Charge phone in war zone

Any one know if this really works?

If you don't have electricity: Get two batteries and dunk them in the cup of water for 1 or 1 1/2 hours and then link the mobile phone with USB cable to the water! Great improvised technique for those traveling through revolution areas, or maybe just backpacking somewhere and you don't have electricity.
As a background to video, Syria, Yemen and Libya (the three countries currently deadlocked in revolutions for half a year without getting change) are undergoing severe power cuts and gas/deisel shortages so that even generators cannot be run. In Libya war has cut off supplies and production. In Syria and Yemen the governments have applied sanctions of mass punishment against the population and left them without services in general.

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