[Merged]Undersea Internet Cables Being Cut

[technoextreme]

Im having an argument with someone who thinks that someone cut the three cables. I myself think it's just a fluke and an accident. The problem is that I can't find any information about how common it is. Some of the articles I find cite fishermen being the main worry for the telecom industry and that it happens all the time.

[OldTigerCub]

Im having an argument with someone who thinks that someone cut the three cables. I myself think it's just a fluke and an accident. The problem is that I can't find any information about how common it is. Some of the articles I find cite fishermen being the main worry for the telecom industry and that it happens all the time.

Here's one story about that.http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080202/tbs-india-mideast-internet-558302b.html

The Falcon cable was cut 56 kilometres (35 miles) from Dubai, between Oman and the United Arab Emirates, according to its owner FLAG Telecom, part of India's Reliance Communications.

The company said on its website that a repair ship had been notified and was expected to arrive at the site in the next few days.

The cause of the latest cable damage was not immediately known.

Flag Telecom owns another undersea cable which was damaged off Egypt on Wednesday in the Mediterranean. Indian media reports have attributed that damage to a ship's anchor which dropped on the cable

[technoextreme]

Here's one story about that.http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080202/tbs-india-mideast-internet-558302b.html
Im talking about in general. The best statistic I could find was:
Yet the network itself is fairly resilient. In fact, cables are broken all the time, usually by fishing lines and ship anchors, and few of us notice. It takes a confluence of factors for a cable break to cause an outage.
If I find a statistic saying how many of these cables are broken each year I can silence the tErrORiSM claim . I can find plenty of information about cables that have been damaged by fishing but no statistic as to how many get damaged on a yearly basis.

[Alferd_Packer]

There was that one Gilligan's Island episode where the cable washed up on the beach and they tapped into it trying to get help.

But if I recall correctly, Gilligan wrapped it up in the Professor's latex goo before it was washed back out to sea.

[OldTigerCub]

Im talking about in general. The best statistic I could find was:

If I find a statistic saying how many of these cables are broken each year I can silence the tErrORiSM claim from the conspiracy loons.

Oooops! I read the question wrong...and thought you were looking for details about the current news regarding the middle east cables. My eyes aren't quite open (late to bed last night).:blush:

[jproudj]

If they really wanted to cut off the internet to the middle east I'm sure there are more effective ways. Capacity was affected, but Iranian websites were still uploading over the weekend. Once again the theories make no sense.

[OldTigerCub]

Just poking around teh interwebs, it looks like the ICPC (http://www.iscpc.org/) site is probably the best source for undersea cable information, though I haven't spotted specific details regarding statistics suc as frequency or locations of damage in the past. My guess is that this information may not be available to the general public for commercial and security reasons.

Edit: In the FAQ section:COMMERCIAL INFORMATION

Question: Please provide the following information for all cable systems:

a) Fault histories

b) Capacity ownership details

c) Cable utilisation

Answer: These are commercial questions, which we cannot answer.

[stateofgrace]

Im talking about in general. The best statistic I could find was:

If I find a statistic saying how many of these cables are broken each year I can silence the tErrORiSM claim . I can find plenty of information about cables that have been damaged by fishing but no statistic as to how many get damaged on a yearly basis.

Hi, Underwater cables are very well protected against accidental damage from for example fishing nets or ships anchors. They are so expensive to lay companies go to quite extraordinary lengths to protect them, ranging from rock dumping on top of them to laying of concrete mattresses on top of them. having said that though many subsea cables that stretch considerable lengths under water are left unprotected for a number of reasons, the first being it as been assessed the actual threat that they could be damaged is quite small. It is simply a case of weighing up the cost of full protection against the actual threat of damage. bearing in mind if they do get damaged it is generally a Hugh operation to haul the damaged section to the surface to repair it. Other factors would be were the cable is , i.e. close to shore or out in open waters

In answer to your question, is it possible the damage done to these subsea cables was deliberate? Yes sure it is but please bear in mind the massive operation this would take. You would need a diver or an ROV ( which I work on ) to go subsea and cut live cables. This in itself is no small feat. It requires at least an offshore vessel , stationed on site, and the exact location of the cable would have to be know. Yep it could be done but to honest the risk to a diver or an Rov in doing so would be very high and I doubt anybody would be willing to undertake this. Equally so, I have never actually heard of anybody cutting live cables subsea, but hey that’s not to say nobody ever would.

In short , the best guess would be simply an accident but hey strange things do happen at sea.

[technoextreme]

Other factors would be were the cable is , i.e. close to shore or out in open waters

Well the one cable that got cut recently was if I understand my geography correctly in the Persian Gulf. The most it could have been was 90 meters under water. Hi, Underwater cables are very well protected against accidental damage from for example fishing nets or ships anchors.
Ehhhh.... I found the right search term. I can find fishing damaged cables in Massachusetts, and Cape Verde. It's apparently not far from reality that this could happen. Strangely enough Vietnam had it's underwater cable stolen.

[~enigma~]

Vietnam had it's underwater cable stolen.
Now that really is funny. How and WHY would you steal an underwater cable?

[cludgie]

Talk of undersea cables always reminds me of the story of the US Navy & CIA tapping into a Russian sumberged telephone cable running from a major Soviet naval base. By all accounts they got away with it for quite a while.

One thing this Middle East story says to me is how little fault tolerance they must have if they can black out most of a region by cutting a couple of cables. Could it have been deliberate? Unlikely as its not like its going to take forever to fix.

[BenBurch]

Could have been deliberate. NR-1 is still in service last I knew, and that is its mission.

However, I would not ascribe to malice what happens all the time without it unless I had some evidence.

[stateofgrace]

Well the one cable that got cut recently was if I understand my geography correctly in the Persian Gulf. The most it could have been was 90 meters under water.


If the argument goes that this cable was cut deliberately then it would have been completely pointless. 90 meters under water is hardly deep and the repair job in this shallow water would be really simple. Although it would involve heavy kit, i.e. a crane or winch to haul the damaged section onto say a vessel. From then simply cut out the damaged section, re-splice it, pot it and then pressure test it. Then simply lower it back down to the seabed. All in all, three maybe four days work max, made all the more easier because of the shallow water.

Like I said I find it highly unlikely anybody would take to the sea just to cut communication cables but hey maybe somebody did. It just seems completely pointless when the repair work,although hughly expensive,is so simple and when it would be far easier to attack the point where the cables actually come back onto land and probably inflict greater damage with less risk.

[technoextreme]

Now that really is funny. How and WHY would you steal an underwater cable?
That's a good question. Apparently, Vietnam passed a salvage law saying any unused cable laid before 1975 was free for all for people to salvage. Well I'm pretty sure I won't have to fill in the blanks with what happened next. People started taking any and all cable they could find. The idiocy in this logic being that damaging an operating cable costs more than salving unused.
Article (http://www.photonics.com/content/news/2007/June/8/88012.aspx)


One thing this Middle East story says to me is how little fault tolerance they must have if they can black out most of a region by cutting a couple of cables. Could it have been deliberate? Unlikely as its not like its going to take forever to fix.
Apparently there are two areas where you can take out a few of them and you'll affect internet access. One is in Egypt and apparently somewhere on the other side of the Pacific is another place. It is a problem and the only way to really rectify it is to introduce more redundancy. In fact Im finding an article where eight cables were snapped all at once due to an earthquake.If the argument goes that this cable was cut deliberately then it would have been completely pointless. 90 meters under water is hardly deep and the repair job in this shallow water would be really simple. Although it would involve heavy kit, i.e. a crane or winch to haul the damaged section onto say a vessel. From then simply cut out the damaged section, re-splice it, pot it and then pressure test it. Then simply lower it back down to the seabed. All in all, three maybe four days work max, made all the more easier because of the shallow water.

Well given the location of the cable being 35 miles off of Dubai Im assuming that it's somewhere in the Persian Gulf. At most the gulf is only 90 meters if Wikipedia is correct. (Disclaimer)

[Hokulele]

I wouldn't call it common, but natural disasters can cause failure as well.

http://ipcommunications.tmcnet.com/news/2007/12/05/358489.htm

Because of a December 26, 2006 earthquake resulting in the failure of nine undersea cable systems off the coast of Taiwan, the importance of the underlying fiber and transport networks could not have been made any clearer. The cable outages were not primary topics of discussion at the conference since they happened only a few short weeks prior to the event and could not have been scheduled, but there was certainly talk of the situation in the halls and sitting areas of the Hilton Resort. The disruption of voice, VoIP and all sorts of IP applications caused instant packet rerouting and congestion and started a massive physical layer repair project for almost every major undersea cable operator in the region.

[twinstead]

There was that one Gilligan's Island episode where the cable washed up on the beach and they tapped into it trying to get help.

But if I recall correctly, Gilligan wrapped it up in the Professor's latex goo before it was washed back out to sea.



Any normal group in their situation would have thrown Gilligan off one of those cliffs into the ocean after the 4th or 5th time he prevented an escape from the island.

[boloboffin]

But Gilligan is lovable.

He also grew the pot that made life on the island livable.

[SezMe]

In answer to your question, is it possible the damage done to these subsea cables was deliberate? Yes sure it is but please bear in mind the massive operation this would take. You would need a diver or an ROV ( which I work on ) to go subsea and cut live cables. This in itself is no small feat. It requires at least an offshore vessel , stationed on site, and the exact location of the cable would have to be know. Yep it could be done but to honest the risk to a diver or an Rov in doing so would be very high and I doubt anybody would be willing to undertake this.
What would the risk to an ROV be?

[geni]

Equally so, I have never actually heard of anybody cutting live cables subsea, but hey that’s not to say nobody ever would.

World war one one of Britians first acts of war was to knock out the german transatlantic cables. Simular operations were carried out during WW2 against japan.

[geni]

One thing this Middle East story says to me is how little fault tolerance they must have if they can black out most of a region by cutting a couple of cables. Could it have been deliberate? Unlikely as its not like its going to take forever to fix.

A transatlantic cable was damaged a few years back. Made a complete mess of the internet in the UK. JANET sort of kept working but a lot of ISPs went down completely.

[stateofgrace]

What would the risk to an ROV be?

In cutting an under water cable ?

Many. An Rov is powered by high voltage but it is also controlled by a subsea unit, basically a mini computer. If an ROV cuts any cable subesea it risks an electric shock from the cable which could easily cut out its control system. Without control the ROV is dead in the water. A Dead ROV is the worst case scenario for anybody who operates these machines, it could actually lead to losing it.

There is no way any ROV operator would risk cutting an underwater cable unless it was certain it was not life.

It could be argued in this case the comms cable present no such risk but I assure you, unless it was absolutely certain this cable was dead an ROV would not touch it.

[BenBurch]

Oh, I can make you a cable cutter that would not be an issue for the ROV; A limpet mine.

About 10# of RDX and its all done for the cable.

[SezMe]

I guessed that shock was the concern but I'm a bit surprised to learn that communications cables are high voltage. Live and learn...which is the "E" of JREF.

[stateofgrace]

I guessed that shock was the concern but I'm a bit surprised to learn that communications cables are high voltage. Live and learn...which is the "E" of JREF.

Sezme I didn't say that all under water cables carry high voltage.

Please understand that these are very expensive machines and the people who operate and maintain them will never take undue risks with their kit.

I have stated as one of these guys that no ROV guy would cut an underwater cable unless he was absolutely certain it is dead, I do so simply because it is fact. It would not happen.

Yes you could argue that comms cables carry no such risk but again it simply would not happen. You do not cut cables under water unless you are absolutely certain it is safe to do so.

[SezMe]

I have stated as one of these guys that no ROV guy would cut an underwater cable unless he was absolutely certain it is dead, I do so simply because it is fact. It would not happen.
Does this apply to a fiber optic cable?

[stateofgrace]

Does this apply to a fiber optic cable?

No, why ?

[Björn Toulouse]

Now that really is funny. How and WHY would you steal an underwater cable?


It's the intrepid aquatic homeless people stealing the copper seal rings to sell at recycling centers.

[SezMe]

No, why ?
You clearly have relevant experience and expertise here and I don't. I'm just trying to pick you brain a bit. No CT.

[Foolmewunz]

There are cables cut by accident all the time. (I get marine casualty reports because of my business, and vessel delays are quite often noted as an anchor having snagged on a cable. A conscientious captain will take the time and energy to try to un-snag, and lose time in his voyage because of it.)

Usually these are closer to ports and/or in shallow water, and in heavily populated areas with enough redundancy that all it costs is money to fix it, and the phones and net can be routed around the problem. Sometimes, it will happen at just the wrong place and time (e.g. this week's and the quake off Taiwan at the end of '06) and the industry collectively learns the hard way where they need to find alternate routes. In the Taiwan cut, I felt almost no impact because Hong Kong has alternate routings available, but several locations in Asia were badly hit.

[BenBurch]

I guessed that shock was the concern but I'm a bit surprised to learn that communications cables are high voltage. Live and learn...which is the "E" of JREF.

Well, they do carry current for the repeaters. You have to decode amplify and re-transmit a signal every hundred miles or so.

[Anti-sophist]

Digg and slashdot (and reddit) jumped on this story early about the ongoing internet cable cuttings... and all quickly pounced on the idea that Iran was offline...

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/01/1912220
http://www.digg.com/world_news/Third_Cable_Cut_Now_Iran_Has_No_Internet_Access

It was all based on a single router being down so that a single website was reporting Iran had 0 internet connection. Of course, the same website also reported Florida had 0 internet connection. No one noticed.

I thought that eventually they'd figure out that the Iran had no internet myth was just that.. but then...

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/06/1431206

Slashdot -still- reporting the myth that Iran has no internet and -still- using the same evidence from a few days back which was shown to be completely faulty.

[Dave Rogers]

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/06/1431206

Slashdot -still- reporting the myth that Iran has no internet and -still- using the same evidence from a few days back which was shown to be completely faulty.

I tried to follow that link but I got an error. Is Slashdot based in Iran or something?

Dave

[twinstead]

Nope. Sorry, that was me. I was putting in a ceiling fan and flipped the breaker to the Iranian internet instead of my dining room.

My bad.

[hamelekim]

5 cables offline now... Yeah that's just a coincidence, especially the fact that they all affect the middle east.

[Anti-sophist]

5 cables offline now... Yeah that's just a coincidence, especially the fact that they all affect the middle east.

I think we can all agree coincidence is unlikely. Let's just not lie and say they are all targetting Iran and took Iran off the grid. While part A might be true, part B is provably false.

Oh, and btw, one was brought off-line on purpose. Oh, and btw, one of them was in Malayasia, not the Middle East, and has only a marginal impact on the Middle East.

But whose counting...

[aggle-rithm]

Nope. Sorry, that was me. I was putting in a ceiling fan and flipped the breaker to the Iranian internet instead of my dining room.

My bad.

I did that once, except it was the switch to the explosives rigged up in WTC7.

[Par]

I thought that eventually they'd figure out that the Iran had no internet myth was just that.. but then...

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/06/1431206

Slashdot -still- reporting the myth that Iran has no internet and -still- using the same evidence from a few days back which was shown to be completely faulty.


In my experience, the vast majority of Slashdot users seem to believe that Microsoft is a front for the New World Order and that every copy of Windows secretly beams pictures of users’ kids back to the lizards or the Jews or whoever. So, this kind of thing scarcely comes as a surprise.

[Jonnyclueless]

Lord knows Iran is an internet hot spot and taking them offline will certainly cause their economy to crumble. BWahahahaha....

[hamelekim]

I think we can all agree coincidence is unlikely. Let's just not lie and say they are all targetting Iran and took Iran off the grid. While part A might be true, part B is provably false.

Oh, and btw, one was brought off-line on purpose. Oh, and btw, one of them was in Malayasia, not the Middle East, and has only a marginal impact on the Middle East.

But whose counting...

What affect would the malaysian line have on the middle east in terms of routing the internet? How many times in the past 5 years has a line been cut or gone down? Then you have all these problems in the span of a week or two?

A lot of people are thinking Iran and I don't think it would be wrong to do so.

[rwguinn]

Nope. Sorry, that was me. I was putting in a ceiling fan and flipped the breaker to the Iranian internet instead of my dining room.

My bad.
A potentially shocking development.

I done tole ya that puttin' household and NWO breakers on the same panel was a potential problem!

[twinstead]

The more I think about it the more I realize that even though I don't necessarily suspect foul play in this situation, the very thought of the ability to cut off an entire country's internet access in one fell swoop is interesting.

Both for a hostile nation, and for a nation that may want to suddenly prevent contact with the outside world from its own people.

[cisco]

In my experience, the vast majority of Slashdot users seem to believe that Microsoft is a front for the New World Order and that every copy of Windows secretly beams pictures of users’ kids back to the lizards or the Jews or whoever. So, this kind of thing scarcely comes as a surprise.

Though Slashdot is heavily slanted towards OS (and proudly admits it), I seem to recall some surveys that showed a majority of its readers are in fact Windows users.

[Anti-sophist]

What affect would the malaysian line have on the middle east in terms of routing the internet?

Minimal? Isn't that the point? Why are our alleged conspirators who wish to attack Iran's internet capability cutting Malaysian cables? You are the one who said the 5 cables effected the Middle East.

By my count, only 3 cables have been "cut" that directly effect the Middle East. One was brought down due to power issues. A fifth was in Malaysia.


How many times in the past 5 years has a line been cut or gone down? Then you have all these problems in the span of a week or two?I agree. I think sheer coincidence is -highly- unlikely.


A lot of people are thinking Iran and I don't think it would be wrong to do so.It would be silly, premature, conspiratorial, nonsensical, highly speculative, politically motivated, and in contradiction with alot of the evidence.... but other then that, it's not a terrible idea. At best, this hypothesis seems like an intellectually convenient conjecture that appeals to people politically sympathetic to it, that, unfortunately, doesn't stand the test of the evidence.

The facts simply don't point to an Iran-centered attack. If it turns out to be true, however, whoever has conducted it is beyond incompetent.. as they've done very little damage to their intended target and done a great bit more damage to other countries.

[swskeptic]

I can't believe this hasn't made the front page of Infowars yet!

Undersea Internet Cables Being Cut (http://businessshrink.biz/psychologyofbusiness/2008/02/06/world-economies-hang-by-an-internet-thread/)

I must admit it does seem a little weird. But who knows, I'm not going to worry to much about it, I don't see what good this would do to further any NWO agenda.

Maybe controlling any bad news that would get out? There are plenty of other ways, considering they are trying to re-route the internet connection and also 10% of that regions internet usage is through satellite and those haven't been taken out yet lol.

When the satellites are blown away then we might have to start asking questions.

Any thoughts?

[jhunter1163]

The more I think about it the more I realize that even though I don't necessarily suspect foul play in this situation, the very thought of the ability to cut off an entire country's internet access in one fell swoop is interesting.

Both for a hostile nation, and for a nation that may want to suddenly prevent contact with the outside world from its own people.

Someone ought to find Oliver. He got all of Germany banned from LCF; this has his fingerprints all over it.

[Cl1mh4224rd]

It was all based on a single router being down so that a single website was reporting Iran had 0 internet connection. Of course, the same website also reported Florida had 0 internet connection. No one noticed.

I thought that eventually they'd figure out that the Iran had no internet myth was just that.. but then...

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/06/1431206

Slashdot -still- reporting the myth that Iran has no internet and -still- using the same evidence from a few days back which was shown to be completely faulty.


Looks like they finally got it:

Update: 02/06 17:42 GMT by Z : As a commenter notes, though the country of Iran is obviously experiencing some networking difficulties, it is not offline.


Now Digg... I honestly don't expect them to self-correct.

[Corsair 115]

5 cables offline now... Yeah that's just a coincidence, especially the fact that they all affect the middle east.You are aware that coincidences can sometimes happen? No nefarious purposes needed, just an unlucky roll of the dice.

[PhantomWolf]

Give it a little time.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2008/050208_b_Prelude.htm

[swskeptic]

Oh yes, I forgot that most Infowars stories appear on Prison Planet first.

Oh well, anyone have any thoughts on why so many of these lines have been cut so quick?

I haven't really heard any actual reasons, at least any with proof.

[cisco]

Someone ought to find Oliver. He got all of Germany banned from LCF; this has his fingerprints all over it.
:eye-poppi Is that true? Did they really ban a whole country? IP ban? If so man that's hilarious. And I heard Germany has a ton of LIHOPers. I love seeing idiots fight amongst themselves :D.

[LashL]

Undersea Internet cables being cut

There are a couple of other threads on the topic of internet cable breaks, actually. One from a few days ago (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=105402) and one from earlier today (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=105647). It might not be a bad idea to ask the moderators to merge them.

[jhunter1163]

Yep, on the original LC forum. Oliver had about 50 socks there; every time they'd ban one, he'd pop up with another and keep harassing them. Finally they got so fed up they IP range-banned all (actually, almost all) of Germany.

One guy gets Germany banned from LC. You can't make this stuff up, as they say.

[Anti-sophist]

How many times in the past 5 years has a line been cut or gone down?

Apparently about 600 times.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/who-cut-the-cab.html


"Cable cuts happen on average once every three days," Beckert said. There are 25 large ships (http://www.iscpc.org/information/Cableships_1.htm) that do nothing but fix cable cuts and bends, Beckert adds.


The more facts the come to light, the more absurd the entire cable cutting conspiracy theory looks. You put big enough spotlight on a recurring and unknown pattern, sweep enough inconvinient facts under the rug, and concoct a hypothesis that resonates with a segment of the population, politically, and you have the makings of a great urban legend (and that's being generous... conspiracy theory, if i'm being cynical).

[swskeptic]

There are a couple of other threads on the topic of internet cable breaks, actually. One from a few days ago (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=105402) and one from earlier today (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=105647). It might not be a bad idea to ask the moderators to merge them.

I didn't know there were other threads. Since this was a relatively new article I just scanned the first page of threads. I didn't see any so I posted. Looks like they have all ready been merged, thanks though!

I'll have to read all the new stuff here and see if anyone has an explanation for what happened.

[geni]

The more I think about it the more I realize that even though I don't necessarily suspect foul play in this situation, the very thought of the ability to cut off an entire country's internet access in one fell swoop is interesting.

It effectively happened to the UK a few years back.


Both for a hostile nation, and for a nation that may want to suddenly prevent contact with the outside world from its own people.

Most middle eastern countries could cut themselves off through the flick of a switch (or perhaps a line of code)

[CptColumbo]

There was that one Gilligan's Island episode where the cable washed up on the beach and they tapped into it trying to get help.

But if I recall correctly, Gilligan wrapped it up in the Professor's latex goo before it was washed back out to sea.Sadly, TV and movies is where I get much of my scientific data.

Not to name drop, but I've met Russell Johnson (the Professor). Cool guy with lots of stories about 50-60s TV and movies.


Any normal group in their situation would have thrown Gilligan off one of those cliffs into the ocean after the 4th or 5th time he prevented an escape from the island.


That's why we watch, to see which one is finally going to snap and murder Gilligan.

There's a great book out called Gilligan's Wake by Tom Carson, that gives the back stories of all the charaters.

[swskeptic]

And this is why I love Wired magazine and their website:

Cable Cut Fever Grips the Web (http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/who-cut-the-cab.html)

I think they are the only Skeptical news outlet left, if any ever existed.

Seems like recently every time I read their magazine they are poking fun at one of the religions, I wish I had some examples to show you.

Anyways, I'm glad I found that article, it was on the front page of Digg if anyone here is a regular of that site.

[cludgie]

There was a piece I read elsewhere that predates this incident that reckons transatlantic cables are fished up at the rate of one per year on average, so maybe (given the true number of relevant disturbed cables is three and not five) this is just a statistical blip? For all it seems suspicious i'm not really seeing who is gaining from this, apart from a few divers and engineers getting a decent dollop of overtime.

[Stout]

So.....did anything ever come of this?

I tried searching on google, but it appears this story dropped off the media radar at freefall speed.

[Firestone]

So.....did anything ever come of this?

I tried searching on google, but it appears this story dropped off the media radar at freefall speed.Last I read was this (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080218/tc_afp/gulfmideastinternet_080218163418;_ylt=AkmbFRx_gIGo B6aXHrQJBHWNOrgF):

DOHA (AFP) - 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.

[WildCat]

Not to name drop, but I've met Russell Johnson (the Professor). Cool guy with lots of stories about 50-60s TV and movies.
But what everyone wants to know is, did he "do" Maryann?

[Stout]

Thanks Firestone...it came up as a CT on another forum, and I figured rather than knee jerking against the CT idea, I'd get my facts and stories ( or the absence of them ) in order first.

[Simplegreentinhouse]

De Ja Vous.:rolleyes:;)