Third Undersea Cable Cut

Many readers are reporting that another undersea fiber optic cable has been cut, apparently caused by another wayward anchor. It looks like Iran has completely lost Internet connectivity."

Comments

Third cut?

[Eevee]

Once is accident.

Twice is coincidence.

Thrice is enemy action.

Re:Third cut?

[riseoftheindividual]

If this is the work of our spies, they aren't earning their salary. They're incompetent bastards who should be fired for lacking any type of stealth or subtlety.

How much tech do you really need to cut a cable? It doesn't seem like it would require much in the way of high tech capability. Given that these cables are communication lines carrying western influences into muslim countries, I would say that at this point, we should not rule out militant acts to make a statement about wanting a reduction of western influence.

If this is our spies, this would seem to be a pretty boneheaded execution of tapping lines. But, since they work for the government, we can't rule out boneheadedness. Or just really bizzarre random chance, though that's kind of hard for me personally to swallow at this point.

Re:Third cut?

[rucs_hack]

Sorry to muss your tin hat, but its no accident that all this is happening just after someone made the monumentally stupid decision that boats should anchor in the same area as the cables.

This is more likely down to one of two things, attempted money saving or pointless bureaucracy.

I say this because I have serious doubt that if the US were going to do it, they'd have done it in secret. I'd go for it being done after some threats, or as part of an actual invasion, and I don't see one anywhere, do you? It's not as if this could really stop Iran or anyone conducting war, there are these little things called satellites.

Yes it would disrupt business, but um, what good would that do the US Government? None in the short term, and in the long term the cable would be fixed.

Re:Third cut?

[GnomeThinker]

So, a "Flag official, who declined to be named" reports that a major portion of the Gulf region's communications are being rerouted through the US and UK. It's probably not as fishy as it sounds. I seem to recall a major portion of all Internet traffic at least passes through the US. However, it does make you wonder.

Of course this adds an interesting twist to the NSA wanting to access the 'tubes' that are running through the USA and the big worry that the anti-terrorism battle will be horribly lost if we don't let them sniff every packet that crosses the continent.

Re:Third cut?

[crmarvin42]

I say this because I have serious doubt that if the US were going to do it, they'd have done it in secret.

I'm not a tinfoil hat type, I don't see conspiracy where ever I look, but why would it have to be the US?

Re:Third cut?

[Anonymous Coward]

Now they'll just have to phone/fax Haliburton

Re:Third cut?

[pugugly]

I love how any criticism of the U.S. is always translated as "The US _is_ the source of all evil".

Because y'know, any criticism of temporary policies always indicates a vast, hidden belief structure.

Sigh - Pug

Re:Third cut?

[wurp]

Er, coincidence certainly does exist. Three one-in-a-thousand events have a one-in-a-billion chance of occurring together, completely coincidentally.

I'm not arguing that this particular event is coincidental, but you're being just as blind as your tone implies others are if you think events never coincide just by chance. The important thing is to have some idea of just how unlikely it is for obviously related events to coincide. (In this case, fantastically unlikely.)

Re:Third cut?

[Chris Snook]

Actually, if you want to test your surveillance of an enemy's communications networks, deliberately disrupting their communications can be a very worthwhile experiment.

It's notable that Iran is now supposedly cut off entirely. If the Iranian government has any secret communications links, it'll be much easier to tell when they're using them.

Re:Third cut?

[spun]

Some people think America is always evil. Others think America can do no evil. A few of us believe that we should take it on a case by case basis. There's no proof here that America did anything. But this is likely more than a coincidence. When was the last time you heard of an underwater cable being cut? Never? Yeah, me neither. Then, boom! 3 or 4 in a few weeks. Not very likely. Now, I haven't ruled out coincidence, but I have shown probable cause to search for another explanation. So, who has the means, the opportunity, and the motivation? The Bush administration. Am I saying I know for sure they did it? Of course not.

Now, are you saying you know for sure they didn't?

Re:Third cut?

[Dun Malg]

We all know that ironyblind people can see irony correctly underwater while those who have correct perception cannot.

There, fixed that for ya ;-) Attempted facetiousness != irony.

Re:Third cut?

[Dun Malg]

Calling something a coincidence, on the other hand, is a way of psychologically dismissing it. It's a way of protecting a persons sense of being in control, which is very important to most people. The desire to be in control makes people see controllable events as random and uncontrollable? Interesting analysis, to say the least! The same theory would be more accurately applied to conspiracy theorists. The compulsion to see undesirable events as having human instigators is an expression of the desire for control. Some folks find the idea that there isn't someone behind these events, that there's nothing that can be done to prevent these random horrors, too frightening for words. They grimly cling to the notion that someone, somewhere is in control of things, making bad stuff happen. Someone who, if the conspiracy were only exposed, could be made to stop these terrible events.

Putting the puzzle pieces together

[CRCulver]

It was widely reported from a variety of whistleblowers at the turn of the millennium that the U.S. was preparing the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter to be able to tap underwater fibre-optic cables. See Bamford's Body of Secrets for exmaple.

That this operation was carried out on the submarine named after the president who did the most to reduce spying on civilian targets shows just how petty and spiteful the professional privacy violators in the NSA are.

"The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"

[HTH NE1]

"Understand the procedure now? Just stop a few of their machines, their telephones, their lawnmowers, throw them into darkness for a few hours, and then sit back and watch the pattern."

"This pattern is always the same?"

"With few variations. They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find.... and it's themselves. All we need do is sit back and watch."

"I take it that this place...this Maple Street...is not unique."

"By no means. Their world is full of Maple Streets, and we'll go from one to the other and let them destroy themselves."

Re:Can anyone enlighten me?

[russotto]

It's amazing that a ship's anchor could have the strength to pull apart two layers of stranded steel armour wires, a layer of copper, kevlar layers, and three polyethylene layers.

Have you ever seen an anchor? Sure, it's just a hunk of low-tech metal. But it's a very LARGE hunk of low-tech metal. Connected by a very heavy cable or chain to a ship which weighs many, many tons. Ripping apart a communications cable = not a problem.

Re:How to tap the cable

[Eric Smith]

If the US wanted to tap the cable, they'd just use the submarine USS Jimmy Carter, which was retrofitted a few years back to perform exactly these sort of operations. They'd do it without any detected loss of connectivity.

While we're at it...

[CFTM]

Since we're all speculating like crazy on how the evil Americans did it, I figured I'd speculate that the evil north Koreans sent a fleet of fishing boats to the mid east and dropped anchors on these telco lines in order to get the Iranians pissed off so they'd attacked an American vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, precipitating world war III...given that GWB has about 11 months left, they figured to get it down now.

Yep, that sounds every bit as ridiculous AT THIS POINT.

Let's wait for a little more information, I'm sure by Monday international news outlets will be giving a more thorough report on what is occurring, though I doubt Fox News ever will...

Just thought of a THIRD reason to do this

[WillAffleckUW]

What if there's a revolution going on in Iran and they cut their own cables?

It's not that hard to arrange, and it would cut them off from any media coverage while nobody could communicate to the media without becoming very visible and easy to arrest ...

Remember what happened in Bhurma when the monks revolted - they cut the Tubes to the Internets.

Bing - no pics of people revolting - and they could quell it successfully by killing a few people and beating or imprisoning the rest.

It's not always what you think. Sometimes it's different ...