After 4 years of misery under the Biden regime, it is little wonder that the current administration would face growing pains and make some mistakes. The current negotiations to end the war in Ukraine are no exception.
The current talks with Ukraine include negotiations for rare earth minerals supposedly readily available in that country. I say supposedly because I have witnessed this before where Russia was concerned. It is hard to imagine that our government, based solely on information from Russia, would risk so much for what could, in the end, be of very limited benefit to the United States.
At the turn of the century the Caspian Basin oil reserves were being touted as a modern day “Gold Rush” but, it wasn’t the first time. Toward the end of the 19th century, the big oil barons had extensively invested in this same region and, until the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, were expecting a remarkable return on investment. The Soviet Union nationalized the oil and those companies pulled out.
Fast forward to the late 20th century and we endured a 20-year occupation and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in an effort to control a pipeline through that country to transport all of the Caspian Basin oil that we still have no access to. The only thing achieved in all of this is that certain corporations, namely energy sector entities, have greatly increased wealth driven by these policies. Corporations face little risk in a country where all rewards and profits are theirs and all of the risk is placed on the backs of taxpayers in the form of public corporate bailouts.
The Ukraine situation is no different. Our president is busy securing a deal that will include our military “policing” that nation to protect our corporate interests. History has proven, on several occasions, that any entanglement with Europe ends with the United States involved in war. The risks are all nationalized while the rewards benefit the wealthy corporations and the politicians who pave the way for their schemes.
The president claims that the United States has invested 350 billion dollars, either taken from taxpayers or printed out of thin air, in the war in Ukraine and it needs to be recovered. The problem with his solution is that all of the recouped funds will be distributed to corporations who are involved in the rare earth mineral projects. Apart from employees of these corporations, the remainder of the taxed citizens will receive no benefit from this deal.
This deal the president insists on is truly a blunder. It exposes the U.S. to extreme risks, including a possible global confrontation, for what could very well turn out to be a fool’s errand.
…more to come.