The following is not the plot to an upcoming Bond film: Russian bootstrap billionaire and Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich announced that his construction company, Infrastruktura, would spend $160 million on the world's largest drill. The drill, five meters wider than the current champ, built by the same German concern, Herrenknecht, would be used to improve the grounds around the Black Sea resort of Sochi, site of 2014 Olympics and favorite hangout of both Stalin and Putin. The company says it will not be used to drill a subterranean roadway from Far Eastern Russia to Alaska. Not yet, at least.
According to the Daily Mail:
There was speculation the soccer boss may have bought the machine in league with Putin in the hope of gaining approval from America for a plan both men are said to have long savoured—building a tunnel from the frozen wastes of the Russian region of which Abramovich is governor, Chukotka, to Alaska beneath the Bering Strait.A spokesman for Infrastruktura dispelled the rumor, saying:"This drill project is unconnected to any plans in [Chukotka]. The drill will be used in Moscow, Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and other [err, unnamed] Russian cities."
But then he added: "Before building a tunnel between [Chukotka] and Alaska, there should be a road built between Anadyr, the capital of Chutotka, and the rest of Russia."
So, like, once the road is built...what? Presumably the spokesman then only put his pinky in his mouth and began to laugh diabolically. [Daily Mail]









Comments
Does he have a little bit of a "Got Milk?" 'stache going on there?
I think this dudes trying to compensate for something.
@Geisrud: I don't think its milk.
Does that make you Horny baby, YEAH!
see...i only know him by making chelsea the dominant footy squad of the epl(meaning: buying all the great players and sitting the shit ones)...how i hate chelsea
now only if he had a hairless cat and wasnt so russian..
"Presumably the spokesman then only put his pinky in his mouth and began to laugh diabolically."
My therapist does the same thing, and I have yet to know what the hell this means.
Excellent use of camouflage, Mr. Abramovich.
Im scared. But at the same time he's probably just building a cellar to keep his vodka cool without a refrigerator or freezer.
A russian company named Infrastruktura and a german company with the name of Herrenknecht... you're right, that sounds so stereotypical, it MUST come straight out of a Bond movie.
@hanswurst0815: By the way, what happened to the german villains? Any Bond movie should have one...
Damn it, America. We are losing the Power Tools cold war! Home Depot better get their act together.
He shouldn't have sacked mourinho, they won't win anything this year.
Oh this isn't a football blog.
The only thing more useless than that tunnel is Sen. Stevens' bridge to nowhere.
I totally can't wait to be able to drive from a part of Alaska with no people to a part of Russia with no people! And back again!!!
@92BuickLeSabre: what is he really drilling big holes for?
to stash stuff? and if so what kind of stuff?
It's for Project Vulcan. He will hold the world ransom for.......10 million dollars.
@92BuickLeSabre: Shortsighted.
Think trains. Think oil.
Russia has huge reserves of petroleum, tapped and untapped, and a land link to North America would make it very easy to gather infrastructure equipment from North America, as well as a way to conveniently pipe us oil they'd like to sell us.
Building roads increases trade.
@hanswurst0815: With their sudden obsession with chocolate and cars, they're not good villains anymore.
Why the heck do you need the world's largest drill at a resort town for?
Obviously, there has been a drum circle reported in Sochi. They'll need the drill in case a full-blown hippie jam festival breaks out.
@geisrud
I think he blew a seal....
@Cobolman2: Why do random towns in the US have the worlds largest inane kitchen tool?
@Kaiser-Machead: Mmmh... chocolate.
Vee understand. After all, vee are frum ze land of Chocolate.
Rumours that Abramovich also intends to buy Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, and convert it into some sort of volcano base, are completely unfounded. And he doesn't know what you're talking about when you ask about kidnapped nuclear scientist Igor Rocketmanachov, or "Project Lava Beam".
It's like Red Dawn, but upside down and no Charlie Sheen.
@s0crates82: Oh I get the oil link. The problem generally is that from the edge of Highway 3 in Alaska to Seattle is another 2,200 miles.
And Highway 3 only gets you about a third of the way into Alaska. Alaska needs a lot more roads/good roads before this would even be all that useful.
So both for distance and domestic infrastructure reasons, not to mention weather, shipping seems to just make more sense logistically and financially.
...and I guess conceivably Russia might want to open a direct oil pipeline to Alaska, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Even then, I'm not sure the tankers they've been using for the last few years aren't ultimately a cheaper and more efficient option.
Notice he did this after he heard about the rouge pieces of free for the takin rocket parts on farms. See the real plan is to drill under farmers lands obscound with the free space stuff and build his own mercenary fleet of space ships to supply his fortress of fierceness in low earth orbit. The drill was the final piece of the puzzle. NOW insert pinky! Mmmmhhwaaaaaaaaa!
not only that... but there is no road connecting Nome to the rest of Alaska. that in and of itself will be a pretty big undertaking.
right now the tunnel would connect two cities that are only air-accessible. not the best plan i have heard of. oh wait... i forgot about the modern Nome railway...
[seagrant.uaf.edu]
that said... i hope it does happen. being able to drive to Russia and by extension all of Europe would be completely 100% awesome. i can't believe how many people hate road trips with such a passion that they can't imagine that *driving* from east coast US to the UK or South Africa wouldn't be about the best adventure ever.
Ever seen the documentary "Long Way Round" ([www.longwayround.com]) with Ewan McGregor? Even if you could get to Russia, it's still not that feasible to just merrily drive to the rest of Europe....
Isn't there quite a bit of seismic activity across the Bering Strait?
@scingram: that looks cool. i'll need to check that out.
by the time any proposed tunnel is even made and the roads needed to connect the cities are done it would be at least 30 years from now. so those other issues preventing my mythical roadtrip would possibly be corrected by then anyway.
So, any chance that he will use that drill to pierce the heavens?
LOL! Maybe he wants to emulate Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and make some EPIC DRILLS.
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