on the background

classical geopolitics: a global Atlantic-centric

take
as seen in Google Earth,
image, NASA, overlooking the North Atlantic
image, NASA, centered on the wide South Atlantic
A Room with a View
“classical” global geopolitics: the opening fo the Atlantic as a Mare
Nostrum, and then a Mare Clausum: the Tordesillas Treaty and the
Portuguese commercial routes during the XVIth Century (in blue) and
the “española” ones (these latter ‘de longo curso’ and in white, here)
 the South Atlantic and the first
globalization: ports (harbours) in Atlantic
Basin and the Portuguese and ‘Spanish’
routes, 15th to 18th centuries
 revisiting horror: from the first to the early stages of
the second wave of globalization: a view of the slave-
trade, Africa-Americas, 1650-1860
 a peak at the current reawakening of the South Atlantic, after the
Panama enlargement, after the eventual TTIP, if Trump allows it: the
new (but surely not the largest) Basin harbours - those being built,
enlarged or in fieri – shall mostly be located on the south of the Basin.
So will likely be active militarization and underlying social movements
President Theodore Roosevelt at the Canal de
Panama, visiting the chantier, 1908
the almost finished Panama Canal, 1913
left, USS Missouri, crossing the Panama Canal, 1945, back from Japan to
the USA; right, the old and new routes of the Great White Fleet of
President Teddy Roosevelt, and the shortcut needed after the ‘Conquest
of the West’
A fast-forward, and a look at technological evolution:
Panama Canal enlargement works, by 2012
 In 2014, Mau Tempo no Canal? The enlargement was
consumated on 6 June 6th, 2016, doubling its width, thus
quadrupling its volume
 the works: “enlargement works and a
passing luxury cruise ship”, March 2013
the whys and the hows. Waiting queue, Canal de Panama (2013) on
the Pacific side, and the alternatives for the ‘unbottling’: that of the
“Canal Seco” via Costa Rica (2012) and that of the “Canal de
Nicaragua” (2014) via the latter one; but both with China
la abertura del Canal de Panama alargado: Monday, June
6th, 2016, at 5:07 pm. a Chinese ship blazing the new trail.
again, a view form above: Panama Canal and PortMiami
Renew MOU, as the port welcomes its first NeoPanamax
vessel (of course, a Chinese vessel): look at how it fits...
 reading things: global density of commercial
exchanges, 2016-2017.
The colours: in yellow, the more populated regions, in
reddish, the less populated ones
 map of the regions with more intense emissions of carbon
dioxide, CO2, coded in colours. In green, the “greener” zones,
which hue from yellow to red as it gets worse (2016).
 another background background look: ‘coordinated
migrations’ and urbanization, before the onset of the ‘Syrian
crisis’: map of coordinated migration, and, in yellow shade,
countries with biggest urbanization growth, 2002-2017
Now, cyber, i.e. non-classical geopoplitics:

‘Cyberspace’?
 the first Atlantic cable, a telegrafphy one: the very forst Morse code message,
sent on August 16th, 1858, by Queen Victoria to Presidene James Buchanan, was “Europe and
America are united by telegraphy. Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace and good will
toward men”. The following September the connection was broken. Its permanent technical
reposition , carried out by the Atlantic Telegraph Company , owned by the same John Pender
who had laid the first cables 8 years earlierwas only finished in 1866. The first TransPacific
cables, running across from S. Francisco to Hawaii, Guam, and the Philppines, were only laid on
1902-1903. Once again huge technological innovations taking place.
 Winding up, while still looking back: “1901,
Eastern Telegraph cables”, as the TransPacific
cables were only being sketched. Metastatising.
 some of the new dimensions of geopolitics:
optic internet submarine cable map, 2017-2018
 2017-2018, “optical submarine cable on the
oceanic depths of the northern Atlantic Basin”
as Mark Twain so aptly wrote, “History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme a lot”.
Optical fibers, zooming in: the internet and optical cables attached around here, up
closer, still in 2015-2016, not very different from today’s patterns. Look at the Atlantic
lines and compare Portugal (not Spain or France, with the Mediterranean bend) with
Belgium, The Netherlands (i.e. The Flanders) and the UK; see, also, Denmark, . A
‘repetition’ of the patterns of colonial maritime connectivities?
 Problematising matters, both politically and economically :
submarine cable map, 2009. Note the almost total absence of
cables ‘attached’ to Portugal. So the pattern repetition, at least in
the Portuguese case, actually is recent...!!! Why is that?!? What
does it resonate with, or respond to?
2017-2018, optical submarine cables and the South Atlantic basin,
the myth of South-South connections laid bare: in what concerns
digital, those connections are nothing but wishful thinking
optical cables in Asia, centered of the
Straits of Malacca, 2017
Laying down optical submarine cables by France-
Telecom-Marine, René Descartes; to the right, a
"submarine optical cable cross-section”.
Let us see more of both ships and cables
another specialized ship
more...
rolling it all out
laying out the cables
laying down the cables
connections: France Telecom-Orange launches-
ACE submarine-cable in first 13 countries
cable joint and deployer 'vehicle'
this is how things go: deploying an
optical cable
burying a cable with a sort of plough
self-explanatory...
plowing the seabed: submarine fiber-
optic cable being laid out deep down
laying down the submarine fiber-
optic cables
Submarine Cable Marine Services
how to create a network: submarine fiber-optic
cables central nexus somewhere on the coast
fiber-optic cables of all kinds
more examples…
a diagramatic take on what cables look
like down there
good morning, lights beams!
details, and the scale of a small cable
an alternative and a complement:
parallel cables in a cluster
• submarine-cable-20-638
“cable extension for the Southeast
network, Alaska”, 2017
small and rare risks: of sharks and
cables; now we have kevlar cables...
 at low depths, mending things down below; at
depths of 4,5 kilometers one needs a really sturdy
bathyscaph, and strong lights
here is one example, the French HROV Ariane
(tested before 2014, now one of the many in
use for all sorts of purposes)
there it is, deep down
 the ultimate form of hybrid warfare: 2015, National
Interest, War Strategy - Attack threat and Defnse on
Deep-Sea Fiber Optic Cables
high and more recent risks, alarm bells. December 2015: Russian
warships hovering above optical cable hubs. Such agressive moves have been
repeated since then
Russia hovering over cable hubs, 2015-2016,
and the Western (US and UK) reaction
 Washington Post, December 22, 2017, Russian
submarines are prowling around vital undersea
cables. Understandably, it is making NATO nervous
small fry...hawking over the cables
 “Russian Subs Are Sniffing Around
Transatlantic Cables” (Defense One,
January 17)
“Russian Spy Submarines Are Tampering with”, The
National Interest, August 19, 2018. Caption:
“Undersea Cables That Make the Internet Work”.
“Officials say presence has increased to levels unseen
since the Cold War” (Reuters/Pavel Rebrov)
 “Evaluating the Russian Threat to
Undersea Cables” (Lawfare, March 5)
“Russia Could Attack Underwater Internet Cables,
Warns British Military Chief”, BBC
UK "military prioritising defence of undersea
telecoms cables amid Russian threat"
 another Russian attack tactic: “Russian navy ship may be a threat to
world’s internet cables. "A Russian navy research ship carrying mini-
submarines is at the centre of fears about the risk of a catastrophic attack
on underwater internet cables.", (The Australian, May 7th, 2019)
yet another: Russian Yantar 4000
here goes: Yantar observed near Submarine
Communications Cables in the Persian Gulf
 even without the Russians, really serious vulnerabilities
launching the inter island cable from Toco while the Cable Ship Intrepid
waits offshore to begin laying the cable on the sea floor between Tobago
and Trinidad. Is this safe? Are we really that stupid?
once more, is this safe?
 now, really, is this the safe way to go?
submarine fiber-optic cables for all to see
carelessness: optical cables at hand, end of 2016, early 2017. Well, it
doesn’t look safe to me, not when even penguins know where these
critical infrastructures are...
when we take these risks, are we stupid? Yes, we are.
Obvious vulnerabilities, 2017
(Tumon Bay cable landing)
a very tangible lack of security; submarine
fiber-optic cables for all to see
 Portugal.
optical cable SAT 3, arriving at the beach, Sesimbra,
2001
cable works, Sesimbra, 2009
low tech hig-tech, 2017: “Philippines’ Globe-Telecom strengthens
connections to Boracay with subsea fiber-optic cable. Secure?
here is how it all works, in one example:
how India is connected to the internet
moving up above, in 2017-2018 (before Elon Musk, still now, this accounts
for less than 2,7% of our internet connections – 98,3% of the Internet flows through
optical cables): the network of communication satellites and their orbits. As was the
case with telegraphy, it all was first wired; later it became wireless. As concerns the
internet connections, we still did not significantly go wireless, outside our homes…
another, earlier and wider, take, 2013,
on communication sattelites
geostationary communication sattelites, 2015-2016;
this does not include classified military satellites
here is one of them, in 2016, one of ours: “an Advanced Extremely
High Frequency communications satellite relays secure
communications for the United States and other allied countries”
 a WildBlue satellite Internet dish, and a
foldable Bigpond internet satellite dish; a
competitive market growing
 the back panel of a satellite modem, with coaxial
connections for both incoming and outgoing signals,
and an Ethernet port for connection.
back to context and interpretations: giving it all
context: “world map of internet users”, re-scaled
focal points: distribution-localization of
friendship sharing on Facebook
again, background,2016: the ‘gravitational force’ of the geography of the
global: connections and friendships local, regional, and global: “global
visualization of every connection between two people on Facebook”
 What a Wonderful World, 2016: Paul Butlers map of local, regional, and global
Facebook friendshipsthe clear preference of multiple connection hubs to the local,
‘the economiy, stupid’ , demography, and rising patterns of urbanization. A truly
“global visualization of every connection between two people on Facebook”
echoes or ressonances? A very similar map;
this one entitled , global GDP density, 2015
 similar, but now when looking at twitter: the so-called
geolocated tweets, 2015; echoes of galloping urbanization
and of growth in the economy; assymetrical inequalities are
nowadays (2019) getting to be even worse
Breaking it down; the mobility flows of twitter users
between 58 cities, 2015. The twitter city flows – a
repeated pattern?
 Poliitcally ‘centralized’ Action vs. Decentered Choices: an example of
selectivity as concerns the old social media: countries compressed or
streched according the the news on them published by Guardian Online
from 2010 to 2012
 potential connectivities, chokepoints and power, in the
Atlantic Basin and its surroundings: possessions françaises, in
April 2018. What do they mean, the end of the “West”?
April, 2018, “British possessions and British exclusive economic zones”
(in pink) e “French possessions and NATO countries territoires, as well
as those of our Allies, in the Atlantic Basin and some of its
‘chokepoints’”. Under the Cape if Good Hope, French and Norwegian
islands and archipelagoes
again my hypothesis of reduplication of maritime ‘colonial’
connectivity and centrality, seen with perhaps greater
graphic clarity in a neater map background . How can we
interpret this?
Bis. Just a repetition of historical maritime imperial patterns,
but one with no continuity? Why, how come? Political and
economic voluntarism seems to be the answer
 “WhatsApp hack: Is any app or computer truly secure?”, BBC, May 15 th, Wednesday,
2019. “WhatsApp has confirmed that a security flaw in the app let attackers install spy
software on their targets' smartphones.That has left many of its 1.5 billion users
wondering how safe the "simple and secure" messaging app really is.”
 “Russian bots rigged Voice Kids TV talent show result”.
“Russian bots rigged Voice Kids TV talent show result”, BBC,
Thursday, May 16th, 2019
“GozNym cyber-crime gang which stole millions busted”, BBC,
Thursday, May 16th, 2019.“An international crime gang which
used malware to steal $100m (£77m) from more than 40,000
victims has been dismantled.”
“Trump declares national emergency over IT threats”, BBC, Thursday, May
16th, 2019. “President Donald Trump has declared a national
emergency to protect US computer networks from "foreign
adversaries”.