Saturday, April 5, 2014

MH370: Suppose it was a test...

Virtually nothing has happened since I posted "Latest developments in the MH370 mystery". There's a report going around the Net this morning that a Chinese search ship has detected a pulse signal of some sort somewhere in the south Indian Ocean. That's all.

Meanwhile, conjecture -- including the Diego Garcia theory -- intensifies. New possibilities keep emerging. In last week's Economist, "Lexington" writes about "remote warfare", e.g. drone operators shoot missiles or spy on enemies while safely seated at desks somewhere in, ohhhh, let's say Nevada.

He (or she) probably wasn't thinking about MH370, but consider the opening lines of the column:

Some time soon, it is possible to imagine, an American cyber-warrior will end a conflict, almost single-handed. With the right acts of digital sabotage, attack aircraft will be grounded, infrastructure disrupted and communications severed, reducing the enemy to a state of raging, pre-modern impotence. [My emphasis. Walt]

"Digital sabotage..." Hmmm... One of the theories advanced for why MH370 made almost a 300-degree turn away from it's northward course was that "someone" changed the programming in the aircraft's computer and navigation system. Hmmm... Just a few keystrokes would do it, they said, the implication being that the pilot or the co-pilot could easily have done it before or during the flight.

But what if it were done by remote control, from, ohhhh, Diego Garcia? The aircraft is (or was) a Boeing 777, designed and manufactured in the US of A by an American corporation, a part of the so-called US military-industrial complex. The plane is certified airworthy by the US government. Is it possible that US systems experts took over MH370 "by wire", just to see if they could do it? Hmmm...

It might not be Americans who did it. Skilled systems hackers live and work in other countries -- China, Russia, or even India. If the plane was diverted and/or brought down by the US military as a test of their capabilities, naturally they're not going to say anything. Readers will recall Walt's questioning of why the Prez hasn't made any comment on the deepening mystery.

But if another nation did it, the Americans would still say nothing, because they wouldn't want to admit the existence of the requisite technology, let alone the possibility that some other country has more advanced "weapons of remote destruction". Think about it while you wait for the new Chinese "sighting" to be confirmed...or not.

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