[almogo]

What kind of fairytale world are we living in that Russia has any plausible deniability here? We can say what we want about NATO expansionism, but this kind of behavior is not dissimilar to that of the Houthis or Somali pirates.

[ggm]

What retaliation do you suggest, given that Russia tested isolated internet operations, and clearly demonstrated the state is robust against being cut off?

Remember, this is a nuclear armed state. Plausible deniability had never mattered to them. Sergey Lavrov will contradict himself in one sentence if need demand.

But as long as flags of convenience exist, sufficient unto the day, once, for each ships captain.

To cut one cable by accident would be a misfortune, but to cut two looks like carelessness as Oscar Wilde might say.

(The article talks about plausible deniability at great length. The point is that it suits the western powers not to have to read this as an act of war: they are the ones who need the plausiblility)

[ralphhughes]

I didn't know Russia had tested being isolated from the wider internet! I wonder what problems they had during testing? I would have thought there would be many issues given our current globally connected world. I don't think I even know which country some of the 3rd party dependencies of my apps are hosted in!

[IsTom]

> What retaliation do you suggest, given that Russia tested isolated internet operations, and clearly demonstrated the state is robust against being cut off?

Their access to the world through the Baltic sea is not a given.