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Was Venezuela's 5-Day Blackout Caused By Cyberattacks -- or Wildfires? (apnews.com)
What caused a devastating five-day blackout in Venezuela? Two engineers with expertise in geospatial technologies believe the answer lies in images from a NASA weather satellite showing thermal activity, which they superimposed onto Google Earth, the AP reports:
Within hours of the attack, the government of embattled President Nicolas Maduro began accusing the U.S. of a cyberattack. Maduro has stuck to that narrative, saying hackers in the U.S. first shut down the Guri Dam and then delivered several "electromagnetic" blows. Engineers have questioned that assertion, contending that the Guri Dam's operating system is on a closed network with no internet connection.
Several consulted by The Associated Press speculated that a more likely cause was a fire along one of the electrical grid's powerful 765-kilovolt lines that connect the dam to much of Venezuela. The transmission lines traverse through some of Venezuela's most remote and difficult to access regions on their way toward Caracas, making it difficult to obtain any first-hand information that could back up or pinpoint the location of a fire. Working with an expert at Texas Tech University's Geospatial Technologies Laboratory, Jose Aguilar, an expert on Venezuela's electrical grid, said satellite data indicates that on the day of the blackout there were three fires in close proximity to the 765-kilovolt lines transmitting power generated from the Guri Dam, which provides about 80 percent of Venezuela's electricity...
Engineers have warned for years that Venezuela's state-run electricity corporation was failing to properly maintain power lines, letting brush that can catch fire during Venezuela's hot, dry months grow near and up the towering structures.
Several consulted by The Associated Press speculated that a more likely cause was a fire along one of the electrical grid's powerful 765-kilovolt lines that connect the dam to much of Venezuela. The transmission lines traverse through some of Venezuela's most remote and difficult to access regions on their way toward Caracas, making it difficult to obtain any first-hand information that could back up or pinpoint the location of a fire. Working with an expert at Texas Tech University's Geospatial Technologies Laboratory, Jose Aguilar, an expert on Venezuela's electrical grid, said satellite data indicates that on the day of the blackout there were three fires in close proximity to the 765-kilovolt lines transmitting power generated from the Guri Dam, which provides about 80 percent of Venezuela's electricity...
Engineers have warned for years that Venezuela's state-run electricity corporation was failing to properly maintain power lines, letting brush that can catch fire during Venezuela's hot, dry months grow near and up the towering structures.
Not only is there no money to pay anyone anything, nor is there money to pay for maintenance, what would people DO with money if they had any to be paid?
Its not even like you can buy WATER now.
So instead of working, people are busy just finding food and water for the most part. How does the basic machinery that holds up civilization work long term under those conditions? It cannot.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Was Venezuela's 5-Day Blackout Caused By Cyberattacks -- or Wildfires?
... or was it caused by the best and the brightest fleeing the country and those left behind shorting out the grid because they have a very limited clue of how it works nor do they have the equipment to find that out or the materials to make proper repairs?
The path to holding power in many Central and South American nations is holding onto the party line:
"Even if, and that's a big if, the power outage was caused by fires and poor service line maintenance, it was still the fault the Imperialistic Americans. The Yankee sanctions are killing us, and they probably set those fires."
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
First, if the US wanted to disrupt their power system then they would have done enough damage that it would still be down. Second, they aren't doing anything with the electricity that the US really cares about therefore there isn't a real reason to sabotage it.
I'm not claiming the US would be above taking such actions, I'm just saying that the US doesn't care enough about Venezuela to bother.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Victor Davis Hanson makes a good argument that the primary cause of WW2 was that Germany was allowed to surrender in France and thus were not forced to accept defeat the way they would have if Germany had been invaded. He isn't convinced by the theory that peace conditions were so onerous that they played much of a role.
See that "Preview" button?