dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Two Baltic Subsea Cables Likely Severed by "Outside Forces"

Published Nov 18, 2024 5:48 PM by The Maritime Executive

Two Baltic subsea cables connecting four different NATO nations have likely been severed, according to officials in Finland and Sweden.

The first fiber-optic line in question is the C-Lion1 cable, which runs about 750 miles from Helsinki, Finland to Rostock, Germany. According to Finland's state telecom company, Cinia, the line may have been cut by an "outside force." A cable ship is preparing to get under way to make repairs, but fixing the damage could take up to two weeks.

At about 0800 GMT on Sunday, a subsea fiber connection between Lithuania and the strategic island of Gotland, Sweden also went out of service, according to Swedish telco Telia. By the nature of the failure, the company believes that the cause was physical damage to the cable, a spokesperson told CNN.

Suspicion immediately turned to "intentional damage," and to Russia. "Our European security is not only under threat from Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors," the Finnish and German foreign ministers said Monday in a joint statement. "Safeguarding our shared critical infrastructure is vital to our security and the resilience of our societies."

Subsea fiber optic infrastructure is an attractive target: it can be attacked covertly with deniable methods, it is hard to defend, and - if enough damage is done all at once - an interruption could have a major impact on Western economies.

In September, U.S. officials warned that Russia has increased its military activity near strategic subsea cables. The Russian military has been actively mapping NATO members' subsea infrastructure, maintains extensive capabilities for covert subsea interference, and has a motive for gray-zone retribution due to ongoing European support for Ukraine. It would not be a first: Russian intelligence agencies like the GRU are believed to be behind a series of recent sabotage attacks across Europe, likely connected to the EU's backing for Kyiv. "We've seen arson, sabotage and more," UK intelligence chief Ken McCallum said in October. "Dangerous actions, conducted with increasing recklessness."

https://maritime-executive.com/article/two-baltic-subsea-cables-likely-severed-by-outside-forces

Canada #66

Joe Biden Humilated During APEC Photo, Relagated to Back Corner as China’s Xi Jinping Takes Center Stage

by Margaret Flavin Nov. 16, 2024

Joe Biden’s humiliation on the world stage continues.

After being ousted by his own party in a coup that ended in blistering defeat, Biden is spending his last days as a lame-duck President trying to secure a few moments of respect on his way out the door.

Unfortunately for him, that did not occur during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference’s annual family photo.

While Chinese President Xi Jinping was honored with a position in the front row next to Lima’s President Dina Boluarteront, where the conference is being held, Biden was tucked in the back corner.

The New York Post reports:

The petty humiliation of America’s leader comes ahead of his Saturday afternoon meeting with Xi — who has been feted with relative pomp throughout the event as thanks for his country’s financing of a large new port on Peru’s coast.

Biden, 81, whose increasing irrelevance domestically and on the world stage has earned him the moniker of “super lame duck,” arrived last to the family photo before taking his pre-decided position between the fellow back-row leaders of Thailand and Vietnam.

The order of world leaders was alphabetical by country — though a review of past APEC family photos shows national positions aren’t fixed, with then-President Donald Trump taking a center spot in a pair of family photos in 2017 for the APEC summit in Vietnam, the only such gathering he attended.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/joe-biden-humilated-during-apec-photo-relagated-back/

>>22012634

Perhaps a foreshadowing of a Russian version of the MLRS?

Anonymous ID: b13b76 Nov. 18, 2024, 4:35 p.m. No.22012656 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2667

>>22012629

Quite the opposite, but you keep going

Anonymous ID: b13b76 Nov. 18, 2024, 4:39 p.m. No.22012679 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2683

>>22012649

Russia to grow faster than all advanced economies says IMF

16 April 2024

An influential global body has forecast Russia's economy will grow faster than all of the world's advanced economies, including the US, this year.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Russia to grow 3.2% this year, significantly more than the UK, France and Germany.

Oil exports have "held steady" and government spending has "remained high" contributing to growth, the IMF said.

Overall, it said the world economy had been "remarkably resilient"

"Despite many gloomy predictions, the world avoided a recession, the banking system proved largely resilient, and major emerging market economies did not suffer sudden stops," the IMF said.

The IMF is an international organisation with 190 member countries. They are used by businesses to help plan where to invest, and by central banks, such as the Bank of England to guide its decisions on interest rates.

The group says that the forecasts it makes for growth the following year in most advanced economies, more often than not, have been within about 1.5 percentage points of what actually happens.

Despite the Kremlin being sanctioned over its invasion of Ukraine, the IMF upgraded its January predictions for the Russian economy this year, and said while growth would be lower in 2025, it would be still be higher than previously expected at 1.8%.

Investments from corporate and state owned enterprises and "robustness in private consumption" within Russia had promoted growth alongside strong exports of oil, according to Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director at the IMF.

Russia is one of the world's biggest oil exporters and in February, the BBC revealed millions of barrels of fuel made from Russian oil were still being imported to the UK despite sanctions.

Russian oil getting into UK via refinery loophole

Away from Russia, the IMF downgraded its forecasts across Europe and for the UK this year, predicting 0.5% growth this year, making the UK the second weakest performer across the G7 group of advanced economies, behind Germany.

The G7 also includes France, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US.

Growth is set to improve to 1.5% in 2025, putting the UK among the top three best performers in the G7, according to the IMF.

However, the IMF said that interest rates in the UK will remain higher than other advanced nations, close to 4% until 2029.

The group expects the UK to have the highest inflation of any G7 economy in 2023 and 2024.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the IMF's figures showed that the UK economy was turning a corner.

"Inflation in 2024 is predicted to be 1.2% lower than before, and over the next six years we are projected to grow faster than large European economies such as Germany or France - both of which have had significantly larger downgrades to short-term growth than the UK," he said.

Conflict in the Middle East

Economists at the IMF warned that if the Israel-Hamas conflict escalates further in the Middle East it could lead to rising food and energy prices around the world.

Continued attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the ongoing war in Ukraine could also affect the so far "remarkably resilient" global economy, it said.

A potential spike in food, energy and transport costs would see lower-income countries hardest hit, it added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68823399