President Trump: Act Two
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 27 Jan 2025
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service
21 Jan 2025 – The 20 January 2025 inauguration of President Donald Trump has brought into sharp focus the turbulent and complex world society in which we live. As peacebuilders and citizens of the world, we face the same challenges as President Trump but with a different style and with far fewer resources at our command. We make plans, but then are called to work for conflict resolution in unanticipated ways.
There are four policy challenges which face both President Trump and world citizens:
- armed conflicts, currently ongoing and potential,
- persistent poverty in many areas,
- the erosion of international law and faith in multinational institutions, particularly the United Nations, and
- the consequences of climate change.
The ongoing and potential armed conflicts are not new nor unexpected. The Israeli-Palestinian tensions exist at least since 1936 and increased after the creation of the State of Israel. There may be some possibilities for negotiations in good faith. We must keep an eye open for possible actions.
Tensions with Iran are not new. The Soviet forces in part of Iran was the first conflict with which the United Nations had to deal at the start of the U.N. However, the rule by the Ayatollahs has made matters more complex.
The Russian – Ukrainian war grinds on with a large number of persons killed, wounded, and uprooted. Again, we must look to see if a ceasefire and negotiations are possible.
In Asia, the armed conflict in Myanmar between the military in power and the ethnic militias dates from the creation of the Burmese State at the end of the Second World War. A potential armed conflict between Mainland China and Taiwan dates from 1949 and the Nationalist government’s retreat to Taiwan. The potential armed conflict between the two Korean States dates from 1950 and the start of the Korean War.
The armed conflicts in Africa are no longer in the headlines, but they date from the early 1960s and the breakup of the European Empires: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, the States of the Sahel.
Thus, we all have a poor record of armed conflict prevention and mediation. Armed conflicts should remain at the top of both the governmental and non-governmental agenda for action.
Persistent Poverty: Despite the U.N. Decades for Development, the Sustainable Development Goals, and Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that everyone is entitled to the economic, social, and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and free development of his personality, persistent poverty exists in many parts of the world. One consequence of persistent poverty is migration from poorer to richer areas, both within countries and from poorer to richer States. Migration is a hotly debated issue is many countries as Right Wing Nationalist groups make anti-migration their battle cry. Migration is likely to become an even more heated topic of debate as President Trump tries to carry out his proposal for a mass deportation of immigrants from the U.S.A.
Linked to persistent poverty are trade issues and the protectionist trends in many countries. President Trump has proposed higher tariffs for good coming into the U.S.A. This policy may set off tariff wars. Obviously to counter persistent poverty, world development policies must be improved – easier said than done!
The Erosion of International Law and Faith in Multinational Institutions: Armed conflicts and persistent poverty are closely related to the third issue: the receding U.S. involvement with the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF, the World Court and other multinational organizations. Some of the foreign policy authorities appointed by President Trump are overtly critical of the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. There has already been an Executive Order to halt
U.S. funding of the World Health Organization: However, there is no unifying vision of what a new world society would involve. The battle cry of “Make America Great Again” if repeated by each State for itself, “Make Panama Great Again”, could be a loud concert but not conducive to positive decision making.
The Consequences of Climate Change: The fourth major group of issues concerns the consequences of climate change and the ways to lessen its impact. During the campaign for the presidency, Trump threatened to pull the U.S.A. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and he has now signed an Executive Order doing so. The issue of climate change has been brought to the world agenda by scientists on the one hand, and by non-governmental organizations and popular, often youth-led efforts on the other hand. It is likely that these vital efforts related to climate change will continue despite climate policy resistance by some in the Trump administration.
President Trump said during his inaugural ceremony that “The Golden Age of America begins now… We stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history.” We will have to watch closely and judge in four years. What is sure for peacebuilders and citizens of the world is that we stand on the verge of four more years of serious challenges. Thus, there is a need for cooperative and courageous action.
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René Wadlow is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. He is President of the Association of World Citizens, an international peace organization with consultative status with ECOSOC, the United Nations organ facilitating international cooperation and problem-solving in economic and social issues, and editor of Transnational Perspectives.
Tags: Anglo America, Climate Change, Elections, Hegemony, Imperialism, Paris Climate Agreement, Poverty, Trump, US empire, USA, United Nations, WHO
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 27 Jan 2025.
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