Zelenskyy says no to any US minerals deal that might risk Ukraine’s EU bid

How this man hasn’t crumbled by the all the responsibility and pressure is beyond me.
- He probably has Ukraine's best psychologists and a team of specialists helping him
  
  I don't think he has the time to consult psychologists tbh
  
  … or he’s just a tough dude with the right motivations and his head on straight? Not everyone needs a psychologist lol
  
  I don't think it works like that. Many top politicians crumble under much less stress, especially those trying to be on the right side of history.
- He’s honestly one of the most savvy and intelligent statesmen I’ve ever seen. Maybe his understanding of humor lends to understanding how power dynamics work. He is extremely good at figuring out a message quickly that pivots him into a position where he is able to defend himself and his country while calling to and tying himself to greater powers.
  He does this in a way where allies would lose face or have to take an aggressive stance if they reject Ukraine. And at this point taking an aggressive stance against Zelenskyy is making yourself a soft ally of Russia. That’s partly due to Zelenskyy’s constant pivots.
  He runs a good gambit. I wish other world leaders were half as caring or savvy.
  
  He is without a doubt one of the Great Man that shape history.
- Superhuman.

Awful lot of cards in this mans hand.
- Have anyone figured out what game is being played though?
  
  Idk, but he seems to be doing pretty well at it. He outplayed Trump, masterfully, who looks dumber by the day with his whole "you don't have the cards" trap he thought he laid with that press conference.
  
  Donald is only capable of Go Fish or 52 Pickup.
  
  Grabass
  
  Schwarzer peter
  
  Durak
  
  Jeux sans frontières.

Fuck Trump and US, US shouldn't get ANY minerals at all. Why even Ukraine should be giving any minerals in the first place and for what? It's the attacker that should be punished and not a victim, thus Russia should give minerals to the US if anything, NOT Ukraine.
- Americans like me were proud to support Ukraine. We saw it as a strengthening of our ties with our allies against an adversary country that was dangerous to embolden.
  Trump and the conservatives here won by a shred of a percentage point (31.78 vs 30.84), and the true winner was "didn't vote" (36.32). So now Trump is in power and he sees the war as a business deal. He wants something out of it, despite the fact HE did fucking nothing. In fact, he pays less taxes than many of us normal poors.
  It's fucked up, plain and simple. My country is heavily comprimised, and a third of us are disgusted every day by this child destroying our government and our relationships with our allies.
  The 36% that didn't vote are the issue... This is a very real disease in this country. These people are enabling their own demise. Things will get very bad here before enough of these idiots decide to speak up. This appears to be the only path right now because we're dealing with a losing battle where the numbers are concerned. Apathetic American hearts need to change.
  This said, a greater number of Americans want to support Ukraine than approve of Donald Trump right now. 46% want more support, with only 45% approving of Trump (still way too fucking high).
  https://news.gallup.com/poll/658193/support-greater-role-ukraine-climbs-high.aspx

According to renowned scientists, Ukraine doesn’t actually have minable Rare Earths.
The contentious 28 February Oval Office meeting can’t be understood without a crucial piece of context: there are no deposits of rare-earth ore in Ukraine known to be minable in an economically viable way. And that would be true even if full-scale warfare were not raging in the country’s east, where a great deal of its mineral resources are concentrated.
Ukraine is believed to have four areas with substantial deposits of rare earth ores, according to Erik Jonsson, senior geologist with the Geological Survey of Sweden. “There are four slightly bigger deposits: Yastrubetske, Novopoltavske, Azovske, and Mazurivske. All but one of them seem to be now within or near the zone that the Russians control, as far as I can tell,” says Jonsson. “And when it comes to resources in those deposits, I mean, we have numbers; yes, that’s nice. But we have no real, detailed, outline of how those numbers were arrived at.” The numbers are believed to come from Soviet surveys dating as far back as the 1960s.
“The rare-earth deposits don’t look that relevant,” Jonsson concludes. “I mean, I wouldn’t go for them.” Two of the deposits are dominated by a mineral called britholite, he notes, which is not desirable because it has not been processed for rare earths, which means that almost nothing exists in the way of process chemistry and equipment.
“If you want critical minerals, Ukraine ain’t the place to look for them,” declares Jack Lifton, executive chairman of the Critical Minerals Institute. “It’s a fantasy. There’s no point to any of this. There’s some other agenda going on here. I can’t believe that anybody in Washington actually believes that it makes sense to get rare earths in Ukraine.”
[Emphasis mine.]
- I can’t believe that anybody in Washington actually believes that it makes sense to get rare earths in Ukraine
  I mean, has he taken a look at the absolute buffoons in Washington lately? Trump's literal self-given purpose in life is to make a deal, even if he has no idea about the technical side.
  He bankrupted a casino and a steak business, and numerous others because he understands nothing. This is no different.
  
  I don't know, maybe. I am just wondering what this "other agenda" actually is. Undermining Ukraine's EU accession? It's independence? I don't know, but it's good that Zelenskyy has rejected the deal.
- This needs to be its own post maybe. Jesus of course. It’s very on brand for America.

Jesus fuck.
EU + GB, can you please just buy enough time for the US to pull its head out its arse? We cannot let the blyats win.
- I think most of us are coming to the realisation that America pulling its head out of its arse is not going to happen, and this is a permanent change.
  
  I fully expect another civil war and when that happens we will need support from the international community, even if it's covert.
  So please encourage your representatives to watch us with a close eye.
  
  We’ll have a strong indication one way or another in less than two years. I just heard a news broadcast of protesters at a republican town hall in Indiana, which is as backward a state as most republican strongholds. The Speaker of the House, mike Johnson, has asked that republicans not hold town halls for fear of what he calls “professional protesters”. Again, we are talking here about states that are home to vast swaths of degenerate cretins. They are the ones who are pissed off. The midterm elections may bring some sanity back to the USA. Dems need a simple majority in the house to stymie much of what the traitor cunt wishes to suffer upon us all.
- Sure. How much time do you need?
  
  4 fucking years.
- Lol, I wish I could still live on a reality where this is an option...

Don’t give into the US’ bullying. Ukraine will join NATO and Putin and Trump will one day be rotting in the ground. All decent people are working towards and looking forward to that day.

It's pretty clear that Trump couldn't do shit about the war, even after gorging on Putin's balls. So good on them for not signing this extorsion deal.
- Oh he could, but he won't.

Selenskyj is quite smart.
I suppose it's mostly a play for time so trump, who will for sure drop or backstab him and Ukraine, can't do it right away without losing the wee bit of face trump has left.
- Perhaps Trump still wants that Nobel peace prize too, since Obama got one. So if Zelensky could convince him that that's still possible, ideally, while Vance isn't in the room, that might be good.
- I'm not sure how long he long he can keep on doing that though. History is full of rulers who smart at first, but burnt out over the time, AFAIK. It doesn't seem sustainable psychologically.

The main point: Ukraine has a preference / permission for joining the EU written into its current constitution. The EU has various rules about competition and markets, so...
The European Commission will make an assessment of the text, which could grant a preferential treatment to American companies, once there is a "concrete agreement with letters black on white," Paula Pinho, the Commission's chief spokesperson, said on Friday.
Now, if Trump's team can write a text that adheres to EU competition rules, then Zelensky might give it the green light. But can they? Are they even thinking about it currently?

He generally should avoid publicly associating himself with the EU or "Europe, the continent" or "European values". The EU is Trump's, and more importantly Vance's, declared arch-enemy and the ultimate target. Since they are the last big bastion of liberal values. This will tick off Trump again, which while cool, is not a good idea at all.
Instead he should say how he would love to join the US as the 51st or 52nd state. No, he won't mean it nor should he. It's all just kabuki theater anyway.
- Its a fine idea if you assume trump's opinion changes based on what Ukraine says or does. I think trump tends to say or do whatever his goals provoke (whatever those may be) rather than adjusting his opinion to match changing circumstance.
  If that's true, then Zelenskyy is making the correct choice assuming trump is already antagonist and anything Ukraine does to apparently provoke him is pretext to further his a priori objective.