Why do we still steal resources from countries?

The language we use to describe global trade is intentionally sterile. We talk of supply chains, market prices, and foreign investment. It is all very clean, very technical. It is also a lie.

At its core, the system by which wealthy nations and their corporations acquire resources from poorer countries is a direct descendant of colonial looting. The gunboats have been replaced by lawyers and financial instruments, but the objective remains the same: extract maximum value for minimum cost. Call it what it is: theft.

The playbook is tired, but effective. A Western company identifies a resource — cobalt, lithium, coffee, timber. It uses its immense financial weight and the diplomatic muscle of its home government to secure terms that no domestic entity could ever hope to match. Local laws are bent, taxes are negotiated down to almost nothing, and environmental protections are treated as quaint suggestions.

We are told this is a fair deal. That the deals are struck at ‘market price’. This conveniently ignores the fact that these markets are often wildly distorted by the very same powerful buyers. It’s like a burglar claiming he paid market price for the television he’s carrying, having negotiated the price with the family pet.

The argument that these operations bring jobs and infrastructure is a particularly cynical one. Yes, they bring jobs, but at wages that keep people in poverty, not lift them out of it. They might build a road, but it is a road from the mine to the port. The only infrastructure that gets built is the infrastructure of extraction.

There is a better system. It isn't even complicated. It involves paying a fair price for a resource—a price that reflects its true cost and allows the selling nation to do more than just subsist. It means partnering with local communities, investing in their capacity, and ensuring the wealth generated stays in the country to build schools, hospitals, and diversified economies.

This is not a fantasy. Many smaller, ethical businesses operate this way already. They prove that you can buy fairly, help grow the source country's economy, and still run a profitable enterprise. So why don't the giants follow suit?

Because they are addicted to obscene margins. The entire operating system of modern public corporations is geared towards one thing: maximising short-term shareholder value. A model that delivers a healthy 20% profit is seen as a failure when a 200% profit is possible through exploitation.

It is not a problem of scarcity, but of greed. The global north doesn't lack the money to pay fairly; it lacks the will. Its executives and shareholders prioritise exponential returns over human decency, and our pension funds and stock portfolios quietly endorse the decision.

This is not a broken system; it was designed to work this way.