Łukasz Gadzała: Peace is not Trump's goal. Is obsessed with an important prize
This diplomatic offensive in itself could be a desirable change in America's foreign policy. Only that he doesn't much indicate that Trump really concerns world peace and improving the situation in individual regions. His subsequent actions testify to the fact that he mainly cares about his own image and international recognition, which – despite the nervous procedures – does not want to come.
“Everyone says I should get a peaceful Nobel Prize,” Trump argued during the recent UN General Assembly session. He did not specify who “everyone” is, it is only known that several African countries, Cambodia, Pakistan and Israel publicly supported his ambitions. However, the list ends there. And if you take into account that there is a country that allows genocide in the Gaza Strip (Israel), and others that are approaching the USA, mainly because it counts on billion contracts arranged by adviser Trump, Steve Witkoff and his son (Pakistan), it can also be seen that this list is not a great reason for proud.
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Trump has long argues that he deserves a peaceful Nobel Prize. It was a permanent motive in his first term, when he claimed that he was due to the actions against North Korea, Syria or Ethiopia. Once he even broke free that it was him, not the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, he should have got a Nobel Prize for resolving the Ethiopian-Pietrean conflict. Trump cannot get over that Barack Obama once got a peaceful Nobel Prize. One can even say that the peaceful Nobel has become an obsession for him.
The Trump's diagram is therefore as follows. First, he eagerly undertakes mediation between the feuding parties or tries to create conditions to solve the dispute. Of course, he focuses the most attention on the greatest and most media conflicts – that is mainly on the war in Ukraine – but he is ready to get involved wherever you can quickly deny political capital.
Donald TrumpPAP/EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
Then he expects very fast results. He presents projects of peace plans, sends his people who probe their chances and conduct talks with the parties to the conflict, and later, if he encounters resistance, he determines the ultimatum. This approach sometimes works, which is confirmed by the case of Azerbaijan and Armenia. At other times, the conflicts actually end, but there is no such great role of Trump in it. And there are also cases when, despite the requests and threats of the American president of war, they are ongoing and their end is not visible – this is the case, for example, in Ukraine.
A separate case is the war in the Gaza Strip, where Trump's administration did not really do anything to stop the public violation of international law by Israel, and even supported it.
Pursuing to peace is a praise -worthy occupation. Except that Trump is not to find the possible solution to complex conflicts, but mainly to be able to announce their own success. Room and regional stability are not for him goals in itself. If that were the case, the US would be much more involved in politically, economically and humanitates in various regions of the world, e.g. in Africa or Southeast Asia, which would be potentially beneficial not only from the point of view of regional stability, but also of American interests.
Meanwhile, everything indicates that Trump's knowledge about what exactly is happening on the border of Cambodia and Thailand or in the Gaza Strip is very small. Similarly, he does not understand the causes of the war in Ukraine or the factors that are behind the conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt. But he also doesn't need this knowledge for anything.
The idea is to quickly sign a document, end fights or disputes and announce success. Trump does not care what happens later, that is, whether peace or agreement will have fairly lasting grounds. The most important thing is to attribute merit (real or imagined) for the end of the conflict, present yourself as a advocate of peace and report for the awaited prize.
Trump in the center always puts himself
This is why Trump is so often thrown on the war in Ukraine and the war in the Gaza Strip. Once he argues that he will definitely work out a peaceful solution with Vladimir Putin, at other times he suggests that Ukraine is able to reflect lost territories. Once he argues that he will take control of the Gaza Strip and make it a Mediterranean Riviera, other times – this is the latest case – that he will create a council of peace that will temporarily administer Palestinian territory, and will stand at its forefront.
These cases show that he lacks a clear vision of what he wants and what he is able to achieve, so in a very short time he reaches for contradictory solutions and tests them. Sometimes they bring the desired changes, at other times they are completely ineffective.
However, it is always primarily about himself, not about the matter he deals with. To get a Nobel Prize, not to find a permanent solution for the Russian-Ukrainian war. That others would finally recognize his size and appreciate his merits, and not to really lead peace in the Middle East.
