Maybe it\u2019s Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelensky who should be writing books about the art of negotiation. For a while, it looked as though Zelensky had made a huge miscalculation by highlighting the opportunities available to allies in exploiting his nation\u2019s natural resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The idea was to interest the famously transactional Donald Trump in Ukraine\u2019s defence and it seemed a clever ruse at the time. In the event, it almost blew up a military relationship critical to Ukraine\u2019s survival, but the deal as now at least partially agreed looks like a good save.<\/p>\n
We do not yet have the deal\u2019s published text, and\u2014according to a Ukrainian news agency that saw the documents\u2014an important further \u201ctechnical” protocol remains to be signed.<\/p>\n
Also Read: The Oval Office showdown left Putin holding a trump card in the Ukraine War<\/a><\/p>\n Still, if the agreement is as described by both Ukrainskaya Pravda and Yulia Svyrydenko\u2014the economy minister who drove the final negotiation\u2014it at least averted disaster and could serve a little of the original purpose.<\/p>\n The neo-colonial terms of exploitation in previously leaked US drafts that Trump clearly expected Zelensky <\/a>to sign on the spot\u2014because the American president exploded in anger when that did not happen\u2014are no longer there.<\/p>\n The US won\u2019t have legal jurisdiction over the joint fund to be created, isn\u2019t in full control, but must make decisions by consensus in a 50-50 arrangement and will not own any assets. Only future investments are to be included.<\/p>\n Nor will US companies<\/a> get the right of first refusal on all projects, a provision that would have clashed with Ukraine\u2019s plans for joining the European Union at some point. In fact, as described, the deal now includes a clause that allows for revision if terms do prove to contravene EU membership requirements.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also no mention of back payments to cover previous US war aid to date (which was given in the form of grants not to be repaid), nor any ridiculous figure as to what that would require (at one point Trump talked about $350 billion, or even $500 billion, four times the actual total). Ukrainian infrastructure is no longer to be included in the fund. There\u2019s a list of 57 minerals, including natural gas, that are\u2014 but, again, the fund will draw and divide revenue only from extraction licences issued after the fund\u2019s formation.<\/p>\n