The Documentary Podcast The subsea war
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Apr 3, 2025 Delve into the shadowy world of undersea infrastructure and its role in geopolitical conflicts. Learn how subsea cables, crucial for global transactions, are vulnerable to sabotage, particularly in the Baltic Sea. Discover Russia's tactic of plausible deniability amid rising tensions and the use of advanced technologies for monitoring threats. Explore the military significance of the Arctic region and the collaborative defense strategies being employed to protect underwater assets against evolving risks.
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Web Resilience vs. Island Vulnerability
- The World Wide Web has built-in resilience, allowing data to reroute if one cable is cut.
- Smaller islands, however, are more vulnerable to disruptions, as Shetland experienced in late 2022.
Shetland's Telecom Disruption
- When a subsea cable was cut in Shetland, they experienced a reminder of pre-telecom times.
- Shops relied on cash or checks, ATMs were down, and internet phones didn't work.
Russia's Seabed Interest
- Russia has a history of interest in seabed vulnerabilities.
- They possess the Yantar, a research ship that tracks pipelines and cables.