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End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

theguardian.com

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Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#211

Post by nicolas_t »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #100
dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the British were, in their time, far better at nation building than we've been in the post-War era who does "we" refer to? The Dutch? France?

> who does "we" refer to? The Dutch? France? Sorry, clarified as America. Not aware of any Dutch nation building after WWII. (I'd argue the British also did better than the French.)

If you read historical political discourses in France regarding the colonies, it's easy to see why the British were far better than the French. There was a lot of talk about bringing the light of civilizations to those poor colonies so, in general, they pretty much tore down the existing administrations and instead recreated their own administration from the top up.

The British strategy was far more pragmatic, they kept the local powers in place and played each of them against each other to maintain control over the colonies.

Of course, I'm generalizing but there's a clear difference of ideology that I do think explain the differences between the French and British when it came to managing their colonial empire.

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#212

Post by benterix »

keiferski wrote: post #137
lvl102 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about the fact that education is pretty much free there. They even pay for Western institutions to set up satellite campuses. You’d think they should have the most educated and skilled labor in the world. At some point, you have to realize it’s cultural: they don’t want to work. Funny you mention Switzerland because they have some of the highest skilled labor in the world.

You’re generalizing nearly 20 million people in Saudi Arabia alone. How this is even an acceptable thing to say on HN is beyond me. The Gulf countries have more than enough expertise to manage and run their wealth for the foreseeable future. To say they’ll be poor again without oil is simply ignorant of the facts and probably related to the point I made above.

> To say they’ll be poor again without oil is simply ignorant

I wanted to reply "But Sheikh Mohammed himself said so!" but then trying to back up my claim I realized it's false. [0] It's amazing how many false things we take for granted just because they align with our world-view (and make a good story).

[O] https://factcheck.afp.com/sheikh-mohammed-did-not-say-great-...

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#213

Post by romanovcode »

bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #111
meindnoch wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A circle is still one-dimensional, so it's only a tiny bit less brain-damaged than a line.

I'm pretty sure they meant disk, and they have a point.

> disk

So, basically a regular city.

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#214

Post by Ahmd72 »

The sheer arrogance of Westerners is one of the reasons I'm so biased against them and letting them enter any of the Muslim countries, like come on are we supposed to be taking lessons from people who gave us the Holocaust, the World wars, the Iraq war, the forceful displacement of Palestinians so they can create their own country. Are you people really that blind that you think whatever you think or values you have are the right ones? If that's true why do your governments still have a presence in defense contracts with these countries, if you're such upholders of these values why do you sell weapons to countries like Saudi Arabia, Israel etc which have proven that they cannot uphold human life. I have worked with the Westerners and someone who's born and raised here, I can tell you this much, there is good and bad in every nation but your bad is the worst every time and the arrogance you have has blinded you to accept your faults.

We might have our faults but our people are working towards progress, it takes time but we don't go bashing Western people and how they are the worst examples of humanity, even knowing their history and countless examples of genocides conducted by them and then denying it. Shame on you people and those who think they are the best examples. Next time when you're offered a job in a Middle East country, don't accept it simple as that instead of coming here, bashing and then saying money talks. Greed is all you guys know.

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#215

Post by amelius »

gherkinnn wrote: post #19

The whole idea of a linear city is daft. A circle is way more efficient at getting around. The dimensions of the Line are, of course, silly as well.

The idea is not so silly for an authoritarian government.

By using a line they can just shut off one part of the line from the rest with one or two cuts.

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#216

Post by dappermanneke »

Ahmd72 wrote: post #214

The sheer arrogance of Westerners is one of the reasons I'm so biased against them and letting them enter any of the Muslim countries, like come on are we supposed to be taking lessons from people who gave us the Holocaust, the World wars, the Iraq war, the forceful displacement of Palestinians so they can create their own country. Are you people really that blind that you think whatever you think or values you have…

[flagged]

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#217

Post by alangibson »

avar wrote: post #204
alangibson wrote: post #134

I want to see someone seriously analyze what would happen if there was a power loss to the Line. Hundreds of thousands of people in a glass box in 50C weather with no AC sounds like a recipe for a record breaking mass casualty event.

With the caveat that all published "plans" for the thing were probably meant as a PR stunt the plan called for passively cooling it[1]. That part actually doesn't seem implausible, it's right on the Red Sea, which is quite hot on the surface, but cools down as you you go deeper into it[2]. So (and this is just my speculation) they could have a large undersea pipeline to a depth of say 1km, and use the heat the buildi…

How are we pumping the water if the power is out?

I guess they're would be diesel generators for that in reality. We need an engineer to calculate the flow needed because given how far away the far end is from the water that could end up behind one huge generator, not to mention the size of the pipes.

It's worth mentioning that they don't seem to be burying any massive water pipes so this isn't likely to be done in reality.

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#218

Post by Ahmd72 »

Ahmd72 wrote: post #214

The sheer arrogance of Westerners is one of the reasons I'm so biased against them and letting them enter any of the Muslim countries, like come on are we supposed to be taking lessons from people who gave us the Holocaust, the World wars, the Iraq war, the forceful displacement of Palestinians so they can create their own country. Are you people really that blind that you think whatever you think or values you have…

Just to add context, this is for the replies that I have seen on this thread for those people who are just assuming the worst of our people

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#219

Post by benterix »

trissylegs wrote: post #187
dindobre wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will the world's criminals start storing their money there or did you mean something else with Switzerland of the Middle East?

Start? Uae is a place known for storing and moving shady money. Very few extradition treatys.

> Very few extradition treatys.

Which is also excellent not just for stealing, but also for murder. Half a year ago a German-born Pole killed a family in a car crash and run away to UAE.[0] They tried to extradit him but without success.

[0] https://bnnbreaking.com/breaking-news/accidents/suspected-fa...

Re: End of the Line? Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for desert megacity

#220

Post by chipdart »

neglesaks wrote: post #28
chipdart wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Indeed, there is a reason for the saying "what comes around, goes around". Perhaps it's just me, but I don't see scaling down a project as karmic retribution for murder.

Who says that this scaling-down is the last word in the matter?

So what exactly is coming around then? Is someone's life not going absolutely perfect a sign of bad karma?
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