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Moscow Hints at Potential US-Russia Tunnel Deal

6 points by gaiagraphia 4mo ago

gaiagraphia 4mo ago
It's an idea which has been touted for a while; tunnelling between Alaska and Chukotka via the Diomede islands. Apparently Khruschev and Kennedy spoke about a 'Peace Bridge' connecting the 2 powers. According to the article, the projects head(?) said traditionally it'd cost $65bil, but Musk's Boring Company could bring it down to 8. Wonder if geopolitically, the USA is worried about China making moves in the Russian Far East, and wants to get ahead of the game. The infrastructure involved in hooking up Chukotka to the rest of Russia would be mammoth, and probably quite revolutionary for the area.
- JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
  How is anyone taking this seriously. Neither country is in a position to pay for it. And neither may have the engineering chops to pull it off right now.
  - gaiagraphia 4mo ago
    It's continental shelf. Like 50m deep? Think the width is like 70km. It's hardly impossible. I mean, if the Faroe Islands can build undersea tunnels for fun... Think I've seen a £100bil pricetag for a full infratructure revamp of the region including the tunnel. Unlocking resources, connecting the USA to China for rail freight, Also seen people speaking about the energy benefits. There's a huge tidal range in the strait which could be captured, and apparently Russia like the idea of connecting the USA to their electricity grid to sell cheap energy. I think the development of Chukotka would be massively exciting, as would finally connecting the 'new' and 'old worlds, tbh. Also seen some stuff about connecting the USA to Russia's energy grid.
    - JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
      > if the Faroe Islands can build undersea tunnels for fun One tenth the distance. $2bn GDP island chain. Pretty different. > Unlocking resources, connecting the USA to China for rail freight These are already emerging navigable waterways. Connecting Alaska—not even the contiguous U.S.—to Siberia with a rail line so one can ship stuff more expensively than by sea is just so, so dumb. > There's a huge tidal range in the strait Not particularly even before factoring in transmission losses [1]. (And the cost of building and maintaining infrastructure in the middle of nowhere.) > seen some stuff about connecting the USA to Russia's energy grid We haven’t even bothered connecting Alaska to the North American grid [2]. This is not, and has never been, a serious proposal. Economically. Geopolitically. Environmentally. (Maybe it was when Kennedy and Kruschev were in power. I don’t know. Different world. I guess if China annexed Siberia it might be worth bringing up again.) I don’t deny it’s a fun idea. Like building an American maglev system. But practically speaking, maybe the only thing it’s good for is distracting from St. Petersburg getting pummeled during Putin’s economic summit. [1] https://earth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/tidalenergy_2.png https://earth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/tidalenergy_2.p... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmission_grid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmiss...
      - gaiagraphia 4mo ago
        After reading a little more, I've just seen another angle. Russia's going to have a million veterans roaming around, with lots of untreated PTSD. A struggling economy could create the perfect storm for revolution. Sending people eastwards for big projects famously isn't alien to Russia. Apparently it's alreayd being spoken aobut: >Shoigu Calls for ‘New Industrialization’ in Siberia to Revive Russia’s East >He proposed tax breaks and administrative incentives for businesses and social support for workers, including housing and car loans that would be written off after 10 years of service in the region. >He proposed sending veterans of the war in Ukraine to build a “new Siberian Russia,” comparing it to labor efforts that built the Trans-Siberian Railway and Baikal-Amur Mainline. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/11/06/shoigu-calls-for-new-industrialization-in-siberia-to-revive-russias-east-a91065 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/11/06/shoigu-calls-for-n...
  - pseudohadamard 4mo ago
    Sure, it might cost a bit but it's only a bit more than the Israel/US war on Iran cost, and it'd make it easier for Trump to report to his boss.
stevenalowe 4mo ago
Why? Not a great place to live or drive, do we do significant trade or will it make the odd invasions easier?
- gaiagraphia 4mo ago
  I'm guessing any plan would just be rail, maybe with drive in trains like the Channel Tunnel. Unlocking rail freight routes between China and the USA surely would be huge. It'd probably massively speed up resource extraction in the Far East of Russia, too. As for invasion, it'd probably help boost America's presence in Northeast Asia substantially. China creeping northwards has been mentioned a few times recently...
  - stevenalowe 4mo ago
    Cargo yes, that would make sense - in peacetime with rational allies We have and are none of these at present
    - gaiagraphia 4mo ago
      Everything about the US' actions at the moment screams pivoting to counter China this century, and it's quite convenient that all the 'bold moves' can be blamed on Trump. I think the US realises that having working relations with Russia would be massively beneficial in denying China resources. The US also knows Russia is in a very weak state right now, and the war can be leveraged to achieve some cheap deals. There were already talks about the US and Rusisa splitting up the Donbas resources as part of a deal, it's not crazy to think that such a deal could expand to exploiting the huge amounts of resources up in the Far East of Russia. It's fashionable to think that everything about the US is irrational with orange man bad being owned by big bad russia, but more realistically, every piece of geopolitical news I see coming out of the USA points to a massive strategical pivot. Greenland = armed, EU militaries = boomtown, Saudi and Israel = making deals, Canada = militarising, etc. The US has no doubt realised it was spread too thin in a world where adversaries are developing quickly, and that its allies were asleep at the wheel.
__patchbit__ 4mo ago
Americans have departed Kyiv. Moscow's military plan in the special military operation is very likely to strike Kyiv very hard in escalation dominance chess move from the three wave drone attack on teenagers asleep at a boarding school.
type0 4mo ago
Who are they telling those fairy tales to, even opening Trump Tower in Moscow is more realistic
w0de0 4mo ago
As neither side has year-round road access, it’s to be the rare road both to and from nowhere. The only commodity worth infrastructure would be oil. Conclude this is to be in reality either pipedrem or pipeline.

6 points by gaiagraphia 4mo ago

It's an idea which has been touted for a while; tunnelling between Alaska and Chukotka via the Diomede islands. Apparently Khruschev and Kennedy spoke about a 'Peace Bridge' connecting the 2 powers. According to the article, the projects head(?) said traditionally it'd cost $65bil, but Musk's Boring Company could bring it down to 8. Wonder if geopolitically, the USA is worried about China making moves in the Russian Far East, and wants to get ahead of the game. The infrastructure involved in hooking up Chukotka to the rest of Russia would be mammoth, and probably quite revolutionary for the area.

JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
How is anyone taking this seriously. Neither country is in a position to pay for it. And neither may have the engineering chops to pull it off right now.
- gaiagraphia 4mo ago
  It's continental shelf. Like 50m deep? Think the width is like 70km. It's hardly impossible. I mean, if the Faroe Islands can build undersea tunnels for fun... Think I've seen a £100bil pricetag for a full infratructure revamp of the region including the tunnel. Unlocking resources, connecting the USA to China for rail freight, Also seen people speaking about the energy benefits. There's a huge tidal range in the strait which could be captured, and apparently Russia like the idea of connecting the USA to their electricity grid to sell cheap energy. I think the development of Chukotka would be massively exciting, as would finally connecting the 'new' and 'old worlds, tbh. Also seen some stuff about connecting the USA to Russia's energy grid.
  - JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
    > if the Faroe Islands can build undersea tunnels for fun One tenth the distance. $2bn GDP island chain. Pretty different. > Unlocking resources, connecting the USA to China for rail freight These are already emerging navigable waterways. Connecting Alaska—not even the contiguous U.S.—to Siberia with a rail line so one can ship stuff more expensively than by sea is just so, so dumb. > There's a huge tidal range in the strait Not particularly even before factoring in transmission losses [1]. (And the cost of building and maintaining infrastructure in the middle of nowhere.) > seen some stuff about connecting the USA to Russia's energy grid We haven’t even bothered connecting Alaska to the North American grid [2]. This is not, and has never been, a serious proposal. Economically. Geopolitically. Environmentally. (Maybe it was when Kennedy and Kruschev were in power. I don’t know. Different world. I guess if China annexed Siberia it might be worth bringing up again.) I don’t deny it’s a fun idea. Like building an American maglev system. But practically speaking, maybe the only thing it’s good for is distracting from St. Petersburg getting pummeled during Putin’s economic summit. [1] https://earth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/tidalenergy_2.png https://earth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/tidalenergy_2.p... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmission_grid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmiss...
    - gaiagraphia 4mo ago
      After reading a little more, I've just seen another angle. Russia's going to have a million veterans roaming around, with lots of untreated PTSD. A struggling economy could create the perfect storm for revolution. Sending people eastwards for big projects famously isn't alien to Russia. Apparently it's alreayd being spoken aobut: >Shoigu Calls for ‘New Industrialization’ in Siberia to Revive Russia’s East >He proposed tax breaks and administrative incentives for businesses and social support for workers, including housing and car loans that would be written off after 10 years of service in the region. >He proposed sending veterans of the war in Ukraine to build a “new Siberian Russia,” comparing it to labor efforts that built the Trans-Siberian Railway and Baikal-Amur Mainline. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/11/06/shoigu-calls-for-new-industrialization-in-siberia-to-revive-russias-east-a91065 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/11/06/shoigu-calls-for-n...
- pseudohadamard 4mo ago
  Sure, it might cost a bit but it's only a bit more than the Israel/US war on Iran cost, and it'd make it easier for Trump to report to his boss.

stevenalowe 4mo ago

Why? Not a great place to live or drive, do we do significant trade or will it make the odd invasions easier?

gaiagraphia 4mo ago
I'm guessing any plan would just be rail, maybe with drive in trains like the Channel Tunnel. Unlocking rail freight routes between China and the USA surely would be huge. It'd probably massively speed up resource extraction in the Far East of Russia, too. As for invasion, it'd probably help boost America's presence in Northeast Asia substantially. China creeping northwards has been mentioned a few times recently...
- stevenalowe 4mo ago
  Cargo yes, that would make sense - in peacetime with rational allies We have and are none of these at present
  - gaiagraphia 4mo ago
    Everything about the US' actions at the moment screams pivoting to counter China this century, and it's quite convenient that all the 'bold moves' can be blamed on Trump. I think the US realises that having working relations with Russia would be massively beneficial in denying China resources. The US also knows Russia is in a very weak state right now, and the war can be leveraged to achieve some cheap deals. There were already talks about the US and Rusisa splitting up the Donbas resources as part of a deal, it's not crazy to think that such a deal could expand to exploiting the huge amounts of resources up in the Far East of Russia. It's fashionable to think that everything about the US is irrational with orange man bad being owned by big bad russia, but more realistically, every piece of geopolitical news I see coming out of the USA points to a massive strategical pivot. Greenland = armed, EU militaries = boomtown, Saudi and Israel = making deals, Canada = militarising, etc. The US has no doubt realised it was spread too thin in a world where adversaries are developing quickly, and that its allies were asleep at the wheel.

__patchbit__ 4mo ago

Americans have departed Kyiv. Moscow's military plan in the special military operation is very likely to strike Kyiv very hard in escalation dominance chess move from the three wave drone attack on teenagers asleep at a boarding school.

type0 4mo ago

Who are they telling those fairy tales to, even opening Trump Tower in Moscow is more realistic

w0de0 4mo ago

As neither side has year-round road access, it’s to be the rare road both to and from nowhere. The only commodity worth infrastructure would be oil. Conclude this is to be in reality either pipedrem or pipeline.