Bloody “Diamond in the Ruff” ↓ Mining Congo’s “Strategic Minerals”

What is a human life worth in Democratic Republic Congo (DRC)? Past, Present and Future investments have been built on the blood of millions in Africa’s Beloved Country.

“Our grandparents were beaten like animals, others were killed. But also many minerals and cultural goods were stolen by Belgium. This visit by the Belgian king is a distraction. Congo does not benefit in any way nor does it improve the economic conditions of the Congolese.”-

Francis Kambale, a 26-year-old student living in Goma in the country’s east. (aljazeera.com)

Bloody ironic is it not. As Belgian lifts mask mandates, it returns those seized. In a public spectacle, “Belgian King expresses ‘deepest regrets’ for abuses in DR Congo.” Belgium’s King Philippe admits that “colonial regime itself was based on exploitation and domination… those who still suffer today, I wish to reaffirm my deepest regrets for those wounds of the past.”  King, what of the present wounds, “exploitation and domination”?

President of the Democratic Republic Congo Felix Tshisekedi, what say you to King Philippe?  “We have not dwelled on the past, which is the past and which is not to be reconsidered, but we need to look to the future” says Mr. Tshisekedi. Sir, whose future?

Convenience of forgive and forget appears to come just as easily to Presidents as businessmen. Where once Americans sang “We Are the World” now we find SuperPowers and Silicon Valley ‘Rocking the Congo’ for Critical Minerals.

Reuters reports that “Some Kinshasa residents also said they hoped the visit would bring investments. “Despite what the Belgians did to us during colonisation, we are ready to forgive,” said Antoine Mubidiki.

Antoine, mask wasn’t the only thing King Philippe returned. Remember Patrice Lumumba? “The New York Times reports:

‘Belgium is also scheduled to return the remains of Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first prime minister, who was assassinated in 1960 following a coup supported by the Belgian authorities. All that will be returned is a gold-capped tooth pulled from his mouth by Belgian police before his body was dissolved in acid.”

Speaking of colonizers – After forty years, what has UK returned to the Argentines besides dead young soldiers? Recall the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic?

Shaking Hands with the Devil

Embracing the future and moving on from past regrets, Belgium’s King Philippe and Congo’s president Felix Tshisekedi appear to have “shaken on it.”

Time appears to stand still for Crimes and Criminals. In his 2012 NPR article, “The Nation: Economic Crimes In The DRC,” James North notes that “The DR Congo’s future depends greatly on what happens here, in southeastern Katanga province. Katanga has tremendous reserves of copper and cobalt, which Belgian colonialists began exploiting nearly a century ago.”

No doubt a Devil has shaken more hands than she can count. But even she had not fathomed how far and wide man’s corruption extended. North points to when “dictator Mobutu Sese Seko seized power. He turned out to be a vicious and incompetent kleptomaniac, but he was supported for decades by the United States, other Western countries, Citibank and the International Monetary Fund.” 

Joining a future quest, Mr. Tshisekedi “has been fully embraced by the Biden administration, which sees him as an ally in battling global warming.” Well isn’t that nice. Americans, what about the ‘WAR IN CONGO’ caused by you being the major cause of global warming?

Sir Winston Churchill’s advice continues to be unheeded by those who have the biggest vested interest, the leaders of the colonized. “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Sir, Mr. Felix Tshisekedi, it seems like other leaders, you conveniently select to forget the past.  I remind you in Western hegemons’ wake of repeated mendacities, a trail of bodies is not all that remains. Bad blood of the past can only give rise to revolutionary Successors.

Still, let us not be caught dwelling on the past as Mr. Tshisekedi suggests. President Biden, old man, I dare say, as you and other leaders evade a past “not to be reconsidered” but instead find a “need to look to the future,” I remind you YOUNG MEN are being exploited in the PRESENT. Successors, command your FUTURE – Hark , criminals abound!

 “Mikey Mouse Operations”

A little birdy, a “canary in the coalmine” heard of those “Mikey Mouse” operations in the South Atlantic, Africa and South America. Land rich with Conflict Minerals, aka Technology Critical Elements (TCE), Big Tech and Nuclear Power companies as well as “Black Markets” depend so much on.

Western powers political involvement and investment in conflict minerals reign supreme. As North points out “In 2007, the American mining multinational Freeport-McMoRan gained control of the copper and cobalt mine outside town, which is known locally as Tenke Fungurume Mining (TFM).” 

Not unlike wildcatters thirst for oil in the East, exploitation is not reserved to one country or continent. North shares that “Freeport has trouble elsewhere in the Third World. Its huge Grasberg gold and copper mine in Indonesia has long been under attack for environmental destruction and other ills.” Yet, what’s really telling and treacherous is the discovery of those who have sat on the board of these companies as well as current members.

Freeport-McMoRan past Board of Directors reportedly included former Secretary of State, former US Ambassador to UK, former US Secretary of Defense, American Lawyer and Venture Capitalist, former director of Texaco and director of Freeport Sulphur Co., past Admiral in US Navy, former Ambassador to China and Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, Chairman of Cranston Print Works, a Rockefeller-owned textile company, Senior Vice President of United States Trust Company.  All but three are said to be dead or close to death.

Current Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Board of Directors have or had professional association with companies or individuals that include Arthur Andersen & Co, BP and other oil and gas, Witco Corporation, a chemical manufacturer, Monsanto Company, PPG Industries, UPS, Ernst & Young LLP, Marathon Oil Corporation, KDG Construction Consulting, ConocoPhillips, Sun Life Financial, AT&T Inc and Solid Power, Inc., Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATV) and former Advisor to President George W. Bush for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

BOARD ADVISORS? According to company’s website:

J. Bennett Johnston

Senator Johnston is the Chairman of Johnston & Associates, LLC, a business consulting firm. He is also the Chairman of Johnston Development Co. LLC, a project development firm, and provides consulting services to FCX… 

J. Stapleton Roy

Ambassador Roy joined Kissinger Associates, Inc., international consultants and consultants to FCX, in January 2001 and is now Senior Advisor… During his forty-five year career with the U.S. Government, he has served in many different capacities, including Ambassador to Singapore from 1984 through 1986, Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China from 1991 until 1995 and as Ambassador to Indonesia from 1996 until 1999.  Most recently, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research from November 1999 until December 2000…Ambassador Roy also served on the board of directors of ConocoPhillips, from which he retired in May 2008.

Company appears to have chosen well when it came to recruiting or seeking advice from a government agent who appears to be well versed in Asia. China, after Taiwan’s acquisition, you may wish to take heed of operations in the South Pacific especially Indonesia.

US Big Tech Funding Armies in Congo?

US gun manufacturers are said to indirectly fund Mexican drug cartels with weapons. Cartels in turn reportedly supply Americans with drugs including fentanyl. Responsible for the deaths of thousands, fentanyl was developed by Belgian physician Paul Janssen and his team of scientists. Some may say poetic justice would have been Belgium becoming addicted to fentanyl.

Ironically, it is the US who has grown addicted to chemicals, AND NOW MINERALS. Sure, electronic manufacturers worldwide profit from their use of Congo conflict minerals. But it is US big tech and social media which not only profit but have enabled and promoted their use of gadgets and e-vehicles. In turn, DIRECTLY funding armies in Congo that control forced labor.

In “Congo’s Conflict Minerals: The Next Blood Diamonds”  John Prendergast, Founding Director of The Sentry and Contributor Ryan Gosling highlight “The war in Congo is a war which most people know nothing about, despite the fact that we’re all directly connected to it.”

How? Electronically. Just about every f*&#$ device in your home and on our planet! Congo may not make a lot of the products we buy, but they sure as hell make it possible for us to text, shop online or drive a Tesla. Yet, the price we pay is nothing compared to what Africans, specifically people in Congo face.

“Congo is the deadliest war in the world for a reason. For the last 150 years, the world has taken whatever it wanted from this country, from people who were enslaved for America’s plantations, to ivory for our jewelry, to rubber for our automobile industry, to uranium for our atomic bombs, to today’s conflict minerals for our cell phones, laptops and other products. Finally, a global people’s movement has begun to be formed to stop this history of destructive extraction.”

Meantime, “Mr. Tshisekedi has announced that he intends to make Congo ‘the world capital for strategic minerals.” According to the New York Times, Congo “today is plagued by violence and poverty despite its wealth of natural resources.”

Sir, when you say “strategic minerals” do you mean Cobalt, Niobium and Copper used for electric gadgets and vehicles? Or hydrogen boron, lithium, deuterium and tritium, those TCEs which give rockets or reactors their big bang?

“War Crimes Shouldn’t Pay”    

“Pull back the curtain on wars, mass atrocities, and other human rights abuses, and you’ll find grand corruption and unchecked greed.”

Africa, Our Beloved Country Cries Again!

In the current social and economic unrest around the world, if one truly listens, one can hear Africa, beloved country, cry for the next generation.

“Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.”