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

Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

cnn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 146 posts

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#41

Post by noir_lord »

lonely_wanderer wrote: post #5
mikestew wrote: post #2

"Esfandiary, of Bloomberg Economics, said Iran “theoretically knew” it had leverage over the strait but was uncertain how significant the impact would be if it acted on those threats. Now, she added, Tehran “has discovered the impact.” The thing that mystifies me is that U. S. war planners "theoretically knew" this, too; at least, I would assume. The whole war strikes me as the current administration finding out the…

I vacillate between two potential rationales: - there is a concerted effort to target and topple oil producers which China relies on as a form of containment of the Chinese economy. Venezuela, Iran, eventually Russia in a more direct way. The current administration is willing to accept economic pain for just about everyone because they see the transition from petroleum to green energies as the death knell for US supe…

The last time the US tried to cut off a major pacific competitor from Oil, it resulted in pearl harbour getting bombed.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#43

Post by hqrag »

Iran still didn't get the memo that the closure is precisely what the U.S. wants. Get Japan, South Korean and others on U.S. natural resources to control them like the EU.

Why Russia goes along with it is debatable. Maybe they hope that the EU buys again from them, maybe that whole scenario was discussed in Alaska between orange man and Putin. Who knows. We only get lies and the real plans unfold years after.

The EU should however stop guessing what goes on between the dictators in secret and simply pursue its own interests.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#44

Post by lenerdenator »

spankalee wrote: post #15
lonely_wanderer wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I vacillate between two potential rationales: - there is a concerted effort to target and topple oil producers which China relies on as a form of containment of the Chinese economy. Venezuela, Iran, eventually Russia in a more direct way. The current administration is willing to accept economic pain for just about everyone because they see the transition from petroleum to green energies as the death knell for US supe…

The China point doesn't make any sense to me. High oil prices only accelerate China's transition to renewables, and rewards them for all the investment they've made so far, both in national energy production and in selling panels and EVs to the world. It hurts the US far more, especially with this admin's anti wind and solar policies.

You can do a lot with renewables.

You can't do things like "make plastics" or "run entire industrial districts" off of them, at least not yet. Both are incredibly important to China for the time being.

You also can't run most blue-water naval ships off of them, but that's a bit less impactful.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#45

Post by joe_mamba »

properbrew wrote: post #36

And what's to stop them increasing the fees at any time for "protection"?

Same thing stopping Trump from randomly making up tariffs on allies or threatening to invade them.

The question for us is, do you side with the small bully, or the big bully?

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#46

Post by georgeecollins »

gpt5 wrote: post #19

While folks here are quick to jump to blaming the US for this, it's also worth noting that the US is the one that has been enforcing international order so far. So it gives us a bit of a glimpse of what would the world would look like with a more isolationist US, or a multipolar world.

Both things can be true: A lot of countries may suffer if the US is not a guarantor of their safety or an enforcer of safe passage through waterways. The USA can also suffer economically from no longer being a trusted partner and responsible actor. As an American, the problem for me is people who got so little benefit from the previous status quo that they don't care. I think of it like the unemployed and the pensioners who voted for Brexit. They just didn't have a lot to lose.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#47

Post by hightrix »

ck2 wrote: post #9
mikestew wrote: post #2

"Esfandiary, of Bloomberg Economics, said Iran “theoretically knew” it had leverage over the strait but was uncertain how significant the impact would be if it acted on those threats. Now, she added, Tehran “has discovered the impact.” The thing that mystifies me is that U. S. war planners "theoretically knew" this, too; at least, I would assume. The whole war strikes me as the current administration finding out the…

it's even more simple than that Israel talked him into it, just like he has no interest in anything until the last person in the room whispers ideas into his ear Lindsey Graham is this term's Rudy Giuliani and he was flying back and forth to Israel briefing their version of the CIA on what to tell Trump to get him to do this Personally I think another aspect is once he realized American oil companies became massively…

Let's call it what it is. Israel didn't just "talk him into it", they played trump like a fiddle and tricked him into doing their dirty work.

With the blackmail they have on him provided by Epstien and associates, trump is exactly the type of person that our enemies love. He is a useful idiot at best.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#48

Post by throw0101c »

JohnMakin wrote: post #3
mikestew wrote: post #2

"Esfandiary, of Bloomberg Economics, said Iran “theoretically knew” it had leverage over the strait but was uncertain how significant the impact would be if it acted on those threats. Now, she added, Tehran “has discovered the impact.” The thing that mystifies me is that U. S. war planners "theoretically knew" this, too; at least, I would assume. The whole war strikes me as the current administration finding out the…

> The thing that mystifies me is that U. S. war planners "theoretically knew" this, too; at least, I would assume. They would have, because this has been wargamed and written about for decades. It's playing out exactly as expected, which is why no US administration until this one was willing to go to an outright hot war with Iran. Unfortunately, this war dept and admin has a staggering amount of hubris, incompetency,…

> They would have, because this has been wargamed and written about for decades.

From a think tank simulation from 2012:

> The simulation’s second move principally focused on the Iranian team and how it would respond to the various American actions in the first move. The Iranian team chose to respond in several ways: […] It decided to create a threat to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz by ordering IRGC small boats to harass American naval ships passing through the strait, and—of far greater importance—laying a relatively small number of mines there. […]

* PDF: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/us-iran...

Interview at the time with the organizers:

* https://www.npr.org/2012/09/24/161706698/simulated-war-betwe...

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#50

Post by kakacik »

seydor wrote: post #18

Iran is basically trolling the US with the superpowers it accidentally acquired after being attacked

They were not acquired, they were always there. Only fools didn't see them, and US 3 letter agencies are many things but usually not fools.

But what can they do when potus gets manipulated into war by netanyahu with quick win promises, despite many people around him telling him its a bad, bad idea. US has a weak president now and parts of the world are using it to the fullest.

Persians are and always were smart, not some sheep herders you can bomb into oblivion without a worry, rather educated engineers and similar level. I went there cca decade ago during more quiet times, and stroke random conversations about physics, chemistry or philosophy in parks. Not probably going to happen in say US.

Post reply on HN