3 ms·

You can only survive a few days without water. And when you don't drink, your capacity for thinking peacefully disapear quickly. So you have more than a billio

You can only survive a few days without water. And when you don't drink, your capacity for thinking peacefully disapear quickly. So you have more than a billion of people that will soon need to drink on a packed polluted land. And the country has already huge social tensions, a gigantic gap between the legion of the poor and the small group of the rich, plus the nuclear weapon. China took the himalaya for this very reason years ago. Fresh water is more important than the dalai lama. But for india, the 3rd world war could very much start here. I wish i was joking, but i have political analysts around me that take this possibility very seriously.

fermienrico 9y ago
>> China took the himalaya for this very reason years ago. Fresh water is more important than the dalai lama. Tibet is a cold desert or tundra. Please don't spin this around. China has an abundant land elsewhere outside of Tibet which provides plenty of rainfall. China's intentions and justification for their relationship with Tibet is largely political and strategic.
- banku_brougham 9y ago
  Thank you, i’m embarrassed to say i fell for it. Now i have to research and find out the likely truth.
  - sametmax 9y ago
    Easy. Take google map. Look for the blue areas in tibet. Look at the number and size of them. No factories here. Just clean water. A territory, btw, next to india.
    - banku_brougham 9y ago
      >next to India. Ha, I guess if you can say crossing the Himalayas is next to anything. I’m trying to imagine the trans-Annapurna pipeline right now. Also, I’ve Nepalese friends who would tell me Nepal is actually between Tibet and India. About those blue areas though, yeah it has a Minnesota-looking tapestry of lakes spread out over 1000 miles, about 300 mi north of the mountain range.
- sametmax 9y ago
  When your territory is saturated with pollution, rainfall is not going to help. Air is already a problem is some parts of China. So water ? They will eventually need to choose between their industries and water. And they will choose their industries. Their gov knew this, and made a bet on Tibet. Now, because India gets most of Tibet's water, they had to hide the plan behind something that made sense. And they did had a problem with part of the Buddhist community, so they killed 2 birds with one stone.
dmoy 9y ago
Huh so, Tibet does generate a lot of water relative to its size (>620 km^3 per year). By comparison China only generates 3-4x as much water total. However, the vast majority of Tibet's water drains to India not China (like >85% or something). So at first glance I don't see it. Is the concern that China is somehow going to massively redirect water flows somehow and take water away from India?
- sametmax 9y ago
  China and India share the same water problem. When the time comes, yes, China will drain all the water it needs from Tibet. And probably sell access to India. You don't need to redirect it though. You can, but you could also pipe it, pump it, bottle it, whatever. The thing is, when you have no water, cost is no issue, because the stuff is way more valuable than gold. The only real issue is India getting mad about it. But now that Tibet is China's territory, it has a legitimacy that will be impossible to contest peacefully.

fermienrico 9y ago

>> China took the himalaya for this very reason years ago. Fresh water is more important than the dalai lama. Tibet is a cold desert or tundra. Please don't spin this around. China has an abundant land elsewhere outside of Tibet which provides plenty of rainfall. China's intentions and justification for their relationship with Tibet is largely political and strategic.

banku_brougham 9y ago
Thank you, i’m embarrassed to say i fell for it. Now i have to research and find out the likely truth.
- sametmax 9y ago
  Easy. Take google map. Look for the blue areas in tibet. Look at the number and size of them. No factories here. Just clean water. A territory, btw, next to india.
  - banku_brougham 9y ago
    >next to India. Ha, I guess if you can say crossing the Himalayas is next to anything. I’m trying to imagine the trans-Annapurna pipeline right now. Also, I’ve Nepalese friends who would tell me Nepal is actually between Tibet and India. About those blue areas though, yeah it has a Minnesota-looking tapestry of lakes spread out over 1000 miles, about 300 mi north of the mountain range.
sametmax 9y ago
When your territory is saturated with pollution, rainfall is not going to help. Air is already a problem is some parts of China. So water ? They will eventually need to choose between their industries and water. And they will choose their industries. Their gov knew this, and made a bet on Tibet. Now, because India gets most of Tibet's water, they had to hide the plan behind something that made sense. And they did had a problem with part of the Buddhist community, so they killed 2 birds with one stone.

dmoy 9y ago

Huh so, Tibet does generate a lot of water relative to its size (>620 km^3 per year). By comparison China only generates 3-4x as much water total. However, the vast majority of Tibet's water drains to India not China (like >85% or something). So at first glance I don't see it. Is the concern that China is somehow going to massively redirect water flows somehow and take water away from India?

sametmax 9y ago
China and India share the same water problem. When the time comes, yes, China will drain all the water it needs from Tibet. And probably sell access to India. You don't need to redirect it though. You can, but you could also pipe it, pump it, bottle it, whatever. The thing is, when you have no water, cost is no issue, because the stuff is way more valuable than gold. The only real issue is India getting mad about it. But now that Tibet is China's territory, it has a legitimacy that will be impossible to contest peacefully.