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Top 10 Countries with the Most Natural Resources in the World Natural resources form the backbone of global economies, providing raw materials for industries, energy production, and exports. The value of these resources is a reflection of a country’s wealth and potential for economic development. According to Basic Planet, the following are the top 10 countries with the highest natural resource values, measured in trillions of U.S. dollars. 1. Russia – $75.7 Trillion Russia tops the list with an estimated $75.7 trillion worth of natural resources. The country is rich in oil, natural gas, coal, and timber, making it a...

When Russia seized Crimea in March, it acquired not just the Crimean landmass but also a maritime zone more than three times its size with the rights to underwater resources potentially worth trillions of dollars. Russia portrayed the takeover as reclamation of its rightful territory, drawing no attention to the oil and gas rush that had recently been heating up in the Black Sea. But the move also extended Russia’s maritime boundaries, quietly giving Russia dominion over vast oil and gas reserves while dealing a crippling blow to Ukraine’s hopes for energy independence. Russia did so under an international accord...

Kyiv holds $15 trillion in natural resources which would help break the US’s dependence on China. The strategic significance of Ukraine’s mineral resources “cannot be overstated”, according to publicly-available Nato briefings. Its vast reserves span more than 100 metals across some 20,000 deposits, including several that have been identified as critically important by both the US and Europe.

KOLWEZI, Democratic Republic of Congo — Little about Kolwezi, a small city in southern Democratic Republic of Congo, hints at its global importance. Nondescript and ringed by slag heaps, pits and quarry lakes, the city is home to some of the largest copper and cobalt mines in the world. Now, Kolwezi is at the center of U.S.-Chinese competition over critical minerals. Earlier this year, mining firms began shipping ore along a U.S.-backed railway that terminates in Angola's Atlantic port of Lobito. A massive infrastructure project is focused on this rail line -- which is viewed as a bid to counter...

Californians could only look on in awe and envy as Florida pre-deployed emergency resources ahead of the storm that dumped record amounts of snow on the Panhandle this week, rather than waiting until after the damage was done. As Breitbart News has reported, firefighters in Los Angeles were not pre-deployed to risk spots ahead of the extreme wind event on January 7 and 8, which had been predicted for a week. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass was overseas in Ghana, repeating a pattern established by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who disappeared to Mexico on a family vacation while over a dozen...

Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is one of cinema’s most enduring classics, a sentimental yet profound exploration of how one person’s contributions ripple through a community. The story’s alternate timeline, where George Bailey never existed, paints a grim picture of what life would be like without his sacrifices. Inspired by this tale, let’s imagine an alternate reality of a different sort—a world where fossil fuels never existed. Could we, like George’s Bedford Falls, find ourselves in a global Pottersville? Let’s explore how the absence of fossil fuels might affect the very fabric of our lives, from economic systems to...

President-elect Trump made quite the buzz over the weekend when he expressed a strong interest in acquiring the Danish-controlled autonomous territory of Greenland, a land that is both immensely resource-rich and strategically a high priority to the interests of all major powers. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump announced the nomination of PayPal co-founder Ken Howery to serve as the next U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, writing: “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.” Greenland is incredibly resource-rich,...

Georgia Representative Mike Collins, a staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump, has appeared to float the idea of the United States once again trying to purchase Greenland. On Thursday, Collins posted an image on X (formerly Twitter) of Trump's winning 2024 Electoral College map with the addition of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. The island was colored in red, appearing to suggest it would vote Republican if admitted to the union. "Project 2029," he wrote in the caption, potentially suggesting such a purchase could be achieved if Republicans win again in 2028. Representative Collins frequently shares memes on social...

President-elect Donald Trump’s victory bodes well for US-Morocco relations. As King Mohamed VI recalled in his statement congratulating Trump on his election win, during his first term, Trump recognized Rabat’s full sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Trump made this recognition with a presidential proclamation on December 10, 2020, in exchange for Morocco reestablishing diplomatic relations with Israel. In his statement, Mohammed VI went on to say that “the Moroccan people will forever be grateful” for this recognition, calling Washington “our longstanding friend and ally.” While Morocco hopes to pick up where it left off in negotiations with...

PARIS — Marat Gabidullin's face is lined from years of exposure to the elements, and his hair is thinning. But at 56, he has the trim physique and muscular arms of a man 30 years younger. He wears a chunky ring bearing the image of a skull.The skull is the symbol of the Wagner Group — a private Russian mercenary force believed to be financed by an oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. The group is fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. And it's widely believed that at least some of the "little green...

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland acknowledged Tuesday that the Biden administration’s climate agenda, which is reliant on global critical mineral supply chains, is strengthening China. During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on her agency’s proposed 2024 budget, Haaland was repeatedly grilled about the administration’s environmental policies blocking further domestic production of critical minerals and opening the door to further reliance on Chinese-sourced minerals. In one exchange with Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., Haaland affirmed that green energy sources “deepen” reliance on Chinese imports. “I’m telling you right now that 63% of rare earth mining [occurs in China],” Reschenthaler stated. “By deductive reasoning,...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CBS’s “The Late Show,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) responded to a question on America’s role in the Israel-Hamas conflict by stating that “We have a foreign policy that pretty much follows the idea of peace through strength, and what that means is we need to have a very strong military so that we can scare other countries into doing what we say. I wish we would use our wealth and our resources and our means to lead with diplomacy.” And we should “build a Palestinian state” with our resources. Host Stephen Colbert asked, “What do you...

School systems complain about the rising costs of handling illegal immigrants. Here’s a spotlight on two cities, one in Massachusetts, the other Colorado.In Stoughton, Mass., students arrive with traumatic pasts and little English. The same is happening in Denver.The Wall Street Journal comments on The Massive Immigration Wave Hitting America’s ClassroomsMillions of migrants, most seeking asylum, have crossed the border in recent years and have been allowed to settle in the U.S. until a federal immigration judge decides their fate, a process that can take years. Among the record numbers, federal data suggest, are as many as one million children...

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas responded to questions on whether President Joe Biden will take executive action on the border to combat the surge at the border that is taking up resources by saying that “Executive actions in the past have been challenged in the court[s], and executive actions without the accompanying resources will not meet the moment.” And “We are always considering what we as an administration can do in the shadow of Congress’ failure to act, but we continue to believe that Congress must and can act. We must have them deliver the...

'You have to have blinders on to not see that there have been problems'... WHITEWATER, Wis.—The migrants began to trickle into Whitewater, a sleepy town of 15,000 an hour west of Milwaukee, toward the end of 2021. Prior to their arrival, local news and political debates generally revolved around school fundraisers or the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's D3 athletics. Today, residents are focused on their 1,000 new neighbors, who mostly hail from Nicaragua and Venezuela and largely keep to the shadows because they lack official identification. Locals say the real number of migrants in the town could easily be double the...

Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) led a letter to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler and Director Haoxiang Zhu, seeking information on a proposed rule change to permit the listing of Natural Asset Companies (NACs) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The Biden administration is facing heavy criticism from Native Alaskans over its crackdown on oil and gas drilling in Alaska, activity which generates tax revenue vital for key state and local programs. Native Alaskan leaders have particularly taken issue with the Department of the Interior's (DOI) recent actions blocking future oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR), an area in North Slope Borough, Alaska, specifically set aside by Congress for resource development, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and in federal offshore waters off the state's coast. "My community unapologetically supports the leasing program," Charles Lampe,...

We don’t have enough lithium, cobalt and nickel to build even one generation of batteries for all EVs and stationary power storageTo phase out ICE and fossil fuels we need a better plan; that includes recycling and alternate battery tech (vanadium, zinc)ASX stocks looking to build battery recycling businesses include Neometals, Hannans, Lithium AustraliaThere are not enough minerals, like lithium, cobalt and nickel, in the currently reported global reserves to build even one generation of batteries for all EVs and stationary power storage, according to a recent report.Associate Research Professor Simon Michaux from Geological Survey of Finland GTK says those...

In 2021, a whopping 83 percent of Russian gas was exported to Europe. Russia’s global exports of 7 million barrels of oil a day and 200 billion cubic meters (bcm) of piped gas a year accounted for about half of its federal revenue... Far from freezing to death, Europe quickly secured alternative gas supplies by pivoting to global liquefied natural gas (LNG) ... these alternative supplies have reduced Europe’s dependence on Russian gas to 9 percent of its total gas imports... Furthermore, Europe’s unseasonably warm winter means that not only have the worst-case scenarios been avoided, but Europe’s full storage...

15 Sep 20220 On Thursday’s “CNN Newsroom,” Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA) reacted to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sending migrants to Martha’s Vineyard by stating that Martha’s Vineyard is “very small” and so there are “absolutely no resources to deal with this.” Keating said, “That’s part of the cynical nature of this. Martha’s Vineyard is a very small populated island. People commute from the land just to work there because there’s no housing. So, there’s absolutely no resources to deal with this. But fortunately, religious community members and local officials and now state officials are springing into action to deal...