You would have noticed that gorgeous photo on the cover of the New York Times yesterday if you get the print edition delivered to your house (and, for the love of journalism, you really should.) In case you missed it, here it is, taken by Noah Friedman-Rudovsky (more here):

If you don't get the paper, and weren't randomly clicking around the Americas section of the World section of the NYT site yesterday, you might not know that Bolivia is the next big thing on the U.S.'s horizon—the country we're going to be obsessing about/getting natural resources from/going to wars with. That photo above is of the world's largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni, which is loaded with lithium. Bolivia has "almost half of the world’s lithium." And the hybrid and electric cars that are going to save the planet, etc.—at least the cars currently in development by Mitsubishi, Nissan, Ford, BMW, and GM—run on lithium-ion batteries.

Demand for lithium, long used in small amounts in mood-stabilizing drugs and thermonuclear weapons, has climbed as makers of batteries for BlackBerrys and other electronic devices use the mineral. But the automotive industry holds the biggest untapped potential for lithium, analysts say. Since it weighs less than nickel, which is also used in batteries, it would allow electric cars to store more energy and be driven longer distances.

With governments, including the Obama administration, seeking to increase fuel efficiency and reduce their dependence on imported oil, private companies are focusing their attention on this desolate corner of the Andes, where Quechua-speaking Indians subsist on the remains of an ancient inland sea by bartering the salt they carry out on llama caravans.

To get the lithium, according to the article, you have to dig deep into the ground, extract the salty water deep in the ground (the brine), bring it to the surface, and let it evaporate. One of the laborers who does this work talks about it to the New York Times reporter over a meal of "llama stew and a Pepsi." Another guy, the leader of a group of salt gatherers/farmers, tells the reporter, "We know that Bolivia can become the Saudi Arabia of lithium. We are poor, but we are not stupid peasants. The lithium may be Bolivia’s, but it is also our property."

Also worth noting: the president of Bolivia kind of hates us. (Google "Evo Morales" and "outspoken critic of the U.S.")

Let the games begin.