Remember that Chinese bulk carrier suspected of cutting a couple of internet cables in the Baltic Sea? Apparently it's now a pretty open-and-shut case:
Investigators have established that the ship dropped anchor but remained under way in Swedish waters on Nov. 17 at around 9 p.m. local time. The dragging anchor cut the first cable between Sweden and Lithuania shortly afterward, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
During that time, the ship’s transponder, which charts its movements on the so-called Automatic Identification System, shut down in what is known as a “dark incident” in marine traffic jargon. The ship then continued even as the dragging anchor greatly reduced its speed, according to satellite and other data reviewed by investigators.
Investigators say that at around 3 a.m. the following day, having traveled about 111 miles, the Yi Peng 3 cut the second cable between Germany and Finland. Shortly afterward, the ship started zigzagging, raised anchor and continued. Danish Navy ships then set out to pursue and intercept the Yi Peng 3, ultimately forcing it to anchor in the Kattegat Strait, which connects the Baltic and the North seas.
The current belief is that China had nothing to with this. It was a rogue captain who was bribed by the Russians to do it. Oddly, although the ship's owner is "cooperating," the captain of the ship hasn't been questioned. Ditto for a Russian sailor onboard.
Oh, and this is the second time this has happened recently:
In October last year, a Chinese-registered vessel called Newnew Polar Bear cut the Balticconnector gas pipeline and a telecommunication cable connecting Finland and Estonia with its anchor, according to people familiar with the investigation into the case. Some officials briefed on the investigation said Russian sailors were aboard the Chinese ship at the time of that incident.
Newnew Polar Bear was allowed to proceed toward Arctic Russia because authorities in Sweden, Denmark and Norway didn’t want to halt the ship without sound legal backing, according to officials.
Sound legal backing or no, the Scandinavians have apparently had enough: "The Chinese bulk carrier is now guarded by a small flotilla of North Atlantic Treaty Organization ships belonging to Denmark, Germany and Sweden."
Sink it with all aboard. Learn the lesson the Israelis teach… be a badass and destroy the enemy for revenge.
Gross, man. Just gross.
“Kurtz's patrols in the highlands coming under frequent ambush. The camp started falling apart...
November: Kurtz orders the assassination of three Vietnamese men and one woman. Two of the men were Colonels in the South
Vietnamese army. Enemy activity in his old sector dropped off to nothing. Guess he must have hit the right four people.”
(From the best war movie ever made.)
Fighting Russia is fighting China. We have a battlefield which gives us an advantage available in the Ukraine. We should not give that up.
Such a deiciously American take. This is that mocking phrase "the US will fight the Russians to the last Ukranian" brought to life.
No. Fight the Russians to the last Russian.
The feckless policies have the Biden administration have come close to losing the war. It is unlikely Ukraine can win without direct NATO military intervention. So be it. We elected Biden and must pay the price.
It is time for NATO to start bombing Russian troops and other assets anywhere in Ukraine, including Crimea. We should also consider attacking sites in Russia if Russia launches attacks on Ukraine from them.
I am hoping Putin disrespects Trump so Trump does something like this, but I fear Putin is too smart.
That's nonsensical.
I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes more common. One of the small details around WW1 that doesn't get much print is that pretty much the first thing the UK Royal Navy did in WW1 was cut every German undersea telegraph cable they could. This probably did more than anything else they did to win the war, because it let them intersect the Zimmerman telegram which did a lot to get the US to enter the war...
Exactly. This is preparatory. I think Europe is waking up.
It would be great if this would encourage Europe to take up the slack when our new Republican government cuts off Ukraine.
They have the money, but they don't have the satellites to make all the fancy tech work.
I look forward to more such of these incidents under El Trumpo, with our president responding by:
(a) Claiming that Xi/Putin/whoever told him personally that they didn't do it, and that's good enough;
(b) Asserting that it's not like the US doesn't do worse; and,
(c) Ranting about how other countries don't pay (us?) their NATO "dues."
I also look forward to our national media dutifully giving front page space to breathlessly quoting (a)-(c), while musing about how strong Trump is and how the oppositions/democrats are frightened or flailing, and never bothering to point out that things like (c) are entirely fictitious and/or indicate that Trump is dangerously ignorant of what NATO is or how it works.
You left out
(0) Declaiming what a genius move this was on the part of either his close buds, Xi or Vlad
Our national media and liberal bloggers have dutifully given front page space to Murdoch. Onward liberal soldiers!
I'm surprised you haven't covered the tensions surrounding the DHL plane that crashed in Lithuania a few days ago. That seems like a far stronger reason to cross all red lines against Russia.
Maybe we might want to hold a couple of "red lines" in reserve right now, don't you think? Red lines are hard to come by and shouldn't be wasted on friivolities. Jes' sayin'
Well, that last line is more of a radioactive line, but if Russia isn't stopped, like Trump, any document he signs is worthless and we'll end up in a world war.
That seems highly likely to be pilot error
I'm struggling to understand the "why" here. What is the point of this? Is it just rank vandalism for the sake of vandalism? Am I missing something?
Command and Control uses those fiber bundles to co-ordinate NATO's responses. Of course they have redundencies they can use to get around two breaks, but a dozen starts to be a real problem.
Similarly, rogue Chinese scrappers are desecrating war graves in the Pacific.
https://news.usni.org/2024/07/04/chinese-ship-suspected-of-raiding-world-war-ii-wrecks-detained
"Rogue" in the sense that the PLA's cut is secret.
Just a reminder about the apparent shift in Scandinavian response to such incidents...
Lest we forget, Sweden and Finland are now part of NATO. This is a profound change indeed. I suspect the earlier incidents may have been part of the reason why both countries pushed for entry. Such things certainly look differently when you're actually inside the alliance. Hence the escort fleet this time without any objection from Stockholm or Helsinki.
Honestly, I studied in Sweden in 1976, and one of the things I deeply remember is how often someone would boast that they were definitely NOT part of NATO. I was a mere college sophomore, but it came up maybe a half dozen times, from people in both the Social Democrats and the local Communist party. It came across as a powerful statement of identity. I was floored when Sweden made the request to join. I realize 50 years can change a lot of things, but that one was unexpected, at least by me.