Well played from their side, as that's how this game works.
And for those who didn't get it before, Marco Rubio even went out and publicly said Ukraine should sell rare earth rights to the US so that they have something there to defend to justify to the public providing a security guarantee for Ukraine. He basically spelled it out in layman's terms how the game is played. You can dislike it, you can disagree with it, but this is how it always worked, even if the general public was not aware of it. It's nothing to do with defending freedom, democracy, honor, values, whatever, it's all about preserving and making money.
Which is not to say money doesn't do anything, it does, it's just that one of the others is "reputation", and everyone who signed up to the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and then ignored it or weaselled out of it, damaged their own reputation. Russia moreso than the USA, obviously, but even the USA being unconcerned about this will make it very much harder if the conditions rhyme in future and someone else is expected to give up nukes in exchange for a "Security Assurance".
A damaged reputation makes it more expensive to get other things you may want; from everyone, even the non-involved.
Its not like the rest of the world is not getting anything from Ukrainians standing up to the genocidal KGB* apparatchik.
*yes, i know, FSB. Same organisation really.
Like the Venezuela oil stuff, it's a half remembered fantasy of what was important when Trump's brain still functioned, several decades ago.
They're destroying America's reputation and alliances for fools gold.
That's where Ukraine comes in since they have bigger issues right now than environmental concerns and are desperate enough to be easily exploitable by the western powers that used to exploit China when it was weak. It's how it works.
