Visualisation of Activity in Afghanistan using the Wikileaks data from Mike Dewar on Vimeo.

HONG KONG — China, which has been blocking shipments of crucial minerals to Japan for the last month, has now quietly halted shipments of those materials to the United States and Europe, three industry officials said on Tuesday.

Rare Earth Mineral

So what is a Rare Earth Mineral

A rare earth mineral is a mineral which contains one or more rare earth elements as major metal constituents. Yttrium is found in almost all rare earth minerals. Rare earth minerals are usually found in association with alkaline to per-alkaline igneous complexes, in pegmatites associated with alkaline magmas and in or associated with carbonatite intrusives. Perovskite mineral phases are common hosts to rare earth elements within the alkaline complexes. Mantle derived carbonate melts also are carriers of the rare earths. Hydrothermal deposits associated with alkaline magmatism contain a variety of rare earth minerals.

The majority of rare earth minerals are mined in Asia, with China producing 93 percent of the world’s supply, and more than 99 percent of the most valuable supply. – Wikipedia

So where is it used?

Yttrium ( /ˈɪtriəm/ IT-ree-əm) is a chemical element with symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanoids and has historically been classified as a rare earth element. The most important use of yttrium is in making phosphors, such as the red ones used in television cathode ray tube displays and in LEDs.^[5] Other uses include the production of electrodes, electrolytes, electronic filters, lasers and superconductors; various medical applications; and as traces in various materials to enhance their properties. Yttrium has no known biological role, but exposure to yttrium compounds can cause lung disease in humans.^[6] – Wikipedia

So lets get to the point here. Look people American Economy is in shambles, there is a political mess there. Conservatives are gaining ground and pro-religious movement is taking place. Even the most optimistic Goldman Sachs has turned pessimistic

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the U.S. economy is likely to be “fairly bad” or “very bad” over the next six to nine months.“We see two main scenarios,” analysts led by Jan Hatzius, the New York-based chief U.S. economist at the company, wrote in an e-mail to clients. “A fairly bad one in which the economy grows at a 1 1/2 percent to 2 percent rate through the middle of next year and the unemployment rate rises moderately to 10 percent, and a very bad one in which the economy returns to an outright recession.”- Bloomberg

If you still want some gruesome statistics here they are:

The number of Americans receiving food stamps rose to a record 41.8 million in July as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high, the government said.

Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program subsidies for food purchases jumped 18 percent from a year earlier and increased 1.4 percent from June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a statement on its website. Participation has set records for 20 straight months.

Unemployment in September may have reached 9.7 percent, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts in advance of the release of last month’s rate on Oct. 8. Unemployment was 9.6 percent in July, near levels last seen in 1983.- Bloomberg

YES PEOPLE 41.8mn PEOPLE OF 300mn POPULATION. OR 13.93% OF USA IS ON LIFE SUPPORT, and it wont be surprising to know if another big chunk is struggling.

So let me get this straight, FORGET DOLLARS. If you think you will do USA a favor by opening the route so that they may reward you with Dollars, you are doing a mistake. Would they spend on their population or YOURS.

Buy gold. Protect your resources. Develop your Human Resource. Tell your generals and politicans to GET REAL and GET SOME BALLS.

Peace.   

Is it an opportunity to end feudalism once and for all?Can the anger be directed to this cause?

This report was issued by UNOCHA Pakistan. It covers the period from 23 to 25 August. The next report will be issued on or around 27 August.
I. HIGHLIGHTS/KEY PRIORITIES
• Significantly scaled up assistance in Sindh and Punjab continues to be required; WASH, health, shelter and food interventions remain the key priorities.
• New areas in Sindh have been inundated in recent days as floodwaters move through the south of the province.
• With a growing risk of outbreaks of waterborne disease, close coordination between health and WASH clusters is of increasing importance.
• The logistics cluster continues to scale up its capacity to support in-country movement of relief items; reaching populations cut off by floodwaters, landslides and damaged infrastructure is an overarching challenge and additional airlift capacity is required.
• The Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan (PIFERP) is now 60% covered. A revised version of the plan, taking into account the large increase in numbers in need of assistance, is due to be launched during the third week of September.

  Source: Relief Web