Cutting off Armenia

By Brad

Here’s a strange one: The Guardian reports that a 75-year-old woman in the country of Georgia managed to plunge the country of Armenia into digital darkness when she inadvertently cut through a vital underground cable while rooting around for scrap copper:

As Georgia provides 90% of Armenia’s internet, the woman’s unwitting sabotage had catastrophic consequences. Web users in the nation of 3.2 million people were left twiddling their thumbs for up to five hours as the country’s main internet providers - ArmenTel, FiberNet Communication and GNC-Alfa – were prevented from supplying their normal service. Television pictures showed reporters at a news agency in the capital Yerevan staring glumly at blank screens.

Large parts of Georgia and some areas of Azerbaijan were also affected.