3rdUndersea Cable Cut - The only 2 countries that were unaffected were Israel and Iraq

[LiberalArkie]

<http://mathaba.net/rss/?x=580589>


Two days after cable cuts which "cut off Iran" and affected the rest of the Middle East and West Asia but left communications in Israel and Iraq "intact", another cable owned by the same British company is severed, once again plunging the region into "Internet darkness".

Omar Sultan, chief executive of Dubai's Internet Service Provider "DU", said on Friday that an undersea cable had been cut in the Persian Gulf, causing severe phone line disruptions and making worse the already existing Internet outage across large parts of the Middle East and West Asia after two other undersea cables owned by the same British company were cut this week in the Mediterranean Sea 8.3 kilometers (5 miles) north of Alexandria, Egypt.

Mr Sultan said that the incident was "very unusual." He said it was not known how the underwater cable, owned by British FLAG FALCON company, which runs between the United Arab Emirates and Oman, had been damaged. DU said in a press release that the cause of the incident "had not yet been identified."

The only 2 countries that were unaffected were Israel and Iraq, the only two close Anglo-American allies in the region, both remaining completely unaffected by the cable cuts, leading to theories for the causes of the cuts, which have so far been given as having been caused by ships dragging their anchors across the cables. The fact that two rare incidents have happened in the same week, and both with cables owned by the same company, on either sides of Israel and the importance of the Internet to telecommunications and business, lends suspicion to the events.

[madokie]

1. I say someone needs to investigate this British FLAG FALCON company

something is going on and it is not good, that, if I was a gamblin' man, I would bet on.

[ixion]

2. generally undersea cables don't "cut" themselves

so saying you "don't know" how the cables were cut is disingenuous, IMO.

You do know. Simply put, SOMEONE cut them. The question is WHO cut the cables.

And I think we all know who the most likely culprit is. Who benefits from the cables being cut. Ask that question and you have your answer.

[Extend a Hand]

3. Just in time for the aniversary of the Iranian Revolution

The 10 days of dawn. Iran was planning on (finally) opening their oil bourse during the festivities....


hmmmmmmmmmmmm


http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=160651

edited to add link.

[Karenina]

5. The oil bourse was my FIRST thought!!!

[lynnertic]

4. Think this might have something to do with the border crossing at Rafah

from Palestine to Egypt? Hamas blasted a border wall about a week and a half ago and the border only just now closed.

Open
http://www.lynnertic.com/dogma-meets-karma/emancipation-at-rafah-ends-israeli-seige-of-gaza/

Closed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3167357

[BearSquirrel2]

6. Islamic extremists ...

Since we've burned all our human intelligence assets, out primary method of intelligence is gathering communications surreptitiously. This does nothing to help the US. We would rather tap the cables and let people talk away.

I would submit that this is more up the alley of Muslim extremists who don't want Western influence in their countries. The best way for them to control the populace is to deny them access to Western media which is coming over those communication lines.

[EFerrari]

7. With what navy?

:shrug:

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. They have trained Giant Squids

[BearSquirrel2]

10. With what Air Force ???

Well tell me with what air force did terrorists bring down the World Trade Centers?

Here's how you do it. You locate the cable with a four pronged hook on a line. You need nothing sophisticated. You could use a simple fishing boat. Then you sink a high explosive device on a remote tethered to your line.

There is nothing high tech here besides maybe a satellite phone as a detonator. You don't need submersibles or diamond tipped saws. The didn't even need to be there. They could have dropped there explosives weeks ago and let a remote detonator submerged a few feet below the surface with a good battery pack. BOOM!!! No more cable.

I guess we'll find out when they go down to examine the break.

[L. Coyote]

8. Are they REALLY cut? Or, is that just the cover story, or just some story, or ??

Maybe they are not cut, just no longer providing services to certain countries.

Who knows they are cut? Has anyone seen the cuts?

[Extend a Hand]

13. a reddit commentor

said he was in dubai and the were showing the cut cables on dubai tv.

http://reddit.com/info/67ivu/comments/c032svn

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. Interesting comments and links ...

thanks..

[RL3AO]

11. Thats because Isreal and Iraq are connected to the European cables.

No conspiracy here.

[malaise]

12. Very interesting n/t

[Zynx]

15. They are hardly the only two allies in the region. Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi, and a few others are

also close. They would be less than pleased if we were behind this. I remember a year or so ago when this happened in Asia and my friend and roommate from Hong Kong couldn't get a hold of me.

[Extend a Hand]

16. In the case of the HongKong outage

there was an earthquake and the cause was known. The cables weren't cut over a period of days.

[Ichingcarpenter]

18. All Middle East banking transactions were stopped t

The significance to the severing of these cables is the Middle East Banking Centers
being denied access to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), based in Brussels and which carries up to 12.7 million messages a day containing instructions on many of the International transfers of money between banks, lies in Saudi Arabia, or any other Middle East Nation, being unable to change their previously, before loss of communication, encoded currency instructions from being changed.

[Canuckistanian]

17. There, see? "very unusual"

Some DUers were pooh-pooing any suggestion that this was somehow unusual.

[Tumbulu]

19. It strikes me as being on par with the nuclear warheads flying around last summer

Perhaps because the internet is a big part of my business and means of communication this seems like a very big deal.