this post was submitted on 30 May 2026
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[–] Shameless@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is fascinating stuff and I'm so glad you shared this.

I did some more reading into this and it honestly sounds similar to the way the CIA backed the coupe in Chile.

The more you think about it the more it makes sense, resources is only one part of this equation but its a huge one. Lithium is critical for electric vehicle batteries, as the US slowly transitions to EVs, securing lithium supplies becomes strategically vital. A US aligned Bolivian government would preferentially sell to US companies at favorable rates rather than China, which is already aggressively buying lithium contracts.

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

God damn it why can't the CIA back a coup in America.

Oh. Know what...never mind.

But your point on resources is spot on. China has been busy colonizing places with lithium deposits and premium sand while we've been...ahem...liberating places that have big oil deposits.

Worse yet, some of our best domestic lithium deposits are in preserved areas. And we still have a decent amount of crude in the ground (albeit, also a lot of it in preserved areas).

And the crude and lithium that isnt in preserved areas....most of it will still have measurable impact on nearby protected areas just because of what's involved in transporting it and setting up the infrastructure.

So yeah.... we're boned. America is pretty much married to oil at this point, until we decided to accept the sunk cost and bow to China...or start spreading democracy to some of these Chinese colonies. And we will probably continue to loosen environmental protections along the way.