Trump demands $500B in rare earths from Ukraine for continued support
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America Bad, yes we know
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You're right, the behavior of how Iraq and Afghanistan were handled was entirely different from either Germany or Japan after WW2.
My assertion is that the USA did too much "occupation" and not enough "governance". Both Iraq and Afghanistan essentially had anti-government resistance movements forced into pseudo-national rule without any time to develop local governance.
Once the states were broken W wanted to get out, essentially since he feared accusations of imperialism. Which kept a good twenty year plan from being implemented, and instead led to a twenty year quagmire with one of the two essentially being a failed state.
(Man, that's a lot of essentially's)
I don't mean to defend either invasion as either good for the people or necessarily for American security. I just want to point out that W's position was "go and break things then go home" which is about as imperial as a viking raid.
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Good thing everybody's respecting laws and treaties these days!
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Trump has larped as a mobster for most of his life.
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He never intended to support Ukraine. Never. This is just some bullshit to act like he's "Justified" in cutting support. Just wait until he finds an excuse to give it to Russia instead.
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The assumption would be post war the support would be reconciled similar to the way we handled Lend-Lease. Most of the aid would not be recovered but a portion would over a VERY long time. The US would basically have Ukraine paying interest forever while making trade deals to reduce the principle. All of them s was a play by Zelensky to kiss the ring and secure continued support. Trump just showed the world how much of a Russian ASSet he is, again.
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Well they do have rare earth minerals valued in Trillions of dollars and it's mostly all in or bodering Russian controlled territory.
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It probably will be $500 billion, but over 20 years and not factoring in investment costs.
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Yeah I get that but it just sounds absurd and douchey when you think about it. The equivalent would sorta be if someone agreed to help us if we gave them $67 Trillion worth of oil gas and wood in return.
And just from a morality/ethical standpoint it's goofy. Only help someone if they let you bend them over and rob them blind (I get it's a more nuanced than that but still, it just feels slimy)
