Author: avaripapa

99% of global internet data at risk from cheap underwater drones, China warns

A new Chinese study says autonomous underwater vehicles are reshaping seabed warfare and threatening critical infrastructure

Source: Interesting Engineering, August 6, 2026

Chinese military researchers warn that the global network of undersea internet cables is becoming more vulnerable to attacks from inexpensive underwater drones. Writing recently in Science and Technology Daily, the researchers argued that rapid advances in uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) are making undersea warfare easier and turning the seabed into a new strategic battleground.

This warning comes as countries spend more on underwater surveillance and protecting infrastructure due to rising geopolitical competition. The researchers said that advances in autonomous technology are making the seabed, once hard and costly to control, an important military area.

Low-cost underwater drones reshape military planning

Shi Guanglei and Shi Haiming from China’s National Defense University said that more affordable autonomous underwater systems are changing how countries operate under the sea.

“The barrier to entry for undersea warfare is lowering,” Shi Guanglei and Shi Haiming from the National Defense University wrote in Science and Technology Daily, pointing to the Aukus pact between Australia, Britain and the United States as a key driver of this change.

“In the past, underwater operations relied heavily on crewed submarines, which were expensive and posed significant risks to personnel, making it difficult for small and medium countries to conduct underwater military activities.”

The researchers added that small and medium-sized unmanned undersea vehicles are cheap, can be used in large numbers, and remove risks to military crews. The article noted that these features could allow more countries to compete for control of important seabed infrastructure.

Global communications depend on fragile cable network

The researchers pointed out that undersea cables carry about 99 percent of data between continents, making them vital for internet services and international financial transactions. They estimated these cables support about $10 trillion in cross-border financial activity each day.

Worldwide, around 1.06 million miles (1.7 million kilometers) of fiber-optic cables connect continents beneath the oceans. The network experiences around 150 to 200 cable faults annually.

The article mentioned several recent events that show these weaknesses, such as the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines and internet outages after cables in the Red Sea were damaged last year.

However, the UK-based International Cable Protection Committee has said accidental damage remains the leading cause of submarine cable failures.

“Anecdotally, we believe that there have not been verified incidents of state-sponsored sabotage since World War II,” according to its website.

US in closely guarded talks to open new bases in Greenland

BBC News, May-September, 2026

The US has been holding regular negotiations with Denmark to expand its military presence in Greenland, according to multiple officials familiar with the discussions, with talks between both sides progressing in recent months.

US officials are seeking to open three new bases in the south of the territory, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark.

Current Negotiations Overview

  • Proposed Bases: The U.S. has discussed establishing up to three new military bases in southern Greenland to monitor maritime activity by Russia and China in the GIUK Gap (the area between Greenland, Iceland, and the UK).
  • Sovereignty Debate: U.S. officials have floated designating the proposed new locations as sovereign U.S. territory, a sensitive proposal given Greenland’s autonomous status within the Kingdom of Denmark.
  • Existing Presence: The U.S. currently operates the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which is vital for missile warning and space surveillance.
  • Current Status: A joint working group involving the U.S., Denmark, and Greenland remains active as of September 2026, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressing optimism that a peaceful resolution and agreement can be reached. No final deal or approval for new bases has been finalized.

Denmark has previously shown willingness to discuss more American military bases in Greenland, and its Foreign Ministry confirmed talks with Washington are ongoing.

“There is an ongoing diplomatic track with the United States. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not go into further detail at this time,” a spokesperson from Denmark’s ministry said.

US officials have proposed an arrangement in which the three new bases would be designated as sovereign US territory, mainly focused on monitoring possible Russian and Chinese maritime activity in the region.

What a Russian Attack on NATO Could Look Like As CIA Trip Fuels Speculation

Newsweek, August 27, 2026

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Ratcliffe’s surprise visit to Moscow this week quickly prompted speculation over why the spy chief would make the long, but brief, journey to the Russian capital—including whether he hoped to head off a possible Russian attack on NATO.

President Donald Trump, while not detailing the agenda nor who was present from the Russian side, described the meeting as “semi-routine.”

The Kremlin said Ratcliffe hadn’t met with Russian President Vladimir Putin but had made the unannounced trip to keep up “contacts between security services.”

Ratcliffe warned top Russian officials not to up the long-running hybrid warfare campaign against NATO allies, particularly against the three Baltic states deeply worried about how Moscow may respond to the standstill in the war against Ukraine, Politico reported, citing two anonymous people familiar with the matter.

For many, Ratcliffe’s trip revived memories of former CIA head William Burns’ rare personal visit to Moscow in November 2021, when Burns sat down with senior Kremlin names and the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshki.

Burns, a former U.S. envoy to Moscow, later said he had made the journey to warn the Kremlin against launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine as its troops amassed on the border with its neighbor. Russia invaded little over three months later.

“I came away from those conversations even more troubled than when I arrived,” Burns said in July 2022.

Ratcliffe’s visit comes just weeks after U.S. officials said Washington now assesses Russia could launch a “limited” attack on NATO’s eastern European edge as soon as this fall.

This could involve sending a small number of Russian troops over into the Baltic states or Poland or the upping of Moscow’s hybrid warfare operations, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month.