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Go On, Ivan: Cut the Cables
Headlining in The New York Times today is the revelation that Russian submarines and spy ships are freaking out our defense officials by nosing about the underseas cables that carry the entire information age:
Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict. …
[Commanders and intelligence officials] report that from the North Sea to Northeast Asia and even in waters closer to American shores, they are monitoring significantly increased Russian activity along the known routes of the cables, which carry the lifeblood of global electronic communications and commerce.
This may surprise you, coming from a hawk like me, but I’m all for attacking them. In fact, I’ve long been thinking we should just bomb those cables ourselves. Put the genie back in the bottle. The whole business with global electronic communications has completely gotten out of hand. Bad ideas are spreading faster than good ones. Let ISIS figure out how to spread its own damn propaganda. I’m happy to go back to reading books and never looking at the Internet again.
Bomb the undersea cables, Ivan. With my blessing.
Мы жела́ем тебе́ успе́хов во всех твои́х начина́ниях.
It wouldn’t hurt my feelings
It would be okay with me.
I welcome any opportunity for Vladimir Putin to make Obama sputter impotently.
Might even ruin his golf game…
The Russians would never interfere with the cables carrying Internet. It would cut off their hackers from our defense systems.
Ummm, isn’t Ricochet kind of internet based? Aren’t you kiboshing the business plan?
Claire,
You’re wreaking havoc with progressive notions about hawks
…wrong gender…won’t make money from aggression…living in France…wrong occupation…
Thanks and thanks and more thanks.
The moment I posted that, mysteriously, my Internet cut out. It came right back on, but it did make me feel a bit superstitious.
Well, it makes sense that the Russians are keeping track of you – an American writer living abroad in Turkey and France is a super cover for a CIA operative and you do seem oddly informed about world affairs.
Intriguingly, Russia has tried to figure out how to keep their own internet afloat if the Web went offline. So this is quite a bit more concerning with that factoid.
superstitious or paranoid?
I’d take the hit in exchange for going back to the good old days, wouldn’t you? Besides, it’s American Autarky week here on Ricochet. Let’s entertain the idea fully in all of its implications (before we decide it’s the nuttiest idea we’ve ever heard).
Superstitious. I know the difference. In Turkey, the state would do things like that — for real — to mess with me, personally. And they still do, even though I’m not there! But I’m just not of any interest to Ivan. So the only way there’s could be a connection is by means of my superstition — my very thought made it happen.
Yes! We’d need to cut the cord domestically, too, though, no? But I’d miss you, Claire.
FIFY
I doubt the Rooskies are going to cut the cords. More likely, they’re doing to us what we did to them all throughout the last Cold War, namely, spying on them via their communications cables.
Because your business doesn’t depend on those undersea cables, as does mine and a great many others…
This is correct. Although there are a lot of undersea cables they can use, even if they “bomb” the ones crossing the Pacific.
Here’s a map of the undersea cables
From fretting about the chaos in the newspaper on Friday we moved to isolationism over the weekend and now we are talking about bringing it all down on ourselves?
Yes, we haven’t given up quite yet. Or have we?
What is the point of conversation, even in jest or gesture, if it takes us down the rabbit hole of despair? I thought conservatives had better ideas. We can and will work through this.
Take that despair thing to the paper shredder. This is all deeeep-pressing.
Give me ideas! Lots of them. Ideas to refute, resist and restore.
Развеселить. Дайте нам идеи , товарищ .
I look at my nieces and nephews and despair. A doctor, a lawyer, two small-business owners, an IT guy, all in their 30s and 40s. All are “Feelin’ the Bern.” Daughter S is a college student, studying economics, and uses her brain, thank God. Is the country really going down the socialist path? It sure looks like it to me.
PJS,
Get your pain, but I won’t feel it. The Bern is a lesson for them. They won’t like it. We haven’t hit bottom yet. (BTW, what kind of doctor, lawyer and business owner could possibly think Bern is the answer? Answer: Those who are in a pretty foul mood and don’t understand it is not capitalism that is making a hash of things, but those who are trying to pretend we still have capitalism who muck it up and then blame it.)
But, our lives are still subject to positive change. Reagan followed Johnson and Nixon. It does not get much worse than the Johnson/Nixon duo – unless we are counting Obama.
The country will grasp it at some point and there will be shifting in attitude. Let’s be ready and help make it happen. And let’s stop shooting at each other (like we see inside the GOP and all that “who is a true or real conservative.”
I don’t think I would egg on the Bear……I’m with you about going back to reading books, and getting that stuff published about what you wrote about in those 4 articles, letting the world in on their big picture, and putting pressure that way…… since everything is Internet connected including military opps, medical, business, etc. I vote for leaving cables alone…..
We can and should protect our information, communications, trade and still stay out of Syria and not allow Muslim refugees from anywhere. We can and should also develop capabilities to steal their information, ruin their communications and foul up their trade in case things go bad. None of that is in Syria. You have done enough in the Middle East, Claire.
I think you meant μολὼν λαβέ.
Claire, I’m with James Madison and his comment #24. From what I’ve read, things sounded somewhat worse under President Wilson, and definitely worse during the 30s.
Roadrunner,
We should also screw the Russians up with every trick we have in Syria. Make them bleed.
We have the same and better tools at our disposal to fight assymmetrical non-warfare. Remember, every Russian bomb that falls makes a Russian enemy for life. Let’s find ’em and use ’em.
Then, do the same with the “Iraqians” and Talibanians. We have nifty ways to do this, but we are not releasing them. Our ships and Tomahawks are ready to stir stuff up from out of no-where. Mischief is the best way to go.
I sense I would have to resort to subscribing to the New York Times, and watching NBC news at 6:00p, like everyone else. At least we will all be working off the same inaccurate reportage.