On behalf of the sundry greedheads who wanted North America for their own, Uncle Sam made war to make the Native Americans move, first to inhospitable land and from there to reservations.

The Native Americans got to stay on their reservations until the whites found gold in them. Then the native peoples were forced to smaller, even more inhospitable lands where they stayed until the whites found oil in them...

Yeah. Afghanis are going to love their new-found wealth -- after they've paid for their occupation, of course.

And Ukraine? They should know what they're in for. They also have Twitter.

And no pesky environmental concerns from conquered people either. Just go in and strip the land bare.

Someone pointed out Afghanistan's mineral wealth on a message board a couple three years ago, but I no longer remember if it was on DU or another board.

Last edited Thu Sep 4, 2014, 10:38 AM - Edit history (1)

Fact is, the major powers have known about Afghanistan's untapped mineral wealth for decades. They know exactly where these deposits are and how much they're worth.

I just revisited the Ministry of Mines web page for the first time in over a year. There have been major changes in everything but the corruption, I have no doubt.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

and to put money in someone's pocket not to protect us.

Of course, a private concern will be handling the extraction contracts.

Draw attention to the fate of this remarkable archeological site which gave the dig precious time and helped documentarian Brent Huffman during the making of his film about the site.
Here is some recent drone footage of the site:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24rl65_un-drone-explore-le-site-archeologique-de-mes-aynak_tech

though at that point they probably hadn't mapped out the extent of the REE available. China was locking down most of the known REE deposits, and finding more was considered highly important on the geopolitical future of countries worldwide.

I think a physicist buddy of mine might have pointed me to an article about it when we both were doinking around in the stock market and looking at REE mining company stocks. (That's why I think it was a lot farther back - I haven't had the money to invest in a looong time.)

China uses its control over rare earth minerals to freak out the US and Europe regularly. That's why we can never leave Afghanistan: gotta get the minerals. Why the hell were we even there? Minerals. They are even more important than oil at this point because you can't build computer chips and other parts without them.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11657982

It's the reason why we don't go into war torn countries that don't have resources. ISIS is bad, but what about Rwanda and Sudan? The US didn't bat an eyelash and it wasn't on the news 24/7. The list goes on, but anyone who thinks our military is ever deployed for humanitarian reasons is incredibly naive.

Afghanistan has amazing amounts of mineral wealth but the people are their true treasure.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021405116

Jun 5, 2012
http://m.

a few rich mother fuckers while the remaining population of Afghanistan lives in dirt poor poverty as they do the actual work of tearing up their country to extract the minerals and suffer through all the pollution caused by lack of environmental regulations."

Or something like that. It's the general trend of things throughout the world where natural resources are being exploited by private capitalists.

Very sad indeed. That it is even considered viable to outside interests is the height of human arrogance and greed.

It hasnever been about freedom, democracy or anything like that - always follow the money

It's been pretty open for years. But their masters told them to sell the idea of patriotic "freedom" wars so Americans never question. It's always the same perpetual freedom war against brown people in far off places that most people couldn't point to on a map; I doubt anyone even notices.

That is what love feels like.

has been slaughtering the people of Afghanistan since 2001.

*could* lead to stability...people with jobs, earning incomes, less likely to fall in with the boogeymen Al Qaeda groups as many do now as what other course can they take?

is that the ores always contain radioactive elements (particularly thorium) that are difficult to process and dispose of. Rare earths have not been mined to any extent in the US for at least 40 years.

I miss funk and disco.
And The Clash.
I miss The Clash?!

Thanks for your post. That's a great tune and I enjoy funky music.

~littlemissmartypants🙆

I'd post but it has a commercial.

Something TPTB and the MIC want to lay their hands on is in Afghanistan. Whoda thunk?

not surprising?

I read about this several years ago, and estimates then ranged as high as over $4-trillion, though Wikipedia's page on Afghanistan's mining pegs it at $3-trillion. Even so, that's more than enough to implicate just who wanted that war and why.