2d ago

Rare Earths Reality Check: Ukraine Doesn't Have Minable Deposits

spectrum.ieee.org Oval Office Outburst Reveals Flaws in U.S.-Ukraine Rare Earth Minerals Deal

A chaotic Oval Office press conference on Feb. 28 revealed a nonsensical U.S.-Ukraine deal for rare earths, baffling experts who knew Ukraine lacks viable deposits. Is Trump’s rare-earth strategy misguided political theater? With China dominating the market, why ignore U.S. resources? #RareEarths #P...

Experts say proposed deal with U.S. makes no sense

“If you want critical minerals, Ukraine ain’t the place to look for them,” declares Jack Lifton, executive chairman of the Critical Minerals Institute. “It’s a fantasy. There’s no point to any of this. There’s some other agenda going on here. I can’t believe that anybody in Washington actually believes that it makes sense to get rare earths in Ukraine.”

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2d ago

U.S.-Ukraine Rare Earth Minerals Deal - Confusion explained in comments

spectrum.ieee.org /ukraine-rare-earth-minerals

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If that is true, why didn’t Zelenskyy just sign it? Honestly asking.
- Because he didn't come here to sign it, he came to force Trump make his position clear to the world. He stayed calm, he thanked Trump plenty, he didn't rise to the insults... He even printed out big pictures to hand to trump one at a time, they way he likes
  He kissed the ring so he could make Ukraine's position clear - they don't trust Russia's word, they have no doubt Russia will break any deal made without security guarantees, with good reason. They offered the trump white house investment opportunities to see if that would realign the US with Ukraine, but even if we were to cripple our future with the numbers Trump responded with, he'll still give Russia everything Putin wants
  He was the only adult in that room, and he wanted the world to see it. He made the US position clear (Trump's position at least) - this isn't a negotiation tactic or an an effort to get concessions, Trump supports Putin over America's allies
  And it worked. The EU immediately met when he returned, they announced deals for like 1.5 trillion over the next couple years to set up their own military production, and they're preparing troops to mobilize
- I think it's a trap. Zelenskiy knows that the rare earths are difficult to mine profitably. If he had signed it, it would just give Trump cover to claim that Ukraine was not holding up its end of the deal in a few years, and withdraw from whatever agreement was made.
  Zelenskiy knows it's only a matter of time before US support for Ukraine goes away. His job is to push whatever levers he has to keep the support flowing for as long as possible, while arranging more support from Europe.
  
  "A few years from now" is longer than "last week", so if that was his goal he didn't do a great job.
  Or maybe as the leader of a sovereign country he wasn't willing to sign a deal where he gave something and got nothing in return (security guarantees).
  
  I could see the whole thing being about withdrawing support from Ukraine because the "deal" fell through. Maybe it was always a means to get to where we are now, with the US no longer supplying information and weapons to Ukraine.
- Zelensky was going to sign something, until baby Vance decided to throw a tantrum, and Trump couldn't resist joining in. I don't think it was going to be for Trump's $500 billion amount, but that photo op was supposed to precede a signing.
  In any case, odds are that Trump never intended the demand to be met.
- Because he was stupid enough to believe that he could get more and that he could convince Trump to escalate the war and involve NATO directly
  
  He also wanted three wishes, a unicorn and a flying pig.

23 comments