[chrisk]

I post this to give the White House's perspective (the Axios story is sourced exclusively from "administration officials")

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/21/zelensk...ine-russia

Without knowing what was in the deal, it is hard to know whether the Ukrainian position was rationale or not.  I get Goose's point, and also there is a part of me that thinks that if FCX (what Google says is the biggest US mining company) has a large titanium mine in Ukraine and the US air force is sourcing a lot of its titanium from there, that would be one of the biggest security guarantees for Ukraine.

On the other hand, it is a shakedown, and meekly acquiescing to it would a) not play well domestically in Ukraine and b) not be a good precedent for negotiations.

BC

The White House is trying to project that it has all the leverage and that Ukraine needed to sign a deal yesterday. But Zelensky has some time to negotiate a deal and get better terms. How soon would Trump pull the plug realistically? He would use up a tremendous amount of political capital that he needs for domestic issues and he would have to live with the consequences of a collapsing Europe for almost 4 years.

[chrisk]

I post this to give the White House's perspective (the Axios story is sourced exclusively from "administration officials")

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/21/zelensk...ine-russia

Without knowing what was in the deal, it is hard to know whether the Ukrainian position was rationale or not.  I get Goose's point, and also there is a part of me that thinks that if FCX (what Google says is the biggest US mining company) has a large titanium mine in Ukraine and the US air force is sourcing a lot of its titanium from there, that would be one of the biggest security guarantees for Ukraine.

On the other hand, it is a shakedown, and meekly acquiescing to it would a) not play well domestically in Ukraine and b) not be a good precedent for negotiations.

BC

The White House is trying to project that it has all the leverage and that Ukraine needed to sign a deal yesterday. But Zelensky has some time to negotiate a deal and get better terms. How soon would Trump pull the plug realistically? He would use up a tremendous amount of political capital that he needs for domestic issues and he would have to live with the consequences of a collapsing Europe for almost 4 years.