Jeff Childers

utting the lie to innumerable disinforming media stories last week, and confirming (again) Trump was right all along, late yesterday afternoon the Wall Street Journal ran a story headlined, “Ukraine Agrees to Mineral-Rights Deal With U.S.”

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Over the weekend, green-shirted Martial Law Administrator Zelensky vowed he would never ever sign the deal. Then the U.S. joined Russia, China, and several other countries in the UN Security Council to approve a resolution about ending the war that didn’t assign blame to either side, which infuriated the yellow-bellied Europeans, who abstained, withholding their veto rights. The US resolution passed 10-0.

I’ll return to that resolution in a moment. Remember it.

It has become clear why the Europeans are so opposed to peace, and why they’ve thrown childlike tantrums over not being involved in the United States’ negotiations with the parties. At the risk of over-simplification: it’s the money. Unlike witless Biden, the cagy Europeans gave their aid to Ukraine through loans to be paid back.

Obviously, if Ukraine loses the war, or loses in a way that cripples its economy, the Europeans won’t get paid back. They also don’t want the Americans to get a better deal than they have, or one that will move their loans into second place. Their sweet protests are just virtue-signaling pastries; in fact, it is just the same old greedy self-interest dressed up as fake humanitarianism. They don’t care about Ukraine. They care about the money. They don’t want to lose $100 billion Euros.

There’s no deal done yet. Zelensky is notorious for pulling out of deals, as the Russians have learned the hard way, more than once. But the Kyiv Post confirmed that a deal was agreed on, and Zelensky will come to Washington on Friday to sign. In response to a reporter’s question, President Trump said the mineral “and other” rights were to pay back the $500 billion that Ukraine already owes us— and the draft deal doesn’t include any additional military aid or security guarantees.

From what we can tell, it still sounds like a good deal for Ukraine. The Financial Times, which claimed to have seen the final agreement, reported that Ukraine would reluctantly pay income mineral mining into a fund to invest in projects in Ukraine. Like rebuilding the war-torn country, for instance. The U.S. would own a stake in the fund, with the precise terms to be worked out in future agreements.

But it seems clear that the money flow will reverse. Instead of America dumping cash into Ukraine, it will begin moving the opposite direction. Progress.

On Saturday, to wild mockery from corporate media, the Trump Administration said it expected a deal completed this week. They’re used to the speed of Biden.

Related: Also Kyiv Post— “Russia and US to Hold The Second Round Diplomatic Talks in Istanbul on February 27.” Meaning, tomorrow. At the speed of Trump.

Now, let’s circle back to that historic UN Security Council resolution. Corporate media largely ignores it, but make no mistake—this was a seismic shift in global geopolitics and a massive triumph of U.S. diplomatic finesse. It is incredibly rare for the United States, Russia, and China to align on any Security Council resolution, let alone one concerning Ukraine.

Trump is developing, in real time, a foreign policy of common sense. The real threat of World War III doesn’t come from Europe—whose aging armies can barely scrape together a battalion of tanks. Britain, as the joke goes, has more admirals than warships. (That joke happens to be true.)

We don’t need peace with Europe. We need peace with the two other near-peer superpowers.

It has been ages since the U.S., Russia, and China agreed on anything, and it has only happened a handful of times in history. But this week, for the first time since the Ukraine war began, real diplomacy—not just posturing—appears to be happening.

The global hostility temperature is falling. A thermonuclear World War III just got much less likely. Promise kept.