Minerals and the Resource Curse

You may have read the DoD's PR offensive in the New York Times, which didn't contain news of any study fresher than 2007. Beyond what Michael Cohen said, I would add that if there's actual stuff in the ground that's worth money, the world has an obvious choice; we can let Afghanistan turn into a libertarian paradise Wild West of mining operations, a la Angola, the Congo, etc., or we can help push the country in the direction of Botswana and Chile (pictured here). Of course at the moment I'm firmly of the notion that there's more heat than light to this story, but we'll have to see what happens from here.

Update: With all the Nirvana references, I forgot that Evanescence also has a song titled "Lithium":