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Post by anansi on Jun 13, 2010 22:42:51 GMT -5
A bleak Ghazni Province seems to offer little, but a Pentagon study says it may have among the world’s largest deposits of lithium. By JAMES RISEN Published: June 13, 2010 WASHINGTON — 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. At War Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. Go to the Blog » 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,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys. The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said. While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war. “There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.” The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion. “This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines. American and Afghan officials agreed to discuss the mineral discoveries at a difficult moment in the war in Afghanistan. The American-led offensive in Marja in southern Afghanistan has achieved only limited gains. Meanwhile, charges of corruption and favoritism continue to plague the Karzai government, and Mr. Karzai seems increasingly embittered toward the White House. So the Obama administration is hungry for some positive news to come out of Afghanistan. Yet the American officials also recognize that the mineral discoveries will almost certainly have a double-edged impact. Instead of bringing peace, the newfound mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle even more fiercely to regain control of the country. The corruption that is already rampant in the Karzai government could also be amplified by the new wealth, particularly if a handful of well-connected oligarchs, some with personal ties to the president, gain control of the resources. Just last year, Afghanistan’s minister of mines was accused by American officials of accepting a $30 million bribe to award China the rights to develop its copper mine. The minister has since been replaced. Endless fights could erupt between the central government in Kabul and provincial and tribal leaders in mineral-rich districts. Afghanistan has a national mining law, written with the help of advisers from the World Bank, but it has never faced a serious challenge. “No one has tested that law; no one knows how it will stand up in a fight between the central government and the provinces,” observed Paul A. Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense for business and leader of the Pentagon team that discovered the deposits. 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. Another complication is that because Afghanistan has never had much heavy industry before, it has little or no history of environmental protection either. “The big question is, can this be developed in a responsible way, in a way that is environmentally and socially responsible?” Mr. Brinkley said. “No one knows how this will work.” With virtually no mining industry or infrastructure in place today, it will take decades for Afghanistan to exploit its mineral wealth fully. “This is a country that has no mining culture,” said Jack Medlin, a geologist in the United States Geological Survey’s international affairs program. “They’ve had some small artisanal mines, but now there could be some very, very large mines that will require more than just a gold pan.” The mineral deposits are scattered throughout the country, including in the southern and eastern regions along the border with Pakistan that have had some of the most intense combat in the American-led war against the Taliban insurgency. www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?no_interstitialI guess we have even more reason not to pull the troops out?
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Post by homeylu on Jun 14, 2010 0:27:12 GMT -5
Makes you wonder if they were searching for Ben Laden, or searching for minerals is the first place. I believe the Soviets discovered oil and gas in the area a few decades ago. Meanwhile, the average person in this country lives in poverty and despair, and we keep pounding on this poor little country, and a powerful military like ours haven't been able to trample the Taliban in a few months, much less 8 years of nothing really accomplished.
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Post by anansi on Jun 14, 2010 1:55:28 GMT -5
Makes you wonder if they were searching for Ben Laden, or searching for minerals is the first place. I believe the Soviets discovered oil and gas in the area a few decades ago. Meanwhile, the average person in this country lives in poverty and despair, and we keep pounding on this poor little country, and a powerful military like ours haven't been able to trample the Taliban in a few months, much less 8 years of nothing really accomplished. You are right!! read on (Page 2 of 2) The Pentagon task force has already started trying to help the Afghans set up a system to deal with mineral development. International accounting firms that have expertise in mining contracts have been hired to consult with the Afghan Ministry of Mines, and technical data is being prepared to turn over to multinational mining companies and other potential foreign investors. The Pentagon is helping Afghan officials arrange to start seeking bids on mineral rights by next fall, officials said. At War Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. Go to the Blog » Multimedia Graphic Minerals in Afghanistan “The Ministry of Mines is not ready to handle this,” Mr. Brinkley said. “We are trying to help them get ready.” Like much of the recent history of the country, the story of the discovery of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth is one of missed opportunities and the distractions of war. In 2004, American geologists, sent to Afghanistan as part of a broader reconstruction effort, stumbled across an intriguing series of old charts and data at the library of the Afghan Geological Survey in Kabul that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country. They soon learned that the data had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, but cast aside when the Soviets withdrew in 1989. During the chaos of the 1990s, when Afghanistan was mired in civil war and later ruled by the Taliban, a small group of Afghan geologists protected the charts by taking them home, and returned them to the Geological Survey’s library only after the American invasion and the ouster of the Taliban in 2001. “There were maps, but the development did not take place, because you had 30 to 35 years of war,” said Ahmad Hujabre, an Afghan engineer who worked for the Ministry of Mines in the 1970s. Armed with the old Russian charts, the United States Geological Survey began a series of aerial surveys of Afghanistan’s mineral resources in 2006, using advanced gravity and magnetic measuring equipment attached to an old Navy Orion P-3 aircraft that flew over about 70 percent of the country. The data from those flights was so promising that in 2007, the geologists returned for an even more sophisticated study, using an old British bomber equipped with instruments that offered a three-dimensional profile of mineral deposits below the earth’s surface. It was the most comprehensive geologic survey of Afghanistan ever conducted. The handful of American geologists who pored over the new data said the results were astonishing. But the results gathered dust for two more years, ignored by officials in both the American and Afghan governments. In 2009, a Pentagon task force that had created business development programs in Iraq was transferred to Afghanistan, and came upon the geological data. Until then, no one besides the geologists had bothered to look at the information — and no one had sought to translate the technical data to measure the potential economic value of the mineral deposits. Soon, the Pentagon business development task force brought in teams of American mining experts to validate the survey’s findings, and then briefed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Mr. Karzai. So far, the biggest mineral deposits discovered are of iron and copper, and the quantities are large enough to make Afghanistan a major world producer of both, United States officials said. Other finds include large deposits of niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, rare earth elements and large gold deposits in Pashtun areas of southern Afghanistan. Just this month, American geologists working with the Pentagon team have been conducting ground surveys on dry salt lakes in western Afghanistan where they believe there are large deposits of lithium. Pentagon officials said that their initial analysis at one location in Ghazni Province showed the potential for lithium deposits as large of those of Bolivia, which now has the world’s largest known lithium reserves. For the geologists who are now scouring some of the most remote stretches of Afghanistan to complete the technical studies necessary before the international bidding process is begun, there is a growing sense that they are in the midst of one of the great discoveries of their careers. “On the ground, it’s very, very, promising,” Mr. Medlin said. “Actually, it’s pretty amazing.” www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?pagewanted=2&no_interstitialWe ain't never leaving that place!! the excuse IS gonna be we can't leave such vast resources in the hands of TERRORIST!!
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Post by Charlie Bass on Jun 14, 2010 4:00:03 GMT -5
Makes you wonder if they were searching for Ben Laden, or searching for minerals is the first place. I believe the Soviets discovered oil and gas in the area a few decades ago. Meanwhile, the average person in this country lives in poverty and despair, and we keep pounding on this poor little country, and a powerful military like ours haven't been able to trample the Taliban in a few months, much less 8 years of nothing really accomplished. My thoughts exactly and this "discovery" isn't new news, they've most likely knew this all the time.
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Post by franklin on Jun 14, 2010 16:01:42 GMT -5
[Edit] See the article about Gabon in my signature. Notice how Gabon faces bigger barriers in non oil exports, especially in agriculture. This is done so the country is forced into reliance on the oil sector and other areas are less developed. This is also like how the drug trade works because drugs become one of a few profitable options. So drugs, cocoa and oil are a lot alike[End Edit] [The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion. “This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.] The drug trade described in that article is kind of like cocoa in some African countries because there is nothing else people can do profitably. The reason that child slave labor is used to grow cocoa in many places is because parents can't afford to feed their kids in the first place because they don't have any income. This situation also contributes to political instability. Also see: "US textile tariffs hurting poorest and Muslim countries, says think tank" Ibrahim_mahmood Aug 12, 2009 "Nicholas Kristof: Fight terrorism by building schools, lowering tariffs" By Nicholas D. Kristof May 14, 2010What this article below didn't mention is that refined products like chocolate are taxed more heavily by developed nations than raw materials. This is probably why African countries export uncut diamonds because they don't have many alternatives in what they can export. These countries can't even grow their own food because food is dumped in cheaply, so they are dependent on imported food so if cocoa was not exported many of these people would starve. Many human rights activists have said that paying higher prices on cocoa would do much to cease the forced labor problem but these Africans will be at the mercy of big corporations unless they are able to produce for themselves plus allow them to refine the cocoa themselves. If more farmland can be used profitably for things other than cocoa the price of cocoa would go up. Because the price of cocoa is so low not only is unpaid labor used but the way it is produced is environmentally unsound because the lowest cost method possible is used to harvest the cocoa. I do think this is similar to drugs in that there are few alternative ways for income. "Chocolate and Slavery" www.chocolatework.com/chocolate-slavery.htm[The Causes According to the Cote d’Ivoire Prime Minister, multinational chocolate manufacturers have encouraged more and more developing nations to grow cocoa, forcing down the price and driving cocoa farmers to take desperate measures just to save their land. He told chocolate manufacturers that they would have to pay about 10 times as much for cocoa as they currently do if they want to end the use of forced labor in cocoa production. West Africa produces over 67% of the world’s crop of cocoa beans. The Cote d’Ivoire grows 43% of the total world cocoa crop, where there are over 600,000 cocoa farms. Two-thirds of cocoa produced worldwide is thought to be grown by small holders. The economies of the West African governments depend on cocoa. Nearly 40% of the population of the Cote d’Ivoire is involved in cocoa farming, and 40% of the total earnings exported from the Cote d’Ivoire come from cocoa.] "High duties keep food imports from poor countries out of Europe" www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5127705,00.html [While the import duties for unprocessed cocoa beans is rather small, the EU charges 30 percent for processed cocoa products like chocolate bars or cocoa powder, and 60 percent for some other refined products containing cocoa. Highly processed products are taxed more heavily than raw products]
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Post by franklin on Jun 17, 2010 12:02:34 GMT -5
Its not that there is major drug dealing its that the drug dealers and opium/narcotics is so dominate in the economy in Afghanistan Is it possible this is linked to the fact that the Middle East is a major importer of different cereals? Irrigation is in bad shape and there are examples in other countries when their agriculture collapses when production starts going up again the price simply falls and the farmers can't even earn a profit. Because of this there is a lack of a capacity to invest in things like irrigation. Again it is not that there is a major drug trade it is the fact that opium is so dominate This is from a year ago (but remember things change greatly from year to year). Note the problem that the Afghanis are not processing their own almonds, this is a similar problem that plagues African countries where they don't process their exports. More tax money from exports and revenue to farmers would allow for more development in things like irrigation and so drought will not be as devastating In other words farmers are having a hard time profiting from anything other than opium. Since Afghanistan's vast mineral resources remain untapped they rely on opium production" AFGHANISTAN: Low almond prices hit farmers" KABUL, 26 August 2009 www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85870[Almond production in Afghanistan has increased by over 20 percent on last year, but the price they fetch has gone down by over 40 percent, according to provincial officials, who have expressed concern for farmers' livelihoods....
....Need for investmentAbout 40 varieties of almonds are grown, mostly in northern Afghanistan, according to a study by the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency. The country's annual almond production was estimated at over 38,700 tons in 2005, with exports worth $9.4 million (24 percent of all horticultural exports), the study said. Most Afghan farmers sell almonds in their shells or as kernels in local markets, albeit at low prices, but there is "excellent potential" for almond exports to grow, according to a Survey of Afghanistan's horticulture sector by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "Because of the lack of processing, packaging and marketing facilities at home, most of Afghanistan's high quality almonds and dried fruits are sold in international markets under other countries' brands," said Azeem Mustafa Hashimi, director of the Dried Fruits & Vegetables Export Promotion Agency.
"If we had local processing and packaging plants for almonds and other dried fruits and directly exported products to foreign markets it would double the benefits for farmers and increase revenues for the government," said an experienced merchant in Kabul's dried fruit bazaar.The FAO survey said Afghanistan's climate was ideal for the production and development of the many types of almond grown in the country. But more investment was needed, said Hashimi. ] "Russia, grain glut and the Middle East" egyptsearchreloaded.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pol&action=display&thread=368[Russia is already one of the world’s top wheat exporters supplying the big cereal importers in North Africa and the Middle East. But the Kremlin sees greater opportunities ahead and has set a target to double exports in the coming 15 years....]
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Post by soulzodiac on Jun 17, 2010 16:13:29 GMT -5
What the hell is the pentagon doing mapping minerals in Afghanistan when their ONLY job is to defeat so-called terrorists - you know the ones we let go in the first few months of this endless war. These criminals are becoming more and more blatant about their real objective - from bailouts for billionaires to oil gushing to corporate control of the supreme court to commando raids on unarmed relief convoys. Ever wonder why the Russins were so keen on the area and why we were so keen to help stop them there? They and Amerikkka have known about this stuff since the 70s. The Taliban's real crime was that they weren't particularly concerned with industrial development and weren't easily bought off.
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Post by franklin on Jun 17, 2010 19:52:19 GMT -5
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Post by soulzodiac on Jun 19, 2010 3:04:05 GMT -5
It's becoming increasingly clear that this war was never about "terrorism."
World’s Mining Companies Covet Afghan Riches
Mining companies around the world are eager to exploit Afghanistan’s newly discovered mineral wealth, but executives of Western firms caution that war, corruption and lack of roads and other infrastructure are likely to delay exploration for years.
A few high-risk investors are sufficiently intrigued by the country’s potential to take an early look. JP Morgan, for instance, has just sent a team of mining experts to Afghanistan to examine possible projects to develop.
“Afghanistan could be one of the leading producers of copper, gold, lithium and iron ore in the world,” said Ian Hannam, a London-based banker and mining expert with JP Morgan. “I believe this has the potential to be transforming for Afghanistan.”
But executives with international mining firms said in interviews that while they believed that Afghanistan’s mineral deposits held great potential, their businesses were not planning to move into the country until the war was over and the country more stable.
“There are huge deposits there,” said David Beatty, chief executive of Rio-Novo Gold, a mining company based in Toronto. “But as chief executive, would I send a team to Kandahar? And then call a guy’s wife after he gets shot? No.”
It has long been known that Afghanistan had significant deposits of gemstones, copper and other minerals, but United States officials say they have discovered and documented major, previously unknown deposits, including copper, iron, gold and industrial metals like lithium.
A Pentagon team, working with geologists and other experts, has shared its data with the Afghan government, and is working with the Afghan Ministry of Mines to prepare information for potential investors in hopes of placing some mineral exploration rights up for auction within the next six months. On Thursday, Afghan officials said they believed that the American estimates of the value of the mineral deposits — nearly $1 trillion — were too conservative, and that they could be worth as much as $3 trillion.
The Ministry of Mines also announced that it would take the first steps toward opening the country’s reserves to international investors at a meeting next week in London. Two hundred investors from around the world have been invited to offer suggestions for how to develop the iron ore deposits at the Hajigak area of Bamian Province, according to Craig Andrews, the principal mining specialist for Afghanistan for the World Bank.
Nongovernment Western mining experts will be helping the ministry develop the bidding process, Mr. Andrews said.
At a news conference in Kabul, Wahidullah Shahrani, the mines minister, pledged to make the bidding and contracting of mining rights as transparent as possible to reduce the possibility of corruption. He said the ministry would post contracts on its Web site.
Mr. Shahrani and his advisers cautioned against overly high expectations, underscoring that development would take years and that there were many obstacles to overcome, not least of all the lack of security in some of the areas with the most minerals and the lack of a transportation infrastructure.
International mining officials and independent experts echoed that view. Jim Yeager, a Colorado-based geologist and former consultant to the Afghan mines ministry, said that poorly written mining regulations could also hamper future development.
Afghan officials have interpreted their mining regulations in such a way that if a company is awarded a concession to explore and then discovers valuable minerals, the government can tender the concession back and rebid it, undermining any incentive for a foreign firm to actually find large deposits, he said.
“They can take it back after you discover something,” Mr. Yeager said. “That needs to be corrected.”
Several mining executives and other experts said that the multibillion-dollar investment required to build a large copper mine, for example, meant that the industry would focus on other deposits in less risky countries before they turned to Afghanistan.
“The industry is going to take a look at Afghanistan, but they will weigh their risks carefully,” said Steve Vaughn, a Canadian lawyer and mining expert. “There is every indication that these deposits are very large. But as political risks increase, they will lay off spending.”
Today, many of the world’s leading mining companies are based in Canada and Australia, but resource-hungry China is rapidly emerging as a major competitor for mineral deposits. A Chinese state-owned firm has already been awarded the concession for a copper mine in eastern Afghanistan.
No, many mining industry executives say they expect the Chinese to bid aggressively on Afghanistan’s newly discovered mineral deposits even as many Western firms sit it out.
Robert Schafer, executive vice president of Hunter Dickinson, an exploration and mining firm based in Vancouver, Canada, which lost the bid for the copper mine concession to the Chinese company, said he believed that the Chinese “have a different perception of the risk” because they see mineral resource development as part of a national strategy.
“Their concern is for the supply of a commodity, so they are willing to do things at a loss,” Mr. Schafer said. “So yes, I could see the Chinese being willing to make investments in areas where we are unwilling to.”
Mining industry executives, as well as American officials, are also concerned about the corruption in the Afghan government, and are uncertain how to avoid turning the discovery of great mineral wealth into nothing more than a windfall for Kabul’s oligarchs.
“I know some people have gone in to kick the tires, and some guys found there was too much risk, too much corruption, and didn’t want to play the game,” observed Mr. Yeager, the Colorado geologist. “They have got to resolve the corruption issue.”
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Post by homeylu on Jun 20, 2010 10:48:54 GMT -5
Jp Morgan names always seem to come up with 'war profiteers', seems they have been connected with the Bush family, since his grand father helped them profit from World War 1 and 2. Not surprising they are the first lined up for this "venture".
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Post by anansi on Jun 20, 2010 23:21:31 GMT -5
Jp Morgan names always seem to come up with 'war profiteers', seems they have been connected with the Bush family, since his grand father helped them profit from World War 1 and 2. Not surprising they are the first lined up for this "venture". All Bankers love a good war just like manufacturers,arms dealers will post something on the conspiracy thread.
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Post by franklin on Jun 23, 2010 14:30:03 GMT -5
The point of modern imperialism is to increase expenses and to suppress trade and industry. The same kind of thing is going on with Pakistan. There are resources all over the world why would they be interested in Afghanistan the only thing they want to encourage there is opium production. Why don't these people invade Africa which is the continent that has the least trade in the world (less than 3%) and the most uncharted resources (uncharted in terms of not being known to the outside world at least). The people in power are interested in diverting wealth and concentrating it more and more among the richest, but there is every reason to believe that their means of doing this will be by squandering wealth and keeping some of it for themselves. In this way modern imperialism is by nature about expense exceeding profit. The aim is to have an overall lesser amount of wealth but concentrated amongst a few rather than an overall greater amount of wealth spread out amongst everyone. The mission for centuries has been to increase and maintain debt and government debt is inseparable from imperialism. One thing of supreme significance is that if it were not for this imperialism, there would be more trade and industry in these countries. To say otherwise is an insult to the local people. Lets say a country or a corporation tries to form a monopoly in trade. Monopolies by their nature suppress industry in both the colony and the home country (Afghanistan being the colony here) Adam Smith gave an example of how this works when talking about tobacco but that is something else For anyone that might be misunderstanding what I'm saying, I am not pro United States occupation. In fact at least the Taliban allowed the local workers to have part of the profits. An older article from 2009 mentioned that the Taliban only took like 1/3 of the profits and allowed the local community to keep the rest. This article is recent and it shows there is still a problem at least the Taliban gave people employment. I'll have to say that the evidence shows the Taliban is more interested in industrial employment the United States wants Afghanistan to be nothing but an opium field. If the Chinese are so exploitive in Africa and the Middle East it is because the United States and Europe continue to suppress the economies of countries like Afghanistan thus making them vulnerable to outsiders Again, these Pakistan mines have been known for years and some are currently deserted after the Taliban was kicked out "With US help, miners dig in at former Taliban base" By CHRIS BRUMMITT , 06.21.10 www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/06/21/general-as-pakistan-mining-not-militancy_7704668.html?boxes=Homepagebusinessnews[At the largest mine on the outskirts of the main town of Mingora, the militants allowed the locals to mine so long as they shared the proceeds with them. After decades of mismanagement, the quick and transparent method was welcomed by many miners and dealers. "When the people finished work for the day they split up the rocks, there and then. They said 'this is your share, and this is my share'," said emerald dealer Nurul Huda. "The government should adopt this model."
It is now deserted save for goats and the occasional soldier, frustrating locals who want to work.] I posted this twice already in this thread but see this part. The forign minister of Pakistan said he wanted market access 3 times, that means he really wants market access. The people want to produce processed almonds, the people want to mine minerals and emeralds "US textile tariffs hurting poorest and Muslim countries, says think tank" Ibrahim_mahmood Aug 12, 2009 "Nicholas Kristof: Fight terrorism by building schools, lowering tariffs" By Nicholas D. Kristof May 14, 2010[We continue to be oblivious to trade possibilities. Pro-American Pakistanis fighting against extremism have been pleading for years for the United States to cut tariffs on Pakistani garment exports, to nurture the textile industry and stabilize the country. Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, told me that his top three goals are “market access, market access, market access.” But Washington wants to protect North Carolina textile mills, so we won’t cut tariffs on Pakistani goods. The technical word for that: myopia.]
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Post by franklin on Jul 17, 2010 19:32:40 GMT -5
Seriously even in Afghanistan wants to process and sell its produce in order to encourage more development.
If you want more evidence then its found in the fact that even the TALIBAN is more interested in developing resources than the U.S. is and also wants to sell things to westerners, such as sell opium
All of this proves that more trade and market access helps everyone
The occupation of Afghanistan will never be profitable the estimated worth of all the resources won't pay for the cost of occupation. But on top of that you also have to pay to have these resources developed.
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Post by franklin on Jul 17, 2010 21:32:34 GMT -5
They and Amerikkka have known about this stuff since the 70s. The Taliban's real crime was that they weren't particularly concerned with industrial development and weren't easily bought off. This makes no sense to me the Taliban has given more encouragement to industry than American occupiers. Doesn't it make more sense to think that the United States invaded to suppress development of the mineral wealth of Afghanistan? This is so much the case that Afghanistan's agricultural system is extremely backward. Normally a colony is used to feed the ruling country but there is a kind of reverse imperialism going on in which the ruling country feeds the colonies
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Post by franklin on Nov 14, 2010 17:12:16 GMT -5
There are "rare earth" minerals all over the world but the exploitation of these resources are suppressed, even the United States has significant deposits and yet most of it is produced in China. Eventually you will start hearing a lot more about rare earths in the news There is a deliberate conspiracy to suppress industry all over the world however as shortages occur mines will be developing is places all over the world. There will be a crisis and a shortage of key resources Lets look at the history Africa as an example. Africa was an important producer of copper after colonization but their share of the copper trade declined greatly over time. After colonization Africa had over 3% of world trade but in the early 90's that fell to a little more than 1%, but remember that Africa was also receiving only a small amount of foreign investment stats: www.uneca.org/cfm/23/cm23-thm.htmClearly there isn't a scheme to develop and use all the world's resources, history clearly shows there has been a suppression going on for centuries
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