Trump and his disastrous peace plans
We could say that Donald Trump is the man who boasts of having an iron hand with those who oppose his wishes, of fulfilling all his electoral promises and of bringing home the thousands of soldiers that the United States has deployed around the world in long and tedious wars, in which they are not welcome and which, many of them, are oblivious to his will or unwilling to participate.
A president, who perhaps, envious that his predecessor, whom he hates and tries to humiliate at all times for his contrary policies and for having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, even as a preventive measure, has not managed after so many wasted efforts to be even nominated for an award.
To be honest, I must say that in my humble opinion, Obama did not deserve such a title, because with many of his actions he discredited it, he acted stage front to the crowds and did not really strive for recognition with enough true seriousness and effectiveness to be awarded it.
But, in anticipation of the final conclusion of this article, I must also say that in Trump's case, he does not deserve it either, since everything he proposes to say and do is destined for a resounding failure; failures that are not few and that discredit the nation and its Armed forces by the many and great efforts given away in distant lands, as they constitute a real waste of many thousands of lives, billions of dollars invested in personnel, deployments, logistical support, material, bribes, perks, intelligence and purchases of goodwill at all levels, both political and military.
The same applies to us with the illustrious Spanish president, Sanchez, his selfishness and narcissism is supine since nobody, not even the president of the United States, can stand up and consider that he is the only one, without listening to anybody else, who has the solution and enough sense to tackle and fix all the problems, wrongs and nonsense that exist in his country and in this case, in the whole world, no matter how serious and complex they are.
In this difficult and far from simple task, Trump took it upon himself to put on track and tone down the conflict of the North Korean programme and aspirations regarding progress in the improvement and production of nuclear weapons and progress with long-range and intercontinental missiles. He thought that after meeting with their leader Kim Jong-un and offering him support and understanding, without defining or quantifying; thinking that the other counterpart; foxy, cunning and voracious would become a poodle who would dance at the snap of a finger. After three spectacular and showy bilateral meetings and encounters of high tension and intensity between the two, the problem is still entrenched, North Korea has restarted and improved its nuclear programme, it continues to test its improved missiles, security in the area is far from guaranteed, and the threat reaches another, larger, international dimension.
He did something similar with Iran; after voluntarily abandoning in 2018 the Iranian Nuclear Program Pact of 2015; not without reason, but without international consensus and with a coordinated plan, which intensified pressure and restrictions on people, the sales of crude oil, the purchase of certain supplies and weapons in order to make the country's economy as comfortable as possible and by trying to make the repressed and exhausted civilian population rise up against its government and spiritual authority and force them to enter into the American reasons and demands without further delay.
The facts, stubborn as they are, have shown that the ordinary people have actually taken to the streets several times to protest against the unsustainable economic situation of the country, which has caused a turnaround in the past elections; but the country's authorities, have castled, the population has been strongly repressed on more than one occasion and, what is worse, they have decided unilaterally, to abandon the limits set by the said pact and now their production of enriched Uranium and the speed in obtaining it is much higher than those known before the said pact.
The International Community (IC) led in this case by the EU, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Almenaría as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - which is responsible for controlling and measuring the processing of installations and enrichment of nuclear material - are at a standstill and do not know how to act since the iron arm, friendly Trump, who had promised many times the necessary very strong hand against Iran and its excesses on this matter; Now, he is holding back, he stops pressing on that side and he trusts all kinds of efforts to economic and industrial pressure while waiting for the government of the apple tree where he is installed to fall like a ripe apple.
He has not dared to act militarily, in spite of having even publicly promised to do so on more than one occasion, not even in the face of the fact that Iran has shot down a costly American drone; that it continues to maintain terror in and around the Straits of Ormuz as the IC oil tankers pass by; that it has shot down with impunity a Ukrainian airliner after its take-off from Tehran airport, which was full of Canadian citizens, and that its Quds are keeping the remnants of allied garrisons hanging, led by the US, that are still in Iraq.
The very assassination of the Iranian general in charge of the Quds, Soleimani, in a drone attack at the airport in Baghdad at the beginning of January of this year in a decision taken personally by Trump, has endangered world stability although, on the other hand, it has shown that neither of the two countries is in a position or the will to enter into a total conflict and only various activities of different depth, format and entity, known as the grey zone, are to be expected.
He took up the glove of his predecessor to increase his role as a whip of punishment and the architect of the extinction of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq; to do so, he had to move many pawns on the chessboard to convince one and all - both local and foreign - that his involvement in the conflict was important to combat this scourge, which as a split or succession of Al Qaeda would only bring pain and destruction to the Western world. He did not hesitate to look for all kinds of official or extramarital bedfellows and to make friends with countries or ethnic groups such as the Kurds, who, in exchange for money, instruction and support in material, intelligence and information, used them as cannon fodder against that scourge, until, suddenly, one day he got tired.
He decreed the culmination of the mission, the total defeat of the Jihadist terrorists, ended the operation and embarked on a rapid withdrawal of his troops from Syria and Iraq, transferring the, US-led, international coalition mission - which includes Spain - to endorse it to NATO so that its protective umbrella group would maintain the mission and guarantee its security. In this situation, even though they are the ones who put the most on the grill, they will always be able to unload the responsibility and the decisions to be taken in a collegiate manner.
After this unilateral operation of withdrawal, disguised as an end or a change of mission, it left the Syrian-Kurds at the mercy of the whims, massacres and persecutions of the all-powerful and very ambitious Erdogan; who is looking for a greater and greater zonal protagonism in both Syria and Libya. An unscrupulous leader whose dreams of greatness include avoiding the century-old aspiration of the Kurds -currently divided among four countries in the area (Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria)- to be reunited in a single, great Kurdistan; To this end, he aims to achieve the greatest extermination of the Syrian Kurds, considering them responsible for their problems with the Turkish Kurds who nurture and feed the activities of the PKK (declared as terrorists by Turkey), who put the Turkish forces in check as military forces and as a political party, are becoming more and more prominent and important both in daily life and for the future of Turkey, thus firmly opposing the aspirations of the dictator, who at his peak, is seeking to regain all or part of the splendour of the old Ottoman Empire.
With reference to Turkey, Trump holds an ambiguous position, commonly known as that of the "carrot and stick". The tricks of allying or aligning with Russia, irritate Trump and at the same time, put the future of NATO itself in danger, since Turkey is the ally that contributes more forces and material to the Alliance after the USA and its geostrategic position closes the passage to the Russians to the Mediterranean through the straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles.
The mentioned digressions are several, nothing banal and they have been dragging on for years; fundamentally, they consist of the purchase of antiaircraft material, the famous S-400 that are totally incompatible to be integrated into NATO's air defence system because they would give away the system itself and it could make redundant the command and control systems of the modern F35; a point that has created many tensions between Turkey and the USA and at a personal level between both leaders.
The other point of great friction is derived from the agreements for the implementation of the TurkStream gas pipeline, a gas pipeline that is strategic for Moscow; it bypasses the passage of the Russian gas supply through Ukraine; therefore this country, loses control of the precious and important gas supply to Europe and therefore, diminishes its interest from international attention; it improves Turkey's supply conditions and brings them much closer together for future important economic and commercial plans such as the construction of several nuclear power plants in Turkey with Russian materials and technology, which will also give them access to potential nuclear fuel for possible military use. This situation would give Turkey a greater advantage or option to dispute for the area leadership.
To these points of friction with the United States, it is necessary to add the role adopted unilaterally by Erdogan of intervening and invading a strip of territory in the border part with Syria, in which the mentioned Kurdish-Syrians are mainly located. Invasion carried out under the excuse of creating a security zone (buffer zone) to avoid or prevent all kinds of attacks from that flank. Occupation, that in recent days has originated problems of extreme importance with the forces loyal to Al Asad and by rebound with Russia, its permanent and faithful ally; maintainer of the dictator during years in the power and that, in case of a high increase of tension, could even derive in the invocation of the application of Article 5 of the Alliance (it is not the first time that Erdogan has done it); that, if it is taken into consideration, could even confront it with Russia.
Traditionally, obtaining peace in Israel and in its surrounding area is one of the White House's priority objectives, and for this reason, numerous efforts have been made by various American presidents at different times under the auspices of or as a consequence of greater or lesser regional tension. In this regard, just a few weeks ago I wrote and published "Perhaps it is because of that unhealthy or presumptuous habit that Trump has of being the protagonist in everything, he could not ignore or lose his opportunity in this regard. Once again, or perhaps even more scandalously, we have witnessed the resounding failure of the Trump Peace Plan for the Middle East (Israel-Jordan), also known or euphorically named by him as the "AGREEMENT OF THE CENTURY" which was officially presented last January 28th in its very sui generis style (only in front of one of the parties in conflict); an agreement, which has gone almost unnoticed by an immense majority and which from its very birth and presentation was aimed at not bearing fruit and at creating immediate reactions against it as such, Israel and the USA .”
Forecast tensions that became apparent in a matter of hours or days and that raised the masses in the area and put both the security and stability of Israel itself in even greater danger than before such a disastrous initiative.
In this tour of brief accounts of peace initiatives brought and fostered by the magnanimous yet energetic Trump, we come to his latest and very recent failed attempt, this time in Afghanistan; Once again, with all the hype and after several years of analysis, studies, tests and proposals - again not presented at the same time or even successively to all the parties or military forces involved - a few days ago he tried to sell the IC, the Afghan government and the Taliban an idyllic plan, which, like that of Israel, was totally unworkable and although, despite having signed it, it has not lasted 24 hours and the truce that allowed for the consideration of it no longer exists. It will soon announce its withdrawal and Afghanistan will join the already very long list of failed states caused by the unnecessary creation, hasty involvement and/or subsequent hasty abandonment of the United States of America.
On this occasion, it will have thrown away billions of dollars, thousands of casualties and many years of efforts alone or in coalition since the US was hit by the Jihadist terrorism of Al Qaeda in the heart of New York and the Pentagon itself after 9/11 2001, thus constituting the second external offence, Once again, it has fed their minds and hearts and that is why they decided to pursue them to and in those inhospitable lands that they have previously shown to be invincible by the great powers and their powerful military machines, no matter how much they try to dominate them alone or in coalition. So much individual and collective effort has been useless.
I imagine that Trump seeks to resolve conflicts for various reasons: he promised it in his election campaign and has just begun the long race for his only possible reelection; he must make up for certain hard knocks, even though he claims the opposite, which earned him his famous impeachment; his "America first" is following him even into his best dreams and he doesn't want to see his troops, money and other efforts wasted where Americans are not welcome; he needs to save energy, means and money to cover new realities and geostrategic capabilities that are much more pressing and of national interest -the Arctic, the defence of Asia Pacific, the recently created Aerospace Force and the development of state-of-the-art technologies in armed drones and powerful cybernetic capabilities; internally and externally he wants to be seen as a man of peace and capable of achieving it, although for the moment he has not been able to seal any of them definitively and the thorn of his predecessor's Nobel Prize cannot be removed from his side which continues to torment him and lead to such unsuccessful attempts.
To this end, he does not mind abandoning old and new allies such as the Kurds, Iraq, the Turks, Afghans and even NATO among others, if necessary, and he will not hesitate at doing so. The honour, responsibility and glory that should accompany and magnify the person who sets himself up as a true democratic world leader, who wants to put an end to all kinds of abuse and terrorism, are a long way from this bizarre and peculiar character who either has not understood his role, does not listen to his many good advisors or is definitely incapable of developing it as he should.