Where BP Oil Spills & A Trillion Dollars Worth of Minerals in Afghanistan Meet.

To those who work within the intelligence arena, all the events of the world fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. A trained team of analysts can take any typical news day and see how all the pieces fit - and what outcomes are likely. What's more, the best can also take advantage of these events and happenings, giving those who use the intelligence distinct benefits over those who do not have these insights at their disposal.

I mention this because the news has been almost blatant lately. Reading the news is like opening a puzzle box where pieces are still stuck together. It's not even a challenge anymore. A recent news item heralds the finding of huge mineral deposits in Afghanistan. A trillion dollars of lithium, gold, copper and iron await extraction.

The timing of this release couldn't be more apropos. You see the mineral discoveries have been known for quite a while now. However, the abiotic oil spill has caused many in intelligence arena to question our continued mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once the BP leak is no longer leaking but completely and successfully acquired, the dynamics change. We needed Iraq's oil when Venezuela shut us out at the end of the Clinton administration and the ascension of Hugo Chávez. There are already voices clamoring for a full court press on the oil here in our own waters and tapping the abiotic oil so that we no longer need Saudi Arabia's or Iraq's oil.

In Afghanistan, while we are there to preserve the fragile pro-democratic government in place, we were also in the region to protect the development of the Trans-Afghanistan-Pipeline that has been a work in progress since conceived in 1995. The Taliban are not just active for no good reason in the godforsaken waste of Afghanistan, they are actively there to disrupt development of the pipeline. While none of these fanatical religious warriors get heavy munitions air delivered to them by UPS, it is true that certain interests insure that they are armed to cost their competition. The Taliban are businessmen in a sick way. They are the hired goons of certain corporations official and unofficial. Unfortunately, they are corrupt and will easily change allegiances and double-cross previous benefactors. Some oil companies have found this out the hard way. Just as the Iraq "insurgency" had been paid for by European oil companies who wanted access to the Iraqi oil fields and billions of dollars of development contracts. Once the US doled out the contracts and permitted access - the insurgency dried up and Iraq was an overnight "success story". It's amazing how a small amount of money spent on "insurgency" or "Taliban" pays off big rewards in acquiring billion dollar deals.

So what does this have to do with a trillion dollars in minerals? Well, as I mentioned the pipeline is thwarted right now. The Taliban are in a position to stop the construction. This stalemate frustrates many and some figure it is time to pull out. While this would upset many who need this natural gas pipeline, like India (who we have been trying to develop as a stronger ally), but a withdrawal would politically appease many Democratic voters who don't really understand the big picture security and economic benefits of the US military presence around the world. So suddenly the news is full of lithium, gold and trillion dollar mineral treasures. The timing was perfect. This news release will inspire many companies (who have strong influence with politicians) to keep the US around as they mull over negotiations and possibilities for mining agreements in the region. The US military would be handy when some company is looking over their shoulder building mines and extracting minerals. It's also safe to say some more businessmen will approach the Taliban and offer them their umpteenth deal to work for them and to thwart their competition.

Anyways, if President Obama and his many overseas financial backers had even the slightest notion of withdrawal from Afghanistan, it has now been successfully negated by the release of a juicy bit of intelligence.

As you see, it's all linked. The biggest story right now is that Abiotic oil is now at the feet of the Americans. Yet that unbelievably good news, which has been clouded by the hyped environmental concerns, is offset by the interruption of the natural gas pipeline to India, where rapid growth has created conditions of two super populous nations competing for resources. China's Agbank is preparing for a 23 billion IPO. It's the last big Chinese bank to go public and whatever the figure it ends up getting (earlier it had been projected to secure up to 50 billion) it will provide plenty of resources for investors. This money will help offset market changes which have cost the Chinese in the recent global downturn. As you may have guessed there exists a real rivalry for these resources and if the pipeline is thwarted, other routes will be chosen which benefit other countries substantially. It would be fair to say that while the US is a superpower now, China and India, due to their populations and increasing technocracy will be the competing superpowers of the late 21st century. At this point the US will likely have lost its edge. Not only in GDP and production but in the very fabric of the nation - the people, their IQ and their ingenuity and drive. Let's hope that the declining trend here reverses and that more educate themselves about the world and take a active interest in national capitalism and the growth, quality of life and freedom it provides.

Every news story has a target. No one reports simply "news" anymore. The Google News homepage is like a row of billboards advertising along the highway. Each story a carefully crafted advertisement for a certain interest or group. Remember this when you hear all the horror stories about environmental dangers of offshore drilling. Those stories are bought and paid for by the competition who would love to have the US lock its refrigerator and sit starving in their own kitchen.

Peering behind the curtains is often entertaining and always educational. And you, the readers of this blog, get to open your eyes and see things that were never quite so clear and were always a bit fuzzy - a "trillion dollars" worth of intelligence - for free. ;-)