Summary

A fiber optic cable connecting Sweden and Finland was damaged on land, affecting 6,000 private customers and 100 businesses.

While Finnish authorities are investigating, Swedish officials suspect sabotage.

This incident follows recent undersea cable damage in the Baltic Sea, where two cables were severed in November, raising similar sabotage concerns.

The Baltic region, home to multiple NATO nations and Russia, has seen heightened tensions since the Nord Stream pipeline explosions in 2022.

Previous cases involved sightings of a China-flagged vessel, but Russia has denied involvement in any incidents.

  • @[email protected]
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    9 days ago

    Cutting a couple undersea fiber cables and completely fucking the whole internet is very easy. Humanity has so far just kinda silently agreed to not fuck with that.

    I commented this here a few months ago. Looks like the time has come, this is the 3rd cable in the last few days.

    • guy
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      119 days ago

      To be fair, the non-fuckening has probably been a result of no one being in a conflict that requires hybrid warfare

      • @[email protected]
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        179 days ago

        Let’s not be xenophobic. Humans can be shitty, no need to marginalise entire countries. Heads of states and ruling parties are the ones to criticise.

      • guy
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        -109 days ago

        I assume you blame Russia/China for this and I’d love to see some evidence for this. As far as we know this might just be an accident.

        And “are not humans”, wtf? For potentially severing an >internet cable<

        • Fubarberry
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          79 days ago

          A Chinese flagged ship disabled it’s transponders (so that people wouldn’t know where it was), slowed it’s speed, then dropped anchor and dragged it 100 miles across multiple underwater cables. This is almost certainly intentional sabotage, although it’s not yet clear what governments are responsible. The ship was loaded with Russian fertilizer, which is the main link to Russia.

          Also:

          The Yi Peng 3 joins a growing list of incidents fueling Western suspicions of Russia’s covert operations. Last year, the Newnew Polar Bear, another Chinese vessel, allegedly severed a Finnish gas pipeline and cable while carrying Russian sailors.

          Source

          • guy
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            -18 days ago

            While Yi Peng 3’s behavior is highly suspicious and extremely likely to be intentional, I doubt they are responsible for severing a land cable :P

        • @[email protected]
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          39 days ago

          We will find out who it was soon enough, but whoever it was, they were definitely human and should be treated as such.

          • guy
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            08 days ago

            Yes indeed! And the police has deemed this one as a probable result of construction work.

            Not every cable damage is Russia :|

  • @rycee
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    239 days ago

    Finnish authorities are not investigating. The cable appears to just have been damaged by a digger.

    • @[email protected]
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      189 days ago

      Sometimes I wonder why these important cables appear to be laid all over the place.

      The image is from Germany, where in July a farmer dug up part of his field, apparently unaware that a major connection cable was just 60 cm below the ground.

    • @[email protected]
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      59 days ago

      Get away from that cable with your hot end!

      speaks in radio

      “Sir, we found the culprit!”

  • @[email protected]
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    89 days ago

    If this one’s a construction accident imagine being any of the people involved. Definitely an “aw shit” moment.

  • @Valmond
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    59 days ago

    I’m at a loss at to what is their reasoning doing it.

    It won’t have any lasting effects except better policing of ships and cables?

    Like a baby pushing the sleeping bloodlust viking, then they pour a glass of water on them, waking them up. Then trying to cut them with a pair of scissors…

    Why?

      • @Valmond
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        29 days ago

        Yesh but what for? Internet will be back up and we’ll all be arming up and monitor more?

        • guy
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          48 days ago

          Well this one was an accident, but others are sabotage.
          As said, disruption, and also because there’s no other ways to take revenge on Sweden and Finland’s “unfriendly” behavior of joining NATO 😄 can’t really bomb Helsinki or Stockholm so hybrid operations it is

          • @Valmond
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            8 days ago

            Was it an accident though?

            Edit: mixed up the two, probably an accident.

            • guy
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              18 days ago

              I suppose that the construction firm could have been paid to sabotage it, but that’s conspiracy territory

              • @Valmond
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                18 days ago

                Oh yeah I mixed up the two, sorry!

    • Jin
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      18 days ago

      It’s damaging infrastructure, which could help Russia