By The Craig Bushon Show Media Team
The Truth Is Not Hate Speech
Yesterday, we shared the brutal reality of Christian persecution around the world — places like Nigeria, Syria, Congo, and Pakistan. These are not isolated incidents. This is part of a larger, deeply connected system that ties human suffering to global economics in ways most people never hear about. The reason the world stays silent about the slaughter of Christians isn’t a mystery. It’s money — trillions of dollars flowing through some of the most dangerous places on Earth. And at the center of it all are the minerals that power modern life.
We’re talking about cobalt, lithium, tin, copper, and rare earth elements. These are the building blocks of the green energy revolution. They’re inside your phone, your car, your batteries, your solar panels. And many of them come from the same places where believers are being hunted, abducted, and murdered.
Take the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This country produces about 70 percent of the world’s cobalt. It’s the beating heart of the global battery supply chain. But it’s also home to relentless violence against Christians. In the eastern provinces, Islamist militias like the Allied Democratic Forces attack villages, burn homes, abduct children, and execute pastors. According to Open Doors, the DRC ranked number 37 on the 2025 World Watch List for Christian persecution. In just one year, more than a thousand Christians were killed. Tens of thousands more were displaced from areas near key cobalt and coltan mines. And according to United Nations Refugee Agency, a staggering 6.9 million people are now internally displaced inside the DRC — the highest number in the country’s history. Behind every statistic is a shattered family, a burned church, or a village wiped off the map.
Nigeria tells a similar story. Ranked number 6 for persecution, it has become one of the deadliest places on earth to be a Christian. In 2024 alone, more than 4,000 believers were killed and over 3,500 abducted. This isn’t happening in random spots on the map. Much of the violence is concentrated in Nigeria’s northern and central regions — the same regions that are rich in lithium, tin, and gold. These minerals are in growing demand worldwide. And that demand is drawing foreign interests, including China, deeper into these regions. Violence ensures power stays fragmented, allowing exploitation to continue without accountability.
Then there’s Syria and Pakistan. In Syria, the Christian population has fallen from about 1.7 million to fewer than 500,000 since the war began. Remnants of Islamist groups continue to target Christian communities, and many of the remaining believers live in areas sitting on top of phosphate and other resources tied to international contracts. In Pakistan, Christians live under constant threat of mob violence and blasphemy laws that can be triggered by a single accusation. Pakistan also has valuable copper and rare earth deposits — and major Chinese investments through Belt and Road initiatives. Persecution in these places isn’t an afterthought. It’s happening in the shadows of strategic mineral corridors.
This is where the money comes in. Cobalt is the blood diamond of the EV era. Three-quarters of the world’s supply comes from the Congo, and China controls most of the major mines through state-linked companies like Sicomines and China Molybdenum Co., Ltd.. Amnesty International and RAID — that’s a UK-based human rights watchdog that investigates corporate abuse and supply chain exploitation — have documented widespread child labor, forced displacement, and violence around these mining operations.
And yet, none of this has slowed the flow of cobalt into the global market.
Lithium is on the same trajectory. Global demand is projected to quadruple by 2035. Tin, another essential element for electronics, often comes from small artisanal mines in unstable regions. The global EV battery market was worth over 60 billion dollars last year and is expected to double by 2030. Cobalt prices alone can move entire national economies. And when that kind of money is on the table, people in power do whatever it takes to keep the supply stable — even if it means ignoring the slaughter of innocent people.
This silence is measurable. A 2025 media analysis found that only about 5 percent of EV or battery-related stories in Western media mentioned labor or human rights issues. Less than 1 percent connected these mineral supply chains to persecution of any kind. That’s not an accident. That’s economic incentive at work. Outrage is expensive, and when it threatens the flow of minerals, it disappears from the headlines.
Meanwhile, here in the United States, we are sitting on a mountain of untapped resources that could change this equation entirely. We have cobalt in Idaho, lithium in Nevada, and some of the largest rare earth deposits in California and Wyoming. In total, U.S. reserves of rare earth elements are estimated at 1.8 million metric tons. These are not truly “rare” minerals — what’s rare is the political courage to mine and refine them here at home.
Right now, China processes around 80 percent of the world’s rare earth elements and about 60 percent of the world’s cobalt. Over 75 percent of the critical minerals the U.S. depends on come through foreign supply chains — many tied directly to unstable or authoritarian regimes. That dependency is a strategic weakness and a moral stain.
And that brings us to one of the most critical developments in this story. President Trump has made it clear that China’s grip on these critical minerals is a national security issue. Over the last few months, he has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Chinese imports in response to Beijing’s continued restrictions on rare earth exports. China has pushed back, calling these restrictions legitimate and warning of retaliation. Earlier this year, the U.S. and China reached a temporary trade framework where China agreed to resume some shipments of rare earth elements and magnets, while the U.S. set tariffs at 55 percent and China at 10 percent. But Trump has since signaled he’s ready to go much further. He called China’s export controls “hostile” and accused Beijing of trying to hold the global economy hostage.
In response, China has tightened its grip even more, adding new rare earth elements to its restricted list and requiring licenses for export of critical materials. These moves are raising alarm across industries that rely on those minerals — from automotive manufacturing to defense. What’s clear is that this isn’t just an economic story. It’s a power struggle. The United States is finally recognizing that our dependence on Chinese minerals is a direct vulnerability. And if we want to lead, we have to break that dependence.
We do have some momentum. The Inflation Reduction Act put seven billion dollars toward critical mineral development. The Minerals Security Partnership was created to diversify supply chains and reduce reliance on Beijing. But refining capacity remains the choke point. You can’t secure independence if you don’t process what you mine. And permitting delays and environmental lawsuits are slowing or stopping key projects like Thacker Pass in Nevada.
Environmental concerns are real. Mining has impacts. But unlike militia-controlled zones, the United States can mine responsibly, transparently, and with real accountability. We can choose between extracting resources under the rule of law here, or continuing to fund oppression abroad. That is the moral choice we face.
And this isn’t just about economics. It’s about leadership. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act showed that America can act to confront human rights abuses tied to supply chains. Similar legislation focused on cobalt and lithium could change the calculus overnight. But legislation alone isn’t enough. As long as our economy relies on minerals extracted from places soaked in blood, we have no leverage — and no moral high ground.
The numbers tell the story. Meeting just 50 percent of U.S. cobalt demand by 2030 would take ten to fifteen billion dollars and about a decade of strategic investment. That’s entirely achievable. But it requires real willpower, not talking points. It means making choices that are harder, slower, and sometimes more expensive — but morally right.
The persecution of Christians in the DRC, Nigeria, Syria, and Pakistan is not happening in some distant moral vacuum. It’s happening at the very foundation of the global supply chain that powers the modern world. The EVs we drive, the phones in our hands, the solar panels on rooftops — they are connected to real human suffering. If we want to lead, if we want to claim the moral high ground, we can’t keep outsourcing our conscience overseas.
America can break this cycle. We can lead with moral clarity. We can build a future that isn’t built on the backs of persecuted believers in war zones. But it means choosing independence over dependency, truth over convenience, and leadership over silence. We have the resources. We have the technology. We have the people. What we need now is the political courage to act.
Silence is profitable. But leadership is priceless.
Disclaimer: This episode reflects the views and analysis of The Craig Bushon Show Media Team. It is intended to raise awareness of the link between global Christian persecution, mineral supply chains, and Western economic dependency. All statistics and claims are based on publicly available reports from reputable organizations, including government agencies, NGOs, and international human rights groups.
References: [1] U.S. Geological Survey – Mineral Commodity Summaries (2024) [2] Open Doors – 2025 World Watch List [3] Global Witness – Cobalt and Congo Reports [4] Amnesty International – Cobalt Child Labor Findings (2024) [5] RAID – Cobalt Mining Investigations (2023) [6] Reuters – Sicomines & Mining Deals [7] Cobalt Institute – Market Data [8] U.S. Department of Energy – Critical Minerals Strategy [9] RAND Corporation – Cobalt Supply Chain Risk Report (2025) [10] United Nations Refugee Agency – DRC Displacement Data (2024) [11] Reuters – Trump Tariff Statements (October 2025) [12] Center for Strategic and International Studies – Trade Framework Analysis (2025)
