Afghan Gold!! There's gold in them thar Afghan hills !!!

[A4sForever]

Whilst perusing the futures markets for tomorrow's possible openings ... I stumbled upon this tidbit of information:

US Discovers Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan

“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.”

And here I thought it was time come home and say -- while waving ALOHA to one of the shittiest places on earth:

'Fuck you, you rotten bastards ... and if you EVER mess w/ us again, we'll come back and next time we'll KILL YOU ALL' !!!

Sorry, boys ... but if this report is substantially true ... you're gonna' be there for the next 100 years ...

 

[HeyJoe]

Whilst perusing the futures markets for tomorrow's possible openings ... I stumbled upon this tidbit of information:

US Discovers Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan

“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.”

And here I thought it was time come home and say while waving ALOHA to one of the shittiest places on earth:

'Fuck you, you rotten bastards ... and if you EVER mess w/ us again, we'll come back and next time we'll KILL YOU ALL' !!!

Sorry, boys ... but this report is substantially true ... you're gonna' be there for the next 100 years ...

Totally agree that one of the effects (besides extending our stay) is magnifying corruption in a government riddled with it. Of course, if managed even halfway, at least they could start picking up some of the burden of their own defense and IMHO, maybe an alternative to the current cash crop could be found for supporting their economy.

 

[eddie]

[[/B]Sorry, boys ... but if this report is substantially true ... you're gonna' be there for the next 100 years ...

It's true AND substantial...

 

[Jim123]

Totally agree that one of the effects (besides extending our stay) is magnifying corruption in a government riddled with it. Of course, if managed even halfway, at least they could start picking up some of the burden of their own defense and IMHO, maybe an alternative to the current cash crop could be found for supporting their economy.

No doubt as we speak there are staffers, starting with that vision, trying to think their way back to the current state of affairs, figuring out different courses of action to brief the boss, and pulling their own hair out in the meantime.

(And I already agree with both of your assessments, hj and A4s.)

 

[HeyJoe]

Of course, one of many thorny issues will be "ownership" and the Tribal Law resident in likely areas of discoveries will run headlong into corrupt Government fueled by developer greed. Gee, sounds a lot like the "Native Americans" vs the "Gold Rush" and other settler interests.

Native Americans attacking Gold Prospectors in California during the Gold Rush

 

[Picaroon]

Countries like this that find or depend on a valuable resource often find themselves victims of the "resource curse" and end up with terrible poverty for the citizenry and corruption in politics. Since Afghanistan already has these things, but since there's also a good chance of US guidance here, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Cool to see that the P-3 played an important role. Hopefully the Chinese don't take the minerals and riches that American blood allowed to be discovered and mined.

 

[RHPF]

Probably a good thing to find something for all of that uneducated/unskilled labor to do, other than grow opium. Not to mention, Russia is pissed at us over the heroin intake (blaming us for not constraining Afghans production). Of course, I remember reading that some Coalition leader ~2002 saying that they had no choice but to let them grow opium since if they took that away their would be even more insurgents. The land isn't furtile, and the infrastructure for any other productive export is non-existent. Maybe this will be their oil.

 

[FlyinRock]

I can hardly wait for the tribal leaders to fight about who has control of it?
Ohhh WAIT. that sounds like OIL. hmmm no it doesn't make cars or anything industrial run. Ohhh WAIT. Nothing today runs without computer technology (except in Afganistan) and gold is a vital part of it. Ohhh wait ..... we'll have a presidential commission do a study while the country turns into an even further disaster with the help of our (*&^%$% as he turns the USA into the same kind of disaster.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE, as the (*&^^%^ visits the gulf coast and decides to shut down gulf oil to make a point and tell BP they are going to go bankrupt (he wont say that but it will happen).
So, does gold become more important than oil? Nahhh there must be more to the story and I'm not privy anymore. Nor is the US public?

 

[exhelodrvr]

This will probably increase Taliban and Pakistani interest in maximizing their areas of influence.

 

[kmac]

With next to nil infrastructure, is it really going to matter how much the Taliban care to maximize their area of influence? The Pakinstani government can't control its own frontier regiion; there's no chance of it being able to control anything west of it. As for the Afghan government... this is a find that can be used for gaining business down the road. The Chinese have already said that they're spending $4 billion on a copper mine about 2 hours south of Kabul. I'm sure they'd be happy to invest a few more funds for mining operations.

As for corruption... what are parking meter cops and intersection cameras? Isn't that just a way for the police to be tax collectors? The Afghan government doesn't collect tax from its people... so far it's running off of foreign aid. When the pay for police is so low that they must stop cars for "donations" how can a city/province expect to have reasonable security? Without security, how is the economy going to improve? I of course have no good answers for this, but just pose these questions as food for thought.

 

[exhelodrvr]

With next to nil infrastructure, is it really going to matter how much the Taliban care to maximize their area of influence? The Pakinstani government can't control its own frontier regiion; there's no chance of it being able to control anything west of it. As for the Afghan government...

Yes, it does matter. They will put more effort into opposing our efforts, and will be able to convince at least some of the non-Taliban that our efforts are simply a cover for us to control the mineral wealth.

In the near term Pakistan is interested in influence over the region, not "control", although I'm sure that would be their eventual goal. They already have influence in that area through their connections with al Queda and the Taliban. This would give them more reason to play those games. However, it could possibly be turned to our advantage, considering that routes to the mineral areas would possibly go through Pakistan, and if so, would be very lucrative for them. So they culd potentially let us and the Taliban get into a "bidding war".

 

[SkywardET]

Cool to see that the P-3 played an important role. Hopefully the Chinese don't take the minerals and riches that American blood allowed to be discovered and mined.

Haven't they already done that with a certain other resource from a certain other country? China already has a near monopoly on raw materials for batteries, so it is probably in their best interest to take as much as they can. Who's going to stop them, hm? There is no way for us to compete on this issue, unfortunately.

 

[GreenLantern330]

I can hardly wait for the tribal leaders to fight about who has control of it?
Ohhh WAIT. that sounds like OIL. hmmm no it doesn't make cars or anything industrial run. Ohhh WAIT. Nothing today runs without computer technology (except in Afganistan) and gold is a vital part of it. Ohhh wait ..... we'll have a presidential commission do a study while the country turns into an even further disaster with the help of our (*&^%$% as he turns the USA into the same kind of disaster.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE, as the (*&^^%^ visits the gulf coast and decides to shut down gulf oil to make a point and tell BP they are going to go bankrupt (he wont say that but it will happen).
So, does gold become more important than oil? Nahhh there must be more to the story and I'm not privy anymore. Nor is the US public?

I doubt BP will go bankrupt. As of 2009, their total assets were worth $235,968,000,000. I know they don't own all of their assets, but they could liquidize it. On top of that, their total owner's equity was $102,113,000,000. I know the spill is costing them a lot, but I doubt they'll go bankrupt. Figuring with these numbers and how much they earned before the spill/explosion occurred, they're doing well enough to afford it IMO.

http://www.bp.com//assets/bp_intern...rt_and_Accounts_2009_Financial_Statements.pdf

 

[mountainman]

Great, is this suppose to further justify spilling more American blood in this worthless shithole? So that we can mine lithium from those hills and avoid "peak lithium" for the forseeable future and avoid a blackberry battery crisis. We went there nine years ago on a punitive mission to kill some terrorists. Somewhere along the way we decided to try and build a functioning democracy. Now this? We've spent nine years fighting peasants with AK-47's to a stalemate. Whatever is in those hills needs to stay there until the Afghans dig it out with spoons.

 

[Recovering LSO]

I doubt BP will go bankrupt. As of 2009, their total assets were worth $235,968,000,000. I know they don't own all of their assets, but they could liquidize it. On top of that, their total owner's equity was $102,113,000,000. I know the spill is costing them a lot, but I doubt they'll go bankrupt. Figuring with these numbers and how much they earned before the spill/explosion occurred, they're doing well enough to afford it IMO.

http://www.bp.com//assets/bp_intern...rt_and_Accounts_2009_Financial_Statements.pdf

What could bankrupt them though would be if BP were not allowed to compete in further mining bids. That is very likely, not sure how its legal - but when has that mattered much to this administration. BP could easily afford the clean up, but to have future mining operations put in jeopardy could really hurt.

Still trying to figure out how Pelosi and friends think they're going to force BP into cutting the dividend for shareholders and force them to cut spending on advertising (image repair) - they're a foreign company traded in London. But again, those are just details that shouldn't really get in the way.....right?