Tenchu's Thoughts - Never Look a Gift Horse In The Mouth
Trump demands $500B in rare earths from Ukraine for continued support (Politico.eu)
On the surface, this sounds like yet another "gimme gimme gimme" moment for the oh-so-transactional Trump.
But I contend that this is a moment that Ukraine should seize upon, and seize it quickly.
Reason #1: Rebuilding
First of all, most of this "rare earth" is located near the front lines. (Actually, the majority of Ukraine's "rare earth" is located in territory that RuZZia currently occupies, but even if we don't count that, there's still plenty left.)
Guess what? That region is LITTERED with mines, unexploded ordinance, craters, wrecked armor, and yes, even dead bodies. Clearing that area is going to be crazy expensive. (For context, there are parts of Vietnam that continue to be actively demined.)
Moreover, there will need to be a lot of infrastructure that gets rebuilt. Roads, homes, cities, rail networks, etc.
Who's going to pay for all that? Ukraine? Yeah right, Ukraine barely has enough to pay for anything without Western aid.
Trump will have to pay for all of that, if he wants all of that "rare earth."
Reason #2: Defense
Of course, mining all of that sweet, sweet "rare earth" will require a good amount of defense, because the operations will happen very close to the DMZ. Ukraine, of course, will have to man the DMZ 24/7 with a very large standing army.
But does Trump want to leave the security of his "rare earth" mining operations solely to the Ukrainians? Of course not.
Hence he will insist on a sizable U.S. military presence to safeguard American interests in Ukraine. It'll be similar to the U.S. presence in Korea. Maybe 10,000 pairs of boots on the ground. Maybe less. Either way, the U.S. will now have a vested interest in being actually present in Ukraine.
Moreover, that presence alone will deter the RuZZians from attacking again. What better way to uphold Trump's "no new wars" pledge than by a show of strength?
Reason #3: FUCK YOU POOTIN
Remember how PooTin wanted to demilitarize and dE-nAzIfY Ukraine? Those goals are STILL on the table. Those goals are STILL something he is shooting for.
Despite what many believe, PooTin isn't satisfied at all with just 20% of Ukraine's territory. Even if he ends up with the majority of Ukraine's "rare earth," that won't be worth it for him.
Why? Because PooTin wants ALL of Ukraine. PooTin can't afford to have a sovereign Ukraine state existing and thriving on RuZZia's border, even a state with only 80% of its territory remaining. Moreover, PooTin believes that it's his "mystical destiny" to take over all of Ukraine and move on even further.
So in comes the oh-so-transactional Trump, which was clearly his chosen candidate to win the U.S. elections in 2024. And Trump does a wonderful job accelerating the decline of Western democracy.
However, PooTin the mAsTeR cHeSs pLaYeR NEVER counted on Trump to stab him in the back with regard to Ukraine. Or maybe PooTin considered it to be a possibility, but one which he had to gamble against.
Anyway, nothing will piss off PooTin more than a U.S. presence in Ukraine. Even if the military presence is nothing but a token presence, the fact that Trump wants that "sweet sweet rare earths" should alarm him like crazy.
In short, this will be the biggest "FUCK YOU" that the West can ever give to to PooTin.
Reason #4: Trump is so easily manipulated
I have to hand it to Zelensky. He knows how to talk to world leaders. And he especially knows how to suck up to Trump.
According to the article, Zelensky even said it best, "The Americans helped the most, and therefore the Americans should earn the most."
Holy crap! That's music to Trump's ears. I can already see the dollar signs in his eyes.
He is turned on. He is seduced. He has a raging 5cm boner. (For those of you who are part of MAGA, that's 2 inches.)
Now's the time to take advantage of it and get guarantees from Trump that he could never get from the hapless Brandon.
And he needs to do that before "shirtless PooTin" starts his own channel on OnlyFans, because who knows how long Trump's boner will last?
By the way, that $500B figure is probably something Trump came up with out of thin air. Either that, or someone (Zelensky?) told him that, and Trump ran with it.
The accuracy of that figure doesn't matter, though. It doesn't matter if most of that can't easily be accessible in an economically viable way. Doesn't matter if a large part of that is currently under RuZZian occupation.
All that matters is that the number is YUGE.
Conclusion
This is Trump's moment to shine. This is Trump's moment to demonstrate his willingness to pursue Trumperialism. This is Trump's moment to declare Ukraine as the 51st or 52nd or 53rd or 54th or 55th or whatever number state we're up to now.
MAGA will go along with it, despite all of their past Bullshishka about "nO nEw wArS," because they too are easily manipulated. They'll believe anything Trump wants them to believe in.
Let's hope world leaders, starting with Zelensky, doesn't screw up this unique opportunity, because you know Trump is going to do his best to screw things up with his uber-hubris.
Tenchusatsu |
