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US SOCOM also just pulled out of Nigeria. The rumor is that this is becoming politically sensitive, so the US DoW is turning things over to none other than Eri
by esseph 1mo ago
US SOCOM also just pulled out of Nigeria.
The rumor is that this is becoming politically sensitive, so the US DoW is turning things over to none other than Erik Prince (Blackwater, Xe, etc).
Nigeria is an important source of minerals, for example: lithium.
Africa is being hotly contested right now between ISIS, the US / West, China, and state-local political factions.
- Izikiel43 1mo agoFor lithium, isn’t South America and other parts of the world a better deal due to having the largest reserves and being more politically stable?
- esseph 1mo agoA lot of those places already have long term contracts and rights locked up.
- Robotbeat 1mo agoIn Nigeria: Lithium totally irrelevant compared to oil. I think people have this really weird idea that lithium is to electric cars as oil is to regular cars, but it’s literally like a factor of 50 less.
- esseph 1mo agoDatacenters need batteries too, and they're drawing a BUNCH of power these days. 1 rack can now easily use as much power as 100 US homes (120kw), with some rack designs pushing to 200 and 300kw.
- esseph 1mo agohttps://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/china-africa-and-the-geopolitics-of-lithium https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/china-africa-and-the-... China is on track to control around 81% of global spodumene refinery production by 2027.
- myko 1mo ago> US DoW To be clear, it is the DoD - Department of Defense
- the_sleaze_ 1mo agoClears up understanding but the new name encompasses the new regimes stance quite effectively.
- esseph 1mo agoI mean... https://www.war.gov/ https://www.war.gov/ I get what you are saying, and you're not exactly wrong, but... If I called it DoW, people get mad and point it out. If I call it DoD, people get mad and point it out. And if I put both? Fuck all of you, I'm not mentioning both over and over like DoW/DoD is GNU/Linux :)
- myko 1mo agoI get it, it's a weird time. I recommend not giving into the idiocy of the current US admin.
- esseph 1mo agoFollowup: The PMCs that Erik Prince has are primarily doing oilfield and oil worker protection in places like Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Same for mining facilities. https://www.upstreamonline.com/exclusive/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-aims-to-tackle-security-risks-to-help-oilfield-guys-do-their-job-/2-1-1899786 https://www.upstreamonline.com/exclusive/blackwater-founder-... https://www.theafricareport.com/381915/erik-prince-returns-to-the-drc-amid-us-mineral-security-push/ https://www.theafricareport.com/381915/erik-prince-returns-t...