When the global economy depends on communication and more and more the Internet, When news that damaged undersea cables disrupt businesses and personal use across a vast swath of Mideast countries, we begin to see how much the global economy depends on the Internet.
The biggest impact comes from the outages across India, with the companies that serve the East Coast of the United States and Britain badly hit.
Submarine cables carry the bulk of international telecommunications traffic. These cables can be damaged by earthquake, accident or terrorism.
Who protects and repairs the networks of underwater cables and communication satellites? The Belmont Club writes
unheralded and unnoticed the USN and USAF maintain the "freedom of navigation" not only of the ocean waves but of the ether. It is behind their shield that the world economy literally lives. The cars people drive, the fuel that propels them, the food they eat, the conversations they have, the television signals they receive, all travel the broad highways of sea and sky that men unsung defend.