Buffalo Roam
Registered Senior Member
hypewaders
But here we are not talking about the cold war, we are talking about Iran, and Israel, major players, and the rest of the middle east as minor players, and in the end the super players, the U.S. Russia, and China, it will be started with the major players, suck in the minor players, and then the Super Players, Mushrooms on the Horizon anyone? And remember the Soviet Union and the U.S. had sane nontheocratic leadership, not a Theocratic Government lookin for the Mahdi, Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a "contract" pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran, and this is what you say, is a man looking to deterence?
One of the first acts of Ahmadinejad's government was to donate about £10 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the pious come to drop messages to the Hidden Imam into a holy well. The most remarkable aspect of Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace, and Ahmadinejad will create this chaos and war to pave the way for the Mahdi.
The Earth is a geochemically differentiated planet. Early in its evolution it underwent extensive melting, during which dense metallic elements and metal sulfides settled to its center to form Earth's core. Accordingly, a number of metallic elements, including gold, cobalt, the platinum metals, and nickel are very badly depeleted in the crust. To make matters even worse, the accessible reserves of a number of minerals, especially the metals, are very unequally distributed within the crust. For example, 99% of our planet's known crustal reserves of the platinum metals are located in southern Africa or in Russia. These same areas contain 98% of the world's manganese ore, 97% of the vanadium, and 96% of the chromium. When we make steel, we use manganese from the Republic of South Africa and Gabon, and chromium from South Africa and the Russia. High-performance jet engines are made of alloys containing cobalt from Zaire. A wide range of industrial catalysts and corrosion-resistant coatings are made from platinum-group elements, which also are supplied mainly by South Africa and the Russia. For each of these vitally important resources we are far more dependent on the Soviet Union and South Africa then we are upon OPEC for petroleum. The cobalt market has already undergone one episode of price volatility reminiscent of the heyday of OPEC, and we can scarcely place our trust in the unfailing stability and goodwill of these suppliers. Would the Russia look with favor on an American request for enough titanium to build the B-1?
While a South Africa-Russian cartel boggles the mind, and is surely not a near-term likelihood, we must bear in mind the great emphasis the Russia places on infiltration of southern Africa. South Africa, how enthusiastic would the United States be about the prospect of defending it against sabotage, inciting of rebellion, and guerilla infiltration by Cuban-trained troops from neighboring Marxist states? Many of the deep mines in South Africa are very vulnerable to sabotage, and many of the mineral sources in other southern African nations are dependent upon relatively fragile transporation links with the outside world.
But here we are not talking about the cold war, we are talking about Iran, and Israel, major players, and the rest of the middle east as minor players, and in the end the super players, the U.S. Russia, and China, it will be started with the major players, suck in the minor players, and then the Super Players, Mushrooms on the Horizon anyone? And remember the Soviet Union and the U.S. had sane nontheocratic leadership, not a Theocratic Government lookin for the Mahdi, Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a "contract" pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran, and this is what you say, is a man looking to deterence?
One of the first acts of Ahmadinejad's government was to donate about £10 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the pious come to drop messages to the Hidden Imam into a holy well. The most remarkable aspect of Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace, and Ahmadinejad will create this chaos and war to pave the way for the Mahdi.
The Earth is a geochemically differentiated planet. Early in its evolution it underwent extensive melting, during which dense metallic elements and metal sulfides settled to its center to form Earth's core. Accordingly, a number of metallic elements, including gold, cobalt, the platinum metals, and nickel are very badly depeleted in the crust. To make matters even worse, the accessible reserves of a number of minerals, especially the metals, are very unequally distributed within the crust. For example, 99% of our planet's known crustal reserves of the platinum metals are located in southern Africa or in Russia. These same areas contain 98% of the world's manganese ore, 97% of the vanadium, and 96% of the chromium. When we make steel, we use manganese from the Republic of South Africa and Gabon, and chromium from South Africa and the Russia. High-performance jet engines are made of alloys containing cobalt from Zaire. A wide range of industrial catalysts and corrosion-resistant coatings are made from platinum-group elements, which also are supplied mainly by South Africa and the Russia. For each of these vitally important resources we are far more dependent on the Soviet Union and South Africa then we are upon OPEC for petroleum. The cobalt market has already undergone one episode of price volatility reminiscent of the heyday of OPEC, and we can scarcely place our trust in the unfailing stability and goodwill of these suppliers. Would the Russia look with favor on an American request for enough titanium to build the B-1?
While a South Africa-Russian cartel boggles the mind, and is surely not a near-term likelihood, we must bear in mind the great emphasis the Russia places on infiltration of southern Africa. South Africa, how enthusiastic would the United States be about the prospect of defending it against sabotage, inciting of rebellion, and guerilla infiltration by Cuban-trained troops from neighboring Marxist states? Many of the deep mines in South Africa are very vulnerable to sabotage, and many of the mineral sources in other southern African nations are dependent upon relatively fragile transporation links with the outside world.
