The Great Rydges Conspiracy

 

Anyone planning to revisit Doha Rydges Plaza hotel on their next trip to Qatar needn't bother. It bit the dust, literally, yesterday. This was, officially, a planned demolition. Part of the Dohaland 'Heart of Doha' project. The building has stood empty for a year and, in recent weeks, much of the surface cladding was removed, to facilitate the controlled explosion that was to bring it to its knees.
But wait a minute. Isn't a planned explosion supposed to bring a tower building (even a single one) vertically down, like a house of cards, to settle on its own foundations? Yet Rydges has clearly fallen over, more bowed than collapsed. The official story is that the demolition team miscalculated the strength of that cylindrical column. But that hardly seems likely. The building appears to have been knocked over. One could almost believe an aircraft flew into it...