Conspiracy Theory Shortcoming and Middle East Interactive

UPDATE: Feb 18 , 2008 - Saboteurs may have cut Mideast telecom cables: UN agency - 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. 'Some experts doubt the prevailing view that the cables were cut by accident, especially as the cables lie at great depths under the sea and are not passed over by ships,' the UN agency's head of development, Sami al-Murshed, told AFP on the sidelines of a conference on cyber-crime held in Gulf state of Qatar.

UPDATE: February 08, 2008 - Eagle1 has posted a creditable piece called Anchoring on the Internet. It is the long-awaited counter to Iran's supposed loss of connectivity (four-fifths of the 695 networks with connections in Iran were unaffected) and even documents that one of the disrupted cables had been brought down intentionally by its operator. Is this the final word? No, but it clearly removes slop from many bloggers' discussion table.

Our friend Bubblehead posted about conspiracy theorists connected with submerged Mideast internet cable breaks. (Bubblehead's moniker attracts attention to his head, the back of which is usually never revealed in photos). No matter, there is no conspiracy theory that accounts for why he may have a transplant back there. He is really a superb thinker and probably just burned up too many hair cells in the process.




This internet cable conspiracy theory sprung forth fast: Iran Oil Bourse, US Dollar and Internet Cables. It has a ring of truth, and is worth reading in full...excerpt ...

The failure of the Gulf Arab states to bow to U.S. pressure to isolate Iran, the planned new oil bourse and it's threat to the hegemony of the U.S dollar, the U.S.-Zionist threats against Iran are all cited as probable causes of a possible cutting of the main Internet arteries to the entire Gulf region by U.S. submarines which are equipped and trained for such actions as part of information and cyber warfare. Days before the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. closed down 500 Arab and Muslim websites including al-Jazeera, leading some to speculate that another event of major significance is being planned.

So what's the fatal flaw? Because the cables can be repaired in a few weeks, what would the U.S have accomplished? A short delay in what the author terms 'the inevitable collapse of the U.S. Dollar as particularly the Gulf countries and China holding immense dollar reserves appear destined to abandon the currency'. Sorry, that theory fails.





Bubblehead intends to put something together dispelling the notion that American submarines were involved in the cable breaks, especially USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23). Good luck trying to illustrate a negative, Bubblehead, even though I agree with you that our submarine involvement is unlikely.





Surprisingly, we have yet to hear from an admitted geek writer yet on the cable breaks (he will correct me, if I was wrong at this writing). Galrahn is a prolific writer who has shown no reluctance to tackle technical topics (subs included) and bring all manner of publicly disclosed sources to bear on them. Apparently, Galrahn does not believe U.S. submarines were involved, either. M. E.'s theory was and is still that the cable cuts are criminal in nature, and that blackmail has been involved.

Here is a super neat animated link that graphically depicts whats been going on politically in the Middle East for the past 3400 years in just 3 minutes 40 seconds. Wish this technology had been available when I was studying history in college. h/t to my favorite anesthesiologist, Dr. Joe Stirt.