Trump of Wars
ENGAGEMENTS with Chidi Amuta
On the matter of war and peace, US President Donald Trump is an ambiguous creature. His large ego craves recognition and celebration as a global peace maker. But his basic psychology is unrepentantly belligerent. He wants to be adored as a messiah of peace and feared as a fierce man of war to be dreaded. The pursuit of peace through indiscriminate shooting at perceived adversaries; that would seem to be Trump’s new doctrine of American power.
He and his garrulous Defense Secretary , Pete Hegseth, have since renamed the Department as Department of War, a travesty of time -honoured tradition. The actions of the department have since then been dictated by an endless appetite for wars and unnecessary fights. In similar vein, the US Institute for Peace at the North East corner of the National Mall in Washington has a new name pasted on its front wall: Donald J. Trump!
In spite of his penchant for war and threats of violence, Mr. Trump still retains a huge appetite for accolades as a peace pontiff. It is so bad that on the occasion of the World Cup draws in New York, FIFA played into his huge ego. The FIFA President Mr. Infantino hurriedly invented a previously unheard of ‘Peace Prize’ for him in the run up to the 2026 World Cup taking place in the United States, Mexico and Canada. It was merely a smart gimmick to ensure Trump’s commitment to a successful and secure World Cup. Poor Mr. Infantino. He now has to face an enquiry for trading with the FIFA brand to buy Trump’s goodwill.
Only recently, the newly renamed Institute of Peace in Washington Trump’s choice of venue for a ‘peace’ agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to end their long running war over territory and resources. For him, the sum of the agreement was as he stated: ‘everybody will make a lot of money’! It was all a transactional session, all about ‘peace for rare earth minerals’. The two leaders could not hide their animosity or disdain for such open mercantilism but managed to sit through it in regard for the United States and its dramatic president. Both men refused to shake hands after the signing ceremony. Thus, in spite of his pretensions and egotistical grandstanding, Trump remains an incurable war monger and an unrepentant merchant of violence.
I have a village wisdom that captures the Trump Syndrome in its rural nakedness. When a village mad man spends all his days loading a Dane gun and sharpening machetes, he is likely to kill someone sooner or later.
In less than a year in the White House, Mr. Trump
has spoken as much about his hunger for the Nobel Prize for Peace as he has mouthed threats for multiple invasions. He had even fired more shots at innocent people and perceived adversaries as he has assuaged angry nations. He has relentlessly threatened nations from Mexico to Venezuela , from South Africa to Nigeria. He has directly bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities. He has armed Israel to literally decimate the Palestinians of Gaza, bomb Lebanon . Has activated a piracy campaign against narcotics traders in the Caribbeans by shooting at sight boats on the sea sometimes without proof of their culpability. He has activated an unrelenting war process against Venezuela.
Trump’s commitment is to a ‘peace that passes all understanding’. He frequently boasts about having ended eight wars in less than a year of returning to the White House. Most of the ‘wars’ he claims to have resolved or ended are either little known or mere phantom conflicts and outright fiction. These include the one between Egypt and Ethiopia which never existed as a violent outbreak or between Kosovo and Serbia, India and Pakistani where both parties have said Trump played no role in negotiating their cease fire.
Of these wars, two expose Trump’s bogus claims. In spite of a Trump ordered cease fire between Israel and its Arab neighbours and victims, Israel has continued to strike and kill innocent civilians in Gaza, Lebanon and even Syria. Peace with the dead seems to be the guiding doctrine of the Trump plan in the Middle East.
In the Russian -Ukraine war, a Trump authored peace plan literally hands Ukraine’s sovereignty to Russia on a platter of cash. Trump wants to make money from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, huge reconstruction contracts and interest on repayments of ‘loans’ given to Ukraine as military assistance from the beginning of the war. Ukraine and Europe have seen through the ruse hence the peace negotiations are stuck.
On the contrary, this obsession with ‘peace’ is countered by the actions and utterances of Mr. Pete Hegseth. For the past couple of months, the adolescent and unguarded Defense Secretary has amassed the largest armada of war tools anywhere in the world around the Caribbeans, in the direct vicinity of Venezuela. Ahead of a real ground offensive, Hegseth has ordered nearly two dozen strikes on boats in Venezuelan waters targeting alleged narcotics traffickers.
Since the strikes exterminated all the occupants of the suspect vessels, there is no way of determining the culpability of the dead for the alleged crimes. Only recently after a second strike on survivors of one such strike did it occur to political America that many innocent people may have been executed in this wild show of shameful and deranged show of strength. One such victim was said to be an innocent fisherman aboard one of the boats. Another two survivors of another strike were probably innocent victims with no evil intent but they were still killed in a second strike at the same vessel. Dead people do not testify before Congress!
Speculations as to whether the US will launch a ground attack on Venezuela are foolish. The attack will come with foreseeable outcomes. Maduro will be ousted and replaced with the leader of opposition. This is mostly about regime change under the pretense of defense of democracy. An untidy regime change will come. Trump will try to do what America is incompetent at- establishing a regime to replace what it destroys. Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Vietnam, are you there?
America will invade Venezuela. It will not be in pursuit of any high minded ideals. It will not be because Maduro is a communist. It will not even be because Venezuela accounts for the highest quantity of narcotics coming into the US to meet a huge local demand. It won’t even be because Mr. Maduro is a drug baron himself like a few other Latin American dictators.
America will invade Venezuela in exercise of a re-invented right of might doctrine. The American war machine will be used gain direct and uncontrolled access to the Venezuela’s vast oil and gas resources with no international accountability.
Iraq suffered the same fate during the first Gulf war. Oil field experts and thieves were embedded with American advancing troops. The US wanted to extend the same self-help approach to Kuwait’s oil to pay itself for coming to its aid against Saddam Hussein’s invading Iraqis. The Kuwaitis were wiser. They asked America for a bill for their help. It came to $18 billion. The Kuwaitis wrote the cheque and thanked the ‘liberators’. Matters closed. Relations returned to normal diplomatic format.
In addition to the interest in free oil and gas in Venezuela, Trump wants to advance the frontiers of belligerent foreign relations. He probably intends to divert the attention of his domestic audience with numerous escapades abroad. He wants to frighten as many weak nations as possible either through military bluster, tariff harassment or psychological intimidation. It failed flat with South Africa. It is likely to fail with Nigeria. It could work in places like Venezuela who are directly in America’s backyard.
The mindset that enabled Hegseth to rename the department of Defense as Ministry of War belongs in antiquity, the era of might is all right. The danger is that this toxic and roguish approach to foreign relations is ancient and will not find adherents in today’s world. Many nations are wiser. Even more are enlightened. Still more are armed and have cultivated allies that will come to their aid if attacked or intimidated. In the long run, this retrogressive foreign relations may erode America’s international credibility and status as a beacon of benevolent strength. Soft power is already gone with the scrapping of agencies like USAID and the elimination of contributions to the WHO. Trumpism is a disruptive philosophy without a philosopher. It has literally obliterated America’s global identity as a bastion of freedom and a resort for people and nations in search of protection and humanism.
A new world is here. China has slipped into the driving seat. An aggressive and ambitious Russia led by an equally power greedy leader is up in arms. Only a kinder, gentler and more strategic America can reclaim its own shattered global pre-eminence. The rest of the world may be forced into a belligerent mode and psychology. Even those countries that used to depend on their alliance with America for defense are now arming themselves and thinking anew.
Arms spending is increasing. In the wake of the Ukraine war, Europe is re-arming. But less money will go to social spending as nations prioritize defense over domestics. Misery will increase and poverty will spread among nations. America’s massive anti-immigration drive will complement its appetite for war to create an even more unstable global environment.
It remains an open question whether Donald Trump’s war mongering doctrine of power through strength alone can frighten the world into an uneasy peace. If his doctrine and its operative strategy renews America’s diminished pre-eminence, the ensuing peace and quiet will likely be the peace of the graveyard. If on the contrary Mr. Trump’s bellicose posturing and transactionism leads to more wars and regional instability around the world, America’s long standing global mission will have been betrayed by one disruptive presidency.
