PPCC: Pisitófilos Creditófagos. Primavera 2025

[Cadavre Exquis]

Wikipedia To Use AI
Posted by msmash on Wednesday April 30, 2025 @11:20AM from the how-about-that dept.

Wikipedia will employ AI to enhance the work of its editors and volunteers, it said Wednesday, also asserting that it has no plans to replace those human roles. The Wikimedia Foundation plans to implement AI specifically for automating tedious tasks, improving information discovery, facilitating translations, and supporting new volunteer onboarding, it said.

[Derby]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ypw7pn9q3o

US and Ukraine sign long-awaited natural resources deal


US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant (l) and Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko (r) sign the natural resources deal

The US has signed a deal with Kyiv to share profits from the future sale of Ukraine's mineral and energy reserves, after months of tense negotiations.

The deal aims to provide an economic incentive for the US to continue to invest in Ukraine's defence and reconstruction - as well as to address Washington's concerns over the amount of aid it has already contributed.

Ukraine is believed to have vast reserves of critical minerals like graphite, titanium and lithium. They are highly sought after because of their use in renewable energy, military technology and infrastructure.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it showed both sides were committed to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.

The deal will also see the establishment of an investment fund to spur Ukraine's economic recovery from the war.

According to the statement from the US Treasury on Wednesday afternoon, the newly created US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund recognises the "significant financial and material support" the US has given Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.

The US treasury secretary said in a video statement that the deal would help "unlock Ukraine's growth assets".

The language of the announcement shows much more solidarity with Ukraine than is usual for the Trump administration.

It refers to "Russia's full scale invasion" and adds that "no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine".

The Kremlin has not yet responded to the agreement.

For Kyiv, it is seen as essential to accessing US military aid.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko - who flew to Washington to ink the deal on Wednesday - said in a post on X that the new fund would "attract global investment into our country".

Listing the deal's provisions, she said it would involve projects in minerals, oil and gas, although the resources would remain the property of Ukraine.

The partnership will be equal, on a 50:50 basis, she added, and must be ratified by lawmakers in Kyiv.

Under the deal, the US would contribute new assistance to Kyiv, she added, including, for example, air defence systems.


map showing Ukraine's mineral deposits

President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for the agreement as a prerequisite to offering any future security guarantees to Kyiv.

Crucially, the draft of the deal indicates Ukraine will be giving Washington access to some of its natural resources in return for future US security assistance.

But that is significantly less than what Trump had wanted, which was to get paid back for all US military aid given since the start of the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has managed to eke out some concessions from Washington.

The deal was delayed after US authorities said Kyiv was trying to make last-minute changes.

On Wednesday afternoon, a US source familiar with the talks criticised Ukraine for seeking to reopen some terms that had apparently been finalised over the weekend.

The source said sticking points had included governance of the fund, issues with transparency, and steps to ensure that all funds would be fully traceable.

Technical documents were signed last week by representatives of both countries.


Trump and Zelensky spoke on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral

The initial agreement was due to be signed in February, but fell apart following a heated exchange at the White House when Trump accused Zelensky of "gambling with World War Three".

The breakthrough comes days after Trump and Zelensky held a face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral, and as talks between Moscow and Washington over a possible ceasefire in Ukraine grind on.

Phoning into the NewsNation network on Wednesday evening, Trump said he had pressed Zelensky at Vatican City to seal the deal.

"I was telling him that it's a very good thing if we can produce a deal that you sign it," he said, "because Russia is much bigger and much stronger. Russia is just chugging forward."

The US president said the deal would recuperate the multi-billion dollar US assistance to Ukraine since the war began and "much more in theory".

"So I went to them and said, 'Look, we got to get rare earth.' They have great rare earth, meaning certain minerals, materials," said Trump.

"They have things that a lot of places don't have. It's a big asset that they have."

The agreement comes amid a US trade war with China, where 90% of the world's current rare-earth stocks are sourced.

[Derby]

https://www.ft.com/content/342dc3c4-ef12-4868-873d-e9f2eaa986c3

Brexit lessons for Trump’s trade war

Big talk of holding all the cards looks even worse with the benefit of hindsight


A container ship at Felixstowe docks. Since the 2021 free trade deal with the EU brought the certainty of higher trade barriers to Britain, the diminished flow of goods across the Channel has been most notable © Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

In his latest display of fealty before Donald Trump, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent described the president’s U-turns over tariffs as a deliberate act in creating “strategic uncertainty”. According to Bessent, certainty is over-rated and waywardness brings leverage to negotiations that will generate the best trade deals for the US.

This confident talk reminded me of Brexit, where former prime minister Boris Johnson promised the UK would get a “great deal” from the EU, while his Leave-campaigning sidekick Michael Gove insisted that Britain would “hold all the cards” in any negotiation.

Brexiters thought the UK goods trade deficit gave them a winning hand and that the trade barriers that Britain wanted to erect with the EU would benefit Britain’s exports. I know — it did not make any sense even at the time.

Normally in economics, we treat bygones as bygones. You need to look forward and not ponder past decisions that cannot be undone. But on this occasion, where there are similarities, it is worth looking at how much milk was spilled by Brexit.

Between the 2016 referendum and the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement coming into force on January 1 2021, the UK created its own strategic uncertainty with multiple ambitions, tactics and prime ministers. Business investment stalled, sterling fell and inflation exceeded that of other countries. Before 2016, Brexiters complained that the UK was economically “shackled to a corpse”, but the UK’s previously superior growth performance compared with the EU soon disappeared.

Those losses have not been recovered. Since the 2021 free trade deal with the EU brought the certainty of higher trade barriers to Britain, the diminished flow of goods across the Channel has been most notable. The quantity of UK goods exports is lower now than in 2016 or 2021 and Britain is the only country in the G7 that has this record.



Sure, it’s possible to explain away aspects of this shocking performance. Some of it comes from fuels, which is more likely to reflect declining North Sea oil production rather than Brexit. And Britain’s goods export performance with non-EU countries is about as poor as it is with the EU, which suggests a problem with the UK as a whole. Services exports have done OK.

But it is impossible to construct a coherent argument that Brexit has benefited the UK economy. Britain’s diminished role feeds vigorous debate on exactly how much damage has been done and whether it is wiser to suck up to the US or the EU in the hope of being thrown some scraps from one of their tables.

Mark Carney, who was intimately involved in the Brexit wrangles as Bank of England governor and now must negotiate with Trump as Canadian prime minister, put it well at the weekend, saying the lessons of Brexit are now being applied to the US. “When you break off, or substantially rupture trading relationships with your major trading partners . . . you end up with slower growth, higher inflation, higher interest rates, volatility, weaker currency and a weaker economy,” he said.

It was painful to live through this experience in Britain. Modern capitalist economies are extremely resilient, so there is rarely that cathartic moment where the whole country realises it has made a terrible mistake and steps away from the edge. So there is little doubt that the Trump administration will continue to peddle fantasies about its strategic brilliance, while fighting internally over day-to-day tactics and trade deals that at best recreate the advantages that the US already had. Trade is relatively unimportant to the US economy, and it can withstand a lot of this nonsense without necessarily crumbling.

But a stagflationary shock is just that. When it comes to a reckoning in some years’ time, the US economy will be weaker and its standing in the world diminished. Brexit teaches you that.

[CHOSEN]

Creo que EEUU está abarcando más de lo que puede tragar.
Aún no conozco los detalles del acuerdo, pero es una jugada estúpida: El próximo gobierno pro-ruso, que lo habrá, les va a dejar con el culo al aire. La única duda es si será el año que viene, o dentro de cuatro
Que harán entonces... ¿Una guerra proxy contra Rusia utilizando a Ucrania como peón?
No tiene ninguna lógica, salvo la lógica de vender papel higiénico como si fuera un diploma de vencedor.
Es demasiado evidente.
Verse forzado a firmar esa mierda da una imagen de debilidad superior a la necesaria.
No me quiero imaginar que pasará en tres semanas.

[sudden and sharp]

Creo que EEUU está abarcando más de lo que puede tragar.
Aún no conozco los detalles del acuerdo, pero es una jugada estúpida: El próximo gobierno pro-ruso, que lo habrá, les va a dejar con el culo al aire. La única duda es si será el año que viene, o dentro de cuatro
Que harán entonces... ¿Una guerra proxy contra Rusia utilizando a Ucrania como peón?
No tiene ninguna lógica, salvo la lógica de vender papel higiénico como si fuera un diploma de vencedor.
Es demasiado evidente.
Verse forzado a firmar esa mierda da una imagen de debilidad superior a la necesaria.
No me quiero imaginar que pasará en tres semanas.

No podemos saberlo. Pero...

... cualquier fruslería ahí es, desde ya, una fruslería a los intereses de EE.UU.     

[CHOSEN]

... cualquier fruslería ahí es, desde ya, una fruslería a los intereses de EE.UU.     

País soberano.
-Y si no, maidán.
-Y si no, orden basado en reglas.
-Y si no, guerra proxy contra Rusia.
Oh, wait...
El acuerdo con Zelensky durará lo que dure Zelensky.
¿Van a repetir el mismo esquema dentro de 4 años?
Es una metedura de pata se mire por donde se mire.
Más vale una colorao que cien amarillo; La diplomacia norteamericana está cometiendo un error doble, porque evidencia su implicsción en la guerra y deja la puerta abierta a que los humillen (otra vez).

[Currobena]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ypw7pn9q3o

US and Ukraine sign long-awaited natural resources deal


US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant (l) and Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko (r) sign the natural resources deal

The US has signed a deal with Kyiv to share profits from the future sale of Ukraine's mineral and energy reserves, after months of tense negotiations.

The deal aims to provide an economic incentive for the US to continue to invest in Ukraine's defence and reconstruction - as well as to address Washington's concerns over the amount of aid it has already contributed.

Ukraine is believed to have vast reserves of critical minerals like graphite, titanium and lithium. They are highly sought after because of their use in renewable energy, military technology and infrastructure.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it showed both sides were committed to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.

The deal will also see the establishment of an investment fund to spur Ukraine's economic recovery from the war.

According to the statement from the US Treasury on Wednesday afternoon, the newly created US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund recognises the "significant financial and material support" the US has given Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.

The US treasury secretary said in a video statement that the deal would help "unlock Ukraine's growth assets".

The language of the announcement shows much more solidarity with Ukraine than is usual for the Trump administration.

It refers to "Russia's full scale invasion" and adds that "no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine".

The Kremlin has not yet responded to the agreement.

For Kyiv, it is seen as essential to accessing US military aid.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko - who flew to Washington to ink the deal on Wednesday - said in a post on X that the new fund would "attract global investment into our country".

Listing the deal's provisions, she said it would involve projects in minerals, oil and gas, although the resources would remain the property of Ukraine.

The partnership will be equal, on a 50:50 basis, she added, and must be ratified by lawmakers in Kyiv.

Under the deal, the US would contribute new assistance to Kyiv, she added, including, for example, air defence systems.


map showing Ukraine's mineral deposits

President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for the agreement as a prerequisite to offering any future security guarantees to Kyiv.

Crucially, the draft of the deal indicates Ukraine will be giving Washington access to some of its natural resources in return for future US security assistance.

But that is significantly less than what Trump had wanted, which was to get paid back for all US military aid given since the start of the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has managed to eke out some concessions from Washington.

The deal was delayed after US authorities said Kyiv was trying to make last-minute changes.

On Wednesday afternoon, a US source familiar with the talks criticised Ukraine for seeking to reopen some terms that had apparently been finalised over the weekend.

The source said sticking points had included governance of the fund, issues with transparency, and steps to ensure that all funds would be fully traceable.

Technical documents were signed last week by representatives of both countries.


Trump and Zelensky spoke on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral

The initial agreement was due to be signed in February, but fell apart following a heated exchange at the White House when Trump accused Zelensky of "gambling with World War Three".

The breakthrough comes days after Trump and Zelensky held a face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral, and as talks between Moscow and Washington over a possible ceasefire in Ukraine grind on.

Phoning into the NewsNation network on Wednesday evening, Trump said he had pressed Zelensky at Vatican City to seal the deal.

"I was telling him that it's a very good thing if we can produce a deal that you sign it," he said, "because Russia is much bigger and much stronger. Russia is just chugging forward."

The US president said the deal would recuperate the multi-billion dollar US assistance to Ukraine since the war began and "much more in theory".

"So I went to them and said, 'Look, we got to get rare earth.' They have great rare earth, meaning certain minerals, materials," said Trump.

"They have things that a lot of places don't have. It's a big asset that they have."

The agreement comes amid a US trade war with China, where 90% of the world's current rare-earth stocks are sourced.

Publicidad para simular que están haciendo algo útil.

[Currobena]

Creo que EEUU está abarcando más de lo que puede tragar.
Aún no conozco los detalles del acuerdo, pero es una jugada estúpida: El próximo gobierno pro-ruso, que lo habrá, les va a dejar con el culo al aire. La única duda es si será el año que viene, o dentro de cuatro
Que harán entonces... ¿Una guerra proxy contra Rusia utilizando a Ucrania como peón?
No tiene ninguna lógica, salvo la lógica de vender papel higiénico como si fuera un diploma de vencedor.
Es demasiado evidente.
Verse forzado a firmar esa mierda da una imagen de debilidad superior a la necesaria.
No me quiero imaginar que pasará en tres semanas.

Ya estamos en una guerra pruxe entre Estados Unidos y China usando a Ucrania y Rusia como peones.


Este acuerdo es entretenimiento para nosotros y que pensemos que están haciendo algo útil contra China.

[sudden and sharp]

... cualquier fruslería ahí es, desde ya, una fruslería a los intereses de EE.UU.     

País soberano.
-Y si no, maidán.
-Y si no, orden basado en reglas.
-Y si no, guerra proxy contra Rusia.
Oh, wait...
El acuerdo con Zelensky durará lo que dure Zelensky.
¿Van a repetir el mismo esquema dentro de 4 años?
Es una metedura de pata se mire por donde se mire.
Más vale una colorao que cien amarillo; La diplomacia norteamericana está cometiendo un error doble, porque evidencia su implicsción en la guerra y deja la puerta abierta a que los humillen (otra vez).

Mejor esperar... y ver.

[asustadísimos]

[He mejorado la redacción del comentario anterior...
https://www.transicionestructural.net/index.php?topic=2625.msg242152#msg242152
... entre otras cosas porque faltaba una partícula que cambiaba el sentido de lo que quería decir, aunque era tan evidente que no habrá pasado inadvertida. Mientras lo reescribía tenía en la cabeza lo que pongo a continuación, que es verdaderamente importante, aparte de ansiogénico.]


[Hoy, 1.º de mayo de 2025, es un día tristísimo.— Con la entrega masiva de bienes demaniales estatales a una potencia extranjera, Zelenski ha incurrido en un vicio del Derecho Administrativo que se llama desviación de poder. Él tiene extendidas sus funciones como jefe del Estado solo por causa de una guerra contra su madre Rusia. EE. UU. solo es un proveedor de material. No se pueden usar unas potestades para disponer en el ámbito de otras. Un maestro de escuela no puede ponerte una multa de tráfico.

Es un vicio insubsanable. No hay decisión parlamentaria o judicial que pueda blanquearlo. El acto dispositivo no es anulable, sino nulo de pleno derecho, y lo que procede es destruir la apariencia de que tal acto haya existido jamás. Conclusión: este acuerdo se incumplirá.

Ahora bien, el actual avance ruso por las llanuras ucranianas, rus histórico de todas las rusias, a parir de ahora, va a ir topándose con expectativas de sacrosantos intereses crematísticos del imperiillo crematocrático, lo que habría de obligar a un Gobierno de los EE. UU. como Dios manda a intervenir directamente, quiero decir, a cara descubierta.

Esta intervención obscena del anglo tendrá que contestarse internacionalmente.

No en vano se ha desvelado, al mismo tiempo, que el ejército norcoreano ha intervenido oficialmente en la batalla de Kursk.

La firma de este contrato —en cuya moralidad no entro—, contrato nulo de pleno derecho por desviación de poder, es el acto jurídico con el que comienza la 3.ª guerra mundial. Una guerra en la que el estrecho de Gibraltar y el canal de Suez son claves y que tiene ganada el bando en el que estén China e Irán.

¡Y todo solo por no dar el brazo a torcer en las sobrevaloraciones popularcapitalistas!]

[Derby]

https://www.ft.com/content/90c6bfe1-343c-405a-95a5-b3833716a990

McDonald’s US sales drop by most since height of pandemic

Fall comes as Trump’s tariffs knock consumer sentiment


McDonald’s has continued to extend promotions such as a ‘$5 meal deal’ introduced last summer © Reuters

McDonald’s has posted the biggest drop in US sales since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic five years ago as uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s tariffs weighs heavily on consumer sentiment.

Same-store sales in its home market decreased by 3.6 per cent year on year in the quarter that ended in March, driven mainly by lower guest counts, the world’s biggest burger chain said as it released results on Thursday.

The fall in sales at restaurants open for at least a year came as consumer sentiment tumbled late in the quarter after the US president’s levies shook markets and prompted worries among Americans about their employment prospects.

Analysts had expected a more modest 1.4 per cent fall in like-for-like sales at McDonald’s roughly 14,000 US restaurants, according to Visible Alpha. The data marked the second quarter in a row for US comparable sales to decline, and it was the biggest since an 8.7 per cent plunge in mid-2020.



McDonald’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski noted that “consumers today are grappling with uncertainty”.

The data follows weaker US quarterly sales at food and drinks establishments Starbucks and Chipotle Mexican Grill. By contrast, Yum Brands’ Taco Bell US unit reported a 9 per cent increase in same-store sales.

McDonald’s shares have defied the weak stock market to climb more than 10 per cent this year, as investors bet its cheap meals will attract customers during an economic downswing. The US economy contracted by 0.3 per cent over the first quarter, according to data released this week.

The Chicago-based company has continued to extend promotions such as a “$5 meal deal” introduced last summer. It has also rolled out limited-time offers such as the combo of Big Mac, fries, drink and collectible figures tied to the release of A Minecraft Movie this month.

Global comparable sales declined 1 per cent year on year in the first quarter, with weakness in countries including the UK partly offset by stronger sales in markets including Japan and the Middle East. Excluding the extra day in the 2024 leap year, the global sales would have been unchanged in the quarter.

Revenue fell 3 per cent to $5.96bn, missing the $6.12bn estimate in a Visible Alpha poll. Net income also undershot expectations with a 3 per cent fall to $1.87bn.

[tomasjos]

Asustadísimos, me acaba de jorobar el puente de Mayo .

Ahora en serio, ¿Van a meter los estadounidenses tropas en Ucrania para pelear con los rusos? No me lo creo.