Afghanis strike it rich

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_afghanistan_mineral_treasures

Who will profit from the new found wealth? Surely the Afghani common people....

Originally posted by joneschr
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_afghanistan_mineral_treasures

Who will profit from the new found wealth? Surely the Afghani common people....

Three...two...one...

Multinational corporations who jeopardize poor countries' food security by STEALING bread out of children's mouths and selling it for INFLATED prices in Manhattan to stock brokers who turn around and lend VAST sums to those same poor people and then dump those worthless mortgages as PREMIUM investments on penniless retirees who then lose their ENTIRE life savings AFTER which those SAME stockbrokers demand HUGE bailouts from stuggling taxpayers which they then turn around and pay out to themselves in 8-figure bonuses!!! (gasp) (pant)

Originally posted by spruce112358
Three...two...one...

Multinational corporations who jeopardize poor countries' food security by STEALING bread out of children's mouths and selling it for INFLATED prices in Manhattan to stock brokers who turn around and lend VAST sums to those same poor people and then dump those worthless mortgages as PREMIUM investments on penniless retirees who t ...[text shortened]... ers which they then turn around and pay out to themselves in 8-figure bonuses!!! (gasp) (pant)

Hee hee.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/no-the-military-didnt-just-discover-an-afghan-mineral-motherlode/#ixzz0qqgRmEQS

http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/2010/06/iraqs-mineral-riches-a-conveniently-timed-zombie-story.html

Despite what you may read this morning, the U.S. military did not just “discover” a trillion dollars’ worth of precious minerals in Afghanistan.

The New York Times today proclaimed that Afghanistan is apparently poised to become “the Saudi Arabia of lithium” — a metal used to produce gadgets like iPods and laptops. The discovery will also, according to Pentagon documents quoted by the Times, fundamentally transform the country’s opium-reliant economy.

But the military (and observers of the military) have known about Afghanistan’s mineral riches for years. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Navy concluded in a 2007 report that “Afghanistan has significant amounts of undiscovered nonfuel mineral resources,” including ”large quantities of accessible iron and copper [and] abundant deposits of colored stones and gemstones, including emerald, ruby [and] sapphire.”

Not to mention that the $1 trillion figure is — at best — a guesstimate. None of the earlier U.S military reports on Afghan’s mineral riches cite that amount. And it might be prudent to be wary of any data coming out of Afghanistan’s own Mines Ministry, which “has long been considered one of the country’s most corrupt government departments,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

And the timing of the “discovery” seems just a little too convenient. As Blake Hounshell at Foreign Policy notes, the Obama administration is struggling to combat the perception that the Afghan campaign has “made little discernible progress,” despite thousands of additional troops and billions of extra dollars.

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/no-the-military-didnt-just-discover-an-afghan-mineral-motherlode/#ixzz0qrTqAQI2