J.P. Morgan's hunt for Afghan gold
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bornnraisedoffCMR
Members Posts: 1,073 ✭✭
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/11/jp-morgan-hunt-afghan-gold/
And this is what it's all about.
FORTUNE -- Qara Zaghan, Afghanistan: The four Black Hawk helicopters sweep down on this remote river valley, flying fast and single file. Snow covers the mountains' peaks, but the lower slopes look like rust -- dry, rocky, and bare. As we bank around the river bend, we see our first flash of green in the fields below and then the rectangular mud huts of the village, where hundreds of Afghans mass to greet us.
"That's the mine over there," one of my companions says, pointing to the cliffs rising above the village.
That's it? That's the gold mine? It doesn't look all that different from the forbidding country we've been traversing: just another pile of rocks and scree. The jet-lagged man in the seat across from me knows better. His sleepy eyes are suddenly alert. If anyone can wrest a fortune from Afghanistan's rubble, it is this man, Ian Hannam.
Arriving in a developing nation with his iPad and his enigmatic smile, Hannam personifies the soft side of Western power. He doesn't bend people to his will with weapons or threats. But there is no mistaking the dealmaker's impact: In his wake, mountains are razed, villages electrified, schools built, and fortunes made.
To Hannam, chairman of J.P. Morgan Capital Markets, Afghanistan represents a gigantic, untapped opportunity -- one of the last great natural-resource frontiers. Landlocked and pinioned by imperial invaders, Afghanistan has been cursed by its geography for thousands of years. Now, for the first time, Hannam believes, that geography could be an asset. The two most resource-starved nations on the planet, China and India, sit next door to Afghanistan, where, according to Pentagon estimates, minerals worth nearly $1 trillion lie buried. True, there is a war under way. And it's unclear how the death of Osama bin Laden will impact the country's political and economic environment. But Hannam is not your usual investment banker: A former soldier, he has done business in plenty of strife-torn countries. So have all the members of his team, two of them former special forces soldiers who have fought here.
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And this is what it's all about.
Comments
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guess JP Morgan is about to take their ?
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you guys can point the finger at them....and if you do that its really unfair....that's my bank... -
Sadly thats just one rung in the ladder.
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as a veteran poster, you should know to put more than a link in the OPbornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/11/jp-morgan-hunt-afghan-gold/
And this is what it's all about. -
America is still an empire Bornandraised. Most of the wars going on worldwide are over resources. Israel is stealing land for future growth among Israeli settlers. Similar to ? Germany annexing land among its neighbors to allow for a "greater Germany", one which would cover all of Europe, according to ? . Now Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue building illegal settlements and steal even more land, before Palestinians call for an offcial Palestinian state.
The Iraq War was over Saddam's refusal to sell Americans more oil and his further refusal to continue using the dollar in petro exchanges. That wouldv'e hurt many American oil companies, and Bush (along with ? Cheney and Condoleeza Rice) had massive oil company connections, so oil companies easily persuaded him to cover their losses. In either case, shame on Obama and shame on American govt for continuing this war scam which is bankrupting the country. Private companies are getting rich off Afghanistan and Iraq, while American debt grows funding this ? . -
kingblaze84 wrote: »America is still an empire Bornandraised. Most of the wars going on worldwide are over resources. Israel is stealing land for future growth among Israeli settlers. Similar to ? Germany annexing land among its neighbors to allow for a "greater Germany", one which would cover all of Europe, according to ? . Now Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue building illegal settlements and steal even more land, before Palestinians call for an offcial Palestinian state.
The Iraq War was over Saddam's refusal to sell Americans more oil and his further refusal to continue using the dollar in petro exchanges. That wouldv'e hurt many American oil companies, and Bush (along with ? Cheney and Condoleeza Rice) had massive oil company connections, so oil companies easily persuaded him to cover their losses. In either case, shame on Obama and shame on American govt for continuing this war scam which is bankrupting the country. Private companies are getting rich off Afghanistan and Iraq, while American debt grows funding this ? .
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Bin Laden is dead and there are only 100 AL Qaeda members in Afghanistan.....so why are we still there?
Haven't we killed enough Arabs? -
killing brown people is like breathing for them
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Last Of My Kind wrote: »killing brown people is like breathing for them
I doubt anyone can prove you wrong. America the bloodyful.
To all the Bloods, Latin Kings, and Ms 13 members out there, keep cappin' those slugs. If American govt can get away with non stop blood shed, than everyone else should get away with it too. -
It's neo-colonialism.
In the past, the Europeans would come into a 3rd world country, bribe the war lords, befriend the kings then have them killed, then come and and ? the resources of that area and indenture the population. Now, we do it a little more nicely. We use Vaseline. We come in under the guise of "Spreading Democracy and freedom" ...install our own dictators, befriend and bribe the bureaucrats, give the local population some ? wage and say we are raising their standard of living, and continue to ? THEIR land of THEIR resources.
This is what it's all about. It's not about a global conspiracy to enslave human kind or some ? like that, ? , we are already slaves. We just dont see the chains. -
kingblaze84 wrote: »Bin Laden is dead and there are only 100 AL Qaeda members in Afghanistan.....so why are we still there?
Haven't we killed enough Arabs?
The article states why we are there. Has nothing to do with terrorism or Bin Laden. -
bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »It's neo-colonialism.
In the past, the Europeans would come into a 3rd world country, bribe the war lords, befriend the kings then have them killed, then come and and ? the resources of that area and indenture the population. Now, we do it a little more nicely. We use Vaseline. We come in under the guise of "Spreading Democracy and freedom" ...install our own dictators, befriend and bribe the bureaucrats, give the local population some ? wage and say we are raising their standard of living, and continue to ? THEIR land of THEIR resources.
This is what it's all about. It's not about a global conspiracy to enslave human kind or some ? like that, ? , we are already slaves. We just dont see the chains.
For the most part I agree. I think the biggest problem with neo-colonialism, is that the leading actors really do see themselves as different from their predecessors. Which is quite funny (not in the literal sense anyway). The look at their predecessors as barbaric in their actions and "limited" by their knowledge. As if they, the neo-colonist, are fulfilling this empty roll for the world. While some are self aware enough to realize the error of their ways, many are too blinded by their ideal outlook on life (economic or religious). As a result, they develop an inability to care enough to see any other existence in the world beside their own.
Exactly like their predecessors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwEihRd7fKA
