In the past, when navigation and trade were impeded or blocked, the solution was to build a canal. The author is not a civil engineer or an expert in Middle East politics, but it would seem that both Oman and the UAE are countries friendly to the West which would benefit financially from allowing such a canal to be built (as Panama has). A topographical map of Oman and the UAE reveals that they are relatively flat, providing few obstructions to a canal if it avoids the higher areas of the coastal mountains, which might make the canal longer than otherwise necessary. The Panama Canal, which was 51 miles long, opened in 1914 and had to deal with mountainous terrain, requiring many challenges for civil engineers (access to enough water being one of them). But it too promoted trade by becoming the essential water-based trade route crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. The waterway is very efficient, with about 15,000 ships passing through the Panama Canal in 2008. The canal was opened in 1825 and had to pass through numerous geographical obstructions. If you wish to contribute stories to NewsroomPanama.com, please send them to PanamaNewsroom@gmail.com. The post 'Build a Panama-Like Canal through Oman to Avoid Iran’s Missile Threats that are Obstructing Shipping' appeared first on NewsroomPanama. The all-important gateway connecting New York City to Chicago was the 363-mile Erie Canal connecting Albany with Lake Erie. But the basic fact is that Iran has almost complete power and control over the ships that pass through the Persian Gulf in the choke point between it and the coast of Oman. Our thanks to writer 'pouncecafe' who contributed to this report. Much of it was hand-dug, and the financing was done by the state of New York rather than the federal government.
