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Mystery Internet Cable Cuts raise Eyebrows |
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Friday, 08 February 2008 |
The long-awaited Iranian Oil Bourse, a place for trading oil, petrochemicals
and gas in various non-dollar currencies, was scheduled to open in the first
week of February.
Iran's Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari told reporters the bourse will be
inaugurated during the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution (February 1-11) at
the latest.
"All preparations have been made to launch the bourse; it will open during the
Ten-Day Dawn (the ceremonies marking the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution
in Iran)," he said.
The launch of the Iranian bourse, situated on the Persian Gulf island of Kish,
was delayed due to Internet blackout in Iran as a 4th international fibre
mysteriously snapped. Scheduled to be launched this week, trading at the bourse
would have significantly devalued the already weakening American Dollar.
Ships' anchors fives miles north of Alexandria, Egypt were originally blamed
when two undersea cables were damaged, but Egypt's transport ministry said it
had studied video footage of the sea lanes where the cables had been, and no
ships had crossed the line of the breakage for 12 hours before and after the
accident (the area is, in fact, off limits to shipping).
The damage to the first three cables caused widespread disruption to Internet
and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South Asia.
A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was then also damaged
causing yet more disruption, telecommunication provider Qtel said.
Speaking to the AFP, R.S Perhar, secretary of the Internet Service Providers'
Association of India said: "So many incidents happening in one region, whether
it is a coincidence is a moot question."
"The coincidence of so many cables snapping does raise doubts about why this is
happening. It needs to be answered."
Other voices suggest that whilst such cuts are extremely rare, they can happen.
Either way, by calling on the world's major media outlets to break away from a very unusual silence in covering the "Middle East", one would certainly be keeping to the facts.
Source: AIM News
Comments posted are the sole opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of AIM. |
