Comment by adverbly

14 days ago

Should be very easy to verify if this was the cause.

All you have to do at this point is go look at the cable near the crossings.

If there is evidence of an anchor hitting the cables in both of these locations then you've got pretty clear proof.

Someone should obviously be checking into this right now. No point speculating until it's confirmed really.

I guess you might still want to board just to find out weather there is any evidence of intent rather than negligence in the case that this is confirmed to be the cause...

3 comments

adverbly

ActionHank 14 days ago

At best fall guy captain will claim ignorance, malfunction, or negligence. Retire or move to some cushy job.

No one will want to implicate China in something that would support Russia's war and would all be afraid of the economic fallout.

Etheryte 13 days ago

This is not how ship registration works. A useful model is to think of a ship's flag like a tld, just because a site is .cn doesn't mean the company is based out of China. Ships usually fly one flag or another based on tax and legislative reasons, and it's often unrelated to the country of origin.
The ship suspected of breaking the cables has been apprehended and it turns out it was currently sailing from Russia with a Russian captain [0].
[0] https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1859132263746744367

godelski 14 days ago

  > The speed of cargo ship Yi Peng 3 was affected negatively as she passed the 2 Baltic Sea cable breaks C-Lion 1 and BSC.
  > Before the incidents she held normal speeds. After stopping and drifting for 70 minutes she again held normal speeds. By this time the two cables were broken.

  > No. I checked the 5 most close ships heading the same way. They did not slow down similarly in the same wind. The ship most closely resembling Yi Peng 3 actually sped up. The Lady Hanneke.

Some additional information:

  - Putin calls the region "NATO Lake"
  - German Defense Minister has called the line failure sabotage
  - Danish Naval ships are now shadowing Yi Peng

It's unlikely that all information will become public in any meaningful time. I assure you, *someone* is checking on this and verifying. But as is common with many acts like this one side is operating on (not so) "plausible deniability" while the other is just not going to publicly declare an accusation but continue to watch more closely. It's like when a mob boss says "it would be a shame if something were to happen". This isn't evidence in of itself, but contextually it is suspicious as hell.

The other part is that explicit accusations create a lot of political tensions. Obviously so does the actual act of sabotage. But definitive proof is quite difficult to actually reach. Unless there is literally a letter on that captain's desk from a military leader ordering the action (a "smoking gun") then it is easy to just blame the captain and/or crew, as Hank mentions. After all, a country should not be blamed for the actions of individual citizens not made with the direction of that country, though it is also important that countries hold their citizens accountable. Accusations will more depend on how hawkish the leaders are. Obviously all countries play games like this, but certainly some are more aggressive than others. One major country loves to play the victim card while creating "red lines" which violate international laws. So take it as you will