The Real Cost of Plundering the Planet’s Resources | Iran’s ayatollahs play the Middle East’s most dangerous game | A Journalist Exposes the Philippines’ Extralegal Killings | Stranded in Tunisia

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� � � � � � You Might Like � � � � � � � � � The Real Cost of Plundering the Planet's Resources - The New Yorker    The town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, doesn't have a lot to say for itself. Its Web site, which features a photo of a flowering tree next to a rusty bridge, notes that the town is "conveniently located between Asheville and Boone." According to the latest census data, it has 2,332 residents and a population density of 498.1 per square mile. A recent story in the local newspaper concerned the closing of the Hardee's on Highway 19E; this followed an incident, back in May, when a fourteen-year-old boy who'd eaten a biscuit at the restaurant began to hallucinate and had to be taken to the hospital. Without Spruce Pine, though, the global economy might well unravel. Spruce Pine's planetary importance follows from an accident of geology. Some three hundred and eighty million years ago, during the late Devonian period, the continent of Africa was drifting toward what would eventually become eastern North America. The force of its movement pressed the floor of a Paleozoic sea deep into the earth's mantle, where, in effect, it melted. Over the course of tens of millions of years, the molten rock cooled to form deposits of exceptionally pure mica and quartz, which were then pushed back up toward the surface. In the twentieth century, Spruce Pine's mica was mined to make windows for coal-burning stoves and insulation for vacuum tubes. In the computer age, it's the town's quartz that's critical. Silicon chips are essentially made of quartz, although this is a bit like saying that the "Mona Lisa" is essentially made of linseed oil. Manufacturing microchips is phenomenally complex and supremely exacting. The process generally begins with quartz's cousin, quartzite, which consists in large measure of silicon dioxide. Under very high heat, and in the presence of carbon, the quartzite gives up most of its oxygen. Then acid and a great deal more heat are applied, until the silicon reaches a purity level of 99.9999999 per cent, or, as it's known in the business, "nine nines." At this point, the silicon is ready to be fashioned into a "boule," or ingot, that weighs upward of two hundred pounds and consists of a single perfectly aligned crystal. It is here that Spruce Pine's quartz comes into play. Continued here Iran's ayatollahs play the Middle East's most dangerous game - The Economist    THE WARNING SIGNS that Israel’s war with Hamas may become a wider Middle East conflagration are flashing ominously. America has sent a second carrier strike group led by the USS Eisenhower to the Persian Gulf. “There’s a likelihood of escalation,” said Antony Blinken, the American secretary of state, on October 22nd. The chances of further attacks by Iranian proxies on American forces are growing, he continued: “We don’t want to see a second or third front develop.” Fears are also growing in Lebanon that Israel could use America’s cover to launch a pre-emptive strike. Israel has evacuated its towns near the border with Lebanon and Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has cautioned that if Hizbullah, an Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, enters the fighting, the consequences for Lebanon will be devastating. One reason Israel has delayed its offensive in Gaza may be to bolster its preparations for escalation on its northern front. Iran’s foreign minister has said the region is like a “powder keg”. Iran’s autocratic rulers hold one of the matches that could set it alight: an “axis of resistance”, or network of violent proxies across the region. They have spent two decades building this up in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Iran preys on places where the local polity is weak, where it is easy to funnel in personnel and weapons and where no external actor can challenge it, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think-tank based in London. Iran’s ability to cause mayhem at arm’s length—through Hamas, Hizbullah, Iraq’s plethora of Shia militias and Yemen’s Houthis—may even give it more leverage than its conventional military capabilities, which are relatively weak. Continued here Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium A Journalist Exposes the Philippines' Extralegal Killings - The New Yorker    Over the years, I've had the honor of reading and publishing reporters who are as resilient as they are intelligent: Katherine Boo, Jon Lee Anderson—I won't go on because the list is as long as it is distinguished. It is a cliché to compare such writers to George Orwell or, more lately, with justice, Martha Gellhorn. But, if the shoe fits... Recently, a Filipina reporter named Patricia Evangelista came by the office, for an interview for The New Yorker Radio Hour. Our topic was her new book, "Some People Need Killing," about the reign of Rodrigo Duterte. It is hardly written with Orwellian cool, but it stands next to "Homage to Catalonia." Evangelista's title comes from a vigilante, whose offhand comment to her exemplified the bloodiness of the Duterte Presidency and its extralegal drug wars. Evangelista covered the killings, which left thousands dead, for the independent news platform Rappler. The site was co-founded by the journalist Maria Ressa, who, along with Dmitry Muratov, won the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago. Ressa would surely be the first to say that there would have been no Nobel, and very little truth in the Duterte era, were it not for the meticulous reporting of Evangelista and others like her. Evangelista was on the street every night, surveying the horror, examining the corpses, talking to the grieving families, and prodding the police. She wrote news pieces, and she wrote longer investigations. Now, in "Some People Need Killing," she has written a journalistic masterpiece. She is a very rare talent; our conversation below was blunt—"Can I curse?"—and open. It has been edited for length and clarity. Continued here Stranded in Tunisia - Foreign Policy    With China resisting U.S. pleas to manage superpower competition, other countries should step in. Israel prepares for a ground invasion as Washington argues that postponing it would buy more time for hostage negotiations. Dispatch: Stranded in Tunisia Continued here

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