American President Donald Trump claims that since the beginning of his second term he has ended at least six wars. What are they and has he really contributed so much to world peace?
"I really want to go to heaven", said Donald Trump after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders. A modest wish - the American television channel „Fox News" commented on this occasion.
Trump never tires of repeating that since the beginning of his second term he has ended many wars, on average one per month. Recently, he said there were six, then seven, but without specifying them, ARD notes. The German publication quotes the “New York Times”, which sent such a request to the White House, from which they specified six conflicts: Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, India and Pakistan, Israel and Iran, Cambodia and Thailand, Egypt and Ethiopia.
The German public media writes that these are all cases in which the US government has been active on a varying scale in recent months. But for none of the conflicts can it be said that Trump's intervention was decisive.
Peace agreement in the White House
An example of successful actions are the agreements signed on August 8 at the White House by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. But the two sides had actually agreed in advance on a peace agreement after the 2020 war and decades of futile efforts, including the US. The agreement ends the war in Nagorno-Karabakh and has been pending signature since March.
It never received a final signature in the White House, but instead many other agreements were signed, one of which the US plays a major role. It concerns a circumstance that is both geopolitically and security-sensitive: the construction of a transit route through Armenian territory - the so-called “Trump Route”, which Azerbaijan will not only use as a route to its exclave of Nakhichevan, but also serve as an important link in the developing infrastructure between Europe and Asia.
ARD points out that this is a commercial solution to a previously unresolved problem, which provides an opportunity for profitable agreements with the American government: Azerbaijan will be able to once again carry out military cooperation with the United States and purchase weapons, and a contract was also concluded with the American energy concern “Exxon Mobile”.
The signing of the documents in the White House definitely gave additional weight to this act, the German public media outlet points out. But he also recalls that Trump is not very familiar with the matter - in a television show on August 19, he called the two countries “Albania and Azerbaijan”.
The glorious Trump?
The situation is similar with the other conflicts that Trump claims to have resolved, summarizes ARD.
Representatives of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo also signed a peace agreement at the White House to end the conflict that has been going on for more than 30 years. Trump called it a “glorious triumph”, but the talks stalled and the fighting continued.
In the case of Pakistan and India, Trump expected an end to the escalation that began with a terrorist attack in Kashmir in the spring. India acknowledged the US's mediating role, but also stated that the military offensive and direct negotiations were decisive in convincing Pakistan to conclude a ceasefire. Pakistan, in turn, thanked Trump for his help and wanted to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In June, Trump announced a ceasefire after 12 days of shelling between Israel and Iran. The United States joined in with airstrikes. On his Trump Social platform, he wrote that it was an honor for him to end the war and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities. Neither side disputes the role of the United States in the ceasefire, ARD notes. But nuclear talks with Iran have never resumed since, and experts suggest that Iran may have resumed uranium enrichment.
Fighting broke out between Cambodia and Thailand in July for several days. The two sides agreed to a ceasefire during talks organized by Malaysia and the United States. Trump threatened Cambodia and Thailand that if they did not stop the fighting, he would end trade talks with them. Even if the fighting ends, the long-standing conflict has not been resolved.
Egypt and Ethiopia are arguing over a dam, but so far there has been no military escalation. However, tensions are a fact, and the US has not contributed much to reducing them, the German public media outlet points out.
A peace agreement without a ceasefire?
In Russia's war against Ukraine, Trump has consistently emphasized that the killings in Ukraine must end. Before his meeting with Putin in Alaska, he said he wanted to impose a ceasefire, but after that, there was no more talk of it - a peace agreement had to be negotiated.
To justify himself, Trump pointed out that in the other wars he has ended, there was no ceasefire either. And this is not true, writes ARD. In most of the conflicts listed, this is exactly how things were done. According to the media, in the case of Ukraine, this proposal is most likely being made so that Putin can use the lengthy diplomatic process to gain more territory.
In addition, Trump constantly criticizes his predecessors - Obama left Crimea to Putin, and if Trump, not Joe Biden, were president in 2022, Putin would not have attacked Ukraine.
Putin confirmed this during his meeting with Trump in Alaska, ARD recalls. But in that case, the question remains open why Putin continues to wage war, since Trump has been president again since the beginning of the year. He never says what his predecessors should have done to stop Putin. The German public media adds that Trump has never imposed new sanctions on Russia, as he does not want to deprive himself of the opportunity to make deals with Russia, whose wealth of raw materials is not insignificant.
Are there prerequisites for the Nobel Peace Prize?
Trump is adamant that he wants an end to the killings in Ukraine, and that he is seriously interested in the Nobel Peace Prize, which Obama received in 2009.
This may explain why Trump continues to engage in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. According to the Norwegian publication Dagens Næringsliv, he questioned the former NATO Secretary General, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, about the prize.
There is no information from Stoltenberg, notes ARD. The five members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee are elected by the Norwegian parliament. In his will, benefactor Alfred Nobel wrote that the prize should be awarded to the person or organization who "shall have made the greatest or best contribution to the fraternization of nations, to the abolition or reduction of armies, and to the promotion of peace."