I’m not saying this is what’s happening. But if I were a big spook, I’d love to have someone with the skill set of Prince, off in a haven protected from American law, setting up an entity that can do what Blackwater does but do so with neither the legal oversight (as if that did us a damn bit of good) nor the requirement to be paid in cash.

Part of understanding propaganda is knowing its intended audience. The recent Pentagon leak on Afghanistan’s mineral wealth is no different. While it appears desperate and comical, it is highly effective and specifically targeted propaganda.

I say that the media discovered them because the front-page article in the New York Times today had upped the chatter quotient on mineral deposits in Afghanistan that were found a long time ago. The World Bank wrote about Afghanistan’s mineral development in 2004. China has already begun to mine in Afghanistan, with the Kabul [...]