Gangster Imperialism Works
By 
I don’t know what choice Zelensky really had here but this is some bad bad stuff. But I will say this–basing American foreign policy on the principles United Fruit used in Guatemala? That’s not great.
Ukraine and the United States have agreed to a framework for an expansive minerals deal, according to a Ukrainian official and another person familiar with the matter, potentially easing weeks of bitterness from President Donald Trump directed toward Kyiv.
The broad outlines of the deal would grant Washington partial access to Ukraine’s minerals, oil and gas, part of an effort by the Trump administration to recoup the cost of U.S. war aid and, advocates of a deal say, offer a form of security to Ukraine by deepening U.S. investments there.
The idea originated in a plan floated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year, in which his country’s untapped mineral wealth would be used to help fund its war effort. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took a plan to Kyiv this month that shocked Ukrainian officials because it demanded unchecked access to their country’s resources but offered little in return. One person compared it to a 19th-century imperial demand for resource extraction from a colony.ally easing weeks of bitterness from President Donald Trump directed toward Kyiv.
But after days of negotiations, the Ukrainian government appears ready to agree to a deal. Their openness to an agreement also comes after intense pressure from Trump, who has called the democratically elected Zelensky a “dictator,” blamed Ukraine for starting the war even though Russia invaded it unprovoked, flipped sides at the United Nations to join with Russia and North Korea against Ukraine, and pushed hard for a peace deal that demands few concessions from Russian President Vladimir Putin other than that he stop active hostilities toward Kyiv.
We will have to see how this plays out, but I see little reason to think it will be good. But hey, I am sure some dumbfuck at the Quincy Institute is writing an article right now on how Donald Trump is bringing peace to the world unlike Genocide Kamala.