Trump craves recognition because the peacemaker president. Diplomacy in South Asia and Ukraine will spur him on | EUROtoday

President Donald Trump, hailing a profitable U.S.-mediated ceasefire between India and Pakistan on Saturday, introduced flashbacks to his inauguration day tackle and want to be seen as a “peacemaker.”

Standing beneath the dome of the Capitol Building, the bombastic, newly sworn-in forty seventh President of the United States, beforehand its forty fifth commander-in-chief, delivered a darkish and partisan tackle earlier than the throng of lawmakers and dignitaries.

Amid declarations on immigration, taxes, governmental upheaval, being saved by god, and the daybreak of a golden age for America, Trump additionally revisited a few of his acquainted grievances about how unfairly he has been handled.

There was a nod to 1 specific grievance, sandwiched between guarantees to construct the strongest army the world has ever seen and a want for an expansionist America, Trump stated: “We will measure our success, not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”

He continued: “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be, a peacemaker and a unifier.”

On the floor, an admirable mission assertion, however beneath lies a private motive and associated gripe. President Trump has made no secret that one factor he actually needs is a Nobel Peace Prize.

He has complained about not getting one for nearly a decade and is especially galled by the truth that President Barack Obama was awarded one after simply 9 months in workplace for working towards “the great climatic challenges.”

On the marketing campaign path final yr, Trump stated: “If I were named Obama, I would have had the Nobel Prize given to me in 10 seconds.”

Former Trump nationwide safety adviser, turned vocal opponent, John Bolton, instructed The New York Times: “The center of his public life is the greater glory of Donald Trump, and the Nobel Peace Prize would be a nice thing to hang on the wall.”

Bolton added: “[Trump] felt if Obama got it for not doing anything, why should he not get it?”

In one in every of his many public airing of grievances, in February, throughout an Oval Office assembly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump stated: “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”

Indeed, the president has been nominated for the award by Republican allies. In early 2024, New York Rep. Claudia Tenney put Trump ahead for the honour for his position within the Abraham Accords treaty that normalized relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

“Donald Trump was instrumental in facilitating the first new peace agreements in the Middle East in almost 30 years,” she claimed in an announcement posted on her web site.

And but, nothing got here of the nomination — it was as a substitute awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese group of atomic bomb survivors devoted to advocating for nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.

Trump returned to the White House this yr at an particularly fraught time in worldwide relations. Russia’s battle on Ukraine is now in its third yr, and Israel’s battle on Hamas in Gaza has continued for greater than 18 months. The president made grandiose guarantees to finish the previous in 24 hours and “quickly restore stability” within the latter case.

Both conflicts grind on, with a fragile two-month ceasefire in Gaza coming to a catastrophic finish in March.

Adding additional to the tense international state of affairs, India and Pakistan entered essentially the most severe army escalation between the 2 nuclear powers in years following a lethal terrorist assault in Indian-administered Kashmir in April.

However, on this case, there was fast progress. As cross-border missile and drone assaults escalated, the U.S. engaged with officers on each side to decrease tensions.

Shortly earlier than 8 a.m. East Coast time on Saturday, May 10, the president took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to triumphantly announce: “After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE. Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, who just lately visited India, reportedly did the heavy lifting, with Rubio tweeting a couple of minutes later: “Over the past 48 hours, [Vice President] Vance and I have engaged with senior Indian and Pakistani officials, including Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir, and National Security Advisors Ajit Doval and Asim Malik.”

“I am pleased to announce the Governments of India and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire and to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site,” he continued.

“We commend Prime Ministers Modi and Sharif on their wisdom, prudence, and statesmanship in choosing the path of peace.”

Vance added: “Great work from the President’s team, especially Secretary Rubio. And my gratitude to the leaders of India and Pakistan for their hard work and willingness to engage in this ceasefire.”

Saudi Arabia and Turkey each performed an vital position in securing the deal, in response to Pakistan’s international minister, Ishaq Dar, and the chiefs of army operations on each side have spoken, in response to Indian international secretary Vikram Misri. However, it’s Trump himself who introduced the ceasefire and claimed credit score for the U.S. in de-escalating the state of affairs, though there have been reviews on Saturday that the ceasefire had already been violated.

Late on Saturday night time, the president adopted up on Truth Social, saying he was “proud of the strong and unwaveringly powerful leadership” on each side, praising their “strength, wisdom, and fortitude,” to cease the battle, figuring out that “millions of good and innocent people could have died!”

Saying that he was “proud” of the U.S. position, Trump added his personal private contribution to the deal: “While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great Nations. Additionally, I will work with you both to see if, after a “thousand years,” an answer may be arrived at regarding Kashmir.”

There was additionally progress in Europe on Saturday, with Ukraine and European leaders agreeing to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire on May 12 with the backing of Trump, threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin with new “massive” sanctions if he did not comply.

This comes after accusations of Trump appeasing Putin and an obvious realization by the president that, as a lot of the world already knew, he was being strung alongside by the Russian chief, regardless of his continued insistence that neither aspect within the battle was taking part in him.

Following his final assembly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the Vatican, the president wrote of Putin on Truth Social: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war.”

“He’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’” he wrote. “Too many people are dying!!!”

Saturday’s announcement of a unified strategy was made by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and Ukraine at a gathering in Kyiv, after which they held a telephone name with Trump.

“So all of us here, together with the U.S., are calling Putin out. If he is serious about peace, then he has a chance to show it,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer instructed reporters at a information convention. “No more ifs and buts, no more conditions and delays.”

Zelensky stated partly on X: “By uniting others, we are working to bring real peace closer, ensuring long-term security not only with the five of us here but also with our friends, partners, and leaders from 30 other EU and NATO countries participating online.”

U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg commented on a submit on X by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha: “A comprehensive (air, land, sea, infrastructure) cease fire for 30 days will start the process for ending the largest and longest war in Europe since World War II.”

He added, giving a nod to his boss: “As the President has repeatedly said, stop the killing now.”

Trump remained quiet on the matter till round midnight, earlier than posting: “A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine! Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending ‘bloodbath’ hopefully comes to an end. It will be a whole new, and much better, WORLD. I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens. The USA wants to focus, instead, on Rebuilding and Trade. A BIG week upcoming!”

Why the delayed response from the White House? Being the weekend, shortly after his submit on the ceasefire in South Asia, Trump departed for a spherical of golf at his membership in Virginia, maybe feeling a step nearer to his much-desired private aim of changing into a Nobel laureate — or, maybe, including to his grievance for if he doesn’t obtain the honour.

It is value remembering that, given the worldwide scope of the president’s remit, diplomatic wins in a single space will all the time be weighed in opposition to failures or actions in others.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee will be unable to miss an lack of ability to cease the preventing in Gaza, and his disturbing imaginative and prescient of its future, nor his threats to take again the Panama Canal and annex Greenland.

Trump should be left wanting, it doesn’t matter what different successes he can declare as his personal.