Chile's President Eduardo Frei and Zambia's President Kenneth Kaunda have been friends ever since 1960, when they met at Oxford University for a symposium discussing the problems of underdeveloped countries. Lately the camaraderie has revolved around copper, featuring quiet exchanges of missions across the Atlantic on the possibilities of cooperating, rather than competing, in the metal. Last week Kaunda himself flew to Santiago. At the end of two days of talks, the presidential pair announced heady plans for a copper cartel designed to control the free world market!
Chile and Zambia account for about 65% of the copper traded on the...