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The Trump administration is entirely transactional. They will not do anything for anyone unless they are getting something back in exchange. However, it is also very performative. Trump cares more about the optics of a deal than the deal itself. How many times have you heard Trump talk about his own or someone else's "ratings"? He's not talking about any objective metric, he is talking about popularity.

So, it entirely makes sense that his aim was to publicly humiliate Zelenskiy and force him into a "deal" with lots of "value" coming back to the US. As long as the press can report a high number in the deal, the terms of the deal are not important. Trump could care less whether the deal was for minerals, or anything else. He cares more about the headlines that the deal would bring then the terms of the deal itself.

And since it's quite likely that he is aligned wih Russia, making a deal that is difficult to technically deliver on with Ukraine may be purposeful. It would give him cover at some point to complain "Ukraine isn't living up to the terms of this deal", because the terms may be unattainable. However, I don't think Trump thinks that far ahead, he's only concerned with today's headlines. He may be getting coached on that by his Russian friends on how to appease domestic critics while putting Ukraine in a lose-lose situation.

There are no minable deposits of rare earths anywhere. That's why they're called rare earth elements. Nowhere on Earth are there geologic processes that concentrate them into ores. The only way to get them is to process absolutely enormous volumes of dirt, at great expense in terms of energy used and pollution created.

Every country has them.

Who sells it is a question of which country is willing to render some portion of their territory uninhabitable for the foreseeable future, while also making a larger portion of their territory sick and dirty.

I can’t believe that anybody in Washington actually believes that it makes sense to get rare earths in Ukraine.

In at least one conference, Trump repeatedly referred to them as “raw earths.” He just doesn’t know his ass from his elbow. I sort of assume that Putin is at the root of his sudden obsession with raw earths, but who knows. But he doesn’t even really “believe” things in the reality-connected way that you or I would use the term.

It's never been about rare earth minerals. It's always been about food production.

The European Commission reports that Ukraine accounts for approximately 10% of the global wheat market, 15% of the corn market, and 13% of the barley market. Moreover, the country has earned the distinction of being the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, with a staggering 50% of global exports. Additionally, Ukraine ranks third in barley production, fourth in maize production, and fifth in wheat production. In 2021 alone, Ukraine exported cereals worth close to $12 billion, further solidifying its prominence in the global food market. Source

If Ukraine’s depleted agricultural GDP has been a boon to Russia, the rising global food insecurity that has resulted from Russia’s war has also been beneficial: Ukraine’s diminished exports have created openings for Russia, another major global agricultural exporter, to make up for Ukraine’s losses, with Russia using its agricultural exports as a source of soft power. In early 2022, Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, declared food to be Russia’s “silent weapon.” Source

And yet, the Tankies assured me that rare earths were the "real" reason the US was supporting Ukraine all along.

God their reads on situations are horseshit.

President Felon is not a business man, he's a con man and a bully. This was about a public excuse to dump Ukraine in putins lap, nothing more.

Side note: what is the "proper" Ukranian way to transliterate Зеленський? I've seen "sky", "skiy", and "skyy" in the media. I note Wikipedia uses "skyy". I know that there may not be a single direct transliteration, but perhaps Ukranians prefer one particular transliteration over another?

If that is true, why didn’t Zelenskyy just sign it? Honestly asking.