Internet Cables Cut in Middle East

[NorthSideSox72]

It was all over the news, most of you probably saw yesterday, that parts of the Middle East, south Asia and north Africa were all experiencing major internet outages. They theorized it was a cable cut accidentally by a ship anchor. Except, today, another major trunk line was cut - in the Persian Gulf.

 

Kind of an odd coincidental set of events in different places. Makes you wonder.

 

[Gregory Pratt]

Possibly terrorism. Perhaps a "signal" to someone. Likely an accident, but interesting all the same.

 

al-Qaeda has strange ways of signalling things, but I wouldn't guess that's what this is.

[Rex Kickass]

Given that so much of their network is based over internet technology, seems unlikely.

[HuskyCaucasian]

For those of you who dont follow technology to closely, there are many cables that are run under water to connect countries. (Much like connecting North America to Europe or Asia). Well, in the last week, FOUR underwater cables have been mysteriously cut or stopped functioning. These cables carry internet and phone lines.

it was reported today that a FIFTH was cut today. Something is up. 5 cables down in less than 2 weeks??? HIGHLY suspicious.

 

A diagram of the cables via CNET...

Edited February 6, 2008 by Athomeboy_2000

[Harry Chappas]

Anyone else interested in learning about how cables are used to connect the US and Europe?

[Controlled Chaos]

oh s***..it's a firesale!!!!

[southsider2k5]

Look for the terrorists with wetsuits or submarines.

[CanOfCorn]

Did I do that?

 

[santo=dorf]

How long until GWB declares to invade the Atlantic Ocean?

[HuskyCaucasian]

How long until GWB declares to invade the Atlantic Ocean?

You are assuming the US isnt the one cutting the cables....

[Balta1701]

You are assuming the US isnt the one cutting the cables....

You're assuming that if the U.S. was the one cutting the cables Bush wouldn't use that as an excuse to invade something anyway.

[iamshack]

You are assuming the US isnt the one cutting the cables....

 

That wouldn't stop him!

[Texsox]

FlaSoxxJim has trained barracuda's . . .

[FlaSoxxJim]

FlaSoxxJim has trained barracuda's . . .

 

Mutant baracudas. . . very ill-tempered.

 

[Texsox]

Mutant baracudas. . . very ill-tempered.

 

Nicely played

[CanOfCorn]

If only they had frickin' laser beams on their frickin' heads.

[YASNY]

Internet Cables Cut–Prelude to War or Simply A Warning?

February 5, 2008

 

A single undersea fiber-optic cable carrying internet traffic accidentally being cut once in a year’s time is believable. 5 of them however within the span of only a few days resulting in most of the Middle East being left in the informational dark ages cannot be mere happenstance. The odds are too extreme to even contemplate it being anything but a deliberate act of sabotage, and particularly when Israel and US-occupied Iraq happen to be unaffected by it.

 

As of the moment of this writing, 5 internet cables–buried deep beneath the ocean floor to prevent them being accidentally dredged up by a ships’ anchor–have been cut, preventing most of the Middle East from internet access. The cables provide 90% of the region’s internet service and the countries affected most by this are Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran. They have since re-routed to older, slower lines and satellites, but overall internet service is slow and in some cases–particularly Iran, there is no internet service whatsoever.

 

The lines–originating in southern Europe and then snaking their way southward to north Africa and then eastward through the Suez Canal and then on to India are the communication, commerce and technology lifelines for these nations. In a world where everything is dependent upon the internet, from government operations to financial markets the devastating effect this disruption could have on these nations is easy to see.

 

In all the media coverage of this event, it was hinted that possibly an anchor from a ship was the guilty culprit. However, shortly thereafter Egypt released a statement to the effect that video footage of the area where the cuts took place showed no surface ship activity for the previous 12 hours and added that these particular lanes are closed to maritime traffic for the express reason of avoiding damage to the cables. Interestingly, none of the stories covering this event mentioned (or even hinted, for that matter) the words ‘foul play’, and this in an age where everything from global warming to bad breath is blamed on Osama Bin Laden and his merry band of Islamic militants.

 

Besides the everyday issues of news and information services, telephone communications have been severely disrupted and financial markets have suffered as much as a 70% loss in trading activity. It is estimated that the earliest the problem will be fixed is the beginning of the 2nd week in February, as it takes several days for repair ships to reach the areas where the cuts took place.

 

As noted earlier, almost as if by some magical coincidence Israel and US-occupied Iraq have not been affected while these other nations are scrambling to get the lights turned back on, something adding even more reason for raised eyebrows amongst skeptical people.

 

And those suspecting foul play have good reason for doing so. Besides the fact that 5 undersea cables are cut within the span of only a few days, there are strategic reasons for ‘interested parties’ to want to see such an event take place. The countries most affected are all major players in the current goings-on in the Middle East where the US and the Jewish state are up to their eyeballs in skullduggery. The gulf countries were recently visited by George Bush who tried–unsuccessfully–to rally them around support for renewed pressure on a recalcitrant Iran, only to be laughed out of the region. In addition, when asked recently by the US to increase oil output in order to lighten the effects of a downward-spiraling economy, the OPEC nations (some of whom were affected by the cable cut) refused. The Gulf countries in particular are heavily involved with Iran in banking issues at a time when Israel and America are trying through sanctions and other pressures to isolate and economically strangulate the Islamic republic by preventing other nations from doing business with her. The Gulf countries are getting nervous about a steadily-declining dollar to which their own economies are directly linked and are now openly talking about following other nations that have linked their own currencies to something less troublesome such as the Euro. Pakistan–the only nuclear-armed Muslim country, recently gave a resounding ‘Hell-no’ to the prospect of US troops operating on its soil.

 

In short, the deliberate cutting of the internet cables can easily be seen as a shot across the bow by the US/Israeli hydra, a form of low-intensity/covert warfare aimed at destabilizing them and making things uncomfortable, as well as reminding them that if they don’t play ball according to the dictates of the New World Order that ‘accidents’ can happen.

 

There are other possibilities as well. Since it is an established fact that the Jewish state plans on eventually absorbing as much of the oil-rich land in that region as possible for herself in the interests of fulfilling the biblical idea of ‘Greater Israel’, the cutting of the cables could very well have been a dry-run operation in monitoring the affected nations and seeing where their weaknesses lie in the event of war. Communications are as vital to a nation fighting a war as is the eyesight of a prizefighter in the boxing ring, and if sand is thrown in his eyes he can easily be defeated by someone half his size and weight. Likewise with tiny Israel, the ‘David Vs Goliath’ who would gain an enormous advantage in disabling the communications abilities of nations she plans to destroy in the same way she destroyed the communications equipment aboard the USS Liberty when she began her murderous attack in 1967.

 

Whatever the case, the fact is–just as President FDR once noted–that ‘nothing in politics happens by accident’ and ‘whatever takes place does so because someone planned it that way’, and with the case of the mysterious cutting of 5 internet cables within the span of only a few days, someone benefited from it all, and, as usual, surprise surprise, it just so happens to be Israel.

 

2008 By Mark Glenn, Correspondent–American Free Press Newspaper

 

 

 

 

[YASNY]

Mods --- Please delete the above post. I forgot to include the link (I just happened across it) and now I can't find it to edit it in. If I do, I'll repost.

 

Never mind. Here it is

Edited February 7, 2008 by YASNY

[sox4lifeinPA]

that's a lot of porn not being uploaded to the net.

 

wow.

[NorthSideSox72]

It certainly does seem bizarre. Why is it not being more heavily reported? Maybe some of these reports aren't entirely accurate?

 

To me, this has that "signs we should have seen originally" feel to it, if something goes wrong.

 

[Texsox]

Mods --- Please delete the above post. I forgot to include the link (I just happened across it) and now I can't find it to edit it in. If I do, I'll repost.

 

Never mind. Here it is

 

Serious anti-US-Israel bias in the article. Not saying he's wrong, but there is plenty fo scary stuff in there, except that it may be in retailation for high oil prices, I like that. Stop their porn until we have

[YASNY]

Serious anti-US-Israel bias in the article. Not saying he's wrong, but there is plenty fo scary stuff in there, except that it may be in retailation for high oil prices, I like that. Stop their porn until we have

 

Agreed on the bias. It is an intriguing possibility though, and I wouldn't put it past any of them. I still expect us to be at war in Iran before Bush leaves office (if, in fact, he actually does).

[Soxbadger]

Likewise with tiny Israel, the ‘David Vs Goliath’ who would gain an enormous advantage in disabling the communications abilities of nations she plans to destroy in the same way she destroyed the communications equipment aboard the USS Liberty when she began her murderous attack in 1967.

 

Thats a huge bias.

 

Even the biggest conspiracy theorist would have to admit that if there was a conspiracy to attack the USS Liberty, the United States was involved.

 

http://www.nsa.gov/liberty/liber00010.pdf

 

(U) In the first minutes of the air attack the Liberty suffered a complete ll»s of external communications

because of badly damaged radio transmitting equipmenta and antenna systems. In spite of this, emergency restoration of hicom voice capability was completed within minutes. All U.S.S. Liberty communications immediately thereafter were via the hicom voice network

 

The article makes it seem like the communications being destroyed by Israel made it possible to attack Liberty without the US knowing, but thats just not true.

[Mplssoxfan]

I can't find a link, but somewhere on NPR this morning, a gentleman who claimed expertise in this field said that concern about terror (or US involvement) in this case was overblown.

 

A couple of points he made were that , because of corrosion and seismic activity, cables are compromised quite often and that there is a fleet of ships (25, I believe he said) that motor around the globe fixing broken cables. He said that the recent cut cables were a coincidence.

 

I'll try to find the link. It seems that ATC doesn't update their website until the afternoon, nor does the Future Tense feature that I think the story may have run on.

[Texsox]

Agreed on the bias. It is an intriguing possibility though, and I wouldn't put it past any of them. I still expect us to be at war in Iran before Bush leaves office (if, in fact, he actually does).

 

Just because it is biased doesn't mean it is wrong. Suspect, but not wrong. In fact some of the most rapid, crazies know so much they can be right for all the wrong reasons.