ToDaZeD Dots
connect ‘em so’s they make sense
Two senior Afghan officials were showing President Hamid Karzai the evidence of the spectacular rocket attack on a nationwide peace conference earlier this month when Mr. Karzai told them that he believed the Taliban were not responsible. ... Mr. Karzai suggested in the meeting that it might have been the Americans who carried it out.
...Minutes after the exchange, [Amrullah Saleh, director of the Afghan intelligence service] and the interior minister, Hanif Atmar, resigned — the most dramatic defection from Mr. Karzai’s government since he came to power nine years ago. Mr. Saleh and Mr. Atmar said they quit because Mr. Karzai made clear that he no longer considered them loyal.
...“Karzai told me that he can’t trust the Americans to fix the situation here,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He believes they stole his legitimacy during the elections last year. And then they said publicly that they were going to leave.”
Sure—that time-tested tactical maneuver where ya tell The Enemy that you’re gonna fight like hell until, oh, 4:30 July when, “mmm—sorry; gotta run. Got a golf date.”
[That was classic theory of Tacticus’, right? Or, Clausewitz’? Oh, wait… no. Now I remember: it was that Phoenecian General whose name no one remembers cuz he ended up a greasy spot in the sand somewhere. Yeah, him.]
So what are US forces fighting for?
The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
[NB; *clicky* and RTWT—lots more info of a concrete nature]
rly? Isn’t that kinda like ....oil?
say… what ever happened to that ginormous oil pipeline Fatass Moore was on about a coupla years ago? “No Blood for Lithium!"
The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,”
...The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists.
So what we have here is a mountainous desert area rich with mineral reserves. [good map here] Whoda thunk?!? [see also: Nevada] What we have here is a bunch of valuable minerals deep underground in an incredibly remote area with no roads, no ports, no airports, no food, no water—kinda like mining on The Moon. Except on The Moon there are no random groups of militant, pissed-off locals fighting incomprehensible squabbles dating back to the 7th Century and supplied with nukes by other stone age morons with an all-too-comprehensible cultural belief bone-deep conviction that anyone not just like them is Satan. Kinda makes that whole lunar lack of air thing look easy peasy lemon squeezy, eh?
And we see how well it has worked out for Africa....
But look who’s jumping in:
China the rights to develop its copper mine. The minister has since been replaced. ...At the same time, American officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, which could upset the United States, given its heavy investment in the region. After winning the bid for its Aynak copper mine in Logar Province, China clearly wants more, American officials said.
...“The big question is, can this be developed in a responsible way, in a way that is environmentally and socially responsible?”
Yeah. “Environmentally and socially responsible” is what China is well known for…
What the hell—let China take it’s crack at Afghanistan. Seems to have worked well for England.... Russia.... US....
[yeah—that’s it. It’s some kind of fiendish plan to let China defeat itself… That’s the ticket.]
Dots: connect ‘em.
Well the chinese certainly haven’t hobbled themselves with PC and bunny slippers and velvet gloves too avoid hurting peep’s feelings. They like to get the job done and the muzzies respect power. . .
e-Claire: now chocolate covered?! Talk about influencing sleep patterns.
Posted by on 06/16/10 at 08:48 PM
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