Who Owns the Nile? • Hacker News Board

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#61

Post by bourgoin » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 4:07 AM UTC

dehrmann wrote: post #60

> While most rivers flow south, the Nile flows north I've heard this before, but it doesn't sound right, unless you get a weird bias because of weather patterns and lots of landmass that would drain into the arctic ocean.

I have a hard time conceiving of any reason that North and South would be different in this regard, but maybe it's possible if there is a tendency for rivers to flow towards the equator for some reason, since most of the world's landmass happens to be in the northern hemisphere.

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#62

Post by caspper69 » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 4:13 AM UTC

reducesuffering wrote: post #43

medium_burrito wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and the big ass damn in Ethiopia. Given the civil war there, don't be surprised in this turning into a bigger conflict.

Has the world always been this on-the-cusp of war? Turkey-Greece, Azerbaijan-Armenia, China-Taiwan, Ethiopia, Egypt-Uganda, Saudi-Iran-Yemen, Congo, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Russia-Ukraine, Morocco-Western Sahara-Algeria, India-China, India-Pakistan, Syria Maybe I've just been watching too much Caspian Report lately, and a lot of these issues are a century in the making, but damn if it doesn't feel like early WW2 issues…

I'll just leave this here.

https://youtu.be/eFTLKWw542g

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#63

Post by darkerside » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 4:13 AM UTC

bourgoin wrote: post #61

dehrmann wrote: post #60

> While most rivers flow south, the Nile flows north I've heard this before, but it doesn't sound right, unless you get a weird bias because of weather patterns and lots of landmass that would drain into the arctic ocean.

I have a hard time conceiving of any reason that North and South would be different in this regard, but maybe it's possible if there is a tendency for rivers to flow towards the equator for some reason, since most of the world's landmass happens to be in the northern hemisphere.

Perhaps on some level, since melting ice would follow away from the ice mass. But AFAIK, there is no causative reason for rivers to flow towards the equator. A quick Google search corroborates this.

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#64

Post by vkou » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 4:47 AM UTC

reducesuffering wrote: post #43

medium_burrito wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and the big ass damn in Ethiopia. Given the civil war there, don't be surprised in this turning into a bigger conflict.

Has the world always been this on-the-cusp of war? Turkey-Greece, Azerbaijan-Armenia, China-Taiwan, Ethiopia, Egypt-Uganda, Saudi-Iran-Yemen, Congo, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Russia-Ukraine, Morocco-Western Sahara-Algeria, India-China, India-Pakistan, Syria Maybe I've just been watching too much Caspian Report lately, and a lot of these issues are a century in the making, but damn if it doesn't feel like early WW2 issues…

The primary issue of WW2 was an ascending, hyper-aggressive super-power-to-be that was assisted by a secret pact with the USSR. Had Poland not been stabbed in the back, the war would have gone on an entirely different course.

All of the conflicts that you listed are just run of the mill civil wars/border skirmishes/empires with rather limited pan-ethnic ambitions.

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#65

Post by sudosysgen » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 5:28 AM UTC

reducesuffering wrote: post #43

medium_burrito wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and the big ass damn in Ethiopia. Given the civil war there, don't be surprised in this turning into a bigger conflict.

Has the world always been this on-the-cusp of war? Turkey-Greece, Azerbaijan-Armenia, China-Taiwan, Ethiopia, Egypt-Uganda, Saudi-Iran-Yemen, Congo, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Russia-Ukraine, Morocco-Western Sahara-Algeria, India-China, India-Pakistan, Syria Maybe I've just been watching too much Caspian Report lately, and a lot of these issues are a century in the making, but damn if it doesn't feel like early WW2 issues…

Morocco-westernSahara will not involve Algeria. The conflict is also basically resolved already with Morocco having successfully invaded/taken control of all but a very small part of Western Sahara.

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#66

Post by sudosysgen » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 5:30 AM UTC

csense wrote: post #57

Doesn't Egypt have a really powerful military? If the dam's an existential threat to Egypt, why don't the Egyptians simply launch a military strike to blow it up?

They probably would, yes, and have hinted as much.

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#67

Post by sudosysgen » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 5:31 AM UTC

LanceH wrote: post #36

onetimemanytime wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At some point there were just a bunch of tribes living around the world without much of a horizon. A "real" country played them against each other

Ah yes, disrupting the historically peaceful coexistence of the middle east.

The Middle East has indeed had very long periods of stability, and very often was significanrly more peaceful than Europe in all aspects including religious coexistence.

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#68

Post by sudosysgen » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 5:33 AM UTC

yyyk wrote: post #25

sremani wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crisis of lack of water is bigger, who ever bombs the shit out of Great Renaissance Dam is going to be popular in Egypt. Egypt more than one occasion came close to doing something like that. Long story short. Who ever has better military capabilities will own the Nile. Egypt can use Suez as another piece to get Europe to accept its bombing campaign.

Egypt doesn't have the capability. Their air force has too little range and too little refueling capability.

Not exactly. in these situations they would bomb the GERD then ditch, out of fuel, in international waters ready to be picked up or in Sudan. It's been done before. For really high value targets range doesn't matter as much.

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#69

Post by oblio » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 5:57 AM UTC

vfclists wrote: post #16

Egypt is not a "proper" country. It is simply a string of settlements along the banks of Nile river and its delta. Don't let the large trapezoid shape fool you. Most of that is the result of a line on the ground drawn by colonialists. If you want see a country like Egypt look at the Gambia, another country drawn along the eponymous river wholly surrounded by Senegal, another product of colonial machinations.

That's a strange thing to call one of the cradles of civilization...

Re: Who Owns the Nile?

#70

Post by unixhero » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 7:03 AM UTC

dantheman wrote: post #50

reducesuffering wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has the world always been this on-the-cusp of war? Turkey-Greece, Azerbaijan-Armenia, China-Taiwan, Ethiopia, Egypt-Uganda, Saudi-Iran-Yemen, Congo, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Russia-Ukraine, Morocco-Western Sahara-Algeria, India-China, India-Pakistan, Syria Maybe I've just been watching too much Caspian Report lately, and a lot of these issues are a century in the making, but damn if it doesn't feel like early WW2 issues…

This is probably the most peaceful time in history, there is no armed conflict in the western hemishpere. https://time.com/4475617/how-peace-finally-came-to-reign-thr... Most of the world is at peace, it's a remarkable accomplishment.

The Ukraine versus Russia