Ukraine Minerals Deal - High Risk, Low Reward

Wow, John! That is really good. Reminded me of something I heard very recently:

Make no mistake, empathy is not weak or woke. And, by the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.

~ Jane Fonda

*
She's right, you know.

Remember when the GOP coined the politically charged slur "Obamacare" during the debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as a means for many in their voter base to transfer that visceral hatred of theirs for "Barack Hussein Obama" onto the healthcare bill? Remember how the attempt largely backfired because President Obama said he rather liked the term "Obamacare" because "Obama does care"?

I think that's how Democrats should handle the vast majority of the GOP's repetitive prattling nonsensical bullshit and hateful slurs: Go on the offensive.

All that to say: Great parody, John! :)

OK, twist my arm! How many parodies have there been? Who knows. But here's mine, that I did a couple of years ago for the comments section of *another* excellent political blog that I follow (Electoral Vote dot Com):

I am the very model of a Democratic liberal
I have correct opinions both the social and political
I am very well acquainted with all kinds of modern Wokery
It really hurts my Pride to hear it called the merest hokery
For LGB TQA+ I know just what they mean by Plus
The pronoun ‘me’ I never use, it’s what we always mean by ‘us’
To compliment another I must first be an inquirer
About the hurt they may endure on meeting an admirer
I feel the pain of everyone whose gendered self-identity
Has been denied by bakers or some other biased entity
In short, in my opinions both the social and political
I am the very model of a Democratic liberal

I know our racist history, from Jefferson to MAGA tribe
To say that All Lives Matter disrespects the many Blacks who died
Under the knees of whites who claimed to have a false supremacy
It’s for my fellows of all races that I’d rather bend my knee
For any cause in any land I’m ready to make loud protest
In search of justice peace and right I argue that we must divest
I march for colleges and firms to act in the affirmative
Reverse discrimination may provide a social curative
Then I can praise or pan some art that features tasteless nudities
It all depends who it offends with raw and chilly crudites
In short, in my opinions both the social and political
I am the very model of a Democratic liberal

In fact, when I know what is meant by ‘primary’ and ‘compromise’
When I can tell at sight a lib’ral-owning post in good disguise
When normal folk who shun elites attend my commentariat
And when I know precisely what is meant by ‘center-moderate’
When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern pollery
When I know more of dressing issues up with jokes and drollery
In short, when I can poll as well as biker/lib’ral Fetterman
You’ll say a Democratic liberal is now a better man
For my electoral knowledge, though I’m sensitive and so for real
Is stuck in La-La land like asking voters for a ‘Green New Deal’
But still, in my opinions both the social and political
I am the very model of a Democratic liberal

Thank nypoet!

The last time I remember having this much fun reading the comments section was a Sunday night when I watched a music video from Miss Elizabeth, which invariably led to another video, and then pretty soon I got majorly behind watching cat videos.

Titanic with a Cat

And yes, the original Major-General's song - a parody of the course at the Royal school for officers in the 19th century, which emphasized a classical curriculum rather than actual military history and practice.

I know, right!? And so funny and brilliant wherein Gilbert and Sullivan even poke fun of their own work H.M.S. Pinafore. Is anyone keeping count of how many parodies of this parody have been done over time?

Despicable Me 3

Finally, in a shameless attempt to bring my comments back squarely on-topic: The Washington Monument on the National Mall in DC was completed in 1884, almost five full years after Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance was first performed in America in New York City.

And, scene. :)

LOVE that! Thanks so much.

And yes, the original Major-General's song - a parody of the course at the Royal school for officers in the 19th century, which emphasized a classical curriculum rather than actual military history and practice.

for a guide to the pronunciation of rare earths and other elements, consult Tom Lehrer

Love that elements song, thank you!

It's like singing the alphabet for science nerds.

Here's the lyrics version for beginners.

*singing*

I am the very model of a modern Major-General
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical
About binomial theorem I am teeming with a lot o' news
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse

___________________________

And now I got the song from Pirates of Penzance running through my head and won't stop.

This is on you, poet! ;)

Unobtanium?

But in the 1880s, America honored its first president with a cap of pure... aluminum.

Aluminium!

Element symbol Al, atomic number 13. In modern-day America, its primary political usage is in the production of MAGA tin foil hats, which by the way are made from aluminium foil and not tin. :)

I admit I've been buying into the mainstream story that you try to clear up here: that Ukraine has workable deposits of 'rare earths' that are central to the ongoing electrification of the US and world economies. The commentary has emphasized two things, from what I remember:

1) The 'rare earths' are not actually all that rare, but they are hard to refine to usable qualities - as you report. But more importantly, if I understand the problem, it isn't that they're just "hard to refine" it's that they're "hard to refine without seriously damaging the local environment where the refining takes place." Toxic waste dumps to the 10th power, all local water sources incurably polluted, etc., or something like that. And so ... and so ... although California and other western states have plenty of this resource, we have always preferred to let China do the dirty work.

But with China no longer a friendly supplier in a geopolitical sense, why not let Ukraine do the dirty work? Or, since the deposits are in the eastern part of Ukraine, why not give the territory to Russia and let Russia do the dirty work? And we just buy the refined ores from them per the ongoing agreements.

2) Trump couldn't care less about this issue, because he doesn't understand it - as you note. But Elon Musk runs an electric car company, and presumably knows a thing or two about the uses of rare earth minerals in building electric car and battery technology. This sudden U.S. interest in Ukraine's mineral resources, whether under Ukrainian or Russian control, would seem to come from Musk's knowledge and interests, and private benefit, than from some larger U.S. foreign policy about furthering technologies that may ameliorate climate change, at whatever cost to the ecology of the Donbas region in western Asia/eastern Europe.

And finally - although I love your curious list of the technical 'rare earths' in contrast to the named minerals that have been reported which aren't technically rare earths - I notice that "lithium" is on the fake list, and you note that even Trump seems to know that lithium is central to the manufacture of what are known as lithium batteries.

So are there two stories here? Is the rare earth/non-rare earth distinction a slightly fake one? Ukraine has minerals of both categories, and in both cases has the new administration decided that obtaining access to those resources should drive our negotiations to sell Ukraine and its Western-oriented democracy down the river, if Putin makes a better offer on that access?