Iraq Emerges From Isolation As Telecommunications Hub

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Iraq Emerges From Isolation As Telecommunications Hub

Posted by Soulskill on Monday April 16, 2012 @06:21AM from the out-of-a-landmine-laden-cocoon dept.

New submitter jamaicaplain sends this quote from an article in the NY Times: "Iraq, cut off from decades of technological progress because of dictatorship, sanctions and wars, recently took a big step out of isolation and into the digital world when its telecommunications system was linked to a vast new undersea cable system serving the Gulf countries. The engineers who designed and installed the cable that made shore in Al-Faw, near Basra, had to deal with an unusual number of challenges. There were more than 100 oil and natural gas pipelines to cross; stretches of shallow water where the cable had to be buried; and unexploded ordnance from the Iraq war that had to be avoided. ... Because of the crisis in Syria and the tensions over Iran, the possibility of routing traffic via Iraq has suddenly become more attractive to telecommunications operators. ... 'Iraq has a very strong strategic position to become a transit point for traffic between Europe and Asia.'"

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This was expected... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-04-16 06:26 · Score: 3, Interesting

Obviously, this was going to happen. The US forces ran a ton of fiber to Iraq to support their own operations. When we left, we gave it back. Iraq would be stupid not to utilize the new optical links to generate some cash.
Another Homeland Security monitoring site! by loftwyr · 2012-04-16 06:29 · Score: 1, Insightful

Since Iraq is US controlled, that means that Homeland Security is likely to put a communications monitor system on the hub site. So, so much for routing around US observation...
Use Satellites by na1led · 2012-04-16 06:32 · Score: 1

Seems like a lot of hassle to get them Internet. Why can't they use satellites in space, and transmit with laser technology, It's been available for a decade now.

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-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
1. Re:Use Satellites by Anonymous Coward · 2012-04-16 06:40 · Score: 1
  
  Sounds awesome for heavy downloading. But for anything nearing real-time, that speed-of-light thing is a real bitch.
2. Re:Use Satellites by Sarten-X · 2012-04-16 06:41 · Score: 1
  
  My understanding is that fiber is still far faster and cheaper than anything space-based, and the maintenance costs are of course far lower, as well.
  
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  You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
3. Re:Use Satellites by Fallon · 2012-04-16 06:44 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Because satellites suck. High latency, low bandwidth & high price. Maintenance costs along with laws of physics for a geosynchronous orbit and limited RF spectrum won't ever change those constraints. Their 1 advantage is the mobility within their footprint. Satellite TV still is very viable because the latency is a non-issue & the broadcast nature makes very efficient use of the RF spectrum.
4. Re:Use Satellites by 0123456 · 2012-04-16 07:22 · Score: 1
  
  Obviously written by someone never stuck "sucking on a satellite" for Internet access.
  Satellite Internet seemed to work fine for web browsing last I used it. However, I wasn't paying the dollar per megabyte or whatever they charge these days, or trying to play online games.
5. Re:Use Satellites by na1led · 2012-04-16 07:42 · Score: 1
  
  This is a different technology. Laser vs Radio transmission is not the same thing.
  
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  -- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
6. Re:Use Satellites by silas_moeckel · 2012-04-16 13:06 · Score: 1
  
  They each go the same distance at about the same speed. Spot beams have been the laser of RF for a long time. They can relieve the congestion but not the latency and that's the killer issue. The fix for sats was leo clouds rather than goe sync to get the distance down. It was tried and pretty much failed, leo needs a lot of sats that need to be replaced often vs geo's one bird will do 1/3 the planet fairly easily and lasts 10-15 years.
  
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  No sir I dont like it.
I bet they go back to isolation by sl4shd0rk · 2012-04-16 06:34 · Score: 1, Funny

I bet they cut the cable a month after getting their first DSL bill.

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1. Re:I bet they go back to isolation by hendridm · 2012-04-16 06:40 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Or as soon as they "elect" someone who thinks the Internet is a slight against Allah.
2. Re:I bet they go back to isolation by Bigby · 2012-04-16 06:54 · Score: 1
  
  Who thinks it is a slight? Or who says that he thinks it is a slight? The former is stupid AND ignorant; the latter is just a smart political move if your goal is to head an oligarchy through suppression. Not that suppression is going to work in the long run...
3. Re:I bet they go back to isolation by Nidi62 · 2012-04-16 07:56 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Or as soon as they "elect" someone who thinks the Internet is a slight against Allah.
  Even then they wouldn't cut the lines. They would just not allow local access to the lines. Islamist states aren't stupid; the rents they would get from these lines would be significant, but more than that it gives them strategic influence as well.
  
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  The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Re:US Intel by SuricouRaven · 2012-04-16 06:43 · Score: 2

I imagine that if the CIA or NSA wishes to monitor anyone in Europe, they already can.
You Iraqi Ingrates by doston · 2012-04-16 06:50 · Score: 2, Funny

After we spend billions arming and installing what can only be described as the Middle East's classiest dictator ever (ah the 80s), we were forced to spend years of diplomatic man hours sanctioning you senseless (the roaring 90s), then finally something like $1 trillion literally removing your precious, regional Hitler by force....How about a little thanks for (possibly) becoming the 4th most used telecommunications go-between for European and Asian (countries that matter) communication? We've already got our oil firms pumping all that pesky oil for you. Is there anything else we can do for you, ingrates?? You never had it so good.
1. Re:You Iraqi Ingrates by Medievalist · 2012-04-16 08:27 · Score: 1
  
  Modded troll? That was hilarious!
  Neo-con mod squad again, I guess.
2. Re:You Iraqi Ingrates by doston · 2012-04-16 09:47 · Score: 1
  
  Modded troll? That was hilarious!
  Neo-con mod squad again, I guess.
  Being modded Troll cut deep. Yeah, could be a neo-con who disagrees (although I don't see how) or some PC doof with poor reading comprehension who thinks I'm being 'mean' to Iraqis. Afterall, haven't they suffered enough by all they brought on themselves!!!???? :-D
Navel Mines? by DarthVain · 2012-04-16 07:06 · Score: 1

"and unexploded ordnance from the Iraq war that had to be avoided"
Since this is an undersea cable I can only assume they are referring to Navel Mines... They are still bobbing about? Crazy.
1. Re:Navel Mines? by jbeaupre · 2012-04-16 07:14 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Navel Mines...
  Are those where they get oranges from?
  
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  The world is made by those who show up for the job.
2. Re:Navel Mines? by DarthVain · 2012-04-16 07:19 · Score: 1
  
  LOL! Yes better than the other kind, explosions of lint everywhere...
3. Re:Navel Mines? by rogueippacket · 2012-04-16 07:38 · Score: 1
  
  It would be interesting to see what kind of state the sea-floor is in. It may not be just naval mines - it may be off-target artillery shells, dumped munitions from planes, leftovers from a wreckage. Really, I'm sure the crews routed around anything that looked dangerous.
4. Re:Navel Mines? by Nidi62 · 2012-04-16 08:00 · Score: 1
  
  "and unexploded ordnance from the Iraq war that had to be avoided"
  Since this is an undersea cable I can only assume they are referring to Navel Mines... They are still bobbing about? Crazy.
  It's not all undersea cable; as the summary notes, it runs ashore near Basra and, I assume, would then continue overland. So they would probably have tried to avoid major roads and other areas that would have been likely IED sites. The larger IEDs can create rather large craters (maybe the shockwave could damage nearby underground cable as well?), and most of any remaining IEDs would be pressure or trip-wire activated and could remain unexploded for a while.
  
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  The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
5. Re:Navel Mines? by unixisc · 2012-04-16 19:22 · Score: 1
  
  Most of the IEDs were in Baghdad, and al Anbar province. Basra, which didn't take much part in the insurrection since they were pretty happy to let Americans get killed while getting all of Iraq under Shia rule, was pretty much free of these IEDs.
Re:US Intel by Jeng · 2012-04-16 07:13 · Score: 1

The question is which pipes are not being monitored.
Kinda funny that them screwing over the person who designed the tap made this public knowledge.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/05/09/23/2022243/eminent-domain-applied-to-ip-due-to-state-secrets

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God, westerners are so iggernant. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-04-16 07:21 · Score: 1

The prophet Mohammed cut the sleeve off his robe to avoid disturbing a sleeping cat.
Why do you think the USA tortures Muslims with dogs, eh? Using a dog on an observant Muslim is like force-feeding an Orthodox Jew pig's blood. Totally not kidding. We do this to break them psychologically.
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of world affairs knows this.
1. Re:God, westerners are so iggernant. by dave420 · 2012-04-16 08:08 · Score: 1
  
  Replace the blood-drinking with just being around it, and there you go.
Re:hope for the best but by tibman · 2012-04-16 10:51 · Score: 1

All Iraqi's i've met can haggle very well. I doubt anyone is taking advantage of them or getting any kind of discount.

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http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
Re:US Intel by cold+fjord · 2012-04-16 17:47 · Score: 1

And whats the betting the pipe conveniently has a US Intel feed monitoring all the data. A way to spy on Europe, without having to get permission to tap into the European pipes directly
Brilliant! Because sitting on Iraq end of an internet pipe going into Europe is SO much better than sitting on the American end of an internet pipe going into Europe because... well.... maybe not.

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much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
I give it 12 months... by Ramin_HAL9001 · 2012-04-17 18:07 · Score: 1

before the religious conservatives in Iraq decide to start censoring their internet.