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Egypt says: No ships were in area when Internet Cables Cut.

khaleejtimes.com — The transport ministry added that 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.

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  • iching, on 02/04/2008, -11/+189Three cables in one day was too much for a mere coincidence. It was either some kind of Loch Ness monster or a sub. Now, who has a lot of subs?
    • Napoleone, on 02/04/2008, -9/+170SUBWAY eat fresh.™
    • NoStoppingUs, on 02/04/2008, -8/+27they make "fruity cheerios" now. clearly just a fruit loops wannabe.

      i told my mom to never ***** buy me fruity cheerios again or her ass is going back to the store.
      • theliamburns1, on 02/04/2008, -9/+7your trying to hard
        • NoStoppingUs, on 02/04/2008, -2/+15look.

          i just heard kurt russell is at the super bowl.

          i dont have time for your ridiculous nonsense.
        • evil-doer, on 02/04/2008, -5/+450% of what you just wrote is spelled wrong. Moron.
          • Durinthal, on 02/04/2008, -1/+2Actually, everything is spelled correctly. It just doesn't make any sense because those aren't the words he meant to use.
          • jrak, on 02/04/2008, -2/+3100% of what you wrote is boring.
    • jabrthel, on 02/04/2008, -4/+34I blame crabs... or lobsters. Pinching their claws, angry that we laid cable onto their sea-land.
      • CATSCEO, on 02/04/2008, -3/+27Crab people, Crab people, Crab people, Crab people, Crab people, etc
      • 0crabby0, on 02/04/2008, -0/+4WTF?
        What did we do to you?
      • doshindude, on 02/04/2008, -1/+2Well, these giant crabs attack the weak point of the cables for MASSIVE DAMAGE.
    • Chompy, on 02/04/2008, -16/+38This is the same Egyptian government whose official report claimed that the pilot of EgyptAir 990 couldn't possibly have suicided because "Egyptians don't commit suicide". Something else may have caused this disruption, but anyone who believes anything the Egyptian government says is a fool.
      • wisam, on 02/04/2008, -10/+6The Egyptian government isn't the best when it comes to integrity. Trust me, you get to know when you live under such semi-totalitarian regime. But they handled the whole underwater cables incident with great deal of transparency. I would believe anything the technocrats in this government have to say as long as it isn't about economy and human rights.

        About EgyptAir 990, building your assumption that the pilot committed suicide on a phrase the pilot said in the last seconds is plain stupid and ignorant of the way we guys speak and go on with our lives. The phrase meant "I rely on God". You say it as a blessing when you are about to do a good deed and not when committing suicide (which is a sinful act).
        • Chompy, on 02/04/2008, -3/+4I base my assumption on the flight recorder which says that the plane was driven into the sea by control inputs, not by malfunction. One pilot was saying "What is this!?" and the other was saying "I rely on God" 19 times in a row.
      • helikopter, on 02/04/2008, -10/+2sometimes i forget egypt even exists anymore
        • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -4/+2That's okay. Most americans forget anything outside the US exists. They are myopic and provincial and rather uneducated.

          • jabrthel, on 02/05/2008, -0/+2Unless you compare them with the British, 75% of whom apparently don't believe that Churchill was a real person. But anyways I still don't think the Brits are stupid, but that's mainly because I don't have a stick shoved so far up my ass that I feel the need to drop a uniform accusation down upon a large group of people... especially when I haven't even gotten to truly know but a few of them.

            http://www.digg.com/world_news/Poll_Quarter_of_Bri ...
          • jabrthel, on 02/05/2008, -0/+2errrr... 25%. I might not have had a stick up my ass, but I did have my foot in my mouth.
      • geezor, on 02/04/2008, -3/+11I'm not sure how bad the "Egyptians don't commit suicide" line is considering our government gives us lines like "Americans don't torture." Govts. always make up stuff so we children will go back to sleep.
        • Chompy, on 02/04/2008, -4/+2Let me know when you find an official US government report, that says that torture didn't happen because "Americans don't torture people".
        • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -1/+3He didn't say that there are reports with those words in it. He said that "our government gives us lines like..."

          President Bush on Friday defended his administration's methods of interrogating terrorism suspects, insisting, "This government does not torture people." Oct. 5, 2007 (http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/05/bush.to ... )

    • theheyes, on 02/04/2008, -2/+15"I saw it! It's alive! It's huge!"
    • banido, on 02/04/2008, -4/+23SeaOrg , scientology is screwing the internet to fight anon.
    • JoshuaH, on 02/04/2008, -5/+22Scientologists..
      • Hangly, on 02/04/2008, -0/+1The Discordians have that one big one...
    • Andysan, on 02/04/2008, -0/+16It doesn't take a LOT of submarines to cut four cables. Now make a list of who has at least four subs -- maybe no more than two could have done it.
      • elipabst, on 02/04/2008, -0/+4What would be the point though? The US has a specialized sub (USS Jimmy Carter) which can lock onto an undersea cable and splice into the fiber optic line with little or no disruption. They could have spliced into every single undersea cable over a few week period with out anyone noticing a thing. To cut all 4 cables makes it obvious as hell that something is going on.
        • buckrogers1965, on 02/04/2008, -1/+1Maybe they did try to splice the cables in four locations and found out that the cable sealant that they got off the lowest bidder malfunctioned.
    • overtoke, on 02/04/2008, -3/+11Iran Oil Bourse
    • Myztry, on 02/04/2008, -2/+14Cloverfield....
      • nazsco, on 02/05/2008, -0/+1worst movie ever. could at least have a plot of some kind. or a script. or actors. or even a photography director. hell, i'd settle for good CGI only.
    • troye, on 02/04/2008, -6/+7I already told you all. George Bush did it.
      • HunterSeeker42, on 02/04/2008, -2/+5Yep. He was down there on the shelf with a pair of hedge trimmers ;)
        • HueytheFreeman, on 02/04/2008, -2/+6I was down on your mom with a pair of hedge trimmers.
    • Hangly, on 02/04/2008, -2/+5It could be divers. Those cables are pretty close to shore, and not extremely deep.
    • madwaxer, on 02/04/2008, -1/+3probably used a submarine or some other kind of submersible manned crew to pull it off!
      after which they just had to turn on their gadgets to swim away.
      • Arghblarg, on 02/04/2008, -1/+0Come on people, it's obviously time for a "satellites for Iran" campaign! If their sea-based 'net connectivity is cut off, let's get together in a show of solidarity and establish a robust satellite link for the nation. If *that* got cut off too, it would be undeniable that this was a pre-meditated effort at isolating the nation for a war agenda. Simple, really. Who's with me?
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -0/+6Egypt has subs. China has subs. The US has subs. Russia and probably a few former soviet republics. England. France.

      Lots of nations have subs. Hell, some research organizations and even private salvage companies have subs. There's even a tour you can take in the bahamas in a sub.
    • MacSuxWindozSux, on 02/04/2008, -0/+6Old army saying...
      Once is bad luck. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.
    • dkern, on 02/04/2008, -0/+1I wonder if they were cut at all. Maybe this news story is a cover to gage public response before cutting off Iran?
    • nazsco, on 02/05/2008, -0/+1now, the question is... who have lots of Loch Ness monsters? uh?
  • iching, on 02/04/2008, -9/+148The US Navy and its Cable Cutting Sub

    Cable cutters have been of extreme interest to the US Navy. Operation of cable cutters is presently being extended to all depths of the world's oceans. The design and construction of cable cutters cover an extensive area of the engineering fields. The general method used for cutting is a mechanical technique usually involving a cutter impinging on an anvil to cut the cable or wire. In some cases scissor-like devices have been used.

    http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/shi ...
    • Reedan, on 02/04/2008, -18/+7They did it for the lulz.
    • Buelldozer, on 02/04/2008, -11/+5The US Navy doesn't have to cut 'em to "read" em. They have other techniques, even for fiber. Look to another party.
      • skew009, on 02/04/2008, -3/+16It's not about reading them in this case. It's about severing communications channels for banking institutions.
    • Vostok, on 02/04/2008, -8/+0I bet it was the US Navy and it was a message. China has been trying, and has at a low level, to hack the Pentagon and even British defense systems. I see this as you 'you try to hack us again and we'll shut down your entire economy'.
      • caketank, on 02/04/2008, -0/+5You know what would be really bad for the US? A shutdown of China's economy.
        • thugok, on 02/04/2008, -0/+2We would just get our cheap crap from somewhere else and pay ~10% more. It wouldn't be that big of a deal. It's not like China has a monopoly on lead encrusted toys.
      • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -0/+1Yeah, the pentagon's message is, if you mess with us, we'll shut down our supply of computer chips and defense critical supplies that you make for us.
    • scrumpy, on 02/04/2008, -9/+1The cutting is not mechanical. Think plasma. Trust me.
      • jdhammer, on 02/04/2008, -2/+7Hmmmm. Blindly trust someone I've never met, who is posting on an internet site for geeks, who merely thinks he has to say "think plasma" to win people to his side of the argument? Sure!
        • DCGaymer, on 02/04/2008, -0/+2but he's names Scrumpy....I'd have to believe someone named Scrumpy.
      • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -0/+4Think LCD. They're cheaper.

        Are you saying they dropped a very large HDTV on the cables??
    • elipabst, on 02/04/2008, -0/+2Yeah, but the US has a sub (the USS Jimmy Carter) which is specifically designed for splicing into undersea fiber optic cables. To just cut them and cause multi-day communications outages doesn't make any sense when they could have easily spliced into these lines without anyone noticing.

      http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001397.html
      • gummih, on 02/04/2008, -0/+1Interesting - but surely it's better to cut the cable in a separate place to create a diversion while you splice into it? Just in case something goes wrong with the splicing.
        • elipabst, on 02/04/2008, -0/+1Maybe 1 cable, but cutting four isn't exactly a diversion. It's more like a flashing neon sign saying "we're down here monkeying with your cables!!!!"
    • donjuan571, on 02/04/2008, -0/+1The plasma he is referring to is a "plasma cutter" http://science.howstuffworks.com/plasma-cutter.htm
      When I was in the military I watched a guy torch a hole through inch thick ballistic plating for a humwv turret literally in less than a second. Also of note, my buddy and I spent almost 2 hours trying to drill through it with diamond-edged bits but to no success.
      If there were a sub that specialized in cutting undersea cables, trust me, plasma is the way to go, it burns around 25,000 degrees F and the gas itself is flying out at almost supersonic speeds. You could slice a 2foot wide cable in under 30 seconds(probably faster depending on the size of torch). Fast enough to do 3 in one night :)
      Its basically like a lightsaber...
  • markvand, on 02/04/2008, -4/+144So we're at 4 cables down now. Ships anchors have been ruled out. Anyone still calling this coincidence? Hope not. Then what is this? Well, all I know is that this has happened before, and we ended up with the first world war: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0QUY/is_200 ...
    • iching, on 02/04/2008, -0/+37Thanks, I didn't know about that important piece of history.
    • Sil369, on 02/04/2008, -13/+3UFOs
    • FearLess77, on 02/04/2008, -11/+11It didn't *cause* WWI, it was merely the first offensive action, big difference.
      • adooga, on 02/04/2008, -0/+9I suppose that's why he didn't say "cause" then.
        • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -2/+1He didn't use the word "cause", but what else could he mean by:

          "Well, all I know is that this has happened before, and we ended up with the first world war"

          first part of that sentence, cause. Second part of that sentence, effect.
        • yodaj007, on 02/04/2008, -0/+3No, Phillesh. Correlation does not imply causation.
      • williamdyer, on 02/04/2008, -2/+3I'm sure this won't be the "cause" of a war with Iran, either. But Bush still has a woody for more war.
    • carlrey0216, on 02/04/2008, -8/+16wait... Are you saying they have cut the Internet cables before and we ended up with the first world war? fascinating!
    • HunterSeeker42, on 02/04/2008, -10/+4You mean cut cables killed Archduke Ferdinand?

      Interesting.
    • Exilon, on 02/04/2008, -5/+0I told you it was the terrorist sharks!
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -1/+2Gavrilo Princip was the direct cause of WWI. The more general causes were the binding mutual-defense treaties that forced one nation to enter into war against anyone who threatened or attacked the other members of their treaty.
  • techne1, on 02/04/2008, -2/+114While I'm not one for conspiracy theories, I can't help but wonder what really happened to these cables. They are, after all, vital parts of the area's communications infrastructure, and this area is generally a politically "hot" zone... And we all know that in modern warfare, communications are primary targets... just sayin'
    • thesparrowband, on 02/04/2008, -11/+5your not being a conspiracy theorist. this is obviously somebody messing with us, whether is U.S. or not. Its obvious that either someone is showing off their ability to ***** things up, or someone had the lines tapped, and now its messing up. This is no ship anchor.
      • thesparrowband, on 02/04/2008, -6/+3why dig me down? here, i'll add to my point
        say the CIA tapped the lines a long time ago, for obvious reasons (see this article http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-529826.html) and just recently their splice into the lines ran into a software bug/human error/whatever. All of the sudden the lines they had tapped go down, and they are struggling to fix them, possibly causing the others to go down days later.
        did they actually find cut cables? or have they yet to go down there? and if they havn't gone down there yet, who owns the repair ships?
        • Darkicewolf, on 02/04/2008, -3/+0The big problem with your idea is , well it's extremely noticeable. first you got to pull up the line from the ocean floor cut into it. Then place a splitter coupler on the fiber you want, all of which is going to disrupted any active commutation on the fiber in question.

          So if say the CIA start doing this the techs and Engineers are going to go Holy ***** what going on here. Next there going pull out the good old OTDR and start sending pulse down the line and try and see what happened. i.e. if they start getting reflections back they know there a break.

          Even if CIA guys could pull this off with out anyone noticing in realtime what's going on. There going to notice soon enough just from the attention loss at the coupling , you can loss more then 3 dB pretty easily with optical coupler, splitter I'm betting are even worse. something that pretty noticeable , which will prompt some tech to put the fiber line in question under the OTDR and see whats happening reflection wise.

          The last big question is even if the CIA could do something as crazy as this without anyone noticing, where could they pipe the data to ? they would have to run there own fiber line to handle the data pretty costly I would say when they could just tap one of the major back bones in the USA, most of the internet gets route through there anyways at some stage.
      • Alegoo92, on 02/04/2008, -1/+7It's not "obviously" anything. Please, please, please, please, PLEASE do not act like you are an authority on the subject because you are absolutely not.
        • thesparrowband, on 02/04/2008, -3/+2ugh. your right. but its oh so fun to get carried away with it.
    • Barbosa, on 02/04/2008, -3/+7As far as I know Iran is the only country that went near 100% cut off (when using online throughput tests). Even after the traffic was rerouted I went to an Iranian website today and it was still slower than slow. I really hope that the US did not stoop this low to just cut off access to an entire nation unilaterally.
      • HunterSeeker42, on 02/04/2008, -6/+1I don't know. If this was a hostile action against Iran the US military would have been in Tehran by now, IMO
    • EditorResponse, on 02/04/2008, -3/+1The three cables cut cutoff Iran...and the USA is looking for Al Qeada Al Zawahri and Bin Laden. Maybe this gives them intel on where they were communicating from.
      • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -1/+4Has Fox News been trying to change the story now so that the true believers now think Al Zawahiri and Bin Laden are in Iran, or are Iranian, or have Iranian support?

        And you bought it???
    • gummih, on 02/04/2008, -0/+3I would look at Israel. Palestinians were pouring into Egypt from Gaza and Egypt wasn't doing anything to stop it. A little bit of scalpel action later and Egypt has sealed the border.
  • iching, on 02/04/2008, -12/+96The 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.

    http://mathaba.net/rss/?x=580589
    • HappyScrappy, on 02/04/2008, -8/+3Yeah. Except Germany was also (partially) taken out. And Iran wasn't taken out completely.
    • tnsimonson, on 02/04/2008, -2/+13Israel uses different trunk routes than its Arab neighbors (for obvious reasons) and thus was unaffected. Iraqi data connections are mainly military, currently heavily satellite-based, and thus unaffected by any cable cuts.
    • MacSuxWindozSux, on 02/04/2008, -3/+2I could be anyone... I could see BinLaden or any extremist figure cutting cables even if their home country is being affected.
      • gummih, on 02/04/2008, -0/+3No it could not be anyone. Right now we don't know who did it but I would say that it's most likely that it was someone who had the means and motive - wouldn't you agree? Btw, what OS do you use?
  • syroncoda, on 02/04/2008, -27/+100subs make cuts easily. not like this wasn't planned at all. too coincidental to have 4 backbone cables cut within days of eachother.

    i blame united states and israel. mark my words.
    • schnikies79, on 02/04/2008, -23/+52I blame china and russia. Mark my words.

      See, I can throw out completely baseless accusations too! No one ever does anything but the US and Israel....
      • empirefalling, on 02/04/2008, -16/+21The most violent aggressors in the region are the United States and Israel. Time and again both regimes have made blatant military threats against Iran. Any human with minimal intelligence will come to the conclusion that preparation for war against Iran is not being made by Russia or China.
        • schnikies79, on 02/04/2008, -12/+9We have been hearing about a war with Iran for over 2 years now, nothing has happened. Our sitting president will be gone in a matter of months. Every week there was a new story about how the US will be attacking Iran, plans are being made, it's already started, etc.

          Face it, it's not going to happen. Not by the US anyway.
        • yojiffyskippy, on 02/04/2008, -6/+10I think you forgot the /sarc/
        • mrASSMAN, on 02/04/2008, -7/+23"The most violent aggressors in the region are the United States and Israel."

          WOW. You have a poor grasp of history.
          • williamdyer, on 02/04/2008, -6/+5Yeah, the destruction of Lebanon was totally not Israel's doing.
          • EditorResponse, on 02/04/2008, -6/+6I think its funny that the ***** up islamists think they won....and if I was Israel and I got to kill thousands of them and lost, then who gives a *****. Because if everyone claimed Israel won and they managed to kill thousands people would be bitching.

            The destruction of Lebanon was the fault of Iran and the bearded hezbula putzs in Lebanon who started the war by kidnapping three soldiers.
      • shodanx, on 02/04/2008, -9/+1you're only forgetting that the ussr and china barely have the capability and none of the motivation for doing that

        US tech Israel-operated sounds plausible
        Isreal hates Egypt and cutting their internet backbone is the most deniable yet damaging thing they could do I think
        • bunit03057, on 02/04/2008, -0/+2The USSR? 1922-1991 It's just Russia or the Russian Federation now. Where have you been?
      • shodanx, on 02/04/2008, -11/+3you're only forgetting that the ussr and china barely have the capability and none of the motivation for doing that

        US tech Israel-operated sounds plausible
        Isreal hates Egypt and cutting their internet backbone is the most deniable yet damaging thing they could do I think
        • schnikies79, on 02/04/2008, -5/+4And when it's all fixed in a couple weeks, then what? It's doesn't take that long to fix breaks.

          No has anything to gain by this. Get over it.
        • tattertech, on 02/04/2008, -2/+9Barely have the capability? I must be remembering things wrong, because I could have sworn the Soviets had an awful lot of subs. Motivation is one thing, but capability? You're definitely underestimating them.
          • mrASSMAN, on 02/04/2008, -2/+3China also has been building a new fleet of subs.
      • gernblansted, on 02/04/2008, -7/+7The US and Israel have means and motive. Russia and China have means but no motive. There aren't too many other players here, so it would stand to reason your marked words are more likely wrong. I'm curious what the repair crew will find.
    • skew009, on 02/04/2008, -5/+9It has to do with world (US) banking institutions, saudi arabia, and iran. Countries like saudi arabia and iran have been threatening to break the link between the dollar and oil and switch to Euros instead. This would instantly make the dollar completely worthless as it's ties to oil are it's only real perceived value. Banks are having to use backup communication systems, so they wouldn't attempt this change with already have this big of a problem. It's a form of technological warfare compliments of the US. Who else threatened to switch to the Euro? Oh yeah...Iraq, look what happened to them. Who else? Venezuela - now on the axis of evil 'list'.
      • elipabst, on 02/04/2008, -2/+2Saudi Arabia would not switch to the Euro. They are one of the US's biggest allies in the region and they are highly dependent on US oil consumption. Iran has switched to the Euro and look what has happened, nothing. Venezuela and the US have had a rocky relationship for much longer than they have been threatening to pull all of their money out of US Treasuries. I think you need to take the tinfoil hat off.
  • THEROC, on 02/04/2008, -0/+42Interesting article about the NSA and undersea fiber-optic cables:
    http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-529826.html
    • iching, on 02/04/2008, -0/+7Thanks for the link interesting read

      • EditorResponse, on 02/04/2008, -4/+1It was interesting but how correct is it? Why does a fiber optic cable need 10,000 volts running through it? I've never heard of a fiber optic cable carrying an electrical charge. In fact one of the key reasons in using fiber optics between buildings is because they do NOT carry an electrical charge...and 10,000 volts across an ocean without a repeater to maintain the charge....I don't buy it.

        "Making a surreptitious tap of a live cable would also require circumventing the electrical charge--usually around 10,000 volts--which is used to power the devices that keep the speeding light beams strong."
    • vroom101, on 02/04/2008, -0/+6http://digg.com/world_news/Spy_agency_taps_into_un ...

      It's an excellent article!
    • nirav72, on 02/04/2008, -1/+8Its possible they tried to tap into the cable but botched the operation. The latest graduating class of
      "underwater fiber optic cable splicing and taping people" must really suck.
    • theVariable, on 02/04/2008, -1/+7This actually made me think of something and I'm not much for conspiracy theories. I do know that in order to tap into a fiber optic line, it has to be cut. A task which completely halts service on that line. Now, if you wanted to tap a lot of lines and make it look like an accident, you'd need to cut them at one point along the stretch (the accident), then cut again somewhere else (where nobody is going to look) and and at that point, splice in your eavesdropping equipment.

      I'm just saying, maybe they need to check elsewhere along the cables...
      • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -1/+2But any tap can be tested for. There would have to be a delay of some sort any time there is a device put in between the start and end point.
  • jlhoben, on 02/04/2008, -7/+56Sawfish. Nothing to see here people, move on.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40626000/jpg/_4 ...

  • royall64, on 02/04/2008, -18/+6Is this like the first thing we've heard out of Egypt for a long time now? I've never heard of Egypt's government saying or doing anything interesting.
    • NoStoppingUs, on 02/04/2008, -5/+2didnt they try to patent the pyramids?

      silly little *****.
  • TwineHornet, on 02/04/2008, -14/+56More evidence that it's the Cloverfield monster.
    • takeo1775, on 02/04/2008, -2/+13totally on the same wavelength
    • Lockhart, on 02/04/2008, -3/+3Damn, you beat me to it.
      That was the first thing that came to my mind.
  • vroom101, on 02/04/2008, -19/+7I don't believe the cables were cut/broken/damaged by operatives or agents acting on orders from the United States government (CIA, NSA, DoD, State Department, etc., etc., etc.).
    • iching, on 02/04/2008, -11/+3The Cloverfield Monster........
    • skew009, on 02/04/2008, -0/+11Then you would probably be wrong
    • absurdist, on 02/04/2008, -1/+8Based on the evidence available, there's no way you can confirm or deny who cut them.
      • williamdyer, on 02/04/2008, -1/+6Means and motive are both evidence. Those point to the U.S.
        • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -2/+2As well as a dozen other countries and even private enterprise.

          America isn't the only one who CAN cut underwater cables, and also not the only one who could have a reason to do so.
  • mrloco, on 02/04/2008, -4/+39It's like a series of tubes.
  • empirefalling, on 02/04/2008, -24/+14Once again, one can only blame the United States and it's sidekick Israel for this vandalism. The coming attack on Iran by the Zionist and Americans and their destruction of Internationally used "pipelines" of information demonstrate their lack of moral responsibility in the region.
    • Professr, on 02/04/2008, -4/+7[citation needed]
    • jabrthel, on 02/04/2008, -4/+5Or you could blame just about anybody... since the only evidence we have is that their weren't any ships in the area... that kind of evidence doesn't really point to anyone in particular.
    • Picaroon, on 02/04/2008, -2/+2I would point out how silly you're going to feel in a few months when no attack happens, but I could have said that a year ago and you don't seem to feel silly now.
  • empirefalling, on 02/04/2008, -18/+6http://digg.com/users/empirefalling/gallery/509450 ...
  • Hellman109, on 02/04/2008, -0/+16Well when divers get to the cable the method of cutting them should be apparent.

    However I guess you could cut it deliberatly and make it look like an accident...
    • EdgarCayce, on 02/04/2008, -3/+7Even if it was made to look like an accident there will be some kind of evidence to prove it was deliberate.
  • ensleader, on 02/04/2008, -9/+0Thats exactly what I thought!
    On a similar note: "Well when you meet the Georgia Bulldog, they gonna have a bulldog" - Rack Em Willie
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GkC0IHCtdc
  • ShyGuy91284, on 02/04/2008, -4/+69It's the dolphins. We always knew they were intelligent... They are now beginning to overthrow us!
    • mrASSMAN, on 02/04/2008, -0/+10So long, and thanks for all the fish.
      • nazsco, on 02/05/2008, -0/+1So long, and thanks for all the tubes
    • XxXKUL, on 02/04/2008, -2/+6Actually, it might be the black dolphins from family guy.... they are CRAZY!!
    • Hangly, on 02/04/2008, -0/+3The dolphins know that war is coming and are getting ready to leave the planet.
    • rbridenb, on 02/04/2008, -1/+3I, for one, welcome our cetacean overlords
  • brokenspatula, on 02/04/2008, -33/+25OMG IT'S A CONSPIRACY! BLAME THE US
    • empirefalling, on 02/04/2008, -9/+23That is a logical choice.
      • schnikies79, on 02/04/2008, -16/+9No it's not. It's US hate, nothing more. There is no logic in it.
        • empirefalling, on 02/04/2008, -6/+15The US has much to be "hated" for.
          • schnikies79, on 02/04/2008, -16/+5Hate is irrational. There is NEVER a reason for hate.

            Keep spouting your rhetoric. It just makes you look like your more full of ***** with every post.
          • AntzNZ, on 02/04/2008, -2/+6schnikies79: Would you hate me if I raped and killed your mother/father/daugher/son?
            (get a stupid ***** session expired when replying to proper comment).
          • natedouglas, on 02/04/2008, -1/+2There's never a rational justification for love, either. Emotion is completely independent of rationality and vice versa. Only two kinds of people are perfectly rational: economists and psychopaths.

            There are plenty of reasons and things to hate. I personally hate asparagus. Why? My reason for hating asparagus is that it makes my pee smell funny, and then I have to get my dog a bowl of water because she won't drink from the toilet. More work for me = I ***** hate asparagus.
    • yojiffyskippy, on 02/04/2008, -7/+7conspiracy =/= logical
    • dkern, on 02/04/2008, -4/+7Whats not funny about your conspiracy rant is that our administration has been doing more than just talk about an imminent war with Iran. Iran has been a non-aggressive region for quite some time and it is becoming painfully clear that they are being provoked so justification of invasion will be accepted. Blame America- no blame Israel and have America take the fall- that way we can be heroes in the end. Let us know when you recognize the pattern.
  • darthstygeon, on 02/04/2008, -16/+8CLOVERFIELD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • DrMilkdad, on 02/04/2008, -0/+5Wrong, this is exactly what happened in Shark Attack 3: Megalodon. It's a giant shark that eats old men riding seadoos
      • tattertech, on 02/04/2008, -2/+1Greatest movie ever.

        "But you know I'm really wired. What do you say I take you home and eat your pussy."
  • Shootfast, on 02/04/2008, -5/+47UN: Perhaps it just snapped on its own?
    • Professr, on 02/04/2008, -2/+34It fell down some stairs, that's all. Just some stairs.
    • dkern, on 02/04/2008, -4/+1And that ladies and gentlemen is comedy! Lets hope it true too!
    • PlutoniumPlague, on 02/04/2008, -1/+4Hank Scorpio is at it again...
    • jdhammer, on 02/04/2008, -1/+3I WANT TO TAKE A CHANCE!
  • Makaveli604, on 02/04/2008, -14/+4CLOVERFIELD: THE MOST REALISTIC MOVIE EVER.

    I'm moving to New York and buying a video camera.
    • takeo1775, on 02/04/2008, -2/+4especially realistic in that the guy doesnt get with that girl then she explodes
  • XxXKUL, on 02/04/2008, -12/+9TERRORISM!!!
  • sfacets, on 02/04/2008, -2/+16When a government volunteers such information, it usually means something.
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/04/2008, -0/+3Agreed. They generally don't volunteer information that has no meaning. After all, information intrinsically has meaning, by its very definition.

      Sounds also don't make noise unless there are waves disrupting the air.
  • TracerMan, on 02/04/2008, -13/+2Evac NY right NOW!
  • Rawler, on 02/04/2008, -4/+8Im all up for creating a permanent guard outpost manned with sharks with laser beams on their heads
    • epiccollision, on 02/04/2008, -0/+5you mean their "frickin" heads
  • londubh, on 02/04/2008, -4/+41Mossad or CIA?
  • chingy1788, on 02/04/2008, -5/+88Scientologists trying to take down anonymous
    • mrASSMAN, on 02/04/2008, -1/+8Looks like they have bad aim though, lol. (I don't think many anons live in Asia)
      • xtc46, on 02/04/2008, -2/+11but tons of proxies that anon uses to cover its tracks do, along with a bunch of zombie computers waiting for a nice DDoS...cutting off huge populations with little information security law is a great way to stop a domestic attacker.
    • dkern, on 02/04/2008, -0/+12Well, they do have a Sea Org!
  • tenrec, on 02/04/2008, -3/+25Before jumping to conclusions, wait for the reports from the repair ships. They will haul up both ends and splice together. If the cables were cut then it will be obvious. During the cold war several transatlantic cable breaks were blamed on the Soviets. Turned out to be seismic activity.
    • dkern, on 02/04/2008, -7/+5World War 3 began as an earthquake! Great, now Christians have another reason to buy into their own *****!
  • ipodman, on 02/04/2008, -2/+14It was Wall-E.
  • Brian.Honaker, on 02/04/2008, -9/+2Can't you all see? It's a Cloverfield type monster who has been awakened and is pissed off!! Just wait until this thing makes landfall!!
    • XxXKUL, on 02/04/2008, -0/+1The Cloverfield monster is the ultimate party pooper and buzzkill

      What was going on during the movie? A party... and what happens??? NYC goes to hell!
    • FearLess77, on 02/04/2008, -1/+3YOUR FUNNY
  • maggie6678, on 02/04/2008, -1/+11A undersea cable break also happened to bulgarien http://www.altidbulgarien.dk a few months ago and disrupted all the internet. I thought the internet was supposed to be so "weaved" together/redundant that even multiple cable failures could not cause a total disruption. I guess not..
    • FearLess77, on 02/04/2008, -1/+2It is, they are not cut off from the internet, just north american based internet servers (most of the "internet" :P).
      For example, iran can still access websites that are hosted within Iran.
    • theheyes, on 02/04/2008, -0/+4You can still access Iranian hosted websites, it just gets rerouted via Singapore or somewhere like that. I'm pretty sure the reason "access is down" is because all that traffic is going through alternative routers that weren't designed for that volume of traffic.

      The Internet is still working... in theory.
  • lndmn01, on 02/04/2008, -3/+16Communications between the US and Arab countries is extremely crucial right now. Saudi Arabia along with several other Middle Eastern countries are considering dropping the peg of their currencies to the US dollar. This could mean that oil would no longer be valued in $s which would be the straw that would effectively break the camels back(the US economy). If anything, reduced communications between the US and these countries would be bad for the US....
    • FearLess77, on 02/04/2008, -1/+7I'm fairly certain mission critical communication such as that has more avenues of "transportation". (Like satellites)
    • iching, on 02/04/2008, -4/+9Bingo we have a winner.......TThe 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.
      • skew009, on 02/04/2008, -0/+5Yay! Someone else figured it out the significance this has to the integrity of the dollar.
        • kh99, on 02/04/2008, -4/+1That's an interesting theory, but surely that action can't stop financial transactions completely forever.
  • Varz, on 02/04/2008, -5/+2Torpedo!
  • chopenik, on 02/04/2008, -3/+10Aqua Man strikes again.
  • sdigroup, on 02/04/2008, -3/+7i thought the internets were tubes?
  • DiggzDE, on 02/04/2008, -8/+4SEA MONSTERS, I say! SEA MONSTERS!
  • overtoke, on 02/04/2008, -9/+74The cables were damaged on purpose to block/delay the opening of the Iran Oil Bourse - read up about it. Island of Kish.

    "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.

    also, read this completely relevant, and prophetic article
    http://www.energybulletin.net/12125.html

    "Americans cannot allow this to happen, and if necessary, will use a vast array of strategies to halt or hobble the operation’s exchange:

    Sabotaging the Exchange—this could be a computer virus, network, communications, or server attack, various server security breaches, or a 9-11-type attack on main and backup facilities"
    • iching, on 02/04/2008, -4/+9Some don't want to acknowledge this fact, I accidently dugg you down, sorry.
      • overtoke, on 02/04/2008, -2/+5I click the wrong one sometimes too.
    • skew009, on 02/04/2008, -1/+13Ding Ding Ding!
    • Archimboldo, on 02/04/2008, -4/+8How would cutting internet cables stop it? Even if it did have some effect, which is dubious, it would be only temporaryl (BTW, I didn't digg you down, I just disagree.)
      • dstz, on 02/04/2008, -2/+6It happens just at the time when the oil bourse was supposed to open (after three previous delays.) It shows that this financial market will be dangerously prone to the most important technical disruptions (even if caused by covert operations), that could ruin economies which would depend on it. This is pretty important, not dubious or far fetched at all when you consider the geopolitical interests at stake, which involves our very world order basics.
    • Valnar300, on 02/04/2008, -3/+1Digg effect their servers?
    • dstz, on 02/04/2008, -0/+9Very interesting article, thanks.
  • TheMachine1, on 02/04/2008, -4/+1The options market should pin point who is to blame.....Lex Luther?
    • XxXKUL, on 02/04/2008, -0/+2WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • failsafe623, on 02/04/2008, -0/+2He is far too busy stealing forty(40) cakes. And that's terrible.
  • DangerCollie, on 02/04/2008, -3/+8If it was divers, there would have been boats. Unless it was either a sub or sub launched divers. Why would the US cut their internet cables?
    There would only be two reasons: Keeping information from getting out or something from getting in.
    • williamdyer, on 02/04/2008, -1/+3To disrupt the Iranian Oil Bourse. Kinda obvious, really.
  • floatingpoints, on 02/04/2008, -3/+23The cables were intentionally cut.

    The problem is that most people don't know how the cables are structured, layed out, or even set up for that matter. It's not like a gigantic cat5 or anything.

    They're well protected from both animals AND the elements, and for something to sever it or disrupt... either some pretty big ***** animal (Godzilla?) or there was a group of humans who did it.
  • FearLess77, on 02/04/2008, -1/+4Why don't they investigate the cables and observe the manner in which they were cut, for example if they were "cut" by a human it would be fairly obvious.
    • williamdyer, on 02/04/2008, -0/+4Because it takes a cable-laying ship, probably owned by a company with strong NSA ties, to pull up underwater cables.
  • olbap, on 02/04/2008, -0/+5The answer to this problem: more cables in more areas providing more routes i.e. overland and undersea and via satellite!!
    • FearLess77, on 02/04/2008, -2/+2I'm sure Iran would love funding a project such as this when the current way works most of the time. Irrelevant spending on already a small budget.
  • Plastikdust, on 02/04/2008, -4/+2It was the sharks and their freaking lasers.
  • addrake, on 02/04/2008, -16/+3I have said it so many times..but it bears repeating:

    I am so goddam glad you stupid idiots don't vote. God help us when you ***** represent america.
    • scruffy, on 02/04/2008, -6/+2+50 to you sir.
    • absurdist, on 02/04/2008, -1/+4Because, of course, those who run it now have done such a spectacular job. *shakes my head*

      We're going to go down the crapper and you're going to be riging the flush screaming "Yee Haw!!!" all the way down.
    • clintard, on 02/04/2008, -2/+2I hope you die
    • bivouac, on 02/04/2008, -3/+1Amen. Though I suppose they will grow up a little by then
  • thomas, on 02/04/2008, -4/+8Maybe it's al Qaeda in scuba gear?
    • ubergeek09, on 02/04/2008, -1/+10I would in no way be surprised if Fox News claimed that.
    • williamdyer, on 02/04/2008, -0/+4I can't wait for the Osama wet suit video.
      • s1mph0ny, on 02/04/2008, -0/+4I can't wait to see which color they make his beard this time.
    • apextek, on 02/04/2008, -3/+1maybe it was your mom in scuba gear
  • TwinTurboMike, on 02/04/2008, -7/+4Does this mean we are going to be fighting a new war against Al Qaeda deep in the Atlantic costing trillions of dollars?

    (Sorry, I didn't RTFA)
    • MJG2007, on 02/04/2008, -1/+7We have to fight them under the sea so we don't have to fight them on the land!
  • MJG2007, on 02/04/2008, -2/+9It was the owners of Satellite Broadband trying to drum up business by showing the inherent flaws in a wired system.
    • baalzebub, on 02/04/2008, -0/+2satellite internet has its own set of flaws, one is weather, the other is during spring and autumn when the sun is at the right angle in the sky everyday you would have outages during those times from solar interference...
  • robszol, on 02/04/2008, -2/+3If I were looking to make some money, I'd start a company that specializes in reinforcing oceanic fibre-optic cable lines and then just cut the cables myself in a super stealth mission and announce to the world that I would like to help all their troubles by offering my wonderful reinforcing technology!
    Isn't that how anti-virus companies work?
    "Oh shoot we got another virus on the loose, quickly arm yourself with Norton!!!!!"
    • xtc46, on 02/04/2008, -0/+3you did it wrong. The way it works is you announce your "service" then when no one buys, you cut a cable. Then say "see...had he had my service this wouldnt have happened" rinse and repeat until you have customers.
      • buckrogers1965, on 02/04/2008, -0/+1That is kind of like advertising your window replacement service with ads taped to bricks.
  • STKD, on 02/04/2008, -3/+5C'thulhu?
  • Khast, on 02/04/2008, -5/+8I don't know... call me a pessimist... But it does seem quite awkward that Bush, and just about everyone running for president in the upcoming election..has the hots for attacking Iran. I see a few possibilities, and with 4 cables cut, that disqualifies accidental.
    What I see, is possibly more of a block what goes out of Iran, and prevent new information from coming in. Leaving them temporarily blind. This would be where whatever is planned can be pulled off. Whether it be absolutely nothing, or a small attack which aggravates the country.
    Next, if Iran decides to retaliate to whomever they feel is at fault, would be what triggers the US to do what they've been doing in Iraq for the last 3 years. (If a combatant fights back, they are automatically called a terrorist...nevermind the fact WE were the invading force.)
    And finally, as this would definitely create a hotbed of anger...either at the US, or at Iran....Would inevitably strike the match which would lead up to WW III.
    If that would be the What is happening....then I have only one thing to say: Congratulations Bush! Mission Accomplished.
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