I also have reservations about this one.
President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a rare earths and critical minerals deal Monday at the White House.
On the surface of it, this is a Good Thing in that it very much loosens the stranglehold that the fucking ChiComs have on rare earth production, which they have signaled as a boycott threat in dealing with the U.S.
However, I note with some displeasure the comment also made after the signing:
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum praised the deal.
“Critical mineral independence is essential to our national security, and thanks to @POTUS, America is finally prioritizing the resources essential to our defense, technology, and energy sectors!”
That statement is quite true… but there are a couple of home truths we have to deal with here.
The first is that when it comes to rare earth reserves, the United States has the largest such in the entire world, much larger than the next two or three countries combined.
The second home truth is that while we have all the rare earth minerals we need, we are prevented from producing it because of the raft of ecological and NIMBY regulations and barriers hamstringing its mining.
So it’s all very well to sign agreements with countries like Australia, but that’s not actually “mineral independence”, is it? Lest anyone forget, the Australia of today is far from the Australia of, say, post WWII. Now their government is a bunch of frigging Commies — politically speaking, OzPM Albanese is at about the same level as Nancy fucking Pelosi, their diplomats are just as bad — and I don’t trust Commies of any stripe, furriners especially.
Of course, I mean no disrespect to my several Oz Readers, because judging from the tone and temper of their many emails to me, I gather that they (and many other Strylians) have an even deeper loathing for their Lefty government types than I do. But these politicians, lest we forget, have nevertheless been elected by the populace, so my Oz readers are in the distinct minority.
From a global realpolitik perspective, of course we should strengthen our ties with nations like Australia who are threatened by ChiCom expansion plans. But let’s also tread carefully all the same, because in the end, Commies are Commies and there’s no telling how they may behave in future.
As any IT professional will tell you, a backup is always a good idea.
For any non-renewable resource, e.g. lumber, I’m more than happy to consume the stocks of a (friendly) foreign source rather than deplete our own. The caveat being we need to ensure we retain the ability to draw on our own stock should the need arise.
There is absolutely no chance that this Rare Earth deal with Australia will ever go ahead.
Every single proposed new mine or downstream processing plant is attacked from every direction by green activists, the so called “first nations” grifters, defenders of the never before seen and endangered hairy arsed lizard or some other obscure species of wildlife.
Judges appointed by far left governments constantly make rulings that defy common sense and then wonder why nobody in their right mind would ever invest in any Australian project.
An example; a farmer in my area of Western Australia was fined $100,000.00 for building a bridge over a creek ON HIS PROPERTY that supposedly stopped a mythical aboriginal “rainbow serpent” from its journey.
That slimy grub Albanese (Prime Minister) would sell his soul for a pat on the head from President Trump.
Excuse my grumpiness.
See what I mean about my Oz Readers?
Oh, and Bluey: grumpiness is not an unknown expression on this here back porch of mine.
American communist Judges have prevented all sorts of beneficial activities. Story I watched just yesterday was of Arizona courts in combination with communist Native Indian tribe holding up a copper mine (AZ is the copper state) 7000 ft below ground. This for 10 years !!!!
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6383486272112
OMB will do irreparable damage to the friendly relationship with Australia if he send that fuckstick Kevin Rudd back to Australia. They don’t want him anywhere near them….