Kyiv holds $15 trillion in natural resources which would help break the US’s dependence on China
Donald Trump made no effort to disguise the potential threat to Ukraine if Volodymyr Zelensky, the country’s president, refused to cough up for American protection.
“They may make a deal. They may not make a deal,” the US president told Fox News. “They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday.”
As far as he is concerned, the US has provided “close to $300bn [£237bn]” in aid for Kyiv and it is payback time.
Where does Trump come up with that figure?!? Best I can come up with is ‘..the U.S. has committed approximately $175 billion in economic, humanitarian, and military aid to Ukraine since the start of the invasion.’ “committed” as in not paid yet.
$65.9 billion in military assistance—with about about 86% spent here in America on new stuff. Have seen numbers mostly less than $100-billion total, but a few as high as $120-billion. Claude AI says:
By early 2024, the total U.S. aid commitment to Ukraine since the invasion began was approximately $75 billion across all categories (military, economic, and humanitarian).
None are even close to Trump’s “$300bn [£237bn] “… article continues:
With Washington in a “great power” competition with Beijing, Ukraine’s resources – worth an estimated $15 trillion – may theoretically come in handy.
The strategic significance of Ukraine’s mineral resources “cannot be overstated”, according to publicly-available Nato briefings.
Its vast reserves span more than 100 metals across some 20,000 deposits, including several that have been identified as critically important by both the US and Europe.
***
Trump’s attempt to crash the party could throw a spanner in the works, however.
According to a copy of the US demands revealed by The Telegraph on Monday, Washington is demanding that it gets first refusal on all deposits within the country.
Trump’s main focus doesn’t appear to be on finding “Peace” at all, i.e., that focus seems to be on an “estimated $15 trillion” worth of special minerals.
Trump’s shake-down has been rejected so far by Zelensky and analysts predict America’s aggressive play will face opposition in European capitals, which have themselves sought greater cooperation with Kyiv on minerals already.
***
“Trump basically appears to be acting as though the Americans have the right to seize Ukraine’s national assets, in return for the assistance that they have given so far.
“The fact is, if you look at the amount of aid that has been provided to Ukraine since the war began, although the US has provided more military assistance, the EU has provided much more financial and humanitarian assistance – something Trump essentially treats as non-existent.
“He is making a petty criminal’s play, like coming into a shop and saying: Nice little business you’ve got here, it would be a shame if something happened to it.
“It is an administration which is behaving like an organised crime syndicate.”
Geez…
Just another open-thread comment about something I read.
A few years ago, “Tablet” published an essay entitled “Brokenism: The real debate today isn’t between the left and right. It’s between those invested in our current institutions, and those who want to build anew.”
It’s no surprise that the Brokenism essay is suddenly getting a lot of attention. One example is an essay published yesterday in Bari Weiss’s “The Free Press.” The essay’s title is “The ‘Everything Is Broken’ Administration.” Here are the first two paragraphs:
“Are Elon Musk and the DOGE boys disrupters or vandals? Should Robert F. Kennedy Jr. be in charge of public health? Does the footage of the USAID sign being removed from a government building fill you with excitement or dread? Do Tulsi Gabbard’s criticisms of the “deep state” make her unfit for the role of director of national intelligence—or precisely the woman for the job?
A good predictor of how you answer these questions—better perhaps than whether you are a Republican or a Democrat—is whether or not you are a ‘brokenist.’ ”
Of course, at first glance, it seems odd that so many conservatives have become brokenists. But it’s a measure of how far down the road to hell we’ve been taken by the Marxists who’ve wormed their way into almost every one of our country’s institutions.
Speaking of astreroid impacts: An object known as “Asteroid 2024 YR4” that has a an estimated mean diameter of 40–90 m (130–300 ft) has be roughly calculated to have something like a 1-in-38 (2.6%) chance of impacting Earth on December 22, 2032. An asteroid of that size would be devastating if it hit a city or other densely populated area, but the chances of that are quite low of course since probably 99.9% of the surface of the Earth is not such an area. It’s far more likley to hit the ocean (roughly 71% of the surface) which at most would result perhaps in a very minor tsumami but likely not even that.
Nonapod – That’s about the same size as the estimates of the Tunguska meteor.
Not all asteroids are created equal. What it is made of and how well that is held together would effect how well it made it thru the atmosphere.
well they are warm blooded unlike lizards, but didn’t birds evolve from some of those same flying lizards if memory serves,
‘Fighting against Elon Musk and DOGE is political suicide.’
Two minute video – saying like “90% of the country” are saying get rid of that fraud, waste, and abuse, but the Progressive-left boxing themselves in—in a ‘Suicide’ something instead of asking Musk for a dialogue on how and what he is actually doing (which is beyond the comprehension of most, IMHO), i.e., engaging probably the greatest builder of our times…why aren’t our Institutions Legitimate? Good video also mentioning “one is Transparency and one is AI” – why is it we do not know where every penny of our money goes? Seems maybe Progressives and some GOP’ers think alike about AI…
Bad paraphrasing ‘n a mix of my own but close enough…
OK, a number of stories lately about people stealing other peoples assigned seats on planes. Why don’t the Flight Attendants get involved? Are they afraid? Well, they haven’t been afraid to order me around (I had a seat arm up and the FA was none too happy, nor polite about it).
I really like Musk’s comment on TDS:
“I happened to mention the president’s name and it was like they got shot with a dart in the jugular that contained like methamphetamine and rabies,”
That’s exactly what I’ve been describing for a month now. Every day, these people post a screed they’ve found, or just rant themselves every hour or two. I can’t imagine being so obsessed that every waking moment is spent in hatred and fear of Trump and Musk. Too bad the psychology profession is so left they probably are infected also as these people need some serious mental health intervention.
@Bauxite, yeah… and as we know it hit in an extremely remote region in Siberia causing no human deaths or destruction. Honestly, even if it were to hit (which are already pretty long odds) the chances of it hitting somewhere that would affect humans significantly are very low. The percentage of the surface area of the Earth that has significant human habition is pretty low, on the order of 10%.
SHIREHOME — Short answer: they are afraid. Longer answer: You probably appear, at least when in public, to be a reasonable person who makes some effort to comply with society’s “rules”, and without doubt the criminal law. Seeing you, most will decide that you may grumble, or cast a “mean look”, but then comply. So people with some limited authority will order you around somewhat. You look like someone who carefully chooses their “hill to die on”.
It’s why some people seem to want to fight with police officers. They know that the police have strict rules about dealing with violent people so they feel safe that they can fight and will survive virtually unscathed, and if seriously injured there is a big financial reward for their action.
I am guessing (since I haven’t flown for decades) that those who take the wrong seat appear much more hostile and the FA isn’t willing to engage and cause the flight to be delayed and the employer get a bad Google review. But, again, just my guess.
Cornflour, the leader of the Zizian cult has been arrested.
Chief Justice Roberts response to request for emergency stay of district court judge temporary restraining order on the president
UPDATE 2-18-2025
???BREAKING: Chief Justice Roberts orders fired Special Counsel to respond by tomorrow on Trump Administration’s application for stay and vacatur of reinstatement order. 1/
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) February 18, 2025
One piece of evidence of how TDS is such a debilitating disease: Just had an exchange with a guy about the Toronto Delta crash. I speculated about a crosswind gust exceeding the CRJ’s max and maybe ATC should have been using a different runway. Guy said it was due to FAA ATC personnel cuts. How do you not know Toronto is in Canada and under Canadian ATC??? No wonder we can’t get through to these people. Dumb as rocks.
A report about the head of the postal service stepping down is puzzled about why he should do so.
Hell, given Musk and DOGE, if I were the head of an organization which routinely lost billions of dollars each year, I’d head for the hills too.
Given the post office’s dismal record you can bet DOGE is going to tear into it like a buzz saw.
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Supplemental — Clint’s Reptiles on both birds and crocodillians (and mammals!) surviving the big earth buster: https://youtu.be/M1TanPmCckM
They flew away from it. Duh.
Here’s why Trump wants to make Ukraine a US economic colony
Where does Trump come up with that figure?!? Best I can come up with is ‘..the U.S. has committed approximately $175 billion in economic, humanitarian, and military aid to Ukraine since the start of the invasion.’ “committed” as in not paid yet.
$65.9 billion in military assistance—with about about 86% spent here in America on new stuff. Have seen numbers mostly less than $100-billion total, but a few as high as $120-billion. Claude AI says:
None are even close to Trump’s “$300bn [£237bn] “… article continues:
Trump’s main focus doesn’t appear to be on finding “Peace” at all, i.e., that focus seems to be on an “estimated $15 trillion” worth of special minerals.
Geez…
Just another open-thread comment about something I read.
A few years ago, “Tablet” published an essay entitled “Brokenism: The real debate today isn’t between the left and right. It’s between those invested in our current institutions, and those who want to build anew.”
link: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/brokenism-alana-newhouse
It’s no surprise that the Brokenism essay is suddenly getting a lot of attention. One example is an essay published yesterday in Bari Weiss’s “The Free Press.” The essay’s title is “The ‘Everything Is Broken’ Administration.” Here are the first two paragraphs:
“Are Elon Musk and the DOGE boys disrupters or vandals? Should Robert F. Kennedy Jr. be in charge of public health? Does the footage of the USAID sign being removed from a government building fill you with excitement or dread? Do Tulsi Gabbard’s criticisms of the “deep state” make her unfit for the role of director of national intelligence—or precisely the woman for the job?
A good predictor of how you answer these questions—better perhaps than whether you are a Republican or a Democrat—is whether or not you are a ‘brokenist.’ ”
link: https://www.thefp.com/p/the-everything-is-broken-administration
Of course, at first glance, it seems odd that so many conservatives have become brokenists. But it’s a measure of how far down the road to hell we’ve been taken by the Marxists who’ve wormed their way into almost every one of our country’s institutions.
Speaking of astreroid impacts: An object known as “Asteroid 2024 YR4” that has a an estimated mean diameter of 40–90 m (130–300 ft) has be roughly calculated to have something like a 1-in-38 (2.6%) chance of impacting Earth on December 22, 2032. An asteroid of that size would be devastating if it hit a city or other densely populated area, but the chances of that are quite low of course since probably 99.9% of the surface of the Earth is not such an area. It’s far more likley to hit the ocean (roughly 71% of the surface) which at most would result perhaps in a very minor tsumami but likely not even that.
Nonapod – That’s about the same size as the estimates of the Tunguska meteor.
Not all asteroids are created equal. What it is made of and how well that is held together would effect how well it made it thru the atmosphere.
well they are warm blooded unlike lizards, but didn’t birds evolve from some of those same flying lizards if memory serves,
Hamas claims youngest Israeli hostage Kfir Bibas and his brother and mother are all dead leaving family ‘in turmoil’
Who knows…
Alex Karp brings the hammer down: https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1891904449934749815
Have you been reading about the Zizzians?
If not, then you’re a better man than I, if you can resist this headline:
“Vegan AI Singularity Doomsday Cult turned Tranny Manson Family Implicated in at least 6 deaths”
link: https://kiwifarms.st/threads/ziz-jack-amadeus-lasota-zizians-sinceriously-fyi.210782/
Looks like sdferr links to this already…here’s more:
PALANTIR CEO ALEX KARP DELIVERS PAINFUL TRUTH TO DEMOCRATS
Two minute video – saying like “90% of the country” are saying get rid of that fraud, waste, and abuse, but the Progressive-left boxing themselves in—in a ‘Suicide’ something instead of asking Musk for a dialogue on how and what he is actually doing (which is beyond the comprehension of most, IMHO), i.e., engaging probably the greatest builder of our times…why aren’t our Institutions Legitimate? Good video also mentioning “one is Transparency and one is AI” – why is it we do not know where every penny of our money goes? Seems maybe Progressives and some GOP’ers think alike about AI…
Bad paraphrasing ‘n a mix of my own but close enough…
OK, a number of stories lately about people stealing other peoples assigned seats on planes. Why don’t the Flight Attendants get involved? Are they afraid? Well, they haven’t been afraid to order me around (I had a seat arm up and the FA was none too happy, nor polite about it).
I really like Musk’s comment on TDS:
“I happened to mention the president’s name and it was like they got shot with a dart in the jugular that contained like methamphetamine and rabies,”
That’s exactly what I’ve been describing for a month now. Every day, these people post a screed they’ve found, or just rant themselves every hour or two. I can’t imagine being so obsessed that every waking moment is spent in hatred and fear of Trump and Musk. Too bad the psychology profession is so left they probably are infected also as these people need some serious mental health intervention.
@Bauxite, yeah… and as we know it hit in an extremely remote region in Siberia causing no human deaths or destruction. Honestly, even if it were to hit (which are already pretty long odds) the chances of it hitting somewhere that would affect humans significantly are very low. The percentage of the surface area of the Earth that has significant human habition is pretty low, on the order of 10%.
SHIREHOME — Short answer: they are afraid. Longer answer: You probably appear, at least when in public, to be a reasonable person who makes some effort to comply with society’s “rules”, and without doubt the criminal law. Seeing you, most will decide that you may grumble, or cast a “mean look”, but then comply. So people with some limited authority will order you around somewhat. You look like someone who carefully chooses their “hill to die on”.
It’s why some people seem to want to fight with police officers. They know that the police have strict rules about dealing with violent people so they feel safe that they can fight and will survive virtually unscathed, and if seriously injured there is a big financial reward for their action.
I am guessing (since I haven’t flown for decades) that those who take the wrong seat appear much more hostile and the FA isn’t willing to engage and cause the flight to be delayed and the employer get a bad Google review. But, again, just my guess.
Cornflour, the leader of the Zizian cult has been arrested.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/police-arrest-alleged-leader-anarchist-vegan-cult-tied-series-crimes-including-cbp-agent-murder
Chief Justice Roberts response to request for emergency stay of district court judge temporary restraining order on the president
UPDATE 2-18-2025
???BREAKING: Chief Justice Roberts orders fired Special Counsel to respond by tomorrow on Trump Administration’s application for stay and vacatur of reinstatement order. 1/
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) February 18, 2025
https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/02/trump-seeks-emergency-scotus-stay-of-district-court-tro-preventing-termination-of-senior-employee/
One piece of evidence of how TDS is such a debilitating disease: Just had an exchange with a guy about the Toronto Delta crash. I speculated about a crosswind gust exceeding the CRJ’s max and maybe ATC should have been using a different runway. Guy said it was due to FAA ATC personnel cuts. How do you not know Toronto is in Canada and under Canadian ATC??? No wonder we can’t get through to these people. Dumb as rocks.
A report about the head of the postal service stepping down is puzzled about why he should do so.
Hell, given Musk and DOGE, if I were the head of an organization which routinely lost billions of dollars each year, I’d head for the hills too.
Given the post office’s dismal record you can bet DOGE is going to tear into it like a buzz saw.