• zifnab25 [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    At some point, shipping magnets all along the Mediterranean are going to start pissing themselves in frustration.

    Also, can’t help but see the BRI guys feeling a little extra smug about their plane for overland transport through the Middle East.

    There’s a reason why Reagan wasn’t willing to tolerate Israeli bullshit, and it wasn’t because of his deep love and respect for the Lebanese people.

    • WayeeCool [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      11 months ago

      Also, can’t help but see the BRI guys feeling a little extra smug about their plane for overland transport through the Middle East.

      I had actually forgotten that China’s belt and road initiative involved electrified freight train routes from China up through Russia or the middle east into Europe proper. Iirc there is also work to build routes from China deep into Africa to allow reliable trade of resources and goods without ocean going freight.

      Years ago I was honestly surprised to learn that there wasn’t already a reliable freight train network connecting all of continental Asia, Africa, and Europe. That everyone was sending freight longer distances via ocean going freight traveling around continents rather than via rail in straight lines over land seemed so wasteful. Ocean going freight should only be necessary for oversized freight, island nations, or freight between the eastern and western global hemispheres.

      • zephyreks [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        11 months ago

        Intuitively, boats are more scalable than trains so to some degree it makes sense. Today, ocean shipping is cheaper than over land.

        China’s feeling extra smug because their state-owned shipping can still transit the Red Sea lol

      • GaveUp [she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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        11 months ago

        There was probably too much conflict and war in Europe in the past for countries to build international networks like that

        • WayeeCool [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          11 months ago

          Yeah. I remember something about everyone intentionally using incompatible rail gauges out of fear that other nations would use trains for military invasions. It’s only been in recent decades where we have started to see a globally adopted standard rail gauge for freight networks.

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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        11 months ago

        They’re joined at the hip. The Israelis control a number of ports that load and unload cargo off the Suez. And some of the more notable Zionists are international shipping magnets.

        Israel exists, in no small part, as a dagger to the neck of the Egyptian government, to prevent another Nasser from taking office. It is a means by which western states exert diplomatic, economic, and military control over the canal.

        But the Yemenese aren’t threatening the Sinai Peninsula. They’re guarding the gates to the Red Sea all the way down by Djiabouti. That’s something Saudi Arabia was supposed to manage, and they’ve pooched it. So now the Americans are being forced to take a direct hand in a conflict that they’d invested trillions of dollars expecting proxies to handle.

    • Fontasia@feddit.nl
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      11 months ago

      Props to him for being so on brand, if a war isn’t going to profitable, it’s not worth having the war.