Capitalist rush for metals kills hundreds in DR Congo

Al Jazeera, 1/31–More than 200 people have been killed in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located…“More than 200 people were victims of this landslide, including miners, children and market women…” Rubaya produces about 15 percent of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines…The mine, where locals dig manually for a few dollars per day, has been under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group since 2024…

U.S. bosses tighten the oil grip on Cuba

The Guardian, 1/27–Mexico has cancelled a shipment of oil to Cuba, the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, appeared to confirm on Tuesday, but she insisted the decision was “sovereign” and not a response to pressure from the US. Fuel shortages are causing increasingly severe blackouts in Cuba, and Mexico has been the island’s biggest oil supplier since the US blocked shipments from Venezuela last month. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Pemex, Mexico’s state oil company, had “backtracked” on plans to send a much-needed delivery to Cuba this month. The cancelled shipment comes amid reports that the Mexican government had been privately reviewing whether to keep sending oil to Cuba amid fear of reprisals from the US.

U.S. analysts hope for continued dominance

Foreign Affairs, 2/4–After the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and President Donald Trump revived talk of acquiring Greenland, commentators reached for old clichés: the rebirth of the Monroe Doctrine…But these episodes revealed something more exceptional. The world today has only one true sphere of influence. The United States alone dominates a vast home region, not merely as a buffer against competitors such as China and Russia, but as a hemispheric base from which American power and commerce can project outward, largely unconstrained by rivals…China and Russia cannot consolidate control over their own regions, much less project sustained power into the United States’ backyard. 

Israel now building cluster bombs for U.S. military

The Intercept, 2/6– The Department of Defense has quietly signed a $210 million deal to buy advanced cluster shells from one of Israel’s state-owned arms companies, marking unusually large new commitments to a class of weapons and an Israeli defense establishment both widely condemned for their indiscriminate killing of civilians. The deal, signed in September and not previously reported, is the department’s largest contract to purchase weapons from an Israeli company in available records…The DOD awarded the contract without public competition under a “public interest” exception to federal contracting law…

Ukraine is another example of how destruction is useful to capitalists

Rand.org, 1/30– When the fighting stops, the most promising opportunities for U.S. companies won't be in Russia, but in Ukraine…once a durable cease-fire takes hold, it will become one of the world's most dynamic emerging economies…Ukraine will become the site of the largest reconstruction project since World War II. The World Bank estimates more than $500 billion will be spent in the country over the next decade…Even during the war, thousands of U.S. and other foreign businesses opened up in Ukraine. More are likely to come soon.

Los Angeles cops train in Israel to learn the techniques of genocide

Los Angeles Times, 2/7–Over the last decade, the Los Angeles Police Department sent employees to Israel to train or be trained by the country’s counterterrorism experts on at least nine occasions…But officers who attended these training sessions and dozens of other overseas seminars and conferences routinely failed to document what they learned or keep track of who they met with…The LAPD’s relationship with Israeli security forces has come under scrutiny amid the country’s ongoing military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, which has caused tens of thousands of deaths and drawn allegations of genocide…The LAPD has been sending officers to train with Israeli security forces since the 1980s, and ramped up the trips after the 9/11 attacks…