How Your Car’s Battery Funds Warlords

Your phone, EV, and car battery run on “critical minerals” often mined in warzones—cobalt, coltan, gold—fueling warlords, exploitation, and blood-soaked supply chains. Follow the hidden resource curse behind modern tech’s clean future. Stay ahead of global conflicts with WarFronts Weekly. Get sharp, no-nonsense military analysis straight to your inbox. Subscribe: https://fronts.co/warfronts-weekly Get full conflict briefings, and members-only analysis at fronts.co https://fronts.co Join the community and discuss current flashpoints in real time: https://www.reddit.com/r/frontsco Love the content? Explore Simon's other YouTube channels: Megaprojects: https://www.youtube.com/@megaprojects9649 SideProjects: https://www.youtube.com/@Sideprojects Into The Shadows: https://www.youtube.com/@IntotheShadows Today I Found Out: https://www.youtube.com/@TodayIFoundOut Brain Blaze: https://www.youtube.com/@brainblaze6526 Casual Criminalist: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCasualCriminalist Decoding the Unknown: https://www.youtube.com/@decodingtheunknown2373 Places: https://www.youtube.com/@Places302 Celestium: https://www.youtube.com/@Celestium1234 PoliticalFronts: http://www.youtube.com/@homefronts Simon on social: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimonWhistler Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonwhistler/ 00:00 Introduction 01:29 At the Mercy of the Supply Chain 10:40 Incentives to Take; Incentives to Hide 20:40 Around the World References https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/09/sudan-congo-uae-rwanda-sports-basketball-football/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3169238/ https://rsf.org/en/two-thirds-world-s-natural-resources-are-extracted-countries-where-press-freedom-serious-danger https://education.cfr.org/learn/reading/resource-conflicts-explained https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/03/03/resource-wars-the-hidden-fuel-behind-most-conflicts/ https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/are-green-resource-wars-looming/ https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2024/08/07/resource_wars_how_climate_change_is_fueling_militarization_of_the_arctic_1050051.html https://smallwarsjournal.com/2022/09/27/how-renewable-energy-could-set-stage-future-resource-conflict/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/batteries/congo-cobalt-mining-for-lithium-ion-battery/ https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01/1152893248/red-cobalt-congo-drc-mining-siddharth-kara https://www.csis.org/analysis/mining-defense https://warontherocks.com/2021/09/authoritarianism-and-nationalizing-natural-resources/ https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1431715.Siddharth_Kara https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-democratic-republic-congo https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/minerals-forests-and-violent-conflict-the-democratic-republic-the-congo#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20found%20that%20the%20violence,in%20the%20eastern%20part%20of%20the%20country. https://www.theyoungdiplomats.com/post/the-resource-curse-and-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-understanding-resource-richness-as-a-cata#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20estimates%20that,untapped%20wealth%20worth%20$24%20trillion. https://newlinesinstitute.org/political-systems/nexus-of-conflict-mining-and-violence-in-the-ituri-and-kivu-provinces-of-the-drc/ https://www.sipri.org/publications/2010/sipri-fact-sheets/controlling-conflict-resources-democratic-republic-congo https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/10/04/the-resource-war-how-minerals-fuel-the-conflict-in-congo/ https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240516-colonial-past-haunts-latest-new-caledonia-crisis-france https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/what-new-caledonia-riots-mean-nickel-industry-2024-05-22/ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-14/new-caledonia-goro-mine-tensions-flnks-loyalists-france-pacific/12978480 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096262980900064X https://www.politico.eu/article/new-caledonia-france-brink-civil-war-nickel-gun-macron/ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/20/sudan-has-vast-oil-gold-and-agricultural-resources-who-controls-them https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2025)779180 https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/nov/19/an-existential-battle-of-interests-what-the-sudanese-war-is-actually-about https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2025/03/14/the-balochistan-quagmire-a-cycle-of-violence-political-mobilization-and-repression/ https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/balochistan-at-crossroads-us-mining-deal-with-pakistan-risks-escalating-conflict-deepening-baloch-suffering/articleshow/123215910.cms?from=mdr https://www.dw.com/en/balochistan-strikes-explained-resources-and-radicalization/a-68043705 https://www.mining.com/column-balochistan-and-the-new-international-chessboard-of-critical-minerals/ https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/04/06/balochistans-paradox-rich-in-resources-poor-in-development/

Fronts Staff • December 14, 2025