Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 84 posts

Re: Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

#21

Post by skilled »

basetop wrote: post #11
_iyig wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Russia recently invaded a European country, assassinated several people in the U.K., got caught using spies to infiltrate U.S. political parties, hacked the emails of a U.S. presidential candidate while meeting secretly with her opponent (who may or may not be massively in the Russian government’s debt), and resumed air attack drills on NATO countries. So, a lot of English-speaking people see Russia as the “bad…

I'd stopped consuming so much cable news, it can rot your brain. And why did you edit out "China's human rights may be even worse" from your comment? That's certainly something that is up for debate. "English-speaking people"? What's that? Russia does bad things. China does bad things. The EU does bad things. We do bad things. What's strange is the sudden hysteria and relentless propaganda directed towards china and…

Well, actually, it's the government with your money that does bad things.

You are subscribed to the government and won't do anything about it. So, it's actually mostly your fault (society).

Until people decide this is not the way of life, this circle will continue until extinction.

Re: Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

#22

Post by cpursley »

saiya-jin wrote: post #19
basetop wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd stopped consuming so much cable news, it can rot your brain. And why did you edit out "China's human rights may be even worse" from your comment? That's certainly something that is up for debate. "English-speaking people"? What's that? Russia does bad things. China does bad things. The EU does bad things. We do bad things. What's strange is the sudden hysteria and relentless propaganda directed towards china and…

We in Europe have a very personal stake in this. The chance of China ever invading us is minuscule bordering to none, the same can't be said for Russia. They've already done it in the past numerous times - I know damn well since I come from former Czechoslovakia. I have no kind word for a russians due to this, my parents and their whole generation have pretty horrible stories to tell and effects of their meddling and…

The only thing Russia is interested in invading in Europe are the beaches and Gucci stores.

Even the French have a larger and more modern military than the Russian Federation...

Re: Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

#23

Post by madaxe_again »

lm28469 wrote: post #9

Have you seen the harness ? [0] You might be able to strap a gps or a camera on it, but a weapon ?! What's up with all the articles "russia/china bad" popping up recently ? > In 1980s Soviet Russia, a programme saw dolphins recruited for military training Yeah, just like any nation with enough defence budget. Dolphins/sea lions [1], dogs, rats [2], &c. are used all the time. [0] https://www.sciencealert.com/mysteriou…

A weapon is absolutely doable. The US military have dolphins trained both in mine detection and removal, and in mine placement - they attach a magnetic submersible charge to the harness, and the animal then rubs along the vessel, attaching the charge. The same technique is used for attaching tracking beacons, listening devices, and anything else you might want to affix to a target vessel.

The behaviour that has been described for this whale ("tries to rub the straps off") is absolutely in line with this training.

So, no, the whale wasn't kitted out to have a Vulcan cannon mounted on it, but explosives, potentially.

Re: Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

#24

Post by kalkaran »

lm28469 wrote: post #9

Have you seen the harness ? [0] You might be able to strap a gps or a camera on it, but a weapon ?! What's up with all the articles "russia/china bad" popping up recently ? > In 1980s Soviet Russia, a programme saw dolphins recruited for military training Yeah, just like any nation with enough defence budget. Dolphins/sea lions [1], dogs, rats [2], &c. are used all the time. [0] https://www.sciencealert.com/mysteriou…

I'm guessing they are talking about the whale being a weapon, and Russia has admitted to training beluga's.

>a 2017 report by TV Zvezda, a station owned by the defence ministry, revealed that the Russian navy has again been training beluga whales, seals and bottlenose dolphins for military purposes in polar waters. In the past three years, president Vladimir Putin has reopened three former Soviet military bases along its vast Arctic coastline.

>The recent research and training was done by Murmansk Sea Biology Research Institute in northern Russia on behalf of the navy to see if beluga whales could be used to “guard entrances to naval bases’” in arctic regions, “assist deepwater divers and if necessary kill any strangers who enter their territory”.

Re: Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

#25

Post by goodcanadian »

lm28469 wrote: post #9

Have you seen the harness ? [0] You might be able to strap a gps or a camera on it, but a weapon ?! What's up with all the articles "russia/china bad" popping up recently ? > In 1980s Soviet Russia, a programme saw dolphins recruited for military training Yeah, just like any nation with enough defence budget. Dolphins/sea lions [1], dogs, rats [2], &c. are used all the time. [0] https://www.sciencealert.com/mysteriou…

Yes, the BBC article (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48090616) referred to the beluga as a spy rather than a weapon which seems more accurate to me.

Re: Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

#26

Post by jerf »

lm28469 wrote: post #20
sgift wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That the US does bad things does not invalidate the bad things China and Russia do. You sound like someone who gets a speeding ticket and answers "but everyone else is speeding too! Why do you punish me?!"

I rarely see negative threads about the US on hackernews, but not a day goes by without the regular anti chinese/russian propaganda, especially concerning military and/or technology.

"I rarely see negative threads about the US on hackernews,"

You must not be looking, then.

Re: Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

#27

Post by dsfyu404ed »

sgift wrote: post #16
lm28469 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the US are the good guys, never played a role in foreign countries political systems, never spied on anyone, never started wars, killed civilians in countless countries, founded terrorists organisations, &c. ? It's very easy to tell the bad guys to stop being bad, while doing the same things and pretending it's right. You don't even have to go back to MKULTRA or vietnam, it's happening right now. But be careful,…

That the US does bad things does not invalidate the bad things China and Russia do. You sound like someone who gets a speeding ticket and answers "but everyone else is speeding too! Why do you punish me?!"

It's actually a better excuse for traffic violations than for international politics. What the rules of the road specifically don't matter all that much so long as everyone is behaving predictably so doing what everyone else does is generally the best option even if it's not the letter of the law.

Re: Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

#28

Post by latchkey »

I used to scuba dive a lot in the kelp beds off of Point Loma, San Diego in the early 90's. One day while floating on the top of the water with my buddy after a dive, a military boat drives by really fast. All the sudden, I'm lifted and spun around by a huge push of water. Scared me silly, I will never forget it. After a moment, I realized it was a couple of trained dolphins following the boat and messing with me. My buddy couldn't stop laughing at me.

Re: Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

#29

Post by Jotra7 »

cpursley wrote: post #22
saiya-jin wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We in Europe have a very personal stake in this. The chance of China ever invading us is minuscule bordering to none, the same can't be said for Russia. They've already done it in the past numerous times - I know damn well since I come from former Czechoslovakia. I have no kind word for a russians due to this, my parents and their whole generation have pretty horrible stories to tell and effects of their meddling and…

The only thing Russia is interested in invading in Europe are the beaches and Gucci stores. Even the French have a larger and more modern military than the Russian Federation...

Ivan, is that you?
Post reply on HN