use of international security as an … Read more

The “military” returns, this time voluntary

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In Varces-Alliéres-et-Rissetbefore the troops, with a solemn tone and a large French flag behind. President Enmanuel Macron took care of the staging on Thursday to make a particularly delicate announcement: the return of military service. The famous ‘military’ will return in 2026 as a ten-month voluntary benefit aimed primarily at boys and girls between 18 and 19 years old, although from the Elysée it is not hidden that, if circumstances demanded it, Parliament could give the green light “exceptional” to mandatory recruitment. France it is not the first country European Union that is moving in that direction while looking askance at the “threat” of an emboldened Russia in Ukraine. The military arrives (with nuances). France will activate a new ‘military’although with nuances. During an act held at an infantry base near Grenoble, Macron announced on Thursday that in mid-206 the country will launch a “military service” that will be implemented gradually. It will be voluntary, it is designed for young people aged 18 and 19 and will last 10 months. During this period, recruits will receive a pay of between 900 and 1,000 euros per month, in addition to maintenance, accommodation and a discount for train travel. Also the promise that they will be deployed only in the “national territory”. One figure: 3,000. This is the number of young people that France hopes to mobilize in the first stage of its new military, although the idea is that this number will grow gradually: from the initial 3,000 it would rise to 10,000 in 2030 and, “depending on the threat”, to 50,000 in 2035. Once they finish their training, the recruits will have to decide whether to return to civilian life, join the reserves or pursue a career in the armed forces, which would allow the country to gain military muscle. Right now France has some 200,000 troops active military and 47,000 reservists. The objective, clarify Guardianis that these figures will increase to 210,000 and 80,000 by 2030. Achieving this will not come cheap for the country. There are those who point out that the plan will cost around 2 billion eurosan expense that the president considers “a necessary effort”. They look at the 90s. Macron’s announcement comes after the failure of the Universal National Service (SNU), introduced years ago, and almost three decades after the end of the mandatory military service in France. The Government abolished it in 1996, during the time of Jacques Chirac and at a time when the end of the USSR and the Cold War made it “unnecessary”, in words by Macron. The truth is that the idea of ​​recovering some kind of military service has been kicking during the last few years in the country, although it has gained relevance since 2022, with the war in Ukraine. “A threat”. “France cannot sit idly by,” claims Macron, who insists the new plan is “inspired by the practices of our European partners at a time when all our European allies are moving forward in response to a threat that weighs on us all.” His announcement comes after General Fabien Mandon, head of the French armed forces, generated stir by ensuring that France lacks “strength of character to accept suffering to protect what we are” and “accept the loss of its children.” “We must dispel any confusing notions that suggest we are sending our young people to Ukraine,” rushed to clarify Macron. Why now? Words and details matter, but above all, context matters. Macron’s announcement comes in a scenario marked by three major factors. The first, key, are the tensions between Europe and Russia, with the war in Ukraine at the center of the board. The second, the doubts thrown at the time by Trump about the US role in NATO. For decades one of the keys to European security was precisely Washington’s defense guarantee. The third factor, crucial and directly related to the previous one, is the increase in military spending on the continent, driven from within NATO itself. The objective on the table in fact is to allocate to defense 5% of GDP. Beyond France. That France is betting on the military (even if it is a voluntary one, lasting only 10 months and with the commitment that the participants will be deployed only on national missions) is news in itself, but it is even more so if it is put into the European context. Paris is not the first to move in that direction. Germany want to activate a voluntary service, Belgium is sending thousands of letters to their teenagers to enlist, Denmark has begun to recruit women and Lithuania or Latvia They have already made similar decisions. In France Macron has public opinion in his favor. Surveys like is disclosed by the BBC show that the majority of citizens are in favor of voluntary military service. To be more precise, an Elabe survey concluded that 73% of the country views him favorably. The group in which the optional ‘military’ generates the most suspicion is that of young people between 25 and 34 years old (directly affected), but even among them the support is majority, 60%. What has generated less consensus in the country is the salary announced by the Executive for volunteer soldiers, between 900 and 1,000 euros per month, a figure that, criticizes Rebellious Franceis “well below the minimum wage.” Images | Lucas Lemoine (Unsplash) and Elysium In Xataka | Germany has wondered how it might respond to an invasion. And he has found the answer in Taiwan: underground

Gibraltar airport was born as a British military bastion. Now Spain has imposed a veto that will be very expensive

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Since its construction during the Second World War on the narrow strip that separates the Rock from the isthmus, the Gibraltar airport It has been much more than a landing strip: an RAF military enclave, a nerve center for British logistics in the Mediterranean and, at the same time, a constant source of diplomatic friction with Spain. Today, and after Brexit, that old tension resurfaces in new forms. More restrictions. The United Kingdom has confirmed that the restrictions imposed by Spain on the overflight of British military aircraft remain in force, affecting flights arriving or departing from the Royal Air Force (RAF) air base in Gibraltar. Despite this, the British Ministry of Defense insists that the measure has no operational impact and that the base continues to operate as a sovereign military airfield under full authority of the United Kingdom. So he reiterated it Under Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, Alistair Carns, in response to a series of parliamentary questions posed by Liberal Democrat MP Helen Maguire, who asked for clarification on the logistical and financial consequences of this situation. Carns claimed that RAF aircraft simply They trace alternative routes to avoid Spanish territorial airspace, in accordance with the restrictions imposed by Madrid, and that Gibraltar’s operational capacity has not been compromised. The big doubt. Nevertheless, admitted that no formal study has been carried out on the economic costs derived from diverting flights through other international air information regions, despite the increase in fuel costs and flight time that this implies. The dimension of the blockade. The debate about the military overflights reflects a historical conflict between London and Madrid that has survived all diplomatic stages, from the Cold War to Brexit. Spain, relying on international law and its claim of sovereignty over Gibraltar, maintains that all British military activity in the area must comply with its air traffic rules. For the Spanish Government, overflight restrictions are not a sanction, but a legitimate expression of its jurisdiction over the airspace it considers its own. An RAF Hawk at the airport What do the English say? From the British perspective, however, these limitations are a inheritance of tensions that surround the sovereignty of the Rock and a technical rather than political obstacle. In the Westminster Parliament, the issue continues to be a recurring theme, periodically reactivated by particularly combative deputies who see every Spanish gesture as a threat to the British integrity of the enclave. To them, successive governments of the United Kingdom have always responded in the same way: reaffirming their full sovereignty over Gibraltar and the right of its inhabitants to self-determination, without opening any loophole for territorial negotiations with Spain. A Lockheed Hudson of No. 233 Squadron RAF lands at Gibraltar in August 1942 Gibraltar after Brexit. Brexit introduced a new framework of relations that fully affected Gibraltar’s position. After months of negotiationSpain, the United Kingdom and the European Commission reached an agreement that established a joint system customs and border control. Under this pact, Spain will assume controls on the European side at the Peñón port and airport, which will allow more fluid transit to destinations within the European Union. However, the military issue was left out of those understandings. The Liberal Democrat Helen Maguire brought this sensitive point back to the table by asking whether the impact of restrictions Spanish reports on the operations and costs of the British Ministry of Defence. Carns’ response was blunt: air limitations continue, aircraft avoid Spanish space and the base maintains its sovereign status. But, as we said before, the absence of an official calculation on additional spending reflects political will to publicly minimize any consequences derived from the dispute, preserving the narrative of autonomy and absolute control over Gibraltar. Strategic impact. Although London maintains that the Spanish veto does not interfere In its operational freedom, the diversion of military routes involves a considerable logistical effort. Instead of crossing the Iberian Peninsula, aircraft must border it by the Atlanticprolonging the journeys from the British Isles to Gibraltar and complicating supply at a point of strategic value for British operations in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The RAF base in Gibraltar, next to the port used by the Royal Navy, constitutes an essential axis for surveillance, supply and military transit missions to Africa and the Middle East. The United Kingdom has not revealed figures on the economic impact of the diversions, but parliamentary sources acknowledge that fuel and planning costs are inevitable, especially in rapid deployment exercises or emergencies. Even so, the Ministry of Defense avoid recognizing officially these damages, aware that admitting them would imply granting Spain a political advantage in a matter where each diplomatic gesture has symbolic weight. A geopolitical symbol. If you also want, the conflict over Gibraltar’s airspace condenses centuries of friction between both nations and is projected as a microdemonstration of the balance of power in the Mediterranean. A pesar de los acuerdos pos-Brexit y de la cooperación en materia fronteriza y económica, la defensa del Peñón continúa siendo un terreno de maximum political sensitivity. The RAF base and the port of Gibraltar are more than simple military infrastructure: they represent the last vestige of British projection in southern Europe, a symbolic platform of sovereignty in disputed territory. The Spanish restrictions They do not prevent the operation of that presence, but they require a constant effort of logistical adaptation and a careful diplomatic balance. In this context, the United Kingdom maintains its usual line: denying any operational impact and reaffirming that Gibraltar continues to be, both in the air and on land, an unbreakable piece of its strategic identity. Image | Dicklyon, Harry Mitchell In Xataka | The Strait of Gibraltar was very different eight million years ago. So different that there were two In Xataka | In World War II, Hitler gave Spain the keys to Gibraltar. He did not have what Franco demanded in return

With half of Europe debating recovering the military, in Spain there is a phenomenon that is gaining strength: military camps for young people

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Moncloa has said it clearly: (at least today) there is no question of following in the footsteps of other neighboring nations, like germanyand recover military service. Not even on a voluntary basis. That does not mean that in Spain there is a type of initiative that is gaining strength: youth camps that emulate (in part) the old ‘military’ and promise a cocktail based on military discipline, sport, nature and survival lessons worthy of the preppers. And that tells us a lot about Spanish society. A percentage: 42% a few months ago a YouGov study generated debate with a percentage: 42%. According to their calculations, that is the proportion of Spaniards who welcome young people having to undergo compulsory military service, the old ‘mili’a benefit that disappeared in our country almost 24 years ago. The percentage is lower that of other neighboring nations, such as France (68%), Germany (58%) or Italy (49%) and also reveals that there are 58% of Spaniards who either oppose the return of the ‘military’ or do not have a firm opinion on the matter; but it yields another reading that is equally unquestionable: there is a considerable number of Spaniards (especially among the conservative party voters and older citizens) who are recognized in favor of compulsory military training. Don’t say military, say camp. Today the Government he doesn’t seem very willing to recover the military (Pedro Sánchez came to admit which for him was “a waste of time”), but that does not mean that there are initiatives and businesses that are prospering in the heat of this renewed military push. I confirmed it a few days ago The Confidential in a report in which he puts the thermometer to the interest that camps with military echoes are awakening in our country. There are two pieces of information that corroborate this. According to the newspaperright now these courses mobilize more than 2,000 young people each summer and account for around 5% of the turnover of the summer camp sector, a wide range that includes urban camps and those oriented to languages ​​and sciences. It may not seem like much, but a decade ago they barely existed. “Detect weak points”. A quick Google search is enough to find military camps in Madrid, Castile-La Mancha wave Valencian Community. Its activities focus on summer, they give a key role to young people and, although there may be differences Among them, they share a series of ingredients: uniforms, nature, sport, a discourse very focused on discipline and training in basic notions aimed at survival, which includes everything from lessons to orient yourself with the help of a compass to how to stop bleeding. In some the equation even adds weapons airsoft. “Our camp is military, not military. We are not the entrance hall to the army nor do we prepare young people to enter any other body such as the National Police or the Civil Guard,” explains José Gómeza 54-year-old former military man who has promoted a summer camp in Sigüenza aimed at young people. “It seeks to detect each person’s weak points and help them improve.” The bet doesn’t go badly at all. It started four years ago with just 14 children and in the last edition it exceeded 200. “In a week the kids leave here hardened.” “15 days do not change life”. The camps stand out for their discipline and “values ​​such as loyalty, sacrifice and teamwork”, such as stands out the person responsible for one of these facilities. Not everyone shares his optimism, however. In 2024 elDiario.es echoed from the opinion of some experts who questioned its effectiveness for parents seeking to instill discipline in their children. “You shouldn’t think that taking (a child) to a camp that works at the drop of a hat is going to give him back changed. 15 days doesn’t change anyone’s life,” reflected Mónica Nadal, from the Bofill Foundation. The Youth Institute (Injuve) also has shown his suspicion before this type of camps. Does it only happen in Spain? No. In fact there are other countries in which military camps for youth have been established for some time, such as USA, Russia either China. Again the details may vary, but there are certain elements in common, such as discipline, paramilitary echoes and patriotic discourse. The phenomenon is not foreign to Europe either and goes beyond young people. In the midst of the debate on the increase of defense spendingwith the war in Ukraine as a backdrop, an emboldened Putin and Trump sowing doubts about the future of the US in NATO, in the EU there are countries that have reopened the debate about the military or they have directly begun to recover it. One of the last has been Germany, which has reinforced its Armed Forces with a voluntary military service. The example of Denmark. Denmark leaves another interesting example. There the National Guard (Hjemmeværnet or HJV) is experiencing a real boom, with recruitment data that has not been seen since the 80s, in the middle of the Cold War. During the first trimester something more than 1,700 Danes They filled out and confirmed the form to register in this body made up of volunteers trained to intervene in an emergency and provide support to the country’s army. As a reference, during the first quarter of 2024, just over 1,000 had registered and in 2023 the figure did not even reach 700. The members of the HJV are volunteers, people who in their daily lives work in offices, stores, factories, schools… but receive training to, for example, collaborate during surveillance work, searches or in weather emergencies. With the focus on Gen Z. The phenomenon does not only coincide with a turbulent geopolitical scenario. As pointed out recently Elisabeth Braw in a column of Financial Timesalso connects with some obsessions of the youngest cohort, precisely the one that is now reaching recruitment age. “An epidemic of loneliness and Generation Z’s obsession with physical exercise could help Western countries strengthen civil defense,” … Read more

It’s just what the military power wanted

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We are experiencing a very well-funded nuclear renaissance thanks to the small modular reactors (SMR). The recent agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom to build 20 of these mini-reactors is just the tip of the iceberg. Companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft They have bet on them. They are said to be faster to build, more flexible, cheaper, and vital to decarbonizing the grid. But the numbers don’t quite add up. There is a cat trapped. As researchers from the University of Sussex point out in an analysis for The ConversationSMRs are not only “the most expensive source per kilowatt of electricity generated” when compared to natural gas, traditional nuclear and, above all, renewables. Many designs have not yet left Power Point. So, if they are not the best or the cheapest option, if the majority of designs have not been commercially built anywhere in the world, why this political and financial boom? The answer has little to do with the electricity bill and a lot to do with military power. Subsidies. The markets already know all this: they support SMRs because they are a way to take advantage of billions of dollars in government subsidies. The factor that is ignored in almost all energy debates is the military’s dependence on the civilian nuclear industry. Maintaining a nuclear weapons program or a nuclear-powered submarine armada requires constant access to reactor technologies, specific materials and, most importantly, highly qualified personnel. Without a civilian nuclear industry, supporting this military capability becomes astronomically more expensive. Submarines. The United States operates 66 nuclear submarines; the UK has nine. These vessels require a robust national and nuclear industrial base. This is where a company like the British Rolls-Royce becomes the key player: it already builds the reactors for British submarines and is ready to build the new civil SMRs. Rolls-Royce he openly admitted it in 2017: a civilian SMR program would “free the Ministry of Defense from the burden of developing and retaining skills and capability.” With a strong industry, military costs are “masked” under civilian programs. Thus, the money to maintain the submarine fleet does not come entirely from defense budgets, but from energy budgets, paid for by taxpayers and consumers through higher electricity bills. A global pattern. In the United States, the Pentagon sees mini nuclear reactors as an essential part of its future energy strategy on the battlefieldas well as space infrastructure and the development of new high-energy weapons, such as anti-drone and anti-missile laser systems. But the military push of the SMR is not exclusive to the Anglo-Saxon world. It is the modus operandi of all nuclear powers. In China and Russia they do not even hide the inseparable links between its civil and military programs. And in France, President Emmanuel Macron put it bluntly: “without civil nuclear energy, there is no military nuclear energy; without military nuclear energy, there is no civil nuclear energy.” And the renewable ones? The irony of this matter is a letter that has just been published Guardian signed by retired senior European military commanders. It is a letter in favor of investment in renewable energies coming out of the Defense budgets. These former NATO leaders argue that the climate crisis is a threat to national security. They maintain that investing in solar and wind energy would make us more resistant to threats from aggressor countries like Russia. “We must end our dependence on foreign oil and gas,” they write. “A dependence on fossil fuels makes our countries less safe.” Energy sovereignty, after all, is a matter of national security. Image | Rolls-Royce In Xataka | The reason why China is winning the nuclear race: it takes half as long to build and costs six times less

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