Iranian missile blitz takes down AWS data centers in Bahrain and Dubai

Post by nutjob2 » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:13 PM UTC

tiew9Vii wrote: post #13

VoidWarranty wrote: post #2

Not to be insensitive about the humanitarian and economic situation, but, I am curious why there are data centers in that region at all? It just seems horribly inefficient from a cooling and electricity standpoint. Not to mention water. My pessimistic assumption is that Amazon said "yes" to handouts from regional government efforts to be relevant in tech, and that those data centers dont really matter to anyone but l…

Middle East isn’t some 3rd world. If you can imagine futuristic cities, rich Middle East countries are already living in them with all the oil wealth. They have phones, computers, digital services just like the US and Europe. Makes sense they want a data center in the region, close to them just like the US and Europe have data enters close to their users.

Post by ceejayoz » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:21 PM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #16

ceejayoz wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that they don't want to hit the ones in Israel, it's that they're better defended, and further away. Bahrain to Iran is ~140 miles. Dubai is ~100 miles. Israel is closer to ~600.

No doubt. But it still seems like a bizarre strategy. They can't shoot the people they want so they just shoot these other randoms.

Post by AdrianB1 » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:26 PM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #9

I do think there is some irony that the Iran war took down all the AWS datacenters in the middle east except the one (or 3 i guess) in Israel, which is still chugging along. Like as a strategy its kind of weird. Iran plans to force Israel to stop by wrecking the economies of a bunch of countries that are basically frenemies of Israel? I suppose its meant to pressure USA, it just seems like a terrible strategy.

Post by haliskerbas » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

nutjob2 wrote: post #21

tiew9Vii wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Middle East isn’t some 3rd world. If you can imagine futuristic cities, rich Middle East countries are already living in them with all the oil wealth. They have phones, computers, digital services just like the US and Europe. Makes sense they want a data center in the region, close to them just like the US and Europe have data enters close to their users.

If you can imagine dystopian cities, rich Middle East countries are already living in them with all the oil wealth.

Post by lolive » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:38 PM UTC

andrepd wrote: post #17

tiew9Vii wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Middle East isn’t some 3rd world. If you can imagine futuristic cities, rich Middle East countries are already living in them with all the oil wealth. They have phones, computers, digital services just like the US and Europe. Makes sense they want a data center in the region, close to them just like the US and Europe have data enters close to their users.

Slight tangent, but to me futuristic cities are actually places like Amsterdam, with cozy streets and bike lanes everywhere, not places like Dubai with 16-lane freeways and a quasi-slave underclass staffing the tacky malls.