Active Now

Danilo_G
Malizz
.
Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » Why is oil the only thing that turns on world leaders and coveting it is the prime directive? Why not invade Africa for its diamonds?

Why is oil the only thing that turns on world leaders and coveting it is the prime directive? Why not invade Africa for its diamonds?

Posted - January 2, 2020

Responses


  • 16197
    Diamonds are common as dirt. If De Beers released its stockpile, they'd be cheap - the price is being kept artificially high by limiting the supply.
    Invading North Korea for its uranium makes more sense - firstly it's a more valuable and rarer resource, secondly it stops KJU from using it to threaten the West. Only trouble is China, who won't stand for it.
      January 2, 2020 4:10 AM MST
    4

  • 113301
    Common as DIRT? Be thee serious? So the market for them is being artificially managed else it would tank and a diamond would be the same as a zircon or beveled glass? Sheesh. I guess countries that have nothing are a lot safer than countries that have what others lust after. Ever it shall be thus. Thank you for your helpful reply R. Uranium? Is there tons of it in outer space on other planets? This post was edited by RosieG at January 2, 2020 1:18 PM MST
      January 2, 2020 4:27 AM MST
    1

  • 16197
    Uranium is scarce everywhere, it is only created in the heart of a very large star that is milliseconds from supernova, and has a limited shelf life. Diamonds are everywhere - it rains them on Jupiter. The cores of white dwarf stars are almost entirely composed of diamond - crystalline carbon, to be precise.
      January 2, 2020 9:27 PM MST
    2

  • 113301
    Oh my gosh R I LOVE sparkle! I'm living on the wrong planet. White dwarf stars composed of diamondy stuff? Golly whiz imagine living somewhere where sparkle sparkle everywhere is normal? Of course I probably couldn't survive the atmosphere but oh what a lovely thought that is! Raining diamonds on JUPITER? By jove I'd like to visit there and take a pail and gather some. Not to sell or wear but just to look at! SIGH. I don't know why I LOVE sparkles so much. Long ago Carl Sagan said "we are made of star stuff". Could that be why? Thank you for your helpful reply m'dear and Happy Friday! I'm so sorry about the fires. It's ghastly and it was reported they have been burning since September and they are nowhere near containment. This is a crisis catastrophe beyond anything we've ever seen methinks. Condolences for your country's losses and also whatever lies ahead. :(
      January 3, 2020 1:01 AM MST
    1

  • 16197
    By Jove, lol.

      January 3, 2020 2:37 PM MST
    1

  • 113301
    HELP! Apologies to thee R but I do not understand what I'm looking at. My favorite color is blue so I get that part.  I suppose once you explain it I'm gonna feel very dumb for not getting it but ya know what it won't be the first time nor the last! Merci gracias thanks! :)
      January 4, 2020 2:09 AM MST
    0

  • 16197
    Jupiter = Iov Pater. Latin, it's "Father Jove" so using that expression when the subject is Jupiter struck my funny bone. "I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE" is a commonly used expression of appreciation for a witty pun.
      January 4, 2020 3:31 AM MST
    0

  • 44173
    Australia and New Zealand uranium production combined is almost half the world production.
      January 3, 2020 11:22 AM MST
    1

  • 10449
    Diamonds are only valuable because De Beers sets the rate.  Actually, diamonds are quite common.  We even have them here in the Sierras (not giant ones, mind you).  Although they're used in many electronic applications, they can be made artificially for less money than buying real ones.  So in order to make money, De Beers trickles a few diamonds onto the market now and then.  Plus they make people think that diamonds are valuable (Remember the De Beers commercials of yore?).   Would you rather give your loved one something considered rare or a common stone?

    Currently, nearly everything we use is made from petroleum (refined crude oil)  - gasoline, plastics, clothes, perfumes, appliances, toothpaste, shampoo, rugs, shoes, antihistamines, deodorant, pillows, dishes, food preservatives, cell phones, computers, tires, cars, paint, roofs, toilet seats, lipstick, hair coloring, water pipes ... just to name a few.    That makes oil very valuable.  One might say, the one who controls the oil controls the world.  And which country doesn't want to "rule the world"?
      January 2, 2020 12:07 PM MST
    3

  • 113301
    Boy Shuhak so THAT's why? I only ever thought of oil as fueling cars. I had NO IDEA crude oil refined or otherwise was in so many products. I mean seriously perfumes to toilet seats to pipes to shoes and elsewise? Whose idea was THAT? I'm gonna ask. Thank you for your reply and Happy Friday to you! :)
      January 3, 2020 1:04 AM MST
    1

  • 6023
    Nobody wants to get militarily involved in Africa.
    There's a saying ... It's always two minutes to high noon in Africa.  (or close to that)
    Meaning Africa is always close to exploding in warfare.  Generally tribal/ethnic.
    Areas that are more stable - nobody wants to tilt to unstability.
    The quagmire would make the MidEast look like paradise.
      January 2, 2020 1:13 PM MST
    2

  • 1340
    In a world where nobody wants to tilt more stable areas towards instability... What would the CIA possibly do with itself?
      January 2, 2020 1:24 PM MST
    1

  • 6023
    See my first sentence.
      January 2, 2020 2:15 PM MST
    0

  • 113301
    Do you think the don of johns will get us into a war somewhere Walt or are the other countries too smart to let him start anything? I dunno where it all will end. Do you? Thank you for your reply! :)
      January 3, 2020 1:06 AM MST
    0

  • 1340
    The West doesn't view Africa as a threat. A unified Africa, or unified Africans (as Bob Marley sang of)--that would be a very different story; and that obviously isn't allowed. I wouldn't say the West has no hand in that, though.
      January 2, 2020 1:23 PM MST
    2

  • 113301
    I surely don't know what lies ahead. Lots of noisy rhetoric that could translate into war somewhere? Thank you for your reply DG and Happy Friday to thee! :)
      January 3, 2020 1:07 AM MST
    1

  • 46117
    We don't know how to use diamonds.  We need oil.  We don't NEED the diamonds.  Big difference.  When you really need something like water, or oil or things you cannot function without, it makes diamonds pale in comparison.  
      January 2, 2020 2:25 PM MST
    3

  • 113301
    Shuhak informed me of that Sharon. I had no idea the extent of my ignorance. Gonna ask a question about it. Thank you for your reply and Happy Friday! :)
      January 3, 2020 1:08 AM MST
    0

  • 44173
    My answer...Asker's Pick, Rosie.
      January 3, 2020 11:28 AM MST
    0

  • 113301
    This reply is directed at Sharon. How did I get in there E? Are you asking me to give you Asker's Pick? Please decipher what you mean. I am perplexed.
      January 4, 2020 2:04 AM MST
    0

  • 44173
    There has been only one white dwarf found that MAY contain diamond. It is cold enough to be below the boiling point and melting point of carbon. Also, even though diamonds maybe be scattered all over space, they are inaccesible to us, making some of these threads moot.
    Bottom line, we need oil, but diamonds, other than thos used for cutting material such as in well boring bits and other minor uses, are unnecessary.
      January 3, 2020 11:37 AM MST
    2

  • 16197
    Under the kind of pressure generated by the gravity of even a small white dwarf, temperature is not a factor. Molecular motion isn't happening, it can't liquefy or evaporate. Anything below the melting point of carbon would be a BLACK dwarf, too cool to glow. There are no stellar cores that are old enough yet.
      January 3, 2020 2:42 PM MST
    2

  • 44173
    I left that out hoping you would dispute me. Is what you are saying then, even at 10 MK, the pressure is great enough for a solid core if carbon is present? The white dwarf I mentioned is cool enough, but it is only a "May be" as far as diamond.
      January 3, 2020 2:54 PM MST
    0

  • 16197
    Jovian atmospheric pressure is great enough. A white dwarf is trillions of times denser than that. If mass and temp are insufficient to maintain fusion, it would almost certainly be solid.
      January 3, 2020 3:05 PM MST
    2