Saudi Arabia plans to physically cut off Qatar by moat, nuclear waste and military base

[HermitMunster + 146]

4 hours ago, Olga Tkachuk said:

Especially having lived in these places, the level of absurdity is more than entertaining. These 'tourists resorts' of Saudi are most laughable - while the country does have some amazing historic spaces such as Madain Salih that their psychotic religious sector hasn't yet managed to destroy, and amazing Red Sea snorkeling that hasn't yet been decimated by a flood of people, the only people willing to put up with the restrictions of Saudi beach resorts or travel are those who already live there, with very, very few exceptions. It is the most unwelcoming country in every way imaginable, from social norms to weather to costs, and these ridiculous dreams of 'tourism' are as unrealistic as much of their diversification plan.

Not all of this is just smoke and mirrors for Aramco going IPO - both Saudi AND Qatar have publicized very similar delusions over the last decade, with some there actually believing this insanity, despite repeated, and spectacular failure even in regards to things that should be possible, such as greater employment of nationals and less reliance on foreigners to do almost everything, from construction to every aspect of modern knowledge economy. One thing that people don't need to work on there is the aforementioned delusions of grandeur. 

These people can't handle a little circus without firing ministers (in case of Saudi), and Doha is yet to pull off a successful football tournament that doesn't lock hundreds of international ticket holders out of final games as in 2011 Asian Cup, and the more recent Emir Cup, but delusions they have plenty of. And also nasty streak of malevolence. Which is why the actual nuclear dump is within a realm of possibility.

I meant delusions:)

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Update:

And finally… Saudi Arabia plans 60km canal which would turn Qatar into an island

Saudi Arabia is pressing on with plans to dig a 60km canal along its border with Qatar which would effectively turn the latter into an island.

According to a report by Gulf News, five international companies with expertise in digging canals had submitted their tenders for the $745 million project – known as the Salwa Canal – ahead of the June 25 deadline.

The proposed waterway is 200m wide and will be dug to a depth of up to 20m providing a maximum ship draft of 12m. This would allow the canal to accommodate cargo, container and passenger ships up to a length of 295m.

The canal will be built at between one and five kilometres from the Qatar border, with the land on the border side to be used by the military and border guards.

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Update:

Saudi Arabia hatch BIZARRE plot to turn rivals Qatar into ISLAND with HUGE canal

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

18 minutes ago, Dan Warnick said:

Perfect.

Simply perfect.  I have nothing else to add.

[Epic + 390]

On 6/22/2018 at 2:50 AM, Sebastian Meana said:

the radiation that you get by living in Chernobyl of Fukushima is lower than the radiation you get by living in telluride Colorado

Why is this?  Or, do you have a source?  Or did I just miss the /sarcasm?

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

10 hours ago, Epic said:

On 6/22/2018 at 2:50 PM, Sebastian Meana said:

the radiation that you get by living in Chernobyl of Fukushima is lower than the radiation you get by living in telluride Colorado

Why is this?  Or, do you have a source?  Or did I just miss the /sarcasm?

I wondered the same:  Source or sarcasm

A quick search would seem to dispel the realities of that statement.

In this article titled "Chernobyl and Fukushima contamination 'a risk for decades or even centuries to come', warns Greenpeace" they do not concur.

However, this does not answer the question as to whether or not it would be safe to live next to dumped radioactive waste.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

Another quick search of "is it safe to live near radioactive waste" turns up any number of articles.  It seems that the consensus is that properly stored and maintained radioactive waste is not much of a risk, but that the chances of waste being stored improperly are rather prevalent, making the prospect of being near any of the stuff a very real risk.  I guess in the case of Saudi Arabia the question is: does anyone think they have proper storage in mind when throwing out their threats to dump the stuff near Qatar?

Dangers of Nuclear Waste disposal

How Safe is Nuclear Waste?

Living near radioactive dump, smoldering landfill, some in Missouri town want buyouts

[Sebastian Meana + 278]

On 9/1/2018 at 9:58 PM, Epic said:

Why is this?  Or, do you have a source?  Or did I just miss the /sarcasm?

The reasons are many but two more than anything
1-Altittude, there's less air to protect you from ultra-violet, and x-ray radiation that cames from the sun appart from the cosmic background radiation. if you go in utah at high altitude with a geiger counter is possible to find up to 100 times the normal background radiation(tbh my source for this is a video from thunderf00t)
2-Rocky mountains, the rocky mountains like any subduction range like the Andes have the characteristics of having a lot of volcanoes, and all the heat inside the earth core comes from Thorium-232, Uranium-238, Potassium-40, so where there's volcanoes there's radioactivity

Indeed, a imperial valley geothermal powerplant can produce nearly 10 tons if not more of solid radioactive "waste" every day http://www.desertreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/DR_Winter2010.pdfT

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

On 9/1/2018 at 8:58 PM, Epic said:

Why is this?  Or, do you have a source?  Or did I just miss the /sarcasm?

Sebastian was perfectly serious (see his detailed response above), but that is not the whole story.

I point out that one man's waste is the next man's gold.  It is entirely possible to place nuclear waste, both low-level and high-level, inside the melt furnace of a thorium or molten-salt reactor.  The waste ends up as fresh fuel, and is fully devoured.  I think of nuclear waste as free money: you build a new thorium plant right on the same spot as the dismantled or mothballed old pressure-water reactor, scoop up that waste, put it in there as fuel, and off you go with fresh power for no effective fuel cost.  

There should be enough spent fuel rods and other waste out there to power up thorium reactors for centuries to come. Therefore, if the Qataris were smart, they would go build thorium reactors down on the Border and go raid that dumped waste. Hey, not like those Saudi soldiers are going to be enthusiastic about stopping them!

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

It's almost as if Qatar feels somehow ... unwanted ... by other OPEC members ...

Qatar pulls out of OPEC to focus on gas production

Saad al-Kaabi, the country’s energy minister, told a news conference: “Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from Opec effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to Opec this morning.”

He said the decision was not linked to a political and economic boycott of Qatar imposed in June 2017 by Saudi Arabia, Opec’s largest member and its de facto leader, and three other Arab states – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. They imposed a trade and travel embargo on Qatar over allegations that it supports terrorism. Doha denies the charges.

[Kit Moore + 50]

Is there any update to this?  The last I can find is an article dated September 2018 which says the winning bidder will be announced that month and then nothing until November 2018 with just a rehash of the "hints" and tweets.

[John Foote + 1,135]

Kuwait and Oman have been walking the neutrality tightrope. Oman does rely on financial assistance from the KSA, Kuwait, not at all. But if UAE/KSA continue tossing their weight around, they are risking Kuwait and Oman dropping the alliance of Gulf States. Kuwait has already signed a defense agreement with Turkey, and it's not Iran they are worried about.

Qatar's oil production just doesn't matter. Probably better for KSA they aren't in. At this point Qatar politically would vote against KSA's interest just for fun. 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

9 hours ago, Kit Moore said:

Is there any update to this?  The last I can find is an article dated September 2018 which says the winning bidder will be announced that month and then nothing until November 2018 with just a rehash of the "hints" and tweets.

I get the same search results.  Guessing the Salwa Canal plan was quietly shelved.

[Guillaume Albasini + 851]

14 minutes ago, Tom Kirkman said:

I get the same search results.  Guessing the Salwa Canal plan was quietly shelved.

I suppose the guy in charge of the project suddenly got a more urgent project from his boss.

 

Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, recently fuelled speculation Saudi Arabia intended to dig a 37-mile canal between the Gulf nations, the proposed £500m East Salwa project cutting the peninsula off and turning Qatar into an island, physically isolating Doha.

Source : https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/opec-qatar-oil-international-cartel-production-price-saudi-arabia-a8664746.html

 

He ran social media for Saudi Arabia's crown prince. He masterminded the arrest of hundreds of his country's elite. He detained a Lebanese prime minister. And, according to two intelligence sources, he ran journalist Jamal Khashoggi's brutal killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by giving orders over Skype.

Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is one of the fall guys as Riyadh tries to stem international outrage at Khashoggi's death. On Saturday, Saudi state media said King Salman had sacked Qahtani and four other officials over the killing carried out by a 15-man hit team.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/saud-al-qahtani-the-man-behind-jamal-khashoggis-murder-ran-the-killing-via-skype-1935947

 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

6 minutes ago, Guillaume Albasini said:

I suppose the guy in charge of the project suddenly got a more urgent project from his boss.

Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, recently fuelled speculation Saudi Arabia intended to dig a 37-mile canal between the Gulf nations, the proposed £500m East Salwa project cutting the peninsula off and turning Qatar into an island, physically isolating Doha.

Interesting.  If this guy's goal was to get Qatar to leave OPEC, then he succeeded.

[Illurion + 894]

My take on this project when i first read about it several months ago was that MBS was not really serious about building it,  but,  was using the threat to do so,  as an "incentive" to get something out of Qatar.    I have no idea what he might have wanted though.

Maybe MBS got whatever he wanted,  and that is why the project has not moved forward.