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Nintendo Ranks Last In Conflict Minerals Report
derekmead writes "A new report by the Enough Project, an arm of the Center for American Progress, shows that companies like Intel, Apple and Microsoft have been successfully scaling back their use of conflict minerals in their products. Other companies have been less helpful. Out of the 24 companies surveyed and ranked based on their use of conflict minerals, Nintendo came in dead last, having made no effort to ensure that its products weren't funding guerrilla warfare in Africa. 'Nintendo is, I believe, the only company that has basically refused to acknowledge the issue or demonstrate they are making any sort of effort on it,' said Sasha Lezhnev from the Enough Project. 'And this is despite a good two years of trying to get in contact with them.'"
If you formally score someone 0/10 points on measure X just because they don't want to talk to you about X, then your assessment is pretty much worthless.
It isn't as if the locals ran their own mines. Most were probably simple farmers, fisherman, etc. Removing this money will take the weapons out of the hands of criminals. No more, no less.
See Gershwin's law.
These people worked at the local mines, no matter who owned them, and up to 90% of them were legitimately owned, not controlled by a warlord. Now the workers have had their livelihood yanked from under them, and one of the few remaining options not to starve is to become a fighter.
And "taking the weapons out of the hands of criminals" does nothing to solve the problem. Getting fewer guns doesn't mean the wars will cease - these guys kill, maim and rape with spears and knives -- it just takes much longer.
Again, this does absolutely nothing to shorten the wars, just prolonging them. And making some westerners feel good about themselves.