(CNN) -- An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days.
Ships have been dispatched to repair two undersea cables damaged on Wednesday off Egypt.
FLAG Telecom, which owns one of the cables, said repairs were expected to be completed by February 12. France Telecom, part owner of the other cable, said it was uncertain when repairs on it would be repaired.
Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography, a research company that consults on global Internet issues, said the cables off Egypt were likely damaged by ships' anchors.
The loss of the two Mediterranean cables -- FLAG Telecom's FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, a cable owned by a consortium of more than a dozen telecommunications companies -- has snarled Internet and phone traffic from Egypt to India.
OK, here's my take. This is bullshit, and I'll tell you why:"Twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action."
When everything comes out, I would bet serious money that either (1) a super-conservative Muslim sect, tired of Western influences in the Middle East, cut the cables to stop the pernicious Internet or (2) a power in the Middle East is planning a military strike and cut the cables to confuse the enemy.
The other possibility is that the powers that be don't want everyone to know how easy it is to disrupt worldwide Internet service, so they came up with the anchor story as disinformation. Awful lot of anchors all at once... ¶ 17:48 0 comments
