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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

#271

Post by EduardoBautista »

brtkdotse wrote: post #196
EduardoBautista wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's impossible to walk anywhere. That is fair. I guess my comparison is San Diego (where I grew up) and Mexico, where I lived all of my adult life until moving to Dubai in 2022. The city is building a new metro line and improving on walkability as new neighborhoods of high population density pop up. It will still be very focused on shopping malls with AC because of the heat during the summers. Official records of…

> Official records of real estate transactions have a data point for "closest shopping mall" for a reason. It baffles me that anyone, let alone a bunch of people, would look at this and say “ah, yes, this seems like a good place to live”. To each their own, I guess.

If you’ve ever had a gun or knife pointed at you, trust me that “walkability” is not going to be high on your priorities of what makes a city a good place to live. The UAE is safer than Switzerland.

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

#272

Post by nairboon »

ctrw wrote: post #222
Simon_ORourke wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> local chiefs who oppose stupid and unrealistic white elephant vanity projects are executed. Let's not gloss over the absolutely appalling respect many of these societies have for human dignity. Public executions and flogging, discrimination and imprisonment based solely on gender, absolutely zero regard for freedom of conscience when it comes to matters of religion. There's only so much you can get away with by say…

Let's not gloss over the fact that we in the west do the same. Only we hide the slaves in sweatshops so our sensibilities aren't triggered. It is after all much easier to change hearts and minds in a democracy.

> Public executions and flogging

> Let's not gloss over the fact that we in the west do the same.

I'm curious where in the "west" you're from. At least in my part of the "western world", we absolutely don't do any of this.

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

#273

Post by moralestapia »

The problem with The Line was not that it was a line, it was the scale. It's so ridiculously large it is akin to Altman's request for 20% (?) of the world's GDP. Not only it wasn't happening, it literally can't happen.

If you go to Google Earth (the app), it lets you see historical imagery from the site and for the past three or so years you can see continuous progress on digging out The Line; that alone is quite impressive on its own! But then again, digging it is only like 1% of it, and the easiest part. It's an impossible project.

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

#274

Post by madaxe_again »

satvikpendem wrote: post #74
Simon_ORourke wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> local chiefs who oppose stupid and unrealistic white elephant vanity projects are executed. Let's not gloss over the absolutely appalling respect many of these societies have for human dignity. Public executions and flogging, discrimination and imprisonment based solely on gender, absolutely zero regard for freedom of conscience when it comes to matters of religion. There's only so much you can get away with by say…

Not to mention literal modern day slavery where they bring in South Asians on the promise of better pay, then take away their passports and pay them pennies.

Or the absolutely rampant corruption. Their entire way of doing business is to lie, cheat and steal, and then murder anyone who objects or tries to report on it.

Bluntly, I hope nobody comes to their aid when oil ends and their economies inevitably collapse - they can go back to bashing each other on the heads with rocks in the desert, and stop destroying the whole damned planet for a quick buck.

Unfortunately, this is the outcome when you turn tribal hunter-gatherers into billionaires overnight. The scum always rises to the top in a society built on dominance and violence.

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

#275

Post by ethanbond »

ponector wrote: post #263
ethanbond wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear that’s Republicans. Democrats overwhelmingly support military aid to Ukraine. Republicans are split (at best) on the issue. Israel-Gaza is a more complicated breakdown for sure, but it’s also a much more complicated conflict.

Aren't democrats holding the office and keep not sending efficient weapons? Only bare minimum which cannot significantly affect battlefield. Morocco received few hundred US tanks recently. Do they fight for survival?

Uh no. Republicans control the House which is enough to prevent even $1 from being spent or sent anywhere.

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/What-are-some-yxB.yA2.SzS7M...

There’s not some big mystery here. Democrats are proposing bill after bill after bill, and republicans are loudly and proudly blocking them.

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

#276

Post by KoftaBob »

dragonwriter wrote: post #47
benjijay wrote: post #45

Does this mean I might finally stop seeing adverts for it? Can we stop pretending it was ever even remotely viable?

> Can we stop pretending it was ever even remotely viable? Not sure who this “we” is who ever started, which is a requirement for stopping.

The people writing articles about it constantly.

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

#277

Post by [deleted] »

oliviabenson wrote: post #182
Simon_ORourke wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> local chiefs who oppose stupid and unrealistic white elephant vanity projects are executed. Let's not gloss over the absolutely appalling respect many of these societies have for human dignity. Public executions and flogging, discrimination and imprisonment based solely on gender, absolutely zero regard for freedom of conscience when it comes to matters of religion. There's only so much you can get away with by say…

We are complicit (if not responsible). Accepted practice isn’t an excuse for indifference but criticising your own country isn’t a free pass to criticise the culture of others without challenging our culpability. If we sincerely want to help the citizens of these countries that we believe to be oppressed, we have options that we choose not to take. We could offer cultural asylum, give people a route to access our cul…

[deleted]

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

#278

Post by ineverything »

refurb wrote: post #206
delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #43

The only thing the Gulf states have going for them is oil money and a good hub location on the Europe–Southeast Asia airline routes. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Bahrain, Qatar, they all remind me of that quote from King of the Hill—they are monuments to man's arrogance. Desert cities hitting 50+ °C air temperature at midday which means air conditioning everywhere; vapid luxury in the form of expensive garish cars, shop…

Wait, you’re blaming them for developing their country because it’s a desert and hot? Are you suggesting they should have just remained on camels while sand blows around them?

I was also confused reading this, until I had read this comment (from delta_p_delta_x), which clarifies things..

> I'll be frank: I have a deep mistrust of any culture present in the Arabian peninsula since about 632 CE.

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

#279

Post by pfdietz »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #114
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Abu Dhabi does not belong in the list with the other ones. It has been extremely well run since Zayed bin Sultan It's also governed differently from the others in being an oligarchy. That requirement for consensus-building and internal variation creates robustness; it gave Dubai the room to experiment, for example, with religious moderation. It's not a view I hold too seriously. But I remember visiting the Emirates…

> experiment, for example, with religious moderation I'm not sure if this is satire or not... Religious moderation should be the default, not something to 'experiment' with.

Are you saying "should" is the same as "is"?

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

#280

Post by smashah »

radicalbyte wrote: post #227
smashah wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It's not Biden, it's part of the 90% of American policy which will never change no matter who the President is.

True. Well if Americans aren't in control over their government then nothing in the world will get better.
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