Related to this morning’s post about the find of $1 trillion dollars worth of minerals in Afghanistan, even if we were to capture (if the verb fits….) ten percent of the total worth of those resources, it still wouldn’t come close to the break-even point for the occupation of Afghanistan (which is somewhere between $200-$300 billion). If this will be the justification for staying even more Friedman units in Afghanistan, we’re so stupid we can’t even figure out how to make money off the deal.
(This venal argument ignores the “what do you say to the last man to die for a mistake” principle. Which should be operative. Along with many other things, ideally).
-
Recent Posts
Top Posts & Pages
Meta
Mike the Mad Biologist
Email Subscription
Categories
- 'Snuggles' McCain
- 3-D Printing
- A Fungus Among Us
- A Message to You
- A Message to You, Rudy
- A Moose Is Loose
- Acinetobacter
- Afghanistan
- Agriculture
- Alba Gu Brath
- Algae
- Aliens! I Seen 'Em!
- ALL UR SAMPLEZ R BELONGING TO ME!
- Ammosexuals
- Amoeba
- Animalcules
- Anthrax
- Antibiotics
- Archery
- Architecture
- Art Deco
- Art History
- Arthropods
- Ascidians
- Astronomy
- Authoritarianism
- Autism
- Automobiles
- Aves
- Axolotl
- Baby
- BANG! BANG!
- Basic Human Decency
- Beer
- Behavior
- Bidness
- Big Shitpile
- Bioinformatics
- Biotech
- Blastocyst Liberation
- Bloggity Blog
- Books
- Booze
- Boston
- BPSDB
- BRAINS! I EAT THEM!!
- Bullshit As a Load Bearing Structure
- Bureaucracy
- Burma
- Campylobacter
- Camus
- Cancer
- Career Stuff
- Carnivora
- CDC
- Census
- CIA Spy Shit
- Civil Liberties
- Civility Trolls
- Cloning
- Coelenterata
- Coins
- Compulsive Centrist Disorder
- Compulsive Contrarian Disorder
- Computers
- Condolences
- Conservatives
- COVID-19
- COVID-19 Benchmark
- Creationism
- Crime
- Crime Pays?
- Danger Ain't Cool!
- Data Stuff
- Daylight Saving Time
- DC
- Death
- Democrats
- Demonic Possession
- Dinosaurs
- Dogs
- Drugs
- E. coli
- Earthquakes
- Easter Island
- Ecology
- Economics
- Edge Cases
- Education
- Elephants
- Energy
- Engineering
- Environment
- Ethics
- Evo Devo
- Evo Psych
- Evolution
- Experts
- Feminism
- Fish
- Food
- Football
- Framing
- Froggies
- Fucking Morons
- Fucking Royals
- Funding
- Gambling
- Gastropods
- Genetics
- Genomics
- Get a Pair, Will Ya?
- Global Warming
- Gravity, How Does It Work?
- Group Selection
- Gut Yontif
- Healthcare
- HIV
- Homelessness
- Housing
- Human Genetics
- Humor
- Hunger
- Hypotheses
- I Am Aware of All Internet Traditions
- I For One Welcome Our Arachnoid Overlords
- I For One Welcome Our Austerity Overlords
- I For One Welcome Our Cephalopod Overlords
- I For One Welcome Our Silicon Valley Overlords
- I For One Welcome Our Socialist Overlords
- Ick
- Immigration
- Inflation
- Influenza
- Insects
- Internet
- iPhone, uPhone, We All Like the iPhone
- IQ
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Jewish Stuff
- Jobs
- John "Snuggles" McCain
- Jump Around Everybody Get Down
- Jury Duty
- Katrina
- Korea
- KPC
- Lady Bits
- Lakoff
- Legislation
- Legos
- Let's Talk About Sex
- Let's Talk About Sex, Baby
- LGBT
- Libraries
- Libya
- Likelihood
- Little Lord Pontchartrain
- Lobstah!
- Lotsa Links
- Lucy with the Football
- Machiavelli
- Makin' Babies
- Management
- Maps
- Massachusetts
- Mathematics
- Meetings
- Memes
- Microbiology
- Microbiome
- Middle East
- Military
- Model Systems
- Movies
- MRSA
- Museums etc.
- Music
- Mutation
- NASA
- NDM-1
- New
- New Orleans
- News Media
- NIH
- Ninnies
- NIST
- NSF
- Nukular Stuff
- Obesity
- Occupy Wall Street
- Oh Canada!
- OH NOES! MAH PENIS!
- Oil
- Olympics
- OOH! SHINY PEBBLE!
- Orangutan
- Paleontology
- Pee in a Cup!
- PhD School
- Philosophy Shit
- Pig Screwer
- Pizza!
- Placebo
- Plants
- Plasmids
- Please. Just Have One Chicken Finger
- Polling
- Poop
- Posters
- Progressives
- Propaganda
- Public Health
- Public Speaking
- published
- Publishing
- Racism
- Rape
- Reading
- Religion
- Reptiles
- Resistance
- Resistance Rebellion And Death
- Rhinos
- Robots
- Rodents
- Romney
- Ron Paul
- Rudy
- Run Ya Bastids!
- Salmonella
- Secession
- Sept. 11
- Sexist Pigs
- Sharks
- Shut Up and Watch the Damn Movie!
- Sleep
- Social Security
- Speciation
- Sportsball!
- Statehood
- Statistics
- Stem Cells
- Stupid Internet Quiz
- Syria
- Tasmanian Devil
- Taxes
- Team Social Justice Warrior
- Teeth
- Terrorism
- The Freedom To Hunt Your Slaves
- The Identity That Shall Not Be Named
- The Rule of Law
- The Soviet
- The War of Southern Aggression
- The War on Art
- The War on Science
- There Be Dragons!
- Things That Make Ya Go Boom
- Tolerance
- Torture
- Transportation
- TWEET!!!
- Uncategorized
- Unions
- Urban Planning
- USPS
- Vaccination
- Vampires
- VIM
- Violence
- Viruses
- Vision
- Volcanoes How Do They Work?
- Vomit
- Voting
- We're Really Fucked
- Weekly Roundup
- WhatEVAH!
- Why Is Arianna Huffington a Murderous Idiot?
- Worms
- Ya Bastids!
- Year In Review
- Year of Jubilee
- Yersinia
- You're Having a Bad Hair Life
- You've Got Mail But Not For Long!
- Yurp
- Zombies
Archives
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- February 2006
- September 2005
- August 2005
- March 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
This is such a non-story, and serves only to feed the Chomskyites and conspiracy buffs.
However large the mineral finds turn out to be, let’s recall that developing those mines will be hideously expensive and difficult. Afghanistan has no infrastructure for heavy extraction industries, has nothing like stability/safety, and no local workforce with any kind of training. Other than the Chinese— who are near by, who’d want to be the first on the scene? Afghan mining is a hole down which money will be poured by the first in. In 2025 or so, maybe then it’ll make sense as an opportunity.
Afghanistan has also no sea ports, and no good roads to anywhere, except maybe …Iran…
The high cost of maintaining occupation troops in that buddha-forsaken place is linked to the trouble of organizing truck convoys up the Khyber Pass, or air transport of bulk supplies (including tanks).
The same impediments apply to exporting mineral riches in commercial quantities.
Well, they manage to export their opium, do they ?
Many people recognize the negative principle inherent in “what do you say to the last man to die for a mistake”. Unfortunately, some seem to think that you can dodge the issue by continuing to kill men indefinitely.
I love how one of the minister’s of Afghanistan is already calculating how much $1 trillion divided by the population of Afghanistan equals, as if the people of Afghanistan will equally share this. It’s nothing but propaganda for either side. At best it’ll make a few people rich and employ a few more, at worst, it’ll be another excuse to kill.
Here lets let the Chinese develop the deposits they have the resources and are not as squeamish as we are. (In terms of human rights etc). Actually the confrontation of the two ideologies would be very interesting. The chinese say they need the minerals so lets let them have them.
Re: “What do you say to the last man to die for a mistake?”
So, would I then be correct to assume that Mike and Raka believe the war in Afghanistan to be a mistake? It is pretty obvious that Bush made mistakes in how the war was fought and how the political situation there was handled. I’ve never heard from anyone with an anti-war stance on Afghanistan make a coherent argument for what the ‘correct’ response to 9/11 would have been short of invasion, however. I’d be interested to see one.
It’s only nonsensical when you consider America as one great “we.” Inefficient exploitation of these mineral resources at the cost of taxpayers and to the benefit of the military-industrial complex and other corporations would be perfectly in line with our actions in the Afghanistan and Iraq so far.
Before we even get to the issues of extraction, refining, and beneficiaries of this mineral bonanza, consider this: it was in 2007–three years ago–that the United States Geological Survey (USGS) published the report that this news item is based on (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1005/).
One might ask: Why was an “internal Pentagon memo” containing this info just leaked to the NYT this week? (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?scp=3&sq=afghanistan%20minerals&st=cse)
One hates to be cynical, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the phrase “$1 trillion in minerals” is prominently featured in justifications for new offensive campaigns, military or rhetorical, in the near future.
And another thing: this “$1 trillion” estimate is based on NO – zero, none, bupkis — new geological field work. The USGS report is a literature review combined with some reasonable extrapolation. Each section of the USGS report features this phrase: “The U.S. Geological Survey team has not visited the area.”
Further, the highest-resolution maps the USGS used were apparently 1:250000. Geological maps generally have ten times that resolution, if not 25 times–1:25000 or 1:10000.
The FTC would arrest the CEO of a publicly-traded mining company that published the values of its reserves based on NO new field work and on maps where a the width of a pencil line covers 1000 feet on the ground.
The USGS report is what it is, but to say that the information in the report is either new or definitive is incorrect. What IS interesting is that the Pentagon re-released this information, and that they did it now. Stay tuned.
An addendum to my previous post: in addition to reviews of the literature and of existing 1:250000 maps, the 2007 USGS report presents analysis of some new areomagnetic and gravity anomaly fly-overs. I neglected to note incorporation of the magnetic and gravity data sets.
Also, to clarify: I am not faulting USGS for neglecting more detailed field studies. You know, there is a war and all that stuff.