Sabateurs may have cut Mideast telecom cables

[MiaCulpa]

Source: Raw Story -- AFP Wire Service

Damage to several undersea telecom cables that caused outages across the Middle East and Asia could have been an act of sabotage, the International Telecommunication Union said on Monday.

"We do not want to preempt the results of ongoing investigations, but we do not rule out that a deliberate act of sabotage caused the damage to the undersea cables over two weeks ago," the UN agency's head of development, Sami al-Murshed, told AFP...

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Sabateurs_may_have_cut_Mideast_telecom_0219.html

---

Full story at the link.



-Diane

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. does the USS Jimmy Carter spy sub qualify as a

sabateur? Its launch was delayed until 2005 as they added a 100 foot section to tap underwater fiber optic and comm cables.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

14. It's Carter's fault!

[lapfog_1]

2. I thought they had determined

that it was "anchor drops" at least for two of the cables.

I had postulated sabotage... and was quite prepared to eat some humble pie... now putting my fork back on the table.

[Ian David]

4. It could be that saboteurs got the idea after seeing what an accidental breakage did. n/t

[lapfog_1]

6. That was my idea too

take your fishing vessel a little ways offshore and in a restricted area (where the cables are all congregated so as to reduce the no fishing no anchorage zone) and drop your anchor a few times.

Then, when they look for the break... well, it COULD have been an accident!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

25. the egyptians screwed up that story, by telling the truth

the breaks occurred in areas with no shipping traffic, no anchors, no reason.

[TheDebbieDee]

3. What?!?!?! You mean it all wasn't a coincidence? :P

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. Anchors? Earthquake? A crank with a pair of bolt-cutters?

Kind of hard to avoid the conclusion that this was coordinated as it took place in deep water in three oceans during a one-week period.

[Ian David]

9. I suppose this is ONE way to shut-down the penis-eblargement spammer. n/t

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

7. What happened to the wondering ship's Anchor?

[PDJane]

10. One might suggest

that the ship's anchor was a figment of someone's imagination...since, apparently, there were no ships near the cables. They are in restricted lanes.

[Blue State Bandit]

8. Could be to delay the opening of the Iran Oil Services Exchange Market in Kish.

It's been all over the net that Iran wanted to open their Brouse. This is a threat to the Dollar. It would make sense. If this is the case, I don't know where I would come down on this. One one hand, I should feel pissed, but on the other, I'd be even more pissed if my dollar became worthless.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=amcLG_E_EuyI&refer=home


Looks like they opened anyway on the 17th.

[gateley]

19. I'd heard that as a possibility, too. nt

[endarkenment]

11. Wow and all along I thought that 5 cable cuts in two weeks

was just a coinkydink.

[TreasonousBastard]

12. "...could have been..." Could have been aliens, too.

[FalconsRule]

17. Most likely was

Aliens...

[seafan]

13. Hey, maybe *the three mystery ships* of February, 2003 are at it again....

But, it's likely these undersea telephone/internet cables were deliberately cut. The answer lies in the question, 'Who benefits from disrupted communications in the Middle East/Asia?'




Iraq crisis: Three mystery ships are tracked over suspected `weapons'

Independent, The (London), Feb 19, 2003 by Michael Harrison

THREE GIANT cargo ships are being tracked by US and British intelligence on suspicion that they might be carrying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Each with a deadweight of 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes, the ships have been sailing around the world's oceans for the past three months while maintaining radio silence in clear violation of international maritime law, say authoritative shipping industry sources.

The vessels left port in late November, just a few days after UN weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix began their search for the alleged Iraqi arsenal on their return to the country.

Uncovering such a deadly cargo on board would give George Bush and Tony Blair the much sought-after "smoking gun" needed to justify an attack on Saddam Hussein's regime, in the face of massive public opposition to war.

.....

Oh, the patent absurdity and harrowing sorrow of the last seven years...

[Javaman]

15. I recall when these lines were first severed...

there were posters on DU claiming that "everyone one on here always finds a conspiracy in everything".

And I have only one thing to say as a reply, You were saying?

one is an accident, two maybe, 3 nope, 4 no way, 5 most definitely sabotage.

[Occulus]

26. It occures to me that internet message boards may be rife with

people who have a vested interest in labeling actual events 'conspiracy theories' in order to summarily dismiss those events. It also occurs to me that the very label of 'conspiracy theory' was manipulated by the CIA et al to come to mean 'kook' (I believe I read that as an actual admission in a CIA report sometime, somewhere).

It tends to take the wind out of their sails when you clarify by stating that, to you, 'conspiracy theory' often means 'criminal conspiracy', which is in no sense of the term a 'kook' statement, since everyone knows that criminal conspiracies often take place.

[SquireJons]

16. That's what our NSA thinks happened

I recently was on a ski trip and my roommate was a security expert within the govt after a 20 year career in the marines (doing intel work). I asked him what he thought about the cables and he was unequivocal about it being sabotage. He went so far as to say that it has to be state sponsored, because it would require the use of submarines. Not very many countries have submarines, and we don't track all of them, so determining who is responsible could be difficult. Russia sold some older subs to Iran, so they are suspect, but I wouldn't put it past the Russians or the Chinese either. Both are very active in cyber attacks on this and other countries.

Testing the reaction and capabilities to respond, is my guess. I just hope that they don't really want to start anything, but we are at our weakest right now, so the time is right.

Thanks W, you moron.

[libodem]

18. Go figure

Duh.

[bagrman]

20. News on the cable cutting in the Mideast

Part of the story from World Reports. You won't hear anything about this on the MSM.


http://www.worldreports.org/news/121_u.s._supreme_court_orders_president_bush_to_pay



At the end of January 2008, it became apparent to the Bush White House that as a result of their obstruction and serial sabotage of banking procedures connected with the Wanta Plan Funds disbursements, and the release of the NESARA-related global prosperity bank packages, the USA-Israel coalition had lost the Middle East and its oil. The region's oil producers, acting in concert, were quietly poised to ditch the US dollar and denominate their oil sales in Euros (initially) and then in the new Gulf Cooperation Council monetary union single currency.

This was originally planned for introduction in 2010 but because of the USA's banking sabotage, was being brought forward. The financial culture change in the Middle East sounded the final death knell for the US dollar. The pain for the Bush White House was sharpened by advanced plans for the establishment, in February 2008, of the new Iranian Oil Bourse. This would actively trade huge supertankers full of petroleum in non-dollar currencies. A decision was taken by the USA and Israel to destroy the Middle East's Internet access. At the end of January and beginning of February 2008, USA-Israeli BlackOps units moved in and cut eight or more major undersea Internet cables in the region, crashing global Internet access for the Middle East’s main banking centres in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Iran, UAE, Turkey and Kuwait. Israel was unaffected by the sabotage.

The deliberate severing of these cables immediately denied Gulf Cooperation Council members access to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), based in Brussels. This key network carries thirteen million encrypted data instructions a day to do with international transfers of money between banks.

Initially it was thought that the first two or three Internet cable severances might be caused by Earth changes. Tectonic plate movements in the region were pulling open stretch zones around the Arabian Plate. Some of the Internet cables ran over these zones and might not have been provided with sufficient slack to compensate. But as the number of cable severances mounted in different places in the space of a few days, and as the selective protection of Israel's Internet access became apparent, it was clear that a programme of deliberate and coordinated sabotage was under way. Russia recognised this immediately. President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian Air Force to take action to protect Russian access to vital undersea Internet cables in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. Major aerial exercises involving Tupolev Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombing groups were initiated, and MiG-31 and Su-27 fighters were sent to the area.

[gerrilea]

21. Told you so, Told you So, Told you So!

I just had to say it...everyone was implying I was a nut not even a week ago when I said it wasn't an anchor!

I thought that we were most likely going to attack Iran...they were cut off completely...

1st step in war...cut communication lines of your enemy


But all you guys here didn't want to hear the truth...

Sorry to be right...

[OKthatsIT]

22. MAY? (laugh)

[bhikkhu]

23. Economic subterfuge against the Iranian Bourse

would make the most sense. A simple and non-prosecutable attack to the cables providing the internet service (and so financial services) to the island hosting the Iranian oil bourse demonstrates its vulnerability to the big players the US would like to keep in "our camp".

Of course the damage will be quickly repaired and service restored, but the taint of vulnerability will linger.

[benh57]

24. "saboteur"

Sorry, couldn't resist... it's the headline.