Posted on 03/28/2008 5:13:26 PM PDT by dynachrome
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has fuelled talk of a massive tunnel between Europe and America by forking out $160 MLN on the world’s largest drill. The 19-metre giant will be the first drill capable of boring a four-lane tunnel. The project would link Russia’s far eastern Chutoka region, which Abramovich governs, with America’s Alaska.
The tunnel was first mooted by the Tsars and then in the 1990s, but both times it was dumped because of high costs.
President Vladimir Putin is said to back the latest idea, as it would open up lucrative freight routes from Europe and allow Russian gas to be easily exported.
The giant drill will dwarf the current record-holder – a 15 metre Chinese drill being used for a Yangtze tunnel.
(Excerpt) Read more at russiatoday.ru ...
Actually, if I recall, the area of the strait is pretty stable, for that region. Its all part of the same piece of continent (the actual plate boundary is hundreds of miles inside Russia). Unless I missed something, there aren’t any substantial faults along the path of the proposed tunnel. A much bigger obstacle will be connecting infrastructure to both ends of the tunnel, which as the article points out, might not be in the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from there.
Just ship a couple hundred thousand of our illegal Mexican aliens up there and they will have the tunnel built in record time!
Oooops. They are already on the way!
That is sort of what I thought, why build a tunnel from one place no one lives to another place no one lives?
LOL
A tunnel might make more sense logistically than the bridge idea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait_bridge
I’d prefer the bridge idea anyways, as i don’t really want any connections to russia that we can’t bomb. Building a three part bridge between the mainlands and the diomede islands is definitely feasible, if ridiculously expensive. I’m not sure about the cost and feasibility of tunneling a direct route under the ocean.
Somewhere in my boxes of stuff, I have a Soviet Navy belt that is the product of an exchange across the two Diomedes, during the Cold War.
Agreed, just don't trust the men with women or money and they are wonderful people to party and work with. The women are even more amazing.
And Russian humor is extremely dark. The best kind actually.
Asia and America maybe?
Have Mohammed or Achmed succeeded in bombing the Anglo-French `Chunnel’ yet?
Wonder why not?
But Russians hate muzzies even far worse than we effete westerners. They’ll secure that Bering tunnel tighter than a snaredrum head.
Just one word to that effect: “Beslan”
I hope they can get their bearings straight.
groan
“why build a tunnel from one place no one lives to another place no one lives?”
Commerce of course. Rail lines linking Asia and North America could prove highly profitable for both sides and Russia and the US are sitting on the only feasible route.
Then we need one from Corona, CA under the Cleveland Natl Forest to Orange CO.
We'd have 150K people per day claiming political asylum!
I think this Rooskie is crazy like a fox.
The substrata under the straight is a massive gold bearing reef, thought to be the source of much of the placer gold in the world.
The enviroMENTALS would never let you mine it, but they’d never think twice about a tunnel.
“But Russians hate muzzies even far worse than we effete westerners.”
I’ve got no problems with Muslims, generally speaking, but I’ll point out, just as an FYI, that 10% of their population is Muslim.
How is the siesmic stability there?
"Mr. President, we must not allow...a tunnel gap."
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