I´m not sure who the author (Duggan Flanakin) of this article might be (a mining industry lobbyist?), but it seems solid. The blog it´s posted on is a bit weird, though, but that´s for another time!
Flanakin summarizes what some of us already knew: the United States is heavily dependent on China for its rare earth minerals or REMs. (So is the rest of the world.) Everything from mobile phones to military and aerospace technologies are dependent on REMs. So is any "Green New Deal" scenario featuring wind turbines or electric cars. The latter also needs enormous amounts of copper and other more regular minerals, most of which apparently isn´t mined in the US at present either. Or not enough, at least. The article points out that the most strident proponents of decarbonization (i.e. the environmentalist movement or should I say Green lobby) are also opposed to domestic mining of the minerals needed to sustain the transition to a post-carbon economy. In effect, the Green lobby makes the United States dependent on China! A China that has become more assertive on the world stage lately. No big deal, I suppose, if you´re pro-Chinese, but if you´re Biden and is emulating Trump´s tougher stance on Beijing, probably a potentially very large problem...
The author points out that China´s dominance of the REM market is part of a long-term strategy, and that it´s the country´s centralized planned economy that made this possible. An intriguing admission, since the author doesn´t seem to be a leftist of any sort, but rather a supporter of more mining by private corporations.
If the article is right - and I think it is - somebody should take a closer look at exactly who stands behind the Green movement in the United States, since its geopolitical objectives so closely line up with those of the People´s Republic of China. For instance, what role does Michael Bloomberg play in all this? He is one of the top capitalists in the United States, and also an obvious Chinese "asset". Of course environmental degradation and climate change are real, but the movement mobilizing around these issues may simply be a tool of one establishment faction used to beat the other ones into line.
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