surrounded

China surrounded an enclave with robots. Now they have been given a rifle to shoot at 100 meters, and the result points to an island

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China has been leaving increasingly explicit clues about how it imagines future conflicts. In 2025, PLA maneuvers included island assault exercises minors using ground robots and unmanned systems, a sign that Beijing is no longer testing only classic amphibious crossings, but scenarios where machines make way before soldiers. Those practices marked a clear direction: Combat automation was no longer a distant theory, but something China was beginning to test on the ground. Now he has amplified it. Drones with rifle. China has made a qualitative leap in the use of combat drones by demonstrating that a UAV armed with a standard assault rifle can be 100% right of his shots against a human target at 100 meters while remaining in hover. The system, developed by a Chinese company together with the PLA special operations academy, fired 20 times and placed half of the hits in a comparable radius. a shot to the heada result that makes it clear that these are no longer experimental platforms but rather precision weapons ready for real environments. Extra ball. It does not seem like a specific experiment or a laboratory demonstration: the team itself has explained that the only “imperfect” shot was due defective ammunitionnot the system, making this test an unmistakable sign of where Chinese combat power is headed. Taiwan and a problem. This progress cannot be understood without the Taiwan backdropone of the most urbanized territories on the planet, where any military operation would require fighting in dense megacities, full of civilians, underground infrastructure and narrow streets that neutralize many traditional advantages. For the PLA, the challenge is not just cross the seabut to dominate neighborhoods, subway stations and residential complexes where human infantry suffer enormous political and military costs. The Chinese response to this dilemma is neither doctrinal nor moral, but technical: dealing with urban warfare as an engineering problem which can be solved by delegating violence to machines capable of moving, identifying targets and shooting without fatigue or fear. A bet. In fact, recalled in The Diplomat that the essay of the armed drone fits into the third major phase of Chinese military modernization, the so-called “intelligentization,” which seeks to replace human decisions with distributed artificial intelligence systems. Having mechanized and digitized its forces, the PLA now aims to delegate key functions (detection, prioritization and attack) to algorithms that operate faster than any human chain of command. In this framework, a drone with a rifle is not a curiosity, but rather an elemental piece of an ecosystem where sensors, weapons and software act in a coordinated manner, reducing the role of the soldier. to a mere initial authorizer or, in the extreme, eliminating him from decision-making altogether. Swarms in alleys. There is much more, because the medium stood out documents and studies linked to Chinese military universities that reveal that the target is not individual drones, but autonomous swarms specifically designed for urban warfare. These systems are designed to operate at low altitudes, inside buildings, indoors and underground, even when communications are degraded or non-existent. Through simple rules and self-organization, swarms They could patrol areastrack people and execute attacks without receiving orders in real time, a solution that the PLA consider ideal to neutralize defenses in cities such as Taipei or Kaohsiung and to eliminate key objectives before external forces can intervene. The gray area of ​​legality. The technological bet is accompanied by a legal position deliberately ambiguous by Beijing on lethal autonomous weapons. As? Defining as unacceptable Only those systems that simultaneously meet a series of very strict criteria, China leaves itself a wide margin to develop weapons capable of killing without direct human supervision, as long as they can be stopped in theory or follow pre-programmed rules. This ambiguity, they say, contrasts with documented risks of AI in combat (identification errors, inability to interpret human intentions, data biases) and makes it easier for research to advance without clear regulatory brakes. The future that is being tested today. In short, the drone that shoot with surgical precision at 100 meters is not an anecdote, but tangible proof of where the Beijing strategy: move the war to the heart of the city and delegate it to machines. There is no doubt that if this model is applied in a conflict such as Taiwan, the combination of autonomous swarms, integrated light weapons and decisions without human intervention could multiply the risk for civilians and reduce the political thresholds for the use of force. From that prism, what is presented today as a technical experiment is, in reality, a most disturbing preview: that of an urban war where the alleys are no longer patrolled by soldiers, but by armed robots that will never ask questions. Image | Heeheemalu In Xataka | The biggest geopolitical risk on the planet is not Greenland. It’s a smaller island with a disturbing neighbor: Taiwan In Xataka | 200 drones in the hands of a single soldier: China is advancing very quickly in a type of war that seemed like science fiction

Japan has warned China about Taiwan. And China has taken it so seriously that they have surrounded some islands in Japan

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It started a few days ago, when the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, declared before parliament that Chinese aggression against Taiwan could constitute a “survival threat situation”, the legal formula that would allow Tokyo to use force in support of its allies. With his words, he not only broke the “strategic ambiguity” maintained by Japan for decades, he thus opened a Pandora’s box that at this time hangs on a very thin line. The explosion. As we said, the Takaichi gesturewhich broke with decades of caution and “strategic ambiguity” around the Taiwanese issue, was interpreted by Beijing as a direct provocation and a sign that the new Japanese government was willing to align itself more openly with Washington and Taipei in the most sensitive scenario in the Asia-Pacific. The Chinese reaction It was immediate: summoned the Japanese ambassador with unusually harsh language, issued official editorials calling Takaichi’s words “fundamentally evil” and warned that any Japanese intervention would be a failure destined to turn “the entire country into a battlefield.” That aggressive turnmore typical of moments of maximum tension than of routine diplomacy, announced that Beijing was not willing to leave a change of position that affects one of its vital interests unanswered. The military front is activated. While charging politically against Tokyo, China opened a second front in the military terrain. The most “showy”: the arrival of its coast guard ships on a patrol mission within the waters of the Senkaku Islands (administered by Japan but claimed by China like Diaoyu), one more step in a theater where both countries have been competing for years, but whose meaning is different in the midst of a diplomatic clash. Simultaneously, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense detected thirty aircraftseven ships and one official Chinese vessel operating around the island in just 24 hours, with maps showing drones approaching dangerously close to Yonaguni, the Japanese island located just 110 kilometers from the Taiwanese coast. Chinese patrol with the Senkaku in the background The red line. China it takes months combining these “joint patrols” with intrusive flights in the Taiwanese ADIZ as part of a pressure strategy persistent, but do it right after Takaichi’s statements He turned these maneuvers into a message addressed to Tokyo as well as Taipei. For Japan, see military drones Chinese bordering its southernmost islands is a warning that any clash in the Taiwan Strait would have direct repercussions on its territory, a reminder that its security is inexorably linked to the future of the self-governed island. After using water cannon to turn back a flotilla of Taiwanese fishing and coast guard vessels in 2012, the Japanese Coast Guard has shown increasing vigilance in defending the waters surrounding the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. In its territorial claim, Japan’s maritime border covers about 27 kilometers around the archipelago. The economic front. The second line of Chinese response came through economic waya tool that Beijing has perfected in previous disputes with Australia, South Korea or the United States. First issued a travel notice to its citizens warning of the “increased risks” in Japan, then urged reconsider studies in the country, directly affecting more than 123,000 Chinese students registered in Japanese centers, and then allowed the main Chinese airlines will refund free of charge tickets to Japan. This sequence, apparently dispersed, has a crystal clear logic: in a country where Chinese visitors represent nearly a quarter of total tourism, a diplomatic warning is enough to shake an entire sector. The Japanese stock market showed it: Shiseido, Uniqlo, Isetan-Mitsukoshi, Takashimaya and the airlines JAL and ANA suffered drops of between 5 and 12%, while Oriental Land, operator of Tokyo Disney Resort, fell almost 6%. Extra ball. It does not seem, therefore, that we are facing a simple stock market fluctuation, but rather the sign that a giant economic actor can, with a phrase on an official website, compromise vital income for a neighboring country and remind it of the asymmetry of economic power between the two. As I remembered French geopolitical analyst Arnaud Bertrand to put the situation in perspective, from China’s point of view, it is as if Macron officially announced that the French army would militarily defend Catalonia from Spain, just after the anniversary of Napoleon’s defeat and the end of the French occupation of Spain. In other words, a kind of disproportionate provocation if, in addition, we take into account that it occurs shortly after the 80th anniversary of the end of the japanese colonial occupation from Taiwan and Second World War. Sanae Takaichi The political dimension. Beyond tourism and education, Bloomberg told A few hours ago, Beijing allowed accounts affiliated with its media apparatus to announce that it was “fully prepared for substantive retaliation.” The insinuations range from targeted sanctions even trade restrictionssuspension of diplomatic contacts or symbolic military measures, a repertoire that China already applied harshly against South Korea after the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in 2017. That historical reference did not go unnoticed: then, the tourist boycott and the pressure on South Korean companies took away 0.4 points to GDP of the country, a figure strong enough to serve as a warning. For Tokyo, the threat does not come in a vacuum: China is its main business partner and supplier of critical materialsan Achilles heel that Beijing knows and exploits when you need mark limits. However, the Chinese offensive aims beyond Japanese punishment: it also seeks to deter other governments (particularly European) to speak out on Taiwan, after the recent gesture of the EU by welcoming a Taiwanese vice president for the first time in decades. And Taiwan in the center. we have been counting during the year. The element that gives coherence to this crisis is the Taiwanese issue. For Beijing, unification is an imperative political and militaryand any mention of the possibility of Japan intervening constitutes a red line. For Tokyo, geographical proximity turns any Chinese invasion into an existential threat: The fall of Taiwan could place the Chinese navy one step away from the sea … Read more

The founder of WhatsApp thought he lived in luxury. In reality I was surrounded by fakes and trinkets

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The world of millionaires is full of stories of betrayal, disloyalty and fortune hunters who seek to profit from economic tranquility of the 1% of the population whose pulse is not altered by paying 20,000 euros for a chair. Jan Koum, one of the founders of WhatsApp, has recently been the victim of one of these abuses. The millionaire has demanded to the interior designer who decorated a good part of his mansions and their yachts for scamming him with furniture and other decorative objects, which he passed off as luxury pieces, when in reality they were nothing more than crude imitations at best. They also give millionaires a hard time According what was published by the British Dailymail, The co-founder of WhatsApp is immersed in a legal battle with the French interior designer Remi Tessier, accused of selling him counterfeit luxury products and of applying extra costs on the decoration bills for his mansions and superyachts. The dispute arose when Koum discovered that several pieces he purchased through Tessier were simple imitations that neither had the expected quality of a luxury piece nor the price of a piece of junk. The interior designer’s scam ranged from designer furniture to rugs made by hand by artisans with a centuries-old tradition, who later turned out not to be artisans. According to published data by luxurylaunchesthe complaint details that the millionaire paid extra costs of between 10% and 20% on purchases made through his interior designer. An example would be a luxury chair for which the magnate paid 19,550 euros instead of the 12,400 euros it cost in the store, or the 1,731 euros he paid for a glassware set that actually cost just over 1,000 euros. What is even more serious is that the scam by his interior designer was not limited to adding a bite in his favor, the matter escalated when in charge of decorating the interior of his properties he was billed 642,000 euros for a supposed set of pashmina rugs that were supposedly made by hand. As revealed in the documents attached to the lawsuit, the rugs were be fakes Made with low-cost synthetic materials that did not cost even half of what the millionaire paid for them. The lawsuit also revealed somewhat more complex practices to deceive the millionaire. One of them was to transform prices between dollars and euros to benefit from exchange differences. Bites left and right According to collect he New York PostTessier helped decorate five of the millionaire’s homes, and from his studio in Paris, where he employs 15 people, Tessier decorates the homes and yachts of some of the richest people in the world. Among his billionaire clients are names as Larry Ellison and Ken Griffin, who are suspected of having also applied cost overruns showing a “predatory pattern,” as the lawsuit specifies. However, Tessier not only inflated his customers’ invoices, but also demanded commissions from the distributors who provided them with the products. The lawsuit indicates that the French interior designer convinced the millionaire of Ukrainian origin to buy a Picasso valued at 7.8 million dollars. On this occasion, the painting was authentic, as were the $600,000 that Tessier pocketed in a hidden payment from the gallery that sold it and that was never communicated to the millionaire. Jan Koum, has manifested that this lawsuit is not about personal gain, ensuring that any economic recovery will be donated to charities in France. “It’s about protecting others,” said Orin Snyder, Koum’s attorney in this case. According to the British media. Designer Remi Tessier rejected the accusations of fraud, claiming to have acted with respect towards Koum and reproaching the decision to take the matter to trial. “I reject all allegations against me. I have always treated Jan with the utmost respect and protected his privacy. I am surprised he took this action.” In Xataka | A businessman built a mega mansion without permission: the neighbors have gotten the city council to demolish it Image | Flickr (Hubert Burda Media), Unsplash (Kam Idris)

A surrounded soldier, a drone and a bicycle have turned a ransom in the most surprising scene of the war in Ukraine

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In Ukraine they had given themselves Moments that possibly They will be remembered at the end of the contest for the advance of the Wars of the future. One day the machines captured and they made prisoners Without human help, another, drones took a completely autonomous attack taking off from mobile houses. However, few scenarios can give both themselves and the one that occurred this week with a Ukrainian soldier caught in battle. An impossible rescue. Yes, the dramatic rescue of the Ukrainian soldier “Tankist”, surrounded by Russian and isolated troops For five days Behind the enemy lines, it offers a clear advance of how rescue operations are mutating before drone omnipresence and the impossibility of applying classical methods. The operation, conducted by the Rubizh Battalion of the National Guard, consisted of sending a 40 kilos electric bicycle Through a drone large to allow its flight. The mission. Apparently, the first two attempts They failed: one because the drone was shot down and another because the bicycle resulted Too heavy For transport. Finally, in a third effort, the vehicle reached its hands and Tankist undertook the escape, although a few meters after it detonated a land mine that fortunately alone It caused injuries minors Even so, he managed to continue until he reached a safe area thanks to a new bicycle launched by another drone and was finally rescued by his teammates. The episode, registered in a video Of sixteen minutes, it reflects both despair and inventiveness on a front where each meter is exposed to air and air ambush. The emergence of mobility. The case is also not isolated: the use of drones For evacuations doctors or fighter extractions He has shot In the last eighteen months, driven by the proliferation of short -range meloding ammunition that make human rescue teams. Both Ukrainians and Russians increasingly resort to Non -manned land vehicles To move injured, transport supplies or open escape routes under constant fire. The lethal risk combination, airspace saturation and mobility limitations has generated an unprecedented dependence on these technologies, in many cases improvised but effective. The example. This trend has extended even to civil areas. For example, he counted recently The New York Times The recent case of a farmer in China who was saved from floods thanks to An agricultural droneconfirming that rescue robotization is already a reality beyond war. The time factor. In this context, the speed is decisive. Health professionals stand out The “Golden Time”those first sixty minutes after a serious injury in which the life or death of the fighter is decided. Each delay implies an irreversible risk, and in scenarios where enemy fire prevents the intervention of traditional equipment, drones offer only viable option. The ability to deliver a light mobility means, such as Electric bicycles of the rescue, demonstrates how technology is redefining the Auto-Rescate conceptallowing the fighter to move to areas where extraction is less risky or possible. The soldier’s scene undertaking the escape by bicycle under the surveillance of his classmates through recognition drones seems taken from a science fiction movie, but is already part of the day -to -day life of the forces in Ukraine. Strategic implications. In fact, even the pentagon has Taken note of these transformations. In future scenarios, such as a hypothetical conflict in the Pacific, classical air rescue operations with helicopters could become unfeasible Due to the enormous distances and the dense anti -aircraft networks of the adversaries. Not even a poaching hunting could survive in certain environments, much less a slow helicopter loaded with rescuers. Hence they are studied New formulas Self-rescate based on air and terrestrial drones, light electric vehicles or even non-manned aircraft specifically designed to extract injured without risking more soldiers. In short, what happened With Tankist It is, in reality, a rudimentary version of these strategies: a tangible look at a future where the survival of a combatant will depend on both its ability to resist and the availability of autonomous technologies that connect it with salvation. Image | Rubizh 4th Brigade NGU In Xataka | Ukraine has turned drones into armed soldiers against Russia. It is no longer necessary to “sacrifice them” because they carry launched In Xataka | Ukraine has become a combat drones school. Even the Mexico Cartel has infiltrated classes

China has surrounded the island of Taiwan again. The problem is that we now know the US response if there is an invasion

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China lo has done againand this time he has a very clear recipient. Beijing has started Your second day of large -scale military exercises around Taiwan. The number of troops and the enormity of the fleet that is currently in the area is a direct response to The statements From the Taiwanese president, Lai Ching-Te, who had defined China as a “hostile foreign force” announcing measures to counteract the interference and espionage of Beijing. The problem: A document He has revealed what the US response would be. A warning. According to the spokesman The popular liberation army, the maneuvers that are currently taking place simulate the total control of the island, including maritime blocks, attacks on land and sea objectives, and control of strategic routes. As we said, this time, unlike other exercises, China made it clear that the operation It is a “punishment” Against the independence positions of LAI, who belongs to the Democratic Progressive Party and denies that Taiwan is part of China. Without crossing lines. A few hours ago, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense reported that, only on Tuesday, they were registered 71 air incursions and the presence of 21 ships, including Shandong aircraft carrier, which operated in the vicinity of Taiwan. It should also be clarified that although none of these elements violated the limit of 24 nautical miles established by Taiwan’s adjoining zone, experts consider that maneuvers seek to raise psychological and military pressure on the island. In addition, the China Coast Guard patrol Islands controlled by Taipéithus increasing the sensation of fence. Specialists like Chieh Chung and his Tzu-Yun They pointed to New York Times That, although the military exhibition is “intimidating”, it seems calculated to avoid a direct escalation. Dual message. Although China frames these maneuvers as a reaction to Lai’s wordsanalysts consider that the message is also addressed to another nation: United States. As we have counted before, the Government of Lai has strengthened links With Washington, promising to increase military spending to More than 3% of GDP to maintain deterrence against Beijing. In parallel, the United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegesh, reaffirmed from Japan The American commitment With stability and defense in the Taiwan Strait, highlighting the strategic priority of preventing a forced taking of the island. In this context, China seeks, According to Amanda Hsiao and Wen-Ti Sungdemonstrate firmness before Trump’s government Without completely closing The door to the de -escalated, especially when commercial tensions persist and new US rates against Chinese products persist. However, as we said at the beginning, we now also know Washington’s response if tensions go more. Pentagon secret guide. I told the weekend in a Exclusive Washington Post. Secretary of Defense Hegesh had issued a secret guide that redefines the strategic priorities of the pentagon, almost exclusively focusing military preparation on Taiwan’s defense Before a possible attack by China and in the protection of the US territory, even at the expense of reducing its global presence. Said document, called Interim National Defense Strategic Guidancedistributed in March and classified as “secret”, instructs the Armed Forces to “assume risks” in other regions such as Europe, the Middle East and Africa, delegating much of the responsibility of facing regional threats such as Russia, Iran or North Korea. The strategy leaves no doubt: it orders the Pentagon to redirect its resources to prevent China from achieving a rapid occupation of Taiwan and strengthening the defense of strategic places in the American continent, Like Greenland and The Panama Canal. Absolute priority: a single scenario. The new orientation revealed marks a radical turn with respect to previous administrations by identifying China as the only strategic threat (“Pacing Threat”) and Taiwan’s defense as the only scenario that guides the structure of forces and the allocation of resources. In fact, the strategy Discard Russia As the main focus of planning, delegating its containment almost completely to the European forces. Plus: The anti -terrorist missions would be limited to face groups with the ability and will to attack US territory, relegating operations against militias that only destabilize their own regions. Exercises in Taiwan The Heritage Foundation report. It is the germ of the memo to which the post has had access. The document carries the fingerprint of The Heritage Foundation, a closely Think Tank Tank Linked to the Trump Administration. Moreover, the post that there are many passages that are practically identical to the Heritage report published in 2024centered on three axes: deterrence of the Chinese invasion of Taiwan, defense of the US territory and increased the military burden of the allies. Even Alexander Velez-Green, co-author of the Heritage report, currently occupies An interim key position In the Pentagon. The similarity, in fact, has already been recognized by Congress advisors, who consider that the guide is directly inspired by the recommendations of the Think Tank, which confirms The growing influence of Heritage in the American defense policy. Deployment and pressure. The magnitude of the brief is understood in figures. The plan orders to strengthen the Military presence in the Indo-Pacific With submarines, bombers, naval drones and specialized units capable of destroying fortified and underground objectives, while demanding Taiwan to increase their military spending up to 10% of GDPwell above the current levels and NATO standards. At the same time and as we said, the Atlantic Alliance is urged to assume most of the defense of Europe, leaving the United States only the role of nuclear deterrence and limited support, especially if there is a simultaneous war with China. What does Taiwan say. He counted the post A few hours ago, the Taiwanese government and analysts have received the leak of the memo with relief, although that yes, with surprise that the Trump administration has placed as the highest military priority the deterrence of a possible Chinese invasion to Taiwan. The measure, in addition, comes after months of restlessness in Taipéi for the policy of “America First” and the weakening of international commitments, including the suspension of Military assistance to Ukrainewhich made the United … Read more

Tonight we have a moon eclipse and with him a phenomenon surrounded by panic and superstitions: the “blood moon”

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An eclipse occurs when an astronomical body blocks another. The effect is usually the total or partial darkening of this second body. However, in some lunar eclipses, the shadow projected by the earth does not completely obscure the satellite but “dye” red. They are blood moons, and this morning we may have the opportunity to see one. Eclipse. This morning A total moon eclipse will occur which will carry the so -called “blood moon”, a darkening and redness of our satellite caused by the transit of the earth between this and the sun. The total eclipse will be visible throughout Latin America and can also be seen from the center and western the Iberian Peninsula and from the Canary Islands. The rest of the Spanish territory can only see an eclipse Penumbral de Luna. The gloom will begin to obscure the moon in Spain Around 5 in the morningPeninsular time (CET), but the partial eclipse will not begin until after 6 in the morning. The eclipse will reach the totality at 07:26 CET, at which time the moon will also be reddened in its path after the earth. Blood moon? This is the phenomenon known as Blood moon and it is common in lunar eclipses. Although it may seem contradictory, this color change is produced by the same phenomenon that gives blue to our heavens. Let’s start with the most basic. The moon lighting is because it reflects sunlight. The light that emanates the sun, although we associate it with yellowish or orange tones is, in reality, white. This target is actually the result of the fact that the sun emits light in a wide range of frequencies in the visible spectrum, whose sum generates white light. This fan of colors is what we can see in the rainbow or when we pass sunlight through a prism. Guilt of the atmosphere. When this white and multicolored light reaches the terrestrial atmosphere, This breaks it down as if it were a prism. The blue light, with a shorter wavelength, tends to spread when crossing with the gases of the atmosphere, bouncing and reaching our perspective as if it arrived from the sky. However, the longest wavelengths, reddish tones, They blur to a lesser extent and continue on their way. This makes the shadow of our planet project a kind of reddish ring around. It is this ring is what gives that copper color to the blood moon. This interaction between the solar rays and the atmosphere of our planet is also responsible for the sunrises and sunsets also becoming red. When the sun rises or puts on, its rays must cross a greater portion of atmosphere. This means that when they reach our environment they have lost dispersed the short wavelengths, that is, the blue tones. This leaves only the most reddish tones of these moments of the day. From superstition to science. If eclipses have always been surrounded by mystery and superstitions, the ominous red -dyed moon did not go unnoticed by our ancestors. Different cultures have developed various superstitions and beliefs related to this phenomenon. Today we know the cause of the unique phenomenon. Although the blood moon may have lost this mysticism, its spectacularity can still be appreciated. Preamble of a solar eclipse. Solar eclipses always come from a lunar eclipse that occurs about two weeks before or after this. The eclipse of this morning is one of these dual eclipses. And is that March 29 A partial solar eclipse will be produced that will be visible in part of the northern hemisphere, including Spain. In Xataka | Prepare for the first total lunar eclipse of the year: the main astronomical events of March 2025 and where they will see Image | NASA Scientific Visualization Studio

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