There is too much hysteria about this particular issue, while in fact Ukraine has already been chewed up by foreign private ownership
For example well prior to the war in Ukraine, the privatisation of farmland in Ukraine - forced by the IMF and Witld Bank since 2009 - already meant that it was being bought up by US private equity firms and banks, the Norwegian government wealth fund, and Saudi businesses, with the European development fund, and other holding debt based secondary control of the assets
What’s going on here is Trump wading into to make grabs of Ukrainian assets to line his own pockets. His morally corrupt policies and likely corruption are not new at all. Nor is American corruption in Ukraine. It’s in Ukraine that Hunter Biden was collecting millions of dollars while having no relevant insight or expertise but having a personal family relationship that was veeeeery relevant to the Ukrainian oligarch paying him for doing nothing.
But the rape of Ukrainian assets by the west, and by USA specifically, is NOT remotely new. Nowhere is that information in the headlines.
The Duran boys brought up an important point: this vague accord effectively destroys any EU membership for Ukraine. At the same time, Zelensky's term ran out last year effectively delegitimizing any hypothetical peace agreement with Russia and now this mineral deal with the US. It is now clear: the real obstacle to peace is named Volodymyr Zelensky and his merry b and of crooks in Kyiv. What happened to those "lost" billions?
"The Duran boys brought up an important point: this vague accord effectively destroys any EU membership for Ukraine"
I must have missed that segment.
That is huge, if true, and no doubt deliberate on the US side. You could say it is ingenious. The US weakens the EU (which it is clearly attempting to destroy) without breaking sweat.
Of course, it all depends on how much of these strategic elements Ukraine actually possesses, whether in the Russian controlled oblasts or the Ukrainian side. According to a graph on Pepe Escobat's Telegram channel, Ukraine has very little in the way of rare earth minerals, whose fooling who?
I haven't seen this 'deal', this 'framework', this charade. But I have now seen Alexander Mercouris' assessment of it on The Duran and I entirely trust his view, which I'm going to suggest is that it is of no legal value whatsoever. He has previously described the UK's provision of 100-year security guarantees to Ukraine as "a piece of paper", which is a withering, damning assessment of it, although it may contain some wording that does actually have substance in legal terms. Whereas Mercouris seems to be suggesting that the US-Ukraine supposed 'minerals deal' piece of paper is even more useless, to the point that it is entirely worthless.
It's been suggested that if Trump signs a piece of paper with Zelensky, that this is somehow legitimising Zelensky as the President of Ukraine, thus the likes of Elon can no longer reasonably identify him as a dictator. I don't agree with that at all. Trump could sign a piece of paper with Kim Jong Un; it doesn't mean he's the democratically-elected leader of North Korea.
I trust Mercouris' view. It's a worthless bit of paper committing nobody to anything. A charade. It probably holds as much legal weight as two sweethearts agreeing to go to the cinema tonight.
I've read today that Zelensky is of the opinion that he doesn't need to sign it; it can be done by some minor officials. If it was the coup the media will sell it as, he'd want his name to be on it.
It's quickly become very tedious. It's what people these days call a 'nothingburger', & no fries.
I wrote elsewhere (Ian Proud's Peacemonger Substack) that I'd had a quick internet around and found a paper authored by Ukrainian university students, paid for by the EU (of course!), which openly cast doubt on the viability of (some of) the Lithium deposits, which are very few (four?). I know nothing about mining rare earths, but I don't need to, as it is evident from reading that paper that not all Lithium-bearing ores are the same, and that at least the Shevchenko 'vein' is of a type (spodumene-petalite) that is likely to be so costly to develop as to prove non-viable.
The Shevchenko vein was discovered in 1982 yet has remained without a spade in the ground. That alone should tell you that it isn't as easy as Elon coming along with a bucket and spade and digging up 100% pure Lithium nuggets and then packing it all in his suitcase for the flight home.
So why is Trump wasting time with it? Why does Trump do anything these days?
1) Because he can sell it to the American people as a win, even if it is in essence a nothing.
2) Because he can blame Ukraine/Zelensky when it goes nowhere and is revealed as a nothing.
3) Because it'll annoy someone he doesn't like. If this is the Europeans or the Brits, even better.
4) Because everyone on the planet can see that Trump has said "OK, Ukraine, I want half of everything, now bend over and spread your buttocks" and Zelensky has replied "How wide?"
The only aspect that interests me is the mention of ports. Ports means Odessa. And probably Nikolaev? But let's stick with Odessa. Why does Trump 'want' Odessa, or pretend that he does, given how much this will antagonise Russia, and given Trump has no interest from a NATO POV?
Is Trump just doing this to screw over the EU/UK, given how much both of them will want Odessa? Is Trump signalling to Putin that this is exactly what he's doing, screwing the EU/UK?
Maybe I'm adding 2 plus 2 and coming up with 5000. I can barely play chess, never mind 5D...
There is too much hysteria about this particular issue, while in fact Ukraine has already been chewed up by foreign private ownership
For example well prior to the war in Ukraine, the privatisation of farmland in Ukraine - forced by the IMF and Witld Bank since 2009 - already meant that it was being bought up by US private equity firms and banks, the Norwegian government wealth fund, and Saudi businesses, with the European development fund, and other holding debt based secondary control of the assets
https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/new-report-take-over-ukrainian-agricultural-land
https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/war-theft-takeover-ukraine-agricultural-land
What’s going on here is Trump wading into to make grabs of Ukrainian assets to line his own pockets. His morally corrupt policies and likely corruption are not new at all. Nor is American corruption in Ukraine. It’s in Ukraine that Hunter Biden was collecting millions of dollars while having no relevant insight or expertise but having a personal family relationship that was veeeeery relevant to the Ukrainian oligarch paying him for doing nothing.
But the rape of Ukrainian assets by the west, and by USA specifically, is NOT remotely new. Nowhere is that information in the headlines.
The Duran boys brought up an important point: this vague accord effectively destroys any EU membership for Ukraine. At the same time, Zelensky's term ran out last year effectively delegitimizing any hypothetical peace agreement with Russia and now this mineral deal with the US. It is now clear: the real obstacle to peace is named Volodymyr Zelensky and his merry b and of crooks in Kyiv. What happened to those "lost" billions?
"The Duran boys brought up an important point: this vague accord effectively destroys any EU membership for Ukraine"
I must have missed that segment.
That is huge, if true, and no doubt deliberate on the US side. You could say it is ingenious. The US weakens the EU (which it is clearly attempting to destroy) without breaking sweat.
Of course, it all depends on how much of these strategic elements Ukraine actually possesses, whether in the Russian controlled oblasts or the Ukrainian side. According to a graph on Pepe Escobat's Telegram channel, Ukraine has very little in the way of rare earth minerals, whose fooling who?
I have given up to understand this “US- Ukraine mineral deal”.
You don’t need to understand the document .
All you need to understand is what corruption and colonialism are.
I wish it — https://scheerpost.com/2025/02/28/trump-vance-clash-with-zelensky-during-white-house-meeting/
Looks like it was always meant to blow up!
Thanks for your great work!
We've shared the link on our daily report.
A Skeptic War Reports
https://askeptic.substack.com/
I haven't seen this 'deal', this 'framework', this charade. But I have now seen Alexander Mercouris' assessment of it on The Duran and I entirely trust his view, which I'm going to suggest is that it is of no legal value whatsoever. He has previously described the UK's provision of 100-year security guarantees to Ukraine as "a piece of paper", which is a withering, damning assessment of it, although it may contain some wording that does actually have substance in legal terms. Whereas Mercouris seems to be suggesting that the US-Ukraine supposed 'minerals deal' piece of paper is even more useless, to the point that it is entirely worthless.
It's been suggested that if Trump signs a piece of paper with Zelensky, that this is somehow legitimising Zelensky as the President of Ukraine, thus the likes of Elon can no longer reasonably identify him as a dictator. I don't agree with that at all. Trump could sign a piece of paper with Kim Jong Un; it doesn't mean he's the democratically-elected leader of North Korea.
I trust Mercouris' view. It's a worthless bit of paper committing nobody to anything. A charade. It probably holds as much legal weight as two sweethearts agreeing to go to the cinema tonight.
I've read today that Zelensky is of the opinion that he doesn't need to sign it; it can be done by some minor officials. If it was the coup the media will sell it as, he'd want his name to be on it.
It's quickly become very tedious. It's what people these days call a 'nothingburger', & no fries.
I wrote elsewhere (Ian Proud's Peacemonger Substack) that I'd had a quick internet around and found a paper authored by Ukrainian university students, paid for by the EU (of course!), which openly cast doubt on the viability of (some of) the Lithium deposits, which are very few (four?). I know nothing about mining rare earths, but I don't need to, as it is evident from reading that paper that not all Lithium-bearing ores are the same, and that at least the Shevchenko 'vein' is of a type (spodumene-petalite) that is likely to be so costly to develop as to prove non-viable.
The Shevchenko vein was discovered in 1982 yet has remained without a spade in the ground. That alone should tell you that it isn't as easy as Elon coming along with a bucket and spade and digging up 100% pure Lithium nuggets and then packing it all in his suitcase for the flight home.
So why is Trump wasting time with it? Why does Trump do anything these days?
1) Because he can sell it to the American people as a win, even if it is in essence a nothing.
2) Because he can blame Ukraine/Zelensky when it goes nowhere and is revealed as a nothing.
3) Because it'll annoy someone he doesn't like. If this is the Europeans or the Brits, even better.
4) Because everyone on the planet can see that Trump has said "OK, Ukraine, I want half of everything, now bend over and spread your buttocks" and Zelensky has replied "How wide?"
The only aspect that interests me is the mention of ports. Ports means Odessa. And probably Nikolaev? But let's stick with Odessa. Why does Trump 'want' Odessa, or pretend that he does, given how much this will antagonise Russia, and given Trump has no interest from a NATO POV?
Is Trump just doing this to screw over the EU/UK, given how much both of them will want Odessa? Is Trump signalling to Putin that this is exactly what he's doing, screwing the EU/UK?
Maybe I'm adding 2 plus 2 and coming up with 5000. I can barely play chess, never mind 5D...