Summary
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he remains “ready to sign” a US-Ukraine minerals deal despite leaving the White House without an agreement following a contentious meeting with Trump.
Speaking in London after a European leaders’ summit, Zelensky emphasized that their fractious meeting only benefited Putin.
Refusing to discuss territorial concessions, he stated the “best security guarantees are a strong Ukrainian army.”
Responding to calls from Senator Graham that he resign, Zelensky quipped he is “exchangeable for NATO” membership, saying this would mean he had “fulfilled my mission.”
He totally should agree to whatever, and just reneg on the deal once he gets what he wants. It’s what Trump would do anyways, fuck any actual “deal” you have with dishonorable people.
I disagree. Democrats would likely take advantage of the agreement if they win the next election.
Remember in diablo II when you had to drop the item of the floor to trade and people waited for the other one to drop the item first then steal the item? That’s geopolitics in a nutshell lol.
We don’t make deals with fascist states, we will take advantage of them if the opportunity arises.
Yeah, Zelensky was never against a mineral deal. His whole reason of not signing was because the US doesn’t want to give Ukraine assurances for where Russia breaks the peace treaty again.
Quite literally what Trump is trying to do is muscle the wealth of Ukraine away from them and leave them with nothing. If Zelensky agrees to that, thousands of Ukrainians will have died for nothing.
I wish i could upvote you more than once!
Remember when Ukraine made a deal to give up it’s nuclear weapons in exchange for security? pepperidge farm remembers.
Thanks for posting a source 😁
Remember when the Arabs revolted against the ottomans for independence. PepperRidge farm remembers all western lies
He’s better off without a US deal. Trump won’t do shit to help him. That’s as good as signing a deal with Putin.
True as Trump might outsource mining operations to Russian state owned companies…
I wish he wouldn’t. I know he doesn’t feel like he has much choice but to try and deal with the US, but as a USIAN, I wish he wouldn’t trust this administration. They’re going to rugpull him and the entire country of Ukraine literally whenever they want, they’re going to try and make Ukraine a neocolonial asset, and I just wish that he wouldn’t grant this administration the legitimacy of trying to negotiate with them in good faith.
I read his statements as attempts to make it clear he’s not the unreasonable “everyone must give Ukraine all the aid we want with no compensation allowed” figure that conservatives in the US now want to paint him as. It makes it clear that Trump isn’t upset that Zelenskyy isn’t open to negotiating compensation for the US, he’s just trying to find an excuse to pivot US foreign policy towards Russia’s goals, and Zelenskyy meanwhile is even willing to discuss something as absurd as signing away Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
I think it’s a good idea for him to call Trump’s bluff. If he railed hard against the deal, it’d become another partisan issue, whether relations with Ukraine broke because of Trump or Zelenskyy being a hardliner. That’s why they’ve been trying to find any excuse at all to say Zelenskyy was somehow rude to Trump while he was sitting there listening to Trump spit out Russian propaganda. Conservatives need some narrative that the US pivot to Russian foreign policy is Ukraine’s fault, and Zelenskyy is denying them that.
I guess, man, but we’re talking about people that seem to have an unlimited capacity to distort reality in order to make the narrative true. Never forget that on J6 the capitol was stormed by righteous patriots trying to save democracy and that they were just on a peaceful tour after being told to go in by capitol police and also that they were a violent antifa mob.
Any deal with the current US administration isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
I’m still at a loss what Ukraine would get out of this deal. It’s not weapons
It it was a fair deal, investment from the US to build more infrastructures, doubling their investment capacity to mine stuff.
I think it’s really clever actually:
Zelensky knows Trump secretly - although less and less secretly - roots for Putin. He pretends to offer this deal to save face, but he really doesn’t want to provide any aid to Ukraine, which is probably why he and the couch fucker were so quick to get ill-tampered and call off the negotiations at the White House on Friday: the last thing they want is to find themselves in a position to have to help Ukraine against Putin.
Zelensky is calling them on their bluff and cornering them: either they don’t sign a deal after all and Trump’s duplicitous dealings will be exposed for all to see, or they do sign a deal and Trump will have to kill Russians in Ukraine, which is bad news for his relationship with Putin.
That could be what comes out of it, but I just fear that they sign the papers, companies buy up the land to have rights to mine those minerals and then they wait until Russia wins. Cause if Trump and Putin are buddies, then they could still have those mineral rights after the war in the worst case scenario.
I can’t believe that we’re talking about scenarios like this when it comes to the USA and supporting Ukraine. Urgh…
I have to say, I knew I wasn’t quite old enough to make it to my grave without seeing the beginning of WW3, but the last thing I expected is that it would come from the US turning into a raging fascist dictatorship.
Totally. The world order after ww2 is being destroyed by themselves in front of us.
The goal is US security guarantees, as in US military enforcing any ceasefire agreement with Russia.
I don’t think that guarantee is worth the paper it is written on as long as Trump is in office, but that is the goal.
Any long-term agreement with any US administration is not worth anything.
This is not even purely a Trump thing. We saw this with the Budapest Memorandum.
The fake plan is that US businesses would be in Ukraine processing the minerals and that would be a deterrent.
In theory that’s not too far fetched. But they are already American companies operating in Ukraine and that has never stopped Russia from bombing Ukraine. I doubt it works as a deterrent.
Even weapons would be worthless. All US weapons systems have remote kill switches.
They said that a US administration could put restrictions on kit (read equipment) from the US and that if countries are “deemed not to be doing what you are told you will suddenly find out missiles won’t fire and planes won’t fly. You have got to be careful.”
https://xcancel.com/prestonstew_/status/1895160295032598549
This is a typical “anonymous sources say” type article, but its believable and in line with industry standards even for less critical equipment like trucks and tractors.
We need to drop the f-35s, get something european
We already have, the French rafale is pretty good. They just aren’t made in sufficient numbers and you can’t ramp that up in a week
US would be forced to defend their mining assets/investments in the area.
This should be a referendum. Zelensky has staked his reputation and legitimacy on winning this war. If the question is independence and more war or become a colony of Russia then a lot would be on board. If the question is become a colony of Russia and peace or become a colony of America and more war, I think that’s a tougher call to make.
This should be a referendum.
You can not hold a referendum during an active war.
Why, the U.S. has had many elections during wars, many of which become a referendum on whether to stay in the war. The 1864 election had candidates openly advocating for ending the civil war. The 1968 election had multiple nominees on the democratic side advocating to end the Vietnam War, and the winner Nixon was campaigning on ending the war "with honor.
The people should have a say in whether there country continues a war, to say otherwise is undemocratic and patronizing.
The people should have a say in whether there country continues a war,
Yes, including the people displaced and oh here is a thought, the ones in occupied land.
Ukraine will give up their natural resources for nothing.
Russia will still be the aggressor and will still do Russian things. There will be no peace deal with the U.S.
Russia doesn’t care, they own the White House at this point. The White House does as Putin commands them to.
Does he still think the US will honour any agreement he makes with them that will harm Russia? I get that he’s doing the best he can for his country, but I don’t see there’s anything left to salvage here. Trump is working for Russia completely.
I think what is happening is that Ukraine believes that signing the deal will result in a range of outcomes from neutral to positive, depending how and when the US renegs on their side of it. But without the deal the outcomes range from neutral to very negative, so making the deal is the clear right move even if you believe it won’t do anything.
I think he’s mostly banking on what comes after Trump assuming our democracy survives. That and if there were Americans on the ground in the country it may be an effective deterrent against Russian aggression just to have American bodies there that could get exploded and bring the USA into a shooting war on Ukraine’s side.
That’s my take on it anyways. Plus it could potentially be beneficial to both countries if the USA were to actually play ball and not be dickheads. Ukraine probably, idk I’m not an economist/read up that much, does not have all the equipment and men and experience to exploit all their mineral wealth. Bringing in American contractors to help isn’t the worst idea, it just needs to be done right for it to make sense.
You can’t say this publicly. Rules of diplomacy and there are other allies that we need to work with.
Everyone in Ukraine itself believes exactly that. I am no mind reader, but I am almost certain this would include Zelenskyy as well.
It’s kind of absurd that “western” leaders aren’t chomping at the bit for that minerals deal. USA might think they’d get the minerals without putting in the required effort, but Europeans can’t hope for that. Maybe we just actually can’t deliver what’s required for a good-faith deal?
It’s “champing” at the bit. Not chomping
Egg corn
Meh, both are considered correct today. Might as well complain that almost every sentence in American English contains misspellings because it’s different from British English.
No, words mean something. Either use it correctly because you know what it means, or don’t use the saying at all. Use a different phrase.
You’re just being pedantic now. Merriam-Webster among others say chomping is acceptable now. Language changes, keep up or shut up
So, any thoughts on this Ukraine mineral deal situation? It’s interesting that you chose to debate the difference between ‘champing’ and ‘chomping’ instead of engaging with the actual topic of the post and my comment.
I’m not choosing to debate anything. I’m just saying it’s champing, not chomping. No debate. I agree with you otherwise
Irregardless…
