Posted on 03/02/2025 1:07:10 AM PST by Redmen4ever
President Donald Trump says the United States and Ukraine are poised to sign an agreement on rare earth minerals “and other things” — or at least they were before a heated moment between him, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Much of the rest of the article is focused on rare earths.
Yes, Ukraine has rare earths, but this is a small part of Ukraine's mineral resources.
Ukraine has two natural gas and oil fields: a relatively minor field in the vicinity of its border with Romania, and a major field in it northeast. The major field stretches from the Donbas (long a source of coal) to Kyiv. Neither of these fields are currently in production.
The northeast field was early in the process of development (by American companies) at the time of the 2022 invasion by Russia. This field has the second largest proved reserves of Europe (second to Norway). Russia's non-negotiable territorial demands on Ukraine include the entirety of this region (even though most of the region is on Ukraine's side of the current line of contact). It is not unreasonable to think the Russian invasion was to take the natural gas and oil of this field.
Ukraine also has metals, generally in the area of the just described natural gas and oil field, and just to the south. The more significant metal deposits include iron, manganese, nickel, titanium and uranium. The rare earths are generally a byproduct of mining and, while vital, are only part of the yield.
Finally, I will comment on the deal: Trump's special envoy, retired General Keith Kellogg, represented the U.S. in negotiations with Zelensky. The deal wasn't finalized prior to Friday's meeting. What I understood to be included in the deal turned out to be different from the arguments about the deal on Friday.
Maybe they do and maybe they don’t. Soviet era records could be filled with bogus data.
The discovery of the natural gas and oil fields of Ukraine is recent, not something based on Soviet-era records. And, what’s called “proved reserves” is what we think we know based on initial development. There could be a lot more.
The rare earths are secondary to the raw materials. We’re getting both, but there is a lot of processing needed.
So Zelinsky either deals with us and gets his natural resources tapped, processed and shipped with our protection and technology while getting the major cut or remains in a fantasy land while Russia takes it all and Ukraine gets squat.
I suspect the short man rode the short bus as a child.
It makes a lot of sense for Ukraine to give countries helping it, the right to develop these resources once the war is over. In concept, a deal makes sense. The details of any deal should be worked out in private.
Does this mean Zelensky MUST work with the U.S.? Our economy is about $25 trillion. The economy of Europe, as a whole, is also about $25 trillion. The economy of Russia is about $2 trillion.
NBC is leftwing trash.
We don’t need lingering entanglements with a corrupt ukraine.
Turn off starlink.
withdraw troops from eastern europe,especially poland.
Just like it isn't unreasonable to assume the illegal coup we fomented was about the same thing as well as an attempt to cutoff Russia from its naval base in Crimea.
In that case Zelensky better find some common sense and apologize to Pres. Trump Vice Pres. J. D. Vance, and the American people. He’s a fool if he doesn’t take what was offered.
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