3 ms·
There are a couple of differences: 1. the sheer number of cables today makes an individual - or even several - cuts far less dramatic. 2. there's likely still
by vidarh 3y ago
There are a couple of differences:
1. the sheer number of cables today makes an individual - or even several - cuts far less dramatic.
2. there's likely still a perceived difference between a nation-state being seen to openly take responsibility for cutting cables, and terrorist groups doing so.
It's still an interesting chang (and everyone should read Mother Earth Mother Board), and you're probably still right it will happen more often, and things could escalate very quickly.
3 is a nuisance, but the Red Sea route cuts thousands of miles and according latency between Europe and South Asia - Africa is big and both the African and direct Eastbound overland routes have all kinds of "challenges". If more of them are cut, expect a drastic escalation.
- alisonatwork 3y agoIt already happens a lot. The cables around Matsu keep getting mysteriously cut definitely not by China[0], and there's nothing anybody can really do due to plausible deniability. I think the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline has shown that even when a blatant act of sabotage occurs under the sea, as long as nobody claims responsibility, the debate will rage on for years about who it might have been. I'm not sure if we can really differentiate between state actors and terrorists any more when it comes to this kind of operation. Perhaps it's more a question of did anyone take responsibility, or did no one? [0] https://apnews.com/article/matsu-taiwan-internet-cables-cut-china-65f10f5f73a346fa788436366d7a7c70 https://apnews.com/article/matsu-taiwan-internet-cables-cut-...
- drsim 3y agoThere is rarely an incentive to claim responsibility. And in the case of finding a smoking gun held by some national, the geopolitical consequences of pointing a finger are consequential. Nations must decide if those consequences are in their favor. For Nord Stream, pointing their finger either at Russia or Ukraine would result in consequences that are not in Nato's favor.
- AnimalMuppet 3y agoRe 2: The Houthis hold enough territory to be considered a nation-state (or at least a pseudo-nation-state) rather than just a terrorist group.
- H8crilA 3y agoAnd it's not just Houthi (i.e. Ansar Allah), they have a government of sorts that is a coalition of more parties. We should probably accept the reality that they are just the same as the old North Yemen.