Save more money spending on desalination than waging a war (like a said before). How about the hundreds of thousands of people who die as a direct cause of a World War? I think desalination is the lesser of two evils here.
The reality is that it is easier to invade a country with a weaker army...if loss of life was a primary concern, then nobody would go to war in the 1st place...there are only a handful of nations out there with the military capability of completely neutralizing another country, the rest would be at the mercy of the others if things really got out of hand...it is very optimistic and indeed wishful thinking to simple state that "Hey, forget the military, lets build do this instead etc..."
and how many countries can afford desalination on such a large scale? You can barely see the UAE on a fuckin' map...you doubt there will be a water shortage? why am I not surprised seeing that kind of post from you
Save more money spending on desalination than waging a war (like a said before). How about the hundreds of thousands of people who die as a direct cause of a World War? I think desalination is the lesser of two evils here.
I'm not arguing that, but you can't honestly think that mankind will always find a way to peacefully resolve their problems. If that was the case, there would never be any war anywhere. No, when push comes to shove, men are always eager to wage war.
how many countries are engaging in multi billion dollar wars? 1? 2? The other 200-odd countries aren't interested...and the majority of them can't afford to set up desalination plants that can satisfy its people's needs...water is not yet a primary concern for those 2, but to think it is not an issue for the majority of the world is pretty retarded
Think about relationships between the US and Russia, the US and Iran, India and Pakistan, Russia and Eastern Europe. You think the underlying tension between these countries is driven by drought?
Its much more likely that these existing tensions that are caused by non drought related issues would lead to a World War.
how many countries are engaging in multi billion dollar wars? 1? 2? The other 200-odd countries aren't interested...and the majority of them can't afford to set up desalination plants that can satisfy its people's needs...water is not yet a primary concern for those 2, but to think it is not an issue for the majority of the world is pretty retarded
You don't understand. You're say, Australia. You have X amount of money. Revolutionising your water system is cheaper, but you'd rather spend the whole X amount on mass invasion while risking nuclear warfare? That's simply not logical.
dunno about the rest, but Water shortage is fast becoming a very important issue for India and Pakistan...the mountains of Kashmir are the principal source for water in both countries and India's damming of its Kashmir-controlled areas is causing a drop in water levels in Pakistan...
and Salman's point was that in the future, water will become the major bone of contention between most nations...not everyone is interested in invading other countries and stealing their oil
You don't understand. You're say, Australia. You have X amount of money. Revolutionising your water system is cheaper, but you'd rather spend the whole X amount on mass invasion while risking nuclear warfare? That's simply not logical.
of course I am not in favour of countries building up their armies and arsenal etc, but the reality is that some countries have the means in place to take over another by means of military aggression...
Yes but currently for other reasons. Even the tensions between India and Pakistan are not water based (sorry for the pun but it had to be said). Russia and all of its enemies is a very deep issue that goes back all the way to WWII regarding firstly it being communist, and secondly its invasion of half of Europe.
Iran and the US. Well one is in drought and the other is a desert.
Look at international relations. Tensions between countries due to drought and water resources simply don't exist.
Tensions between some countries already exist, yes. But water issues could take the things to the next level. Having water will mean having power. And God forbid bigger countries would want to take that power from the smaller ones... Now, I'm not saying there will definitely be a WWIII, anth_nenna, but I can't understand how can you deny the possibility it would be over natural resources?
Think about relationships between the US and Russia, the US and Iran, India and Pakistan, Russia and Eastern Europe. You think the underlying tension between these countries is driven by drought?
Its much more likely that these existing tensions that are caused by non drought related issues would lead to a World War.
I was thinking the same thing yesterday when you and Andy started the discussion.
Although a war for the natural resources does seem more logical at first glance, i still see the existing political (and historical) disagreements and tensions between the mentioned countries and regions being the ones leading to another world war.
It has been PROVEN that the war going on in Iraq right now was all about oil sequestration by United States firms. WWII was fought over economic concerns. If we have more than two wars fought for these reasons, why would it be so difficult to imagine it happening again?
If there is a WWIII, it will either be fought for natural resources or what Alen said about tensions regarding the ongoing Cold War because these are the most logical reasons. And with the depletion of key natural resources along with the fact economies chug along primarily on oil, I'm sorry, but there will be a struggle to acquire the remaining resources. This is a fight to the death.
Some people need to re-read the finer details of the Cold War again.
The things you fucked over dozens of countries for, NOTHING is impossible, however small, to do that again. They just need a bogus arbituary reason, and when the need for natural resources are astronomical, the wolfs will prey on the meek one of after another.
I was thinking the same thing yesterday when you and Andy started the discussion.
Although a war for the natural resources does seem more logical at first glance, i still see the existing political (and historical) disagreements and tensions between the mentioned countries and regions being the ones leading to another world war.
Yes, but given the fact that the struggle for resources has, at the very least, been a factor in just about any war, I don't see why it is so unlikely that it would be a factor again. Add to that the existing political tensions and you get an explosive situation. That said, I don't think a global war will erupt any time soon.
Governments can print out as much money as they want.
War in reality is an economic stimulus, providing the means for production and job growth, so I have no clue what you're talking about.
This is why you lot keep getting owned over there in La La Desert Land, because your governments pocket the oil change while the West destroys the land for capital gain.