France’s high-speed rail network was hit Friday with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe only hours before the grand opening ceremony of the Olympics.
French officials condemned the attacks as “criminal actions,” though they said there was no sign of a direct link to the Games, and prosecutors in Paris opened a national investigation saying the crimes could carry sentences of 15 to 20 years.
My guess is that the Russians had a hand in it, which is not just unfounded speculation, because of this:
French authorities have foiled several plots to disrupt the 2024 Olympics, including the arrest of a Russian chef involved in one of them, officials have said.
...
Paris prosecutors said on Wednesday they had arrested a 40-year-old Russian man on Tuesday at his Paris apartment on suspicion of planning to "destabilise the Olympic Games".
He was charged with "conducting intelligence work on behest of a foreign power" with an aim to "provoke hostilities in France," crimes punishable with a 30-year sentence in France, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor's office.
A coordinated attack such as that has serious professional fingerprints. The Russians have been engaging in acts of sabotage in Europe since most nations in Europe haven't fallen on their backs to surrender to Russia's imperialist ambitions.
Russia, notwithstanding the efforts of Tuckyo Rose, J.D. Vance and Tulsi Gabbard, is a nation that is as hostile to the rest of Europe and to the U.S. as was Nazi Germany.
France has a history of fiber cable cuts along rail lines https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/saboteurs-cut-fiber-cables-in-france-in-second-incident-this-year/
ReplyDeleteMost democratic countries use the rail right of way for their fiber on land.
At least four undersea fiber optic cables, which carry approximately 97% of all Internet traffic, were damaged last week in the Red Sea, telecommunications providers are reporting, and instability in Yemen threatens to prevent operators from fixing them immediately.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2024/03/04/four-fiber-optic-cables-damaged-in-red-sea-heres-what-we-know/
Russia reports Oct. 7 cable breach publicly for first time
Nearby Finland-Estonia gas pipeline was damaged hours later
Two other Baltic telecoms cables were hit around same time
Data shows Chinese ship passed over all four sites
Beijing says it is willing to supply information
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-says-telecoms-cable-damaged-last-month-just-before-nearby-baltic-gas-2023-11-07/#:~:text=Nov%207%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20A,new%20tab%20said%20on%20Tuesday.
Such a house of cards