Coincidently, the US military is now attempting to increase its presence in what is widely considered the world’s most resource rich nation, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC has suffered immensely during its history of foreign plunder and colonial occupation; it maintains the second lowest GDP per capita despite having an estimated $24 trillion in untapped raw minerals deposits. During the Congo Wars of the 1996 to 2003, the United States provided training and arms to Rwandan and Ugandan militias who later invaded the eastern provinces of the DRC in proxy. In addition to benefiting various multinational corporations, the regimes of Paul Kagame in Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni in Uganda both profited immensely from the plunder of Congolese conflict minerals such as cassiterite, wolframite, coltan (from which niobium and tantalum are derived) and gold. The DRC holds more than 30% of the world’s diamond reserves and 80% of the world’s coltan, the majority of which is exported to China for processing into electronic-grade tantalum powder and wiring.
Tag: development
We’re told you are “very, very interested in how to reach into China, how to (bypass our government and) reach Chinese citizens directly”, and that you have enlisted help from apparent Chinese “dissidents”, asking where and how you should use your leverage. As we understand it, you mean to try to corrupt the allegiance of our people by attempting to destroy our loyalty and patriotism, to turn us against our own government, and to use us as pawns to undermine the foundation of our own country. We are writing to express our objection. Thanks, but You’ve Done Enough for us Already We have watched you, your cabinet, and your politicians as you daily condemn our country and our people, for the sake of what appears to be cheap political gain. We have watched as your media publish twisted, biased and unfair ‘news’ of our country, as they fabricate events and photos that are not real and never happened. We have watched the simple-minded in your country being stoked with bigotry, racism and even hatred, of our country and our people, by twisted stories and knowingly false accusations.
World Wide Obesity Epidemic Some 68% of all Americans are overweight, and obesity has almost doubled in the last couple of decades worldwide. As International Business Tribune reports: Studies conducted jointly by researchers at…
Proposed UN Environmental Constitution For The World Would Establish An Incredibly Repressive System Of Global Governance Most people have no idea that the United Nations has been drafting an environmental constitution for the world…
Some forces are letting loose a spate of gossip as regards the launch of Kwangmyongsong-3, an earth observation satellite manufactured by the DPRK by its own efforts and with its indigenous technology. The hostile forces…
BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) — China opened its annual parliamentary session on Monday, cutting the economic growth to 7.5 percent and vowing to “make progress while maintaining stability” in 2012. This is the first time…
A sustainable energy program in ‘Area C’ of rural West Bank is being threatened by Israeli authorities. The program, which recently installed solar panels and wind turbines in 16 communities, is providing 1,500 Palestinians with…
All over planet millions of people die of hunger every year. It is not a secret. Our media agencies tell us such facts quite often. Speaking about global inequality is not taboo in Western liberal…
Cultural Construction is an important component part for constructing the general composition of socialist undertakings with Chinese characteristics, cultural flourishing and development is an important goal for completely constructing a relatively well-off society. The Decision passed by the plenary session, completely summarizes the achievements and experiences of the Party’s leadership of cultural construction, deeply analyzes the situation and tasks facing cultural construction, and on the basis of concentrating the wisdom of the entire Party, has elaborated the development path for socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, has established strategic objectives for constructing a strong socialist culture country, has put forward the guiding ideology, important guiding principles, objectives, tasks and policy measures for promoting cultural reform and development under new circumstances, and is a programmatic document for guiding our country’s cultural reform and development in the present and future periods.
In this article Boris Dolgov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, reports on his recent trip to Syria. His field investigation is particularly valuable since…