Middle East Internet Blackouts Spur Geopolitical Suspicions

[outsider]

This topic continues from previous thread
http://www.nineeleven.co.uk/board/viewtopic.php?t=13429


Why the 'accidental' cutting of 3, maybe 4, underwater communications cables, which just happen to cause 100% loss of Internet to Iran, but leave Iraq, Egypt and Israel unnafected? Could it be Iran's proposed opening of an 'oil bourse', which would have a devalueing effect on the dollar? The timing would seem to suggest it, to say the least.

http://www.energybulletin.net/39844.html

Published on 3 Feb 2008 by Energy Bulletin. Archived on 3 Feb 2008.

Iran oil bourse scheduled
by Staff

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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.


* * *

Click on the headlines below (links) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage


Iran Oil Bourse to deal blow to dollar
MK/JG/RE/HAR, Iran Press TV
The long-awaited Iranian Oil Bourse, a place for trading oil, petrochemicals and gas in various non-dollar currencies, will soon open.

Iran's Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari told reporters the bourse will be inaugurated during the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution (February 1-11) at the latest.

"All preparations have been made to launch the bourse; it will open during the Ten-Day Dawn (the ceremonies marking the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran)," he said.

The Minister had earlier stated that the Oil Bourse is located on the Persian Gulf island of Kish.

Some expert opinions hold inauguration of the bourse could significantly devalue the greenback.
(4 January 2008)
Also reported at IranMania and mentioned in a report from Global Research (Jan 23, 2008). Otherwise, no reports seem to appear in the media.
-BA




Third undersea cable reportedly cut between Sri Lanka, Suez
Tahani Karrar, Dow Jones Newswires
A third undersea fibre optic cable running through the Suez to Sri Lanka was cut Friday, said a Flag official.

Two other fiber optic cables owned by Flag Telecom and consortium SEA-ME-WE 4 located near Alexandria, Egypt, were damaged Wednesday leading to a slowdown in Internet and telephone services in the Middle East and South Asia.

"We had another cut today between Dubai and Muscat three hours back. The cable was about 80G capacity, it had telephone, Internet data, everything," one Flag official, who declined to be named, told Zawya Dow Jones.

The cable, known as Falcon, delivers services to countries in the Mediterranean and Gulf region, he added.

"It may take sometime to fix the cut but we are rerouting the traffic to another cable in the U.K. and U.S., the bandwidth utilization will go down," the official said.

There are conflicting reports of how the two Alexandria cables were cut. Oman's largest telecom, Omantel, said a tropical storm caused the damage while du, the United Arab Emirates' second largest telecom, said the cables were cut due to ships dragging their anchors.
(1 February 2008)
According to the Internet Traffic Report site, the router located in Iran (router1.iust.ac.ir) is out of commission. Looking at other reports on the site, however, one sees that several other routers are out of commission (in Africa, Florida and Columbia).

Several posts have appeared on the Internet, claiming that Iran may have been targeted.

A Reuters report on the outage doesn't mention Iran.
-BA


Background

the Energy Bulletin archives has more than 40 items on the proposed Iranian Oil Bourse. A few articles of special interest are listed below. As you can see, some writers think that the proposed bourse will damage the U.S. dollar, while others are skeptical.


Interview with Chris Cook, inventor of the Iran Oil Bourse
Angelique van Engelen , Ohmynews
Chris Cook, 52, the former director of the International Petroleum Exchange, is the originator of the idea behind the IOB. He's planning to go back to Iran, from his native England, after Ramadan, and set to work again on the launch of this bourse which cuts out the dollar as a currency in which to trade oil.

... He is part of the Wimpole Consortium that's commissioned by the Iranian government with creating the IOB. Cook's been plodding on in Iran for the last three years. Without success. He wasn't even paid for his work for over two years. The platform's launch, much hyped in the media, has been delayed time and again. Iranian oil ministry officials have been hampering his work.

...Cook has been an oil/energy insider for way longer than the past three years. The Iranian connection was established in 2001, when he "blew the whistle" about investment banks' greedy immoral market manipulation and pointed out the nasty effects on producers and consumers. A well-connected Iranian introduced him to the Iranian Central Bank Governor, who was convinced of the necessity for a Middle Eastern oil exchange which was not susceptible to speculator driven volatility and manipulation by middlemen. "A couple of years later [the Wimpole Consortium was] invited to draw up blueprints for the "IOB" project," says Cook.

So what is the Iranian Oil Bourse about, if it's not a deliberate attempt to kick the U.S. dollar in the goolies, as is so often suggested? "The currency of the IOB contracts was never a consideration," says Cook. Nevertheless, the exchange completely takes the dollar out of the equation. The bourse will be trading on a concept that is new in the oil markets but which is already operating in other fields. It's bafflingly simple. Buyers and sellers connect via the internet on a peer to peer market place. A clearing function ensures the actual delivery of contracts. There won't be any trading intermediaries such as investment banks as middlemen that are making hefty profits.

While the global oil price is determined by supply and demand, Cook believes that the proposed IOB structure will remove much of the current price volatility caused by a toxic combination of speculation by hedge funds and market manipulation by intermediary traders.
(19 September 2007)

Some articles by Chris Cook, archived at EB:
The Iran oil bourse - a new direction? (Dec 10, 2006)
Interview with Chris Cook, originator of the Iranian oil bourse (Aug 13, 2006 at TOD)
Iran - Perception and Reality (Jan 27, 2006)


Damage to the U.S. Dollar?
The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse by Krassimir Petrov.

Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse by William Clark. By the same author: The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target.

Skeptics
Let me kill off once and for all the Iranian oil bourse story" by Jerome a Paris

Strange ideas about the Iranian oil bourse by James D. Hamilton (Econbrowser)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editorial Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the highly politicized subject of Iran and the oil bourse, it's good to take online reports with a grain of salt and not jump to conclusions.

-BA

UPDATE (Feb 4):
Iran Press-TV warns: Greenback's days in Iran numbered, saying that the bourse will be set up February 19. (Since earlier announcements of the bourse, the date has slipped multiple times). No other mentions of the bourse in the world press, that I can see.

Still not a clear picture of what happened to the cables, though apparently Iran was not heavily affected. The several Iraninan sites I tested were all still available.
Flag plays down net blackout conspiracy theories (Arabian Business)
4th Undersea Cable Break: Between Qatar and UAE (Mathaba)
Conspiracy theories emerge after internet cables cut (ABC News)

On the fringes:
Iran is not disconnected! and The “No Internet in Iran” Story is Bullcrap at Uruknet ("information from occupied Iraq")
Talk of Imminent War Against Iran Amid an Attack of 'Coincidences' (Op Ed News) by Len Hart The Existentialist Cowboy


Sorry, folks, I jumped the gun and didn't read it all; I've now put 'conflicting' reports up as well, but it still holds true; no way was this a 'coincidence' with Iran's planned oil bourse scheduled to open.

[blackcat]

[conspiracy analyst]

Fragile Dollar Hegemony: Iran's Oil Bourse could Topple the Dollar

by Mike Whitney

Global Research, February 4, 2008


Two weeks ago George Bush was sent on a mission to the Middle East to deliver a horse's head. We all remember the disturbing scene in Francis Ford Coppola's “The Godfather” where Lucca Brassi goes to Hollywood to convince a recalcitrant movie producer to use Don Corleone's nephew in his next film. The “Big shot” producer is finally persuaded to hire the young actor after he wakes up in bed next to the severed head of his prize thoroughbred. I expect that Bush made a similar “offer they could not refuse” to the various leaders of the Gulf States when he met with them earlier this month.

The media tried to portray Bush's trip to the Middle East as a "peace mission", but that just a smokescreen. In fact, three days after Bush left Jerusalem, Israel stepped-up its military operations in the occupied territories and resumed its merciless blockade of food, water, medicine and energy to the 1.5 million people of Gaza. Clearly, Bush had green-lighted the operations or Israel's aggression would have been seen as a slap in the face of the President of the United States.

So, what was the real purpose of Bush's trip? After all, he has no interest in peace or in honoring his commitment to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. So, why would he choose to visit the Middle East just as his second term as president is winding down and there is no chance of success?

Sometimes personal visits are important; especially when the nature of the information is so sensitive that the message has to be made face to face. In this case, Bush went to the trouble of traveling half-way around the world to tell the Saudis and their friends in the Gulf States that they were going to continue linking their oil to the dollar or they were going to “sleep with the fishes”. For the last two months, various sheiks and finance ministers have been moaning and groaning about the falling dollar---threatening to break from the so-called “dollar-peg” and covert to a basket of currencies. Bush's trip appears to have rekindled the spirit of brotherly cooperation. The grumbling has ceased and everyone is back "on board". The regional leaders now seem considerably less bothered by the fact that inflation is gobbling up their economies and driving labor, food, energy and housing through the roof. Reuters summed it up like this:

“After a flurry of public disagreements over currency reform last year, Gulf central bankers are trying to close ranks, talking up the pegs as a source of stability and playing down the dollar's weakness as a temporary phenomenon.”

Looks like Bush smoothed things over.

In the last two weeks, the Gulf leaders have watched nervously while the Federal Reserve has slashed rates by a whopping 125 basis points. The cuts are steadily eroding the $1 trillion of capital the sheiks have invested in US Treasuries and securities.

“Inflation is at 16-year highs in Saudi Arabia and Oman, a 19-year peak in the United Arab Emirates. Gulf policymakers are intervening directly in loans, property and commodity markets to offset rate cut.” (Reuters)

Property values have skyrocketed. Commercial property in the UAE has doubled since the beginning of 2007. The inflation-bomb has forced other Gulf states to provide food subsidies for their people and a “70% wage rise for some Emirati federal government employees.”

Disgruntled migrant workers rioted in Dubai recently, demanding to be fairly compensated for the sharp increase in prices. The Saudi riyal has climbed to a 21-year peak.

Currency traders expect another 8% rise in the dirham and riyal by April and they are predicting that interest rates will compel Central bankers throughout Gulf states to covert to either the euro or a basket of regional currencies. So far, however, the loyal Saudi princes have continued their support for the dollar.

Defending Dollar Hegemony

So, how important is it that oil continue to be denominated in dollars? Would the United States wage war to defend the dollar's status as the world's “reserve currency”?

The answer to this question could come as early as this week, since the long-awaited Iranian Oil Bourse is scheduled to open between February 1-11. According to Iran's Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari, “All preparations have been made to launch the bourse; it will open during the 10-day Dawn (the ceremonies marking the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran) The bourse is considered a direct threat to the continued global dominance of the dollar because it will require that Iranian “oil, petrochemicals and gas” be traded in “non-dollar currencies”. (Press TV, Iran)

The petrodollar system is no different than the gold standard. Today's currency is simply underwritten by the one vital source of energy upon which every industrialized society depends---oil. If the dollar is de-linked from oil; it will no longer serve as the de-facto international currency and the US will be forced to reduce its massive trade deficits, rebuild its manufacturing capacity, and become an export nation again. The only alternative is to create a network of client regimes who repress the collective aspirations of their people so they can faithfully follow directives from Washington.

As to whether the Bush administration would start a war to defend dollar hegemony; that's a question that should be asked of Saddam Hussein. Iraq was invaded just six months after Saddam converted to the euro. The message is clear; the Empire will defend its currency.

Similarly, Iran switched from the dollar in 2007 and has insisted that Japan pay its enormous energy bills in yen. The “conversion” has infuriated the Bush administration and made Iran the target of US belligerence ever since. In fact, even though 16 US Intelligence agencies issued a report (NIE) saying that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons; and even though the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, found that Iran was in compliance with its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation (NPT) Treaty; a preemptive US-led attack on Iran still appears likely.

And, although the western media now minimizes the prospects of another war in the region; Israel is taking the precautions that suggest that the idea is not so far-fetched. “Israel calls for shelter rooms to be set up in a bid to prepare the public for yet another war, this time, one of raining missiles.” (Press TV, Iran)

"The next war will see a massive use of ballistic weapons against the whole of Israeli territory," claimed retired general Udi Shani. (Global Research http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7982)

Russia also sees a growing probability of hostilities breaking out in the Gulf and has responded by sending a naval task force into the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic.

According to an article on the Global Research site:

“The flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva guided missile cruiser, joined up with Russian naval warships in the Mediterranean on January 18 to participate in the current maneuvers....The current operation is the first large-scale Russian Navy exercise in the Atlantic in 15 years. All combat ships and aircraft involved carry full combat ammunition loads.

(Global Research, http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7983)

France is also planning military maneuvers in the Straits of Hormuz. Operation "Gulf Shield 01," will take place off the coast of Iran and will employ thousands of personnel in combined arms operations that will include simulated attacks on oil platforms.”

Exercises are scheduled to take place from Feb. 23 to March 5, and will involve 1,500 French, 2,500 Emirate, and 1,300 Qatari personnel operating on land, at sea and in the air, the ministry said..."Around a half-dozen warships, 40 aircraft and dozens of armored vehicles will be in the war games", Fusalba said.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3346953&C=mideast

Additionally, within the last week, three of the main underwater cables which carry Internet traffic have been cut off in the Persian Gulf and three-quarters of the international communications between Europe and the Middle East have been lost. Large parts of the Middle East have been plunged into darkness.

Is this merely a coincidence or is something else going on just below the surface?

Ian Brockwell, of the American Chronicle said:

"On the assumption that the cables cut were no accident, we must ask ourselves who would do such a thing and why. Clearly Iran, who were most affected, would gain nothing from such an action and are perhaps the target of those responsible?...Maybe this is a prelude to an attack, or perhaps a test run for a future one?

Communication has always been an important factor in military action, and cutting these cables might affect Iran´s ability to defend itself." (American Chronicle, http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/51085)

Despite the lack of media coverage, tensions are mounting in the Gulf and the probability of a US-led attack on Iran is still quite high. Bush is convinced that if he doesn't confront Iran, then no one will. He also believes that if he doesn't militarily defend the dollar, then America's days as “the world's only superpower” will soon be over. So, the real question is whether Bush will realize that America is already hopelessly bogged-down in two “unwinnable” conflicts or if he will “go with his gut” once again and lead us into a ruinous region-wide conflagration.

Mike Whitney is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Mike Whitney

[acrobat74]

All the speculation about geopolitical manoeuvring is interesting, but most likely inaccurate.

I happen to have a good friend very close to the event who assures me the whole failure was coincidental: simultaneous storms in the port of Alexandria in Egypt and in the Gulf caused ships to move further out to sea; I'm told the cables were cut by ship anchors getting dragged on the seabed.

[simplesimon]

Just out of interest, I did the following searches at http://news.bbc.co.uk/, which takes you to http://search.bbc.co.uk/ , and selected results from "News and Sport", sorted by date. Though the dumbed down help page doesn't explicitly say so, the search appears to default to Boolean "AND"... sort of. Pages show 10 hits each except the last page if not full. I checked precise number if fewer than 10 pages, otherwise hit count rounded up to multiple of 10..


<iran> - 1660 hits
<iran oil> - 1200 hits
<iran oil bourse> - 1 hit - story from 2005 about Iran oil minister
<iran oil bourse dollar> - 0 hits


<internet cable> - 1470 hits
<internet cable damage> - 590 hits
<internet cable damaged> - 590 hits (guess they use word stems)

<internet cable iran> - 5 pages, but 0 hits related to matters in this thread (checked first page, recent date sort)
<iran petrodollar> - 8 hits, but 0 hits related to matters in this thread or even about Iran.

Which I kind of expected.


While I was at it:

<iran music> - 160 hits
<iran persia> - 40 hits
<iran anti-semitism> - 33 hits
<iran farsi> - 80 hits
<iran art> - 140 hits
<iran culture> - 660 hits
<iran crazy> - 18 hits
<iran terrorist> - 1220 hits
<iran terrorism> - 1220 hits
<iran aggressive> - 280 hits
<iran threat> - 1250 hits
<iran mullah> - 170 hits
<iran hard-line> - 240 hits
<iran extremist> - 340 hits
<iran fundamentalist> - 120 hits
<iran danger> - 780 hits

No real surprises.

<iran nuclear> - 1720 hits (more than <iran> alone ?!)
<iran internet> - 1890 hits (more than <iran> alone ?!)

Something strange going on there...

[blackcat]

[ishaar]

[chek]

[acrobat74]

[suraci]

Those cables have been down there some time, and presumably storms have hit the area before. Presumably also the people who put them there considered the possibility of ships anchors being dragged across them, and acted accordingly, it being quite expensive to replace that sort of thing.

A bit like skyscrapers built in the busiest air space in the world. You'd imagine the architects would assume that some muppet would fly an airliner into them one day, and plan accordingly.

Those towers withstood gale force winds trying to blow them over for thirty years. Anyone who's stood in a high wind for a while knows the power of the wind. Multiply that by a million and that's what the towers were designed to stand up to, that and multiple aircraft strikes, as the man who designed them stated on camera.

Most of us here aren't fooled by 911 any more than we're fooled by talk of ships anchors conveniently taking out Internet to Iran but leaving Israel untouched.

Lucky old Israel, it really must be God's work protecting the chosen ones, or something.

[Sherlock Holmes]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/04/2153455.htm

Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports:

Ships did not cut internet cables: Egypt

Posted Mon Feb 4, 2008 10:05am AEDT

Ships are not responsible for damaging undersea internet cables in the Mediterranean, Egypt's Government says.

Two cables were damaged earlier this week in the Mediterranean sea and another off the coast of Dubai, causing widespread disruption to internet and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South Asia.

A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was damaged on Sunday causing yet more disruptions, telecommunication provider Qtel said.

Egypt's transport ministry said footage recorded by onshore video cameras of the location of the cables showed no maritime traffic in the area when the cables were damaged.

"The ministry's maritime transport committee reviewed footage covering the period of 12 hours before and 12 hours after the cables were cut and no ships sailed the area," a statement said.

"The area is also marked on maps as a no-go zone and it is therefore ruled out that the damage to the cables was caused by ships."

Earlier reports said that the damage had been caused by ships that had been diverted off their usual route because of bad weather.

A repair ship is expected to begin work to fix the two Mediterranean cables on Tuesday.

[outsider]

http://rense. com/general80/ mid.htm


Middle East Undersea
Cable Cutting A Zionist-NeoCon
Covert Operation?
By Dr. Richard Sauder, PhD
2-2-8
In the Middle East in the last three days, there have been several undersea, international communications cables that have been cut. On Wednesday, 30 January 2008, two major, undersea communications cables were cut off the Egyptian coast, in the eastern Mediterranean. (1) The story has received prominent play in the international news cycle. Various explanations have been floated in the mainstream news media as to the cause - the most popular culprit being a "ship anchor". In any event, communications in the region have been severely disrupted, all the way from Egypt to India, and most points in between. Then on Friday, 1 February 2008, an undersea cable in the Persian Gulf, running between Oman and Dubai, was also cut "causing severe phone line disruptions and compounding an already existing Internet outage across large parts of the Middle East and Asia" according to the International Herald Tribune. (2) There was also a report on Friday, 1 February 2008, of yet another undersea, fiber optic communications cable between Suez and Sri Lanka that has been cut. The reporting is a bit confused; however, given that the Persian Gulf is geographically distant from the Suez, this appears to represent a fourth undersea cable that has been cut. (3) So let's see if we can figure this story out. I will say up front that I am well and thoroughly skeptical of the "ship anchor" explanation that has been so prominently advanced in the mainstream news media. Yes, ships do sometimes drag their anchors and dragging anchors can cause damage, true enough. But to have three undersea cables -- or is it actually four cables? -- cut in the same region in just a two day span, strains credulity; the more so, when we look at how the damage has played out across the region. Two countries in particular stand at conspicuously opposite ends of the continuum of communications disruption. 1. The website, internettrafficrepo rt.com/asia. htm, reports that as of Friday, 1 February 2008, internet traffic routing through/from/ to Iran has been cut to zero. Packet loss is 100%. (4) 2. Whereas CNN reported on Thursday, 31 January 2008, that internet traffic to Israel has been unaffected because Israel uses a "different route". The same CNN article also reports that Lebanon and Iraq have been "spared the chaos". (5) So, the sudden, unprecedented round of undersea, communications cable cutting in the Middle East leaves Israel and Iraq still connected, while completely shutting down the Iranian internet. Funny how that works, isn't it? As it happens, the two actors in the international arena in recent years whose rhetoric has expressed the most animus for Iran are the United States and Israel. They have also been by far the most bellicose, Zionist-NeoCon propaganda notwithstanding. Israel and the United States have repeatedly committed military aggression against other countries in the region, and have made many thinly veiled threats of war against Iran. In this decade, the United States has militarily invaded and occupied first Afghanistan, then Iraq, where its forces remain, bogged down in bloody wars of attrition. In the same period, Israel has bombed Syria, bombed and invaded Lebanon, and placed the Palestinian territories under a merciless blockade/occupation /assault. Parallel with these international war crimes, the United States and Israel have repeatedly rattled their sabres against Iran. Which brings the discussion back around to the instant spate of undersea, communications cable cutting in the region that has uniquely brought Iranian internet communications to a complete halt, while sparing Israel, which has a different internet route than any of the cut cables, and Iraq, where the American military occupation is bogged down. As it happens, the U.S. Navy has for decades had special operations teams that go out on submarines and deploy undersea, on the seabed itself, specifically for cutting or tapping communications cables. The U.S. Navy divers go out through special airlocks and use very sophisticated equipment. This has all been thoroughly documented in the excellent book, Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage, by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew (New York: Public Affairs, 1998). 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. It's like something out of a spy novel thriller, but the U.S. Navy really does have submarines and deep diving, special operations personnel who specialize in precisely this sort of operation. So cutting a few undersea cables in two or three days is well within the operational capabilities of the United States Navy. Couple this little known, but very important fact, with the reality that for years now we have seen more and more ham-handed interference with the global communications grid by the American alphabet soup (NSA, CIA, FBI, HoSec) and major tel-comms. Would the tel-comms and the American military and alphabet soup agencies collude on an operation that had as its aim to sabotage the Iranian communications network, even if that entailed collateral damage to other countries in the region? The honest answer has to be: sure, maybe so. Who can really tell? I mean, after all, we are living in a bizarro world now, a world of big and bigger lies, a world of 24/7 propaganda, a world of irrational and violent policies enacted against the civilian population by multinational corporations and military and espionage agencies the world over. We see the evidence for this on every hand. Only the most myopic among us remain oblivious to these realities. In light of the American Navy's demonstrated sea-floor capabilities and espionage activities, the heavy American Navy presence in the region, and the many veiled threats against Iran by both the Americans and the Israelis, suspicion naturally falls on them both. It may be that this is what the beginning of a war against Iran looks like. Or maybe we are merely seeing a dry run, a practice run, for a planned, upcoming war against Iran. The cables that have been cut are among the largest communication pipes in the region, and clearly represent major strategic targets. Whatever the case, it is crystal clear that we are not looking at business as usual. On the contrary, we are looking at distinctly unusual business, that much is obvious. The explanations being put forth in the mainstream news media for these several cut, undersea communications cables absolutely do not pass the smell test. And by the way, the same operators who cut undersea cables in the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea and possibly the Suez as well, presumably can also cut underwater cables in the Gulf of Mexico or Great Lakes or ... you see my point. This could be a multipurpose operation, in part a test run for isolating a country from the international communications grid. Iran today, the USA tomorrow? What's that you say? I don't understand how the world works? That kind of thing can't happen here? In any event, if the cables have been intentionally cut, then that is an aggressive act of war. I'm sure the Iranians have gotten that message, and are actively making counter preparations against a possible imminent attack. I'm looking at the same telegram as they are, and I know I would be, were I in their shoes. References (1) http://www.reuters. com/article/ internetNews/ idUSL30266218200 80130?sp= true (2) http://www.iht. com/articles/ ap/2008/02/ 02/africa/ ME-GEN-Mideast- Internet- Outages.php (3) http://www.smartmon ey.com/news/ on/index. cfm?story= ON-20080201- 000320-0524 (4) http://www.internet trafficreport. com/asia. htm (5) http://edition. cnn.com/2008/ WORLD/meast/ 01/31/dubai. outage/ Richard Sauder lives and works in San Antonio, Texas. He can be contacted at dr_samizdat@ yahoo.com

[blackcat]

http://www.infowars.net/articles/february2008/060208Cables.htm

[conspiracy analyst]

Connecting The Many Undersea Cut Cable Dots



by Richard Sauder

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

4 February 2008



The last week has seen a spate of unexplained, cut, undersea communications cables that has severely disrupted communications in many countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. As I shall show, the total numbers of cut cables remain in question, but likely number as many as eight, and maybe nine or more.



The trouble began on 30 January 2008 with CNN reports that two cables were cut off the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, initially severely disrupting Internet and telephone traffic from Egypt to India and many points in between. According to CNN the two cut cables “account for as much as three-quarters of the international communications between Europe and the Middle East.“ CNN reported that the two cut cables off the Egyptian coast were “FLAG Telecom's FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, a cable owned by a consortium of more than a dozen telecommunications companies”.(10) Other reports placed one of the cut cables, SeaMeWe-4, off the coast of France, near Marseille.(9)(12) However, many news organizations reported two cables cut off the Egyptian coast, including the SeaMeWe-4 cable connecting Europe with the Middle East. The possibilities are thus three, based on the reporting in the news media: 1) the SeaMeWe-4 cable was cut off the coast of France, and mistakenly reported as being cut off the coast of Egypt, because it runs from France to Egypt; 2) the SeaMeWe-4 cable was cut off the Egyptian coast and mistakenly reported as being cut off the coast of France, because it runs from France to Egypt; or 3) the SeaMeWe-4 cable was cut both off the Egyptian and the French coasts, nearly simultaneously, leading to confusion in the reporting. I am not sure what to think, because most reports, such as this one from the International Herald Tribune, refer to two cut cables off the Egyptian coast, one of the two being the SeaMeWe4 cable,(11) while other reports also refer to a cut cable off the coast of France.(9)(12) It thus appears that the same cable may have suffered two cuts, both off the French and the Egyptian coasts. So there were likely actually three undersea cables cut in the Mediterranean on 30 January 2008.



In the case of the cables cut off the Egyptian coast, the news media initially advanced the explanation that the cables had been cut by ships' anchors.(10)(13) But on 3 February the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said that a review of video footage of the coastal waters where the two cables passed revealed that the area had been devoid of ship traffic for the 12 hours preceding and the 12 hours following the time of the cable cuts.(5)(11) So the cable cuts cannot have been caused by ship anchors, in view of the fact that there were no ships there.



The cable cutting was just getting started. Two days later an undersea cable was reported cut in the Persian Gulf, 55 kilometers off of Dubai.(11) The cable off of Dubai was reported by CNN to be a FLAG Falcon cable.(10) And then on 3 February came reports of yet another damaged undersea cable, this time between Qatar and the UAE (United Arab Emirates).(6)(7)(11)



The confusion was compounded by another report on 1 February 2008 of a cut undersea cable running through the Suez to Sri Lanka.(19) If the report is accurate this would represent a sixth cut cable. The same article mentions the cut cable off of Dubai in the Persian Gulf, but seeing as the Suez is on the other side of the Arabian peninsula from the Persian Gulf, the article logically appears to be describing two separate cable cutting incidents.



These reports were followed on 4 February 2008 with a report of even more cut undersea cables. The Khaleej Times reported a total of five damaged undersea cables: two off of Egypt and the cable near Dubai, all of which have already been mentioned in this report. But then the Khaleej Times mentions two that have not been mentioned elsewhere, to my knowledge: 1) a cable in the Persian Gulf near Bandar Abbas, Iran, and 2) the SeaMeWe4 undersea cable near Penang, Malaysia.(3) The one near Penang, Malaysia appears to represent a new incident. The one near Bandar Abbas is reported separately from the one off Dubai and is evidently not the same incident, since the report says , “FLAG near the Dubai coast” and “FALCON near Bandar Abbas in Iran” were both cut. Bandar Abbas is on the other side of the Persian Gulf from Qatar and the UAE, and so presumably the cut cable near Bandar Abbas is not the one in that incident either. Interestingly, the report also states that, “The first cut in the undersea Internet cable occurred on January 23, in the Flag Telcoms FALCON submarine cable which was not reported.(3) This news article deals primarily with the outage in the UAE, so it raises the question as to whether this is a reference to yet a ninth cut cable that has not hit the mainstream news cycle in the United States.



By my count, we are probably dealing with as many as eight, maybe even nine, unexplained cut or damaged undersea cables within the last week, and not the mere three or four that most mainstream news media outlets in the United States are presently reporting. Given all this cable-cutting mayhem in the last several days, who knows but what there may possibly be other cut and/or damaged cables that have not made it into the news cycle, because they are lost in the general cable-cutting noise by this point. Nevertheless, let me enumerate what I can, and keep in mind, I am not pulling these out of a hat; all of the sources are referenced at the conclusion of the article; you can click through and look at all the evidence that I have. It's there if you care to read through it all.



1) one off of Marseille, France

2) two off of Alexandria, Egypt

3) one off of Dubai, in the Persian Gulf

4) one off of Bandar Abbas, Iran in the Persian Gulf

5) one between Qatar and the UAE, in the Persian Gulf

6) one in the Suez, Egypt

7) one near Penang, Malaysia

initially unreported cable cut on 23 January 2008 (Persian Gulf?)



Three things stand out about these incidents:



1) all of them, save one, have occurred in waters near predominantly Muslim nations, causing disruption in those countries;

2) all but two of the cut/damaged cables are in Middle Eastern waters;

3) so many like incidents in such a short period of time suggests that they are not accidents, but are in fact deliberate acts, i.e., sabotage.



The evidence therefore suggests that we are looking at a coordinated program of undersea cable sabotage by an actor, or actors, on the international stage with an anti-Muslim bias, as well as a proclivity for destructive violence in the Middle Eastern region.



The question then becomes: are there any actors on the international stage who exhibit a strong, anti-Muslim bias in their foreign relations, who have the technical capability to carry out clandestine sabotage operations on the sea floor, and who have exhibited a pattern of violently destructive policies towards Muslim peoples and nations, especially in the Middle East region?



The answer is yes, there are two: Israel and the United States of America.



In recent years, Israel has bombed and invaded Lebanon, bombed Syria, and placed the Palestinian Territories under a pitiless and ruthless blockade/occupation/quarantine/assault. During the same time frame the United States of America has militarily invaded and occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, and American forces remain in both countries at present, continuing to carry out aggressive military operations. Simultaneous with these Israeli and American war crimes against countries in the region, both Israel and the United States have made many thinly veiled threats of war against Iran, and the United States openly seeks to increase its military presence in Pakistan's so-called “tribal areas”.(15) Israel and the United States both have a technically sophisticated military operations capability. Moreover, the United States Navy has a documented history of carrying out espionage activities on the sea floor. The U.S. Navy has long had special operations teams that can go out on submarines and deploy undersea, on the seabed itself, specifically for this sort of operation. This has all been thoroughly documented in the excellent book, Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage, by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew (New York: Public Affairs, 1998). The classic example is Operation Ivy Bells, which took place during the Cold War, in the waters off the Soviet Union. In a joint, U.S. Navy-NSA operation, U.S. Navy divers repeatedly tapped an underwater cable in the Kuril Islands, by swimming out undersea, to and from U.S. Navy submarines.(14)



This sort of activity is like something straight out of a spy novel thriller, but the U.S. Navy really does have special submarines and deep diving, special operations personnel who specialize in precisely this sort of operation. So cutting undersea cables is well within the operational capabilities of the United States Navy.



Couple this little known, but very important fact, with the reality that for years now we have seen more and more ham-handed interference with the global communications grid by the American alphabet soup agencies (NSA, CIA, FBI, HoSec) and major telecommunication companies. Would the telecommunication companies and the American military and alphabet soup agencies collude on an operation that had as its aim to sabotage the communications network across a wide region of the planet? Would they perhaps collude with Israeli military and intelligence agencies to do this? The honest answer has to be: sure, maybe so. The hard reality is that we are now living in a world of irrational and violent policies enacted against the civilian population by multinational corporations, and military and espionage agencies the world over. We see the evidence for this on every hand. Only the most myopic among us remain oblivious to that reality.



In light of the American Navy's demonstrated sea-floor capabilities and espionage activities, the heavy American Navy presence in the region, the many, thinly veiled threats against Iran by both the Americans and the Israelis, and their repeated, illegal, military aggression against other nations in the region, suspicion quite naturally falls on both Israel and the United States of America. It may be that this is what the beginning of a war against Iran looks like, or perhaps it is part of a more general, larger assault against Muslim and/or Arab interests across a very wide region. Whatever the case, this is no small operation, seeing as the cables that have been cut are among the largest communication pipes in the region, and clearly represent major strategic targets.



Very clearly, we are not looking at business as usual. On the contrary, it is obvious that we are looking at distinctly unusual business.



The explanations being put forth in the mainstream news media for these many cut, undersea communications cables absolutely do not pass the smell test. And by the way, the same operators who cut undersea cables in the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, Malaysia and possibly the Suez as well, presumably can also cut underwater cables in the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound. This could be a multipurpose operation, in part a test run for isolating a country or region from the international communications grid. The Middle East today, the USA tomorrow?



What's that you say? I don't understand how the world works? That kind of thing can't happen here?



In any event, if the cables have been intentionally cut, then that is an aggressive act of war. I'm sure everyone in the region has gotten that message. I'm looking at the same telegram as they are, and I know that it's clear as a “bell” to me.(14)



It is little known by the American people, but nevertheless true, that Iran intends to open its own Oil Bourse this month (February 2008) that will trade in “non-dollar currencies”.(16) This has massive geo-political-economic implications for the United States and the American economy, since the American dollar is at present still (if not for much longer) the dominant reserve currency internationally, particularly for petroleum transactions. However, due to the mind-boggling scale of the structural weaknesses in the American economy, which have been well discussed in the financial press in recent weeks and months, the American dollar is increasingly shunned by corporate, banking and governmental actors the world over. No one wants to be stuck with vaults full of rapidly depreciating dollars as the American economy hurtles towards the basement. And so an operational Iranian Oil Bourse, actively trading supertankers full of petroleum in non-dollar currencies, poses a great threat to the American dollar's continued dominance as the international reserve currency.



The American fear and unease of this development can only be increased by the knowledge that, “Oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have set 2010 as the target date for adopting a monetary union and single currency.”(2) The American government's fear must have ratcheted up another notch when Kuwait “dropped its dollar peg” in May “and adopted a basket of currencies”, arousing “speculation that the UAE and Qatar would follow suit or revalue their currencies.”(2) Although all the GCC members, with the exception of Kuwait, agreed at their annual meeting in December 2007 to continue to peg their currencies to the American dollar,(2) the hand writing is surely on the wall. As the dollar plummets, their American currency holdings will be worth less and less. At some point, they will likely decide to cut their losses and decouple the value of their currencies from that of the dollar. That point may be in 2010, when they establish the new GCC currency, maybe even sooner than that. If Iran succeeds in opening its own Oil Bourse it is hard to imagine that the GCC would not trade on the Iranian Oil Bourse, given the extremely close geographic proximity. And it is hard to believe that they would not trade their own oil in their own currency. Otherwise, why have a currency of their own? Clearly they intend to use it. And just as clearly, the three cut or damaged undersea communications cables in the Persian Gulf over the last week deliver a clear message. The United States may be a senescent dinosaur, and it is, but it is also a violent, heavily armed, very angry senescent dinosaur. In the end, it will do what all aged dinosaurs do: perish. But not before it first does a great deal of wild roaring and violent lashing and thrashing about.



There can be no doubt that Iran, and the other Gulf States, were intended recipients of this rather pointed cable cutting telegram, for all of the reasons mentioned here; and additionally, in the case of Iran, probably also as a waning for its perceived insults of Israel and dogged pursuit of its nuclear program in contravention of NeoCon-Zionist dogma that Iran may not have a nuclear program, though other nations in the region, Pakistan and Israel, do.



I must mention that one of my e-mail correspondents has pointed out that another possibility is that once the cables are cut, special operations divers could hypothetically come in and attach surveillance devices to the cables without being detected, because the cables are inoperable until they are repaired and start functioning again. In this way, other interests who wanted to spy on Middle Eastern communications, let's say on banking and trading data going to and from the Iranian Oil Bourse, or other nations in the Middle East, could tap into the communications network under cover of an unexplained cable “break”. Who knows? -- this idea may have merit.



It is noteworthy that two of the cables that were cut lie off the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, and another passes through the Suez. During the height of the disruption, some 70 percent of the Egyptian Internet was down. (13) This is a heavy blow in a day when everything from airlines, to banks, to universities, to newspapers, to hospitals, to telephone and shipping companies, and much more, uses the Internet. So Egypt was hit very hard. An astute observer who carefully reads the international press could not fail to notice that in recent days there has been a report in the Egyptian press that “Egypt rejected an Israeli-American proposal to resettle 800,000 Palestinians in Sinai.” This has evidently greatly upset the Zionist-NeoCon power block holding sway in Tel Aviv and Washington, DC with the result that Israel has reportedly threatened to have American aid to Egypt reduced if Egypt does not consent to the resettlement of the Palestinians in Egyptian territory.(17) This NeoCon-Zionist tantrum comes hard on the heels of the Israeli desire to cut ties with Gaza, as a consequence of the massive breach of the Gaza-Egypt border by hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in January 2008. (1



What are NeoCon-Zionist tyrants to do when their diplomatic hissy fits and anti-Arab tirades no longer carry the day in Cairo? Or in Qatar and the UAE? Maybe they get out the underwater cable cutters and deploy some special operations submarines and divers in the waters off of Alexandria and in the Suez and in the Persian Gulf.



This would be completely in line with articulated American military doctrine, which frankly views the Internet as something to be fought. American Freedom Of Information researchers at George Washington University obtained a Department of Defense (Pentagon) document in 2006, entitled “Information Operation Roadmap”, which says forthrightly and explicitly that “the Department must be prepared to 'fight the net'”.(20) This is a direct quote. It goes on to say that, “We Must Improve Network and Electro-Magnetic Attack Capability. To prevail in an information-centric fight, it is increasingly important that our forces dominate the electromagnetic spectrum with attack capabilities.“ (20) It also makes reference to the importance of employing a “robust offensive suite of capabilities to include full-range electronic and computer network attack.”((20)



So now we can add to our list of data points the professed intent of the American military to “fight the net”, using a “robust offensive suite of capabilities” in a “ full-range electronic and computer network attack.”



Maybe this sudden spate of cut communications cables is what it looks like when the American military uses a “robust offensive suite of capabilities” and mounts an “electronic and computer network attack” in order to “fight the net” in one region of the world. They have the means, and the opportunity, I've amply demonstrated that in this article. And now we also have the motive, in their own words, from their own policy statement. The plain translation is that the American military now regards the Internet, that means the hardware such as computers, cables, modems, servers and routers, and presumably also the content it contains, and the people who communicate that content, as an adversary, as something to be fought.



Oh yes, just a couple of more dots to connect before you fall asleep tonight:



1) The USS San Jacinto, an anti-missile AEGIS cruiser, was scheduled to dock in Haifa, Israel on 1 February 2008. The Jerusalem Post reported that this ship's anti-missile system “could be deployed in the region in the event of an Iranian missile attack against Israel.”(1) Are we to expect another “false flag” attack, like the inside job on 9-11 perhaps? -- an attack that will be made to appear that it comes from Iran, and that is then used as a pretext to strike Iran, maybe with nuclear weapons? And when Iran retaliates with its own missiles, then the Americans and Israelis will unleash further hell on Iran? Is that the Zionist-NeoCon plan, or something generally along those lines?



2) I have to wonder because just this past Saturday, there was a report in the news that, “Retired senior officers told Israelis ... to prepare 'rocket rooms' as protection against a rain of missiles expected to be fired at the Jewish State in any future conflict.” Retired General Udi Shani reportedly said, “The next war will see a massive use of ballistic weapons against the whole of Israeli territory."(4)



Now that we know the Israeli military establishment's thinking, and now that we have a view into the American military mindset, we ought to be looking at international events across the board with a very critical, analytical eye, especially as they relate to possible events that either are playing out right now, or may potentially play out in the relatively near future, say in the time frame of the next one month to five years. These people are violent and devious; they have forewarned us, and we should take them at their word, given their murderous record on the international stage.



Contact the author at: dr_samizdat@yahoo.com





References



1) http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1202064573279&p agename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull



2) http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/business/?id=24186

3) http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2008/ February/theuae_February121.xml&section=theuae



4) http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080202132053.iohfg5ob&show_art icle=1



5) http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/04/2153455.htm



6) http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i03tUdyj8wf2Xa9P4trWEjqAJdyQ



7) http://www.arabianbusiness.com/510132-internet-problems-continue-with- fourth-cable-break?ln=en



http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=7980





9) https://confluence.slac.stanford.edu/display/IEPM/Effects+of+Fibre+Out age+through+Mediterranean



10) http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/01/internet.outage/?iref=hpmost pop



11) http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/04/technology/cables.php



12) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/business/worldbusiness/31cable.html? _r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

13) http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/31/Cut-cable-disrupts-Internet- in-Middle-East_1.html



14) http://www.specialoperations.com/Operations/ivybells.html



15) http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2213925,00.html



16) http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=37468&sectionid=351020103



17) http://www.roadstoiraq.com/2008/02/02/egypt-rejected-an-american-israe li-proposal-to-re-settle-800000-palestinians-in-sinai/



1 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/24/wgaza1 24.xml



19) http://www.smartmoney.com/news/on/index.cfm?story=ON-20080201-000320-0 524



20) http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB177/info_ops_roadmap.pdf

[karlos]

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-529826.html

Spy agency taps into undersea cable
By Neil Jr., News.com
Published on ZDNet News: May 23, 2001 12:00:00 AM

WASHINGTON--For decades, the National Security Agency did most of its spying by plucking information out of thin air. With a global network of listening stations and satellites, the NSA eavesdropped on phone conversations in Saddam Hussein's bunker, snatched Soviet missile-launch secrets and once caught Brezhnev in his limousine chatting about his mistress........

[Ravenmoon]

Lots of speculations have been flooding the web since five undersea-cables were severed a few days ago. An "intel-assault" against Iran was suspected, the everpresent damocletian Iranian "oil-bourse" emerged again out of the nowhere and conspiracy theories were setting the pace!

It all started when media "suspected" ships being responsible with their "anchors" of being the culprits. nothing can be farther off the truth as those undersea-cables are extremey well protected against such accidents. Morover their location is documented in maritime maps and I wouldn't like to change with any captain who is conducting such an error, as the days of his patent would be counted...

And soon the Egyptian officials were peddeling back by releasing surveillance camera data that did prove that it couldn't have been any anchor as there were NO surface vessels in the area of question at the time the breaks were reported.

So what could have been the reason that FIVE cables broke almost at the same time?

Let's first have a look which countries were effected by the damage:



Due to this extremely well informed site, http://www.renesys.com/blog/2008/01/mediterranean_cable_break.shtml Egypt and Pakistan lost the highest percentage of their networks, while India lost the least. However, India had the third highest total number of networks disappear. Looking at the cable map, it is not surprising that the Indian subcontinent was impacted by events off the coast of Egypt. There are essentially two ways to get to this part of the world: via the Suez Canal or via Southeast Asia.
So it wasn't Iran who was affected firsthand as rumors had spread it over the bloggosphere, almost immediately. Moreover I found it somehow strange that there were abolutely NO REPORTS on that events in Iran's official media itself! The often mentioned router1.iust.ac.ir (194.225.239.1) simply stopped at n2-r2-c7206.irannet.ir (194.225.150.2) - a location in the vicinity of Iran - as a simple route check with ICMP will tell...

So Iran couldn't have been the target if we speculate about a deliberate attack. It was Egypt and the oil rich Gulf states who did suffer most from the loss of net capacity:



In red those countries with major impacts
Here's another site with excellent additional info on submarine cables, I do propose for further studies:
http://www.telegeography.com/products/map_cable/index.php

Although the "Iranian Oilbourse" might be another RED HERRING there is one topic - connected with money and the region - that remains valid after thorough examination: The UAE is likely to revalue its currency against the flagging dollar in a bid to bring down inflation and meet criteria for a single Gulf currency, an industry report said on Monday.


It is "most likely that the UAE central bank will revalue the dirham against the US dollar in line with other GCC currencies," the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) said.
"This will help to some extent in alleviating inflationary pressures whilst retaining adherence to the dollar peg stipulated as an integral part of the convergence criteria necessary for a (Gulf) MU (monetary union) in 2010," it said in the report.

The dollar is worth 3.67 dirhams, the rate used for the past decade.

Oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have set 2010 as the target date for adopting a monetary union and single currency.

And we do find Egypt, as another "punishworth" nation, when we look at the latest US-Congress HR 2977,110th session: Egypt's Government simply refused to relocate 800,000 Palestinians to the Sinai, as was "proposed by" Israel and the US Government. So the Congress proposes to cut the military aid for Egypt.

Only "cutting" the aid?

When we go back in history we do find some early examples for "information warfare":

On Aug.5, 1914 the British ship CS Telconia cut five German undersea-cables connecting to America.

And it was in the days before 9/11 that the FBI had raided various servers of "Muslim origin" - so actually cutting off any partisan voices that later could have doubted the "official conspiracy theory" of Atta and the (f)lying 19 thieves.

Zionist mouthpieces, Daniel Pipes and Steven Emerson, had done their homeworks when they asked for legal actions against the websites of the "Islamic Association for Palestine" and the "Holy Land Foundation" in August 2001...

Interestingly, the Charter of the UN, drafted 50 years ago, appears to contemplate such interference with a country's communications as "infoblockades." Article 41 provides that in its effort to address breaches of the peace, the UN Security Council may call upon UN members to disrupt an aggressor's "rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication."(reference)

Within one week - so the promise of the maintenance-companies - the submarine cables will be repaired and everything will be back to "normal".

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=118247

[Sherlock Holmes]

This graphic tells me something quite different, as to the effects of the multiple cables being cut accidentally "by coincidence" all within hours of each other. The main router in Tehran has been down since this happened.

http://www.internettrafficreport.com/asia.htm

[acrobat74]

Most of the above posts are interesting hypotheses & good work.

However, I have now seen a photo of one of the cables off the Egyptian coast being raised to the ship of the operator twisted together with a ship's anchor.
Moreover I'm told a ship in the area reported having lost its anchor.

I am also very reliably told that...

The cuts were:

- 2 in Egypt (FEA+SMW4 cables)
Last Wed, three hours apart.

- 3 in the Gulf
Within the last three weeks.

- Shanghai, Thailand
Within the last month.

Generally speaking, causes for such cuts may be:
- anchors of ships
- earthquakes
- nets of fishing boats
- shark bites (!!) (sharks are attracted to the electrical fields of the cables)

Also, the cables off the coast of Egypt are 8 km out in the sea.

I have some concerns with the report that claims that the Egyptian authorities have cameras onshore that track the area etc. etc.

All this FYI.
I'd be very cautious with some of the reports out there.

Finally, some common sense questions assuming this was sabotage:
- if the purpose was an attack, wouldn't it already have taken place?
- if the purpose was espionage, wouldn't it be silly to cut the cables?

[karlos]

[outsider]

[outsider]

[fish5133]

Possible reason? Bit of a long shot

America want "Full Spectrum Domination" Intel being one of the spectrums I believe. Would something like cutting undersea cables help towards it?

Wonder who will fix them?

[outsider]

[karlos]

I agree, it has to be an attack on the Commodities Exchange.
Hopefully, Iran will lay down more new land based cables through Russia and China so that this wont happen again.
Wonder what is going to happen when they launch their satelite later this year?

[Mark Gobell]

Received this reply on Feb 3rd from Iranian techie:

Hi

Im in iran, I don’t have enugh information about this. I heard something about this. But I have internet connection now. (but its slow today)

regards


From: MARK GOBELL
Sent: Monday, 04 February 2008 01:00 AM
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Iran Internet Down ?



Dear Sir

I live in England and have been reading reports that under sea internet cables have been cut to Iran and that internet access in Iran is down.

Can you please clarify.

Thank you.

Kind regards

Mark Gobell

[suraci]

The most extraordinary thing about this whole affair is not that they were cut, we expect them to do that sort of thing, but that some are taking the coincidence line.

I sometimes think these elite criminals could do literally anything, claim coincidence or accident, and the world would believe them and go back to sleep

If we ignore these incidents enough eventually they'll drop the big one on us, it's only a matter of time. They must be getting daily emboldened by the sheer dumb cattle stupidity and acquiescence of supposedly intelligent human beings, with the right to vote in rigged elections, god help us.

The elite must regard the general public as childlike simple creatures to be lead by the nose like ox to slaughter, and they're probably right.

[krystofr1]

[blackcat]

Alexandria is just one of a number of places where cables were broken.

[acrobat74]

[outsider]