Trump Between War and Peace. Manlio Dinucci
The newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, who beat Kamala Harris by an overwhelming majority, has outlined the main thrust of his foreign policy as follows:
I want to tell the world community we will always put America’s interests first, and we will deal fairly with everyone – all peoples and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict.
Trump had already met with Putin during his previous term in office, which is why he was the subject of the first impeachment attempt in the United States. Today, with the majority in Congress, there is a possibility that he will reopen a negotiating table with Putin to end the Russia-Ukraine war, in other words, the war that NATO is waging against Russia under US command.
What should the Trump administration do in Europe?
1) Ensure that a ceasefire between NATO/Ukraine and Russia is implemented immediately.
2) Initiate summit negotiations between the presidents of the US and the Russian Federation.
3) Ensure that the entire European front is demilitarised and denuclearised through the withdrawal of US-NATO intermediate-range nuclear forces deployed in Europe in the proximity of Russian territory, and Russian intermediate-range nuclear forces deployed in Russian territory in the near vicinity of Europe and in Belarus.
4) The removal of sanctions against Russia and the restoration of political, economic and cultural relations between the US and Russia.
5) Ensuring that an international conference for a negotiated settlement of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the establishment of a security system in Europe is convened under the auspices of the UN, with the participation of the US, NATO, the EU, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
The situation on the other front, the Middle East, is different. Trump, like all previous US presidents, supports Israel. According to the announced foreign policy lines, what should the Trump administration do in the Middle East instead?
1) ensure that a ceasefire is immediately implemented in the region between all parties to the conflict, Israel withdraws its armed forces and settler settlements from Gaza and the West Bank, and the Palestinian territories are governed by bodies chosen by the Palestinians themselves;
2) ensure that an UN-sponsored international conference is convened – with the participation of all countries in the region, starting with Israel and Iran – for a negotiated solution to the conflicts and the establishment of a security system in the Middle East.
The situation is further made more complex by the fact that Trump was elected overwhelmingly by the 150,000 Americans (i.e., Jews with dual US-Israeli citizenship) living in Israel (a country with a population of ten million) and that 60,000 of them are settled in the West Bank: here they constitute 15% of the settlers who, armed and supported by the Israeli government, are taking over Palestinian land and other property. Will the Trump administration in its foreign policy seek “common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict?”
The US public debt exceeds $35 trillion for the first time, a level equal to that of GDP.
US military spending far exceeds $1 trillion annually (including other items beyond the Pentagon budget), and continues to grow.
Interest on the national debt paid each year grows accordingly, and is now exceeding the level of the military spending.
This situation largely benefits Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who largely financed Trump’s election campaign and will probably have an important position in his administration.
Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, runs NASA’s rocket launch programme and the Pentagon relies on him to put most military satellites into orbit. The US war machine is in full swing because it is moves to open another war front against China.
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This article was originally published in Italian on Grandangolo, Byoblu TV.
Manlio Dinucci, award winning author, geopolitical analyst and geographer, Pisa, Italy. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
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