I-MAG STS Corporation
17. Gaza Strip and West Bank - we remain unconvinced that either entity separately can have a sustainable economy and a reasonable
standard of living for its inhabitants. The whole is not greater than the sum of the parts, either. So it was necessary to create viable financial
entities without money and without resources. Our solution was to extend the Casablanca to Cairo and Bali to Baku maglevs to meet at the
new United Nations Headquarters. Mathematically, we prefer the Golan Heights, but the Gaza Strip will do nicely. Multi-national joint
ventures would own rail lines inside and outside of Israel - this makes sabotage and damage pointless.
18. Central Asia – a great deal depends on Russian initiatives and what the goals of the next generation of government managers and leaders
are. We are not expecting much influence by India, but the future strategic choices by China and the United States will weigh heavily. The
former Soviet republics would be best served by forming an economic block even if they choose to pursue slightly divergent political paths. Of
course, the best position for America would be to be able to point to prosperity in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran. If China is relatively
more successful than America in Central Asia and the Middle East we foresee a very dark future for the United States. We consider a circum-
Caspian routing south through Iran of the maglev from Beijing to be optimal.
19. Subsequent work in 2008 indicated that climate change would greatly impact glacier melt and, by extension, hydropower generation in
Tajikistan, as well as agriculture (particularly cotton) and hygiene in neighboring countries. At the request of members of the advisory staff of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama we worked out the economic impact of making the area around Mount Kailas an autonomous region.
20. France – we predicted an electoral result of 55-45 Sarkozy. The actual result was 53.2%. It is not obvious that either final candidate, or
any other candidate, will enjoy much success improving France.
Doing about as well as could be expected.
21. Iraq – specifically Kurdistan For the six nominally Kurdish provinces we analyzed the consequences of independence; autonomy
(remaining part of Iraq); and partitioning between combinations of Syria, Turkey and Iran. Best for the Kurds is independence, largely
because of the situation in Iraq. Iraq almost certainly collapses in this scenario. Only slightly less good for the Kurds is autonomy, which is
best for all other nations – even Turkey.