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In Israel, it's mostly a triumph of politics over economics - Jordan, Israel, and the PA have cooperated in developing desalination plants [1] in part in order
by azernik 10y ago
In Israel, it's mostly a triumph of politics over economics - Jordan, Israel, and the PA have cooperated in developing desalination plants [1] in part in order to defuse conflicts over water. Water allocations have historically been a zero-sum competition in the region, so when there's a chance (however expensive) to just throw money at the problem to make it go away, everyone's willing to play along.
[1] http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/12/09/senior-israel-jordanian-palestinian-representatives-water-sharing-agreement http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/12/09/se...
- unchocked 10y agoI think it's quite a mistake to dismiss public infrastructure that efficiently provides a vital resource in needed quantities as somehow triumphing over economics. Economic theory seems to be supported here, in that infrastructure now exists to meet record demand, at a higher marginal price than earlier supplies. Did you mean to say that it's simply expensive?
- Spooky23 10y agoYou miss the point. It's cheaper to screw your neighbor than to build infrastructure.
- labster 10y agoIt's difficult to build infrastructure in Israel because it's geographically on the Malthusian Traps.
- cakey 10y agoLong term it's cheaper to not have your neighbors hate you!
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- rshaban 10y agoUnless you have a strong military-industrial complex, in which case it's great business
- vonnik 10y agoI agree that there's a triumph of politics over economics on the water issue, but I'm not sure that it's in the direction we think: Israel blames Palestinians for West Bank water shortage http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israel-blames-Palestinians-for-West-Bank-water-shortage-457814 http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israel-blames-Pal...
- vkou 10y agoI'm sure Palestine would love to be in Israel's position right now. Given how Israel, depending on the Palestinian policy of the time, alternates between stealing Palestinian land, bombing it, or preventing goods from entering or leaving, it's in no position to complain about poorly maintained infrastructure.
- zymhan 10y agoYeah, desalination also occurs in Arab countries in the gulf that have tons of money to throw at it. Palestinians could establish some of this infrastructure if they had a shot. But it would get bombed if it was built after not too long, like all good things. And that's assuming Israel let the Palestinians build one in the first place.
- GirlsCanCode 10y agoY combinator is all about Hating Jews. @dang, why?
- reitanqild 10y agoThis is factually false. In fact Israel ships tons of goods every day. Furthermore: * a lot the land that is Israel today is bought. * Jews that left neighbouring countries for Israel lost their property there vut this is never mentioned
- reitanqild 10y agoWould the downvoters please enlighten me?
- shitgoose 10y agoisn't it the other way around - a triumph of economics (i.e. common sense) over politics?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- davidf18 10y agoThe cost of weapons systems and training and feeding of armies can be very expensive.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]