Cobalt is an essential part of lithium-ion batteries. 70% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, much of it in forced conditions.
So I guess we have three options: go without lithium-ion batteries, enforce a minimum standard of labor conditions in the DRC by any means necessary, or just try not to think about it too much. Is it any wonder that we picked door number 3?
Being “forced to seek employment out of poverty” is different than being forced to labor due to your ethnic background. Necessity vs. discrimination.
Ex: https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/global-devel...
It is a very simple and clear difference, yet it is a common tactic for a debater to change the narrative and manipulate the argument away to prove some other point.
Honestly, you remind me of “Thank you for smoking”. I will not be surprised if this is how lobbying or CCP’s campaigns work.
Here
https://www.freetheslaves.net/where-we-work/congo/
and here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_the_Democ...
Both talk about people being forced to mine. Not they're poor and need to eat. Debt bondage, bogus criminal charges then sent to the mines to work as prisoners, or just straight up forced to at gun point by militias/gangs. You know, actual forced labour.
The issue here is that Apple is employing tactics with lobbying, PR, marketing (sort of brainwashing) to make you "try not to think about it too much", so yeah it is "no wonder people pick door number 3". The hypocrisy that fuels the hype and demand for its brand is what consumers should be aware of.
I would invite you to peruse my comment history (perhaps via the search functionality) if you really think I’m a shill for either Apple or the CCP. I would be even more outspoken about the issue were it not for the often-aggressive moderation of “nationalistic flame war” that I’ve seen on HN. But the truth is that none of our hands are clean given the complexity of global supply chains, the resource curse, and the apathetic attitude of the developed world towards human rights issues in general.
The energy density's a bit lower though, but not so low you can't make a Model 3 with it for the Chinese market...
And that’s just one example of one mineral. There is the notion of the “resource curse” —countries rich in natural resources often stay poor because why develop a modern economy when you can just become a warlord and force children to mine diamonds or cobalt for you? The flip side of this is the part where we in the developed world don’t like to think too much about where these basic resources come from.
Dictators almost always have secret police, and domestic espionage agencies in every corner.
This is why I do not subscribe to notion that Western spies are trying to stage revolutions in repressive regimes for a simple reason that they can not.
Most of Latin America had had a US backed coup at some point in its history. Many very successful. Pinochet, etc.
US only ever managed to use staged coups to unseat civil governments, and failed miserably with tougher targets like real totalitarian regimes.
The only notable exception I think was Noriega, who was a joke of a dictator, and possibly even put in power with American help in the first place.
The only two cases that I’m aware of where the US clandestinely toppled a foreign government were Chile and Iran - and apparently even the Iranian operation was mostly driven by the British secret service. And by all accounts, Chile was more of a nudge than a push.
I'm pretty sure they're stirring up trouble in xinjiang also. Pitting ethnic minorities in hard to defend mountainous border regions against central government is a standard divide and conquer empire tactic. The British Empire used it a lot in Asia, for instance.