Congress and Pentagon seek to shore up strategic mineral stockpile dominated by China

Congress has repeatedly authorized multimillion-dollar sell-offs of the U.S. strategic minerals stockpile over the past several decades, but Washington’s increased anxiety over Chinese domination of resources critical to the defense industrial base has prompted lawmakers to reverse course and shore up the reserve.

The stockpile was valued at nearly $42 billion in today’s dollars at its peak during the beginning of the Cold War in 1952. That value has plummeted to $888 million as of last year following decades of congressionally authorized sell-offs to private sector customers. Lawmakers anticipate the stockpile will become insolvent by FY25.

“A lot of what happened is Congress just getting greedy and finding politically convenient ways to fund programs that they weren’t willing to raise revenue for,” said Moulton.

Congress and Pentagon seek to shore up strategic mineral stockpile dominated by China

Blame China for their greed?! 🙄

Europe Must Learn To Cheat On Its Sanctions (Just Like The U.S. Is Doing It)

April 01, 2022 – Moon of Alabama

The European Union and China will hold a virtual summit today. Before the summit started Brussels has strewn rumors that it would pressure China to not support Russia.

China is of course rejecting any pressure and retaliates by pointing out Europe’s weak strategic autonomy:

Europe Must Learn To Cheat On Its Sanctions (Just Like The U.S. Is Doing It)

Comment by the Author of The New Dark Age:

Has the EU really been ‘captured’by the US? I think not! The major European powers, Germany, France, Italy and Holland (along with the UK), are an integral part of the Imperialist Bloc. When you talk about their interests being harmed, you are conflating the interests of the capitalist classes (and their essential servants) with those of the working people of these countries. Since when have the ruling classes of the Imperialists given a flying fuck about their working classes! They have vast amounts of capital, they’re not touched by the any of it, anymore than by the fake Pandemic. As with ‘traditional’ wars fought by capitalism, this is just another kind of war and as with traditional wars, it’s not only about markets and competing capitalist classes, it’s about destroying capital! It’s just as much a World War as the previous ones, but fought in an entirely different way, using different weapons. It has consumed (or is on the process of consuming) even more surplus capital than WWI/II, you just don’t see it! When will the left wise up? They got conned by the Bug and they’re now being conned by the Sanctions War on the planet!

The New Dark Age

Biden set to order sanctions on separatist regions of Ukraine after Putin decree, EU vows additional measures

Biden set to order sanctions on separatist regions of Ukraine after Putin decree, EU vows additional measures

Related:

The Right of Self-Determination

Chapter 1, Article 1, part 2 states that purpose of the UN Charter is: “To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace”

Article 1 in both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) read: “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”