Qatar Island

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**reds8n**

..heard some rumblings about this a while back and dismissed it as ...well.. you know..

but..

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-20/saudi-moves-forward-with-plan-to-turn-qatar-into-island

Saudi Arabia is moving forward with a plan to dig a canal that would physically enshrine its yearlong rift with Qatar by turning the emirate from a peninsula bordering the kingdom into an island, Saudi media reported on Tuesday.

Five international companies that specialize in digging canals have been invited to vie for the project, with bids closing on Monday and the winner to be chosen within 90 days, Makkah newspaper reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. The canal should be completed within one year of work starting, it said. The report was also carried by Saudi-owned news channel Al Arabiya and shared on Twitter by Saudi royal court adviser Saud Al Qahtani.

The Saudi government’s Center for International Communication didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The government has never confirmed the plan, first reported in April.

The project, if it is carried out, would geographically extend Qatar’s isolation from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt after they cut trade and diplomatic ties with the emirate last year. The allies accused Qatar of supporting terrorism and meddling in their affairs, charges it denies.

In April, media reported that the channel would be 60 kilometers (37.5 miles) long and 200 meters (219 yards) wide, running the entire length of the strip of Saudi territory that borders Qatar. Part of the canal zone would be set aside for a planned nuclear waste facility, Al Riyadh newspaper reported, and Sabq online newspaper said the canal project could cost up to 2.8 billion riyals ($750 million).

...ambitious eh ?

.. It's the nuclear waste facility is the icing on the cake eh ?

**feeder**

That's a cost of ~60 million per square km. It's amazing what you can get done with virtual slave labour.

**Grey Templar**

Are they going to put crocodiles in this radioactive moat?

**Frazzled**

Grey Templar wrote:
Are they going to put crocodiles in this radioactive moat?

SHARKS WITH FRIGGIN LAZER BEAMS!

**jhe90**

Do you want Murklaks.

Because this is how you get murklaks

Thr whole nuclear waste facility is a giant feth you, that while creative is Downright vindictive. This is certainly a dramatic project...

**Da Boss**

They can fill it with Yemeni blood.

I hope the Saudis waste a ridiculous amount of their money on this and damage their economy badly. I hope the project is constantly disrupted as well and runs over cost.

What a horrible nation.

**Iron_Captain**

At some times, Saudi Arabia seems like an entire nation filled with comic book villains. This is one of those times.

**Humble Guardsman**

Thank you reds8n for this gem, the radioactive waste 'feth you' is just the icing on top.

I lived in Doha for 6 months. While the place may be a try-hard Dubai, the people there don't deserve the ire of the Saudi tyrants. The accusations of terrorism are blatant lies, Qatar is probably the closest you could get to a Middle Eastern Switzerland.

This whole situation is hilarious, but sad.

**Girthquake**

WHO CARES.........NOBODY

**Dreadwinter**

Girthquake wrote:
WHO CARES.........NOBODY

Great post. Provides a lot of discussion points.

I care.

**jouso**

Humble Guardsman wrote:
Qatar is probably the closest you could get to a Middle Eastern Switzerland.

That should be Bahrain.

You don't have to hide on a hotel bar to have a beer and you're allowed there even if you're a Jew (there are a few Bahraini Jewish living there).

**cuda1179**

They're building a moat. Think they were inspired by Trump's wall?

**jhe90**

Iron_Captain wrote:
At some times, Saudi Arabia seems like an entire nation filled with comic book villains. This is one of those times.

Yeah, I mean a moat is one thing but the whole extra level of feth you, reaches Donkey chasm not Cave levels of bitterness.

Moat is one thing.

But a radioactove waste dump is a tad comic book.

**Disciple of Fate**

Qatar should just quickly undercut SA and build its own moat, with blackjack and hookers.

**Iron_Captain**

jouso wrote:
Humble Guardsman wrote:
Qatar is probably the closest you could get to a Middle Eastern Switzerland.

That should be Bahrain.

You don't have to hide on a hotel bar to have a beer and you're allowed there even if you're a Jew (there are a few Bahraini Jewish living there).

Yeah, just like Switzerland. Except in that Switzerland does not have a minority government that brutally oppresses the majority population of the country. Bahrain is not so fun if you are Shia. The place has a horrible human rights record.

**Humble Guardsman**

jouso wrote:
Humble Guardsman wrote:
Qatar is probably the closest you could get to a Middle Eastern Switzerland.

That should be Bahrain.

You don't have to hide on a hotel bar to have a beer and you're allowed there even if you're a Jew (there are a few Bahraini Jewish living there).

See above. And Bahrain is just another vassal state of the Saudi-Emirate alliance, they sent in troops to crush the democratic arab spring movement and have the Bahrain royal family in their pocket.

**Da krimson barun**

Maybe seccesionists could seize this idea to escape the state they're in? Catalonia could become a peninsula off France! The Welsh already have Offa's dyke dug, that's a few feet started already.

**jouso**

Humble Guardsman wrote:
jouso wrote:
Humble Guardsman wrote:
Qatar is probably the closest you could get to a Middle Eastern Switzerland.

That should be Bahrain.

You don't have to hide on a hotel bar to have a beer and you're allowed there even if you're a Jew (there are a few Bahraini Jewish living there).

See above. And Bahrain is just another vassal state of the Saudi-Emirate alliance, they sent in troops to crush the democratic arab spring movement and have the Bahrain royal family in their pocket.

From a quality of life point of view you're much better off in Bahrain than in Qatar.

And yes, there are opposition parties in Bahrain, good luck getting that off the ground in Qatar who haven't even got their head around doing elections.

**Humble Guardsman**

jouso wrote:
Humble Guardsman wrote:
jouso wrote:
Humble Guardsman wrote:
Qatar is probably the closest you could get to a Middle Eastern Switzerland.

That should be Bahrain.

You don't have to hide on a hotel bar to have a beer and you're allowed there even if you're a Jew (there are a few Bahraini Jewish living there).

See above. And Bahrain is just another vassal state of the Saudi-Emirate alliance, they sent in troops to crush the democratic arab spring movement and have the Bahrain royal family in their pocket.

From a quality of life point of view you're much better off in Bahrain than in Qatar.

And yes, there are opposition parties in Bahrain, good luck getting that off the ground in Qatar who haven't even got their head around doing elections.

What are you talking about? Neither Qatar or Bahrain have any intention of surrendering their monarchical sovereignty in any meaningful way, but at least Qatar is just constantly delaying parliamentary elections instead of outright banning the opposition.
https://www.adhrb.org/2018/05/bahrain-moves-to-ban-opposition-ahead-of-2018-elections/

Qatar is absolutely the most neautral micro-state in the region. Hence the comparison to Switzerland, but without the good cheese and chocolate.

**Iron_Captain**

Neither Qatar nor Bahrain are good places. Even if quality of life is high for the privileged, they are still brutal dictatorships that have no qualms about oppressing and being thoroughly nasty to groups in their country they dislike.
Same goes to greater or lesser extent for other more or less reasonable places in the Middle East such as Jordan, Iran, Oman and Israel. There is no country in the Middle East that is not very seriously flawed. Comparing any of them to Switzerland is a massive insult to Switzerland.
Although some, such as Saudi Arabia, Syria or Egypt are undeniably a lot worse than others.

**Humble Guardsman**

Iron_Captain wrote:

Same goes to greater or lesser extent for other more or less reasonable places in the Middle East such as Jordan, Iran, Oman and Israel. There is no country in the Middle East that is not very seriously flawed. Comparing any of them to Switzerland is a massive insult to Switzerland.

Switzerland has a well-established reputation as remaining as neutral as possible on the geo-politcal landscape. Like, to a lesser degree, Qatar.

To say that any comparison to Switzerland is an insult is silly, given that Switzerland's massive weapon export industry hardly makes them the moral king of the world.

**cuda1179**

Let's also not forget Switzerland banks trying to profit from unclaimed Holocaust victims' money, and some rather questionable "insurance" given out in the late 1930's.

**Frazzled**

cuda1179 wrote:
Let's also not forget Switzerland banks trying to profit from unclaimed Holocaust victims' money, and some rather questionable "insurance" given out in the late 1930's.

They did not "try." They did. Also from deposits from Nazi leadership.

**Da Boss**

They also take dirty money from everyone around the world, terrorists, oligarchs and dictators love Switzerland. I think the comparison is fair enough.

**Marxist artist**

Girthquake wrote:
WHO CARES.........NOBODY

And you wonder why Americans sometimes get stuck with the moniker stupid and naive.... the world is not American oh and Saudi Arabia is just below texas.

Obviously not all Americans and not necessarily my opinion.