http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?no_interstitial If we can manage to move the Afghan economy away from poppies to mining, it will not only deprive the Taliban of the primary source of their income, but it will also provide the funds to bring the country into at least the 20th Century--roads, schools, hospitals, etc. International investment into the country of more than arms will also help tie it to the world. This discovery may give these people a real chance.
I understand the arguments that in the short term these deposits could cause even more bloodshed and disruption, but the heavy equipment and the massive investment required to develop these mines will mean that if the Afghans want the wealth beneath their feet, they're going to have to allow foreigners to work in peace. Long term, this news is far more good than bad.
Heh, I saw a friend post this on FB today and immediately thought there's not a poor country on earth that has much benefited from getting a bonanza of mineral wealth. Congo, Saudi Arabia, etc... I think I'm going to have to disagree and say in the long-term, they'd be better off being poor and left alone until they're not poor any more.
Obviously it depends on who controls the resources and how they are used. I know there is a lot of (often justified) criticism of the government of Venezuela, but they have used oil wealth for schools and health care. OTOH, Angola is one of the richest (in minerals) and poorest (in human misery) countries on earth. Congo, as Mike mentioned, even worse.
Not necessarily an awful thing, although typically if you haven't already had a healthy economy, then it's not good. Germany and Japan were occupied for a bit.
This is really the problem here. In the hands of reasonable people in a well-ordered society, more resources leads to more wealth creation. In a corrupt, backward, or dictatorial society, it won't do much good and may do more harm than good. Unfortunately, Venezuela fits that category too, and Hugo Chavez is demonstrating himself quite good at strangling the golden goose he was given. In other words, he's: 1. Damaged the ability of Venezuelans to develop and sell their own oil. 2. Bankrupted the country, so much so that in a country that produces oil, there are now regular blackouts. 3. Given away the rights to significant chunks of the oil to China and Russia in exchange for weaponry. Which is quite a bit more likely to be used on Venezuelans than anyone else.
