Watermelons are in season

I took a passing interest in the blockade of the International Mining and Resources Conference, held in Melbourne this week. In media interviews, such as the one with Andrew Bolt on his Sky News Australia television programme, blockade organisers haven't done much to win people to their cause, nor does their penchant for allegedly punching police horses. While they may have raised some valid points about the environmental impacts of the mining industry, or whether its business and taxation arrangements are ethical, most of the protesters are radical Marxists.

When asked about the aims of their movement, they want to close down the mining industry by enacting a Marxist revolution. Presumably, ending mining and the use of all fossil fuels is also the only way to avert ecological Armageddon, and there's no way to do this without also ending capitalism. Never mind that Marxism has failed wherever it has been implemented, and it is well documented that communist countries have or had appalling environmental records.

To add to their historical illiteracy, speaking as a nitpicking, annoying pedant, I question the credibility of any political activist group that runs a website containing spelling errors.

Could Afghanistan be the world's quarry?

Afflicted by years of civil war, Afghanistan is one of the world's troublespots. The situation there has particular relevance for Australia. We currently have troops deployed there, and fleeing this turmoil, thousands of Afghan refugees have either entered or attempted to enter Australia in recent years. Members of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah, which has carried out attacks against Australians and Australian interests, are believed to have received their training in Afghanistan. This article is posted here as a reminder to pray for stability in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has announced that Afghanistan holds up to $1 trillion worth of untapped mineral deposits which could transform the $12 billion economy of the war-torn and poverty-stricken nation. It could however also be a negative according to U.S. officials. The deposits include huge amounts of iron, copper, gold, cobalt and other metals like lithium but observers caution that it remains to be seen what the effect will be. Officials are hopeful that mining will become the base of the Afghan economy, which is currently dependent on opium production and narcotics trafficking.

Some experts say the announcement is far too premature, because the actual recoverable amount could vary wildly from estimates and cannot be accessed whilst Afghanistan is a war zone. And while the mining possibilities could transform the Afghan economy, it also opens Afghanistan up to the possibility of abuse by giant corporations and an increased intensity in the Taliban's fight for control of the country and its resources. Pray that the mineral deposits in Afghanistan will eventually raise the standard of living and help stabilize the nation, not plunge it further into war.

Source: Intercessors for America