I've not been a fan of everything he's done and said, but he understands that you don't go into a negotiation by manufacturing a position of weakness, and he clearly convinced Trump of this, restoring intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine including more advanced weapons systems. The constant whiplash of Trump's leadership has been mostly negative, but in this case suddenly turning the lights back on for the Ukrainians might have caught the Russians with their pants down on a few of the fronts.
Trump is obsessed with rare earth minerals, and I don't disagree with securing supplies for the US. I think it's the main driver behind his crazy talk of annexing Canada and Greenland. The nuance in Ukraine is that half the territory were these minerals are located is currently controlled by the Russians, so it would seem giving Putin everything he wants isn't good for Trump's plan. And I think he's finally getting his head around the fact that American mining operations hinge on a completely secured Ukraine.
Unfortunately, we're seeing that Putin currently has no desire for this conflict to end, especially for a couple weeks there when he thought he really had the upper hand. Russia is going to have to feel more pain before a peace agreeable to all parties can be achieved. Rubio gets this.
Trump is obsessed with rare earth minerals, and I don't disagree with securing supplies for the US. I think it's the main driver behind his crazy talk of annexing Canada and Greenland. The nuance in Ukraine is that half the territory were these minerals are located is currently controlled by the Russians, so it would seem giving Putin everything he wants isn't good for Trump's plan. And I think he's finally getting his head around the fact that American mining operations hinge on a completely secured Ukraine.
Unfortunately, we're seeing that Putin currently has no desire for this conflict to end, especially for a couple weeks there when he thought he really had the upper hand. Russia is going to have to feel more pain before a peace agreeable to all parties can be achieved. Rubio gets this.
