I actually think this is Zelensky manipulating Trump. From Ukraine's point of view, this is win-win. They get continued military support on terms that Trump is likely to champion ("$15T in rare earth metals! Take that Jina!"). The rare earth deposits are mostly in Donetsk and Luhansk, so Trump has an incentive to support taking back that territory from Russia. And finally, this will mean post-war investment into rebuilding the bombed out industries in the East.
this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2025
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It's about time one of the good guys starts manipulating the orange bastard
Psssst before one of the repost bots snatches it up and posts it on xitter.
I believe that Putin has pushed and directly and indirectly supported Trump, to weaken the minority world (aka "the West"). This might actually backfire now. A autoritatian regime lead by Trump is much more a wild card than the USA was before, because he doesn't follow a predictable pattern. At least thats how the situation seems to be to me. Maybe I am not seeing the big picture here.
And there it is. This is why Nvidia head met with Trump. Fuck this shit my god someone please tell me what the fuck I can do to stop this shit.
After the war, just tell Trump that the rare earth materials have strange properties which make people within a certain radius more attracted to people of their own gender.
Russians linked to Kadyrov export grain from Ukraine and gangster Trump wants some 'rare earth elements'.
By the way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_dos_Santos
Holy duck he's a small man
They should say "ok", get the aid, win the war, then refuse to pay. Everyone would love that trumpian tactic "it's just business, mate"
Honestly this is a good opportunity for Ukraine because trump is very easy to manipulate.
First:
Ukraine should say "absolutely!.. but we can't do any of that until all Russia is gone from Ukrainian soil including Crimea. We wouldn't want your Rare Earth metals to be attacked by Russians. Also we'll need to ship them out of our port cities many of which Russia currently occupies in the sea of Azov and Crimea. So give us everything we need to clear out the Russians and we'll get started on shipping you ore! Also, you want to make sure Ukraine is sovereign at the end of this and that Russia has no control over us because you know Putin won't honor our deal on Rare Earths for the USA"
Second:
Rare Earth minerals aren't uncommon, they're just very sparsely spread over large areas of dirt or water. The hard, dirty, and expensive work of producing Rare Earth metals is the refinement. I'm not seeing any requirement here the Ukraine refines it. This means that Ukraine could fulfill the commitment to trump by shipping raw ore. The only think Ukraine will have to do is shovel dirt right out of the ground and put it in ships on the way to the USA. Any level of concentration would qualify (and again, they're not rare, just not densely concentrated).
Third:
Much of the military aid Ukraine has received is loans of military gear. Ukraine knows this and is planning on paying this back over many decades. If Ukraine could offer shiploads of dirt as payment, they could get out from under the war debt far earlier than they planned.
Ukraine should absolutely take this deal. It secures their borders, kicks Russia out, keeps the country sovereign, and reduces their war debt. Oh, it will probably also piss off Putin, which is a nice side win.
And finally, the US hasn't contributed more than Europe.
i hope a response is nothing more than something like: 'after russia withdraws and surrenders without condition, we'll talk. until then, go fuck yourself.'
Smart thing would be to completely agree with Trump. Get $100T in military might, defeat Russia, get call from US about new rare earth metals, and then just be like “I’m sorry, who dis?”
I mean what are they going to do, invade Ukraine? Didn’t you hear, they got $100T in military supplies to back them up.
Trump always forgetting that some of this shit don’t ROI till way longer than he’ll be around. If Ukraine has any sense, they’ll send a giant gold plate W for Trump’s win, if he promises tanks and planes. They keep saying the wars ongoing for the next fifty years for all it matters. And if the US wants that metal upfront be like, “Yeah y’all come on in and mine it yourselves, don’t let us get in your way.” Then oops, sorry we bombed that, thought it was Russia.
Like Trump thinking he’s walking with some massive upset and it’s just Ukraine court to play ball how they want. Shit yeah Ukraine “agrees” to whatever.
The smart thing to do is to get their help, put the investment into a state-owned rare-earth mining company, and sell those back to the US at market price later. Or maybe even agree on a discount for some fixed time.
I don't really understand where Trump is going with that.
Pretty sure all big US military equipment is backdoored and can be disabled remotely. At the very least it wont run for long or be repairable without the manufacturers help. Its DRM lock in all the way down to the hardware.
I doubt much is. It needs to be repairable in the field, even in conditions that wipe out communication. It can't phone-home as a requirement, and it can't be made in a way that you need to send it to an authorized technician to fix. I don't see any way a robust DRM lock would fly.
The US military literally has non-repairability as a key point of current national security risk. They were actively involved in right to repair stuff because of it. I cant be fucked to find this rn but im sure its not too hard to find.
Yes and no. Some is, yes, but a lot isn't. After all how do you think ISIS was able to get those black hawks running in the first place?
And if you've ever read through leaked training manuals you'd be shocked by how easy it is to get around whatever DRM some stuff has.
Sure, that's why the Taliban are driving around in hummers
New number, who dis? - Ukraine
Rare earths to begin with. There will be more demands.
Gasp! ...Legendary earths?
SR Venus, SSR Mars (or UR in some games)
As long as they don't start demanding Ubisoft earths.
The legend of the squids who fly!
I hate you got making me laugh
That's just payment, right? That's a lot better than nothing.
Yeah, discussions were ongoing last August.
"US-Ukraine cooperation Ukraine aims to leverage its rich mineral resources to accelerate the green transition and enhance regional security. In this regard, cooperation between Ukraine and the United States in the critical materials sector has been a focal point of recent discussions. During a meeting on August 12 between the two governments, they discussed joint investment projects and the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s economy and reconstruction efforts. In particular, the Ukrainian government is keen to encourage American businesses to invest in its mining and processing industries.
This collaboration aims to deepen ties and leverage Ukraine’s rich mineral resources to support the production of semiconductors and high-tech products."
Source: https://www.dentons.com/en/insights/articles/2024/august/20/ukraine-critical-minerals
So in order to protect Ukrainian land, he wants... the minerals from the land.... Sounds like surrendering to the USA instead of surrendering to Russia.
Or like buying weapons? Just bartering for commodities?
Ukraine should tell him to go fuck himself.
God, I hope Europe backs Ukraine to the hilt like they've been discussing.
I can't believe this utter reversal. Putin really got his money's worth out of his orange puppet.
Germany is soft on Russia. It would be very hard without their support.
The funny thing is that a deal which brings foreign investment to Ukraine can be good for Ukraine even if the minerals are sold on terms very favorable to the USA. I wish Trump didn't make it sound like extortion but who knows - maybe that's what gets Republican voters on board.
I'd 100% agree but Trump and his POS buddies are some the least trustworthy people on earth. I think he'll end up fucking the Ukrainians somehow
We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars
I know that this is not even close to being the most egregiously wrong thing he has said, but no you aren't. You have put in less than one hundred billion. If you had put in hundreds of billions (and if Europe had done likewise, though the EU has cleared a hundred billion) the war would be over
Ukraine should tell Trump that the minerals are at 5 mile increments all along the eastern front
Gonna have to send troops and patriot systems to secure each one
And then, presumably, sublet them to Russia.
You know, we have rare earth minerals in the US. The mines closed up, but they can be reopened. Rare earth isn't particularly rare, it's just that there are shortages due to the ramp up of EVs and solar panels. Things Trump hates.
And warm water ports?
They should sell Hunter's laptop to him instead. Or the definite proof of pizzagate. Or whatever else cheap bs will convince him.
A Latin phrase comes to mind...ah, but it was decided that while illegal, it was okay to do that. See, he did learn a lesson.
Looks like the tech bros and oil oligarchs are really getting their money's worth. They bought this
Bringing in additional American military support now, getting American development dollars later, adding local Ukrainian jobs, all in exchange for additional Ukrainian tax revenues from mined minerals sounds like a win-win-win-win.