My son lived in Kinshasa for a year. The situation in DCR is so much more complicated and nuanced than the author discusses. He reads like a sensationalist look-at-me do gooder with no real grasp of the international political and local economic realities of Congo. "The children!!" SMH; elites don't give a damn about "the children". (See…
My son lived in Kinshasa for a year. The situation in DCR is so much more complicated and nuanced than the author discusses. He reads like a sensationalist look-at-me do gooder with no real grasp of the international political and local economic realities of Congo. "The children!!" SMH; elites don't give a damn about "the children". (See: 1985 Live Aid Concert.)China has almost total control of the mining; and other international players, including the US and Russia, are constantly throwing in insurgents and gorilla groups to destabilize the region politically, with the end goal to gain a monopoly through regime change. It is extremely dangerous there; my son was a Marine and they were instructed never to travel alone in the city and were forbidden to go outside of it. The authors claim that he was able to interview and see all these people and mines is dubious at best. Lastly, there is a great deal of research being done in improving battery technology and battery life. The "smart people" are highly incentivized to achieve both goals. My take on that is that necessity is always the mother of invention, so in due time, amazing discoveries will be made in both areas. In the meantime, I'd like to ask the author one question; in 2023, if no one has made headway in this area already, and with trillions of dollars at stake, what could possibly change politically to make that happen? We already know the answer.
My son lived in Kinshasa for a year. The situation in DCR is so much more complicated and nuanced than the author discusses. He reads like a sensationalist look-at-me do gooder with no real grasp of the international political and local economic realities of Congo. "The children!!" SMH; elites don't give a damn about "the children". (See: 1985 Live Aid Concert.)China has almost total control of the mining; and other international players, including the US and Russia, are constantly throwing in insurgents and gorilla groups to destabilize the region politically, with the end goal to gain a monopoly through regime change. It is extremely dangerous there; my son was a Marine and they were instructed never to travel alone in the city and were forbidden to go outside of it. The authors claim that he was able to interview and see all these people and mines is dubious at best. Lastly, there is a great deal of research being done in improving battery technology and battery life. The "smart people" are highly incentivized to achieve both goals. My take on that is that necessity is always the mother of invention, so in due time, amazing discoveries will be made in both areas. In the meantime, I'd like to ask the author one question; in 2023, if no one has made headway in this area already, and with trillions of dollars at stake, what could possibly change politically to make that happen? We already know the answer.