Ukraine is a “gold mine” with $12 trillion worth of critical minerals, US Senator Lindsey Graham insisted in a TV interview. He said the West “can’t afford to lose”, and called to prevent Russia an…
That was supposed to be the big prize, and Balkanizing Russia would allow US to surround China with puppet regimes in the west. RAND even helpfully outlined the strategy in a paper they published back in 2019 https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3063.html
It originally was trying to plunder the resources of Russia again, like they did in the 90’s. They miscalculated and now are settling for Ukraine.
That was supposed to be the big prize, and Balkanizing Russia would allow US to surround China with puppet regimes in the west. RAND even helpfully outlined the strategy in a paper they published back in 2019 https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3063.html