Posting this because I have NEVER heard of “coltan”. Turns out we need it to ……….. BOMB THE SHIT OUT OF OTHER COUNTRIES! Turns out Venezuela has lots of it and they don’t want to sell it to us, soooo, we eventually might have to bomb the shit outta them …. lol …. assuming we have enough coltan stockpiled. Also, China has a lot of shit we need to make bombs and missiles too. Hopefully, we have the wisdom to stockpile that stuff before we go to war with them. (Oh yeah, not in the article but, Russia makes all our rocket engines. lmfao) Funny shit, ain’t it …. needing shit from the very countries we wanna bomb the shit out of?
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Follow the Minerals: Why the US is Threatened by Venezuela’s ‘Blue Gold’
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US President Obama generated international outcry after imposing further sanctions on Venezuela in March and claiming that Venezuela poses an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security.
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President Maduro of Venezuela fired back at Obama, saying the sanctions and executive order are an attempt to use force to control the country. One forthright response to the US decree from Bolivian President Evo Morales demanded Obama to: “Stop turning the world into a battlefield.”
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Is any threat posed by Venezuela merely an illusion created to oil the wheels of intervention? What is real and tangible is the US’ increasing demand for the natural resources Venezuela has in superabundance. Resource wealth can be a blessing and a curse. Not only is Venezuela the fifth largest oil exporting country in the world, with the second-largest reserves of heavy crude oil, but also add to that the country’s rich mineral reserves, plus a turbulent economy, and you have a recipe for ‘resource curse’.
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Staving off the dreaded resource curse, Venezuela has paved a new road to success. Key to sustaining this progress is the country’s ability to maintain its own mineral wealth.
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Venezuela sits on mineral reserves of gold, iron ore, diamonds, coal, uranium and the precious mineral coltan.
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Coltan is Venezuela’s Oro Azul or ‘blue gold’. In 2009, President Hugo Chávezannounced the discovery of reserves worth $100 billion of “the blue gold of the 21st century” in the Amazon region of the country. The price of this blue gold follows an increasing demand for a high-grade metal known as tantalum, processed from refined coltan. Demand for coltan is so intense, it fetches a higher price on the international market than even gold or diamonds.
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Tantalum is the metal used in capacitors that store energy in modern electronics like smart phones and tablets. Tantalum capacitors are also essential in powering modern military weaponry because the metal resists corrosion and can withstand the extreme temperatures generated by the new military applications. Without it, weapons systems would overheat. The US relies on tantalum to build the basic circuitry in guidance control systems in smart bombs, the on-board navigational systems in drones, anti-tank systems, robots and most weapons systems. The metal is vital to US defense.
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Yet, it has no domestic source of coltan. Importing and stockpiling tantalum is its only recourse. As the need for tantalum increases, smugglers move coltan from Venezuela to the US via Colombia and Brazil.
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Paramilitary groups control the black market trade of coltan ore, raising insecurity in the region. South of Caicara del Orinoco in Bolívar state where the blue gold reserves are found, cattle ranchers are forced to flee their land. The minerals trade fuels the conflict in the war-ravaged Congo.
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Violence in mining areas is proportionate to the demand for rare minerals like coltan. When tantalum shortages cause the price of coltan to soar, violence intensifies in these areas. The Congolese war has killed over six million people since 1996. Thus the term ‘conflict minerals’.
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Mining destroys all life and its natural environment – killing vegetation, damaging the soil, waterways and biodiversity.
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The mining area at Venezuela’s border of the Amazon rainforest has the country’s highest proportion of indigenous peoples. It is home to at least 26 indigenous communities who rely on the natural environment for their ancestral ways of life. In an attempt to fight illegal smuggling into Colombia, the Venezuelan government ordered a national crackdown on illegal miners and extended restrictions on the 2,200 kilometer border between Venezuela and Colombia. In December, the Venezuelan government rescued a 30,000 square kilometer area in the country’s most loved national park, clearing it of illegal miners.
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Critics of Chávez blame the violence on the ban he instituted in 2009. However, unregulated and illegal artisanal mining in the region goes back decades. And the growing appetite for coltan is only exacerbating the problem. More importantly: what is driving illegal mining? Who is paying out for smuggled Venezuelan coltan ore, feeding the smelters, buying from refiners and stockpiling large quantities of tantalum?
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Where the coltan goes, nobody knows. Tablets and smart phones amount to only a part of the coltan market. There is a documented demand for tantalum by the US defense industry. Could a crackdown on coltan smuggling in Venezuela pose a threat to the US?
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A recent 60 minutes episode describes the ‘threat’ that China poses to US national security, not because of tantalum, but from other rare earth elements. China is the world’s single source of these elements. US defense systems depend on rare earth elements needed in manufacturing tomahawk cruise missiles, lasers and guidance systems on weapons. In other words, the US depends on China for its weaponry.
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Following this logic, for Venezuela to derail coltan smugglers en route to the US via Colombia and Brazil, could jeopardize the Pentagon’s cache of tantalum from refined coltan. If a top-rated US news programme portrays China as a threat because it possesses giant mineral reserves that the US needs for its defense industry, then what does this say about the blue gold wars raging across the Eastern Congo and northern Amazon?
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Conflict-free advocacy overlooks the links between minerals and the weapons manufacturing industry, focusing narrowly on smart phones, laptops and tablets. It is doubtful defense companies will be seeking out conflict-free mines and transparent, traceable supply chains. A conflict-free weapon is still an oxymoron. Advances in military technology and the obsession with armed drones will not curb the craving for tantalum. All the more reason to follow the minerals.
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Paramilitary armies traffic illegally mined coltan ore over supply lines to smelters and refiners that sell tantalum to the world’s warmongers, who then build more weaponry to further wage illegal wars.
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Obama was half right. There is a real threat. And it’s turning the world into a battlefield. As US sanctions in the past have tended to foreshadow military intervention, Morales’ words ring true.
The #1 threat to the US is the US government.. Get US out of the USG.
BTW, congrats Stuck , LR picked up your Earth Hidden Oceans article.
Sorry Stuck
Lew put me down as the author. I just sent him an email telling him you were the author.
How we continue to look in our mirrors and pretend that we, the U.S.A., are the beacons of freedom, peace and prosperity that all others must bow down to is beyond me.
China is probably already working to form an alliance, an alliance that will definitely view the US as their, and the entire world’s, greatest threat.
Cognitive dissonance is becoming the #1 needed trait to continue believing this place is something good and special.
We have become the evil our history teachers used to tell us, and warn us, about.
USA! USA!!
TE- I think the only reason we (USA) have not punched Venezuela’s ticket already is because we are afraid of the BRICS. I agree with you 100% that we are the evil that our teachers warned us about.
So, how do we get the others to see this? My friend of 30 years told me the other day that he thinks we (USA) should put a bullet right between Putin’s eyes. That was right after he advised that the ONLY thing he watches on TV now is Fux News. This is a highly educated man from a upper class family in NY. I have tried to reach him, it is impossible.
Stucky- There is a documentary called “Blood Colton” that you can prolly find pretty easy on the net. That mineral is needed for cell phones and electronics.
“BTW, congrats Stuck , LR picked up your Earth Hidden Oceans article.” ——- flash
Wow. But he didn’t pick up my much better “Jesus and taxes” article? Prick!!
Thanks, Admin … but, not necessary (should it happen again) as I don’t give a rat’s ass about “Stucky” getting credit. Now … if I ever submit something under “Nick The Dick”, then I want credit!!
@Bea, I’m not sure there is anything we can do. Haven’t you often wondered how the Son of God could allow himself to be tortured? I mean this is a guy that walked on water, raised the dead and fed the (ungrateful and unworthy) masses and he somehow finds himself in that situation? Really?
I think he wanted out of this impossible world. He told us the covenant with Moses was dissolved, and that man was NOT to stand in judgement of other men.
And he chose being tortured to death to get his message across (salvation for all those that believe and atone) versus staying and attempting to reason with us humans to love one another, and treat each other well, and be moral and just and righteous because it is the best, most joyous and Godlike way to live. Not because you are to be punished.
I really, firmly, believe that. Well, now. Really recent mental conclusion.
So, I believe that I need to follow the Lord’s lead and realize that there ain’t a damned thing that can truly be done. You can try, probably should try, but I’ve serious doubts that it does any damned good.
The main reason I stick around here is fondness of Admin and many of the regulars, including you. I’m sad that my hope for waking others up is fading fast in my rearview mirror.
If accepting that we humans are un-savable as a mass is good enough for Jesus, then I guess it is good enough for me.
Blessings to you Bea!
“There is a documentary called “Blood Colton” that you can prolly find pretty easy on the net.” —–Bea Lever
Yes, easy to find. Looks good … I’ll watch most or all of it later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=umoW-2UVKKA