In another sign that the Trump election really is a game-changer in Washington, the narrative is fast shifting on Ukraine. The days of an obligation-free river of gold courtesy of the US taxpayer are over. New president Donald Trump is demanding that Ukraine pay something back – at least, something that doesn’t go straight into the pockets of the Biden family.
An even more stark proof of the changes rocking Washington is that the US mainstream media are finally starting to admit that Ukraine is losing.
First, the free ride ending:
US President Donald Trump says he wants Ukraine to supply the US with rare earth minerals as a form of payment for financially supporting the country’s war efforts against Russia.
Mr Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, local time, said Ukraine was willing, adding that he wanted “equalisation” from the European Union for Washington’s “close to $US300 billion” ($485 billion) in support.
Ever since WWII, Europe has mostly got a free ride on its own defence. Under the terms of the NATO treaty, member nations are required to spend at least two per cent of their GDP on defence. As Trump pointed out in his first term, most do not and rarely have: because they knew, especially during the Cold War, that they could hide behind American coat tails. Even as they sneered at and undermined US power.
Ukraine, not even a NATO member, received hundreds of billions from the US taxpayers’ pocket, courtesy of the Biden administration. Trump is rightly demanding that the US get something in return (apart from another corrupt Eastern European oligarchy, that is).
Rare earths are a group of 17 soft heavy metals used to make high-performance magnets, lasers and other applications critical for advanced technologies. There are no known substitutes.
The US Geological Survey considers 50 minerals to be critical for the country's economy and national defence, including several types of rare earths, nickel and lithium.
Ukraine contains large deposits of uranium, lithium and titanium.
At the same time the US taxpayer was being stiffed by Ukraine and its cronies from Delaware, they were being lied to by the US media. From very early on, it was starkly clear to anyone who looked at a map that Ukraine is losing. Badly. Despite that obvious fact, the mainstream media have persisted with a string of lies, from the ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ to any number of ‘counter-offensives’. Three years later, though, the fact remains: Russia controls around 20 per cent of Ukraine. The counter-offensives have repeatedly failed and even weakened Ukraine’s overall strategic position. Sure, it hasn’t been the blitzkrieg victory Putin promised, but slowly, steadily and bloodily, Ukraine is going backward.
Ukrainian troops are losing ground to Russia around the crucial supply hub of Pokrovsk, which lies at the confluence of multiple highways leading to key cities in the eastern Donetsk region as well as an important railway station.
Ukraine is struggling with a dire shortage of infantry troops and supply routes coming under Russian drone attacks as the Trump administration pushes for negotiations to end the war.
Negotiations should have happened years ago. Egged on by the military-industrial complex and its Democrat cronies, though, the war has ground on, costing more blood and treasure every day. Every day delayed also meaning that Ukraine is bargaining from a weaker position.
With Russians in control of dominant heights, allowing them to use drones up to 30 kilometres inside Ukraine-held territory, Ukrainian supply routes are now within their range.
Heavy fog in recent days prevented Ukrainian soldiers from effectively using surveillance drones, allowing Russians to consolidate and take more territory.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian commanders say they do not have enough reserves to sustain defence lines and that new infantry units are failing to execute operations […]
Key logistics routes along asphalted roads and highways are under direct threat from Russian drones as a result of Moscow’s recent gains, further straining Ukrainian troops.
Face it: it’s all over bar the shooting. The sooner the media stop lying, and the war hawks accept the reality, the fewer people will have to continue to suffer and die.
