Edition No103 | 27-02-2025 - “President Trump is making his own play to become Don of the Donbas”, write Jonathan Sweet and Mark Toth in The Hill. And the prize is not a collection of smashed cities and broken logistics and trail of ruined lives, but access to what is estimated to be more than $5.75 trillion in rare earth minerals.Ukraine has now tentatively agreed to seal a rare earth mineral deal with the White House, on terms far more favourable, and less punitive, than those discussed last week. This is no longer a contract but more of a statement of intent, and more in the character of an agreement for mutual enrichment of partners, rather than a rapacious imperialistic agreement, where all the power and control rested with the US as an external force. According to the Financial Times, the agreement will establish a reconstruction fund for Ukraine. 50 percent of the profits will go toward repaying the U.S. contribution to the war effort. But the agreement does not contain any explicit agreements for security arrangements and contains no guarantees of future weapons supplies and support. Clarifying this will be critical to getting it approved and ratified first by the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers, and the by the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. However, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, “This agreement is directly tied to security guarantees. Neither the President of Ukraine nor the Ukrainian government will consider or sign this agreement separately from Ukraine’s security guarantee.”But “Trump’s global approach to defending democracy is radically different from past administrations.” Explain Mark and Jon. “It is becoming transactional — a “what’s-in-it-for-me” foreign policy. ----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------LINKS:https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5165142-trump-competes-putin-rare-earth-minerals/----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN 10 Events in 10 months - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur first live events this year in Lviv and Kyiv were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run 10 events in 10 months (at a minimum). We may add more venues to the program, depending on the success of the fundraising campaign. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------
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