[admin] Re: Fourth cable damaged in Middle Eest (Qatar to UAE)

Mon Feb 4 17:07:39 UTC 2008

On Feb 4, 2008, at 4:29 AM, Alex Pilosov wrote:
> This conversation is quickly spinning into discussion of politics and
> terrorism.
>
> Reminder to all, please stick to the *operational* aspects of this  
> thread.

In all the fuss about terrorism, people may be forgetting that the  
terrorists have goals *other* than terrorism, and one of those is  
reducing the influence of the West over the Middle East. Removing  
internet connections certainly is an effective (and probably  
necessary) step in that direction. Even if this was accidental, it  
will have made them more aware of the possibility.

Which leads me to my operational question.

If you know that someone wants to cut your cables.  What defense do  
you have?  Is there any practical way to monitor and protect an  
oceanic cable? Are there ways to build them that would make them less  
discoverable? Some way to provide redundancy?  A non-physical solution  
involving underwater repeaters? Or is this like pipelines in Iraq?