• Buffalox@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      28
      ·
      2 months ago

      Yes, this is really like a tiny dog barking its head off, because it’s convinced it can’t be harmed.
      Russia and Putin have been embarrassing themselves for a while now.

    • unexposedhazard
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      29
      ·
      2 months 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.

      • Cosmicomical@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        22
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        Sure, but welcome to 2024, where we have mirrors and cdns and the cloud with distributed everything.

        Not saying disconnecting the americas from eurasia wouldn’t be a big deal, but the internet would keep working.

        Elon would be very happy.

        • Steve@startrek.website
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          2 months ago

          Im curious… how much undersea cable traffic could Starlink handle? I know the sat-sat laser links are just coming online now, what if every sat had them

        • kungen@feddit.nu
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          2 months ago

          And otherwise, you can’t eliminate the possibility of local sabotage as well. Most of the important networking information in Sweden was leaked due to our “open information” laws.

          It’s not like Russia can make it some long-term problem, but being an annoyance and making chaos is their goal.

        • unexposedhazard
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          2 months ago

          Maybe the local internet would keep working but the countries wouldnt. Lots of stuff stops working without central web authorities and all international trade and payment systems would collapse. It would be a massive catastrophe. But its probably quite hard to take out everything at once before the militaries of the world would start paying special attention to those cables.

          • Sylvartas@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            2 months ago

            Yeah last time I saw a map of the internet cables it looked like there was quite a lot of redundancy so I’m not convinced they could pull it off fully to be honest.

      • eyeon@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 months ago

        would Americans even consider that taking down the internet? It wouldn’t impact a US client talking to a US server.

        • unexposedhazard
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 months ago

          Thats not how things on the internet work. It would mostly certainly cause many issues for everyone everywhere. Basic functionality might stay working but not everything has a local copy in the US. We depend on things and people from all over the world to keep things running.

  • vegeta@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    74
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    Maybe they could get an compromised/friendly/useful idiot/individual installed in the hightest levels of government who, either intentionally or unintentionally, would funnel secrets to them which help facilitate mass disruption?

    ohh wait…

  • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    56
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    I find the threat of GPS loss to be hard to believe. Theyd have to take out 38 GPS satelites and presumably any of the other navagation satellites American allies have in orbit, and presumably theyd have to not damage their own navigation satelites in the process. I also doubt they could do that all at the same time, or quick enough that no one could respond. Im sure they have the capability, and im sure they have an idea of what the operation would have to look like but in terms of a plan that’s actionable, I have big doubts.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      2 months ago

      I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss that threat.

      They know exactly where in the sky they are. They know what frequencies their antennas are tuned to. I’m betting burning out those transceivers would not be an impossible feat.

      I also don’t know how well they put up against really large lasers

      They’ve also been fully capable of putting s*** into space for years. I would not put it past them to have some form of combination weather/spy satellite and weapons platform out there.

      • Cosmicomical@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        2 months ago

        They must be aware of the concept of re-ta-lia-tion. You shoot down my satellites, I shoot down yours. Nobody wins and we are all back 40 years.

      • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        38
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        Where though? They just gonna fly enough jammers up into orbit to cover the entire path and all the satelites and pretend thats not going to also jam every navagation satelite including their own and China, their biggest allys? I don’t see it.

        • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          Blowing up the GPS satellites is certainly an option and there’s not much we could do to stop them. We know that China has succesfuly tested an anti-satellite missile in 2007. I would not be surprised if Russia was working on the technology at the same time. If they can’t or don’t want to blow up the satellites, then they could perhaps launch their own jamming satellites to orbit near the existing GPS satellites would work.

          Edit: It just occurred to me that you don’t need to jam them. Just put up your own satellites that mimic the GPS satellites to throw off the calculations of anyone trying to use them. Your devices wouldn’t know which signals were legit.

          • Skua@kbin.earth
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            20
            ·
            2 months ago

            The Soviet Union proved that it was able to shoot down satellites in the 60s. The technical difficulty of hitting a satellite with a missile is not really an obstacle here

            • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              16
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              2 months ago

              Yeah, the Soviet union could also mass produce tanks and planes. Russia today…

              Glances at Ukraine

              Is using almost exclusively Soviet stock.

            • Buffalox@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              9
              ·
              2 months ago

              It may not be a problem technology wise, but do they really have the equipment today to blow up dozens of satellites?
              I seriously doubt it, Russia isn’t the Soviet Union, they seem less capable, and corruption would probably have undermined the program even if it still existed.
              And even if they can, can they also do it without harming their own and China’s geopositioning systems?

              • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                2 months ago

                And even if they can, can they also do it without harming their own and China’s geopositioning systems?

                Nope, they can’t. And not only that, destroying that many satellites is almost assuredly going to trigger Kessler Syndrome and lock out space for the most part for a good long while.

          • borari@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            2 months ago

            Just put up your own satellites that mimic the GPS satellites to throw off the calculations of anyone trying to use them. Your devices wouldn’t know which signals were legit.

            Do this, then get absolutely raw dog fucked by the US (and any other competent) military, who has absolutely no issue with ground nav or weapons guidance because they all use encrypted GPS signals.

          • nilloc
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            2 months ago

            You don’t need satellites in space to shift GPS, they’ve been messing with it in war zones for years, and AWACS like planes could do it in real time anywhere they won’t get shot down.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            China doing it in 2007 was big news because they joined the club. The West and Russia has had the capability for decades.

        • snooggums@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          8
          ·
          2 months ago

          Jam some strategic locations, like air travel hubs or highly populated areas for the highest impact. No need to jam wide open low population areas without military targets.

            • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              14
              ·
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              I also just don’t see anyone in Russia deciding that were going to trigger article 5 by using a jammer on US soil. The risk reward is non existent unless they can make the whole country GPS and internet dark at the same time. Imagine that many resources going on the ground in a country as large as America. It’s basically asking Ukraine to regain any territory they had a counter invasion plan ready for.