[Dr. Franklin]

She’s mistaken. Mining rare-earth minerals isn’t the goal. Stopping others from chasing those minerals is one goal. The real goal is selling nat gas and oil to Europe which undermines Russia and helps Europe.

IMHO, the mineral deal is a political fig leaf so Trump can tell his base he got something from Ukraine for American support of it. Trump is master of image and branding. There are many simpletons who want to end U.S. military support for Ukraine. The reality is that those payments were to U.S. corporations and people and don't accurately represent how much the military supplies and equipment were actually worth to Ukraine. So, there has been a lot of scapegoating of the Ukies for domestic corruption. With the mineral deal, Trump found a way to sell his base that he got something from Ukraine. It's value is speculative and won't be determined until well in the future. Of greater value is Ukrainian expertise with cheap drone technology in the war zone. That knowledge is a threat to the MIL domestically since tanks and even fighter jets are threatened by the cheaper drones. Expect a lot of denial about that from those who benefit from those contracts.

[SaxxonWoods]

I’ll put your take into the mix of how I look at this situation, thanks.

[Brian Griffin]

“Of greater value is Ukrainian expertise with cheap drone technology in the war zone. That knowledge is a threat to the MIL domestically since tanks and even fighter jets are threatened by the cheaper drones.”

A few people fly drones in my neighborhood. They seem to make a lot of noise, but are hard to spot with my poor eyesight. I think drones are susceptible to coordinated automated shotgun anti-drone systems.