# Will this discovery \[of mineral deposits in Afghanistan\] mean the end of al Quaida? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 14, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087 "2010-06-14T02:55:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087/61 "2010-06-15T13:41:04Z")
Peace through greed? An idea whose time has come. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087/62 "2010-06-15T14:04:20Z")
> [@Dick\_Dastardly](#): > > There are zero examples of a country like this whose wealth stems from one natural resource, like oil or what have you, becoming more democratic, prosperous, or free. Well, there is Venezuela. ::d&r:: ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087/63 "2010-06-15T14:08:49Z")
The current high value of lithium, I believe, derives almost entirely from the fact that it is an essential component of the best currently available types of batteries for powering things like laptop computers and electric cars. How long is it likely to be, I wonder, before some advance in battery technology (which, I understand, is being very actively researched) renders lithium based batteries obsolete, and the price of the stuff nosedives? Ah well, back to growing opium i guess. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087/64 "2010-06-15T14:12:08Z")
> [@Dick\_Dastardly](#): > > If you’ve got a country with a strong democratic government and honest uncorrupt institutions that suddenly comes into massive mineral wealth, like Norway, then it’s a huge benefit. Note that Norway, being one of the least corrupt countries on earth, nationalised the oil and all the profits go into a giant sovereign wealth fund to benefit the Norwegian people, and compare that to Britain handing its North Sea oil over to BP. Don’t disagree about the likely outcome in Afganistan but this is just nonsense. Firstly, Norway did not “nationalise the oil” and secondly Britain did not hand over its oil to BP. In both countries the government sold licenses to explore and drill to commercial companies and then taxed the the revenue and profit from the companies pumping oil and gas. The difference has been that Norway has saved the money while the UK has spent it under both Conservative and Labour governments! Very different sort of countries and economies. The UK has about 12 times the population of Norway and somewhat smaller oil reserves so the impact of the oil has been very different. Given the structural problems in the UK economy over the last 30 years I don’t see any way a British Chancellor could have used the revenues to create a sovereign wealth fund rather than using it to keep down the current account defecit. Not saying its a good thing but nothing to do with corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087/65 "2010-06-15T14:28:20Z")
Merged **BrainGlutton** ’s thread into this one. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087/66 "2010-06-15T14:46:31Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > The current high value of lithium, I believe, derives almost entirely from the fact that it is an essential component of the best currently available types of batteries for powering things like laptop computers and electric cars. How long is it likely to be, I wonder, before some advance in battery technology (which, I understand, is being very actively researched) renders lithium based batteries obsolete, and the price of the stuff nosedives? The moment-to-moment price of lithium is largely irrelevant. Lithium has all sorts of uses outside laptop batteries. It has the highest specific heat capacity of any element, so it makes an excellent coolant in super-high-temperature applications (think power plants). You can make lots of other electronic components out of it besides batteries. Alloyed with less exotic metals, it’s an extremely lightweight and strong construction material - handy for building cars, aircraft, and the like. Various lithium ions are used in nuclear applications. _It’s the alkali metal of the future!_ Okay, so it’s also somewhat unstable, toxic (extremely toxic when combined with water), and might cause birth defects, but what the hey. ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Dastardly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@Dick\_Dastardly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dick_Dastardly)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087/67 "2010-06-15T14:53:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Well, there is Venezuela. > ::d&r:: Oh yeah, Hugo peace be upon him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Dastardly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@Dick\_Dastardly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dick_Dastardly)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087/68 "2010-06-15T14:58:05Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > Don’t disagree about the likely outcome in Afganistan but this is just nonsense. Firstly, Norway did not “nationalise the oil” and secondly Britain did not hand over its oil to BP. In both countries the government sold licenses to explore and drill to commercial companies and then taxed the the revenue and profit from the companies pumping oil and gas. The difference has been that Norway has saved the money while the UK has spent it under both Conservative and Labour governments! > > Very different sort of countries and economies. The UK has about 12 times the population of Norway and somewhat smaller oil reserves so the impact of the oil has been very different. Given the structural problems in the UK economy over the last 30 years I don’t see any way a British Chancellor could have used the revenues to create a sovereign wealth fund rather than using it to keep down the current account defecit. Not saying its a good thing but nothing to do with corruption. Norway formed a company that was owned by the government of Norway to develop their oil reserves. It got partially privatised in the 1980s but the government still owns most of the shares and obviously banked the proceeds in their sovereign wealth fund and the privatisation was done to diversify Norway’swealth fund portfolio not just to cash in and blow the dough. Britain didn’t give every single concession to BP but they got the overwhelming majority and all the juicy bits. Regardless of what Britain would have done with the money, it would have had far more income from the oil had it followed Norway’s example. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-this-discovery-of-mineral-deposits-in-afghanistan-mean-the-end-of-al-quaida/543087.md?page=3)