Saturday, February 02, 2008

Crippling the Middle East Through Technology

I know there are many people out there that have the absurd conviction that everyone in the Middle East lives in dusty ruins without electricity, but that is simply not the case; major centers of industry and technology exist in Egypt, Dubai, Iran, etc. A little further east and you probably have personal experience to back up India's call center megapoli.

Now what would happen if two undersea cables near Egypt were suddenly cut? Perhaps by a "wayward anchor?" Well, that's odd, you might say. Or should say since it happened Wednesday.

And then on Friday, a third cable was "damaged" between United Arab Emirates and Oman. Oops! What're the odds?

Now, what would you say if said "accidents" not only damaged access to the internet for all the countries listed above, but resulted in Iran having NO access?

I'd probably call that Holy Shit What's Going Down?

There are thinly-veiled "OMG 4th Cable!" stories floating on the bullshit foam of the internet ether, all of them unfounded. For now. I've also seen some reports, none verifiable, that Iran's access is being remedied, but is being done through American and British servers.

Something hinky is going on here.

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