Tunnel connecting Siberia and Alaska

On Wednesday last week, Russia announced a project to build a tunnel connecting Russia and the US, namely Siberia with Alaska, across the Bering Strait. The project, costing more than $ 65 billion, will create an oil, gas, and electricity ' road ' for export to the United States.

This scheme is backed by Russian power and railway companies. In the short term, Russia will study the way to connect the West and the Eastern Hemisphere, the closest distance is 93km, on an icy region.

In fact, the thought of connecting the two ' top ' regions of the world has been raised since the 19th century, but has always been kept in a closet, due to the fact that the technical conditions at that time could not be implemented because this is an extremely harsh land, partly because neither Russia nor the United States is " interested " in this plan.

This time, the Russian project also aimed at Russian objectives. Viktor Razbegin, head of the Russian Ministry of Commerce and Economic Research, said: 'This is our strategy for developing this land. This is a poor land and without railway it is difficult to access these areas. ' The poor land he spoke of was Chukotka district, the northernmost district of Russia, and the whole Siberia region.

The tunnel is expected to connect the small towns of Provideniya and Chukotsky with Russia's Nome town (USA), including railroads, highways, gas pipes, oil and fiber optic cables. The starting point of the tunnel in Russia is Cape Dezhnev in Siberia, the destination is Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska. The tunnel will be twice as long as the Manche undersea tunnel connecting England and Europe and cost about $ 10-12 billion. In addition, about 6,000km of railway will be built to connect to the main point of the tunnel as well as many other works, costing an additional 55 billion more. If this project is promoted, perhaps by 2020 it will be completed.

Alaska is the largest state in the United States located in the extreme north of America. The United States has two special states not located in the United States ' territory ', the state of Hawaii between the Pacific and Alaska near the North Pole. Wanting to go to Juneau, the capital of Alaska state, only two ways are by plane and ship. From Alaska to Washington, the closest state, more than 800km of bird paths.

The United States bought this land from Russia in 1867. At that time, Alaska and Siberia were also ' one ' in Russia. Alexander II was rivaling the British royal family, fearing that he would not protect this land, so he ordered the Russian ambassador to the United States, Eduard de Stoeckl, to negotiate with US Secretary of State William Seward to ask the US to buy for Alaska, lest it be lost to the British. Negotiations took place on the night of March 30, 1867, and by 9 am Russia agreed to sell Alaska, covering an area of ​​1,600,000 square kilometers for 7.2 million dollars, if calculated at the current price of about 1.67 billion. USD!

The American public opinion, especially the press, did not welcome this sale at the time and called it ' the crazy game of (foreign minister) Seward ', ' polar bear garden of (President) Andrew Johnson '. However, for Foreign Minister Seward, this is a strategic calculation. Alaska is located close to Canada, then it is directly British territory. Acquiring Alaska for Russia was also to fight against the British, Russia helped the coalition forces in the North Korean Civil War in the United States, while the British royal family confronted. The transfer ceremony was held on October 18, 1867. Only 50 years later, 1917 and so far, the Russians must regret this sale.

On 3-1-1959 Alaska officially became state 49 of America. The name ' Alaska ' can be derived from the word Aleut Alaskax, which read the word Alyeska which means 'the land is not an island'. According to a report by the US Bureau of Land Management, about 65% of Alaska's land is administered by the federal government, such as national forests, national parks and wildlife reserves. The state of Alaska manages about 25%, the rest is managed by indigenous people. Private accounts for less than 1%. The northwest region is the national oil reserve area of ​​93,100 km2. Due to the numerous small islands and Alaska is a form of peninsula, the total length of the coast here is up to 54,720km.

Alaska climate in the subarctic region should be based on Anchorage, a typical city of Alaska, with an average of 1,905m of snow annually. The hottest and coldest point in Alaska is Fairbanks. Summer temperature is nearly 30 ^o C and winter is -52 ^o C.

Due to the harsh climate and rugged roads, this is still a deserted area due to small groups of indigenous people. It was not until the 1890s that the gold rush on the Yukon brought settlers to settle on this new land. However, the population of Alaska is only about 663,661 people (in 2005). When it comes to Alaska, people often think of polar bears, salmon, king crab (king crabe) or icebergs, so Alaska tourism is also a strength. There are also whale sanctuaries and seals.

140 years ago, when Secretary of State Seward signed an acquisition of Alaska, no one expected that Alaska's oil fields would be the US strategic reserve for the day, and also America's northernmost strategic outpost in front of Russia. No longer an ally from the past 90 years.

GOOD