Warships from the three countries will run drills to ensure maritime security
Ships of the Russian, Chinese and Iranian navies are holding a joint exercise in the Arabian Sea this week, staging from the port of Chah Bahar in the Gulf of Oman.
The wargames, dubbed “Maritime Security Belt,” are scheduled to run between March 12 and March 15 and involve vessels and aircraft from the three countries. Envoys from the militaries of Azerbaijan, India, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan and South Africa are in attendance as observers.
“The practical part of the exercise will take place in the waters of the Arabian Sea, specifically the Gulf of Oman,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday. “The main purpose of the maneuvers is to ensure the safety of maritime economic activities.”
Two ships of the Pacific Fleet, the Slava-class guided missile cruiser Varyag and the Udaloy-class frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov, make up the Russian contingent at the exercise.....more below
https://www.rt.com/news/594107-ryssia-china-iran-naval-drills/
China has suspended several 2025 export controls on strategic materials — including rare earths, superhard materials, and lithium batteries – for a year. Is this a concession to the US, or a move in a far more complex game?
"The first aim of China’s export controls was to consolidate its leverage in negotiations. The second was to establish a long-term framework for managing such controls," says Yana Leksyutina, deputy director at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
Сhina could activate this mechanism at any moment, and now everyone knows it’s a lever it holds, she explains to Sputnik.
Balancing the Mineral Market
"The moratorium on export bans to the US essentially resets the rare earth market to where it was previously," Jeff J. Brown, author of 'The China Trilogy' and founder of Seek Truth From Facts Foundation, tells Sputnik.
In the meantime, there will be a global rush by the US and its NATO allies to acquire as many rare earth ...
The Israeli regime has reportedly signed contracts worth millions of dollars in recent months to sway American public opinion as part of attempts to launder the occupying entity’s genocidal war crimes against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that the multimillion-dollar campaign aimed to reshape US public opinion, both online and offline, through coordinated influence operations combining digital marketing, AI, geotagging, and religious messaging.
The contracts, signed between the Israeli regime and firms linked to US President Donald Trump, reveal a “hasbara [propaganda] campaign” and schemes to target millions of US churchgoers, deploy bots, hire influencers, and try to make ChatGPT more pro-Israel.
The largest contract, worth $6 million, was signed with Clock Tower X, owned by Trump’s former digital campaign chief Brad Parscale, to produce and distribute roughly 100 core pieces of pro-Israel content per month and thousands......
