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Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

france24.com

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Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if they do, the cartels already own huge man & firepower. They will just move on to the next thing, maybe coffee, avocados, oil whatever. When you have accumulated so much power you can demand cash from the world around you.

They'll probably move onto mass producing weaponry, which, depending on the sophistication and scale, could be big issues for the rest of the world. They already partner with terrorist groups and other unsavory orgs as-is. Any group worth mentioning these days interfaces with the cartels

I don’t think weapon production is in their wheelhouse. Arms dealing maybe but not manufacturing. Facilities like those are permanent locations. Permanent locations tend to get raided and attacked.

I think controlling municipalities like they are is working fine for them. No need to mass produce weapons when you can just buy them.

Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#52
The definitive source for this stuff - he literally wrote the book on it - is H I Sutton http://www.hisutton.com/

He does videos on youtube too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO-VQllYIZo

Its very likely the mainstream media pick up this stuff because they follow him :D

Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The war on drugs has failed. Everyone agrees that no-one should do meth. But the solutions presented so far by prohibition are not just conceptually flawed - they demonstrably don’t work. We literally have 50+ years of data that shows it. We need to a) legalize drugs, b) provide proper treatment to addicts, and c) get unsafe drugs off the streets. I’m speaking as someone who lost a close family member to an overdose.…

I know we have data that shows just how harmful the war on drugs has been, but I'm curious if we have data showing that legalization in a modern society, with global supply chains and marketing campaigns, does not result in a bunch of people who previously wouldn't have done drugs - for fear of legal consequences, or just because they're hard to obtain - suddenly doing drugs. I'm genuinely interested to know, this is…

making drugs legal doesn’t mean it will be available at your local corner store. I’m all for keeping certain volumes of distribution illegal but no good has come from the war on drugs.

Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#54

I wonder if the alleged perpetrators are reading this thread? Are there any comments that would help with the next revision? I think both conjectures are likely true.

I am wondering why they used the link so much that it was able to be used against them. Submersible loses benefits if it requires an external service.

Launch. Submerge. Drunkenly move in the direction of the destination. If N days since last check-in and/or uncertainty in location, ping mothership. Repeat. Only lean on communication channel for final handoff stage.

Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#55
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the cost of it being really obvious where you are. However the bigger draw is probably high bandwidth two way communication globally. No need for an obvious route as you can use GPS to get near US waters before turning it on, while still being in control of location of delivery or even meet up with it on the open ocean.

Not as obvious as a Starlink transmitter though! Sending the position only requires a few bits, let's say 48. A position update requires even less, depending on how far it could have travelled since the last known position. At such low data rates you could hide the transmission quite effectively.

I also wonder if you could have a visible surface vessel (e.g. fishing boat) which acts as a navigation beacon for the sub. Sub can just follow the beacon without any active communication of its own. If enforcement appears, sub will destructively sink to avoid revealing the operation.

Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know we have data that shows just how harmful the war on drugs has been, but I'm curious if we have data showing that legalization in a modern society, with global supply chains and marketing campaigns, does not result in a bunch of people who previously wouldn't have done drugs - for fear of legal consequences, or just because they're hard to obtain - suddenly doing drugs. I'm genuinely interested to know, this is…

> To be honest, if I could get a dime bag at the corner store, I'm not certain that I would be able to resist the temptation to do so for the first time When people discuss "legalizing drugs" in the context of ending the war on drugs, they don't necessarily mean it should be sold at corner stores. Generally the exception to this is Cannabis which has its own legalization movement, but not hard drugs. > I feel decrimi…

I see. I understood "legalization" to mean the same thing in this context that it means for cannabis, e.g. legal to distribute/purchase for recreational use. I should have clarified, thank you.

Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the cargo is high value and illegal, real time connectivity is needed. If it was on autopilot, how could they verify delivery? What if a third party was tipped by an insider and intercepted the shipment? What if it simply sank along the route?

>>If it was on autopilot, how could they verify delivery? You put in a cheap SIM card and it will pick up signal when you get close to the coast and send a message saying it reached its destination.

I just imagine being a techie working for the cartel. In case you do not receive the ping, would you want to tell this to your violence prone boss: “Hey boss! Sooo. According to my calculations the significant investment you made in my idea should have pinged back by now. Maybe it is there, just there is something wrong with the SIM, or the antenna, or the network. Or maybe it is a few miles left or right on the coast and not getting cell signal. Or maybe the snorkel got swamped out on the sea and it stalled the engine and it is drifting somewhere. Or maybe our rivals nabbed it. Or maybe a random ship colided with it and it sunk. I hope this uncertainty is fine with you and won’t affect adversely our relationship, or how you treat my family.”

Sounds like a nightmare honestly.

Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know we have data that shows just how harmful the war on drugs has been, but I'm curious if we have data showing that legalization in a modern society, with global supply chains and marketing campaigns, does not result in a bunch of people who previously wouldn't have done drugs - for fear of legal consequences, or just because they're hard to obtain - suddenly doing drugs. I'm genuinely interested to know, this is…

making drugs legal doesn’t mean it will be available at your local corner store. I’m all for keeping certain volumes of distribution illegal but no good has come from the war on drugs.

Yep I misunderstood "legal" to mean "regulated like alcohol/tobacco" or "unscheduled" in this context and "decriminalized" to be the colloquial term meaning "legal to own and use but illegal to sell." My mistake!

Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#59
post #44

Just legalize it already. This is stupid.

Or fix up the Latin America. Just stop pretending US has no control over internal politics of foreign countries.

That’s a really smart idea, I don’t know why nobody thought of this or tried for multiple decades before.

Re: Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

#60

> No drugs were found That’s some level of confidence on the part of the Colombian military. I thought it was still customary to declare at least half otherwise nobody would believe you.

It’s possible they interdicted this on a test run.
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