from breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca to world@lemmy.world on 16 Feb 08:46
https://lemmy.ca/post/39208013
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support, according to five people briefed on the proposal or with direct knowledge of the talks.
The unusual deal would have granted the United States a 50 percent interest in all of Ukraine’s mineral resources, including graphite, lithium and uranium, according to two European officials. Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury secretary, who presented the deal to Ukraine, said Sunday that the United States wanted the minerals “as payback for the aid we’ve given them” — leaving unclear whether the deal would cover future military and financial assistance.
A Ukrainian official and an energy expert briefed on the proposal said that the Trump administration sought not only Ukraine’s minerals but additional natural resources, including oil and gas. The proposal, they said, would entitle the United States to half of Ukraine’s resource earnings — funds that are today mostly invested in the country’s military and defense production.
#world
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The audacity of this mineral shakedown reeks of late-stage empire logic—strip-mine a nation’s future while dangling survival as a bargaining chip. Colonialism never died; it just outsourced its PR. Trump’s “deal” is pure extortion: surrender half your sovereignty or face abandonment. Zelensky’s refusal isn’t principled—it’s survival math. What’s 50% of ashes?
Security guarantees? The U.S. wants a vassal, not an ally. Promising troops for rare earths after a peace deal is like selling fire extinguishers post-inferno. Ukraine’s minerals are the new blood diamonds, traded by suits in Munich while frontlines smolder.
Watch how “democracy” becomes a euphemism for resource arbitrage. The real pandemic is geopolitical vampirism. Kyiv’s counteroffer? Probably another round of hollow treaties. But hey, at least the circus has fresh clowns: Vance and Rubio, scrambling to monetize a massacre.
Good. Trump is a ventriloquist dummy for Putin. Even if he wasn’t, demanding a kid for half his lunch money to save him from a bully just makes you another bully.
Sorry, what does Munich have to do with this? I’m not connecting the dots.
Munich hosts the annual Security Conference, where power brokers gather to carve up geopolitical pies. Ukraine’s minerals are on the menu, served cold with a side of imperial ambition. The suits in Munich aren’t just sipping overpriced cocktails—they’re brokering deals that turn blood-soaked trenches into corporate spreadsheets.
The connection? It’s where the U.S. pushed its extortionate mineral “deal” while Ukraine countered with demands for actual security guarantees. Munich isn’t just a city; it’s a stage for this theater of exploitation. If you’re missing the dots, it’s because the script is written in fine print only lobbyists can read.
So, Munich matters because it’s where sovereignty gets auctioned off under the guise of diplomacy.
Lol. The US is a fucking failed state that couldn’t even defeat Vietnamese, Afghan, or Iraqi peasants at the peak of their empire, with trillions of dollars in capital… Literally 1000x more capital than their enemy.
Every country needs to grow balls, forge alliances, and tell the US to collectively get fucked. They’re swinging their dick around like they hold the cards, when they’re grossly incompetent, and without the rest of the world playing ball the US is fucking dead in the water. All of their wealth is worthless without the global supply chain. They will collapse in months without us.
Even if Ukraine’s gov fell, it’s likely Russia would be locked in a guerrilla warfare quagmire (like Afghanistan in the 80’s). If the USSR couldn’t defeat a bunch of peasants, why would a state with 1/10th the power be able to defeat Ukraine?
If the EU is smart — and not a bunch of capitalist oligarchies masquerading as “democracies” — they’ll offer asylum and jobs to US scientists, and brain drain the US of what little remaining leverage they have.
Don’t know about the other countries,but Afghanistan is a bit special. Many invaders have tried, and failed. I guess the mountainous terrain doesn’t make it any easier. Seems to me that nobody is capable of conquering Afghanistan. When you hear about another empire trying their luck, you know it’s going to drain their power.
Vietnam has historically been pretty brutal for invaders too. Between the end of the third Chinese domination and the start of the French colonial period, they went almost a thousand years rarely ever losing a war. They even fended the Mongols off
Yeah - the US was just unlucky. They lost these ones + the korean war. But anywhere else they would win. Maybe except in Russia. Or china. Or a few others. But except for that they would win
The US was lucky that Afghanistan didn’t drain all of their money and power. It was already a total disaster, but it could have been even worse.
Let me guess, it was the jungle. I recall from history class, that China is protected by a massive jungle on one side, which has kept potential invaders from trying that direction. Maybe the same is true for Vietnam as well.
I assume it must have played a role. The Chinese border with Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar has some pretty damn big mountains too, which is one of the other classic "invading through this sucks" features
Well… the US could have won any of those wars, but only by completely wiping them off the map. And even the worst of the presidents wouldn’t have done that (the current one TBD).
Would love Asylum. Scared for my daughter growing up in this country right now. Realistically we’d have a hard time taking it and leaving our families, but I told my wife anything is on the table if our daughter needs it.
What historical event are you referring to?
Finally it’s dawning on the average western progressive
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Thanks. That said, those peasants were armed and trained by US forces.
Afghanistan probably
And this is exactly why the fuck Trump is chasing Canada as well.
Putin Junior learning from daddy
we’ve decided that you lose, and have negotiated the terms of your surrender with this bully psychopath who is also having sex with your mother and i
Good. Fuck em (us) the USA shouldn’t shake down Ukraine for minerals with the empty promise of security.
Ukraine should join NATO and they all should rally to support Ukraine. USA isnt dependable currently. And should be treated as hostile.
Take it from me… an american, the US government is absolutely hostile towards folks. :(
NATO isnt an option anymore. Trump being president means the US will reject their NATO application.
Meh as long as it’s not in a treaty they can start the process and wait for trump to hit the burger king in the ground
(I was going to say sky but we all know he ain’t going up)
Unless, of course, the US exits NATO. At this point, everybody would be better of without them.
I believe that the us passed a law saying that a president can’t remove the USA from NATO… But gestures broadly we can see how much rule of law matters to a R government trifecta.
Idk… either way… Ukraine needs support and if they don’t get it… the Russians will be at doorsteps to the major European countries. IMHO.
It doesn’t really matter what happens with nato, trump is technically commander in chief of the armed forces and just the chaos alone of the first few hours and days is where it makes all the difference. Jan 6 for example would have looked a whole lot different under a different sitting president where the national guard and military were sent in when they should have been, because as it was, disaster was minutes and tens of feet away that day.
So kick US out of NATO. They can re-apply once they’re done with fascism.
I have this terrible feeling that Turkey would veto, even if somehow we could distract Trump with enough McDonald’s and fake tits to try to get it done.
Huh?
As a US citizen, it’s never been hostile towards me. In fact, I would imagine most people have had little to no engagement with the federal government (outside of the routine items: taxes, etc…) Now, their state government may be a different story.
Good. Crazy that people were cheering on this straight up extortion. Europe and America promised support to win the war. Now that Ukraine is deep in the sunk cost fallacy they start extorting them.
Good. Crazy that people were cheering on this straight up extortion. Europe and America promised support to win the war. Now that Ukraine is deep in the sunk cost fallacy they start extorting them.
Good on you, Zelensky. Do not cave.
The offer might have gone over slightly better if the US Secretary of Defense hadn’t already ruled out NATO membership and a return to Ukraine’s 2014 borders.
I’d like to see Ukraine get Crimea back but it’s never going to happen. not without russias complete collapse at least
a worthy goal
Agreed. Would you also agreed to the complete collapse of the genocidal empire of the USA?
Your terms are acceptable.
How far can that be anyway?
too far, i fear
Sorry Ukraine, that we elected a small handed baby, who is a terrible leader. Hopefully, things work out for you. Sincerely, U.S.A.
Hopefully Europe steps up
I think that, if Trump hadn’t decided to just sow chaos for the last three weeks, all of these deals he’s trying to make might actually end up with more favorable outcomes.
How is anyone supposed to trust the US in good faith when they’re watching us destroy ourselves on purpose?
I would have just pulled a Trump and agreed then reneged afterwards.
It’s a bold strategy, Cotton.
That works if you’re in a position of power and don’t need to rely on the people you’re reneging on.
What good is being saved from being enslaved by one dictator only to be enslaved by your “saviour” instead?
Theoretically maybe the “savior” won’t shoot, maybe.
Look, it’s not a good deal, but hey, I’m trying this optimism thing out. Don’t think it’s working.
That said, anyone who makes a deal with Trump hasn’t paid attention to any of the deals he made in his last administration that he’ll drop them when they’re inconvenient.
US support was never out of the goodness of their hearts, there was always going to be a price to pay, but of course trump goes about it in the most hamfisted way possible.
The US has always got the dollar-as-global-reserve-currency out of its military spending, which is a large part of how post second world war America accrued a huge portion of unearned global wealth. Trump, those that voted for him, and those that spent decades creating this situation for personal enrichment are rapidly hastening the end of this situation.
It’s not just the act of spending on the military, it’s about control which they get through the use of the military.
So now the US are officially running a protection racket! You really do have mob bosses running the place.
Michael Parenti was saying this in the 70s and 80s though
They have been doing it with Arab countries for decades. Pay up or get sanctioned, bombed, invaded and couped. What some in the West wrongly perceive as bribes are actually tributes to avoid becoming the next Iraq, Syria or Libya, or worse: Palestine.
A defence alliance
It’s like that crude joke
“Would you have sex with me for 1 million? Yes. How about for 20 instead? No, I’m not a whore! We already established that, we’re now negotiating the price”
First it was the rare earth worth X amount, now it’s half. What’s next?
I love going to the SanDiego area swap meets. There are at least 3 big ones… National city, El Cajon and Oceanside. There, many people come haggle and barter to get used or grade B products. Maybe Trump should start there?
Anyone who has ever gone there knows that you don’t go for the jugular of your cash cow. If you’re a buyer, you wanna be a nice mosquito… Look around a few times to see what you wanna get, go elsewhere, and then come back. If you are selling, you don’t kill the mosquito, buy you know how much blood to give. As a buyer you find a thing you don’t want, which is similar to the thing you do want so you can trade down or somehow not show interest in the actual thing you want.
Now the entire world knows that Trump is an idiot and wants 50% of all natural resources. It could have been 90% of all uranium for example. Bug nah, look, here are all my cards! Take a good look see!
That’s Trump’s are of the deal and it’s ass. It doesn’t mater if he actually gets anything from it. Its ass. We lose, they lose, ruzzia wins. Maybe we should have a well trained Lego dealing kid to negotiate a better deal.
Did the world already not know that Trump is an idiot?
Since he showed his face probably.