May 2, 2025 • 8 mins
Kevin Cirilli and Larry Mendte discuss that the United States and Ukraine have agreed to an economic partnership to give the U.S. access to rare earth minerals to help Ukraine in its war against Russia, and why it is so important.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've been talking about this a lot this morning, about
(00:02):
a rare minerals deal cut between the United States and Ukraine.
They had been negotiating this for a long time. It
means a lot, not only with the war in Ukraine
because now the United States is in Ukraine, but for
the future of the world economy. And now here to
talk more about that is Kevin SERRELLI, reporter and founder
(00:25):
of the Meet the Future website. And listen. I saw
the name Kevin, and I've seen you on the air.
I've seen you doing reports for CNN. I've seen you
just about everywhere. And I thought to myself constantly, wait
a second, that's the save Kevin CURRILLI that I talked
to twenty years ago when you were at Penn State
(00:48):
and you were covering the Penn State scandal.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I know, Larry, when I first of all, I mean,
you are one of the best people in this business,
and thank you so much for having me on, and
congratulations to you for everything. And yeah, what I was
talking to your producer who's awesome as well. And wow,
I mean it's really from Philly.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Not only from Philly, from Delco. You know, I was
Delaware County. I was born in Lansdown, Delaware County. What
the bonner.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So we want to have this partial scholarship to Albourne
and my uncle Mike is at the best Hogies in
Delco for fifty years. To get off Macdave Boulevard, off
the Blue Root. I mean, I know we're here to
talk about eric minerals, but who doesn't need a little
hogi and cheeseake in the morning.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
That's absolutely correct. Hey, congratulations on all your success. He
was an award winning journalist at Penn State and did
a tremendous job at a very young age covering the
Penn State scandal. And look at you now. Kevin is
now reporter and founder of Meet the Future website. Before
we talk about the minerals, which is an enormous story,
(02:00):
tell us about this website that you're running.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Well, thank you. I started it because you know, I've
always been a bit of a nerd and a dork
and a futurist, And even when I was doing all
these reports for Bloomberg and on all the different cable
shows and whatnot, I would be really more interested in
robotics and outer space and the search for alien life
and everything going on with the future. I mean that
(02:23):
was really you know, news many times unfortunately is about
what happened yesterday. But building the future, especially during the
pandemic and during Lockdown's virtual reality and all of these
different things that were popping up, it really ignited this
idea to build a platform based on the future. So
I started MTF dot tv, Meet the Future MTF dot tv,
(02:45):
and you can subscribe to our daily newsletter at Meetthfuture
dot subsack dot com. And it really took off. Larry,
I got to tell you, I mean, you know this
from the business, but when it hits, it hits. And
you know, rare earth minerals, which I know we're here
to talk about today, are the building block for all
of our technology. It's not just drones and missile defense system. Yes,
(03:08):
it's that, and that's incredibly important. I don't want to
underplay their importance. But even the studio that you're broadcasting
in or the smartphone that I'm calling you on, it's
built by the ingredients, and those ingredients are rare earth minerals.
And seventy percent there's one number you can remember today,
seventy percent of America's rare earth minerals comes from one country.
(03:31):
You guessed it, China.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
How good is Kevin? He transitioned seamlessly from talking about
his website into the topic at hand. I'm acting like
I'm a proud father. Thank you, I talking about Kevin. Really, no,
this is a huge deal. It's not only important. I
mean it's important with the war in Ukraine because I
really believe that this is a signal to Vladimir Putin
(03:54):
that we're done with you now we're going to work
with Ukraine, and it puts US right into Ukraine. Important
when it comes to foreign affairs. It's important for the
future of Ukraine and the future of the world. But
it's also important for the future of the world because
of what you just pointed out. Finding these rare earth
minerals is extremely important to technology and the world future.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yes, absolutely, five percent of the United States supply for
these rare earth minerals could actually come from Ukraine. And
so what the Treasury Secretary announced yesterday, Scott Best that
announced is that there is going to be a Ukraine
US reconstruction fund. And so, regardless of folks opinions, and
there's a lot of opinions these days, I want to
cut through the noise here, because regardless of your thoughts
(04:43):
on whether or not there's the war, the ability for
United States companies and the public private partnerships to be
able to diversify their portfolios away from China and the
places like Ukraine and other parts of the world, and
by the way, also on the Moon, in the asteroid
belt is incredibly important. The more that our demand for
(05:04):
technology is going to happen, you know, I meet the future,
what we really like to really focus on are these
future supply chapes. If folks can even remember twenty years
ago or thirty years ago, we didn't have all of
these devices that we rely on. The bikes that we
work out on in the morning or after work. Weren't computers. Okay,
(05:26):
now they are. And so as a result of that,
just because you can't see the technology or you think
it's gone wireless, it really hasn't. It's built off of
these rare earth minerals. And so the ability to mine
on the Moon, mine in the asteroid belt, or yes,
candidly mine in Ukraine, that is increasingly important.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
It's it's the reason he was interested in Greenland too,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, yes, yes, that and of course the Arctic and
the poles and whatnot, and just being able to the
shipping lanes. And we talk about climate change in the press,
but even as some of those bodies of water stall
are ice right now that they fall. Yeah, the importance
for greenland and whatnot. Yeah, it's all incredibly important, and
(06:13):
it's why that's a space nerd, you know. At the
National Press Club here in Washington last month, I interviewed
Major General Gagnon's one of the top officials in the
United States Space Force, which is the US's military branch
for outer space, and I asked him point blank, you know,
what do you hope people know about the job that
you're doing and the job that the guardians are called
(06:34):
guardians in the Space Force are doing. And he really
said that the average American interacts with outer space more
than two dozen times per day and they don't even
realize it. I mean, think about it from every time
you pick up your phone and you call it and
the satellites that are up there, or you click send
on an email, or you go and flip through your
(06:57):
smartphone or anything any device that you use that's all
and out of space folks, yep. And so protecting that
is going to just be so important as we evolve.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, we allly got about a minute left. But the
one thing that I believe you left out on the
importance of this is it's huge for our national defense,
is it not.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Oh my gosh, yeah, I mean it's the most Thanks
for calling that out because it's your I mean, it's
all about national defense and the ability to protect ourselves
and the ability to not be relying on an adversary,
And it's all about national defense. It's incredibly important to
protect our ability to mine and create our defense systems, absolutely,
(07:39):
one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Because everything's computerized these days, and so it would just
makes sense that it would help our national defense. As
a matter of fact, that is probably, and correct me
if I'm wrong, that's probably the number one priority in
this for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
When I was a kid, they used to say that
there was a great pond between US and Europe, the
Atlantic Ocean. Well, nowadays, the technological domain is in the
palm of your hand and the battleground on the digital
frontiers and the palm of your hand and your smartphone.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Kevin, Surreally, I'm so proud of you, son, Thank.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You, er, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, it's
such a great job.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
No, we'd love to have you back anytime there's a
story like that. Would love to have you back. Kevin Sirelli,
reporter and founder of Meet the Future website. That's MTF
dot tv.
I've been talking about this a lot this morning, about
(00:02):
a rare minerals deal cut between the United States and Ukraine.
They had been negotiating this for a long time. It
means a lot, not only with the war in Ukraine
because now the United States is in Ukraine, but for
the future of the world economy. And now here to
talk more about that is Kevin SERRELLI, reporter and founder
(00:25):
of the Meet the Future website. And listen. I saw
the name Kevin, and I've seen you on the air.
I've seen you doing reports for CNN. I've seen you
just about everywhere. And I thought to myself constantly, wait
a second, that's the save Kevin CURRILLI that I talked
to twenty years ago when you were at Penn State
(00:48):
and you were covering the Penn State scandal.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I know, Larry, when I first of all, I mean,
you are one of the best people in this business,
and thank you so much for having me on, and
congratulations to you for everything. And yeah, what I was
talking to your producer who's awesome as well. And wow,
I mean it's really from Philly.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Not only from Philly, from Delco. You know, I was
Delaware County. I was born in Lansdown, Delaware County. What
the bonner.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So we want to have this partial scholarship to Albourne
and my uncle Mike is at the best Hogies in
Delco for fifty years. To get off Macdave Boulevard, off
the Blue Root. I mean, I know we're here to
talk about eric minerals, but who doesn't need a little
hogi and cheeseake in the morning.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
That's absolutely correct. Hey, congratulations on all your success. He
was an award winning journalist at Penn State and did
a tremendous job at a very young age covering the
Penn State scandal. And look at you now. Kevin is
now reporter and founder of Meet the Future website. Before
we talk about the minerals, which is an enormous story,
(02:00):
tell us about this website that you're running.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Well, thank you. I started it because you know, I've
always been a bit of a nerd and a dork
and a futurist, And even when I was doing all
these reports for Bloomberg and on all the different cable
shows and whatnot, I would be really more interested in
robotics and outer space and the search for alien life
and everything going on with the future. I mean that
(02:23):
was really you know, news many times unfortunately is about
what happened yesterday. But building the future, especially during the
pandemic and during Lockdown's virtual reality and all of these
different things that were popping up, it really ignited this
idea to build a platform based on the future. So
I started MTF dot tv, Meet the Future MTF dot tv,
(02:45):
and you can subscribe to our daily newsletter at Meetthfuture
dot subsack dot com. And it really took off. Larry,
I got to tell you, I mean, you know this
from the business, but when it hits, it hits. And
you know, rare earth minerals, which I know we're here
to talk about today, are the building block for all
of our technology. It's not just drones and missile defense system. Yes,
(03:08):
it's that, and that's incredibly important. I don't want to
underplay their importance. But even the studio that you're broadcasting
in or the smartphone that I'm calling you on, it's
built by the ingredients, and those ingredients are rare earth minerals.
And seventy percent there's one number you can remember today,
seventy percent of America's rare earth minerals comes from one country.
(03:31):
You guessed it, China.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
How good is Kevin? He transitioned seamlessly from talking about
his website into the topic at hand. I'm acting like
I'm a proud father. Thank you, I talking about Kevin. Really, no,
this is a huge deal. It's not only important. I
mean it's important with the war in Ukraine because I
really believe that this is a signal to Vladimir Putin
(03:54):
that we're done with you now we're going to work
with Ukraine, and it puts US right into Ukraine. Important
when it comes to foreign affairs. It's important for the
future of Ukraine and the future of the world. But
it's also important for the future of the world because
of what you just pointed out. Finding these rare earth
minerals is extremely important to technology and the world future.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yes, absolutely, five percent of the United States supply for
these rare earth minerals could actually come from Ukraine. And
so what the Treasury Secretary announced yesterday, Scott Best that
announced is that there is going to be a Ukraine
US reconstruction fund. And so, regardless of folks opinions, and
there's a lot of opinions these days, I want to
cut through the noise here, because regardless of your thoughts
(04:43):
on whether or not there's the war, the ability for
United States companies and the public private partnerships to be
able to diversify their portfolios away from China and the
places like Ukraine and other parts of the world, and
by the way, also on the Moon, in the asteroid
belt is incredibly important. The more that our demand for
(05:04):
technology is going to happen, you know, I meet the future,
what we really like to really focus on are these
future supply chapes. If folks can even remember twenty years
ago or thirty years ago, we didn't have all of
these devices that we rely on. The bikes that we
work out on in the morning or after work. Weren't computers. Okay,
(05:26):
now they are. And so as a result of that,
just because you can't see the technology or you think
it's gone wireless, it really hasn't. It's built off of
these rare earth minerals. And so the ability to mine
on the Moon, mine in the asteroid belt, or yes,
candidly mine in Ukraine, that is increasingly important.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
It's it's the reason he was interested in Greenland too,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, yes, yes, that and of course the Arctic and
the poles and whatnot, and just being able to the
shipping lanes. And we talk about climate change in the press,
but even as some of those bodies of water stall
are ice right now that they fall. Yeah, the importance
for greenland and whatnot. Yeah, it's all incredibly important, and
(06:13):
it's why that's a space nerd, you know. At the
National Press Club here in Washington last month, I interviewed
Major General Gagnon's one of the top officials in the
United States Space Force, which is the US's military branch
for outer space, and I asked him point blank, you know,
what do you hope people know about the job that
you're doing and the job that the guardians are called
(06:34):
guardians in the Space Force are doing. And he really
said that the average American interacts with outer space more
than two dozen times per day and they don't even
realize it. I mean, think about it from every time
you pick up your phone and you call it and
the satellites that are up there, or you click send
on an email, or you go and flip through your
(06:57):
smartphone or anything any device that you use that's all
and out of space folks, yep. And so protecting that
is going to just be so important as we evolve.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, we allly got about a minute left. But the
one thing that I believe you left out on the
importance of this is it's huge for our national defense,
is it not.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Oh my gosh, yeah, I mean it's the most Thanks
for calling that out because it's your I mean, it's
all about national defense and the ability to protect ourselves
and the ability to not be relying on an adversary,
And it's all about national defense. It's incredibly important to
protect our ability to mine and create our defense systems, absolutely,
(07:39):
one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Because everything's computerized these days, and so it would just
makes sense that it would help our national defense. As
a matter of fact, that is probably, and correct me
if I'm wrong, that's probably the number one priority in
this for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
When I was a kid, they used to say that
there was a great pond between US and Europe, the
Atlantic Ocean. Well, nowadays, the technological domain is in the
palm of your hand and the battleground on the digital
frontiers and the palm of your hand and your smartphone.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Kevin, Surreally, I'm so proud of you, son, Thank.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You, er, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, it's
such a great job.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
No, we'd love to have you back anytime there's a
story like that. Would love to have you back. Kevin Sirelli,
reporter and founder of Meet the Future website. That's MTF
dot tv.
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