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Rhinoskerous's avatar

While I'm tickled pink at Trump's changes to the US government and foreign policy, the Ukraine minerals deal looks like a losing proposition to me.

First of all, it was the USA led by Victoria Nuland of the Obama Administration that overthrew the duly elected government of Ukraine in 2014, and then spent the next 8 years pumping the rogue regime full of weapons and money to build fortifications. It was a deliberate strategy to use Ukraine to stab the underbelly of Russia. It was entirely done for US and British objectives. It was a horrible deal for Ukraine.

After 2022, when Russia invaded, Ukraine had worked out a treaty at the Istanbul meetings, but the Empire sent Boris Johnson to visit Zelensky and tell him to strike the treaty and fight. So, the war with Russia was done for US and British interests, not Ukrainian interests. Ukraine has been utterly destroyed by the war, losing territory, a generation of young men, and electricity infrastructure.

Now Trump shows up and wants peace. Great! But why should Ukraine pay the USA for peace? If anything the USA should pay to rebuild Ukraine, because we used Ukraine as a cat's paw to poke Russia.

Trump doesn't seem to have a real strategy in Ukraine other than to make a deal and get out. I don't think Ukraine has any real reserves of rare earth minerals to begin with. My prediction is that the minerals deal is just a way for Trump to save face for the USA, because Russia is going to get everything they want. Russia is winning on the battlefield, and has no reason to give up any concessions. The USA and NATO are not in any position to inflict more pain on Russia. They are out of bullets, out of sanctions, and out of time.

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Alex Sharipov's avatar

Old dog, old tricks.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-minerals/trump-ghani-agree-us-can-help-develop-afghanistans-rare-earth-minerals-idUSKCN1BX06G/

As I wrote two weeks ago, Ukraine received a joint ultimatum from the US and Russia demanding capitulation.

The only thing I didn't understand - the US is not ready to send soldiers, but is ready to invite engineers and even bankers to act as a human shield. This is strange.

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