Undersea Cables Cut: Oops or Uh-oh?

I don't know if its been posted, but here is confirmation on cable #4. It was cut between Qatar and UAE.

afp.google.com...

First cable cut
===============
Jan 30 (Wed) 0800 FLAG cable; 8.3km from Alexandria in Egypt.
[link to news.bbc.co.uk]


Second cable cut
================
Jan 30 (Wed) SEA-ME-WE4 cable thought to lie alongside FLAG cable was also split; 56km from Dubai.
(same BBC link as first cable above)


Third cable cut
===============
Feb 1 (Fri) FLAG Falcon fibre optic cable running through the Suez to Sri Lanka; cut somewhere between Dubai and Muscat.
[link to www.marketwatch.com]
[link to news.bbc.co.uk]


Fourth cable cut
================
Feb 1 (Fri) An undersea telecoms cable was damaged between the Qatari island of Haloul and the UAE island of Das.
[link to www.arabianbusiness.com]

Originally posted by loam

Originally posted by SolPower
Oh and if you doubt the geological activity in this region, please read here:

You're kidding, right?

I don't doubt 'geological activity in the region'. But I do doubt geological activity is the cause of 4 separate cable cuts in 4 separate areas within three days of each other. (Oh, and lets not forget the poor missing tsunami buoy.

...also specifically identified as intentional.)

Moreover, have you seen the geologic activity for the past week in the affected areas?

I have.

Link.

[edit on 3-2-2008 by loam]

Did you even read "not all active faults produce large magnitude earthquakes."

Therefore this could be attributed to a different cause other than another mass conspiracy.

Originally posted by SolPower
Did you even read "not all active faults produce large magnitude earthquakes."

I did...which is another way of saying they produce small ones.

But that does not mean they are seismically undetectable.

Well I suppose time will tell - just trying to balance this thread a bit.

Let's all agree that we just DONT KNOW YET!

An analysis now making its way across the internet is being attributed to Sio Bibble, who concludes, “A communications disruption can mean only one thing—invasion.” On his scenario, American military radio chatter during the game could provide cover for other communications taking place. “03:00 and the troops are up, file into the mess to get a cup of coffee, sandwich and watch the game,” Bibble writes. “Meanwhile, an Israeli sub in the Gulf goes to Battle Station alert. The game starts, the troops go wild, they get pumped with adrenalin and into combative psychic. 10 minutes into the game, a micro-nuke goes off in the stadium. The aforementioned sub commander gets the signal and launches his surface to surface missiles at various Iranian sites and several American ships.”

“The sailors on the ships are stunned by what they see on the TV screen,” he continues, “then the Claxton horn goes off as American ships start taking hits. The ships go live, the Iranians go live. American sources declare a surprise Iranian attack as three American ships sink in the Gulf. The smoldering Super Bowl is blamed on Iran, Mom and Apple Pie need to be defended.” According to Fetzer, no matter how fantastic this might sound to those who have never studied 9/11, it is an appealing alternative for an administration that has run out of options and whose leader is widely regarded by the American public as the worst president in history. It could reverse his standing at a single masterstroke.

www.i-newswire.com...

Interesting find friend. Will be sending prayers that today is a safe day.

Ships did not cut internet cable

No ships were present when two marine cables carrying much of the Middle East's internet traffic were severed, Egypt's Ministry of Communications has said, contrary to earlier speculation about the causes of the cut.

The ministry had originally stated that a ship dropping its anchor on the two key cables was most likely responsible for Wednesday's cut in service that robbed Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India of most of their internet connections.

"A marine transport committee investigated the traffic of ships in the area, 12 hours before and after the malfunction, where the cables are located to figure out the possibility of being cut by a passing vessel and found out there were no passing ships at that time," said the statement.

Source

Perhaps in time, the other cut cables will also be found to be not accidental..

Just found a usable global map of submarine cables.

(pdf, zoomable)
www1.alcatel-lucent.com...

an another one, oversight only
www.telegeography.com...

really scary. Who has an interest in cutting those cables?

Hmm just got an idea reading this rense article about the cable cutting:

For the uninitiated it seems bizarre and unlikely, but the plain fact of the matter is that American military divers really go out onto the seabed from special submarines outfitted with airlocks and they actually cut undersea communications cables-- then patch in sophisticated surveillance equipment -- then they splice the cables back together. That is if the motive is espionage. If the purpose of the operation is garden variety sabotage, then simply cutting the cable suffices.

www.rense.com...

I have no clue if such technik exists but if we asume yes, then maybe the idea of cutting the cable isn't really to isolate a country but to cut the cable secretly at another place again and install a spy station during the time the cable is dead. That's the best opportunity then.

Originally posted by Golack
First cable cut
===============
Jan 30 (Wed) 0800 FLAG cable; 8.3km from Alexandria in Egypt.
[link to news.bbc.co.uk]

Second cable cut
================
Jan 30 (Wed) SEA-ME-WE4 cable thought to lie alongside FLAG cable was also split; 56km from Dubai.
(same BBC link as first cable above)

Third cable cut
===============
Feb 1 (Fri) FLAG Falcon fibre optic cable running through the Suez to Sri Lanka; cut somewhere between Dubai and Muscat.
[link to www.marketwatch.com]
[link to news.bbc.co.uk]

Fourth cable cut
================
Feb 1 (Fri) An undersea telecoms cable was damaged between the Qatari island of Haloul and the UAE island of Das.
[link to www.arabianbusiness.com]

Obviously Al Qaeda's Navy is more mature than I am....

In all seriousness - would this deed not require (4) separate assets? Seems kinda complex for a two-bit nation (one that spends under a billion on defense). Could it be China, India, Russia, Israel trying to provoke hostilities? Ill let somebody else paste the last culprit (with flag) as they see fit.

Scrap

I think I found something of interest.

Wiki - Iranian_Oil_Bourse
The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse - 2006

Iran oil bourse scheduled - 2008

EB reader BB writes:
Iran was scheduled to inaugurate its Oil Bourse this coming week.

That probably isn't going to happen because all internet access in Iran was cut over the weekend (the undersea cables were chopped). This was mentioned on Wikipedia for a day... but now the article links and coverage have disappeared.

Iran is in total internet blackout at the moment. Any further information is appreciated.

[edit on 3-2-2008 by Xabora]

[edit on 3-2-2008 by Xabora]

Nice map g210b
Pretty funny Scrapple.

I thought there were 4 cuts, just like Golack posted above.
But now l think there are actually only 3.

In Golack's list, cut #2 and #3 are the same cut.

Second cable cut
================
Jan 30 (Wed) SEA-ME-WE4 cable thought to lie alongside FLAG cable was also split;
56km from Dubai.
(same BBC link as first cable above)

Third cable cut
===============
Feb 1 (Fri) FLAG Falcon fibre optic cable running through the Suez to Sri Lanka; cut somewhere between Dubai and Muscat.
[link to www.marketwatch.com]
[link to news.bbc.co.uk]

WikiMap


g210b's map link

Right?

Xabora I don't think Iran is fully down anymore. Look at the map g210b posted. There are several other fiber connections, not to mention overland lines. It just took time to re-route traffic.

Also, maybe check wiki's edit page to see who changed it, or use that new page that shows the ip of who edited the wiki link.






[edit on 2/3/08 by makeitso]

Another interesting consideration has occurred to me regarding these cable cuts. How well are these cable locations marked on nautical maps???

Can you imagine the time necessary to locate their precise location? If you were just trawling with an anchor, how would you know your "objective' had been accomplished? This isn't something you can just go do rather quickly.

In one of the earlier posted articles, the Egyptian government said no ships were sited in the area based on some video surveillance. Alone, that might suggest some natural cause, but four separate locations?

Originally posted by SolPower

Originally posted by resistor
Seems there is a historical precedent to undersea communications cables being cut as a prelude to war.

findarticles.com...

Good point, and it would have been helpful back in the day. But now we have satellites and the ability reroute traffic - not nearly as effective. They will have 90% of their operations returned today according to some news articles.

According to which news articles. Do the countries of the mideast region have 90% of their operations at normal? Last time I checked it was considered "an information blackout" for the citizens and mainstream business's. If you read further in the linked article, you will find that the Germans also had "satillites", they had their high-power radio transmsmitters to still have basic/important communication with other countries. If we know that the Germans had their cables cut as a British offensive measure, does this make isreal the agressor in this situation, as Isreal still has internet/communications?

[edit on 3-2-2008 by aaaauroraaaaa]

Looks like they've changed their estimates a bit, now its 80%

Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamil said service would be up to about 80 percent of its usual capacity within 48 hours

(stated on Friday)

Bandwidth providers in India said they were working to restore service to about 80 percent of its usual speed Friday.

(also stated on Friday)

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Whether or not they were successful is to be seen. And not much news on Iran - as far as I could find.

The Superbowl is over and noone there got blown up except maybe the patriots. I guess we can toss that out as a target. I guess it was just too obvious.

UPDATE:

ABC Australia puts this in to the "oops" category: Conspiracy theories emerge after internet cables cut

Notice they only identify 3 cables affected, even though the 4th cut is now being more widely reported? See for example: Internet problems continue with fourth cable break

In the article above, the 4th cable 'unofficially' sustained some power problem. Yet, the AFP reports "The cause of the damage is not yet known."

Now get this:

REFILE-Bad weather keeps sea cable repair ship in Abu Dhabi

MUMBAI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Bad weather has prevented a repair ship from setting off to mend one of three broken undersea cables providing Internet services to parts of the Middle East and Asia, an Indian-owned cable operator said.

FLAG Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of India's No. 2 mobile operator Reliance Communications said on its Web site a ship loaded with spares was waiting in Abu Dhabi port to sail to a break in its FALCON cable, which was cut off the coast of Dubai on Friday.

"However due to bad weather, the port authorities have not permitted any ships to sail. As soon as weather clears, the ship will sail to the repair ground," FLAG said in its latest update, which it said was for 0600 GMT on Feb. 2.

More...

So, looking at weather in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 2, this is what I got:



Link.

Here is the link for the wind speed on Feb 3.

Here is the link for the wind speed on Feb 4.

You'll note that each of these days were essentially sunny with no precipitation.

Now, look at this:


Link.

So, at best, the winds only ever reached "Fresh Breeze" and mostly stayed in the "Moderate Breeze" range.

How does shutting down the port under these conditions make sense?

I'm really confused here.


[edit on 4-2-2008 by loam]

Something is going on folks. I can hear fighters going supersonic here in the Phoenix area- been going on all night- about 10 minutes ago several came real close. the booms shook the whole house. wtf is going on? Anybody else hear activity?

Originally posted by ItsHumanNature
Something is going on folks. I can hear fighters going supersonic here in the Phoenix area- been going on all night- about 10 minutes ago several came real close. the booms shook the whole house. wtf is going on? Anybody else hear activity?

So how unusual is that in your area? I mean, you've never heard a sonic boom in your area before?