Comments by "Theodore Shulman" (@ColonelFredPuntridge) on "Stephen Kotkin: What Putin Got Wrong About Ukraine, Russia, and the West | Foreign Affairs Interview" video.

  1. What I keep not hearing, in these talks about Ukraine, is any discussion of chemistry. It’s pretty important (I think): if Ukraine manages to survive because of our help (USA’s help) then we will have special-buyer status for mining Ukraine‘a rich deposits of lithium, palladium, platinum, neon gas, and, above all, the rare earth metals in useable forms. We need rare earth metals, in types of ores from which they can be extracted in bulk, for green technology, and for synthesis of organic chemicals like medications, and for modern electronics. We need to break China’s near-monopoly on them. That is why the war in Ukraine is not a purely-ideological issue, and why deterrence is not the only reason for supporting Ukraine.
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