//The Wire// 2100Z November 18, 2024//

//PRIORITY//

//BLUF: TWO UNDERSEA CABLES REPORTEDLY CUT IN THE BALTIC. U.S. AUTHORIZES UKRAINIAN USE OF LONG-RANGE MISSILES IN RUSSIA. BRITISH AIRWAYS AIRCRAFT GROUNDED THROUGHOUT EUROPE DUE TO CYBER EVENT.//

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-International Events-

Baltic Sea: This morning Finnish news media reported that the C-LION1 undersea communications cable has been cut. This cable provides internet and data connections between Finland and Germany. No official cause for the severed connection has been provided yet.

Separately, the Telia Company (an internet provider throughout the region) reported that one of their undersea cables has also been cut and/or damaged. The Telia cable providing internet connection to Lithuania from Finland was reportedly taken offline Sunday morning, with two additional secondary and tertiary backup cables allowing for some connectivity to Lithuania, albeit with a reduced bandwidth.

AC: Though the context of the heightened international tensions must be considered, undersea communications cables are frequently damaged and/or cut by innocent mistakes such as ships dragging anchor, or even purely natural incidents such as underwater mudslides. However, with two separate cables being impacted, the likelihood of nefarious intent becomes substantial. Most fingers point to Russia anyway, as Russia has a long-standing military mission to sever communications cables in the event of war. The United States has a similar mission as well, so pointing fingers is unlikely to do any good, especially due to the nature of the incident not exactly allowing for independent analysis. The intentional cutting of cables (or even the damaging of cables that is assumed to be nefarious in nature) is usually considered to be a prelude to a war involving the United States and Russia. However, considering the very few solid details (and going out on a limb to a degree), it’s possible that this is Russia’s way of showing their displeasure of the United States escalating the war in Ukraine. The Pentagon grants Ukraine permission to use long-range munitions, and Putin cuts a cable or two to show the west that, for them, the war is not merely confined to the borders of Ukraine.

Europe: This afternoon British Airways reported a major cyber outage, resulting in a grounding of all of their aircraft throughout the continent. Early reports suggest this outage impacted pilots’ abilities to electronically file flight plans and/or load sheets. The cause of the IT outage has not yet been disclosed, and it is not clear as to if British Airways is the only airline to be affected, though this remains a developing situation.

-HomeFront-

Texas: Friday evening Southwest Flight 2494 was struck by small arms fire while preparing to depart Dallas Love Field Airport. Few details have been released following this incident, however at least one bullet struck the front of the aircraft near the cockpit. No injuries were reported. AC: It’s not clear as to if this was an intentional targeting effort, or the byproduct of a random shooting outside the airport perimeter that just so happened to strike an aircraft. As the layout of the facility provides clear line of sight to aircraft taxiing throughout the airport from multiple angles, a person near the perimeter of the airport could have engaged any number of aircraft. It’s also not clear as to if other airlines at the airport conducted inspections of their own aircraft after the incident.

Washington D.C – Over the weekend (as previously mentioned), the Biden regime has decided to allow the use of long-range munitions by Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia. Previously, Ukraine was allegedly prevented from doing so as a means to prevent the further escalation of the war, and to side-step Russia’s previous rhetoric on this exact issue. A few weeks ago, Putin altered Russia’s formalized nucle