Russia going back to Afghanistan? Kremlin confirms it could happen
28 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Almost a quarter century after Soviet troops left Afghanistan in defeat, Russia may return to the country by establishing "maintenance bases" for Russian-made military equipment after NATO winds down its operations there next year, Defense Ministry officials have confirmed.
"It is important to maintain the weapon systems and military equipment of the Afghan armed forces in a serviceable state," Sergei Koshelev, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's international cooperation department, told journalists late last week.
Moscow is extremely worried "that any escalation of the situation in Afghanistan after NATO troops pull out in 2014 could have a negative impact on the security of both Russia and other European nations," he added.[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2013/0401/Russia-going-back-to-Afghanistan-Kremlin-confirms-it-could-happen"]Source[/URL]
Hmm i wonder why everyone wants Afghanistan...
oh right! Opium and heroin! which you can make huge profits from and smuggle to your enemies.
+ having bases there gives Russia a valuable strategic positon right next to their ally Iran.
Iran won't have to worry anymore about fighting a war on two fronts.
[QUOTE=Stalk;40306372]Hmm i wonder why everyone wants Afghanistan...
oh right! Opium and heroin! which you can make huge profits from and smuggle to your enemies.
+ having bases there gives Russia a valuable strategic positon right next to their ally Iran.
Iran won't have to worry anymore about fighting a war on two fronts.[/QUOTE]
Yeah man, everyones invading Afghanistan for some sweet sweet gear.
Are you dumb? Why would anyone invade Afghanistan for Heroin, when you can just manufacture morphine which is just as good if not better?
[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;40306726]Yeah man, everyones invading Afghanistan for some sweet sweet gear.
Are you dumb? Why would anyone invade Afghanistan for Heroin, when you can just manufacture morphine which is just as good if not better?[/QUOTE]
But that doesn't involve blowing shit up you fool.
[QUOTE=Stalk;40306372]Hmm i wonder why everyone wants Afghanistan...
oh right! Opium and heroin! which you can make huge profits from and smuggle to your enemies.
+ having bases there gives Russia a valuable strategic positon right next to their ally Iran.
Iran won't have to worry anymore about fighting a war on two fronts.[/QUOTE]
we did some geological surveys when we were there, found the mountains are rich in copper, rare-earths, and potential untapped resources,
also putin's calender runs backwards, so since its 2013 today, his must say its 1983 again
[editline]16th April 2013[/editline]
Mining in Afghanistan is controlled by the Ministry of Mines and Industry, which is headquartered in Kabul with regional offices in other parts of the country. Afghanistan has over 1400 mineral fields, containing barite, chromite, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, petroleum, precious and semiprecious stones, salt, sulfur, talc, zinc among many other minerals. Gemstones include high-quality emerald, lapis lazuli, red garnet and ruby. It is believed that among other things the country holds $3 trillion in untapped mineral deposits.[1]
from wikipedia, and damn thats alot of untapped wealth in a country that cannot leverage it, also one that could use some "help" with keeping their goverment intact
Russia is the one country which wouldn't invade over resources.
One of the things I remember from my Geography teacher was:
"If you're ever asked to name which country has a certain resource, just say Russia and you'll be right 99% of the time."
There are a lot of rare earth minerals in afghanistan. If russia ripped the vice grip china has on everyones balls in regards to rare earth they could get rich as fuck.
the problem is china and russia are both powerplayers in the region, china is already buying up the mineral rights to many places in africa, afghanistan wouldn't be too much of a difference to go there, russia idk why else they would invade other than because putin belives its 1981
[QUOTE=Sableye;40306784]we did some geological surveys when we were there, found the mountains are rich in copper, rare-earths, and potential untapped resources,
also putin's calender runs backwards, so since its 2013 today, his must say its 1983 again
[editline]16th April 2013[/editline]
Mining in Afghanistan is controlled by the Ministry of Mines and Industry, which is headquartered in Kabul with regional offices in other parts of the country. Afghanistan has over 1400 mineral fields, containing barite, chromite, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, petroleum, precious and semiprecious stones, salt, sulfur, talc, zinc among many other minerals. Gemstones include high-quality emerald, lapis lazuli, red garnet and ruby. It is believed that among other things the country holds $3 trillion in untapped mineral deposits.[1]
from wikipedia, and damn thats alot of untapped wealth in a country that cannot leverage it, also one that could use some "help" with keeping their goverment intact[/QUOTE]
[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8785238]China moved in back in 2009 and started going after their copper.[/url] Afghanistan actually has the largest known reserve of copper in the world.
[editline]16 April 2013[/editline]
IIRC, it's the largest reserve. It may just actually be [i]one[/i] of the largest. But it's worth billions, anyway.
Ask those people who survived that war if they want to return. I think the question will be rhetoric.
Those Afghans will never catch a break
The U.S. should just help Afghanistan set up mining operations, and then take a 5% cut of the profit. Boom, debt in both countries solved, Afghanistan also obtains a stable economy. I mean, we're already there, so may as well.
They're not invading guys. They're building bases to maintain all the old Russian shit Afghanistan still uses. It's not a war, if anything it's aiding Afghanistan in the reconstruction. Though they will be subject to attack by insurgent groups.
I guess people don't like reading. See, the Afghan Army uses a lot of Russian-made equipment. It clearly states that they are looking into opening maintenance bases to help maintain said equipment. They are not invading again.
[editline]16th April 2013[/editline]
Ninja'd
[QUOTE=draugur;40306975]The U.S. should just help Afghanistan set up mining operations, and then take a 5% cut of the profit. Boom, debt in both countries solved, Afghanistan also obtains a stable economy.[/QUOTE]
we setup their oil industry, they are now exporting
[editline]16th April 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=SKEEA;40306983]I guess people don't like reading. See, the Afghan Army uses a lot of Russian-made equipment. It clearly states that they are looking into opening maintenance bases to help maintain said equipment. They are not invading again.
[editline]16th April 2013[/editline]
Ninja'd[/QUOTE]
well you say that, but this is almost exactly the same excuse they used the last time, and we know how well those "maintinence" bases worked out
[editline]16th April 2013[/editline]
they invaded to propup the pro-communist goverment and assist in hunting down insurgents
if there's one country in the world that doesn't need resources, it's fucking Russia
[QUOTE=Sableye;40306988]we setup their oil industry, they are now exporting
[editline]16th April 2013[/editline]
well you say that, but this is almost exactly the same excuse they used the last time, and we know how well those "maintinence" bases worked out
[editline]16th April 2013[/editline]
they invaded to propup the pro-communist goverment and assist in hunting down insurgents[/QUOTE]
More like the socialist government asked for support. It was like Vietnam in reverse.
[QUOTE=draugur;40306975]The U.S. should just help Afghanistan set up mining operations, and then take a 5% cut of the profit. Boom, debt in both countries solved, Afghanistan also obtains a stable economy. I mean, we're already there, so may as well.[/QUOTE]
yes, taking 5% profit from a small country exporting oil and minerals will solve the US massive debt crisis.
Could work out considering NATO is abandoning the Afghan people.
I guess someone has to look out for them.
[QUOTE=draugur;40306975]The U.S. should just help Afghanistan set up mining operations, and then take a 5% cut of the profit. Boom, debt in both countries solved, Afghanistan also obtains a stable economy. I mean, we're already there, so may as well.[/QUOTE]
The US is nearly $17 trillion in debt, if 5% of their reserves is $17 trillion then the total results of 100% of the profits equates to 5 times the world's GDP. Afghanistan's copper mine has 5 times the world's current GDP?
[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;40306726]Yeah man, everyones invading Afghanistan for some sweet sweet gear.
Are you dumb? Why would anyone invade Afghanistan for Heroin, when you can just manufacture morphine which is just as good if not better?[/QUOTE]
Dumb you say? Heroin is not used medically.
The war in Afghanistan is a pretty obvious opium/heroin war if you look into the facts. It is not the first time historically, wars have been fought over opium and the ability to supply your enemies with it.
Afghanistan produces 90% of the worlds opium and you make heroin out of opium incase you did not know. Which countries got the most problems with heroin? Russia, Iran and unsuprisingly the US.
Opium production dropped to a record low in the year 2001 because the taliban made sure nobody could grow it anymore. This is how the taliban turned their "weapons" towards the US.
The production skyrocketted the same year. But only after the events of 9/11 and the following invasion.
But they never told me this on CNN. So it can't be true.. right?
[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;40306726]Yeah man, everyones invading Afghanistan for some sweet sweet gear.
Are you dumb? Why would anyone invade Afghanistan for Heroin, when you can just manufacture morphine which is just as good if not better?[/QUOTE]
You do realize that heroin and morphine both come from the same plant, right? You don't "manufacture" morphine (unless you're a chemist who happens to hate himself, at least), you extract it from opium poppies. Which happens to be one of, if not the largest cash crop in Afghanistan and its neighboring countries. You then convert the Morphine over to Diacetylmorphine, also known as heroin, which has nearly the same pharmacological profile as morphine, only fifteen times more potent.
Furthermore the more modern semi-synthetic opiates (Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Hydromorphone, Oxymorphone, etc, etc) are synthesized from alkaloids in the opium poppy as well, usually morphine and codeine. Ignoring Fentanyl and its purely synthetic analogues, opium poppies are the sole source of the vast majority of today's painkillers.
While I'm not agreeing with him, it's hard for me to believe that Russia or even the US wouldn't be at least a little interested in some of the world's most prolific opium farms considering it's one of the most important plants in the history of modern medicine. Hell, there's been a push recently in Afghanistan for licensed medicinal poppy farms that would legitimately sell their crops to pharmaceutical companies to be purified and used as medicine.
Even though Russia is often antagonizing to the US, it would be interesting to see them police Afghanistan and not let it fall after we withdraw our forces.
But always you must consider ulterior motives.
[QUOTE=Stalk;40306372]Hmm i wonder why everyone wants Afghanistan...
oh right! Opium and heroin! which you can make huge profits from and smuggle to your enemies.
+ having bases there gives Russia a valuable strategic positon right next to their ally Iran.
Iran won't have to worry anymore about fighting a war on two fronts.[/QUOTE]
You are 100% correct and under the obama administration opium production has been increasing: [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/world/asia/afghanistan-opium-production-increases-for-3rd-year.html[/url]
[QUOTE=laserguided;40307111]More like the socialist government asked for support. It was like Vietnam in reverse.[/QUOTE]
Should really be "a" socialist government asked for support. If I remember right, Afghanistan was already in the beginning of a civil war and the communists were just barely holding on to being top dog and requested assistance from the USSR to keep them at that position.
[QUOTE=Starpluck;40307382]The US is nearly $17 trillion in debt, if 5% of their reserves is $17 trillion then the total results of 100% of the profits equates to 5 times the world's GDP. Afghanistan's copper mine has 5 times the world's current GDP?[/QUOTE]
"What is this concept of time and how does it work?"
Even if they only got 5% of a billion dollars in exports a year, that's still .05 billion more than they were making before. It's called investment. I didn't ever say that they were going to be able to pay the entire U.S. debt in a year, and if you somehow got that out of my post, I don't know what to say other than something rude about your intelligence.
[QUOTE=draugur;40310299] It's called investment.[/QUOTE]
Will the US economy be able to grow to pay back all this debt? That is the great question of modern economics it seems.
Sometimes I hope Keynes was right.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;40310229]Should really be "a" socialist government asked for support. If I remember right, Afghanistan was already in the beginning of a civil war and the communists were just barely holding on to being top dog and requested assistance from the USSR to keep them at that position.[/QUOTE]
They were holding on until the US aided the Mujahideen.
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