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Brad Besco's avatar

Hmmmm… here’s the thing I don’t really understand;

Rare Earth minerals are not actually rare. They exist in many many countries. Some more open to mining than others mind you, but Russia is awash in them, as is Canada and the US.

I had always assumed Trump’s 500 B demand was a pretext to just leave and walk away from the fire his predecessors set.

Maybe Zelenskyy can sue Boris Johnson for 500B; that would be priceless. 😂

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Ian Proud's avatar

It would indeed be. :-) And Russia's interest is not necessarily in using the minerals themselves, but in denying them to Ukraine, worsening that country's economic position still further.

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Archie1954's avatar

Unfortunatyely for Ukraine, Russia doesn't owe it one red cent (no pun intended). It was the illegal Kiev coup government that decided to treat its Russian ethnics as second class people and immediately cut off their right to deal with Kiev in the Russian language *that was later reversed but the damage was done). It was the illegal Kiev government that bombarded the Eastern Oblasts with heavy guns, missiles, drones and bombs. These Eastern Oblasts did not attack Kiev forces outside their own territories. Russia helped the Russian ethnics to save their lives from a rogue Nazified Kiev government. All of this horrible, tragic situation was set off by the US support and planning of violent regime change in Kiev in 2014. No, Russia owes nothing to Ukraine!

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Kevin Daley's avatar

Ukraine doesn’t really have “ rare earths” and a lot of there critical minerals are uneconomic to exploit.

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Eoin Clancy's avatar

How would it cost $500 billion to rebuild Ukraine? To my knowledge, all the serious damage is on Russian occupied territory. Yes there has been some destruction west of the Dnieper, but nothing as comparable to the east. If anything, the Russians will be looking for compensation for the rebuild.

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Ian Proud's avatar

It's a really good question. I think in truth any estimates are just that - there's a huge element of extrapolation.

I don't think Russia would seel compensation although I know from a very good source that Russia won't pay compensation. Their hand is too strong for them to need to concede on this.

What they want are international assurances that the west won't re-arm Ukraine for a future attempt to retake occupied land.

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Saint Jimmy's avatar

It's actually not even clear that ukrainian minerals are that abundant and worth nearly that much. It looks like an attempted con by that criminal zelensky to draw the US into the war. Many of those resources are privately owned and not zelensky's to give away, unless he just seizes them.

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Timbo's avatar

Thank you Ian. V.complex issues. Who valued the Ukrainian mineral wealth at £11 trillion? Will Russia permit the plunder & access to these minerals post war?

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