The Taliban are sitting on $1 trillion worth of minerals the world desperately needs
The swift fall of Afghanistan to Taliban fighters two decades after the United States invaded the country has triggered a political and humanitarian crisis. It's also causing security experts to wonder: What's going to happen to the country's vast untapped mineral wealth?
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. But in 2010, US military officials and geologists revealed that the country, which sits at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, was sitting on mineral deposits worth nearly $1 trillion that could dramatically transform its economic prospects.
Supplies of minerals such as iron, copper and gold are scattered across the country. There are also rare earth minerals and, perhaps most importantly, what could be one of the world's biggest untapped deposits of lithium — an essential but scarce component in rechargeable batteries and other technologies vital to tackling the climate crisis.
CNN
As I always say, “Follow the money.”
You can bet your ass nations like Russia, China, Pakistan, and the US will be vying for this precious real estate. Wars may be fought.
What's new, right?
Texas governor tests positive for COVID-19, in ‘good health’
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, according to his office, who said he is in good health and experiencing no symptoms.
Abbott, who was vaccinated in 2020, was isolating in the governor’s mansion in Austin and receiving monoclonal antibody treatment, spokesman Mark Miner said in a statement.
The governor is the latest Texan to test positive as cases of the virus soar and hospitals around the state are stretched thin. More than 11,500 patients were hospitalized with the virus as of Monday, the highest levels since January. The positive tests comes a day after Abbott tweeted a picture of himself not wearing a mask while speaking indoors near Dallas to a group of Republicans, most of whom were unmasked.
AP
Dude reportedly has already gotten a third “booster” dose of the vaccine. It must be good to be the king!
Speaking of boosters…
U.S. will begin wide distribution of Covid booster shots next month, saying vaccine protection wanes over time
The United States will begin widely distributing Covid-19 booster shots next month as new data shows that vaccine protection wanes over time, top U.S. health officials announced in a joint statement Wednesday.
“The available data make very clear that protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection begins to decrease over time following the initial doses of vaccination, and in association with the dominance of the Delta variant, we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease,” according to the statement signed by CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and other U.S. health leaders. “Based on our latest assessment, the current protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death could diminish in the months ahead, especially among those who are at higher risk or were vaccinated during the earlier phases of the vaccination rollout.”
CNBC
And thus begins our eternal “war on COVID.” We will be getting periodic shots the rest of time.
Pollock Pines evacuates as Caldor Fire near Tahoe triples in size
Tearing across the bone-dry landscape of the El Dorado National Forest at unfathomable speeds, California's Caldor Fire near Lake Tahoe more than tripled in size Tuesday to an estimated 23,000 acres with zero containment, triggering a flurry of evacuations, torching parts of a small town and injuring at least two people, officials said.
Fire officials said an unknown number of structures were destroyed, but Sacramento Bee reporters on the ground in Grizzly Flats (population 1,200) found an elementary school, a church, a post office and other buildings in ruins. Two civilians were seriously injured in the blaze, Cal Fire said in a statement Tuesday evening. Both were transported from the Grizzly Flats Area by air ambulance to a hospital.
SF Gate
But climate change isn't happening, right?
Mustang roundups fuel deepening debate as drought grips West
TOOELE, Utah (AP) — The sound of the helicopter propeller thundered across the horizon as it dipped down toward mustangs dotting the golden brown plain. The horses burst into a gallop at the machine’s approach, their high-pitched whinnies rising into the dry air.
That helicopter roundup in the mountains of western Utah removed hundreds of free-roaming wild horses, shortly before the Biden administration announced it would sharply increase the number of mustangs removed across the region. It’s an emergency step land managers say is essential to preserving the ecosystem and the horses as a megadrought worsened by climate change grips the region.
“What were seeing here in the West gives some insight into a new norm,” Terry Messmer, a professor at Utah State University who studies wild horse management.
The removals are adding fuel to longstanding conflicts with activists for the animals whose beauty and power make them an enduring emblem of the American West. They say the U.S. government is using the drought as an excuse to take out horses in favor of cattle grazing.
AP
Of course, cattle ranchers are bemoaning this. They bellyached about everything. Remember when the Bundy's were bitching about land they didn't even own?
DeSantis promotes Covid drug that top donor invests in
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has been criticized for opposing mask mandates and vaccine passports — is now touting a Covid antibody treatment in which a top donor's company has invested millions of dollars.
DeSantis has been flying around the state promoting Regeneron, a monoclonal antibody treatment that was used on then-President Donald Trump after he tested positive for Covid. The governor first began talking about it as a treatment last year.
Citadel, a Chicago-based hedge fund, has $15.9 million in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceutical, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin has donated $10.75 million to a political committee that supports DeSantis — $5.75 million in 2018 and $5 million last April.
NBC News
What did I say at the beginning of this post? That's right: “Follow the money.” Always. Now, don't be surprised to find out DeSatan invests his own money in Regeneron.
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