So now the US are officially running a protection racket! You really do have mob bosses running the place.
this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2025
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Michael Parenti was saying this in the 70s and 80s though
It's like that crude joke
"Would you have sex with me for 1 million? Yes. How about for 20 instead? No, I'm not a whore! We already established that, we're now negotiating the price"
First it was the rare earth worth X amount, now it's half. What's next?
They have been doing it with Arab countries for decades. Pay up or get sanctioned, bombed, invaded and couped. What some in the West wrongly perceive as bribes are actually tributes to avoid becoming the next Iraq, Syria or Libya, or worse: Palestine.
What good is being saved from being enslaved by one dictator only to be enslaved by your "saviour" instead?
Theoretically maybe the "savior" won't shoot, maybe.
Look, it's not a good deal, but hey, I'm trying this optimism thing out. Don't think it's working.
That said, anyone who makes a deal with Trump hasn't paid attention to any of the deals he made in his last administration that he'll drop them when they're inconvenient.
I think that, if Trump hadn't decided to just sow chaos for the last three weeks, all of these deals he's trying to make might actually end up with more favorable outcomes.
How is anyone supposed to trust the US in good faith when they're watching us destroy ourselves on purpose?
I would have just pulled a Trump and agreed then reneged afterwards.
That works if you're in a position of power and don't need to rely on the people you're reneging on.
It's a bold strategy, Cotton.
The offer might have gone over slightly better if the US Secretary of Defense hadn't already ruled out NATO membership and a return to Ukraine's 2014 borders.
I'd like to see Ukraine get Crimea back but it's never going to happen. not without russias complete collapse at least
a worthy goal
Agreed. Would you also agreed to the complete collapse of the genocidal empire of the USA?
not without russias complete collapse at least
Your terms are acceptable.
not without russias complete collapse at least
How far can that be anyway?
too far, i fear
Good on you, Zelensky. Do not cave.
Sorry Ukraine, that we elected a small handed baby, who is a terrible leader. Hopefully, things work out for you. Sincerely, U.S.A.
Hopefully Europe steps up
US support was never out of the goodness of their hearts, there was always going to be a price to pay, but of course trump goes about it in the most hamfisted way possible.
The US has always got the dollar-as-global-reserve-currency out of its military spending, which is a large part of how post second world war America accrued a huge portion of unearned global wealth. Trump, those that voted for him, and those that spent decades creating this situation for personal enrichment are rapidly hastening the end of this situation.
It's not just the act of spending on the military, it's about control which they get through the use of the military.
I love going to the SanDiego area swap meets. There are at least 3 big ones.. National city, El Cajon and Oceanside. There, many people come haggle and barter to get used or grade B products. Maybe Trump should start there?
Anyone who has ever gone there knows that you don't go for the jugular of your cash cow. If you're a buyer, you wanna be a nice mosquito... Look around a few times to see what you wanna get, go elsewhere, and then come back. If you are selling, you don't kill the mosquito, buy you know how much blood to give. As a buyer you find a thing you don't want, which is similar to the thing you do want so you can trade down or somehow not show interest in the actual thing you want.
Now the entire world knows that Trump is an idiot and wants 50% of all natural resources. It could have been 90% of all uranium for example. Bug nah, look, here are all my cards! Take a good look see!
That's Trump's are of the deal and it's ass. It doesn't mater if he actually gets anything from it. Its ass. We lose, they lose, ruzzia wins. Maybe we should have a well trained Lego dealing kid to negotiate a better deal.
Did the world already not know that Trump is an idiot?
Since he showed his face probably.
The audacity of this mineral shakedown reeks of late-stage empire logic—strip-mine a nation’s future while dangling survival as a bargaining chip. Colonialism never died; it just outsourced its PR. Trump’s “deal” is pure extortion: surrender half your sovereignty or face abandonment. Zelensky’s refusal isn’t principled—it’s survival math. What’s 50% of ashes?
Security guarantees? The U.S. wants a vassal, not an ally. Promising troops for rare earths after a peace deal is like selling fire extinguishers post-inferno. Ukraine’s minerals are the new blood diamonds, traded by suits in Munich while frontlines smolder.
Watch how “democracy” becomes a euphemism for resource arbitrage. The real pandemic is geopolitical vampirism. Kyiv’s counteroffer? Probably another round of hollow treaties. But hey, at least the circus has fresh clowns: Vance and Rubio, scrambling to monetize a massacre.
Sorry, what does Munich have to do with this? I'm not connecting the dots.
Munich hosts the annual Security Conference, where power brokers gather to carve up geopolitical pies. Ukraine’s minerals are on the menu, served cold with a side of imperial ambition. The suits in Munich aren’t just sipping overpriced cocktails—they’re brokering deals that turn blood-soaked trenches into corporate spreadsheets.
The connection? It’s where the U.S. pushed its extortionate mineral “deal” while Ukraine countered with demands for actual security guarantees. Munich isn’t just a city; it’s a stage for this theater of exploitation. If you’re missing the dots, it’s because the script is written in fine print only lobbyists can read.
So, Munich matters because it’s where sovereignty gets auctioned off under the guise of diplomacy.
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