As we noted yesterday, Donald Trump wants to get his hands on Ukraine's mineral riches as part of a "peace plan" to end the Russia-Ukraine war, but available evidence indicates that is not likely to happen. In fact, we suggested Ukraine President Volomydyr Zelensky might be wasting his time by meeting with Trump at the White House today to iron out the final details on a deal.
But Trump's willingness to kiss up to Russia's Vladimir Putin could wind up paying off. That's because Putin has stated that he could provide Trump with what might be called "back-alley access" to Ukraine's minerals. How could that happen? The New Republic (TNR) explains under the headline "Vladimir Putin Just Offered Trump a Huge Gift; As Ukraine balks at Trump’s efforts to seize its mineral reserves, the Russian president just suggested that the U.S. could access minerals … in Russian-held Ukraine." Edith Olmsted writes:
Russian President Vladimir Putin just offered to cut Donald Trump in on his invasion of Ukraine by pillaging its seized minerals.
After Ukraine initially refused to offer up its mineral reserves as payback for U.S. military aid, Putin has swooped in to offer the U.S. minerals from … Russian-occupied Ukraine. Putin told state media Monday that Russia was “ready to work with our partners, including the Americans” to access several mineral reserves across the country—and outside of it too, according to Politico.
The autocrat emphasized that Russia had “an order of magnitude more resources of this kind than Ukraine,” but it seems that his bid also included reserves in Ukraine. Putin name-dropped Donbas, a Ukrainian region occupied by Russian forces, and referred to the country’s seized lands as “so-called new historical territories.”
The offer comes as U.S. and Ukraine officials enter the final stages of a contentious mineral agreement.
The deal would funnel half of the Eastern European nation’s rare earth minerals—hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of materials used in tech and electronic products—into the American market but wouldn’t do anything to ensure Ukraine’s security or economic interests in the future.
In other words, Zelensky might not want to bother showing up to meet with Trump. After all, Putin has made it clear that he and Trump have a plan in place, behind the Ukraine leader's back, to box him out of any deal. Of course, Putin's word generally should not be trusted, and it's possible he could be lying to Trump about access to minerals in parts of Ukraine controlled by Russia. But if Putin is telling the truth, it's hard to see how Zelensky and his countrymen could benefit. They are having to deal with a pair of rattlesnakes who would rather bite than play fair. Olmsted writes:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publicly balked at a deal proposed by the Trump administration Sunday, which would grant the U.S. preferential access to Ukraine’s critical mineral resources.
“I will not sign what 10 generations of Ukrainians will have to pay back,” Zelenskiy said Sunday. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Olga Stefanishyna wrote in a post on X Monday that U.S. and Ukrainian officials were “in the final stages” of negotiations.
On Monday, Trump held a meeting with the G7 Summit, where he said that he “emphasized the importance” of the proposed “Critical Minerals and Rare-Earths Deal” between the U.S. and Ukraine. The Trump administration has repeatedly pledged to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, but has also openly echoed Moscow’s rhetoric downplaying its role in the yearslong conflict. Last week, Trump claimed that Ukraine had actually invited Russia’s illegal and deadly incursion into its territory, and the U.S. also joined 18 countries that refused to sign a U.N. resolution to condemn Russia for invading Ukraine.
Should Trump accept Putin’s offer to raid Ukraine’s mineral resources, he won’t just be rubber-stamping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he will be participating in it too!
Would Trump have any problem with that outcome? Would he check his moral compass and say, "I can't treat my Ukrainian friend that way"? C'mon, we're talking about Donald J. Trump here. Moral compass? Pfftt . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment