2008 submarine cable disruption

The 2008 submarine cable disruption involved damage involving up to five high-speed Internet submarine communications cables in the Mediterranean Sea and Middle East from January 23 to February 4, 2008 causing internet disruptions and slowdowns for users in the Middle East and India.] [cite web |url= http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9865263-7.html |title="The newest Internet whodunnit? Who cut the cables?"| date = 2008-02-05 | accessdate = 2008-02-07 | work = CNet.com] cite news| title = Who cuts undersea cables in the Middle East? | date = 2008-02-05 | accessdate = 2008-02-06 | work = Al Bawaba | url = http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/UAE/221875]

According to this sabotage theory, the damaged cables and the resulting Internet disruptions would destroy confidence in the ability of the Iranian Oil Bourse to execute trades, thereby thwarting the establishment of an alternative to dollar-denominated oil sales. In fact, Iran suffered very little from the outages, which primarily affected America's allies in the region (see 'Effects' above). [cite web |url=http://www.renesys.com/blog/2008/02/attention_iran_is_not_disconne_1.shtml|title=ATTENTION: Iran is not disconnected!] [cite web|url=https://confluence.slac.stanford.edu/display/IEPM/Effects+of+Fibre+Outage+through+Mediterranean|title=Effects of Fibre Outage through Mediterranean]

Beginning on February 6th, theories that the disruption in these cables was related to an economic confrontation between the United States and Iran appeared in mainstream media such as Dow Jones Marketwatch. [cite web|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/middle-east-internet-interruption-looks/story.aspx?guid=%7B6FD0D324%2D8FF9%2D4900%2DBCA9%2D614914BA3E87%7D|title=Middle East Internet interruption looks fishy|date=2008-02-08] These articles point out that the disruption or damage to these cables preceded the intended launch of the Iranian oil bourse on Kish Island between February 1st and 11th. The launch of this bourse, which was intended to broker sales of oil denominated in euros (sometimes called "petroeuros") had been interpreted by some as an attempt by Iran to inflict additional damage to the value of the dollar by reducing the volume of oil which is traded in "petrodollars". [cite web|url=http://www.energybulletin.net/7707.html|title= Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse |date=2005-08-02] Given the potential economic damage of euro-denominated oil sales in the context of on-going dollar deflation, as well as the large number of cables which appear to have been disrupted or damaged, Marketwatches' John Dvorak has written that the U.S. can expect to be blamed for the disruptions. [cite web|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/middle-east-internet-interruption-looks/story.aspx?guid=%7B6FD0D324%2D8FF9%2D4900%2DBCA9%2D614914BA3E87%7D|title=Middle East Internet interruption looks fishy|date=2008-02-08]

On Monday, February 18, the International Telecommunication Union said that the damage could have been an act of sabotage. The UN agency's head of development, Sami al-Murshed was quoted, "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," [cite web |url=http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080218163315.psfe6g65&show_article=1|title=Saboteurs may have cut Mideast telecom cables: UN agency|work=AFP]

Further reading

* [http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2008/02/01/SeaCableHi.jpgMap] by "The Guardian" of the submarine cables in the world, highlighting the first two cables cut

References