• thejml@lemm.ee
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    22 days ago

    Probably a good thing, the US sucked at it anyway. Ukraine was going to be forced to concede so much… Art of the Deal strikes again.

    • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      Nah, Trump got what he wanted, the minerals deal. Now he can keep sanctions on China for longer while we strip mine Ukraine for rare earth minerals.

      • BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca
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        21 days ago

        Honestly, from everything I’ve seen so far, the new mineral deal seems pretty good and fair.

        • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          21 days ago

          That depends on the deal actually being followed.

          Trump has zero intention of following through on any deal he makes, if he finds another option that is more beneficial to himself and himself alone, he will reneg on the deal in a microsecond.

      • thejml@lemm.ee
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        21 days ago

        It’s going to take years if not decades to setup the full supply chain off that deal, he’ll likely be dead by then and China will be laughing the whole time.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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        21 days ago

        Lol, we aren’t going to be mining anything. Rare earth minerals aren’t rare because they’re only located in isolated places, they’re rare because they are only present in small amounts when mining other materials.

        The hard part is the refining of rare earth minerals because it requires large investments in refineries to separate the materials and consolidate them. Infrastructure that Ukraine or America haven’t invested in.

        The minerals deal is just something that trump can point to as a “win” when in reality it’s not worth anything. Just like everything this administration does, it’s nothing but smoke and mirrors.

        • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          I’m aware, but they’re also unfortunately rare in the US, and we need batteries if we don’t maintain a good trade relationship with China.

          • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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            21 days ago

            America actually has plenty of rare earth deposits, it’s just not profitable to mine them and then build facilities to refine them.

        • frezik@midwest.social
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          21 days ago

          Ukraine doesn’t even have significant rare earth deposits. Nothing worth mining.

          However, those aren’t the only thing in the deal. Bunch of other minerals are in there, and oil and natural gas.

      • torrentialgrain@lemm.ee
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        21 days ago

        Bro the US isn’t going to mine shit in an active war zone. The mineral deal might be beneficial if peace is reached but not before that.

        • frezik@midwest.social
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          21 days ago

          Doesn’t really matter. Trump got a deal. In Donnie’s diseased mind, it doesn’t matter what it says, only that it exists.

          • futatorius@lemm.ee
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            21 days ago

            It all makes sense when you realize he’s a trust-fund idiot cosplaying as a businessman.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          21 days ago

          If peace is reached and maintained. If Russia doesn’t get all of Ukraine, how long is it going to be until they invade again? No one is going to want to invest in building a mine with that hanging over it.

        • futatorius@lemm.ee
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          21 days ago

          Typical Trump deal: nothing substantial, but he loudly claims credit for it anyway.

  • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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    21 days ago

    Once again demonstrating how unreliable the American government has become.

    It will be a very long time before the international community trusts America.

    • altphoto@lemmy.today
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      21 days ago

      You should known that our beloved pumpkin pie is working directly with the back of the future crew to locate the actual dolorian used for the films. With the vast plutonium reserves they will send Elon back in time to the moment Putin was borne. He will the proceed to choke that sonobabich: okay let’s see this happening:

      88mph.
      The vehicle’s flux capacitor is activated.
      The vehicle is at its maximum hyperbolic pressure MHP. That’s when the hyperbolae regarding the vehicle is at Ludicrous hypervelocity.
      The tire flames are now converging into the time flux redundonator.
      And he’s gone! The sonobabich did it!

      OK now we switch over to the time Harper lapse camera. Let’s see Elon locate and choke baby putin. Wait a minute! Is he breast feeding putin? Holy! That is not a breast! No! The humanity! And putin is actually just Elon sucking on his own. Why didn’t we see it?!!

      We must send a second dolorian back in time to stop the first dolorian!

  • wwb4itcgas@lemm.ee
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    22 days ago

    Ironically, that might be the most useful contribution to eventual peace in Ukraine the US has made for some time now.

    Thanks, I guess.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    22 days ago

    This was pretty much what Michael Kofman predicted was going to happen months ago. As long as Russia feels that they can prevail militarily and is making maximalist demands based on that, and Ukraine is unwilling to accept those terms, there’s not really much room for mutually-acceptable terms.

    Even if they got something on paper, that’s not likely to translate to a durable peace.

    • slaacaa@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      If the US leadership weren’t idiots, they could have put pressure on Russia to get at least a ceasefire. Instead, they focused on bullying Ukraine.

      • tal@lemmy.today
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        21 days ago

        I don’t know how much more pressure can be applied absent direct conflict between the US and Russia, which I don’t believe the US will do.

        Almost all US-Russia trade is gone, so not much to take away in economic terms.

        https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c4621.html

        In 2021, the US imported $29.6 billion from Russia and exported $6.4 billion.

        In 2024, the US imported $3 billion (90% gone) and exported $0.5 billion to Russia (92% gone).

        It might be possible to pressure other countries not to trade with Russia via use of secondary sanctions.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_Russia

        The top party there is either China (who I don’t think that we’re in a position to compel to cut off from Russia).

        There’s Belarus, which I doubt is going to be compelled to cut off trade from Russia given the state of affairs.

        The other top countries are all EU members. I mean, we could try and put pressure on them, but theoretically they should be doing this themselves.

        Like, I can understand criticism as to Trump’s interactions with Zelenskyy, but I don’t think that there’s some magic, easy-to-use lever to compel Russia that the White House has in reserve. Maybe weapon supplies to Ukraine are the most-influential left.

        • slaacaa@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          I agree that economic sanctions are nearly maxed out, but as you mention, they could provide more military aid. Instead, that was already delayed last year by Republicans, and recently even intelligence support was suspended, as Russia increased the bombing of civilians. Adding to this, most public quotes were about blaming Ukraine and trying to appease Putin, which significantly influenced how “brave” Russia acted.

          The US is free to do with their resources as they please, but if they actually wanted to stop this war, they had the options to move towards to that. Instead the war went on for months without any positive results. The mineral deal can be a good step, but it seems to be the last one, so not sure it will be enough alone.

  • Xanza@lemm.ee
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    21 days ago

    ART OF THE DEAL, BABY.

    Member when he said he’d force them to agree on something within a week or something fucking stupid?

  • biofaust@lemmy.world
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    21 days ago

    Question is: now that we got the big loud bully out of the house, can the EU and maybe someone else who is sensible, like Canada, enter the room and bring actual diplomatic value to this sharade?

    • jrs100000@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      Probably not. Russia’s motives dont stem from a communications failure. They stem from predatory imperialist intent, and they arnt scared of the EU or Canada.

    • JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      No

      The EU will continue funding Ukraine’s war, allowing thousands of people to die on both sides of the war. And they’ll slowly ease on Russian restrictions if they feel like they need it for economic growth.

      The EU could force Russia’s hand and end this war but it doesn’t seem like they want to

        • JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          The EU needs to put actual restrictions on Russia, Russian oligarchs and Russian allies/goods, not just a not even fully opaque curtain that is easily circumvented like it is atm (even by EU members).

          They also need to properly support Ukraine’s military so that they can repel Russian troops back to Ukraine’s borders instead of just giving them enough ammo and guns that will allow them to continue this war of attrition. Maybe they could use all the resources that Germany sends to Israel for example.

          And then they need to do what was said above. Actually come to the table with Russia and negotiate the end of the war.

          But atm that isn’t possible because Russia is not being forced to. They made their ground and ofc aren’t keen on giving it back and Ukraine is also not willing to give part of the country to Russia (as they shouldn’t). And the EU politicians are happy to be profiting of this war and shift their economies to war economies in order to fill their pockets further.

          We haven’t done shit for climate change and it’s not even being discussed anymore. And it will only get worse.

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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        21 days ago

        Would you rather we give in to terrorists? Or start World War 3?

        Russia is the bully that could end this conflict any time they want.

        • JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          See my other comment.

          Russia can’t even conquer Ukraine after 3 years. They are only a bully to the little guys.

          Europe could easily demolish Russia and their old and tired military. I’m not saying that europe should invade Russia. Ofc not. But this Putin bluff is long gone. And ofc it’s Russia that can end this anytime they want but until they are forced to they won’t. Which bully do you know that returned the lunch money that they stole out of what? Compassion? Just because it’s wrong?

          And you are talking about WW3 but the EU is planning to triple their defence budget in preparation for war, so you tell me who wants WW3

            • JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world
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              21 days ago

              Russia doesn’t want WW3

              They’d get proper fucked. I mean we all would but they’d have no chance.

              They play that card because it’s the only card they have and because Europe is happy with the status quo

              Trump was trying to fleece Ukraine for parts and Europe did fuck all