14 June 2010
 
Whole New Ballgame

(The site of the previous really big deposit of strategic minerals, before this morning)

This is a whole new ballgame Up North, and in the Theater of Operations as well. Odd that they come together as they have.
 
I can’t get away from the war, it appears, or rather either one of them. I was up at one and four and only went down again hard at four. Marginal internet connectivity, major problems with the wifi down in the big house. Really and profoundly depressing here, like when Dad’s pants started to slide down his skinny butt and a stranger had to embrace him to keep them from falling to the floor in the restaurant at lunch yesterday.
 
I thanked the stranger profusely, feeling like an idiot.
 
I punched another hole in Dad’s belt when we got home, and shaved him later and hacked a bit at his hair. He would not eat dinner; he preferred ice cream to the steak I grilled for dinner (Mom loved it, go figure) so we took an adventure in sugar-shock after the normal diner time was done.
 
I did not get to the mouse-trap thing since he wanted me out of the house for security reasons, and I agreed.
 
I have to get Mom's car to the dealer since the driver’s side window is stuck halfway down, but it is five miles away and I can't ask her to follow me. I will figure that out as I get to it. I am filled with anxiety about the dental procedure we need to do this afternoon.
 
A really dear old friend called early, and made me stir in the bed. Outside the Michigan sky was gun-metal, and it was nearly eight o‘clock. We chatted for a while about transition matters, and I glanced at the sky the color of the limitless fresh water that beckoned down the bluff, merging with the seamlessly with the clouds on the horizon.
 
There was no good news on the consensus we reached on the phone, except that I will be here more than I had anticipated.
 
I glanced at the e-mail that had piled up overnight. And saw an astonishing “breaking news” note from my pals at the New York Times:

“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...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.”
 
I was thunderstruck. This brings everything into a strange and perverted focus.
 
I doubt if we knew, before, since it would have radiated through military intelligence as to the strategic center of gravity in the conflict. Still, some smart guy somewhere must have thought about it.
 
When Operation ENDURING FREEDOM began on the back end of the fighting season of 2001 there was no knowledge, unless the Russians had an inkling of what was at stake in the struggle for the high passes.
 
With the Muj and the Taliban preventing exploration over the last thirty years, I am not surprised that the knowledge of vast riches is coming out now, enabled by a NATO military presence.
 
This validates what the Pashtuns have been saying all along. We are not in it for democracy or al Qaida, but theft.
 
Shit!
 
Copyright 2010 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
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