Reply #36: Oh yes, I understand quite well what they are, DO YOU?

[0rganism]

DNS servers are dependent, ultimately, on the ROOT SERVERS for their domain name information that maps the domains allocated by ICANN (and its various franchises) to the networks allocated by IANA (and its various franchises).

The issue is NOT whether other countries will "take down the net in the US", but whether they will establish their OWN root servers and establish CONFLICTING domain and network address information with that of the US internet. That would require decoupling existing networks from American networks, which is no small effort, but it can be done if another country gets tired of hooking its wagon to the American-controlled domain structure.

Of course, as long as the telephones are open for long-distance dialing, anyone with a multi-homed computer could still connect to both networks simultaneously and potentially run a routing protocol to effectively become a gateway -- which in itself poses immense problems, and could result in further filtering of international telecommunications to avoid them.

You need to do your homework. This has the potential to be an unprecedented disaster of a new and different kind.