1. internal Pentagon memo: Afghanistan to become the "Saudi Arabia of Lithium." I suppose that about does it for an exit plan. All-to-revealing sentence of the day: "The Pentagon task force has already started trying to help the Afghans set up a system to deal with mineral development."
2. how much less entertaining would the news be if it were covered by political scientists rather than the band of hysterical pundits currently tasked with the job? See the answer here.
3. priceless, yet poignant, irony courtesy Humble Oil (to become Exxon).
4. why are American college students taking longer to earn their degree? a new paper finds: "that declines in collegiate resources in the less-selective public sector increased time to degree...[and] increased hours of employment among students, which is consistent with students working more to meet rising college costs and likely increases time to degree by crowding out time spent on academic pursuits."
5. a possible solution to Arizona's racist legislation?
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When you read that the discovery of Afghanistan's mineral reserves was discovered in Soviet scientific surveys discovered after their departure, you have to wonder how long we have known or suspected the existence of this resource. That in turn, sheds a different light on the question of why we are at war in a country a) that no longer shelters Bin Laden and b) from which none of the 911 attackers originated. I think I smell money....
ReplyDeleteI think you're absolutely right. That there has been at least a suspicion of these minerals' presence since the 80s, not to mention the fact that there have been American geologists there since 2004, it seems highly unlikely that this is entirely new information. This, as you point out, is useful insofar as one is interested in understanding why any US policymakers might care if Afghanistan is a stable and friendly (or in the contemporary newspeak: 'democratic') country to the US. This article even mentions how the insecurity engendered by Taliban rule precluded significant extractive activities. This might be important in partly explaining why US foreign policy shifted from supporting the Taliban in the 90s to overthrowing the regime in the early 2000s.
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