Does Trump deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?
If a president has actually ended six or even seven wars – as Donald Trump claims – then he obviously deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, one might think. But does Trump’s statement stand up to scrutiny?
The US president is referring to the following conflicts:
- An agreement between Cambodia and Thailand
- A ceasefire between Israel and Iran
- An agreement between India and Pakistan.
- Trump was involved in the very fragile agreement between Congo and Rwanda.
- He was also involved in the recent agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia and
- most recently in intensive efforts to bring about peace between Russia and Ukraine.
The day after the meeting with European politicians at the White House, Trump even claimed that he had ended seven wars in the six months of his second term.
It is true that Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize for himself and has made very visible efforts to resolve several military conflicts. His efforts to resolve the long-standing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia were particularly successful – at least temporarily. Both heads of state, who had been enemies for many decades, nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Rwanda and Congo also signed a peace treaty to end their war, which had lasted for over 30 years – but fighting has since resumed. The same is true of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The conflict between India and Pakistan has been defused, at least for the time being – and the Pakistani head of government also nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. The US played an important role in bringing about the ceasefire between Israel and Iraq a few weeks ago. However, the goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb was not achieved. Trump claimed here too that it had been “an honor to end this war.” This was greatly exaggerated, as we have come to expect from Trump. Between Thailand and Cambodia, the US, together with Malaysia, helped to initially halt the war, but not to actually end it.
In the war between Russia and Ukraine, Trump repeatedly emphasizes that he wants an end to the killing, but so far Putin has not even agreed to a ceasefire, which the Europeans are calling for, but no longer the US president.
Trump wants less US military involvement abroad, but at the same time he wants far more money for the military from the Europeans. In the Ukraine war, too, the US president is clearly more interested in an economic deal with Russia and Ukraine that benefits the US than in peace in Europe.
Donald Trump is now six months into his second term. He wants to “end a war every month.” Those are big words, but only small truths. US policy has played a certain role in all these conflicts and negotiations and has sometimes helped to bring a solution closer. That is true. But it is greatly exaggerated, if not false, when Trump claims that he has ended six or seven wars. While Trump is already talking about peace in Ukraine, Putin continues to bomb and kill mercilessly and without compassion.
There is one goal that Trump can truly be credited with: he desperately wants the Nobel Peace Prize. “I really want to go to heaven,” he said recently. That, too, is something we can believe.
In his will, the founder of the Nobel Peace Prize, Alfred Nobel, stipulated that the prize should be awarded to “the person who has done the most or the best work for the fraternity of nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the promotion of peace congresses.” Trump is still a long way from that today. But maybe he still deserves it. Can Donald Trump become a Mahatma Gandhi of the 21st century?
The problem is that Putin has a strategy: talk about peace, but let the weapons do the talking. Trump, however, has no real counterstrategy. Vanity alone is probably not enough to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Source
Franz Alt 2025 | Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
